About a month ago, I realized that the geniuses behind Audio Book Shelf had released a native Windows version of the application. Until then, I had been running it in a Docker install. However, this method was slow and could only allocate 2GB of RAM, greatly impacting performance.
So, I decided to switch from Docker to the Windows version. Unfortunately, this transition resulted in the loss of all metadata due to differences in how Linux and Windows file structures operate.
Consequently, I find myself having to re-add all the metadata. While this isn’t an issue for much of the content, as Audio Book Shelf can scrape data from Audible, it’s a manual task for Big Finish, which constitutes the majority of my collection. Thus, it’s quite time-consuming.
Currently, I’ve managed to complete the metadata for all titles up to those beginning with ‘O’. Although it’s taking time, the effort will certainly be worth it.
Furthermore, I’ve adjusted settings so that metadata is now stored with the files rather than in a central database. This change aims to prevent similar issues in the future, particularly if I decide to switch my server back to Linux from Windows.
What I Am Modelling
I started off by painting a Loonboss on a Giant Cave Squig for my Gloomspite Gitz
Hope you all had a good Christmas, mine was fine, but I was ill for most of it and for one point over 72 hours was awake for less than 10 of them!
But other than that, it was good, we went to my sister in laws for the dinner, which was nice, and we had a great time with Megan’s family.
Me and Lindsay kept up our tradition of a Chinese takeaway for Christmas Eve and a movie, this year it was Super Mario Bros. And Christmas morning it was turkey bacon stotties with mushrooms, and the egg that Lindsay has been adding recently and Tymbark Apple & Cherry juice.
We didn’t do much in the way of gifts, we limited ourselves to £25 each, so I got Megan a book and a rainbow Stich controller holder. Lindsay got a book as well, plus a bunch of Steam games, as she has decided that she wants a Steam Deck in 2024.
My favourite present was a Moopsy toy that Karen made for me, its adorable, I just need to find a place to put it in the studio!
New Years was quiet, me and the otters went to Pauls for a few hours, then returned home and they went to bed, whilst I had a chicken wrap and chips and played the last of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered.
Hopefully 2024 is gonna be a better year, because 2023 has been challenging.
What I Am Modelling
I started off with a big batch of Ultramarines, starting with a squad of Aggressors
And then I finished off Silver Linings just as the bell struck midnight, which I was happy with, great game, but the DLC felt disjointed because of the episodic nature.
I won a voucher from Maltesers which I combined with a voucher from some market research I did for KFC in order to buy a copy of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, which made me very happy, as everyone knows I am a massive fan of the series.
Really happy with how this turned out, and it looks super cool.
What we have on it, are:-
Playstation Controller (USB)
DualShock 3
NES Controller
SNES Controller
Tribute 64
Gamecube Controller
Gamecube Wavebird
Mega Drive Controller (USB)
Mega Drive 6 Button Controller (USB)
Saturn Controller Model 2 (USB)
8BitDo SN30 Pro
Hyperkin Duke
PC Engine Turbo Pad (USB)
A500 Controller
USB-C Cable
Micro USB Cable
8BitDo Neo Geo CD Controller
Shelf with some adaptors
Hyperkin Xenon
DualSense
Switch Pro
Xbox Series X
Amazon Echo Dot
Google Stadia
Amazon Luna
Steam Controller
NVIDIA Shield
So yeah really happy with how its turned out, expensive but worth it!
And I also mounted the Xbox Series S under the desk, just to keep the desk top clearer, becuase it was in a funny situation with no where to be because the place it was, was no longer an option as the new monitor was in the way.
I imagine the next few weeks will be more of the same, just getting stuff better and more tidy, I still may wall mount the PS5 and/or Switch, but lets wait and see.
What I Am Modelling
I started by finishing some Chaplins for the Ultramarines, and a Judicar.
I have started listening to The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath and that’s pretty good so far, very surprised that they had yet to do this story!
What Tabletop Games I Am Playing
Got a game of Horus Heresy in at club on Friday myself and Russell started a campaign, and well I wiped the floor with him, but I did have 3250 points to his 2500 so it was an unfair match up!
Stuff is getting better and I feel a lot more in control the past couple of weeks, but there is still more to do.
I need to be a bit more forthright about asking Lindsay and Megan for help and assistance.
Currently waiting on some work being done on the house and this is sort of creating a limbo situation for me, so a few bits are on hold, but I think I might be able to end this year feeling a lot better.
But lets keep up the progress and see what happens.
What I Am Modelling
I started with Evander Garrius for the Imperial Fists
I also bought for myself as a birthday treat, the Hyperkin Xenon controller, which so far has been amazing to use, feels so much like playing games in 2005 again!
And after a bit of hunting I found some nice cables to use for my controllers, these nice chunky rubber ones are just right, very dieselpunk and feel really substantial, I love them!
The final game was a big 3500 point list and for that I took my 2k list replacing the Champion with Fafnir Rann, and adding a Warhound Scout Titan and a few other bits!
I played Damian’s World Eaters in game one, and my lack of weapons that could intercept was a flaw that allowed a Leviathan to drop down and kill my Kratos.
The Contemptors were a bugger to deal with, but I managed to take them out, but at the end of the game I just had 5 Templar Brethren and a Champion plus Apothecary left!
I played against Jacobs Sons of Horus, and the addition of a pair of Sicarans, and a Warhound Titan really changed things up for me!
The Sicaran is, if I am honest, a bit more effective than the Kratos, but the Kratos actually did get to shine a bit here, until it was taken out by a Terminator!
Sadly however, my bane was a pair of Leviathan Siege Dreadnoughts which over 4 or 5 rounds of combat took out my Warhound, but it was only able to do 6 wounds in response, I just couldn’t hurt them.
In the end I won, destroying everything in the table apart from the Leviathans and a couple of straggling Veterans.
My Thoughts On The Event
Pretty good event, the tables terrain was nice, especially the last games.
A few teething issues, particularly around general admin at the end, but show me an event that doesn’t deal with that, and as an EO myself I thought they did really well.
If they run anymore Heresy events, I will be returning for them, really really fun day!
Imperium Expansion
We have known for quite a while now that Warhammer 40,000 Imperium was being extended by 10 issues, and I thought, why not mention what I think about the contents!
Issues 81 – 83
The Sisters get a hell of an expansion with the Paragon Warsuits, spread over three issues, costing £8.99, that means you get them for £26.97, saving nearly £20 off the RRP!
These are great looking models and I have ordered an additional two of each issue!
Issue 84
A Skitarii Marshall, seems a bit of a let down when compared to the stuff the other factions are getting, yeah it’s a lovely model, but still, would have preferred something else, but to be fair, the Mechanicus range isn’t easy to grab something from for this.
Issue 85
The Hexmark Destroyer is one of the best looking models in the Necron range, ok, a bit pants in game, who cares when it looks like that!
I already have one, but I don’t mind having another!
Issue 86 – 88
The Space Marines get the full multipart Redemptor Dreadnought, which is a great kit and pretty cool to have in here.
Personally I would have preferred the Invictor Tactical Warsuit, but that’s down to my personal collection!
Issue 89
Inquisitor Draxus is a cool looking model, but we subscribers already got an Inquisitor in the form of Katarina Greyfax, so this whilst cool, wasn’t the greatest choice, personally I would have replaced this and the Skitarii Marshall with a two part AdMech kit.
Still great model and I can’t wait to paint her to join the rest of my Inquisitorial forces!
Issue 90
Not only does Illuminator Szeras represent great value, but also, is a wonderful and beautiful model for your collection!
Really over the moon we are getting this amazing character
In Conclusion
We are getting some really nice models, for my personal collection, a couple don’t make sense, but hey, it’s not all about me.
The only thing that I am currently wondering, is where to put the Redemptor Dreadnought.
Not sure any of my Space Marine armies need another one, but it’s likely going with the Ultramarines.
What I Am Modelling
Started off urgently beavering away to finish the bits for the Imperial Fists for the event by painting first up a pair of Sicaran Battle Tanks.
I then rebased an old Reiver Squad for my Space Wolves, originally built for Kill Team in the last edition, but on a different basing scheme, when I convinced myself that my Wolves wouldn’t have any Primarise stuff!
Anyway, they now join the Infiltrators, Redemptor Dreadnought, Ragnar, Aggressors and Repulsor that currently comprise the Wolves Primaris forces, and I have more on the way at some point!
Then, the last Tomb Blade was finished for the Necrons!
Been trying to play The Witcher 3, but the latest update has caused an issue with random crashes, so I may have to abandon the game for a bit until that’s fixed.
This past weekend, I got to work at Airecon, a wonderful little board game convention in Harrrogate.
I spent the weekend showing people how to play Star Wars Legion, using a capture the flag scenario that gave people a very very basic taste of the game, to tempt them to join the Dark Side and crush the rebels!
Got to stay at the Crown Plaza, which was nice, until they nicked my pizza, but that’s another story!
Really nice breakfast though and I got to have Eggs Benedict on Sunday, weirdly served with bacon, and I ate probably very badly, existing on pizza, burgers and Coke Zero!
And I needed to hook up the Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5 and printer to the network physically, so I bought 3 Amazon Basics Cat 6 ethernet cables to do this.
I grabbed Fallout 2, Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition and Fallout Tactics for Steam, kinda decided I am going to buy a Steam Deck at some point in the next 12 months, so grabbing a bunch of games I really enjoy that are cheap specifically for Steam.
I mist admit I was tempted to get 100 cans of Pepsi Max, cause I don’t drink, but Lindsay wanted some alcohol free gin and cider, so I ordered that for her, and then made up the remainder with soft drinks, total cost to us was £1.75!!!
I won another game in the form of Row of Numbers for the PlayStation.
Ok well 2023 is here and I am really hoping it it’s not gonna be the massive bag of dicks that 2020, 2021 and 2022 were, I really want this to be a better year.
I have planned out some resolutions and ideas I want to carry out, which you can see here.
For New Years Eve I spent a couple of hours at Paul’s, but the damn cold/flu has still kicked my arse and I am struggling with spending time out of the house for far too long.
So I returned home and played some The Witcher 3.
New Years Day we went to Megan’s parents and had a roast dinner, but the ill left me barely conscious for most of it.
A Less Ideal Bit
Sadly our street saw a murder this week, and a fella was purposefully run over, we ended up stuck in the house for two days unable to leave as the whole street was a crime scene.
It’s left us all a bit shaken, I mean it’s the last thing you expect, but it is what it is.
What I Am Modelling
I started off by painting the Lord Veritant for the Stormcast Eternals, need to sort out a list for the AoS Weekender for them.
I also picked up some Command Strips to help me mount a few things on the wall, specifically an extension lead for Megan’s dressing table so she can easily use her hair straightens and hair dryer.
Plus it means at long last we can mount her Hue Light Strip, all 3 meters of it.
On Friday, from a yet to be announced sponsor, a new webcam, the Elgato Facecam, which really has elevated my setup above and beyond what the Logitech C920 did!
Well Christmas happened, and I spent most of it ill, which wasn’t fun.
This cold/flu is kicking my arse and I just can’t shake it, it’s got my sleep cycle all to pot and taking away any pep I have.
Anyway I did enjoy Christmas, me and Lindsay went to Paul’s for Christmas dinner which was lovely.
Present wise, Megan got me a Lord Veritant for my Stormcast Eternals and Lindsay got me some Death Maidens and Wyld Runners for my Escher gang. I also got some tools off Paul which will come in lots of help, alongside a £15 Xbox voucher.
But alas most of it was spent dying in bed 🙁
What I Am Modelling
First up I painted up a Scout Squad for my Imperial Fists.
After than It Bleeds by David Guymer was an interesting little story, very interesting World Eaters story that shows how hate can consume you and turn you into that which you loath.
The final (probably) Edge of Empire episode of our 6th year was published and we delved into the Liber Imperium.
What I Am Winning
I won a copy of Warhammer 40,000 Darktide for Steam which was cool, alas I already owned it, so I gifted it to a member of the Edge of Empire Listeners Community in a contest of my own!
I also won a copy of Night of the Scissors on Steam too, which was really cool.
I also won a code for Cubic Parking for PS4, but the code was for Japan (sad face, make sure to read T&Cs) but I have a friend in Japan so the code was passed to her.
To continue the prize winning, I won a Steam code for Euro Truck Simulator 2.
