Tag: Imperial Fists Page 1 of 2

The New Server

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On 9th May 2025

In Blog

I have finally gotten around to sorting out a new server for the house.

Gone for a Fujitsu TX1310-M1 with a Xenon E3-1226V3 with 32GB Ram and even comes with a 512gb SSD and a pair of 3TB HDDs.

Got it for £130 which I don’t think is a terrible price, but when they went to ship it to me, they found they had lost the side panel and they contacted me to offer a discount of £26, which is accepted, I can always pop a Perspex cover on it.

It came on the Thursday and was delivered by DHL, coming at lunchtime.

So the planning started as soon as I hit buy on as to how best implement this and get it up and running and that started with the decision to run Proxmox on bare metal.

So that was installed and I created a ZFS pool with the two 3TB drives.

The first container I set up was for Casa OS, which would be hosting most of the media stuff, starting with the basics of PLEX and AudioBookShelf.

Once that was setup, I started setting stuff up, but I soon realised that I had a fatal issue, my hard drives with the media on were formatted in NTFS which docker doesn’t play nice with 😭

So I had to transfer data to drives that were being formatted in EXT4 or the ZFS pool, starting with the movies library, and then the slow process of the TV shows which would take some time annoyingly.

In the meantime I set up a second VM running Foundry VTT that me and Chris are going to play around with to see if it will prove a decent replacement for Roll20.

The data transfer took a good long while, there was a lot to transfer.

But alas, in my attempts to be clever I managed to delete the audiobooks and movies meaning I have to restore them from the offsite backups, and that could take at least a month to do that and sort out the metadata properly

But now it’s in place in what’s its permanent home, it takes up a lot less space and is significantly more powerful that what it replaced, I am quite happy with it and in the next few weeks we are going to set up Mealie

What I Am Painting

I spent the weekend at my sister in law’s and painted up the terrain that came in the £75 pack from Combat Patrol

I got the Stockades finished first

Then the Vox Antenna

And then the Landing Pad

Followed by the Auspex Shrine

Then finally a pair of Hab-Bunkers

After that I painted a squad of Ogryn Charonites for the Solar Auxilia

Followe by a squad of Phallax Warders for my Imperial Fists

And finally a trio of Rapiers for the Solar Auxilia

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Scarab Occult Terminators & Infernal Master
  3. Dark Angels Incursors x 5
  4. Blood Angels Impulsor
  5. Imperial Knight Magara
  6. Carnivale Gondola
  7. Stormdrake Guard x 4 & Knight Draconis
  8. Imperial Fists Breacher Squad x 10
  9. Armiger Helverin x 2
  10. Deathshroud x 3

What I Am Reading

I listened to Leontus: Lord Solar by Rob Young whilst painting the terrain and that was really good

Right now I am listenting to Terror Firma by Joseph Lidster and Fulgrim: The Perfect Son by Jude Reid.

I also read We Were Brothers by Richard Fox which was pretty decent

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played a game of Heresy with Graham at Durham Raiders, where I tried out Artillery with the Solar Auxilia, it did not go well, my positioning was terrible and his summoned Daemons ripped me apart

But it was fun and that’s what counts

I then played Dave at Hartlepool Gamers, where I lost, badly, but I could have won in turn 2 when all his reserves failed to arrive, but I am lot a dick so didn’t do that

When his reserves did arrive, the Gal Vorbak tore my ranks apart panel by panel

And again at Durham Raiders, I played a simple doubles game with Andrew where we took on Paul’s Iron Warriors and thanks to Andrew’s nasty plasma guns we won!

And finally I played 40K with Chris and took my Imperial Knights, we didn’t do too badly but it was still a loss

But I really felt like I held my own!

And when CJ came over one Saturday we played DnD with Megan DMing

What I Am Spending

I bought a controller holder for my peg board from eBay

IKEA discontinued these, annoyingly and I needed one more to hold my Duchess

I also grabbed some Deathshroud to complete the Death Guard Combat Patrol

And some Tempestus Aquilons for my Astra Militarum

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag went on sale on Steam, so I picked that up, and it also included Freedom Cry, and I managed to grab Assassins Creed Unity as well.

And I finally bought Grand Theft Auto V!

I also picked up in various bundles and sales

Not Exactly Impressed

By

On 14th April 2025

In Blog

So the Switch 2 Direct happened, and I am gonna be frank, not entirely impressed.

First off, whilst it was expected that it was going to use older technology, it’s quite a bit older than I would like, but I mean it’s still PS4/Xbox One level.

I mean it’s decent tech, but it’s gonna have to rely on DLSS a lot to hit that 4k, but then again, it might actually be capable of running Breath of the Wild without dropping to like 15fps in busy scenes.

Then there is the battery life, it’s worse than the original Switch, which isn’t exactly the best in the first place.

I get why they haven’t gone with an OLED screen given the already increased price, more on that in a bit, but it’s still a disappointment to not have there there.

As well as the lack of Hall Effect sticks, because the stick drift issues with the original JoyCons are huge and I am massively disappointed that they haven’t been bothered to give us JoyCons which would have avoided these issues.

And then that takes us to the cost.

The actual cost of the console, I get it, the bill of materials isn’t going to be cheap, TSMC have been raising wafer prices like crazy since 2020.

But the tutorial being paid, the paid upgrades for OG Switch games being quite high and the cost of new games is just crazy.

Nintendo have always charged as much as they can for games and it’s very irritating that Switch launch titles are now just as expensive as they were when they first came out.

Look if you work it out, pound for pound gaming, even on the Switch is going to be not that bad value if you play for a couple hours a week and have the console for say six years.

But man it’s rough, I get it, devs need to be paid, and being a poor person, I usually wait for a game to go on sale a few years later, I rarely buy the latest games because I just cannot afford it.

But I feel like this time, the lack of first party titles, which has always been Nintendos strength, most of the third party titles being older titles that run better on my other gaming devices, it’s just not doing it for me.

Oh and out of principle, I will never subscribe to Nintendo Online, I am sorry but putting the backup of saves behind a paywall if frankly ridiculous, especially on handheld device which is more likely to be lost, broken or even stolen, I mean it has an Micro SD card slot, why can I not backup my own saves.

Look maybe in a couple of years, when decent first party titles start filtering through, I will feel different, but right now I can’t see myself getting one.

What I Am Modelling

I started off the week with Swampboss Skumdrekk for the Kruleboyz

And that actually finishes off all my Kruleboyz for now

Then a Dankhold Trogboss for the Gloomspite Gitz

Which also completes all my current models for the Gitz

Followed an Imperial Fists Command Squad, this one is seven man, cause I 3D printed up some extra bodies to take advantage of the bits on the Command Squad sprue

Plus another Herald made with a 3D printed body and spare part from the Command Squad sprue

And I also painted up The Ancestors’ Wrath Einhyr Champion for the Leagues of Votann

As well as Kâhl Yôht Grendok

And a unit of Aeldari Guardians

And for Lindsay’s birthday I made some Otter Earrings

So what’s next in the queue

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Kellermorph & Neophyte Hybrids x 10
  3. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  4. Phallax Warders x 10
  5. Thousand Sons Terminators & Infernal Master
  6. Dark Angels Incursors x 5
  7. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  8. Blood Angels Impulsor
  9. Imperial Knight Magaaera
  10. Carnivale Gondola

What I Am Reading

I finished Straight Silver by Dan Abnett in The Saint, and yeah that was a good one, it felt like it was going quite slow, and woah, it sped up and didn’t stop.

I listened to Assassinorum: Kingmaker by Robert Rath, which not only was the best Officio Assassinorum novel thus far, it’s also the best Imperial Knights novel so far.

I also listened to Three’s A Crowd by Colin Brake which was rather fun and as someone with a bit of agoraphobia, I really understood how the characters felt.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Had a game with Graham at Durham Raiders on Tuesday, in which we both tested out our Heresy Camp lists.

My Solar Auxilia did ok, but BS3 combined with my dice rolling was pretty frustrating when in turn 3 I just couldn’t hit anything for toffee.

As expected for me it was defeat, but I think I learned some lessons and long term now know the army needs more scoring units

And perhaps leave the Macharius and Malcadors behind and take more Leman Russ Vanquishers instead!

On Thursday I played another escalation league game of Age of Sigmar this time against Adam, and his Seraphon

That game went the typical way and I lost badly, but I did have a lor of fun removing my Orruks from the table!

On Sunday I played a game of Flamecraft with Lindsay & Megan

What Video Games I Am Playing

I started out with Horizon Forbidden West on PS5, which I am playing on Stream

What I Am Spending

We bought ourselves Avatar: The Last Airbender – Aang’s Destiny to replace Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle.

We enjoyed the mechanics of Hogwarts Battle, but sadly the IP is tainted beyond redemption by the bigot that created it.

Avatar is far nicer and far more wholesome.

And it only cost me 70p and its worth it for the LOLs, but I got The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which I am sure may be hilarious to play given its many many issues!

Finally Made It To Suffolk

By

On 25th December 2024

In Blog

On our fourth attempt, myself and Lindsay actually made it to Suffolk to visit my family.

We went at the beginning of the month, stopping at Nottingham so that Lindsay could do a days work in her office, she hasn’t gotten down there since the Pandemic.

So I was dumped in Warhammer World for the day, where I spent it working on the Solar Auxilia Army Focus article for the Edge of Empire website.

Luckily Lindsay’s office has free BEV charging points so she took advantage and charged the car to 100% getting us 250km of range, which is decent for the time of year.

We were about an hour later than planned due to a number of accidents that took us off the motorway, but made it with 14 miles left in the tank. Had some lasagna then off to bed.

After spending the morning with my mum and dad, we nipped out to charge the car, and have a bite to eat in McDonalds, before picking up three of the nibblings.

We then took them to Wendy’s in Colchester for lunch and played some mini golf in Hollywood Bowl.

After which we returned them home, and went to my parents where we enjoyed some fajitas!

And on Sunday we headed him, it was a super short trip, but we really needed to see my mum and I am really glad I did

What I Am Modelling

It’s been a tough few weeks due to the cold, and personal stuff, so not gotten a lot done

I started out with the Dwarf Fleet for Kings of War Armada

Then I painted up a squad of Phalax Warders for the Imperial Fists, this squad being fully 3D printed

I also painted up a table for Megan to decorate the Christmas cake with

And a character for my Word Bearers who can act as a Librarian, Diabolist or Esoterist

Next up I painted another Christmas Decoration, a Skyrim one!

Then my first Trench Crusade models, a pair of Communicants!

Then it was back to Christmas decorations with a The Luggage ornament for my sister-in-laws Christmas tree.

Then I expanded my UCM fleet for Dropfleet Commander with these Lysander Stealth Lighters

Followed by some Malcadors for my Legions Imperialis Solar Auxilia, the previous ones were to be frank, shit, so these were printed to replace those, its a much better set of STLs

And for the larger Solar Auxilia, some Cyclops Demolition Vehicles that I printed off, I really liked this STL, and think they will be super cool, if massively ineffective on the table!

After losing Smokey, I wanted to paint this STL I got from a Kickstarter last year in tribute to him, so I did, and we ended up with CyberSmokey, which is being put on the Christmas Tree.

I also painted a third Carnodon Tank for my Solar Auxilia to give me a full squadron for them!

After that I turned my attention to to a Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast got it finished up.

So what’s next in my Painting list

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Karazai
  3. Paragon Warsuits with Heavy Flamers
  4. The Dread Pageant
  5. Calth High Guard Lasrifle Section x 10 & Command Section x 4
  6. Dark Angels Impulsor
  7. Ardboyz x 10
  8. Skragrot the Loonking & Rabble-Rowza
  9. Allarus Custodians x 3
  10. Rockguy Troggoth x 3

What Video Games I Am Playing

Been playing more Assassin’s Creed Unity

What I Am Creating

We published the latest episode of Edge of Empire, the last for the year.

What I Am Spending

At Warhammer World, I bought myself a Rabble-Rowza for the Gloomspite Gitz

To convert some mini planes to Legions Imperialis, I bought two packs of Flying Bases from Warhammer World

A big purchase was buying Grahams old telly, a 65” LG Nanocell TV and boy is it amazing, best TV I have ever owned and it makes all sorts of media just look so bloody good!

We also got an LED strip to run round the back of it to use as bias lights

I also bought Lieutenant Titus for my Ultramarines, which came with a £10 voucher, which I will be putting towards a Malcador for my Solar Auxilia

Speaking of the Solar Auxilia, I ordered a Leman Russ Strike Tank, which will be built as a Command Tank with a Battlecannon, I also got a pit of Fanatic Matt White, which I desperately needed, and to make it up tit he free postage, I got a MKIII Command Squad for the Imperial Fists

Also for the Solar Auxilia I got an Aethon Heavy Sentinel to make up a full squad of three of them, plus a drybrush

And I topped up my resin supply with another 4kg of Sunlu ABS like in Dark Grey

I got a few little bits in the Steam sale

My Adventures with Changing Paints

By

On 28th October 2024

In Blog

Since I moved to Hartlepool, my options to buy paints have changed a lot.

In Chester-le-Street I was able to get to a ton of shops that carried the entire Citadel paint range, so it made sense to just continue using that range because if I ran out, I could nip into town, hit Boyes, the North East Model Centre or Warhammer to grab whatever colour I needed.

But in Hartlepool, well these are not really an option, I love my FLGS, Games-At-Hart, but they haven’t got the space to stock the full Citadel paint range, and the Middlesbrough store also doesn’t store the full range either.

So regardless of anything, I have to order some paints in, so I figured, why not try some other ranges, and since I renovated the studio and changed the paint storage, I have less room for Citadel pots.

The two main ranges I have been trying are The Army Painter Fanatic and Two Thin Coats.

It’s been a few months and I think my feelings have solidified on the new paints, and I have a real preference for The Army Painter Fanatic range.

It’s highly pigmented, smooth and just flows so nicely off the palette, it’s simply some of the best paints I have ever used. The older War Paints range, was to be frank some of the worst paints on the market, watery, poorly pigmented and just not enjoyable to paint with.

The Fanatic range is a total 360, the have done from making the paints I dislike using the most, to the paints that I prefer over all others.

I also tried a Speedpaint, and I am not entirely as happy with these, the 2.0 range has resolved the serious reactivation issues, but the way it flows is just not my favourite, and I actually prefer my washes and Speedpaints/Contrasts in a pot, I find them easier to manage that way.

I want to try the metallic Speedpaints, so I plan to order one at some point in the next couple of months to try it out.

Two Thin Coats are nice, I have mostly used them for metallics, but these whilst actually they are significantly more expensive for smaller pots.

But the range has a bunch of colours that simply aren’t covered by The Army Painter, so I can see Spartan Bronze being a permanent part of my supplies.

The one area where I have found The Army Painter lacking is their reds, I will be honest, they are lacking significant colours that other ranges have, and they lack vibrancy, so I am probably sticking with Citadel for these for now.

The Effects Paints I have tried have been fantastic, the two blood paints are just top tier, Dry Blood has particles in it, to replicate the effect of congealed blood, and the two rust paints are great together, but I have found that when combining with Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion, you can cover all kinds of rusty effects.

I have also got a couple of samples of TT Combat paints, but the colours I have, Supernova Chrome and Tech Ceramic, I haven’t had much opportunity to try out.

So yeah, a lot of the paints I use frequently are moving over to Fanatic, with some Two Thin Coats, but Citadel is strill going to be a large part of the collection as there are colour they do, that I simply prefer, especially the Shades and Contrasts.

Music Library

I am have started the process of getting mine, Lindsay’s and Megan’s music collection moved over to the media server in a more organised and ordered way, starting with some of the better albums we have, kind of the top 150 is being transferred right now.

I am taking the opportunity to get the files properly ordered and named properly and where needed, sorting out better quality files, because the digital collection we have, is very very old dating back to 1998 in some cases, and never really changed since the days it was ripped.

Its going to take a while to transfer it over, and I think I might need to replace the music drive, which is currently 1TB, so keeping an eye out for a decently priced larger one.

The most recent ten albums transfers were:-

  • Artic Monkeys – AM
  • Rihanna – Anti
  • The Cure – Disintegration
  • D’Angelo – Voodoo
  • 2Pac – All Eyez On Me
  • Erykah Badu – Baduizm
  • The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico
  • Sade – Love Deluxe
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced
  • The Strokes – Is This It

Currently I am transferring over the Oasis discography because it was all in one random folder and easy to fix due to all being ripped at once.

What I Am Modelling

Started off with a Dankhold Troggoth for the Gloomspite Gitz, a nice lovely big model that acted as a nice pallet cleanser after all those Ultramarines

Then it was the Intercessors from the Space Wolves Combat Patrol

Followed by a Despoiler Squad of the Imperial Fists for the Horus Heresy, these were 3D printed a few months ago

And a Librarian to join them as well, again this was 3D printed

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Domicile Shell x 2
  3. Karazai
  4. Paragon Warsuits x 3
  5. Von Ryan’s Leapers x 9 & Winged Tyranid Prime
  6. Ultramarines Assault Squad x 10
  7. Charadon
  8. The Dread Pageant
  9. Phallax Warder Squad x 10
  10. Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast

What I Am Reading

This week I have been rather unwell with a nasty tummy bug that has really triggered my IBS and I have struggled to read, so not picked up the Kindle.

I did however finish Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme, which thankfully actually moved on the plot a bit more than recent books in the series have done, and the Kharadron were really cool in their Black Library debut.

I then listened to The Last by Gary Hopkins, and to be honest, it was a bit of a mess and I am not sure what the plan was here, it was dark, bleak and depressing, but it didn’t hold my attention.

There was a good concept in it, but that was basically ignored in favour of a more metaphysical storyline.

What Video Games I Am Playing

On Monday, myself, Chris and Graham played some Hell Let Loose which Chris streamed.

And I went back to some Space Marine 2 operations

What I Am Creating

I published a Combat Patrol Battle Report, this time between the Adeptus Custodes and the Chaos Space Marines

What I Am Spending

Got the last Leman Russ I need for my allied Solar Auxilia to take to Heresy Camp next year!

Got a couple of games too

Meet Smokey & Goodbye Jenny

By

On 16th September 2024

In Blog

We got another cat, meet DJ Smokey Suchong, aka Smokey, aka Smokey boy, aka Smokerson aka Smokestack!

Yeah he already has a lot of nicknames!

He came from Yarm Cat Rescue and since he arrived he has been a very shy timid and quiet boy, slowly adjusting to us

Most hiding behind the sofa, coming out at night, we are spying on him with the camera we have for Megan to monitor the bunnies when we are away

I did try to give him some tuna one Sunday as a treat, but alas, he savaged my finder and he must have thought he was being picked up, which he is not yet comfortable with, and gave me a nasty bite on my finger, which got very badly infected, resulting in two hospital visits, two courses of antibiotics and lots of pain. He is lucky he is cute!

But shortly after Smokeys arrival, Jennifur, our beloved old lady fell ill and after a short illness she sadly passed away at the age of 17.

It took us by surprise as until very recently she had been in perfect health with zero issues, and we are all very much devastated by this.

Jenny was a special girl and we are all going to deeply miss her.

3D Printing

The 3D Printer developed a fault just before WorldCon, the touchscreen died and could not be fixed via software.

But credit to Elegoo, they were super awesome and when provided with video and photos of the error shipped a replacement screen right away, and with the video they provided, was a quick 10 minute fix.

I now have it running fine, and figured out where to find the timelapse videos from, which is cool, kinda tempted to print something really big just to see the video!

Yeah I can see myself getting addicted to this particular hobby!

What I Am Modelling

So my 3D printer is now up and running and Turing into a little bit of a minis factory!

So I started off with this Overseer for my Imperial Fists, a new Consul without a model yet, and now he is gonna be part of the options I have for the Fists.

I then went on to paint up 20 Genestealers for my Tyranids, along with a Broodlord.

These were the classic models, but I popped them onto 32mm bases, and had to grab a couple extra sprues to have the minimum sizes for the latest codex

And then I painted up my two models of Roboute Gulliman, one that I got with the Triumvirate of the Primarch and the other with Imperium

After that I got some Squig Hoppers done, two units of 5, but thanks to unit size changes, I need another box of these

And this was followed up by a unit of Barbgaunts!

And then I finished up a Mega-Boss on Maw Krusha

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders x 2
  2. Dark Angles Captain, Lt & Aggressors x 3
  3. Paragon Warsuits with Multi-Melta x 3
  4. Domicile Shell x 2 & Guardian Idol
  5. Space Wolves Reivers x 5
  6. Rockgut Troggoths x 3
  7. Dark Angels Invader ATV x 2
  8. Ardboyz x 10, Ironskullz Boyz & Warchanter
  9. Treelord Ancient
  10. Leman Russ Vanquishers x 2

What I Am Reading

I finally finished reading The Heart of Iuchiban by Evan Dicken, which was good, but I am not sure why it took me so long to read, a review will follow in time!

Siege of Vraks by Steve Lyons was good, I wanted a bit, I dunno, more from such an iconic war when put to prose, but it was fine.

I read Edge of Catastrophe by Jane Killick and who could imagine a book about failed potato crops could be so thrilling!

I have now started on The Saint by Dan Abnett, which I have been looking forward to a lot, and I am listening to Reaper Man by Sir Terry Pratchett.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Assassin’s Creed Rogue on Twitch

And I started and finished a playthrough of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine in time for next weeks release of the sequel!

And myself, Graham & Chris started playing some Space Marine 2 together!

What I Am Creating

The next episode of Edge of Empire was published

Doing some battle report videos for the Combat Patrol Magazine and published the Issue 01 video

What I am Spending

Got a few bits for some 3D printing!

First off some new resin to play with, following everyone’s recommendations I grabbed this bottle of Sunlu ABS-Like Resin, cause literally everyone was telling me this is the best sort to use!

Of course I then grabbed a 3kg bottle when I ran through the 1kgs worth!

I also grabbed some IPA to clean this with.

And a couple of pickling jars to put that in and do the job!

I also got the final issue of Stormbringer for the Dragons, this time just the bases, not so sexy, but oh so useful!

And I also got the last two issues to build Swampboss Skumdrekk, with the one from my subscription to be used to build a Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast!

And I got the first issue of Combat Patrol

Plus a single copy of the second one

In terms of other video games, I bought the Capcom Summer 2024 Humble Bundle which netted me

Humble Choice for September got me

I also bought

Painting At Last

By

On 22nd June 2024

In Blog

Since Insulationgate last October, at least one wall in every room of the house has needed a coat of paint.

And yeah it’s a bit depressing, due to disagreements between the insulation contractors, the landlord and the government, we decided to cut them all out and decorate ourselves.

It’s not that we couldn’t have just waited for them to sort it out, it’s more, we want to avoid massive disruption, so we are doing this ourselves at our own pace.

Megans room is the first to be done, we had to start with a mist coat, which was very runny.

That was done on the Monday, two coats overall.

The on Tuesday, we did three coats of Brilliant White, yeah it’s full, but it’s what the rest of the rooms are painted. When you rent it’s often easier to keep what the landlord had, so we don’t need to redecorate too much when we eventually move out.

It took three coats, but we got there in the end.

The next room getting done is mine and Lindsay’s bedroom and we may at the same time do the ceiling in my studio.

The studio is going to get a bit of a refurb at the same time, we are adding the 3D printer there, so taking the time to change a few things up, especially now that Lindsay works up there and I will never be using the gaming table again as a result.

So yeah that’s about it, gonna do Lindsay’s room next week, and that will be fun!

What I Am Modelling

I started off with the Von Ryan’s Leapers for the Tyranid’s Combat Patrol

All that’s needed for this one now is to finish off the Barbgaunts

Then I painted a Vindicator for the Inperial Fists

After that I started on Krondys, Son of Dracothion

I also painted up this Guardian Idol

And I have a box full of Stormcast stuff that’s never been touched, so I am thinking of painting them up as Hallowed Knights, I already have Gardus Steel Soul painted up.

So I used the Gamer Grass base I got from the UK Game Expo to paint up this test model, which I am rather happy with

I then painted a Hellbrute for the Chaos Soace Marines Combat Patrol

Followed by two units of Sporesplatta Fanatics for the Gloomspite Gitz

So what’s up next for me then?

  1. Deathwing Terminators x 5, Terminator Ancient, Bladeguard Lieutenant & Apothecary Biologis
  2. Chaos Havocs x 5
  3. Paragon Warsuits with Heavy Bolters x 3
  4. Spirit of Durthu
  5. Sisters of Silence x 10
  6. Blade Champion
  7. T’au Commander
  8. Escape From San Canciano Gangs x 8
  9. Dark Angels Assault Intercessors x 10
  10. Genestealers x 20 & Broodlord

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Played my last two league games, first against Neal and his Genestealer Cults

And then I played Leon and his T’au!

Lost both games, and right now I am wondering if I lost the games, or if I won the Wooden Spoon!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not much this week, but I did get a single session of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag streamed!

What I Am Winning

Won a copy of Football Manager 2024 from a Twitter competition on Twitter, which is nice, especially with Euro 2024 going on!

What I Am Backing

The Colour Forge Signature Series was fully funded, so hopefully soon I will get a nice can of spray paint and some stickers and cards!

What I Am Spending

I went ahead and bought my first Legions Imperialis models that aren’t Titans or Aircraft and grabbed myself a pair of Solar Auxilia Baneblades

Decided to LI that I am gonna go heavy on the Auxilia with only small amounts of Marines in support

I got myself a bargain and bought Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection for Steam.

Moved From Docker, But Its Better In The Long Run!

By

On 9th March 2024

In Blog

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

Followed by a Heavy Support Squad for my Imperial Fists, armed with Heavy Bolters.

Then I painted some Spite Revenants for my Sylvaneth.

As well as a Branchwych for them too

I then finished up a Penitent Engine for the Sisters of Battle

Before painting another Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig

I am now working on some Vigilors for the Stormcast Eternals

So whats up next?

  1. Vigilors x 10
  2. Nexus Syphon
  3. Chief Librarian Tigurius & Primaris Librarians x 2
  4. Homonculus
  5. Bloodletters x 10
  6. Saint Celestine
  7. Death Company x 10, Chaplain & Rhino
  8. Stabbas x 40
  9. Wulfen x 5
  10. Ultramarines Hellbalsters x 5

What I Am Reading

Not much, but I did listen to Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French which was very interesting.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

On Wedensday I played a Hartlepool League game with Leon, and his T’au kicked my arse!

I had another game of 40K for the Hartlepool League with Dale on Saturday, and despite his very good list, I didn’t lose as badly as expoected!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have returned to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a few bits of DLC

Christmas & New Year 2023

By

On 1st January 2024

In Blog

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

Followed by some Inceptors

And Finally a squad of Infiltrators

After this I turned my attention to a squad of Battle Sisters

Alongside a Repentia Superior

As well as Sister Superior Tariana Palos

And then some Shootas for my Gloomspite Gitz

I also painted some Grot Scuttlings for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower at the same time

I then painted up Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork over Christmas as a main centrepiece for the Orruk army!

And painted up the Gaunt Summoner for Silver Tower which completed that boxset.

Plus Mollogs Mob

And finally I painted a Whirlwind Scorpius for my Imperial Fists!

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Blood Ravens Sternguard Veterans & Phobos Lt
  2. Hobgrot Slittaz x 10
  3. Termagants x 20
  4. Gutrippas x 10
  5. Fungoid Cave Shaman
  6. Arch-Revenant & Ylthari’s Guardians
  7. Space Wolves Supressors x 3
  8. Bloodreavers x 10
  9. Screamer Killer
  10. Stabbas x 40

What I Am Reading

I finished Krieg by Steve Lyons, and that was a very very good audio book!

After that I moved on to Witchbringer by Steven B Fischer, which was ok, but the lack of Cadian accents threw me. Doctor Who and the Pirates was a lot of fun from Jacqueline Rayner and Creatures of Beauty by Nicholas Briggs was a great mind trip of a story.

And finally I listened to Gloomspite by Andy Clark, which was grim as fuck!

I have now started listening to Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Wings of Fury by Brittney Morris, before I play the game.

I read Sammael: Lord of the Eternal Hunt by Ben Counter, which was ok, followed by Astorath the Grim: Redeemer of the Lost by Andy Smille which was really good. Then I read The Sanguinor: Exemplar of the Host by James Swallow which was actually pretty good.

I also read The Nine by Justin D Hill which was pretty good, nice look at a character we have had a lot of time with but not much background on. The Last Loyalist by David Guymer was also excellent.

Then I picked up a few more shorts, Bjorn: The Fell-Handed by Chris Wraight, Marneus Calgar: Lord of Ultramar by Graham McNeill, Abaddon: Chosen of Chaos by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Cato Sicarius: Master of the Watch by Nick Kyme, Pedro Kantor: The Vengeful Fist by Steve Parker, Gabriel Seth: The Flesh Tearer by Andy Smillie, Dante: Lord of the Host by James Swallow, Helbrecht: The Crusader by Guy Haley, Vulkan He’stan: Forgefather by Nick Kyme, Lysander: The Fist of Dorn by Anthony Reynolds, Typhus: Herald of the Plague God by David Annadale, Logan Grimnar: Defender of Honour by Cavan Scott, Kaldor Draigo: Knight of Titan by L.J. Goulding, Kayvaan Shrike: Shadow Stalker by Gav Thorpe, Azrael: Protector of Secrets by C.Z. Dunn, Kor’sarro Khan: Huntmaster by Graeme Lyon, Torias Telion: The Eye of Vengeance by Graham McNeil and Ahriman: Hand of Dust by John French.

I also read The Staff of Asclepius by Graham McNeill which was pretty class.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I got my VideoGameGeek.com Secret Santa gift, and my super generous Santa gifted me, Stray, Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Crysis: Remastered, all games that have been high on my wish list!

Continued on with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

I also completed Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered, total of 33 hours played and it was a lot of fun.

I have started to play The City That Never Sleeps DLC also on the Steam Deck and intend to finish it over Christmas.

Its one of those annoying episodic DLCs, which I hate, so obviously I started with The Heist, which was finished late on Christmas Day.

And yesterday I finished Turf War, which was ok, but felt less that The Heist.

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.

What I Am Winning

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.

What I Am Spending

I grabbed myself a few bits on payday, as a treat.

I got myself a Chaos Space Marines Combat Patrol, Necron Datacards, a brush and a few paints.

I also bought a few video games

A Little Bit More in the Studio

By

On 20th November 2023

In Blog

The past couple of weeks have been a bit boring, but I did do a touch more work to improve the studio

First up I bought the last bits for my controller board, and fitted them leaving me with this as the final result!

Really happy with how this turned out, and it looks super cool.

What we have on it, are:-

Playstation Controller (USB)DualShock 3NES ControllerSNES Controller
Tribute 64Gamecube ControllerGamecube Wavebird
Mega Drive Controller (USB)Mega Drive 6 Button Controller (USB)Saturn Controller Model 2 (USB)8BitDo SN30 ProHyperkin Duke
PC Engine Turbo Pad (USB)A500 ControllerUSB-C CableMicro USB Cable8BitDo Neo Geo CD ControllerShelf with some adaptors
Hyperkin XenonDualSenseSwitch ProXbox Series XAmazon Echo Dot
Google StadiaAmazon LunaSteam ControllerNVIDIA 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.

After that it was a Spartan for the Death Guard

Then a Rotor Cannon Support Squad for the Imperial Fists

Followed by 20 Termagants with Devourers

And finally a pair of bases of Rippers!

So whats up next for me?

  1. Chaos Familiars
  2. Loonboss & Zarbags Gitz
  3. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
  4. Battle Sister Squad x 10
  5. Baal Predator
  6. Lilth Hesperax 
  7. Ork Trukks x 2
  8. Putrid Blightkings x 5
  9. Shootas x 20
  10. Minka Lesk x 2

What I Am Reading

I listened to Bang-Bang-a-Boom! by Clayton Hickman and Gareth Roberts, which was

I have read with The End and The Death: Volume II by Dan Abnett, and that was a hell of a book is all I will say!

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!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, which I have been streaming!

I also played through Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – The Lost Archive, which you can see here on YouTube.

We will be playing The Tyranny of King Washington next!

What I Am Creating

I made a little experimental video about the army list I took to Scotland at the beginning of October.

Also a little short on painting lights!

@biggeordiegeek

Painting Lights on Warhammer Models #Warhammer40 #Warmongers #WarHamFam #Warhammer40000 #Warhammer30k #Warhammer30000 #HorusHeresy #TheHorusHeresy #PaintSlam23 #PaintingWarhammer #Painting

♬ original sound – biggeordiegeek – biggeordiegeek

What I Am Spending

It was Humble Choice this week, so for my £8.99, I got the following

And I bought myself Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 3 Remastered as well.

I also picked up the Space Marines and Tyranids datacards for Warhammer 40k.

And a Vindicator to add to my Imperial Fists.

Getting on Top of Things

By

On 25th September 2023

In Blog

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

Along with the obligatory Lascannon Squad for them too.

After that it was some Apothecaries for the Ultramarines, so thats a Primaris Apothecary and an Apothecary Biologis

Followed by some Vienna Class Escort Frigates for my UCM fleet.

And finally Gardus Steel Soul from Stormbringer

And finally a Heavy Support Squad for my Death Guard, also armed with Lascannons, given that its obligatory now!

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. Blood Angels Infiltrators x 10
  2. Blood Ravens Balistus Dreadnought
  3. Ork Boyz x 10 & Nob
  4. Marshcrawllla Sloghoth x 2
  5. Dialogus
  6. Imperial Fists Rotor Cannon Squad x 10
  7. Death Guard Spartan
  8. Termagants with Devourers x 20
  9. Grots x 10 & Runtherd
  10. Chaos Familiars

What I Am Reading

I finished listening to Blood of Iax by Robbie MacNiven, which was fine, just kinda generic really, but ok.

And I finally finished Secrets in Scarlet so expect a review soon.

I am now reading The Prisoner of Tartarus by Richard Lee Byers which is good so far.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I had a game of Heresy with Graham the other

What Video Games I Am Playing

Got a couple of sessions of Assassin’s Creed Revelations in on stream, and finished the game, so I will be starting Assassin’s Creed III on Tuesday!

I have also been playing a bit more of Starfield.

And some Bayonetta along with a bit of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

What I Am Cooking

I managed to cook for the first time in forever and I made some beans and sausage wraps, which were quite nice.

And a serving of dirty rice for myself and Lindsay too

What I Am Spending

Bought a couple of Humble Bundles, the Cities: Skylines Build Today, Plan for Tomorrow bundle and the Control the Narrative bundle.

Plus I bought Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2.

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!

I also had to buy a pack of Heavy Weapons with Volkite Culverins, Lascannons and Autocannons for the Horus Heresy to build the Death Guard Lascannon squad, I got them from Element Games of course!

And finally some AirTags and a new wallet, so hopefully no more losing the wallet when I need it!

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