Tag: The Guild

Studio Refurbishment

Its been a while since my last post, but I have been very busy with the studio refurbishment!

My studio is a bit of a mess, it’s awful to work in due to it being such a state.

And after insulation gate and the fact we need to repaint, why not refurb the place and make it better.

Now we rent this place so I am limited in what I can do, so it’s limited to better furniture, better storage, better cable management etc

Painting

This has taken place over a few times, but we had two slanted walls on the roof to paint plus a patch on the ceiling and the feature wall

I started off by painting the ceiling at the same time as we did mine and Lindsay’s bedroom as that was super simple to do

I did the two sloped ceilings on my own in two stages so that it was fine and ready for the feature wall, which was gonna be the big one!

For the feature wall the first thing we had to do was remove my desk and some of my storage and basically take everything off the walls!

We had some bits that were filled in and then sanded down to give a smooth finish, more than I liked.

After that we painted it a slightly darker grey than had been on there because we couldn’t colour match what was there.

Networking

Right now in the studio, we have a Powerline brining in a connection from the modem downstairs, when we started this project, it exclusively provides a connection for the server

We also have a TP-Link Deco S7 Mesh access point which most other stuff connects to, which provides a faster connection than the Powerline.

But the server, for some reason doesn’t like working through the Mesh.

Regardless, the connection to the server desk started out on the floor, crossing over it and creating a major trip hazard.

To provide power, I had to route an extension cord around the room, and that’s what we did with the network cable.

I got a 20m Cat 8 cable, and just wrapped it up with the power cable using zip ties and then took it around the room, and into a new switch under the desk.

It still needs clipping to the door frame to the eave, but I am doing that tomorrow

But alas, Lindsay decided to move out of the studio and as a result the switch is now no longer required, but I guess better to have, than have not

We also added a Wi-Fi card to Megan’s PC, not so much for the Wi-Fi, but more for the Bluetooth capabilities, that way she can use a wireless controller.

Yeah I know a USB dongle would have been cheaper and easier, but I have always found their performance to be so so.

And this kind of gives them another option for connecting their PC to the network.

Power

It might sound silly, but phone charging has always been a bit haphazard, I normally just plug the phone into the PC, but look I want convenience.

So I grabbed a cheap MagSafe charger, I did have a Qi charger, but I have found Qi to be annoying as it’s just a chew in to perfectly align the coils and it’s slower, and quite inefficient.

MagSafe solves that issue, thankfully! And you know what’s cool, Qi2 is basically MagSafe and should start being common very soon!

I also upgraded the plug socket, well, not so much upgraded as just added an extra two sockets removing the need for as many extension cords.

I get no more power from it, but I feel more comfortable with the load spread across 4 sockets than 2.

Paint Storage

We were using a deep set of drawers to store paint, that I have been using for the better part of a decade.

But we decided to move to paint racks/shelves from TT Combat, because we wanted get more desk space back for Megan.

So we bought two paint shelves to store 72 Citadel paints each for a total of 216 pots, plus a 72 dropper bottle rack, as I expand into ranges such as Two Thin Coats, Army Painter and TT Combat.

And my wonderful friend Paul gave me this shelf he had and was no longer using to give me 3 in total!

3D Printing,

We replaced my cheap Monoprice Mini, with a Saturn 4 Ultra, which takes up quite a bit more room.

So this now lives where the old printer, cure chamber and PS5 used to go.

We also grabbed a few accessories to help with this, we grabbed a funnel for popping resin back into a bottle, plus a few things like scrappers and a restock of nitrile gloves!

Mounting Hardware

One thing we decided pretty early on, is a desire for dual monitor arms for both mine and Lindsay’s setup

We started off with Lindsay’s setup straight away, cause she needed it for work.

But of course she moved downstairs, so this moved with her, and I have this same one on my desk

I had purchased some time ago a bunch of Elgato Wallmounts and was only using one of them, but with the 3D Printer and paint racks, I now needed to use these for real.

So now these hold both my Keylight Airs, my Overhead camera for the painting table and my FaceCam for use when painting

Other

We also got an Ultrasonic Cleaner to put in the studio to do a mix of things, partly for cleaning my airbrush, Megan & Lindsay’s jewellery, our glasses and resin models etc

In order to accommodate the 3D Printer, we wall mounted the PS5 with this

It allows me to take the PS5 off the desk, and also charges two of the controllers too, meaning I no longer need the controller charging station sat on the desk

What Next

So what’s the plan for the future, well I need a new Besta unit to store more board games as a good chunk of those have now moved to the studio where Lindsay’s desk used to be.

And I need to sort out a lot of cable management, for my PC setup and Megan’s, but that’s probably a job for the winter.

The rest of it is just gonna be sorting out what’s in the room and how I can better organise the storage.

What I Am Modelling

I started off with a couple of squads of Assault Intercessors for the Dark Angels.

And followed that up with the gangs from The Carnevale, Escape from San Canciano mini starter box, starting with the Rashaar.

Then followed up with the Guild

After that I painted a Domicile Shell for Age of Sigmar


So whats next up on the desk?

  1. Genestealers x 20 & Broodlord
  2. Ultramarines Infernus Squad x 5
  3. Squig Hoppers x 10
  4. Guilliman x 2
  5. Barbgaunts x 5
  6. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  7. Calgar x 2
  8. Mega Boss on Maw-Krusha
  9. Paragon Warsuits with Mult-Meltas x 3
  10. Domicile Shell x 2

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Played a board game after a long gap, with Ticket to Ride: Berlin with Lindsay and Megan

I love the mini Ticket to Ride games and this one is a really good one, the subway mechanic is really fun!

I had a game of Warhammer 40K with my Necrons vs a combined force of Space Wolves which won!

And a game of Heresy against Graham to try out a new mission he wrote for an event we were running

What Video Games I Am Playing

Continued playing Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Remastered on Stream

What I Am Winning

A few weeks ago I won a bottle of resin from Elegoo on Twitter and that got delivered this week, a nice bottle of 8k water washable space grey, perfect for the Saturn 4 Ultra when it arrives in a few weeks hopefully!

I also won a copy of Chorlton and the Wheelies on DVD from HeyYouGuys

And a book, but no idea from whom this is from

What I Am Spending

Grabbed a couple of issues of Stormbringer 73 to add two units of Ardboyz to my Ironjawz, and along with the issue coming with my Subscription will give me an awesome three units of them to form a nice core of the Orruk Warclans army.

I won a voucher from a competition for Amazon, which allowed me to purchase a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth PCIe card for Megans PC, mostly for the Bluetooth for her to be able to use a wireless controller.

Yes I know I could have gotten a cheap USB dongle, but I think the extra reliability of the card is better, plus Wi-Fi is a nice backup to have.

Initially we bought a cheap Chinese one, but the card was a dud, the chipset wasn’t the MediaTek one described and was a far inferior RealTek one, plus the driver site appeared to be filled with malware, so that got sent back to Amazon.

And yeah replaced it with the far more trusted TP-Link!

And we got the next paint rack from TTCombat, this time for my dropper bottle paints, which consist of some Vallejo, TTCombat, Turbo Dork and Army Painter, plus a single Two Thin Coats bottle

The reason we have gone for this, despite only having around 30 dropper bottles, is that I have decided for many basic colours, I am shifting to Army Painter Fanatics, with some select Two Thin Coats plus a few others from various other ranges.

Also got myself a couple more Elgato Wall Mounts, which will be used to mount my Keylight Airs, given the desk space currently used for the stands will be taken up by the paint racks, and the new 3D printer.

Then came the last paint rack and some ships for Dropfleet Commander

And another Stormbringer issue, this time 76 for some extra Stormdrake Guard!


Flying the ‘Verse

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.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsFJQC4NtWV/?igshid=MTIyMzRjYmRlZg==

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!


Nerdy Musical Advent 2022 – 4th December – I’m The One That’s Cool – The Guild

The Guild, was a brilliant web series from a few years back written by Felica Day, one of geekdoms favourite actors.

To promote the show, which was about a guild in an MMORPG, they released the occasional song, the very first song in the first advent, in 2019 was their first song, so it’s been a while since they have featured.

Anyway, here is their third and last single


Musical Advent – 1st December

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.

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