Tag: Blood Ravens Page 1 of 5

A Big Bunch of Stuff

By

On 27th October 2023

In Blog

This is a big update, life has been a bit all over the place and its taken this long to sort out putting out a new blog post, sorry

My dad turned 60 earlier this month so we buggered off to Suffolk for a birthday meal, we were in the county for less than 24 hours which felt too brief as I was unable to get any quality time.

Would have liked to have spent more time with the nibblings, but it was nice nonetheless.

It was a Sunday dinner at the pub and I had lamb, cause I love lamb and so rarely get to have it.

I turned 41 as well, which was fine, but my birthday plans failed and it’s left me somewhat deflated.

I am on the verge of giving up any attempt at celebrating it from now.

I did get a pair of AirPod Pros for my birthday, mostly cause I needed the ANC

This weekend I went to Stirling for a Horus Heresy event runs by some friends of ours, an event with lots of Conpany of Legends DNA, which is really cool cause we never get to play in our own event!

That’s not me saying they ripped us off, we love that they have taken our concept and turned it into their own thing, it’s absolutely brilliant, although we did provide them with Chris’s scoring/pairing spreadsheet.

I am gonna put up a vide with my list next week.

It’s been a really fun event, my first game was against Matts Whit Scars, a beautiful army that I was able to really push and give it a hard time.

The game went rather well for me, I did lose in the end, but it largely came down to a mixture of great tactics by Matt, poor decision making on my part and of course rolling double 1s on Plasma Pistol Chainfire on my Moritat resulting in him dying in his first turn out of the Rhino!

The second game on Saturday was against Chris’s Custodes, and yeah at 3.5k points, Custodes really get to shine as they can take a lot of the nicer toys that 3k kind of stops them taking

I got hammered in this game, my list just struggled to handle the sheer amount of 2+ Armour

Wonderful guy as well and a beautifully painted army, makes me want to get my Custodes out the box!

On Sunday I faced Mark and his Ultramarines, in a very challenging game, for a good part of the game, I was dominant on one flank, distracting him with stuff on the other, but once he had taken care of those units, he quickly wiped out my whole army!

And my final game was against Michael and his Space Wolves, a great army with a Thunderhawk, my first time facing one of those bad boys!

I did okay, but eventually folded and was tabled, a mix of poor choices on my part and great tactics on Michaels.

A great weekend and the lads put on an amazing event, really good, absolutely loved my time there.

Insullationgate

Not my name, but it seems apt, on my return Stirling, we were having some insulation work done by the landlord, the contractors said, it was all external, but when they arrived, we were told its actually all internal!

So we had a chaotic week, with every room in the house being torn apart, and it ended my #HobbyStreak 🙁

It is what it is, but we are only just getting the place back together, and it still needs painting.

In other news, I am back into therapy and mental health treatment, I need it, and the waiting period was awful.

Initially my medication has been adjusted as they build an idea on how to help sort me out.

What I Am Modelling

I started off painting some Blood Angels but got bored partway though so got painted up my Questoris Knight Styrix for House Taranis

Then I finished the Phobos Lieutenant for the Blood Angels

Followed by the Suppressors

And the a squad of Infiltrators

After that a Ballistus Dreadnought for the Blood Ravens

As a result of the insulation, I found a DOOM box of abandoned Warhammer projects and decided to finish as many of them as I could, starting with a resin Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun, who mostly just needed a few bits and bobs finishing

Then it was a Praetor for the Death Guard armed with a Thunder Hammer!

Then I finished up some Marines that Chris gave me ages ago to supplement my Word Bearers who needed a couple of Marines per Squad to allow me to take them as Tactical Squads instead of Veteran Squads and allow me to build some non Pride of the Legion lists

And then some Tyranid Warriors that I originally got with Deathstorm, a very very long time ago!

And finally I painted a squad of Assault Terminators for my Ultramarines from the DOOM box

So what’s up next?

  1. Ork Boyz x 10 & Nob
  2. Marshcrawlla Sluggoth
  3. Sororitas Dialogus
  4. Imperial Fists Rotor Cannon Squad x 10
  5. Death Guard Spartan
  6. Termagants with Devourers x 20
  7. Grots x 10 & Runtherd
  8. Chaos Familiars
  9. Loonboss & Zarbags Gitz
  10. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10

What I Am Reading

I finished The Prisoner of Tartarus bu Richard Lee Byers, so expect a review of that soonish!

I also read The Devouring Void by Danie Ware, which was ok, the twist was kind of sudden which didn’t work for me, but otherwise was good.

Audiobook wise, I listened to Blood of the Emperor, and The Sandman by Simon A Forward, and I am currently listening to The Church and the Crown by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I got a game of Sone Mortalis in with Paul at Durham Raiders

I did ok, my list is suboptimal, Paul’s is much better and he played really well, very smart choice made by him.

But it was a close run thing!

And we also had a game of Alhambra, on my birthday which I did not win, of course Megan did.

But it was close!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have started on Assassin’s Creed III Remastered and been doing so on stream.

I also played and completed Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines, emulated using Retroarch, and I uploaded the playthrough to YouTube

https://youtu.be/ZOF5Ax-QWaQ?si=HIK0bGwUDXkCJ–q

Other than that, I finished Bayonetta.

And I am now playing through Spider-Man Remastered.

What I Am Creating

I did finally get round to making that Ork Skin video!

What I Am Spending

I bought this Neo Geo CD controller made by 8BitDo a month ago and it’s only just arrived, the best thing about, MICROSWITCHES!

So yeah 8BitDo got right what SNK couldn’t

I also had a couple of bits printed up for my controller board, some black hooks to hang cables and a shelf, to hold a few little bits.

I also finally bought a new monitor for the studio, I just really needed some more screen real-estate for editing Edge of Empire podcasts, cause the setup I had was a bit weird in composition.

Its a Cooler Master GA271 and is really good for the £130 I paid for it, and I mean, really good, far better than it has any right to be, with some HDR and FreeSync too.

Media Server Transition

By

On 26th August 2023

In Blog

The Raspberry Pi I have been running my server on for the last 2 years has basically become insufficient to handle what I am asking it to do, getting a few failures and slowdowns.

So Paul has lent me Mary’s old HP All-In-One PC so we can transition the server to an X64 system until my plan to build a dedicated server that can also do transcoding can be realised.

The transfer went well, well 69 audiobooks somehow got lost, but I had local backups, so restoration of them was easy enough.

At first I was quite worried as it turned out the system was struggling to run AudioBookShelf as well, but it just took a bit of time for the new installs to verify the files and rebuild some of the metadata.

The machine only has 8GB of memory, 2GB which has been pinched by the integrated GPU, but alas it only has a single SODIMM slot, so when I upgrade the RAM it will have to be a replacement of the existing SODIMM.

So far it’s running pretty well, I am away in Brighton right now and watching a movie that’s streaming from my studio!

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by finishing Illuminor Szeras for my Necrons, which completes the army for now.

Might do a whole army over view at some point!

After that came a trio of Gondola Poles for Carnevale.

Then a Ogor Mawtribes Tyrant that I got with Stormbringer.

And a Stormstrike Charriot for my Celestial Vindicators.

Followed by the Tzaangors for Warhammer Quest, getting close to finishing Silver Tower!

After that it was a Ultramarines Ballistus Dreadnought!

Then a Terminator Captain for my Blood Ravens.

Alongside a Terminator Squad

And finally a Phobos Lieutenant for the Ultramarines, armed with a Combi-Weapon

So whats up next week?

  1. Elathain’s Soulraid
  2. Ultramarines Sternguard Veterans x 5, Victrix Honour Guard x 4 & Champion
  3. Strike Team x 10
  4. Termagants with Spine Fists x 20
  5. Mandrakes x 5
  6. Imperial Fists Heavy Support Squad with Lascannons x 10
  7. Gardus Steel Soul
  8. Blood Angels Infiltrators x 10
  9. Blood Ravens Balistus Dreadnought
  10. Ork Boyz x 10

What I Am Reading

I listened to Shadow of the Eighth by Justin D. Hill, always love a bit of Mika Lesk!

I also listened to …ish by Philip Pascoe which was ok, but not amazing.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I got a game of Horus Heresy at Hartlepool Gamers last week, but I returned to my losing ways!

And my rats lost another Blood Bowl game too!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Played a bit more Assassins Creed Revelations which have been uploaded to YouTube on BigGeordieGeek Plays.

Played a bit of Boltgun too!

And I started playing Driver: Parallel Lines on the Steam Deck

What I Am Creating

Did another TikTok, this time on basing!

@biggeordiegeek Basic Grassy Base How I do my super basic Games Workshop style grassy base! #Warmongers #WarhammerCommunity #WarHamFam #WarhammerBases #Base #Basing #WarhammerBasing ♬ original sound biggeordiegeek

What I am Spending

Not much, my order of Minka Lesk x 2 and a Sisters of Battle Rhino finally arrived!

I did buy a Humble Bundle, the Spaced Out Bundle, that got me

I also bought a couple of other mini bundles

My Knee Hurts

By

On 2nd August 2023

In Blog

The other week, I hurt my knee, I feel down the stairs and my knee went through the wall.

Its healing, and I can now move it, but any weight I put on it, results in excruciating pain.

I ended up going back to hospital, only to be told, that I am just old and don’t heal up as well as I used to.

I have exercises to do, and have a referral to physiotherapy, very annoying but it is what it is I guess.

What I Am Modellng

I started the week by painting a trio of Istanbul Monitors for my UCM fleet.

Then some units for my Orruk Warclans, starting with a unit of Gutrippas.

Plus Da Kunnin’ Krew.

And a unit of Man-Skewer Boltboyz

Then came a Terminator Librarian for the Blood Ravens

After that it was a tactical squad for the Imperial Fists.

So what’s up next?

  1. Deffkilla Wartrike
  2. Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
  3. Stealth Team x 3
  4. Canoptek Wraiths x 3
  5. Gutrippas x 10
  6. Elathain’s Soulraid
  7. Tzaangors x 6
  8. Strike Team x 10
  9. Termagants with Spine Fists x 20
  10. Mandrakes x 5

What I Am Reading

I pushed through the headaches that were stopping me from concentrating and finished Sisters of Sorcery, and you can read a review here.

I then started on Secrets in Scarlet, an Arkham Horror anthology edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells.

I am still listening to The Martyr’s Tomb by Marc Collins.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt after 181.8 hours of gameplay and well, that’s a very very good game isn’t it!

On Steam Deck I started playing Tomb Raider, which is a very nice game with an interesting story.

And I managed to finish it as well, which is cool!

I have now started on Disney’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, only done the first level or so in, but its good so far.

What I Am Creating

Another episode of Edge of Empire is in production, but in the meantime, here is a little Tik Tok video on painting Burgundy Leather!

@biggeordiegeek

Burgandy Leather Painting! Warmongers WarhammerCommunity WarHamFam PaintSlam23 Painting PaintingWarhammer PaintingGamesWorkshop PaintingLeather MiniturePainting MiniturePaintingTips

♬ original sound – biggeordiegeek – biggeordiegeek

What I Am Winning

I won a water filter and some cartridges for it too!

What I Am Spending

Bought a few games,

I also preordered the Starfield Premium Edition Upgrade, which will give me all of the premium features with my Gamepass subscription.

I got the Baldur’s Gate & Beyond Humble Bundle which netted me

I got a few games I already own, so I donated them to friends!

I got a Ballistus Dreadnought for my Ultramarines.

And a trio of Monitors for my UCM Fleet

The Steam Deck!

By

On 24th July 2023

In Blog

I have worked really hard at a few events and managed to earn the money to buy a Steam Deck, a device I have been planning to buy in August, but well the Summer sale price was just too good!

I absolutely love it, the ability to play my PC games natively on a handheld device is amazing!

The first thing I did with it was to okay Aperture Desk Job to get it tested out and make sure everything was hunky dorey!

After that I took it apart, well, I took the back cover off, unplugged the battery and replaced the SSD with a 1TB Corsair MP600 Mini, after which I installed SteamOS on to it!

And then began the process of installing the games I want to play right now.

I also set up a 256GB MicroSD card with Windows 11 on it, so that I can have the ability to play games on Windows natively as well, via the Epic, Xbox, GOG, Ubisoft, EA and Amazon apps.

I also installed a screen protector, to add some anti-glare and keep the screen protected from scratches and stuff.

I used it to play through 80’s Overdrive (review here) and I am currently pushing my way through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Overall I am really impressed with the device, its super cool, but I do want to sort out eventually dual booting with Windows, so I can play things like the Ubisoft titles, I have the Heroic Launcher setup for Epic and GOG already and they are mostly working.

I have been having a lot of fun with the device, and its helping me game a lot more, cause I can hang out with Megan and Lindsay whilst I am gaming, rather than having to exile myself to the studio!

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting up the horrors for Warhammer Quest, so that’s 2 Pink Horrors, 4 Blue Horrors and 4 bases of Brimstone Horrors.

Then I painted the Blood Ravens Infernus Squad for the Space Marine Combat Patrol

After that it was The Rashaar for Carnivale

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And a Skitarii Marshall

Followed by the Palatine for the Sisters of Battle

Then a Primal Lair from Stormbringer for my AoS scenery!

And finally some additions to the Ultramarines, starting with a squad of Bladeguard Veterans.

Then a Bladeguard Ancient.

And finally a Primaris Ancient

So what’s up next?

  1. Gutrippas x 10
  2. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10
  3. Defkilla Wartrike
  4. Ultramarines Bladeguard Veterans, x 3 Bladeguard Ancient and Ancient
  5. Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
  6. Stealth Team x 3
  7. Canoptek Wraiths & Hexmark Destroyer
  8. Gutrippas x 10
  9. Elathain’s Soulraid
  10. Tazaangors x 6

What I Am Reading

No physical reading done, which is annoying, just can’t manage to do it!

But I have finished listening to Leviathan by Darius Hinks, the story is good, but the narrator was kind of meh!

I also listened to Neverland by Alan Barnes which was pretty good, nice to see Romanadvoratrelundars return!

I have now started on The Martyr’s Tomb by Marc Collins.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Had a catch up game of Blood Bowl and it went very very badly.

I had two Clanrats murdered, ended up with seven players knocked out and just three Clanrats left on the field, and I lost the game 1-0

I had a game of Heresy with Graham at Durham Raiders, and, I won, which is weird!

And finally I played a game of Warhammer 40k Combat Patrol with my Drukhari and I got utterly tabled by the Dark Angels!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Played a bit more Boltgun!

But mostly played through 80’s Overdrive and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

What I Am Spending

I bought a few more games in the Steam sale, specifically the Valve Complete Pack, which got me

I also purchased, The Witcher Adventure Game as well, plus the Window Flags and Volvo Construction Equipment for Euro Truck Simulator 2, a few bits of Lego Marvel DLC for a few different titles and Lego Indiana Jones The Original Adventures.

I grabbed a couple of bargains on Prime Days, I bought a new kettle, as our one was having issues.

A 65w USB C controller to give myself a second charger for the Steam Deck, this is gonna live in the living room and will allow Lindsay to power her MacBook or work laptop as well.

And the Luna Controller was going for a song, so I picked one of them up for the collection, and its now on the peg board!

Flying the ‘Verse

By

On 20th May 2023

In Blog

The other weekend we had our friend Iain, a fellow games demonstrator, down from Scotland to play Firefly: The Game, which is one of our favourite board games!

So we took the whole day had snacks planned out and we laid out our Whole Damn ‘Verse Mat, and set up all the contact and supply decks and just played a very basic game, in which the aim was to raise $12,000!

We love this game so much, we actually have pretty much everything made for it that’s not a cosmetic upgrade, so we were playing with the Card Pack, Pirates & Bounty Hunters, Breakin’ Atmo, Blue Sun and Kalidasa. The only expansion we didn’t use was Crime & Punishment cause we wanted an easy bit of misbehavin’.

For ships, Iain took the Artful Dodger, Lindsay captained Jetwash, Megan sailed on the Emeralda and I was lugging around the S.S. Walden from Pirates & Bounty Hunters.

So there were some interesting differences in our tactics, I went for slow and steady with lots of space for cargo and passengers, Iain went for speed and more crew space, Lindsay wanted a fast ship with some tricks and Megan opted for a ship that could carry people who didn’t want any Alliance entanglements.

We had a great time and played for a good number of hours, but in the end, of course Megan won, me and Iain were quite close with just $200 between us, and Lindsay ended up with no meney!

One more turn and I would have won 🙁

It was a great day and I really want to get the game out again for some solo play sometime.

What I Am Modelling

I started out by painting my Dwarf Fleet for Kings of War Armada.

Followed by The Guild for Carnivale

And then I moved onto the Ultramarines Repulsor.

Then it was a pair of Invader ATVs for my Blood Ravens.

And then the Annihilation Barge for the Necrons.

Along with the Overlord!

After that I painted up Xandire’s Truthseekers from Stormbringer.

Alongside a Stormstrike Chariot.

I am now working on the remaining scenery for the Imperium table

So what’s up next

  1. Kairic Acolytes x 18
  2. Hedkrakka’s Mob
  3. Skaven Deathrunners x 2
  4. Catacomb Command Barge
  5. Swampcalla Shaman x 3 & Pot Grot x 2
  6. Ultramarines Outriders x 3
  7. The Rashaar
  8. Gutrippas x 10
  9. Kabalite Warriors x 10 & Archon
  10. Beast-Skewer Killbow

What I Am Reading

I finished up In the Coils of the Labyrinth by David Annadale and expect a review shortly.

I am now fully dedicating myself to Necropolis by Dan Abnett.

I am listened to Blood of Asaheim by Chris Wraight, which was ok, but you can tell it was some of Chris’s early work.

I have now started on The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks as an audiobook.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

When we had Iain over, as well as playing Firefly: The Game, we also played Firefly: Misbehavin’

We also played Firefly Fluxx, a few games of Just One and a game of Say Anything too!

And guess what, I didn’t win a single game all weekend!

I got to play a game of Warhammer 40K last night against some Eldar, and or course I lost!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Managed to finish the main game for Control: Ultimate Edition, which you can see on YouTube now!

I will be playing the rest of the side missions and the DLC in ad hoc streams over the next few weeks.

What I Am Creating

The latest Edge of Empire episode was published, and you can listen to it as an audio as usual, but now as a YouTube video as well!

And I made a vertical video thing on TikTok!

@biggeordiegeek Simple Light Leather Painting! #Warmongers #WarhammerCommunity #WarHamFam #PaintSlam23 #Painting #PaintingWarhammer #PaintingGamesWorkshop #PaintingLeather #MiniturePainting ♬ original sound – biggeordiegeek

The Assassin’s Creed II videos have now moved to BigGeordieGeek Plays now, so have been removed from my main YouTube channel.

And whilst I was at it, I uploaded the original game as well, so there is no more Assassin’s Creed left on the main YouTube channel!

What I Am Backing

My TTCombat Paints & Washes pledge arrived, which was a pair of paints to try out and a new painting mat.

What I Am Buying

I bought the Capcom Hero Collection at the £8 level and got myself:-

I also bought the Retro Rampage Bundle from Fanatical, which got me:-

I also grabbed the Bioware Mega Collection from the EA Steam sale, which got me:-

And I grabbed myself some objective tokens for my Drukhari!

A Busy April

By

On 2nd April 2023

In Blog

April is going to be a very very very busy month!

Next weekend I am off to London for Star Wars Celebration to show people how to play Shatterpoint, and I am really looking forward to that!

Then its Lindsay’s 40th birthday, so that is gonna be fun, especially when the dread of turning 40 hits her as it did me!

After that its my brothers wedding, for which I am serving as Master of Ceremonies.

And finally Warhammer Fest!

So I am gonna have a lot of time travelling and doing stuff over the next few weeks, I shall be exhausted at the end!

What I Am Modelling

I started by painting my first Ultramarines for #MarchForMacragge with a squad of Eliminators.

Then a Squad of Eradicators.

I then turned my attention to some Firestrike Sevo Turrents, and painted two for the Blood Ravens.

And one for the Space Wolves.

After that I painted Kainan’s Reapers, my first Bonereapers models

So whats coming up next week?

  1. Drukhari Reavers
  2. Ultramarines Assault Intercessors
  3. Man-Skewer Bolt Boyz x 6
  4. Triarch Stalkers x 3 & Triarch Praetorians x 5
  5. Kairic Acolytes x 18
  6. Drukhari Helions x 10
  7. Imagifier
  8. The Guild x 8
  9. Ultramarines Repulsor
  10. Hedkrakka’s Madmob

What I Am Reading

I listened to Project Twilight by Cavin Scott and Mark Bright, a great little audio which starts off a little bit of a larger story.

And then I started listening to Echoes of Eternity by Aaron Dembski-Bowden and I have about 3 hours left to go on that!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

We made our very last visit to Meeple Perk before it closes due to ridiculous energy prices, and we played three games.

We started with Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice which I easily won!

Followed by The Tea Dragon Society, won by Megan, and she loved the game so much, she bought it!

And finally a game of Ticket to Ride San Francisco which was won by Lindsay.

What Video Games I Am Playing

Played a bit more The Witcher 3 this week, not much but a bit.

And I also streamed some Control Ultimate Edition as well!

What I Am Creating

The latest episode of Edge of Empire was published in which myself, Rob and Chris all talk mini Titans!

What I Am Winning

I won a copy of The Button Be Mizzle on PlayStation.

And for Steam I won a copy of King of the Castle!

What I Am Spending

I have been after a Steam Controller for a while now, they took them off sale literally the day I was gonna buy one, grrrr!

I managed to grab this one for £15 which is a super bargain considering what they often end up going for!

In terms of controllers, I am still after a Shield Controller and Amazon finally brought Luna to the UK so one of them would be great!

I also picked up a cheap copy of Fallout 4 on CDKeys in preperation for getting a Steam Deck later in the year!

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium – Issue 33 Battle Report

By

On 28th October 2022

In Battle Reports

The 33rd part of the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Battle Report Series.

In this episode, we play the next Scout Mission!

Who will prevail in this battle between the sinister Necrons and a combined force of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Blood Ravens!


You can buy your own Task Lamp here

You can support what I do by doing any of the following:-

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium – Issue 32 Battle Report

By

On 24th October 2022

In Battle Reports, Uncategorised

Trying a proper camera this time instead of just using my phone, so sorry for any issues with slight blur, focus and aspect ratio!

The 32nd part of the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Battle Report Series.

In this episode, we play the next Scout Mission!

Who will prevail in this battle between the sinister Necrons and the Adeptus Mechanicus!

You can buy your own Task Lamp here

You can support what I do by doing any of the following:-

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium – Issue 31 Battle Report

By

On 19th October 2022

In Battle Reports

The 31st part of the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Battle Report Series.

In this episode, we play the next Scout Mission!

Who will prevail in this battle between the sinister Necrons and the Blood Ravens!

You can buy your own Task Lamp here

You can support what I do by doing any of the following:-

Warhammer 40,000 Imperium – Issue 30 Battle Report

By

On 17th October 2022

In Battle Reports

The 30th part of the Warhammer 40,000 Imperium Battle Report Series.

In this episode, we play the next Scout Mission!

Who will prevail in this battle between the sinister Necrons and the Blood Ravens!

https://youtu.be/eFJhtOw_Loo

You can buy your own Task Lamp here

You can support what I do by doing any of the following:-

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