More Smartness for the Home

By

On 28th April 2020

In Blog

I like making the home a bit smarter and more connected to the world.

With my disabilities, the Amazon Echo, Ring doorbell and Philips Hue lights have been amazing. When I am in agony they allow me to do things that would put me in more pain to do.

Sadly our 12 year old 3D Plasma TV has had to be replaced, I kinda pulled it down when having a coughing fit, and thus had to claim on the insurance.

We have bought ourselves a JVC LT-40CF890 from Currys PC World, I know my normal advice would be to bug last years model for a better TV spec with the same money but I broke my rule.

The reason we bought this one is that it’s a Fire TV Edition system, so it will integrate nicely with our existing smart ecosystem. We will be able to use the Amazon Echo speakers to turn it in and off again, open streaming services change volume and switch inputs.

It’s also 4K with HDR, and yeah I know for the price I can’t expect the same as buying a £1000 TV, but you cut your cough accordingly and I am not gonna lie and say I am particularly snobby about TVs, as long as it passes muster with me I am happy.

The only thing we will still absolutely have to use a remote for us when using the Sky Q box because that does not have integration with Alexa.

To go alongside it we also bought a JVC TH-D679B soundbar. The speakers in the TV are only 16w and I have noticed that as the trend for TVs is to get thinner, it has meant that their speakers suffer.

Plus I want to have some amazing sound in the house, I won’t like about that!

The reason we went for this one is that it has HDMI with ARC so we can plug things like the Sky Q box, Xbox One and Switch into the TV and not have to then find a way to get the sound into the soundbar as it will be sent automatically via the HDMI with ARC thus saving on wires.

And amazingly our new thermostat arrived on Saturday night, a Google Nest Thermostat E, we got it free when we switched to SSE and hopefully this will help cut down our heating bills especially in the winter.

The package did also include a Google Nest Mini, but as our home uses Alexa instead of Google Assistant we are swapping with Paul and Mary for an air frier.

We still need to get another temperature sensor for it for winter that we can place in the office. Lindsay has shockingly poor internal body heat and I can be sweating like anything bad she is sat covered up in several blankets and jumpers and still be cold.

So we compromised and agreed that she would have a temperature sensor in the office on her desk so that the heating system would kick in if it was detectably cold where she works.

At the time of writing this, we will need to import this bit from the US as they don’t sell them in the U.K.

The biggest advantage is of course with mine and Megan’s disabilities, the heating will now be controlled via voice or our phones which means no more dragging ourselves downstairs to turn it on and the timings for it coming on automatically can be adjusted smartly and it won’t turn in when we are not home.

So on Sunday after our family breakfast which was breakfast quesadillas made by Lindsay I set to fitting the thermostat. That didn’t actually take all that long at all, about 30 minutes in total, the thing that took the longest was figuring out which cable was which as the wiring diagram in the old thermostat was terrible.

Took a couple of attempts to connect the thermostat to the internet, but that was the only problematic thing, the rest of it went quite smoothly.

The initial placement of the Thermostate we decided didn’t work and so it got moved to the other side of the room where it’s more visible.

Later that afternoon the TV arrived and my word it’s very light, Lindsay could lift it with one hand that’s how light it is, the Soundbar is heavier!

I decided to rip everything out and do a full clear out and clean up of the area, hoovering up any dust and crap, and tidying the cables up, as well as removing the PlayStation 3 and Wii which we haven’t used in a long time.

The TV installed really easily and the apps we wanted downloaded without issue, the only disappointment is that Apple TV+ isn’t available on the TV yet, but will be coming soon I am told.

I did have a bit of bother with the integration into the existing Alexa ecosystem we have, but that was because I didn’t realise the Xbox One was linked to the Echo so every time we tried to tune to say BBC One HD it tried to do it in the Xbox, but we got that one figured out in the end.

The Soundbar took zero effort to set up, it was a case of plugging and playing and the ARC handled everything for us without any problem.

The end result is fewer wires, a cleaner set up and fewer things plugged in under the TV. All that’s under there now is the Sky Q, Xbox One, Switch and a NES Mini and SNES Mini, and I’d like to add a Mega Drive Mini as well.

The only other thing we want to do is get a bit of wood cut so that the TV sits slightly higher so that the IR signal from the Sky Q remote will work from all angles, but that said, we can control the volume with voice now.

Earlier in the lockdown we had already changed up the Alexa setup and added some more Hue bulbs. Megan purchased an Echo Show 8 whilst it was on special off to replace the Echo Show in her bedroom. The Echo Show 8 takes up less room in her bedside and it allowed us to move the Echo Show into the Kitchen.

We also added white Hue bulbs in the kitchen at the same time and for mine and Megan’s desk lights.

The next steps to take in the plan is to get a Hue bulb for the spare room and a standard Echo speaker for the office so that the Echo Dot can move in there.

I eventually would also like to add Hue bulbs to the bathrooms but would be combining them with motion sensors so the lights go on when you enter the rooms without needing any voice commands at all.

I know some people might ask why I do this, but a big reason is that I enjoy it, it makes the home easier to live in, and as I said before the advantages of helping myself and Megan cope when we are having bad days can not be overstated.

Although a smart kettle may have been a step too far!

What I Am Modelling

Started the week by hitting the Blood Ravens Bikes and Attack Bike that I got from my second copies of those issues of Conquest.

First thing I finished was the Attack Bike with Multi-Melta.

And this was followed up by the bikes themselves, so now I have the ability to field a unit of six bikes with two Meltaguns.

I then put in the table the Glaivewraith Stalkers and Thorns of the Briar Queen as they use a similar paint scheme, the biggest thing that took time with these was actually the basing the models themselves were pretty easy to paint.

And whilst painting them I also finished off the Ophidian Archway.

I then built the Grenadiers, which took a bit of modelling as I couldn’t do the Vox Operators without modifying the Vox unit, I ended up taking the top part off and glueing the bottom section on.

I also built the 40 Chainrasps, and the stuff I got with Conquest, those being a set of Sigmarite Mausoleums, a Stormcast Eternals Knight Questor and a pair of Dreadblade Harrows.

Tomorrow I intend to do a bit more building before I prime these models. I am going to build the Untamed Beasts and the Chaotic Beasts.

Once that’s done it means that all the next 10 projects are built and primed.

So how does this leave my painting queue, well it looks a bit like this.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Grenadiers Special Weapons Squad x 10
  2. Blood Warriors x 5 & Korgus Khul
  3. Canoness Veridyan
  4. Untamed Beasts x 9
  5. Tech Priest Manipulus x 2
  6. Stormcast Eternals Celestar Balista x 2 & Lord Ordinator
  7. Blightlord Terminators x 5 & Tallyman
  8. Chaotic Beasts x 12
  9. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  10. Blood Ravens Scouts x 10

The Chainrasp Horde is dependent on my having enough Grey Seer to be able to prime them, if I run out then they won’t be getting done.

What I Am Reading

Reading is still very hard but I am reading as much as I can.

What I Am Playing

We played a quick game of Blank on Monday night which Megan won, and we were even in the finish the game in two minutes rule and she managed to get rid of all her cards!

What I Am Backing

Lords of Vegas looks really interesting and if I can convince the girls I plan to back that.

What I Am Cooking

I did help Megan make Cheesesteak baguettes on Wednesday and they turned out quite nice.

She and I frustrate each other in the kitchen because we cook in very different ways but they turned out pretty nice.

What I Am Spending

Obviously the TV and soundbar!

I also picked up a coax cable to plug the new TV into the antenna we have on the house, our old one was in a bit of a state cause the rabbit likes to eat it!

Recovery is Slow

By

On 21st April 2020

In Blog

It’s been a hard week, think I pushed myself too soon and have struggled to keep doing stuff at even a moderate level.

The lungs still feel heavy and that is very scary and I am told it could be weeks until I recover.

But I am gonna try and think positive, I have been trying to do a bit more in the house and a few more hobby things.

Me and Megan are gonna do some sorting out of the spare room, mostly to make it habitable for our nephews and nieces and also so I can try and make room in the house for a 3D Printer!

Last week I had reinstalled Windows on my PC and annoyingly and update bricked that installation, not sure how but it just wouldn’t start up again despite several attempts at repair.

So I did a bit more and actually hoovered out the dust from inside the case and installed a 2TB HDD I salvaged from a broken Sky + HD box.

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by painting six of the twelve Gryph-Hounds I have. I got these in the Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Brotherhood, not sure I will ever need twelve but I have the option. I meant to paint just one Alpha but managed to grab two Alphas so the next batch won’t have an Alpha as the one form these will do the job.

I also painted the Gryph-Hound from the Easy to Build Castigators, whom I have painted up as Archibald from Roll Models.

On the side I was also working on a bit of terrain, mostly getting them sprayed, given the contrast colour and then drybrushed, mostly getting done between stages of the other stuff.

The first of that stuff to be completed was the pack of Azyrite Ruins I got from Elelment Games, these are super simple as easy to do with my scheme for Esassa, and give me a bit more variety as now I have one if each possible combination of parts for the scenery box.

I then started on the Vanguard-Raptors, I already have three of them painted up with Longstrike Crossbows, so these are armed with Hurricane Crossbows.

At the same time I painted the Mortal Realms exclusive Knight-Incantor Xandria Azurebolt and the store birthday Knight-Questor Larissa Shadowstalker.

The Celestial Vindicators are my Stormhost because I absolutely love the colour scheme. I won’t lie, Hallowed Knights were in contention, but the teal colour of the Celestial Vindicators is just stunning.

Next up I began work on the Vanguard Hunters and a pair of Baleful Realmgates getting the Realmgates finished first.

The Vanguard-Hunters were a lot of fun to paint and that completes the Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Warcry warband.

And whilst they were being painted I finished off a Magewrath Throne.

So how does this leave my painting plan, obviously I am getting back into that after interrupting it for the Warcry Warband.

The Blood a Ravens bikes arrived on the painting desk now and I will be consulting with Niki on how to arm his command squad dudes for his Death Korps of Krieg.

  1. Blood Ravens Bikes x 3 & Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
  2. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Weapons Men x 10
  3. Glaivewraith Stalkers x 8 & Thorns of the Briar Queen
  4. Blood Warriors x 5 & Korgus Khul
  5. Cannones Veridyan
  6. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Weapons Men x 10
  7. Untamed Beasts x 9
  8. Tech Priest Manipulus x 2
  9. Stormcast Eternals Celestar Balista x 2 & Lord-Ordinator
  10. The Dolorous Strain & Tallyman

What I Am Reading

I am still struggling to concentrate to read very much.

What I Am Playing

Myself and Megan got a game of the amazing Moon-Bots in one a Sunday night.

We played in the two player variation in which we each control two robots each and I won, although it was by the skin of my teeth as I had a single energy left on my last robot.

I really love this game, it’s a lot of fun, reminds me of King of Tokyo but with a cool card drafting mechanism.

What I Am Backing

The Forgotten Chapter – Purity Seals and Parchment Transfers successfully funded and these are gonna come in handy for my Sisters of Battle.

What I Am Cooking

I am still struggling a lot, but I did help plan this weeks meals, well those from Thursday onwards.

We had Pizza takeaway on Thursday, then on Friday we had chicken wings with cheesy garlic mash and roasted broccoli and green beans with garlic.

Saturday was a lovely chilli that Megan made a few weeks ago and froze, Sunday we had roast beef and tonight we had macaroni cheese with salad.

I have never been a fan of macaroni cheese before, but the girls love it and so we found a recipe that I would hopefully like, and it worked I rather enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we are having Cajun Chicken Burgers and Rice and then on Wednesday we are having Cheesesteak Hot Dogs.

On Sunday for our nice breakfast I attempted to make sausage and egg bagels. I took the sausage meat and formed it into patties which I then fried, but I couldn’t manage much more than that and Megan had to finish them off for me and Lindsay fried the eggs.

What I Am Spending

My order from Magic Madhouse arrived at last, they are understandably running a bit behind so it took a bit over a week for it to be dispatched.

I got in this package a Magewrath Throne, three paints, Gal Vorbak Red, Word Bearers Red and Barak-Nar Burgundy, and two Army Painter paint brushes, a Monster and a Regiment.

I also made a small order from Leodis Games because I noticed they had an Ophidian Archway in stock, and I also got a Knight-Vexillor for my Stormcast Eternals.

And I managed to get hold of a couple of paints I needed from Board in Brum as well which I needed for a few upcoming projects.

Now if you know me well, you know I am a bit of a tea snob, I can’t stand crap tea like Tetleys, PG Tips and Typhoo etc, Yorkshire Tea is the minimum acceptable but even that is at a push.

My favourite tea merchants are Bewleys of Dublin and Ringtons of Newcastle, Pumphrey’s is ok but they are mostly a coffee merchant so thier tea whilst nice is not quite as good as the other two.

Normally we get our tea from Fenwicks in Newcastle but they are understandable closed, so we ordered from Ringtons a preprepared package of goodies called The Monty, which had in it, 200 tea bags, 20 Chocolate Mallows, a jar of instant coffee, ginger snaps, triple chocolate cookies, shortbread and some rocky road bites

Easter and Lindsays Birthday

By

On 13th April 2020

In Blog

My recovery from Covid-19 is going well, the CPAP is helping a lot.

We also had Lindsay birthday today and we had a nice long weekend of doing stuff she enjoys taking into account my current limitations.

We watched The Fellowship of the Ring on Saturday, we had hoped to do all three films in one day, but my inability to go more than a few hours without having to have a nap put paid to that.

Today we had planned to have a BBQ over FaceTime with Lindsays sister Jane, her boyfriend Rob and her three sons, Willem, Brandon and Jonah, because Lindsay would have lived nothing more than to see her nephews and nieces, siblings and grandad today.

But the weather was not good for Jane and Rob so we are doing that on Wednesday but we still had our BBQ food for lunch, only because it was so cold Lindsay and Megan insisted on doing it in the oven because I wasn’t well enough to use the grill.

Our afternoon plans were changed because Willem developed a temperature which put Jane into quarantine and prevented her getting shopping so Lindsay had to rush out and grab some essentials she needed.

So it’s been a bit of a funny day, but we will do something nice to celebrate when the crisis is over.

I finally wiped my PCs hard drive and reinstalled Windows 10, after putting it off for ages.

There were a few little juggling issues with it, VLC refused to load at all, a friend had logged into their iCloud Music Library which meant I couldn’t play any music from mine for 90 days and in general it was running a bit slow.

So I wiped my SSD and reinstalled Windows, and upgraded to Office 2019, Lindsay keeps saying she wants to get Office 365, but I admit I am a bit unsure about software I need to subscribe to use, hence why I still use Adobe CS6 instead of Creative Cloud which is quite expensive for what I need.

I also took the time to install a few games, I don’t play enough games on my PC and I have a fair sized Steam library that I have expanded through the years thanks to Humble Bundle.

What Am I Modelling

Things have been slow, I am slowly getting myself able to sit at the desk for longer and longer periods without having to go back to bed.

I started off by finally finishing up some bits for Niki’s Death Korps of Krieg, specifically his Grenadiers with Heavy Stubber and Meltagun and a Death Riders Ridemaster.

And this was followed by the Quartermaster and a Retinue, these were a little intimidating as I wasn’t sure about how to approach them.

I then turned to some Nighthaunts for myself and painted three sets of Myrmourn Banshees, and at the same time as painting those I also painted the Tomb Banshee and Briar Queen as they both use a similar colour scheme.

I made a change to my painting plan at this point and slotted in the models for a Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Chamber Warcry warband, so that’s some Vanguard Rapters with Hurricane Crossbows, Aetherwings, Vanguard Hunters, and some Gryph Hounds.

So I started by priming them all obviously, the Stormcast with Macragge Blue, half the Gryph Hounds in Grey Seer and the other half and the Aetherwings in Mechanicus Standard Grey, I also had the Gryph Hound from the Easy to Build Castigators already primed in Black.

I also stupidly decided to complete my Edge of Empire hobby pledge and started painting a Predator for my Heresy Death Guard.

Sunday I was able to sit at my desk for three hours, the longest in nearly two weeks, it felt good to have a long undisturbed session of painting.

It allowed me to get the Aetherwings to the stage of having the feathers washed and the tree trunks dove, and the Predator to the point that the hill colours were complete.

And Monday I got them competed, the Predator first.

And then finished off the Aetherwings.

Now on my desk are 6 Gryph-Hounds and the single Gryph-Hound from the Easy to Build Castigators.

My painting plan has changed slightly, due to what I have built I have taken the Chainrasps out of the plan and replaced them with the Glaivewraith Stalkers I have built and the Thorns of the Briar Queen.

  1. Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Chamber Warcry Warband and Death Guard Predator
  2. Blood Ravens Bikes x 3 and Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
  3. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Weapons Men x 10
  4. Glaivewraith Stalkers x 8 and Thorns of the Briar Queen
  5. Blood Warriors x 5 & Mighty Lord of Khorne
  6. Canniness Veridyan
  7. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Weapons Men x 10
  8. Untamed Beasts x 9
  9. Tech-Priest Manipulus
  10. Stormcast Eternals Celestar Balista x 2 & Lord Ordinator

What I am Reading

I am still making my way through Tales from the Crucible, it’s hard going because the app is so utterly dreadful on my phone.

What I Am Playing

On Sunday we played a couple of games, we started with Alhambra, the first time we played with the Designers Edition Mega Box, and it was a lot of fun, although I came last and Megan won by a country mile.

Then we played a shirt game of Blank, which Lindsay won despite being forced to mime for the whole game!

What I Am Backing

I backed the Forgotten Chambers project for some Purity Seals and Parchment transfers, which I think will be brilliant for my Sisters of Battle.

It’s down to ship in June, but given the Covid-19 crisis, I don’t expect it to ship until much later as printers are not an essential business.

What I Am Cooking

I did cook something, a sausage stir fry for lunch on Sunday, it was quite nice and is a real comfort food for me.

It’s something my dad used to cook to cheer me up, but his usually had bacon lardons in and used a pack of savoury rice. I didn’t have lardons, and I am hardly gonna send Lindsay it Megan out for them in this crisis, and I used microwave rice instead of savoury rice.

What I Am Spending

I needed some paint so I hit up Jus at Battle Bunker and got a Rukkatruck Squigbuggy at the same time, which means me and Megan have all six Ork buggies to paint up at some point.

Some stuff I had ordered from Element Games was finally delivered, on Easter Monday, which is weird, but I got some Azyrite Ruins, Baleful Realmgates and Nurgle Daemon Card’s for Warcry.

Esasa – City of Silversmiths

By

On 9th April 2020

In Blog

Megan has agreed to play a bit of Warcry and Age of Sigmar whilst I am restricted to the indoors for 12 weeks, and Lindsay said she might try some too.

Hence why I am looking to complete all of my Warcry/Age of Sigmar terrain as quickly as possible.

In my head I often give stories to the stuff I am painting and so I think we are going to be giving a background to the setting these games will be played on, and thus I give birth to Esasa, the city of Silversmiths.

The Terrain

The terrain right now consists of the Ruined City from the Warcry core box, a Shattered Stormvault and a Defiled Ruins.

I plan to add to this the terrain from Mortal Realms, a set of Azyrite Ruins, Baleful Realmgates, Magewrath Throne and Timeworn Ruins, and if room and the budget allow an Ophidian Archway.

I already have the first scenery sprues from Mortal Realms, the first copy of issue 11 with the three small mausoleums. I have doubled up in these issues so I have the equivalent of a Sigmarite Mausoleum.

The colour scheme for the buildings is from the December 2019 edition of Whote Dwarf, with a few minor modifications.

The buildings are primed in Grey Seer, then painted with Gryph-Charger Grey, and then drybrushed with Corax White. The sandstone is Aggaros Dunes over Grey Seer then drybrushed Screaming Skull.

Weathering is stippled on Stirland Mud, then drybrushed with Steel Legion Drab and Ushabti Bone, followed by some patches of Athonian Camoshade to represent algae growth.

The wood is Wyldwood, then drybrushed Baneblade Brown, with sharpened points being Aggaros Dunes. Skulls, bones and skeletons are Morghast Bone then Skeleton Horde.

The silver metals are mostly Iron Warriors washed with Nuln Oil and golds are Retributor Armour washed with Agrax Earthshade. Some of the statues are Balthasar Gold, then covered with Nihilakh Oxide and drybrushed with Brass Scorpion.

Here Goes

Esasa was once in the Age of Myth a city of great renown in the realm of Chamon, the land of metal, located not far from the Silver Road Realmgate which connected it to Ghyran. The city was able to trade its ample supplies of refined and precious metals with the peoples of the realm of life in exchange for crops which were difficult to grow in the region.

The abundance of precious metals meant that the city became rich, and was well defended. It gained its nickname from the large number of artisans working with the regions near perfect silver to create items of jewellery in demand across the mortal realms.

The demands of its mines meant that soon it attracted migrant workers from across the mortal realms, with those from Ghur, the Realm of Beasts being seen as the most valuable and hard working. But these people never gained full citizenship of the city and existed as a permanent underclass to the cities indigenous inhabitants.

The cities rulers were held in high esteem by Sigmar and its artisans crafted many wonders, not only of jewellery but also of war, some of which were built using the magics of the cities sorcerers and mages.

Many of these wonders were put to use in Esasa’s wars, but some were considered far too dreadful to be used and so Sigmar ordered the construction of Stormvaults in the city to contain these arcane wonders and the knowledge to create them. Hidden from people thoughts by the Penumbral Engines they soon were lost to all, even Sigmar himself.

When the Age of Chaos came, the city held out for several decades, but when the city of Oakenhallow on the other side of the Silver Road Realmgate fell to the forces of Nurgle, the city found itself under siege as legions of the plague fathers servants poured through the Realmgate.

The siege lasted nearly three years thanks to powerful wards put in place by the cities sorcerers guild. Although many of the city’s inhabitants succumbed to plagues introduced to the city by trebuchets hurling infected corpses over its walls. But ultimately they were betrayed from within.

The recovery from plague of the Vyrus, an apprentice sorcerer from one of the cities ruling families, was seen as a moment of joy for his family, but in truth he had let grandfather Nurgle into his soul and pledged himself to him in exchange for his life and the power he craved above all else.

Working with a small number of other traitors, they worked to undo the wards preventing the manifestation of Deamons within the cities walls. He passed Nurgles contagion to his own wife and slit her throat before pushing her into the cities main water source, contaminating it and spreading the taint to more of the city populous, creating more despair, which in turn weakened the strength of the magical wards.

Nurgles plan was to bring the city and its inhabitants directly into his garden, and with plague spreading amongst the downtrodden underclass in Esasa, Vyrus and his fellow conspirators turned the despair of the people towards the worship of Nurgle. These people had been left with little access to medicine and food during the siege and were ripe for being turned against the cities rulers.

When the cities despair and the number of worshippers of the plague god reached a critical mass, Vyrus began a ritual to transport the city to Nurgles realm, in secret within the sewers they changed profane words and used the despair to channel their power against the magical wards from within.

But he was undone, when Tzeentch took advantage of the weakening of the wards to open a portal to the realm of Chaos, allowing Khorne to send forth an army an army of daemons into the city who proceeded to slaughter the majority of its population before Vyrus could complete his ritual.

Nurgle was furious, instead of being able to infect the rest of the city and bring them to his garden, his prize was snatched from his grasp by his most hated rival.

The cities defenders were unable to counter the attack from within, but one lowly volunteer Elric, a labourer who had come to the city in search of his fortune from his home in Ghur, lead a valiant defence of the cities main house of healing. With his dying breath he vowed vengeance on those that had had betrayed the city and against the ruinous powers, and as the final words crossed his lips, he was whisked away in a plume of light.

Vyrus, who had been promised accession to daemonhood, and the rule of Esasa, was instead banished and sent into service of a Lord of Plagues and took the new name Vyrungus Festerbelly.

Esasa left a ruin, was fought over through the age of chaos by various bands of roving chaos worshippers, whilst a small remaining population eked out a meagre existence among the rubble.

At the coming of the Age of Sigmar, Esasa was largely ignored, although many of its people were reclaimed by the free people’s of Azyr. Esasa lay just 9 days march from Vindicarum, and this is where many of the reclaimed settled, some going on to join the famed Freeguild regiment the Gold Gryphons.

Then came the Necroquake, and a number of Penumbral Engines located in the heart of Esasa faltered unveiling entrances to extensive catacombs below the remains of the city and the Stormvaults contained within.

Now various groups have moved towards the city, a rabid band of Khorne worshippers, destructive Ironjawz, a procession of Nighthaunts, and Signars champions the Celestial Vindicators if the Stormcast Eternals led by Elric, now reborn as the Lord-Aquilor Elden Wolfforged.

But, there is one returning to the city who may have knowledge of what is contained within the Stormvaults, the traitor Vyrungus Festerbelly who is returning to his place of birth and rebirth in an attempt to regain the favour of his patron god.

Corona, Oh My Corona!!!

By

On 8th April 2020

In Blog

This past week and a bit I have been quite unwell with Covid-19. I first fell ill a week ago Sunday and it since developed into mild pneumonia.

It was a horrible cough and my fever was only slight and only for a very short period, but my lungs have taken a beating and I am now on antibiotics. The doctor said under normal circumstances that I would be admitted to hospital, but that’s the last place they want to send me right now.

So I am at home being looked after by Megan and Lindsay, the CPAP machine helps a lot and they moved a TV and Sky Q mini box into mine and Megan’s bedroom so that I can watch TV in bed, because sitting up is really hard.

I understand now why I am supposed to be shielded, and annoyingly because without testing me they can’t be sure it’s Covid-19, I still have to do the whole 12 weeks.

I really don’t want anyone I love getting this, it really did a number on Megan with her asthma, Lindsay was mostly better in a couple of days, but I dread to think what would happen if this ended up in Geoff or my nana.

Anyway guys, stay safe!

What I Am Modelling

I did get some painting done, specifically the Age of Sigmar and Warcry terrain.

I started with a few test pieces, specifically the bell tower and a few bits of small pieces from the Warcry core box.

Then I finished off the rest of the scatter terrain and two of the core box ruins.

Then I finished off the ruined city and the statues form the two other sets of terrain, as well as the first bit of the Stormvault terrain.

Then I finished the Defiled Ruins buildings and the columns for the Shattered Stormvault.

And finally I painted the two Stormvaults.

I have been slowly working my way through a few bits of Death Korps of Krieg for Niki and hope to have those finished tomorrow.

My current painting plan looks like this.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Special Weapons Grenadiers x 4, Death Riders Ride Master, Quartermaster and Retinue
  2. Myrmourn Banshees x 12 & Tomb Banshee
  3. Blood Ravens Bikes x 3 and Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Weapons Men x 10
  5. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  6. Blood Warriors x 5 & Mighty Lord of Khorne
  7. Canoness Veridyan
  8. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Weapons Men x 10
  9. Untamed Beasts x 10
  10. Tech Priest Manipulus x 2

What I Am Reading

Reading has been very hard but I have read a couple more short stories from Tales from the Crucible.

What I Am Playing

I managed an hour on Fallout 4 this week before I had to return to bed.

What I Am Backing

Sadly nowt

What I Am Cooking

I haven’t been in any state to cook 🙁

What I Am Spending

I did treat myself to a few new paints that I needed, some from Magic Madhouse and some from Battle Bunker, and a few other small bits and bobs, just waiting for them to arrive now.

March Resolutions Update

By

On 31st March 2020

In Blog

It’s that time of the month again so here is a hobby resolutions update!

Paint 867 Models – 42.45%

Really making progress with this one, but a bunch of supply crates and promethium barrels really helped me!

I am now at 368 models painted, well a few more because I have been hard at work on my Warcry/Age of Sigmar terrain, but I donMt record them until the whole set is complete.

Finish Painting The Blood Ravens I Own on 1st January – 38.46%

Making good progress with five captains painted your this month, but I still have all the units with multiple models to go yet!

Finish The Death Guard – 58.33%

Ok I actually went backwards on this cause I got two more Chaos Spawn, but they shouldn’t delay this too much!

Complete 2000 Points of Stormcast Eternals

I made a start on this, albeit very slowly by painting the Easy to Build Sequitors I got with Mortal Realms Issue 1, but I am not counting these until I have actually built the ones from Soul Wars to make it a full unit.

Other Resolutions

  • Complete 1750 Points of T’au
  • Complete 1750 Points of Orks
  • Rebase Blood Ravens
  • Rebase Orks

No progress on any of these, but I did manage to figure out what we have in terms of Orks and Megan and I plan to start on these very soon.

12 Weeks Lockdown

By

On 28th March 2020

In Blog

I am considered by my doctors to be an extremely vulnerable person due to my crappy immune system and diabetes.

Whilst the government have not ordered me to shield for 12 weeks the doctors told me that I should do so by the Monday just gone, they were very firm about telling me that I needed to do this.

Of course it’s all moot now because Boris ordered a full lockdown of everyone for three week, to start.

I knew this was gonna happen after I saw idiots on Facebook boasting about their last night at the pubs, it’s a shame that idiots made this necessary.

We need to keep vulnerable people safe, people more vulnerable than me, the doctors say if I catch Covid-19 there is a good chance it will put me in hospital, they don’t think it would kill me, but they don’t want the risk.

But I have people I care about who are much more vulnerable, a mate with a pacemaker, a nearly 90 year old nana who chain smokes like there is no tomorrow, a father-in-law who had a heart transplant, a nephew who recovered from childhood cancer, etc.

We need to shield these people from the virus, so whilst I hate the Covid-19 bill and I detest the lockdown, I will comply, because at times like these we all need to pitch in and do our part, and for many of us, it’s to stay at home.

Others can help shop for vulnerable people, donate blood, do key jobs to keep things moving etc.

We can all of us do our part to get us through this, so let’s roll up our sleeves and get in with it.

What I Am Modelling

Given I am in lockdown I am gonna really crack in with some stuff!

I started with the Magnavent Walkway, I got this from the issues of Conquest I bought at Forbidden Planet, thinking I would need it for Company of Legends, of course I didn’t!

Then I painted the Thermic Plasma Conduits Andrew face new.

Chris gave me a few bits which I am adding to the Conquest scenery, a pair of Imperial Bunkers and a Plasma Obliterator, so I go these done on a Sunday.

Then I finished off the scenery with Andres mashup of Sector Fronteris and STC Ryza-Pattern Ruins.

I then painted up my Imperial Navy stuff for Aeronautica Imperialis.

And then I finished a trio of Easy to Build Stormcast Eternals Sequitors.

I have already painted these, but got a bunch with Mortal Reams issue 1, so figured why not have a set with the helmeted head for the Sequitor Prime.

I then finally finished up the Three Hunters by painting Gimili, don’t know why but I found him a lot more intimidating than Legolas or Aragorn.

And then I painted up five Captains for my Blood Ravens, two Primaris Captains, one with a Stalker Bolt Rifle, the other with Auto Bolt Rifle and Power Sword, one in Cataphractii Terminator Armour, two in Terminator Armour, one with a Storm Bolter and Power Sword, the other the store exclusive model from the Sunderland Warhammer refurbishment.

And finally I painted up a squad of Seekers for my Heresy Ultramarines, not my best paint job ever, but I am looking forward to playing with them.

Right now on my desk are a Death Korps of Krieg Quartermaster and Retinue, Death Riders Ridemaster and four of Grenadier special weapons men.

I also built and primed all of my Warcry/AoS terrain and will also be working on that at the same time.

I am gonna now be getting back to the painting plan, which currently looks like this.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Quartermaster & Retinue, Special Weapons Grenadiers & Ride Master
  2. Warcry/Age of Sigmar Terrain
  3. Myrmourn Banshees x 12 & Tomb Banshee
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Men x 10
  5. Blood Ravens Bikes x 3 & Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
  6. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  7. Canoness Veridyan
  8. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Men x 10
  9. Untamed Beasts
  10. Tech Priest Maniplius x 2

What I Am Reading

Honestly I have been too worried to read anything.

What I Am Playing

Sadly nowt this week, but Megan and I are going to play some small 40k stuff next week.

What I Am Backing

Not a sausage, but I did just fill in my backer survey for The Rival Networks.

What I Am Cooking

I cooked twice this week, a very basic pulled pork on Sunday for when Paul and Mary came over, and then I made BBQ shredded chicken for lunch on Wednesday.

What I Am Spending

I bought a copy of Mortal Realms Issue 11, want to have two of the old Garden of Morr, and it will look really good on my Age of Sigmar table, although I plan to wait for issue 15 before I build some of it.

I also subscribed to the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy, because I have a feeling that will be brilliant.

A New Normal

By

On 20th March 2020

In Blog

The virus, well it’s become a huge problem these past two weeks.

I mean I knew it was a thing, I kept an eye on it, but I never thought it would be like this.

The whole thing we are living through right now feels like a nightmare, getting food is so difficult, in Asda the other night, 80% of the selves were bare. Funnily enough they had loads of Pot Noodles, so I guess they don’t sell well in the apocalypse.

I am diabetic with a bad immune system, so when the government tells vulnerable people to stay at home for 12 weeks on lockdown, I am expecting to be one of those people, I am not looking forward to it.

I worry about my vulnerable relatives, Megan’s dad had a heart transplant so is very vulnerable, and her mums nursery are refusing to close despite being asked to by the government, so I am scared he will be exposed.

My nana is not in the best of health and refuses to stop smoking, I don’t think she would survive it.

All in all, it’s very worrying and scary, and I just wish right now they would announce a start of the lockdown because the not knowing is making me way more anxious.

Of course it does mean that EGX Rezzed and the U.K. Games Expo are no longer happening and all my upcoming work is cancelled, so money will be tight.

Life is changing, and I have seen the very best and very worst of humanity these past couple of weeks.

I just hope all my friends and family come out this safe and well.

What I Am Modellimg

With Company of Legends having been imminent, I focused my painting efforts into scenery, not that it matters now.

The first thing painted was a Basicila Administratium from the old Cities of a Death range, this was given to me by Chris.

This was followed by a Manufactorum, again from the same range, also from Chris.

And then a pair of Sanctum Imperialis buildings, one from Chris, and the other from Phil.

At the same time I finished up the ruins from the Sector Imperialis Killzone from the Kill Team Starter Set.

Then I moved on to some of Andres terrain, starting with a bunch of scatter terrain from his Killzone Sector Munitorium.

At the same time I finished up some random pieces that I had been given by Chris, a lone piece of Promethium Relay Pipe, and a lone Aegis Defence Line part.

Then I painted Andrews Thermic Plasma Regulators, and judging from the colour of the plastic, I think these came from Conquest.

And finally a Haemotrope Reactor for Andrew.

I also built all of my Age of Sigmar terrain, this was basically three of the Warcry Ravaged Lands, a Defiled Ruins, Shattered Stormvault and the terrain in the original starter set.

Plan is to get the painted up during my forthcoming isolation period.

So my current painting plan has been abandoned and will be reworked.

Right now my priority is to complete Andrews terrain so he has some to play on, the finish a few things I had on my desk followed by Nikis remaining Death Korps of Krieg.

Then I plan to hit the Warcry terrain hard, along with the Untamed Beasts.

What I Am Reading

I have read the first two stories from Tales from the Crucible but I have been so preoccupied with news about the virus, it’s been hard to concentrate.

I have however been listening to The First Wall on Audible.

What I Am Playing

Life is just way too crazy right now to even get a moment to play, but I am going to fix that.

What I Am Backing

Still just Broken!

What I Am Cooking

We have been struggling to get food, so I haven’t really been able to plan anything to cook.

What I Am Spending

My last Black Library Celebration/Store Birthday order arrived.

This consisted of the Beastgrave Gift Pack, the Warcy Shattered Stormvault, The Wurmspat a box of Battle Sisters, and Corpse Grinder Cult Card’s and dice.

I have also stocked up on paints to a degree, most of these I already had spare from Conquest, but I have added a few to the overflow tin this week in preparation for the lockdown.

I also bought myself a few things from Battle Bunker because I want Jus to still be there after the crisis is over, so I bought a squad of Retributors, a Stormhawk Interceptor and Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers.

From Forbidden Planet I bought myself the last two copies of Conquest, I know they will come through the post, but at the time we were still running Company of Legends and I figured the terrain would be handy now.

  • Mood:- Worried
  • Caffeinated Beverages Consumed:- 8
  • In My Ears:- Best of You by The Foo Fighters
  • Book Last Read:- Tales From The Crucible by Various
  • Movie/TV Show Last Watched:- BBC News
  • Current State of Projects:- Galvanic Magnavent supports completed, Easy to Build Sequitors 35% done.

Meet Bonnie

By

On 10th March 2020

In Blog

Since we lost Sweep and Cookie last year, the house has felt a little empty and when we found out we weren’t going to have to move, we decided that it was time to get another cat.

So we started looking around and after a few leads that didn’t pan out, Paul and Mary introduced us to Yarm Cat Rescue, and we saw a few cats in the group, two of which really caught our attention.

We asked which had been searching for a home the longest and we were told that this was Bonnie.

So we adopted her, she is a sweet girl, just 19 months old and is very loving and gentle.

She is taking a little time to settle in with Misty and Jenny, but that’s to be expected, but she loves to curl up next to you on the sofa and just get strokes.

I do love cats and they always make me feel happy, and I am very glad that we have been able to give a home to Bonnie.

What I Am Modelling

Company of Legends is fast approaching and I need to get this new table finished for it as well as a couple of additions to another table.

So I started the week with two thirds of the Honoured Imperium set. The broken Aquila was missing the centre piece so I filled it in with some texture paint, assuming the gold that made it up had been whisked away somewhere to form a part of some nefarious ritual!

I then painted up the second Galvanic Servohauler frame from Conquest, although this one I had gotten from Forbidden Planet as I was sick of waiting for Hachette to send it.

And then I worked with Megan to paint some Sector Imperialis Ruins, some from a box of them, some from Kill Team.

And finally I painted a set of Sector Sanctoris Ruins to use as scatter terrain.

I am now working on the bigger building in this box and they hopefully will get done this week.

As I said before my current painting plan is suspended until after Company of Legends and even then it will be suspended until I get back from EGX Rezzed, but here it is anyway.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Quartermaster and Retinue with Death Riders Ridemaster
  2. Easy To Build Stormcast Eternals Sequitors
  3. Blood Ravens Captains x 5
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Wrapons Men x 12
  5. Warcry Terrain
  6. Myrmourn Banshees
  7. Blood Ravens Bikes x 3 and Attack Bike armed with Multi-Melta
  8. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  9. Canoness Veridyan
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Wrapons Men x 12

What I Am Reading

I finished The First Wall and I enjoyed it, it was really good, I know others have given it mixed reviews but I really got into the story of the Imperial Guard and their conclusion really felt like a stab to the guts.

I absolutely would recommend it, and I am going to listen to it on audiobook as soon as I can.

I have now moved on to Tales From The Crucible which I will be reviewing on the blog

What I Am Playing

I went to Meeple Perk, my local board game cafe on Friday night with Megan, Lindsay and our friend Jo, and we played a few games.

We started off with a game of Just One, in which we scored 11 points which we were really happy with.

And then we played three games of Codenames Disney, we all lost the first one when Lindsays first clue lead Jo right to the assassin and me and Megan won the last game together.

Then on Sunday we went to Paul and Mary’s house where we played three rounds of Telestrations, which was very very funny, and then two rounds of Just One, before we headed out to tea and returned home for a game of

What Am I Backing

Still just Broken!

What Am I Cooking

I helped to makes some breakfast sandwiches on Sunday.

They had in them, BBQ shredded chicken, in my Kansas City BBQ sauce, topped with some streaky bacon and a cheese slice and a fried egg.

What Am I Spending

The next two lots of my Black Library Celebration/Store blowout arrived! The first was a Nemisis Warbring Titan for Adeptus Titanicus and Traitor Command and The Deaded Ambull for Blackstone Fortress.

And the next batch was the Adeptus Titanicus Command Terminals, two sets of Custodes Dice, Valerian and Aleya, Larissa Shadowstalker, Sgt Jovan, a backpack, art prints, plasma gun ammo tin and a couple of paints.

I still have one more delivery to come which was dispatched today so I expect it either tomorrow or Wednesday.

A Big Ball

By

On 3rd March 2020

In Blog

The past couple of weeks I have found my motivation has taken a real nose dive, as I put it my ball is big.

I visualise my mind as a box with a depression button in it, and there is a ball bouncing around the box, when it hits the button, I feel crappy.

Sometimes the ball is small, which means that the button is less frequently hit, but lately the ball is pretty big and it’s constantly hitting the button.

I am waiting for a decision to come through the post, I know what it will be, but the anxiety of waiting for it is kinda dragging me down a lot as it’s going to mean some big changes have to be made. I will fight it, but it doesn’t stop it hurting in the meantime.

So yeah, my motivation is utterly gone and I can barely read, paint or game and most of my time is sat in a bit of a mope. right now I want to paint, but the ball is hitting off the button like crazy and the office is a bit chaotic at the minute with very little room for me to be at my desk.

What I Am Modelling

So it’s been a fortnight since my last post, but I haven’t painted a lot.

I started with a 40 strong Chainrasp Horde, which was a lot of fun to paint, its very simple, not exactly painted up to the best standard, but these are horde troops and I did them in a way that delivers a decent result fast for a lot of models.

Having gotten sick of waiting for my next issues of Conquest I purchased a couple of issues from Forbidden Planet, and worked on those, the first being a set of Chaos Spawn, which unpainted mostly in Contrast which I think worked really well.

I need to get the next table for Company if Legends done so my painting plan is on hold whilst I do that, it’s a table of mixed city ruins and I am wanting to go a bit further with it and weather it a bit more.

I started with the oldest kit in the box, some old school Gothic Ruins, the scheme is dark and meant to represent some basic rockcrete. I added some posters taken from The Regimental Standard and some blood splatter, I tried to add some scorch marks but it’s doesn’t show up too well on the dark stone.

And I also did a couple little pieces of scatter terrain for my Conquest scenery box from the first Galvanic Servohauler sprue.

I do also paint three models, but these are for a secret project I am not ready to reveal just as yet!

I still have a painting plan, it’s just suspended until I get the terrain done.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Quartermaster and Retinue with Death Riders Ridemaster
  2. Easy to Build Stormcast Eternals Sequitors
  3. Blood Ravens Captains x 5
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Wrapons Men x 12
  5. Warcry Terrain
  6. Myrmourn Banshees x 12
  7. Blood Ravens Bikes x 3 and Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
  8. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  9. Canniness Veridyan
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Command Squad Special Wrapons Men x 12

What I Am Reading

As I said my motivation is dead, but I did read Will of the Legion which I enjoyed, I am gonna hit up The First Wall next, then I have a couple of books from Aconyte to review for the blog.

What I am Playing

I played in the Sunday of the Durham Raiders Age of Sigmar retreat, I took my Khorne and lost both games, first was to Legions of Nagash and I lasted the game but lost on points.

Second game was against Ogor Mawtribes and I was tabled in two turns!

Part of this is down to my playing style, when playing Khorne I prefer to just charge at the enemy for brutal slaughter, because that’s how the fluff works!

This past Sunday, Megan’s parents came round with her sister for a birthday celebration for Megan, we played a couple of games of Just One, not doing very well in either game.

Unfortunately I had to go have a nap and missed the rest of the games.

And yesterday Paul came round so we played two games of Codenames, we both lost the first game as Lindsay had Megan uncover the assassin with her first guess, but me and Paul came back from behind to win the second game!

What I Am Backing

Nowt apart from Broken, which makes me giggle with every update!

What I Am Cooking

With Megan’s help, I managed to make Kansas City Pulled Pork with my BBQ sauce for dinner on Sunday, and it was delicious!

What I Am Spending

I save up money every year for the Newcastle Warhammer store birthday, apart from last year where is coincided with Company of Legends so I spent that money at the Sunderland reopening instead.

This year I went Conkers deep into Blackstone Fortress and bought the base game, three expansions and the annual.

I also bought the Aeronautica Imperialis starter set, a few Warcry card packs, some paint, Imperial Navy dice, Legion Pin Badges and the Stormcast Eternals Knight Questor for Lindsay.

A few other things were ordered and are being delivered hopefully this week!

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