Live streaming and testing a new setup

UPDATE: I stopped streaming at 2215 EST this evening so check back with me later.



Hello again!  I'm testing out a new setup for the web cam in preparation for doing some tutorials.  I'll be working on my Imperial Guard Chimera again for Warhammer 40K.  Fun times!

Live streaming again!

UPDATE: I stopped streaming at 2215 EST this evening so check back with me again tomorrow for some more live painting.



I'm streaming live again tonight.  I'll be working on my Imperial Guard Chimera once again! Take a look!

Streaming Live now! Painting a Chimera!

UPDATE: I completed all the painting I was going to do for the evening around 2215 EST.  Please check back tomorrow as I'll likely but yet more time into my Imperial Guard Chimera.



I'll be working on an Imperial Guard Chimera tonight.  I've laid down the camo, but tonight I'll start doing more of the detail work.  I'll be happy to answer any questions you have!

Aquans all done!

Something Fishy...


     Aw... cheesy joke... so sorry.  Now that I've finished painting up my Aquans, I'll need to fix them to their bases.  I HAD magnetized all the ships in both the Aquan and Dindrenzi fleets that I have, but after my first test game and all the silly rotating these ships did on their flight posts, I'm convinced that there's no other simple solution.  Once these are all properly glued in, I'm going to place an order for the Hotz Gaming Mat that they just put up recently with a nice star field on it and get back to trying out more Firestorm.

     I'll need to get some proper Firestorm Armada terrain (asteroids obviously) at some point.  I think I'll follow what the fine folks over at miniwargaming.com did where they took some foam, and sprayed it good with some Krylon black, which normally you'd never want to do because it melts the foam, but it makes for some interesting looking space rocks!  I'll think about it because it'll represent a leap for me because I've never actually done terrain... EVER!  Don't have my own table so there has never been much point.

The State of the Table Top Nation


     Though I've been absent lo these many months, I haven't been completely out of the loop.  True, my near compulsive browsing of blogs and news sites for the tiniest scrap of gaming news has tapered off considerably, I continued to hit the highlights.  I think I can say that our hobby is nearing a turning point.  For many veterans whose shadows have darkened the gaming rooms since the 40K race that shall not be named still waddled their short stout bodies across the battlefields, I'm sure they've detected what I have: a division within our ranks.

     I don't mean this to imply sedition, or treason.  Not at all!  We weird bunch of table top gamers are certainly passionate, and thus it is notable when our collective eye wanders.  Privateer Press has been doing better, and I think we can see now that as a company it has truly come of age.  There are yet more young challengers to the Games Workshop kingdom.  Some are pioneers, looking to set themselves apart, like Corvus Belli and Spartan Games.  Some are more like the Hyena, looking for a more corporal opportunity, hoping to pick the bones clean, like Mantic Games, offering very "compatible" models for an enticing price.  Let us not forget the likes of Flames of War, or Malifaux, or even the return of Battletech with their recent anniversary box set.

     Where does this lead us?  More to the point, where does this lead Games Workshop?  I think they have a very difficult challenge ahead of them.  I was discussing this with a friend, and I expressed my thoughts on it like this:  GW is the Titanic before the iceberg.  The first question is "Do they see it?" The second question is "Do they see a threat?" And the final, most important question is "If they want to react, will it matter as they're big and slow to change, thus it might be too little, too late."

     I've expressed my dissatisfaction with GW prices over this last year, and these changes had a very real impact on my personal hobby as I now own two Firestorm Armada starters, and an Infinity starter, with plans to expand into War Machine in the near future (thanks to the news of the new Colossals and their own free army builder software).  I've declared recently that I'll likely never start another 40K army unless I sell off one of my existing ones first.  I simply can't afford it.

     I think we can all see that 6th edition 40K carries an enormous weight on it's shoulders.  It has to please an audience that is growing tired of the off-stage (and box office, if I'm using my metaphor properly) shenanigans.  Can it satisfy the casual fluffy gamer AND the more hard core tourney scene?  Is there going to be a meeting of the minds when it comes to army balance?  Will the games have more meat on them or will the rules simply be another new way to get us to buy more miniatures?

     Competition is normally quite good for the consumer, but it will likely be a painful one for the niche market of table top gamers.  I know that I struggle with an internal dialogue when I begin to think about playing other non-40K games, and investing more time and money into them.  Ultimately I know that I might be getting away from the herd and the running is thinner out there.  There will be far fewer pick-up games and places to meet.  Networking with local players will be a serious challenge as I don't have a normal gaming group.  I'm certain that I can't be alone in this feeling, and it's going to be a struggle, but I'm willing to risk it for the sake of my wallet.

     What do you think?  Is 2012 going to be a watershed moment for our hobby?  What are your predictions for the future?  Have you been thinking about trying other game systems?  Tell me what you think!

 

Streaming tonight!

I'm streaming some painting.  I'll be working on some Firestorm Armada ships for those that are interested.  I'll be happy to answer questions.

I'm back suckers!

Wow! It's dusty in here!

I've been... busy, and depressed and all that made me not want to paint.  I'm over all that sissy crap now.  I've pulled my big-boy pants up and I'm back in the saddle! YEE-HAW!

Oh yeah and I'm streaming right now.  I've got big plans coming.  Stay tuned!
UPDATE: Stream is offline as of 2300 EST.  I'll be back tomorrow so check back!

Bowie Battle Bunker Official Grand Opening

Grand Opening fun!


     Hello dear readers! It has been a nearly inexcusable length of time since I've last posted. Many reasons for this, all of which I won't bore you with. I'm posting now!

     So I heard tell that they were going to finally officially open the Games Workshop Battle Bunker in Bowie, Maryland. It's a very short trip from my house, and when they announced that they were going to have some cool flags for sale, I thought I'd check it out.

     I got there about 30 minutes or so after they opened their doors, but apparently that was about 40 minutes too late to snag a flag. Arrrgh! I have it on good authority that there were VERY few flags (read: about 10) and there were more than that number of people waiting for the store to open. I was determined not to let this be a fruitless trip, so I took a good look around the store.

     There was a Kill Teams tourney going on, and some folks playing WHFB. Lots of people painting and building, and I managed to find someone to get a game in (more on that later). I saw a cabinet near the front showing some entries for a painting competition. I haven't had a chance to actually enter an official painting competition in the three years that I've been painting. I thought this might be a cool opportunity. After reviewing the categories, I was pretty sad...

- Best terrain piece
- Best caster/psyker
- Best Finecast (tm) model (Note: HAHAHAHA!)
- Best monster

     I had just brought my 40K Orks along with the hopes of getting a game in, and I certainly didn't know about these categories ahead of time, so I was really just hoping that I might have something on-hand that would fit into these groups. I asked an employee (the manager I think) if these were all the categories open for today. He confirmed that it was and then asked if there wasn't anything I had with me that would fit. I ran through some of my better painted Ork models that I had on me, and mentioned "Hey there's my Deff Dread... might be a monster? Eh?"

     He agreed and let me enter my Deff Dread as a monster. Made sense to me! So here's the result of the competition:

YAY!

     I WON! Hah! Oh man! That was pretty awesome. So the monster category turned out to be pretty tight competition. There were some amazing painting and conversion work going on. I felt pretty honored to be picked out from the group. So custom trophy? Eh... It's ok. I'll just plop that in my display case. Here's close up of the trophy:

Look! My first Finecast models!

     So here are a few other fun things I saw while I was there:

It IS the deployment zone!

     There is the big bad Tau ship! The Manta! It's HUGE! Soooo much resin! It's still a work in progress and the GW employee that had been working on it (not pictured here) said that it was hands-down the most complex and time consuming build he has ever done. Well I'm not surprised. I just can't even understand the point in someone's life where buying one of these things "makes sense," but maybe that's the point. It's excessive, but a treat to look at. Fun stuff.

Hulk out!

     I wish I could remember where this guy said he bought all these nice corridors. They're not too flashy, very simple. The walls aren't full size, they'd come up about half the height of your standard marine, but I don't think that matters. The owner of this setup explained that he REALLY intended this to be used with some of those awesome Badab war missions that are intended to simulate ship boarding attacks. I fully approve!

Look! It's the Non-40K game!

     I don't happen to see that many Fantasy games being played out in the wild. I'm not a fan myself, but I do enjoy good models, and I really enjoy good models painted well (see above). I've always said that if I got into WFB, the Lizardmen would be one of the armies I would consider playing. I like their Mayan styling, and those scales, when properly highlighted, look awesome! Sadly my other photos of this army were a little too blurry to post. Regardless, it was a treat to see.

     So I did get a game in, as I mentioned. I played a fully painted Raven Wing army. It was a great game, ended up being a real nail-biter. Surprisingly, the Deff Dread saved the day. He was kicking ass all over that store that day! Orks pulled out a narrow win, and the other player was a good sport. Fun was had by all.

Firestorm Armada

     So I finally got the chance to play a game of Firestorm Armada. The game system is VERY easy to pick up, and I think that an experienced war gamer can pick up the basic mechanics in one or two games. We didn't play with the cards, though I recently picked up a deck, but looking through those cards, I can see these adding a very interesting dimension to the game. One thing I didn't like was measuring the movement. Because the 45 degree measurement is so critical, we found ourselves struggling with paper print-outs of the movement  template that's in the FSA rulebook (also you can download it on the Spartan Games website). Paper just doesn't work, and in general the template is too big to use easily.

     I found the solution to that problem, and I purchased it ages before my first game, but due to the long production time, I only received it about three weeks ago. Here's the solution:

     These are from Litko, and they're perfect for FSA movement measurement. They are small enough to squeeze in between ships crowded on the table, and they're the right size to measure out the range bands pertinent to almost all weapon types in the game. I haven't had the chance to use them in a full game yet, but messing about with them on my little painting table gives me a good vibe. Recommended buy!

     I'm going to wrap things up here. This post is super long, and I know it needed to be to sort of catch up. I'll be looking to get back to work on the painting table soon. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here. Thanks for reading!