Category: Blog Page 10 of 45

NQ64

By

On 2nd August 2022

In Blog, Reviews

Last night myself and Lindsay were invited along to the opening evening for NQ64, a new venue in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The venue provided us with a bunch of game tokens, and two drinks vouchers, but this review hasn’t been seen by them in advance or approved by them.

Now the place was initially pitched to me as a new adult arcade, but to be frank, it’s more of an arcade themed bar than an arcade, and that’s cool, just different to what I expected.

Entering the bar, which is located at 82 Pilgrim Street, opposite the old Bank of England site, which is currently under redevelopment, you come into a large room, this is where the main bar is located, along with a small selection of games, specifically Galiga, Donkey Kong and X-Men.

The bar serves a selection of draught and bottled beers, and video game themed cocktails, but currently no mocktails which is a bit annoying as I am generally a teetotaller.

However I did cave and try a cocktail, I had a Dr Ro Bev Nik, which is a Jack Daniel’s, cherry and Dr Pepper concoction, which was very nice. (I know, I am a terrible example of a Baha’i, but I am still a work in progress).

Further in you come to a room in which there is a central column in which there is located a Mega Drive, Xbox (complete with Duke controllers), PS1 and Game Cube.

There are loaded up with a selection of games to play, but, the Mega Drive was using a widescreen monitor and was forced into 16:9 which made many of the games borderline unplayable, because they were originally designed to be played at 4:3.

The other games in this room include Outrun 2 SP, the only AM2 game in the bar, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game, Pac-Man, Space Invaders and some Pinball machines.

In the back are a couple of shooting games, including House of the Dead, a dancing game, a snowboarding game and a couple of others.

Downstairs are the toilets, a further bar, but this was closed on this occasions. There is a room containing Mario Kart, Tetris, Mortal Kombat 2, Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition, and a couple of others.

On the opposite side of the basement is a larger room, in which you can find Ms Pac-Man, Tim Crisis and Time Crisis 2, a Neo Geo 4 slot MVS, Killer Instinct 2 and Crazy Taxi.

So what did we get up to, we’ll we played games and had a couple of drinks.

I am gonna start with the negatives, the first one, being a biggie for me, was when we got our second drink, a soft drink for both of us, the barman asked if we wanted a pint or half pint, we both said pint, but he pulled out a half pint, when we pointed this out, he swore blind that this was a pint glass, it clearly wasn’t and he wouldn’t believe me that a pint was twice and much, despite me handing over Lindsay used pint glass.

I wasn’t in the mood to make a scene, but that was not great and if we had been paying punters paying for a pint and getting only a half I would be quite angry, I could imagine a pissed up bloke could get very aggressive.

Lindsay loved the blue lemonade which reminded her of the Barr Bubblegum drink she and Megan are huge fans of .

The other criticism and this is very personal, but for me, the golden age of the arcade, at least from my youth was the first half of the 1990s and in particular the games made by Sega AM2, and other than Outrun 2 SP, these games were absent. I would have loved to have seen Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Virtua Racing or Virtua Striker. But that’s just me and my love of the Model 2 games!

The place has an emphasis it seems on original hardware, and I couldn’t find any emulated stuff at all, which was wonderful.

The Neo Geo MVS cabinet was in my opinion the best one there, oh my god the joystick microswitches were sublime and heavenly to feel. Best game of Metal Slug I have had in years, especially with the CRT monitor.

Time Cop 2 was fantastic, and me and Lindsay had a great time playing it.

The one slight disappointment was Street Fighter 2, I would have rather have seen The New Challengers or Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. The cabinet felt well worn, and some of the buttons felt like less good quality replacements and were a bit mushy, but most people won’t notice, and it’s good enough, especially with a few drinks in you.

There is also a cool Photo Booth, which not only gives you a print, but also a download code to allow you to get a digital version, which is really cool.

Conclusion

So would I go back, yeah I think I will, just annoyed I am moving to Hartlepool, putting me further away.

If I were to visit again, it would have to be on a school night, I get the feeling it will be a bit too crowded on a Friday or Saturday and you would struggle to get access to the games.

The prices seem reasonable, a bit more expensive than normal Newcastle bars, but those machines are gonna need a lot of maintenance, and being a chain you expect to pay a premium., and even then it’s not too daft.

The overall aesthetic is really cool, a bit too cool for a nearby 40 year old me, but I didn’t feel too out of place.

So I can absolutely see this being a regular haunt when I am in the Toon, it was a really fun night and other than the one barman who didn’t know what a pint was, it was a great night.

I Strayed Out of Thought and Time

By

On 2nd August 2022

In Blog

It’s been a a long time since my last post, a few months now.

Truth is, one of my best friends, and most trusted companions, Mary, passed away.

She was diagnosed with cervical cancer earlier this year, and in around three months it took her from us.

It was a particularly aggressive form of cancer, by the time they discovered it, it was already stage 4 and it ravaged her body despite several types of chemotherapy being tried on it.

She leaves behind the rest of the polycule, devastated, particularly her husband Paul. They were only married in October and we are all heartbroken.

So as a result my mental health pretty much hit rock bottom and I let everything just go to hell.

Too many things were ignored, not properly written down and neglected.

It took some friends telling me that I looked and sounded like shit to try and pull myself together, and so yeah, I have kinda been working towards that.

As a result of her passing, we are relocating to Hartlepool, Paul needs looking after as he is a bit of a disaster of a human being, and with him working away from home a lot, someone needs to feed his cats, Lexi and Lilo.

We found a place, just 10 minutes walk away from his, and we pick up the keys on Tuesday.

We start moving in from Thursday when me and Megan Will be taking a bunch of stuff we transferred to storage at her parents, to the new house.

It’s a bit smaller, but to be honest not by much, other than the kitchen which is teeny tiny!

It has a dining room, in which we can pop our dining table and a lot of our kitchen stuff too, plus perhaps some board games, but it’s largely going to be a food eating/prep area.

The living room is huge compared to ours now and we will comfortably fit in there with a place for the telly and some board games with the sofa!

The first floor has two bedrooms, and because unlike most of the houses round there, it hasn’t tried to squeeze in a box room, these are both much bigger.

The loft is going to be my new studio, we are picking up some new desktops and a few bits and bob’s to make me and Megan a much bigger and better desk with more room.

Hopefully I can fit a gaming table in there too, well Paul has been commissioned to build us one.

Most of my stuff is out of the house now and in storage and the majority will be moved over in the first big day of moving.

The broadband gets switched on a week Wednesday and I need to be there for then do I am going to set up my desk then.

Still onwards and upwards

UK Games Expo

I worked the UK Games Expo, well as much as I could within the limits of my disability.

I worked the Catan stand with my good friend Donna from the Catan Studio in the US and mostly demoed 3D Catan, which I now want, despite the ruinous price tag!

I picked up the Port Royale big box, I bought direct from the publisher, so paid over the odds, but I am fairly happy with the choice as they got a bigger cut of the money.

I also purchased some bits for my Imperial Fists and some Primaris Company Champions!

The rest of the stuff took a bit longer to arrive.

Horus Heresy 2.0

As a Heresy nut I was so excited by the unveiling of the new edition of Heresy!

I managed to get hold of the new boxset, plus both books from Asgard Games, soon to be my FLGS.

I also got a set of the special weapons from Games Workshop.

As I am doing Imperial Fists I got myself the transfer sheet.

I later on grabbed them a Kratos!

I also managed to pick up a cheap sprue of the characters from Calth, so another Praetor and a Chaplain.

So far, all I have done with them, is to build three HQs, two Tactical Squads and three Terminator Squads, and I have airbrushed on the first coat of yellow for a single squad of each.

Media Servers

As we move, one thing I am doing is to reduce down my physical media, so all of my DVDs and BRDs have been ripped and I am only keeping the ones I really want to have physically.

So we have set up the Raspberry Pi which has been doing very little as a media server.

First up we installed Audio Book Shelf, a fantastic piece of software that runs in a docket container and is a wonderful little audio book server.

I love audio books and have an awful bloody lot of them, mostly Sci-Fi, a lot of Doctor Who, like pretty much most of Big Finishes catalogue, plus I think every Black Library audio published, and everything from Aconyte thus far.

The dude behind the software is constantly providing updates and so far it’s utterly fantastic.The two bugs I found were fixed in a matter of hours

The second side of the project is PLEX, for serving most other types of media.

So far we have transferred almost every single one of the over 1500 DVDs and BRDs we own.

Most of the way there and some are proving tricky to rip, but hopefully by the time Friday rolls along the project will be finished.

What I Am Modelling

It’s been very very slow, grief has destroyed my motivation.

But I painted the Kill Team barricades.

I then got painted up the a set of Thermic Plasma Conduits for my Inperium table.

And then painted up the barricades and rubble heaps from Speed Freeks.

Followed by the Ork scenery from Octarius.

And after that I painted a Tomb Blade for my Necrons!

I then painted some Ork Burna Boyz.

After that was a Mortis Poisoner Squad for my Death Guard.

I then worked with Megan to make these bases for some Totoro minis for our handfasting.

After that I finished off a T’au Breacher Team.

I then painted this Primaris Company Champion for the Blood Ravens.

Followed by a Cannoness for the Sisters of Battle.

But photos of those need to wait until next week I am afraid!

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10
  2. Sicarian Infiltrators x 5
  3. T’au Strike Team x 10
  4. Ork Nobz x 5
  5. Orruk Gutrippas x 12
  6. Blood Angels Assault Intercessors x 5
  7. Ultramarines Intercessors x 7
  8. T’au Crisis Suit Team x 3
  9. Silver Tower Heroes
  10. Hobgrot Slittas x 20

What I Am Reading

Since last time I have read a couple of books, I finished Splinter Cell Firewall by James Swallow, you can read my review here.

I also finished Sigismund The Eternal Crusader by John French, which was excellent.

Watch Dogs Legion: Day Zero by Josh Reynolds and James Swallow was also very good, and a review is here.

Three Swords by CL Werner was great, review coming very soon.

And finally Black Cat Discord by Cath Lauria was amazing.

I am now reading The Division – Recruited by Thomas Parott.

What Video Games I am Playing

Mostly been playing Horizon Zero Dawn, with the odd session of Halo Infinite.

So lots of streams happened and here they are!

https://youtu.be/l2V1wyJanuo
https://youtu.be/CKCowoKjeNI
https://youtu.be/2slrLVwAxwA
https://youtu.be/_5s-l9BRcI0

I have now started on Assassins Creed 2 and yeah I had some audio issues, but here are the videos!

What I Am Creating

I published the next battle report for Imperium the other Saturday.

A couple of new Edge of Empire episodes have dropped.

What I Am Backing

I backed Ravage by the Cybertronic Spree, which I am looking forward to a lot.

And my Redgrass Wet Palette V2 arrived, and it’s really nice.

Of course I already have it covered with stickers!

My copy of Car Wars 6th Editon finally arrived, and it’s gone straight into storage for the house move.

What I Am Spending

I picked up a few movies whilst they were on sale, Godzilla, Godzilla: King of Monsters, Godzilla vs King Kong and Minority Report.

I grabbed the new Battletome for the Nighthaunt, along with their Warscroll cards and dice.

Plus a Big’Ed Bossbunka to add to my Ork Scrap Town.

As my chair was dying we took a trip to IKEA and picked up a new one for me, a Matchspiel which is one of the ROG collaborations and it’s really nice.

We also picked up a set of Alex drawers to replace the cupboard which is moving to another part of the studio, this gives me more space to store stuff and actually get to what I need when I need it.

I did some market research for KFC and got a £20 Amazon voucher, which I used to buy Star Wars Episode IV on 4K Blu-Ray.

I got a couple more of these, starting with The Empire Strikes Back.

And The Last Jedi, cause it was on cheap.

My 9 month anniversary of Warhammer + was here, so I got the two exclusive models, plus some Kruleboyz for Warcry!

And I got a case to put my Switch in for when I travel!

I grabbed a 6TB external HDD for my PLEX/Audio Book Shelf server.

I grabbed the new Imperial Fist Legion Dice cause they looked nice!

And my studio needs a new Amazon Echo device.

The current Echo that’s in the studio is to be paired up with the current living room one to form a stereo pair for better music playback in that room.

So I got the kids Tiger version, cause look at it, it’s a mother fucking tiger, and I fucking love tigers!!!

I Wish My Sleep Would Return To Normal

By

On 11th May 2022

In Blog

The second bout of Covid has really messed up my sleep, when I want/need to be awake, I am sleepy, when I want to be asleep, I am wide awake, and no matter what I do I am really struggling to return my day/night cycle to normal.

Tonight I am gonna stay awake until bed time on Wednesday again, to try and shock my system back into a normal pattern.

I have tried it already but it didn’t work, but lets give it another go.

What I Am Modelling

I finished off my Blood Warriors for the Blades of Khorne army, which I think finished off all the mortal units I have for the army.

I also painted up a Kataphron Breacher that I got from my Forbidden Planet Imperium order.

I then had a weekend cat sitting for my sister in law so I took a few models to build, specifically the heroes from Shadows Under Hammerhall, which I built on Saturday night.

On Sunday I built the next two models, a Black Ark Fleetmaster and a Loremaster.

When I got home, I finished up the work on the Auto-Choral Transmitter for my Imperium table.

And on Monday I built the Chaos Sorcerer for Shadows Over Hammerhal.

What I Am Reading

I actually picked up a book!

I have started to read Splinter Cell: Firewall by James Swallow.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have been making great progress through the campaign for Halo Infinite, mostly working on the side missions like killing the High Value Targets, FOBs etc.

I played a couple of hours of Horizon Zero Dawn on Thursday which you can see below.

https://youtu.be/EOuQJ9xnA7U

I had an ad hoc session on Sunday night Ti test some improvements I have made to the setup to improve quality of the recording and I hope this looks better!

https://youtu.be/EQ9r4FBX-5Q

And my Monday painting stream became another Horizon Zero Dawn session cause my hands were shaking a lot!

https://youtu.be/lX5DmpGDTCs

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

On Sunday me and Megan played a game of Assassins Creed Valhalla Orlog, which of course Megan won.

Its a lovely game and the mat makes it very immersive.

What I Am Creating

I published the 27th Imperium Battle Report.

What I Am Backing

My First Kickstarter project in some time is Ravage by the Cybertronic Spree!

What I Am Spending

My Stadia Controller arrived. It was awful it stank to high heaven of cigarettes, I mean the guy I bought it off must be a very heavy smoker, and honestly, that’s something that I cannot stand the smell off.

When I opened a return he became abusive to the point where eBay stepped in, suspended his account and refunded me right away.

But a different one I bought did turn up, along with a Chromecast Ultra for mine and Megan’s bedroom TV.

I did buy an Adeptus Soriatias Codex and Datacards to allow me to run that army again, it’s an army I have a great love for and need to expand to 2000pts from the current 500 or so points.

I did pick up a hair drier, I need one for working with resin and Lindsay complains when I pinch hers from our bedroom, so this means I have one in the studio, which I am sure Lindsay will use when she needs it.

Resolutions Update – April 2022

By

On 5th May 2022

In Blog

I had a bit of a weird month, some periods of little getting done whilst making a big stride at other times.

So this month I brought my yearly tally of models to 341.

This includes the Warhound which only counts as 1!

Paint my Sisters of Battle to 2000 Points – 0%

No progress I am afraid.

Paint Both Silver Tower and Shadows over Hammerhall – 0%

No painting progress, but the heroes are now built for Silver Tower and primed.

Paint 2000 points worth of Orruk Warclans for Age of Sigmar – 19.5%

I got a Weirdnob Shaman painted this month

Paint the Primaris Ultramarines to 2000 Points – 25% Complete

No further progress this month I am afraid 🙁

Paint The Warhound Titan – Complete

I got the Warhound painted at long last so that’s off the list, it was supposed to be fine last year, but it’s finally done now!

Other Resolutions

  • Paint Two Gangs For Carnivale

Completed Resolutions

  • Paint The Warhound Titan

Current Projects

  1. T’au Breacher Squad x 10
  2. Ork Terrain
  3. Ork Burna Boyz
  4. Sicarian Infiltrators x 5
  5. T’au Strike Team x 10
  6. Ork Nobz x 5
  7. Orruk Gutrippas x 12
  8. Blood Angels Assault Intercessors x 5
  9. Ultramarines Intercessors x 7
  10. T’au Crisis Suit Team x 3

The Week of Covid

By

On 4th May 2022

In Blog

So Covid had lasted a while in this house, me and Megan are now testing negative and Lindsay is too, but swears she sees a very faint line in her test.

The law says we didn’t have to isolate, but we chose to until we tested negative, why, because it was the right thing to do.

My first bout of the disease utterly destroyed my lungs, the second bout has messed up my sleep and left me very fatigued.

Inflicting this virus on others, just cause I fancy a pizza is unacceptable, and I did crave a pizza all week.

We have to be responsible, I know most of us have been sensible and gotten vaccinated, but many have not done so, some of those because they medically cannot.

I think that from this point forward we all should be more responsible for health and keeping others well. So when you feel a bit crummy and under the weather, reach for a face mask and wear it when out, because it’s not just Covid that can kill, but things like the flu as well.

What I Am Modelling

Started the week by painting the Weirdnob Shaman for my Orruk Warclans.

He is painted in such a way to bridge the two parts of the army, the Ironjawz and Kruleboyz, with aspects and textures from both.

I then painted a pair of Medusa Guns for my Death Korps of Krieg.

And this was followed by the crew for the guns!

At this point I painted the ruined Factorums I got with my Forbidden Planet order.

Then I started work on some Blood Warriors for my Blades of Khorne army. Which have reached the stage of getting washed.

So what next to hit the painting table, note the T’au are on hold as my new Redgrass wet palette is hopefully coming soon.

  1. T’au Breacher Squad x 10
  2. Ork Terrain
  3. Blades of Khorne Blood Warriors
  4. Ork Burna Boyz
  5. Sicaran Infiltrators
  6. T’au Strike Team x 10
  7. Ork Nobz x 5
  8. Orruk Gutrippas x 12
  9. Blood Angels Assault Intercessors x 5
  10. Ultramarines Intercessors x 7

What Video Games I Am Playing

Put an hour in on Far Cry 3 and I made the noob mistake of not saving the game, and well it crashed!

I got a couple of hours in on Horizon Zero Dawn on Thursday which you can view here.

https://youtu.be/74adgDv0s9s

I got an updated controller family photo done, although considering I have now added a couple more, its already out of date!

I am currently watching a few auctions of some Stadia controllers on eBay, whilst it’s not exactly a controller that is particularly associated with any game, I am reliably told that at least two publishers use this when developing some AAA games, which has me curious as to see if those games actually feel better with a Stadia controller.

I also managed to finally get Neo Geo games running in Retroarch, which I am super happy about!

What I Am Creating

I published the latest episode of Edge of Empire on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night I published the 25th Imperium Battle Report.

On Saturday I filmed and published the issue 26 battle report.

The Wednesday report is also in the can and ready to publish too.

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a new controller, you know for the emulation joy, this time it’s a Neo-Geo controller, well not the amazing joystick from the AES console but the one from the Neo Geo CD, which is still a great controller.

Of course cause it’s a USB-C controller I had to grab some USB-C female to USB-A male adaptors, which is fine, I guess it’s probably something I should have lying around for future use as USB-C becomes more prevalent.

I also grabbed a couple of USB-A to USB-C cables to make sure I could plug in my Elite controllers charging dock permanently and still have one spare to charge the mouse when needed.

And finally, finally, my Hyperkin Duke arrived, I ordered this months ago and it’s taken this long for it to come!

So happy to have this as it’s a controller I remember very fondly!

And I did buy Lindsay a new keyboard, simply because the sound of her current keyboard, something that her work got that costs according to Amazon £7.99!

The sound just hurts the ears and she goes through keyboard so quickly because she just wears down the print on the keys in a few months, so I also grabbed her some pink double shot PBT pudding keycaps.

So here is the final look!

And I also grabbed a keyboard cleaning kit cause mine is in desperate need of a good clean, plus I needed a keycap puller for Lindsay’s one.

Oh and I won an auction on eBay for a Stadia controller and it’s only cost me £7!

I also got asked to do some game play testing for which the publisher wants me to use a DualSense alongside the Xbox controller, so they sent me one today.

So Many Ideas

By

On 6th April 2022

In Blog

This week I have been doing a lot of research about Battle Reports, I am trying to branch out a bit from Imperium ones.

I am hoping to do a Blood Bowl Sevens or Heresy one tomorrow, but it’s dependent on what’s happening overall in the day.

Me and Lindsay are thinking of joining Skillshare so I can try and figure out some ways to take photos better and get an easier way to produce the reports.

But let’s see what we can do!

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting Morg ‘n’ Thorg, which means I have no more Blood Bowl left to paint 🙁

And then I painted the Corpse Grinder Cult gang for Necromunda, which completed all of my Necromunda projects that I had outstanding.

After which I finished off Fafnir Rann as a test model for an Imperial Fists army.

I painted the Haemotrope Reactor from Warhammer Imperium to add to that box of scenery.

I am currently working on some Assault Intercessors for the Blood Angels army I share with Megan.

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. Blood Angels Assault Intercessors x 8, Primaris Lieutenant & Librarian in Phobos Armour
  2. Orruk Weirdnob Shaman
  3. Death Korps of Krieg Medusa x 2
  4. T’au Breacher Squad x 10
  5. Ork Terrain
  6. Khorne Blood Warriors x 10
  7. Ork Burna Boyz
  8. Sicaran Infiltrators x 5
  9. T’au Fire Warriors x 10
  10. Ork Nobz x 5

What I Am Reading

Not made much progress on my book, but I have listened to a couple of audiobooks, first was the Bookkeeper’s Skull by Justin Hill which was very good, and just a little bit creepy.

I then listened to Traitor Rock, also by Justin Hill, also a great listen, mostly because the Cadians are space Geordies!

I am now listening to Warhawk by Chris Wraight, I already read the book which was brilliant, so I know I will enjoy this!

What Video Games Am I Playing

Finally played some Horizon Zero Dawn after a couple of missed weeks due to Company of Legends and illness.

I played for 1 hour and 40 minutes on Thursday.

https://youtu.be/hFhF1S-u4k0

What Tabletop Games Am I Playing

I had a game of Warhammer Age of Sigmar tonight with Jabez at Durham Raiders.

And I lost, by a huge amount!

What I Am Spending

I bought a few movies that were on sale, I got Fighting with my Family, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot and Baywatch (seriously it’s a really funny film).

I bought a new bottle of Resin cause I am pretty much out, got a grey this time, and from Elegoo.

Also picked up Rogue One for my 4K Star Wars collection.

And I bought the upgrade to the Directors Cut for Death Stranding on the PC.

And my Humble Choice membership renewed so I have now got Ghostrunner, Destroy All Humans and a few other games

Resolutions Update – March 2022

By

On 1st April 2022

In Blog

I failed to make an update for February, but this is because I lost my nana and I wasn’t exactly in a very good place.

Anyway let’s see how I have done in the last two months, and I brought my painted models up to 290.

Paint my Sisters of Battle to 2000 Points – 0%

No progress I am afraid.

Paint Both Silver Tower and Shadows over Hammerhall – 0%

No progress here either!

Paint 2000 points worth of Orruk Warclans for Age of Sigmar – 15%

I got a unit of Ironjawz Brutes painted this month!

Paint the Primaris Ultramarines to 2000 Points – 25% Complete

The first 500 points are painted, we now have a combat patrol led by Uriel Ventris, and consisting of an Intercessor Squad, Redemptor Dreadnought and a Suppressor Squad.

The next 500pts will be made up of an Assault Intercessor Squad, Bladeguard Veteran Squad, Eliminator Squad and Eradicator Squad.

I also plan to buy an Invader ATV for them as well.

This should give me the following list.

+ HQ +

Uriel Ventris

+ Troops +

Assault Intercessor Squad
. 4x Assault Intercessor: 4x Astartes Chainsword, 4x Frag & Krak grenades, 4x Heavy Bolt Pistol
. Assault Intercessor Sgt: Astartes Chainsword, Plasma pistol

Intercessor Squad: Bolt rifle
. 4x Intercessor: 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades
. Intercessor Sergeant

+ Elites +

Bladeguard Veteran Squad
. 2x Bladeguard Veteran: 2x Frag & Krak grenades, 2x Heavy Bolt Pistol, 2x Master-crafted power sword, 2x Storm Shield
. Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant: Heavy Bolt Pistol

Redemptor Dreadnought: 2x Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, Heavy flamer, Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon

+ Fast Attack +

Invader ATV Squad
. Invader ATV: Onslaught Gatling Cannon

Suppressor Squad
. 2x Suppressor: 2x Accelerator autocannon, 2x Bolt pistol, 2x Frag & Krak grenades
. Suppressor Sergeant

+ Heavy Support +

Eliminator Squad: Bolt sniper rifle
. Eliminator Sergeant: Bolt sniper rifle
. 2x Eliminators: 2x Bolt pistol, 2x Camo cloak, 2x Frag & Krak grenades

Eradicator Squad: Melta rifle
. 2x Eradicator: 2x Bolt pistol
. Eradicator Sgt

Other Resolutions

  • Paint Two Gangs For Carnivale
  • Paint The Warhound Titan

Current Projects

I have just started work on the Corpse Grinder Cult gang fro Necromunda and Fafnir Rann for an Imperial Fists project.

My curren painting queue is thus:-

  1. Corpse Grinder Cult x 15
  2. Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenant, Assault Intercessors x 8 & Librarian in Phobos Armour
  3. Orruk Weirdnob Shaman
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Medusa x 2
  5. T’au Breacher Team x 10
  6. Fafnir Rann
  7. Ork Terrain
  8. Blades of Khorne Blood Warriors x 10
  9. Ork Burna Boyz
  10. Sicaran Infiltrators x 5

Company of Legends March 2022

By

On 31st March 2022

In Blog

The past weekend it was Company of Legends, our twice yearly Horus Heresy Residential weekend that Edge of Empire run.

It was fun but exhausting, and I love doing it.

We managed to pull it off successfully, i always worry that I am less organised than I need to be, but Graham and Chris as usual were amazing.

I got to play four games over the weekend, with my Questoris Knights army list below

+ HQ +

Seneschal. Questoris Knight Crusader: Meltagun, Occular Augmetics, Stormspear rocket pod, Thermal Cannon

+ Troops +

Scion Auxilia
. Questoris Knight Armiger Talon: Armiger Thermal Spear, Dreadnaught Close Combat Weapon, Meltagun
. Questoris Knight Armiger Talon: Armiger Thermal Spear, Dreadnaught Close Combat Weapon, Meltagun

Scion Auxilia
. Questoris Knight Armiger Talon: Armiger Thermal Spear, Dreadnaught Close Combat Weapon, Meltagun
. Questoris Knight Armiger Talon: Armiger Thermal Spear, Dreadnaught Close Combat Weapon, Meltagun

Scion Martial
. Questoris Knight Paladin: Bio-corrosive rounds for its heavy stubbers, Occular Augmetics, Questoris Battlecannon

Scion Martial
. Questoris Knight Paladin: Bio-corrosive rounds for its heavy stubbers, Occular Augmetics, Questoris Battlecannon, Twin Icarus autocannon

+ Fast Attack +

Scion Dolorous
. Questoris Knight Gallant: Bio-corrosive rounds for its heavy stubbers, Heavy Stubber, Occular Augmetics

+ Heavy Support +

Scion Arbalester
. Questoris Knight Dominus: Occular Augmetics, Plasma Decimator, 2x Twin-Linked Siegebreaker Cannon, Two Shieldbreaker Missiles, Volcano Lance

My first game was against Rob on Friday night, and his Mechanicum, which I lost, was in fact tabled.

My next game was the first main game of the day which I played against Ozzie and his Emperors Children and Mechanicum, I lost that but at least wasn’t my tabled!

My third game of the weekend saw me face Mark Frost and his daemons at long last, allowing him to claim the grand slam of beating all four Edge of Empire hosts with the army.

But I held my own ok I think.

My final game of the weekend saw me face off against Henry and his Emperors Childrens allied with Imperial Milita.

That was my most successful game, I did alright, but losing a couple of knights to an Assault Squad with Melts Bombs cost me the game.

The traitors won the weekend, probably because I was playing for the loyalists.

It was an awesome weekend and I cannot wait for September.

What I Am Modelling

With Company of Legends, not a lot got done!

I did have a build session on Tuesday night and got a bunch of terrain for my 15th table built. This is stuff from the Charadon which is going to supplement the Imperium terrain to make a full tables worth.

I then finished painting my Space Marine Primaris Supressors to add to the Ultramarines army.

At the same time I painted up some Thermo-Pipes.

And after that started work on an Ork Kommandoes Kill Team.

And I painted a Thermo-Exchanger Shrine at the same time, also for the Imperium box.

At the same time, I painted up some referees for Blood Bowl.

And late last night I finished off a Deredeo Dreadnought I bought at Ardhammer in January, although I think the guns are recasts, the actual Dreadnought seems fine, but the guns are just not quite right.

I am gonna keep it, I only paid £10 for it, but I need to keep a closer eye on things I buy at secondhand sales.

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. Corpse Grinder Cult x 15
  2. Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenant, Librarian in Phobos Armour & Assault Intercessors x 8
  3. Orruk Weirdnob Shaman
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Medusa x 2
  5. Morg N Thorg
  6. T’au Empire Breacher Squad x 10
  7. Fafnir Rann
  8. Ork Terrain
  9. Khorne Blood Warriors x 10
  10. Sicarian Infiltrators x 10

What I Am Reading

I have yet to pick up a book this week 🙁

But I have been listening to The Wolftime by Gav Thorpe which is really good.

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not a great deal just a daily game of Halo Infinite for the most part to get the points.

What Tabletop Games Am I Playing

Other than those at Company of Legends, none.

What I Am Creating

Two more battle reports were published, issues 22 and 23!

Now that all the tutorial missions are done, I am going to be moving to a new schedule, Wednesday will be Imperium and Saturday will be something else.

I am kinda thinking the first something else will be a Horus Heresy very small Zone Mortalis game.

What I Am Spending

I did manage to pick up Watchmen: Ultimate Cut in 4K from the Microsoft Store for £3.99 which is awesome!

Also when at the North East Model Centre on Thursday, I bought another Painting Handle!

An Exceptional Swimmer

By

On 22nd March 2022

In Blog

So I am gonna write about something, controversial, well I don’t think it’s controversial personally.

I want to write about the US swimmer Lia Thomas, whom you may have seen featured in hate filed articles arguing that as a biological male, she has no right to compete against cis women.

I saw a meme that made a big deal about the fact that in the 2020-21 season, she ranked 462nd amongst males.

But you see that got me wondering, she had to be on oestrogen for a full 12 months before she could compete as a woman. So that means in the 2020-21 season she was competing against cis men whilst on oestrogen.

Oestrogens biggest impact on a person assigned male at birth, is the extremely quick reduction in muscle mass, it drops off you very quickly.

What this means is that you have a denser bone structure that you need to work harder to make work, so against cis men, and even against cis women, you would find yourself at a disadvantage.

So how did Lia perform in the last season she competed in, prior to oestrogen treatment.

Well the answer is available for all to see, she was in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle events, number 1, not simply good, she was the best amongst men in the entire US.

Her times when she swam before her transition were exceptional, I mean they were incredible.

She was an exceptional swimmer when competing as a man, and is an exceptional swimmer when competing as a woman.

What this says to me is that it’s not about her being a mediocre man who changed sex to win medal, but that she is simply a good swimmer no matter how she competes.

It reminded me of a US army study that looked at trans women in training. After being on oestrogen, they did have an advantage over the average cis woman, 12% to be precise.

However, the average elite level female runner is 29% better than the average cis woman, and none of the studies participants even reached that level.

Now I conceded, the research done into trans woman’s participation in sport is limited, and the conclusions are not quite conclusive either way.

But so far the evidence suggests that trans women are less likely to be as good as other cis athletes in their ability level.

But contrary to what people say, trans women aren’t dominating woman’s sport, far from it.

Lia Thomas is simply an exceptionally good swimmer, she has demonstrated it in both gender categories by dominating them.

So frankly I think it’s more likely that like Michael Phelps, she may have genetic differences that simply make her better at swimming.

What I Am Modelling

I painted the Pathfinder Team for my T’au Empire.

After that I finished Darkstrider.

A Thermo-Exchanger Shrine got bought earlier in the week and painted up on Sunday night to add to the Company of Legends terrain.

After this I competed a unit of Deathmarks for my Necrons.

I then turned my attention to the Skitarii Rangers that I needed for a battle report.

Currently on my painting desk are some Primaris Suppressors for the Ultramarines.

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. Ork Kommandos Kill Team x 12
  2. Corpse Grinder Cult x 15
  3. Blood Bowl Referees x 2
  4. Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenant, Librarian in Phobos Armour & Assault Intercessors x 8
  5. Orruk Weirdnob Shaman
  6. Death Korps of Krieg Medusa x 2
  7. Morg n Thorg
  8. T’au Breacher Squad x 10
  9. Fafnir Rann
  10. Ork Terrain

What I Am Reading

I published my review of School of X which you can read here.

And I also finished To Chart the Clouds by Evan Dicken, a review of which you will find here.

I am currently reading Reign of the Devourer by David Annandale.

What Video Games Am I Playing

Not much, but I did play Horizon Zero Dawn for a couple of hours on stream on Thursday.

https://youtu.be/ZhuDqER_R7A

Other than that it’s mostly been Halo Infinite, been playing Ranked Area games to get an achievement.

And some Forza Horizon 5 here and there.

What I Am Creating

I published the issue 20 Imperium Battle Report.

What I Am Spending

I did grab a Thermo-Exchanger Shrine to add to one of the Company of Legends table, one of the Sector Mechanicum probably.

I bought the Itch.io Ukraine bundle, it’s an awful lot of stuff, but the donation is the best but about that.

To help with the vlogging for Company of Legends I grabbed a Mini LED video light.

I wanted the one recommended by Randomfrankp, but that particular model isn’t available in the UK, so I grabbed this one as it’s pretty much the same thing.

Hello Enterprise

By

On 16th March 2022

In Blog

We finally got a new car, a year after we initially ordered one, and it’s a bit of a tale.

We first ordered a Vauxhall Combo Life Diesel in March 2021, we were told a six month wait due to chip shortages.

I was told that the car was built, it just needed chips a few weeks later.

In October I chased it up, oh the chip shortage means it will be March or May when it’s ready.

So anyway, I was browsing the Vauxhall website to check some details about the car only to notice, it was no longer listed, turns out that model was discontinued in September, before I last spoke to them.

So I called them on Wednesday, and was told that the order would still be honoured, sometime in the next 12 to 24 months!!!

So we said we would select an alternative and were assured that we would have to wait no longer than 12 weeks, maybe a few more depending on trim.

Checking the website, that actually said 19 weeks, so we were already a bit suspicious of their promises.

On Thursday me and Megan decided to make some backup plans in case the Mokka we were looking at, didn’t work out, and we decided to give Hyundai a call.

They told us if we were okay to have it in white, we could have a Ioniq Electric, in 4 days time as it had literally just been delivered from the factory to go in general sale.

And even if we wanted another colour, they said it was just a 6 week wait, 8 depending on sea conditions to get another car. Unlike the ICE versions, it’s not subject to the same chip issues as it uses a pair of SoCs like many other electric cars to control everything that other cars have over 100 chips control.

So we rushed up, and spoke with the salesman, Matt, who was a great guy, and he showed us round the one in the showroom, let us sit in the actual car we would be driving away, although it was totally covered in protective plastic, and then it’s a test drive.

Okay, it ain’t the worlds most exciting car to look at, or drive, but it’s economical, it’s a nice drive and it has air conditioning that isn’t winding the window down!

So we did all the paperwork, paid the £199 advance fee, and arranged to pick it up on Tuesday. Motability need 4 days to set up the agreement with the DWP, start the insurance and send the PIN number.

In the meantime the dealers got it fully detailed and charged up, and although we already have a home charging point, it’s not a type 2 port so will need to be replaced, but that’s covered under the Motability scheme.

Given that it’s white and fancy, the girls have decided that it will be called Enterprise, cause as you probably know, we are massive Trekkies.

What I Am Modelling

I started by finishing up the four Zone Mortalis tiles I bought last week.

I then painted a couple of Canoptek Constructs for my Necrons, a Canoptek Spyder and a Canoptek Doomstalker.

And followed a Trio of T’au Crisis Suits, armed with Flamers.

I started on an Ultramarines Intercessor Squad and Redemptor Dreadnought on stream yesterday night.

So what’s coming up for me next week?

  1. T’au Pathfinder Team x 10
  2. Ork Kommandoes Kill Team x 12
  3. Corpse Grinder Cult x 15
  4. Blood Bowl Referees x 2
  5. Blood Angels Assault Intercessors x 8, Primaris Lieutenant & Librarian in Phobos Armour
  6. Skitarii Rangers x 10
  7. Orruk Weirdnob Shaman
  8. Death Korps of Krieg Medusa x 3
  9. Morg n’ Thorg
  10. T’au Breacher Team x 10

What I Am Reading

School of X was finished today and a review should be published tomorrow.

What Video Games Am I Playing

For my relaxing game, I have been playing Townscaper, which really is very very chilled out, I think I am done with it now as I have 100% of the achievements.

I have been playing some Forza Horizon 5 most days, which is lots of fun, and the occasional match of Halo Infinite.

I am doing okay with Far Cry 3, but after the girls watched me skin a tapier, I am banned from playing it when they are in the room!

What Tabletop Games Am I Playing

Sadly none 🙁

What I Am Creating

The next two battle reports from the Imperium series were published, issues 17, 18 and 19.

And the Company of Legends list episode was published on Edge of Empire!

What Am I Backing

No active projects, but the Doubleclicks Greatest Hits album has been delivered from Rawr! Velociraptor!

What Am I Spending

I picked up Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarock for the Xbox, although I imagine it will be some time until I get to play it.

I also bought some terrain on eBay, specifically a set of Thermo Pipes and a Thermo-Exchanger Shrine to add to my Imperium table.

I also picked up the two store birthday models that I ordered a couple of weeks ago.

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