Category: Blog Page 7 of 45

Happy New Year

By

On 8th January 2023

In Blog

Ok well 2023 is here and I am really hoping it it’s not gonna be the massive bag of dicks that 2020, 2021 and 2022 were, I really want this to be a better year.

I have planned out some resolutions and ideas I want to carry out, which you can see here.

For New Years Eve I spent a couple of hours at Paul’s, but the damn cold/flu has still kicked my arse and I am struggling with spending time out of the house for far too long.

So I returned home and played some The Witcher 3.

New Years Day we went to Megan’s parents and had a roast dinner, but the ill left me barely conscious for most of it.

A Less Ideal Bit

Sadly our street saw a murder this week, and a fella was purposefully run over, we ended up stuck in the house for two days unable to leave as the whole street was a crime scene.

It’s left us all a bit shaken, I mean it’s the last thing you expect, but it is what it is.

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting the Lord Veritant for the Stormcast Eternals, need to sort out a list for the AoS Weekender for them.

After which I painted the Contemptor Dreadnought, for my Imperial Fists.

I then painted up a pair of apothecaries for the Imperial Fists too!

I then painted up Sigismund to lead my Imperial Fists in the great battles of the Horus Heresy.

And finally I finished up the Land Raider Spartan for the Imperial Fists!

I am currently preparing to work on a squad of Ultramarines Intercessors for my 2023 Resolution army.

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. Ultramarines Intercessors x 8
  2. Silver Tower Heroes
  3. Blood Angels Repulsor
  4. Templar Brethren x 10
  5. Hobgrot Slittaz x 20
  6. Kâhl & Einhyr Champion
  7. The Crimson Court
  8. Ultramarines Lieutenants x 8
  9. Battle Sisters Squad x 10
  10. UCM Vancouvers x 3

What I Am Reading

I published a review for The Siege of X-41 by Tristan Palmgren which you can read here.

And a review of Stars and Stripes by Sean Grisby and Stewart Hotson which you can read here.

I read Age of the Undead by C. L. Werner and that’s was alright, a review will come next week.

I have since started on The Veiled Masters by Tom Pratt and i have read one chapter thus

I did listen to the audio book of Hostile Takeover by David Liss and it was okay, it was fine just not up to the standards of the Aconyte novels.

What Video Games I Am Playing

New Years Eve I started my new play through of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition with the next-gen update.

So far I have logged 4.9 hours.

What I Am Winning

I won a copy of the model railway game, Blocks Tracks Trains, which looks fairly cool.

I won a copy of The Jumping Cookie on PlayStation, so that was cool!

I also won a copy of Wobbledogs on Steam, which is cool.

I also won a copy of The Whisperer, which looks like a cool game.

A copy of Theatre of War was also won!

And for Xbox I won a copy of Silenced: The House.

What I Am Spending

I bought a little tool kit for electronics, specifically for the Nintendo Switch Triwing bit.

Megans stocking had a new shell for a Joycon, in her favourite colour, purple!

So this means in the house we will have a Joycon in the favourite colours of myself (green), Lindsay (pink), Paul (blue) and now Megan!

I also picked up some Command Strips to help me mount a few things on the wall, specifically an extension lead for Megan’s dressing table so she can easily use her hair straightens and hair dryer.

Plus it means at long last we can mount her Hue Light Strip, all 3 meters of it.

On Friday, from a yet to be announced sponsor, a new webcam, the Elgato Facecam, which really has elevated my setup above and beyond what the Logitech C920 did!

Really happy with this bit of kit, it required a bit of work on my set up, but damn it looks good now in OBS

Resolutions for 2023

By

On 31st December 2022

In Blog

Well my resolutions for 2022 were a disaster because of stuff in my personal life so let’s do 2023 and do it right!

For all my painting resolutions, I will be using the Paintslam 2023 Hobby Log, I have used this before, but because of the disaster that was 2022, I kinda lost track.

You can download the log here!

So here are my resolutions

  • Build & Paint a 2000 Points Army of Drukhari
  • Build & Paint a 500 Points Combat Patrol of Genestealer Cultists
  • Build & Paint a 500 Points Combat Patrol of Tyranids
  • Bring my Primaris Ultramarines to 2000 Points
  • Bring my Orruk Warclans to 2000 Points
  • Build & Paint Two Gangs for Carnivale
  • Get my Weight to Under 100kg & Sustain it Below That
  • Publish One Battle Report a Month
  • Stream Twice a Week
  • Complete my 2023 VideoGameGeek Video Game Challenge
  • Read 40 Books
  • Get Edge of Empire Running Like a Well Oiled Machine
  • A Bimonthly RPG Night With the Polycule

Build & Paint a 2000 Points Army of Drukhari

This was gonna be a 500 points combat patrol, but I was just gifted a box with a fair few Drukhari models in it, so yeah, it’s gonna be a full army now.

Start with a Wych Cult, and build from there.

That I know right now, I have 10 Wyches and a Succubus unbuilt in the sprue, so let’s build them and see where we go!

Build & Paint a 500 Points Combat Patrol of Genestealer Cultists

I have a bunch of Genestealer Cultists from various box sets, starting with a set of Neophyte Hybrids, two sets of Acolyte Hybrids, a Kelermorph and a Acolyte Iconward.

So they are going to be made into a 500 point combat patrol to do Battle Reports with

Build & Paint a 500 Points Combat Patrol of Tyranids

I also have some Tyranids lying around, specifically, a Lictor, two Termagant Broods, two Broodlords, and two Genestealer Broods.

So out of that I should be able to build a basic 500 point combat patrol for battle reports.

Bring my Primaris Ultramarines to 2000 points

I already have 500 points painted, so looking to add 1500 points to the army.

Starting this week with a Squad of Intercessors, well 5 plus a random 2 and the 30th Anniversary Primaris Sgt.

Bring my Orruk Warclans to 2000 Points

I already have a few Ironjawaz done, and one mob of Gutrippas, so looking to add to those.

Next on the table are two mobs of Hobgrot Slittaz!

Build & Paint two Gangs for Carnivale

Rather simple, already have the models, just got to build and paint them!

The two gangs will be The Guild and Rashaar from the 2 player starter set, but I also plan to add the models from Escape from San Canciano, with a plan to do at least one Carnivale battle report this year!

Get My Weight to Under 100kg & Sustain it Below That

A rare physical resolution for me, just want to get a little weight off is all, and keep it off, right now I am kinda between 111kg & 114kg.

Publish One Battle Report a Month

I enjoy doing Battle Reports, and I want to try and get properly focused on doing them regularly, probably initially at Combat Patrol sized.

Kinda thinking if aiming for 20th of the month or so to publish and I am busy planning the first one, which will be Ultramarines vs T’au Empire at 500 points.

Stream twice a week

I enjoy streaming, and I need to do it regularly and more often, so I am gonna get this sorted, with at least one video games, and one painting stream a week.

I will be carrying out some upgrades to the setup this year, the ones that are top of the list are to replace the Logitech C920, with a better camera, the favourite for that is the Elgato Facecam, its expensive, but considering the sheer amount of other Elgato stuff I have, it makes sense as its all designed to work together.

The second upgrade will be a third Elgato Keylight Air because that way I can have a hair light in every single one my configurations.

Complete my 2023 VideoGameGeek Video Game Challenge

I want to hjardcore 10 games this year as part of the 2023 VideoGameGeek Video Game Challenge, which means getting them all completed, and you can see my list here.

The list is :-

  1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition (Steam) – In Progress
  2. Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection (Xbox) – In Progress
  3. Control: Ultimate Edition (GOG)
  4. Borderlands (Switch)
  5. Assassin’s Creed III (Xbox)
  6. Tomb Raider (2013) (Steam)
  7. Marvel’s Avengers (PlayStation 5)
  8. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Xbox)
  9. Death Stranding Directors Cut (Steam)
  10. Driver: Parallel Lines (Steam)

I have three alternatives, and they are:-

  1. Bayonetta (Steam)
  2. Disney’s Castle of Illusion Staring Mickey Mouse (Steam)
  3. Marvel’s Spider-Man (Steam)

Read 40 Books

Quite simple, read 40 books, but I am struggling if I should include audio books in this, I am conflicted.

With my brain damage, reading has proven difficult these past 18 months and I am way behind on my reading, and audio books are way way easier for me to process when the pain is bad, but I am admit to a degree of snobbery and I expect more of myself.

Get Edge of Empire Running Like a Well Oiled Machine

Sounds silly, but my disaster of a year has lead to Edge of Empire, not being run as smoothly, its taking me far too long to edit and publish.

And I need to sort out a proper social media policy and guidelines for the guys so we deliver a consistent message, and I get promo for each episode done right.

And actually talk to the guys about a couple of content requests we have had from Patreon.

A Bimonthly RPG Night With the Polycule

Simple enough, get us sat down together round a table once every other month at a minimum to play an RPG, not sure which way to go, Star Trek Adventures, D&D One (when it comes out), Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Avatar Legends or Warhammer Age of Sigmer: Soulbound.

Either way we have agreed as a polycule to buy the Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer partworks to build up a way of getting us all back into RPGs slowly and competently.

There being 4 of us, it means we will be buying one issue each a month, and I will pay the additional cost per issue for the premium stuff, cause minis are cool!

Anyway that’s the plan, other things I am considering doing in the year, but these are more purchases I would like to make mostly.

  • Get my tool bag up to scratch and buy a new ratcheting screwdriver (the favourites for this are MegaPro Ratcheting 13-In-1 Multibit or the LTT Screwdriver) and a set of iFixt equipment to make repairs to electronics
  • Upgrade the home media server, which is currently a Raspberry Pi, to a an x64 based system and get Home Assistant up and running in the house to better link together our smart home stuff
  • Make the PLEX and AudioBookShelf services better organised and easier to use when away from home
  • Budget up and begin saving for a good NAS for the house
  • Upgrade my monitor to at least 1440p
  • Rearrange my budget to allow a subscription to PS+
  • Get under the desk and actually cable manage that disaster area properly!

Christmas!

By

On 30th December 2022

In Blog

Well Christmas happened, and I spent most of it ill, which wasn’t fun.

This cold/flu is kicking my arse and I just can’t shake it, it’s got my sleep cycle all to pot and taking away any pep I have.

Anyway I did enjoy Christmas, me and Lindsay went to Paul’s for Christmas dinner which was lovely.

Present wise, Megan got me a Lord Veritant for my Stormcast Eternals and Lindsay got me some Death Maidens and Wyld Runners for my Escher gang. I also got some tools off Paul which will come in lots of help, alongside a £15 Xbox voucher.

But alas most of it was spent dying in bed 🙁

What I Am Modelling

First up I painted up a Scout Squad for my Imperial Fists.

I then painted the T’au Cris Suit Team, and a Commander, all armed with lots of Plasma.

So what’s up next?

  1. Imperial Fists Contemptor Dreadnought
  2. Ultramarines Intercessors x 5
  3. Silver Tower Heroes
  4. Blood Angels Repulsor
  5. Templar Brethren x 10 & Sigismund
  6. Hobgrot Slittaz x 20
  7. Leagues of Votann Kâhl and Einhyr Champion
  8. The Crimson Court
  9. Ultramaines Lieutenants x 8
  10. Battle Sisters Squad x 10

What I Am Reading

I published a review of Shadow Avengers by Carrie Harris that you can read here.

I also consumed Planet Havoc by Tim Waggoner in more or less a single session, really really good book, my review is here.

I then started on Sword of the White Horse by Elsa Sjunneson, an Assassins Creed novel, and I demolished that as well, the review is here.

I then read some short stories starting with Harrowhand by Evan Dicken, which was a fun little story.

I then turned to Warhammer Horror and read Pain Engine by Chris Thursten which was a little predictable but still very creepy.

After that I hit up Somewhere Sister by Jeremy Lambert, which was fairly unsettling.

Next up was The Fields of Abundance by David Annandale, which was a lot of fun!

Then I read The Stacks by Chris Winterton which was quite scary and horrific!

Moving on, I read Sacred Hate by David Annandale, a fantastic little Word Bearers story, for a Legion I love so much!

After than It Bleeds by David Guymer was an interesting little story, very interesting World Eaters story that shows how hate can consume you and turn you into that which you loath.

Then it was A More Perfect Union by Rich McCormick, which was an interesting Emperors Childrens short.

Then it was The Shel’Tain Affair by Jude Reid, which was a really good story!

After that I started a full book with The Siege of X-41 by Tristan Palmgren, which I got finished fairly quickly, review coming next week.

Then I moved on to Stars & Stripes by Sean Grigsby and Stewart Hotson, review coming next week!

And then I started on Age of the Undead by C. L.Werner.

What I Am Creating

The final (probably) Edge of Empire episode of our 6th year was published and we delved into the Liber Imperium.

What I Am Winning

I won a copy of Warhammer 40,000 Darktide for Steam which was cool, alas I already owned it, so I gifted it to a member of the Edge of Empire Listeners Community in a contest of my own!

I also won a copy of Night of the Scissors on Steam too, which was really cool.

I also won a code for Cubic Parking for PS4, but the code was for Japan (sad face, make sure to read T&Cs) but I have a friend in Japan so the code was passed to her.

To continue the prize winning, I won a Steam code for Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Continuing a great streak, I won ForeVR Cornhole for my Meta Quest!

I also won a Flexipot BS9 chair on Twitter which turned up on Thursday.

What I Am Spending

I did but myself the final Far Cry 6 DLC, Lost Between Worlds for the Xbox.

And I also bought Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition in the Steam sale.

Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 23rd December – Dancing Baby Groot – Kirby Krackle

By

On 24th December 2022

In Nerdy Music Advent

Its been a long time since we featured Kirby Krackle and what better way to do so than we this song about dancing baby Groot!

Lets face it, it was the best MCU post credit scene thus far!

Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 23rd December – Desolation Row – My Chemical Romance

By

On 23rd December 2022

In Nerdy Music Advent

This is a rather mainstream cover of one of Bob Dylans greatest hit, but its a song which features a lot in Alan Moore’s Watchmen with the title of the first chapter “At Midnight All the Agents” being ripped from the lyrics.

Watchmen was one of the first serious comic I was introduced to, probably way way too young, but I still love it, my mum less so when I asked what a whore was on Christmas morning when I opened it!

Anyway, My Chemical Romance covered the song for the soundtrack to Zack Snyder’s film version of the story, which I enjoyed, but I know was controversial.

Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 21st December – World Eater – Bolt Thrower

By

On 23rd December 2022

In Nerdy Music Advent

If you are a person of a certain age, and we’re into Warhammer then this is a band you will be very familiar with!

Good old Bolt Thrower, a band so intertwined with the history of Games Workshop, it’s hard to imagine this being a staple of the stores of my youth!

Makes a change from the Lord of the Rings soundtracks most stores play these days doesn’t it!

Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 21st December – March of Cambreadth – Alexander James Adams

By

On 23rd December 2022

In Nerdy Music Advent

This plague continues to vex me, and so another three days need to be squeezed into one 🙁

Anyway here is an awesome battle song by Alexander James Adams that has been around for flippin donkeys and is utterly amazeballs!

For my Warhammer fans out there, it’s often used in fanon as the battle hymn of the Tanith First and Only!

So go check it out my friends!

Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 20th December – Tribbles – Debs & Errols

By

On 20th December 2022

In Nerdy Music Advent

Today I am sick as a plaguebearer who has been blessed a hell of a lot by papa Nurgle, so I am probably not going to be able to do this wonderful piece the justice it deserves.

But here, enjoy, Star Trek good, song great!, good Taylor Swift parody!

Christmas Next Weekend

By

On 20th December 2022

In Blog

Well, Christmas is almost with us, and this year we are doing a quiet one.

With the loss of Mary, having loved house and money being tight due to stupidly high energy bills, it’s going to be a lot more restrained.

The girls are just getting a book and a donation to a local cat rescue, and I expect the same in return.

The biggest thing I think I have been involved in really is three Secret Santas, one for my game demonstrator friends, which was capped at £5, another for Board Game Geek, which was £35 and a third for Video Game Geek which was £15.

I got my GDN Santee a poster of retro game controllers through the years, my BGG one got a Back to the Future dice game, and my VGG target got Horizon Zero Dawn and Nickelodeon All Star Brawl.

I have gotten my BGG gift which was a copy of Arkham Horror, as I posted the other week, but have yet to hear back about the other two yet.

Hoping I will be feeling good, the past few weeks I have had a horrid cold that just won’t bugger off.

What I Am Modelling

I painted 13 Kruleboyz Gutrippas this week, my first real attempt to get some Kruleboyz done for my Orruk Warclans army.

I then did a quick bit of work on my Sectors for Dropfleet Commander, super simple, but they do the job.

After that I started on some T’au Empire Crisis Suits and a Commander.

So what’s coming up next for me on the painting table?

  1. T’au Crisis Suit Team x 3 & Commander
  2. Imperial Fists Contemptor Dreadnought
  3. Ultramarine Intercessors x 5
  4. Silver Tower Heroes
  5. Blood Angels Repulsor
  6. Templar Brethren x 10
  7. Hobgrot Slitaz x 20
  8. Leagues of Votann Kâhl and Einhyr Champion
  9. The Crimson Court
  10. Ultramarines Lieutenants x 8

What I Am Reading

I finished listening to The Extinction Key by Greg Keyes and it was okay, but the Aconyte stuff is far better.

Speaking of Aconyte books, I just finished Shadow Avengers by Carrie Harris and will have a review up tomorrow.

What I Am Backing

We got our delivery of the Avatar Legends RPG, but the books corners are all damaged as a result of very poor packing and sending it with Evri.

I have reported the issues and hopefully will get a replacement set of books in the new year.

What I Am Cooking

I did manage to cook something for the first time in forever, a batch of my Kansas City BBQ Rocket Sauce, which has been distilled into bottles to give away as Christmas presents to friends and family.

What I Am Winning

I won a coupe of games from Wicked Uncle from a competition on Rachel Bustin’s website, a copy of This or That and a Glow in the Dark Push-n-Pop toy.

These are going into a box of things I have won, to be given next Christmas as presents to friends and family.

What I Am Spending

I grabbed a copy or Arena Mortis for Direchasm to add to my Underworlds collection.

I also bought a pack of UCM Destroyers for Dropfleet Commander, which I plan to build as Vancouver’s I think, the Launch capacity could be rather helpful.

As I mentioned last week, it seemed like the DisplayPort cable for my PC was buggered, so I ordered a new one, after the HDMI cable worked no problem.

And well it fixed the issue, so that’s great.

Another serious issue we have had in the house is Wi-Fi coverage, so we bit the bullet and invested in a mesh Wi-Fi system, the heating system is dependent on Wi-Fi and it just so happens that the boiler is in the part of the house with the weakest Wi-Fi.

So we bought this TP-Link Deco S7 system to replace to replace the Wi-Fi network on the Virgin Media provided router which is to be perfectly honest, pretty dreadful.

And yeah it seems to be fixed now and working wonderfully, it also helped that Virgin Media finally replaced the faulty router we have had to put up with for so long, and combined this has made a huge difference.

Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 19th December – Download This Song – MC Lars

By

On 19th December 2022

In Nerdy Music Advent

I am not sure why we have never featured MC Lars before, but this is a great song from 2006, and its all about the paradigm shift that my generation did in terms of going from buying physical music to downloading it, not always legally.

The video is great and has a lot of fun poking at the styles of the time and the way brands like Apple and Microsoft marketed music services and players at us.

Now I feel very old!

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