Most of us nerds are huge Firefly fans, and Jayne is absolutely a fan favourite, not so much the actor, he turned out to be an utter prick, as did the shows creator, but sigh, we still love the show for the rest of the cast.
Marian Call is a fantastic artist based in Juneau, Alaska (which prompts me to consider another song to add to this list, but that might slip into next year), and I love her music, its quirky, geeky and very cool.
And this song is about Jayne the cunning man of the Verse!
Oh Aquaman, he really is the last hero most people think of when it comes to the Justice League, despite the Jason Momoa movie!
This song is a lovely little ditty from Mark Aaron James, a nerdy rock performer from out of New York who makes some amazing and introspective nerd rock songs.
And yeah its a lot of fun cause its Aquaman wondering why isn’t loved as much as Batman!
This is a bumper two week update due to being generally unwell this past week.
Part of that is probably mental, the car is in the garage, so I am stuck at home, can’t even get to club for a game.
Hopefully the car will be back with us this week, but the repair got delayed by the big storm.
And the bunny is getting better, but it looks like the head tilt will be permanent, which means he will likely need anti-dizziness medication for life plus eye drops.
Tidying the PC
My PC was a mess, after reinstalling Windows I needed to desperately clean the desk and make it tidier and tackle the cable management, cause that was horrendous.
But a couple of days of pottering around, and it feels and looks a lot better, I still need to replace the desk in the long term and the secondary monitor is starting to show signs of dying.
I then painted something that I can’t quite talk about yet, but it was a lot of fun to do and I am really looking forward to showing it off eventually.
I did print this Christmas decoration for our geeky tree, it was supposed to have an Enterprise D in the middle, but I ended up taking it out due to having to make it smaller to fit on my printer.
The Black Friday Steam sale happened, so I picked up Portal and Portal 2 very cheap, never played them before and figured why not try them, cost less than £3 for both of them.
And as I no longer have a DVD drive in my PC I picked up Far Cry and Far Cry 2, as I quite fancy playing them, alongside a dirt cheap copy of Splinter Cell, cause my original Xbox disk is scratched to hell
Oh and I saw a 4k Blu Ray of Star Trek Beyond for £5 on Amazon, so I bought that!
So today we got the news that Paramount has decided to pull Star Trek Discovery from Netflix and force the UK to wait until early 2022 to get season 4.
Well that just sucks balls and I am gonna be clear, I am not gonna wait, I will pirate it, why, because USians can’t help but spoil stuff.
Was the same with series 1 of The Mandalorian, so yeah, so will pirate it, and I will make it clear that this policy makes me extremely unlikely to subscribe to Paramount+ at all and I will pirate subsequent shows.
The golden era of streaming has ended as the market fragments as every company wants a piece of the pie.
But well, I need to dust off my pirate hat once again.
Home Assistant
Today I took the old Core 2 Duo that was originally going to be used as a NAS until we discovered that the PC can’t run FreeNAS and I installed Home Assistant on it, running on a virtual machine in Debian.
It’s gonna be a lot of work to configure, but I look forward to the challenge.
Windows Reinstall
I have had to reinstall Windows 11 on my main PC, I wanted to move away from the Dev Channel as I now need stability, but that necessitated a full reinstall, not a huge deal but it’s done now.
Got the PC more or less back to what I want it to be.
What Am I Modelling
I started the week off by painting a Shokkjump Dragsta for my Orks.
I ended up painting them in the traditional Hammers of Sigmar colours, because I really want them to stand out on the tabletop and also stand apart from my Celestial Vindicators, because that’s how important their roles in the army is.
I then started work on Obi-Wan Kenobi for my Grand Army of the Republic force for Star Wars Legions.
So what’s in my painting queue for next week?
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Necron Skorpekh Destroyers x 6, Warriors x 3 and Canoptek Plasmacyte x 2
Blackstone Fortress The Archivist
Adeptus Custodes Wardens x 5
Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Bolter Team x 3
Blackstone Fortress Ambull & Borewyrm Infestations x 2
Ork Flash Gitz x 5
Grand Army of the Republic BARC Speeder
Necron Warriors x 10 & Lord Hasmoteph the Resplendent
Imperial Knight Warden
What Am I Reading
Not a thing, but I did listen to the audiobook of Dominion which was quite good, really good plot and lots of cool action.
This now completes that army to 2000 points and completes my resolution for 2021 for Age of Sigmar.
I then built models to ensure my next 20 projects were ready to go and I got that lot finished on Saturday night.
Annoyingly I had to 3D print a couple of bits for this, first off I managed to lose the back of a head for a B1 Bartledroid for Star Wars Legion, so I basically printed off a droids head to harvest the back of it.
And when building an Imperial Knight, I got a miscast part, luckily it was a part that’s very commonly available as an STL because it allows you to magnetise a weapon, so i printed that and now my Warden has a choice of either the chainsword or the fist!
I then painted up a bust that I printed last month of a Death Korps of Krieg Infantryman.
I am currently working on a Shokkjump Dragsta for the Orks, the buggy is finished, just working on the crew now.
Macrotek Enginseer & Servo Automata x 4
Ork Shokkjump Dragsta
Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear & Celestant Prime
Obi Wan Kenobi
Necron Skorpekh Destroyers x 6, Canoptek Plasmacytes x 2 & Warriors x 3
Blackstone Fortress the Archivist
Adeptus Custodes Wardens x 5
Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Bolter Team x 3
Blackstone Fortress Ambull & Borewyrm Infestations x 2
Ork Flash Gitz x 5
What I Am Reading
Not a sausage, sleep problems are making it a real issue.
What Video Games Am I Playing
A little bit of Forza Horizon 4 started the week to get me in the mood for 5!
I also decided it’s time to use my Oculus Quest seriously, and I got it up and running with my PC properly, playing some Project Cars and Star Wars Squadrons.
I also played Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive for a play through video which uploaded yesterday.
Of course with Forza Horizon 5 landing on Friday, I played an awful lot of that!
Most of the past fortnight I have been quite unwell, a tummy bug that just refused to budge.
Spent a few days in bed unable to do much of anything including one day where I basically slept for 20 hours.
Emulation
So the emulation game needs improving, and I have tried to do that by turning my Raspberry Pi kit that I got earlier this week into an emulation console.
Originally when I ordered it, I was thinking of making it a server to run Home Assistant, but I am not quite ready to do that yet, but it is high on the list.
Anyway at first I installed Recallbox, but I couldn’t get on with it and it refused to recognise the DualShock 3 controller I am using temporarily, well I was and then an Xbox controller was freed up, and I much preferthe layout of the Xbox pad.
So I ended up putting Batocera on there, but that refused to connect to the houses Wi-Fi, which was really annoying as Batocera was my first choice to run the system.
So I ended up going with RetroPie, which is a fantastic bit of software and very user configurable, but it’s as user friendly as I wanted it to be.
At the moment I have emulators for the Master System, Mega Drive, Game Gear, Mega CD, 32X, Dreamcast, NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Amstrad CPC and PlayStation running and still figuring out to get Amiga CD32 and Neo Geo games running.
The primary intended use is for my nephews to enjoy use of it and play some amazing games from my childhood.
But I am looking forward to being able to play some of these games myself.
Meanwhile downstairs I took a photo of my family of controllers that I have right now!
I have now started on Halo 4, which I never got very far in the last time I played, and I am now further than that.
I found it frustrating and dark, and at the time my setup wasn’t that great. Much more enjoyable to play now, but the Forerunner level was a bit of a chew on.
Also played a few games of Street Fighter Alpha, I seem to be incapable of pulling off the special moves or defeating the final opponent 🙁
I played a lot of Forza Horizon 4, managing to go on an Achievement hunting run on Friday, getting myself a total of 150G in a couple of hours.
I am kind of wanting to get to 32000G by Christmas, so need a few more days like that.
What Tabletop Games Am I Playing
Adeptus Titanicus was played a couple of weeks ago at the club, mostly as an intro game for Graham.
Myself, Lindsay and Megan also played a game off Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese Pizza, which I won, and a game of Love Letter, which Lindsay won on a Friday night.
What I Am Creating
I have been quite ill these past weeks so things have been slow.
I have made a video that’s going out Monday about a couple of odd games for the Master System from Brazil, more because I though that they were weird.
And the next Imperium Battle Report went out as well!
What I Am Backing
Actually noting right now.
What I Am Cooking
Another week with nowt at all.
What I Am Spending
Probably too much, I bought a couple of movies to watch on the Xbox, I had some vouchers going spare from the rewards program.
I bought Ultra Street Fighter IV just cause I fancied playing it and I didn’t own it, only cost me £3.99 and I was happy paying it. I want Street Fighter V but I am gonna wait until next month for that.
I did also pick up Aeon’s End because it came on sale at the right price.
And I umm, well I bought an Xbox Series X, managed to get it from EE with a pair of extra Controllers and Assassins Creed Valhalla as an Add to Plan item, which is fantastic.
It’s going to live in the den and will also be used as the households 4k Blu Ray Player, so I picked up a couple of 4K UHD Blu-Rays, The Little Mermaid and Mulan, cause it’s Lindsay and Megan I need to win over to this new format!
I am following the advice the doctor gave me, so no being in bed unless it’s for sleep, staying up until I am actually tired, no caffeine after 4pm (I am actually quite bad at that one) e and getting up at a set time etc.
The biggest issue I am having is that I love reading in bed, it’s my safe space to read and it’s where I feel most comfortable reading, so my reading has plunged to a record low.
But I am struggling to be asleep before 4am and it’s making my days awful, even when I am so tired I just can’t get to sleep.
I don’t want to end up on sleeping tablets, so I am doing my best to avoid that, but something has to give.
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by painting two units of Stromcast Eternals Judicators armed with Skybolt Bows.
This actually completes all the Stormcast Eternals I have right now, other than Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear, and the Celestant Prime should also be delivered and day now.
I then painted some Orks, specifically five Nobz, a Painboy, Warboss, Gorzag Gitatompa and Nikkit.
And whilst painting those, I also knocked out the Spindle Drones and Guardian Drones for Blackstone Fortress, which actually completes the original games and the Ascension expansion.
Started that late Monday night, with very frequent saves. I had intended to play a level a night but due to a shitty sleep cycle, I only got a chance ti play again on Friday night.
I also started streaming again, and had a very early morning Bioshock Infinite stream on Thursday, which was uploaded to YouTube on Friday.
I have got the old PC that used to belong to Geoff set up to run some old games via emulation, it is however a lot lot older than we thought it was and the GPU is not the GTX 750 that Geoff was told it was, but rather a GT210, which is significantly worse.
I have also played a little bit of Back 4 Blood, which has been rather enjoyable, and I am continuing to play Halo Reach.
What Tabletop Games Am I Playing
Sadly none, but I am playing Adeptus Titanicus tonight with Graham for an Intro game!
In regards to the YouTube stuff, I made it to 75 subscribers on Monday, which is amazing cause I was on like 30 something a few months ago, and at time of writing, I am now at 88 subscribers which is mind blowing!
I am not trying to become some kind of popular content creator, I just feel like there is stuff I want to do for my own enjoyment. I have zero interest in appeasing the algorithm, I just want to make content that I personally want to see myself.
So my current focus is on the battle reports in the casual narrative style, and retro video game playthroughs. And any Twitch video game playthroughs will get added to that as well.
What I Am Backing
Sadly Munchkin Mayhem was cancelled, so right now I am not backing anything.
What I Am Cooking
Not a good week, other than beans on toast, nowt.
What I Am Spending
I feel like I am finally in a place where I can restore this section of the blog, but I may not share any hauls quite as frequently.
This week was subdued in terms of spending initially, I bought myself the Play Pink Bundle on Humble Bundle, I had most of what’s in the bundle, but what I didn’t have saved me plenty of money still.
And Steam Codes for most other stuff is being given to friends, who don’t have them.
I also bought a couple of video games in addition to the bundle.
I bought Far Cry 6, well I got it dirt cheap from a friend who works at Ubisoft. I also grabbed Alan Wake Remastered with a voucher for the Epic Games Store and the Premium Add-Ons Bundle for Forza Horizon 5.
I also kinda spent some money on a Raspberry Pi kit, I am enjoying old games and I want to add a emulation machine in the den, that’s easily transported around. Along with a USB Bluetooth dongle so I can link the DualShock 3 Controllers to it.
