Starting Christmas Season

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On 8th December 2019

In Blog

Today Lindsay and Megan insisted we put up the Christmas trees, personally I’d rather have left it until next weekend, but I always get overruled on this.

I say trees, because we have two trees, in the office we have an adult grown up tree, and in the den, we have a geeky/nerdy tree.

The adult tree has our oldest collection of decorations on it, but it’s an ever evolving collection, as we add to it every year, these generally until the last few years kept to the red, green, gold theme, but recently whites, woods and even blues have been creeping in.

Something that I insisted on, and Lindsay eventually came to love was that no two decorations on the tree should be the same. I hate trees which are filled with identical decorations, they just feel so impersonal.

Having each decoration be unique has meant that everything on there has a story to tell, for example, a favourite of mine is one of the oldest we own, it came from ASDA about 17 years ago and looks like the derided sculpture called B of the Bang. I like it because of that, it just makes me smile every time we put it on.

There are also a couple of decorations that Lindsay brought home from India, and a bunch now that Megan brought from her parents tree to give it an infusion of her, and since we came together, we have bought decorations together.

The upstairs tree, the nerdy one, has at its core a box of Disney decorations that Lindsay got from her grandparents plus some other ones that we have picked up other the years.

Star Wars has a good representation on this tree, but no Star Trek yet, we have just added , Captain Marvel, and have our eyes in Beymax.

My personal favourite decorations on this tree is a Spider-Man one we picked up a couple of years ago from Poundland and a Stormcast Eternal and Primaris Intercessor I got from Games Workshop a couple of years ago, that I have painted up gold and turned into decorations.

Oh and the tree topper is a Cthulhu stuffy that Megan crocheted, although he is looking a little worse for wear now.

What Am I Painting

The week started with the first of the Death Korps of Krieg Death Riders, finished on late Saturday night, followed by the others on Monday.

I then picked up the Tempestus Scions and their Taurox and got them finished over a couple of days, I needed to do something whilst I sought out mental inspiration for finishing up Ghazghkull Thraka.

I love the Scions and have plans to do an army of them allied with some Sisters of Battle led by an Inquisitor.

With those done I came back to Ghazghkull Thraka and got him finished off for Alexander, and I am quite happy with how he turned out.

I then picked up two Lords of Contagion, and the remaining five Death Riders to paint up and got them finished on Saturday afternoon.

I then painted Zarbag’s Gitz, I am very behind on my Underworlds Warbands and I am going to try and finish the Nightvault ones by the end of the year. So after this I will be doing The Godsworn Hunt and later on in the month Mollog’s Mob and Ylthari’s Guardians.

I am now working on all 20 Poxwalkers I got from Warhammer 40,000 Conquest, but these are being done with Contrast so they won’t take long at all.

My painting queue currently looks like this now, I have sent a Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad back a bit in the schedule, I have quite a bit of them at the moment painted and until I hand over this batch to Niki, I don’t want to try and squeeze more in the box.

  1. The Godsworn Hunt
  2. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  3. Plague Marines and Icon Bearer
  4. Custodian Guard
  5. Imperial Objectives
  6. Death Korps of Krieg Commissars and Severina Raine
  7. Blood Ravens Lieutenants
  8. Foetid Bloat-Drones
  9. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  10. Mollog’s Mob

What I am Reading

I started with the novella Wreak and Ruin which was an entertaining little yarn, and leaves me desperate for more stories in this series. I think a full novel for Sister Augusta is needed to be honest.

I then read The Crystal Cathedral, which is another young Sister Augusta story, and it was pretty good, but way too short.

At this point I decided to pick up a big book, Sister of Battle: The Omnibus by James Swallow, these were the first stories written about the Sisters of Battle and I have only read the first novel, and that was a long time ago.

So I was looking forward to this and quickly demolished the first story, Red and Black, which was previously only available as an audio drama, but it’s a really good audio drama, and one I think lots of people should listen to.

I am well on my way through Faith and Fire and it’s as enjoyable as the first time I read it, but I have never read Hammer & Anvil before so I am looking forward to that one.

I also listened to a couple of audio books, Spear of the Emperor was really good, not a lot of action but you got a real good story about the chapter and about the experiences of the helots of the Mentors.

Then I listened to The Tranzia Rebellion, I had got up to part 6 when it first came out, but it got put aside for a longer book, I can’t remember which. But it was a decent audio, and I am glad I finished it, a cool old fashioned radio drama.

I just finished listening to Call of Archaon as I am quite behind on Age of Sigmar fiction and I want to start reading and listening to some more and figure getting through The Realmgate Wars will give me a good grounding in the setting.

What I am Playing

On Tuesday night we went to Megan’s parents and we wanted to play Hint and Just One, but because the evening went quite wrong, we ended up just playing a couple of games of Just One, but we did manage to score 11 points in the second game!

What I am Backing

Can’t really afford to back anything else right now, so sticking with Car Wars Sixth Edition for which now my pledge also includes Miniatures Set 3, a Dice Bag, Crew Pack and Linked Weapons in addition to what I had in it last week, other game components continue to be improved as tuning slowly climbs up.

Munchkin Pathfinder 3 arrived with my friend in the US and is now on its way to me, so I look forward to having that in a couple of weeks.

What I am Cooking

I was supposed to cook enchiladas on Thursday night with Megan, but I chickened out.

What I am Spending

Very broke, so apart from a couple of Christmas presents and my Secret Santa’s, I have spent nowt.

Musical Advent – 8th December

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On 8th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

So here we have a more well known geeky band, They Might Be Giants, who have never been shy about being geeks.

Pretty much every geek loves dinosaurs, and we all for the most part spend a little bit of time wanting to be a palaeontologist, and movies like Jurassic Park just reinforce it along with visits to see fossils in museums.

This song from the 2009 children album Here Comes Science, captures that love of palaeontology, and is such a joyful song that you can’t help singing along to, I challenge you to not sing with it!

Musical Advent – 7th December

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On 7th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

This band don’t generally do geeky music, but they have one song which is absolutely amazing and lovely and is all about how there is nowt like the relationship between fellow geeks.

I am very lucky to have two amazing geeky girls in my life and when me and Megan have our handfasting, hopefully in 2021, we will be having our first dance to this song.

Anyway The Wonderstrucks put out a lovely EP, An American Education, and I highly recommend that people get out there and give it a listen to, its just a shame they haven’t done anything else since 🙁

Musical Advent – 6th December

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On 6th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

When a show does a musical episode , they can often bring us some classics, and its safe to say that this particular musical episode is legendary.

Once More With Feeling is generally considered one of the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and given that there are so many amazing episodes, this is no mean feat.

There were a couple of songs I wanted to pick for this, but I think this one edges out the others as being the standout, Rest in Peace sung by James Marsters really get across the feeling of love from a soulless vampire and digs into the character a lot more than might have otherwise been expected.

Musical Advent – 5th December

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On 5th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

This is a song that I hum a lot, and I mean a lot!

It’s Baby Get Me A Tardis by Meri Amber who is an absolutely insane geeky musician from Australia, and I utterly adore her!

This song is from her album Pop Goes The TARDIS which is a whole Doctor Who themed album and it’s an absolute joy to listen to, because she loves the show so much and it shows.

If you aren’t familiar with her music, I really suggest that you go check her out, you won’t regret it.

Musical Advent – 4th December

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On 4th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

I do want to avoid too many cliches in this nerdy musical Advent, but there are some songs that just have to be mentioned, and this is one of them.

In The Garage by nerd rock superstars Weezer is from their debut album and talks about the interests of Rivers Cuomo, specifically his love of D&D and superheroes.

It’s kind of an ode to the safe space that a lot of us nerds have growing up, usually our bedrooms, but other people have other spaces.

Mine was a cupboard in my bedroom growing up, I shared with two brother, who as much as I love them, are muggles and didn’t really get my interest.

So I hid a lot of stuff in there and could alway just sit in it when I needed space and to be around my stuff, like my Lego and Warhammer, and of course a poster of Kitty Pryde!

Musical Advent – 3rd December

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On 3rd December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

The next song pretty much sums up my feelings about parties, especially Christmas one, and it’s by a band that I really love, The Doubleclicks a folk pop nerd sibling duo consisting of Laser Malena-Webber and Aubrey Turner from Portland.

Most famous for their song Nothing to Prove, which is about the acceptance of women in geek culture and came at a very pivotal time and was much needed. For Lindsay and Megan is a very important anthem.

But rather than go with their most well know song I picked one which talks about my feelings, it’s Cats at Parties, and trust me, I have done this exact thing, a lot!

Musical Advent – 2nd December

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On 2nd December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

Today for advent I am picking a classic by geek legend Jonathan Coulton known affectionately as JoCo and is best know for his classics Still Alive and Want You Gone from Portal and Portal 2.

Its a great song and really does hit on how doing an office job really can make you feel like a Zombie sometimes, and is full of so much colourful imagery.

Musical Advent – 1st December

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On 1st December 2019

In Nerdy Music Advent

In discussion with Graham and Chris earlier this year, my love of music of the nerdy variety came up, so I decided to share some of it this advent.

So each day I will share an awesome piece of nerdy music for you guys to love.

For day one I decided to go with one of the most well known songs, Do You Want To Date My Avatar by the cast of The Guild.

It’s a great song and has loads of nods to MMORPGs and was a great promo for the show.

Turned Out To Be Harder Than Planned

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On 30th November 2019

In Blog

My week started with the shifting of my desk, which was a lot harder than it sounds.

Megan was sitting right next to the radiator and we were, now winter is upon us, putting the clothes horse where her chair normally goes.

Next to my side of the desk is a chest of drawers with my laser printer on it, so what we did was swap the side this goes on so that there is an area for the clothes horse to go that doesn’t require Megan to not be able to sit on her side of the desk when clothes need to dry.

This did however require that I unplug all my computer stuff, and remount my monitor on the wall, and rearrange where the router goes, and that took the best part of the day.

Anyway, now it’s done, the office looks a lot better and Megan will he able to paint more often.

My painting queue has had progress made on it, so I am now planning what’s next after that, this is what it looks like now.

  1. Ghazghkull Thraka
  2. Death Korps of Krieg Death Riders x 5
  3. Tempestus Scions and Taurox Prime
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Death Riders x 5
  5. Lords of Contagion
  6. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  7. Poxwalkers from Warhammer 40,000 Conquest
  8. Undecided Underworlds Warband
  9. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  10. Plague Marine Icon Beaer

What I am Moddelling

Sticking to my plan I started with the Acastus Knight Porphyrions for Adeptus Titanicus, which I have painted up in the colours of House Taranis.

These are really nice models and I can’t wait to get a chance to play with them, although I will probably only take one at a time as they are very powerful.

I did also find behind the desk when I moved it, a rogue piece of Promethium Relay Pipe from Scottish Graham’s scenery, so I quickly painted this up so I can get it added to the box.

I then started on the secret project, one day I will be able to share what it is, but not just yet!

I decided to move the schedule a bit, because the secret project, well I decided to take a bit more time over it, so I decided to work on the Poxwalkers, which was something easily done because they are mostly done with Contrast paint.

Next I started work on some Death Riders for the Death Korps of Krieg, but I am splitting these into two batches of five, I have gotten the Ridemaster done as a sort of test piece and the next four have gotten the first colour for the greatcoats done.

I am also working on, Ghazghkull Thraka but I am taking him a bit more slowly, here are some work in progress photos, thus far I have done one arm, one leg and his base.

What I am Reading

Continuing stories about the Sisters of Battle, I started the week with Repentia by Alec Worley which was a really enjoyable read, if a little bit difficult to believe because no way a single Repentia could handle a pack of Flesh Hounds and then a Chaos Space Marine, still entertaining tale.

Then I read it’s sequel Martyrs End, which again was good because it very much felt like a continuation of the protagonists journey and how she never felt forgiven, great tale and showed how she cares little for her own life.

Then I moved into Danie Wares Bloodied Rose series, starting with Mercy, which serves as a good introduction to Sister Superior Augusta and her way of doing things.

I then moved onto The Bloodied Rose which is the next in the series, and it was a rather exciting read, I very much enjoyed it, so much so that I read the next story, Forsaken straight afterward for a look at an early Augusta adventure.

I also listened to the audiobook of The Wicked and the Damned, I enjoyed it, but I think the stories would have worked better on their own, the linking narrative was predictable and cliche and just not all that interesting, which is a real shame.

What I am Playing

I played a session of Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks on Tuesday, which was a lot of fun, Megan is a really good GM, but she really doesn’t get that I am a chaotic player!

We followed this up with two games of Just One, which I have been given to demo by Asmodee. It’s a brilliant game and a very worthy winner of the Spiel Des Jahres, we got 4 in our first game and 7 in our second game.

What I am Backing

I am backing Car Wars Sixth Edition of course and I am backing it at the Black Friday $139 level, which gets me the core game box, Miniatures Set 1, Playmat 1 and Uncle Al’s Upgrade Pack, and unlocked through stretch goals I am also getting the Armoury Pack, Road Tiles, Dropped Weapon Pack and three additional minis!

Car Wars holds a special place in my heart and I cannot wait to get this in my hands to play it in early 2021!

On Monday I had three projects from Steve Jackson Games fulfil, which were all a total surprise as GamesQuest didn’t even have them on their blog as future projects to get round to sorting out yet.

First one to arrive was three mini expansions for Munchkin which consisted of expansions for Star Munchkin, Munchkin Cthulhu and Munchkin Zombies, along with the promo cards from the sleeves promotion and the coin machine which never got to the UK.

I am a huge Munchkin fan so this was very much looked forward to.

The second was Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2, which is an expansion for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG set I backed a couple of years ago, and one I really should get round to playing sometime, I used to like GURPS when I was a kid, but haven’t played it in so long.

With this I also got a notebook, six silver eye in pyramid dice and the copy of Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering I had added in BackerKit.

And finally I got Ogre Battlefields and the Ogre Miniatures rules, I am a huge fan of Ogre and it has a certain sentimental value to me, so this was one I was looking forward to.

I managed to get everything away and the new 3D Ogres are at home in the Ogre Designers Edition garage which is now full to capacity!

The missing parts for the Alhambra Designer’s Edition Mega Box also arrived on Friday, so I can now put this particular project to bed and move on from it, can’t wait to play this one!

What I am Cooking

I cooked some chips in the oven, they weren’t burnt too badly.

What I am Spending

Probably too much, I got a bit less money this month than I thought I was going to have.

In the Element Games Black Friday sale, I bought Rippa’s Snarlfangs, their dice and Gotrek Gurnisson.

I also bought from Games Workshop, a new M Layer Brush and a pot of Mordant Earth which I used to paint Ghazghkull Thrakas base with.

As a family we also bought out Christmas present to ourselves, a Nintendo Switch, which is going to be wrapped up and put under the tree until the 28th December. We got it for £293.97 with Lego Jurassic World, Mario Kart 8 and Labo Robot Kit.

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