I am not really a cosy gamer, but it sounded fun, and my hope that Lindsay and Megan would find some games to play other than Animal Cross and Dreamlight Valley, actually may have worked.
After that I grabbed a quick snack (a chicken and stuffing sandehich from McCoys), then headed to my next panel, Writing for Video Games.
I have no plans to write a video game, but we do write for Heresy events and Company of Legends, so hoping I could pick up some tips and hints to improve that
After that I went to a panel called Big Bytey Bugs! When Is the Next Computer Apocalypse Due? which was really interesting and considered the issues facing the world, given our dependency on IT and IT infrastructure, especially in the wake of the CrowdStrike failure recently
And I asked my first question of the day which was about the recent attempt to insert malicious code into xz and our current dependence on just a handful of companies for various parts of the internet.
The it was a panel for the 25th Anniversary of The Mummy, which Megan has been chomping at the bit to go to, it’s one of their favourite films.
Was quite fun, lots of the jokes being talked about and a general agreement that Tom Cruises should never have existed!
My last panel of the day was Worldbuilding in Gaming which was something I am very interested in, particularly for our Horus Heresy events, and perhaps that novel I dream of one day writing, not probably never will!
And we just got into it with an amazing set of games, which came down to a single point tipping it in the favour of the traitors, even though Mission 1 was kind of biased in favour of the traitors.
After that we judged the armies for the best army award, a choice that is based not only on painting, but on theme and composition, which was won by this Ultramarines army from Michael Weatherstone
Game 2 followed which was a draw, so the Loyalists could now achieve a draw overall
I also picked up Stormbringer 77 this morning, two copies, one to make a Knight-Draconis and another for the Stormdrake Guard to join the one from last week.
Right now in the studio, we have a Powerline brining in a connection from the modem downstairs, when we started this project, it exclusively provides a connection for the server
We also have a TP-Link Deco S7 Mesh access point which most other stuff connects to, which provides a faster connection than the Powerline.
But the server, for some reason doesn’t like working through the Mesh.
Regardless, the connection to the server desk started out on the floor, crossing over it and creating a major trip hazard.
To provide power, I had to route an extension cord around the room, and that’s what we did with the network cable.
I got a 20m Cat 8 cable, and just wrapped it up with the power cable using zip ties and then took it around the room, and into a new switch under the desk.
It still needs clipping to the door frame to the eave, but I am doing that tomorrow
But alas, Lindsay decided to move out of the studio and as a result the switch is now no longer required, but I guess better to have, than have not
We also added a Wi-Fi card to Megan’s PC, not so much for the Wi-Fi, but more for the Bluetooth capabilities, that way she can use a wireless controller.
Yeah I know a USB dongle would have been cheaper and easier, but I have always found their performance to be so so.
And this kind of gives them another option for connecting their PC to the network.
Power
It might sound silly, but phone charging has always been a bit haphazard, I normally just plug the phone into the PC, but look I want convenience.
So I grabbed a cheap MagSafe charger, I did have a Qi charger, but I have found Qi to be annoying as it’s just a chew in to perfectly align the coils and it’s slower, and quite inefficient.
So we bought two paint shelves to store 72 Citadel paints each for a total of 216 pots, plus a 72 dropper bottle rack, as I expand into ranges such as Two Thin Coats, Army Painter and TT Combat.
We also grabbed a few accessories to help with this, we grabbed a funnel for popping resin back into a bottle, plus a few things like scrappers and a restock of nitrile gloves!
But of course she moved downstairs, so this moved with her, and I have this same one on my desk
I had purchased some time ago a bunch of Elgato Wallmounts and was only using one of them, but with the 3D Printer and paint racks, I now needed to use these for real.
So now these hold both my Keylight Airs, my Overhead camera for the painting table and my FaceCam for use when painting
We also got an Ultrasonic Cleaner to put in the studio to do a mix of things, partly for cleaning my airbrush, Megan & Lindsay’s jewellery, our glasses and resin models etc
It allows me to take the PS5 off the desk, and also charges two of the controllers too, meaning I no longer need the controller charging station sat on the desk
So what’s the plan for the future, well I need a new Besta unit to store more board games as a good chunk of those have now moved to the studio where Lindsay’s desk used to be.
And I need to sort out a lot of cable management, for my PC setup and Megan’s, but that’s probably a job for the winter.
The rest of it is just gonna be sorting out what’s in the room and how I can better organise the storage.
What I Am Modelling
I started off with a couple of squads of Assault Intercessors for the Dark Angels.
A few weeks ago I won a bottle of resin from Elegoo on Twitter and that got delivered this week, a nice bottle of 8k water washable space grey, perfect for the Saturn 4 Ultra when it arrives in a few weeks hopefully!
Grabbed a couple of issues of Stormbringer 73 to add two units of Ardboyz to my Ironjawz, and along with the issue coming with my Subscription will give me an awesome three units of them to form a nice core of the Orruk Warclans army.
I won a voucher from a competition for Amazon, which allowed me to purchase a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth PCIe card for Megans PC, mostly for the Bluetooth for her to be able to use a wireless controller.
Yes I know I could have gotten a cheap USB dongle, but I think the extra reliability of the card is better, plus Wi-Fi is a nice backup to have.
Initially we bought a cheap Chinese one, but the card was a dud, the chipset wasn’t the MediaTek one described and was a far inferior RealTek one, plus the driver site appeared to be filled with malware, so that got sent back to Amazon.
And yeah replaced it with the far more trusted TP-Link!
The reason we have gone for this, despite only having around 30 dropper bottles, is that I have decided for many basic colours, I am shifting to Army Painter Fanatics, with some select Two Thin Coats plus a few others from various other ranges.
Also got myself a couple more Elgato Wall Mounts, which will be used to mount my Keylight Airs, given the desk space currently used for the stands will be taken up by the paint racks, and the new 3D printer.
The past weekend we painted the wall in Lindsay’s room that had the insulation work done on it. Friday morning, myself and Megan removed all the stuff from the wall and then painted two mist coats on the wall.
Saturday we were all knackered, so bugger all got done, but Sunday came, and we got three coats of brilliant white on the wall and it looks a lot better!
I also did the ceiling in the studio, where the workmen cut a hole in to stuff the roof with insulation, because its the part of the studio that’s been bothering me most.
Just popped up every time we did something in the room, I did a coat up there, and yeah looks nice
Other than that I am being bothered by a tooth infection, but I am seeing a dentist on Friday, right now it feels like my tooth is going to explode and leave shattered tooth all over my mouth 🙁
What I Am Modelling
I started off by painting the Enforcer Commander for my T’au to complete their second Combat Patrol
What I have found a good use for so far, is to put one on my army boxes and link it to a Google Doc with whats in the box in it, and I think I am going to do this with all my army boxes over the next few weeks.
It was also Humble Choice week, so I got that and ended up with
This means I am now on 2470 points before the next edition drops!
Still to finish I have a couple of units of Squig Hoppers, some Squig Herds, a Dankhol Troggoth, Skragrott the Loonking and some Rockgut Troggoths.
Get My Drukhari To 2000 Points – 58% Complete
No progress, need to buy some more units, I have some more Helions and Reavers to paint, but that’s it right now.
Want some Wracks, but having issues getting them.
Complete My Video Game Geek Hardcore 10! – 60% Complete
This month I completed Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster, it’s one of the alternative three, so will only count at the end of the year if my main ten aren’t done
This week has been much of a muchness, there isn’t much going on at all
Just waiting for WorldCon I guess and a the Heresy event
Got to get a shift on with a few things, but this week has just been meh
My depression is getting kinda bad, but I have a project of refurbing the studio to get on with
What I Am Modelling
I started out with the Blade Champion for the Custodes, who will do double duty, being in both the 40K Combat Patrol and being a Shield Captain in Heresy.
To start a long awaited studio refurbishment project, I bought the first of a few paint racks we are going to need from TT Combat, this is a rack to hold 72 Citadel pots.
The plan is to have 3 of these plus a rack for 72 dropper bottles.
I also bought a 20m Cat 8 cable to route data to the server and Lindsay’s desk without creating a trip hazard!
Now because this was delayed by 24 hours, Amazon gave me a £10 gift card to compensate me, it was like £8.
So I used this to buy a network switch for the studio, this will go on the end of the 20m cable and then be split into Lindsay work laptop and the server.
Since Insulationgate last October, at least one wall in every room of the house has needed a coat of paint.
And yeah it’s a bit depressing, due to disagreements between the insulation contractors, the landlord and the government, we decided to cut them all out and decorate ourselves.
It’s not that we couldn’t have just waited for them to sort it out, it’s more, we want to avoid massive disruption, so we are doing this ourselves at our own pace.
Megans room is the first to be done, we had to start with a mist coat, which was very runny.
That was done on the Monday, two coats overall.
The on Tuesday, we did three coats of Brilliant White, yeah it’s full, but it’s what the rest of the rooms are painted. When you rent it’s often easier to keep what the landlord had, so we don’t need to redecorate too much when we eventually move out.
It took three coats, but we got there in the end.
The next room getting done is mine and Lindsay’s bedroom and we may at the same time do the ceiling in my studio.
The studio is going to get a bit of a refurb at the same time, we are adding the 3D printer there, so taking the time to change a few things up, especially now that Lindsay works up there and I will never be using the gaming table again as a result.
So yeah that’s about it, gonna do Lindsay’s room next week, and that will be fun!
What I Am Modelling
I started off with the Von Ryan’s Leapers for the Tyranid’s Combat Patrol
And I have a box full of Stormcast stuff that’s never been touched, so I am thinking of painting them up as Hallowed Knights, I already have Gardus Steel Soul painted up.
So I used the Gamer Grass base I got from the UK Game Expo to paint up this test model, which I am rather happy with
I spent the other week at the UK Games Expo as a volunteer on IT and it was a knackering but amazing few days.
I really enjoyed it and I will absolutely being doing it again next year if they will have me, but I do have to be more realistic about my physical abilities and perhaps I need a job with more sitting down.
My journey to Birmingham was pretty bad, we got continually stuck in traffic, including being in the middle of a bunch of cars headed to a funeral that were following a marching band.
And finally the bus broke down as we left Manchester, and we had to wait over an hour for a replacement, so all in all it was a typical MegaBus journey!
I didn’t get to play many games, but the one that stood out to me was Samurai, but its long out of print, so I will be buying Pollen instead which is in print, if a little expensive.
There were a few cool things that peaked my interest, the DRPA Case and other stuff from Tabletop Tech, the amazing Colour Forge, TT Combat and their Strike Team Commander, Catalyst had Battletech which had me all nostalgic, and Gamer Grass had some amazing stuff as well.
Next year I need to take more notes to give a fuller report!
What I Am Modelling
On my return I hit the Chaos Space Marine Legionnaires of the True Sons
I got a couple of games of 40K in at the weekend, playing both Dale and Craig in the 40K league, and if I don’t win the wooden spoon I will be peeved!!!
Posting this weeks post early because today I am off to the UK Games Expo, an event I love to do.
This year, as my Asmodee contract ended, I am volunteering directly with the Expo itself, my job is being split between IT and the Bring and Buy.
Most of my time will be spent setting up the IT equipment to run the expo and a few hours spent helping in the Bring and Buy.
I am going by Megabus from Middlesbrough to Birmingham via Manchester!
Firstly Lindsay took me to ASDA for lunch, would have preferred Tesco, but they don’t go back to normal hours until Monday, but I grabbed a wrap and energy drink, plus a bottle of coke for the coach, and then we drove to Boro where I hopped on to the bus and here we are.
The Megabus is certainly better than I remember, more legroom and even a plug socket for my Steam Deck, not that it worked, but the thought counts right!
What I Am Modelling
I started out with some Blood Angels, painting first a Terminator Captain
So there is going to be an election, I don’t have much to say on the matter.
But get to know your candidates and vote for the person you think would do best for your area.
But what I would like to say is that right now, the UK is broken, schools are falling apart due to dodgy concrete, the roads are full of potholes, rent is stupidly high, the cost of living is out of control and things are just broken.
So with that in mind, I think we need to make a choice on who we think is best placed to fix whats gone wrong over the past few years.
What I Am Modelling
I started out with a Mega Boss on Maw-Krusha to join my Ironjawz
I then painted up some Glaivewraith Stalkers I had sitting in a box, they were in a weird state, a bit of disreppair, no idea how I came into ownership of them, but I didn’t build them, so there was a bit of work involved, but they give me a chance to try out some new rust techniques.
I had an Amazon voucher from a redund, so I grabbed Bayonetta 3 for the Switch, just need to hunt down a copy of the second game without being ripped off now!
