All In

I have been documenting the odyssey of building the Fine Molds 1/72 scale X-Wing fighter.  The difficulties are all mine and this kit is absolutely fantastic.  The engineering is so good.  Seems are usually hidden or made to look like they belong on the model.  The fit is amazing.  It makes me wonder why most miniature companies, especially the larger ones can’t match or even approach the this level of engineering.  Anyway, even though it has been a trial at times, I have had lots of fun and learned many new skills.

Now, I am not part of the scale modeling community like I am a member of the miniature war gaming scene.  So, I had not heard that Fine Molds had lost their Star Wars license at the beginning of the year.  Thus, I did not know until a week ago, that all of the amazing Fine Molds kits would be out of production by the end of the year.  I quickly hit the internet and found most of the kits out of stock.  When I looked deeper, many of the kits were selling for 2-3X their retail value.  I quickly made a decision and went on an internet hunt.  I managed to find four more kits to build.  This is what I bought:

 

There were a few others available for reasonable prices if you looked hard enough, but it was at this point that I ran out of hobby budget.  I’m now hobby broke, but if I add this haul to all of the minis I have to paint, I should be set for quite some time.

FYI, the Star Wars license was awarded to Ban Dai, which is best known for making Gundam models.  Their product looks high quality, but so far, not to my taste.  The ships seem to have too pronounced panel lines and look too toy like.  I really don’t nee to worry about it for a while though, given what is in the mail for me.

Of Trials and Tribulations

I’ve been working off and on (mostly off) on my X-Wing.  It is hockey season and the holiday season, so time in the Man Cave is limited.  Since last I posted I have assembled the cockpit and the fuselage.    I also filled some gaps that resulted from my inexperience.  I did a bit of a shit job filling the gaps.  I think they’ll look fine when viewed from an appropriate distance by someone who doesn’t know they are there.  Again, this project has had a HUGE learning curve.  I have been spending lots of hobby time watching YouTube videos about scale modeling, so I sort of know what I’m doing next time.

When it was time to paint, I tried my had at pre-shading.  For those not in the know, that is the technique by which you give the look of weathering by painting black along the panel lines.  Theoretically, when you paint your final colour, the shading shows through and looks like wear, dirt, etc. around the panels.  When done competently, it looks really sharp.  By now you know that competence is not my bag.  I started out well, but then started to suffer from dry tip.  The only problem is that it took me too long to realize dry tip was my problem.  So, the whole pres-hading looked like crap.  Luckily, I was able to paint over the shading and it looks ok, I think.  It is time to weather now.  More tutorials and probably more mistakes.  As I tell my students, everything is hard until you’ve practiced enough that it isn’t.

I Hate Decals

I have been making some small headway on my X-wing.  I painted up the pilot (Luke himself) and then I applied the decals to his helmet and to the control panel in the cockpit.  I hadn’t applied decals since I was a teenager.  For my first decal, my 13 year old self resurfaced and I completely botched the job.  I didn’t trim the decal and it wouldn’t stick.  There is supposed to be a red strip on Luke’s helmet with a yellow patch at the front.  It’s now in the garbage.  I did a bit better job on the rest, but it’s a steep learning curve.

The next step is to assemble the fuselage and do some priming.

As an aside, I have been getting some grief from my wife over my pronunciation of decal.  I pronounce it with a long e sound (deecal) while my wife pronounces it with a short e sound and hardly any a (decl).  She says I sound American and I say I don’t care.  How do you guys say it?

Outside the Comfort Zone

As I mentioned in my last post, I have started working on the FineMolds 1/72 scale X-Wing.  My progress has been extremely slow for a couple of reasons.  First, The process is quite a bit more complex than putting together a miniature the has 10 parts at the most.  I have taken a lot of time to read articles written by people that have built the model and what they did.  I have spent more time than was really necessary examining the instructions and thinking about how I was going to do things.  The second reason is that I haven’t built a scale model since I was in high school.  Back then I wasn’t very careful or patient.  I always ended up with glue on everything and would often put things in the wrong place because I hadn’t read the instructions through or very carefully.  So, now I find myself fretting every time I glue something that it will be in the wrong place.  I am totally mental!

Anyway, this is what I have accomplished in all of this time.  I just need to paint up the pilot and then I can install the cockpit in the fuselage.  Then I can get the airbrush out and start painting.    I hope I can loosen up and get more done in less time, so there is something to post in a shorter time frame.

Aside: Adventures in Cord Cutting

Every summer my wife and I suspend our cable service because we don’t watch any TV.  Up north we have daylight until 10:30pm during the summer and we would just rather be outside.  In the fall, we would reactive our account.  We found that the past couple of years, we had cable mostly so I could watch live sports.  That was a pretty expensive proposition.  With both of us walking the picket line this past fall, we decided to cancel the cable and see if we missed it.  It turns out that two and a half months into the TV season, we rarely miss the 1000 channels that we never watched.  If and when we want to watch something, it will be available elsewhere a la carte.  We have found that we don’t watch enough TV to even make Netflix worthwhile!

This of course left the question of how to watch my sports.  For this year, I have forsaken NFL football and it hurts.  It hurts so damn bad!  But, with the late start of school, I have been at work most Sundays and the rest of the weekend is spent doing all of the things that didn’t get done during the week.  I could not bring myself to give up NHL hockey.  So, I purchased NHL Game Center.  Game Center is a streaming service. I can watch games on my TV through the Xbox, on my PC or on my tablet.  So far, I am pleased with the service.  There are some quirky things that happen, like cutting out commercials and intermission shows on some feeds, so you only have a screen saver to watch.  However, on the whole, the stream is good and when it’s not, it’s usually from my end.  The best part is that the price is only a fraction of what we were paying for cable.  I’m currently in negotiations with my better half to have some of the savings transferred to the hobby fund.  Fingers crossed.

I Think This Counts

I haven’t done much or really anything hobby like lately, so I’m going to make the call that building Lego counts.  As a Kindergarten teacher, I prowl the toy department of Wal-Mart looking for things for the classroom.  Last weekend I found something for Mr. Nowell.  I found a Lego B-Wing.  I walked away thinking I really didn’t need  Lego.  I’m an adult for cryin’ out loud!  That train of thought lasted about 5 minutes and I went back and bought it.  I spent that Sunday afternoon building the beast.  It was surprisingly fun.  It reminded me of my days doing plastic model kits as a teenager.  There were lots of little pieces and lots of instructions to follow.  The final product was pretty cool and I’m glad I splurged.  The only complaint I have is that the wings are too weak to support the ship so you have to lay it on it’s back.  A display stand would have been really nice.  I think I’ll build my own in the next little while, so I can show it off in the nerd room.

My Lego experience has inspired me to take some time off from miniature painting.  I bought a FineMolds 1:72 scale X-Wing kit a while back.  I am going to put aside the Judicator and work on the X-Wing for a while.  Maybe it will work as a palate cleanser and I’ll be reinvigorated to paint miniatures, because I sure haven’t lately.  Fingers crossed!

And Then I Thought I could Play In a Tournament

Well, I went to Grande Prairie, AB yesterday and played in my second Steamroller tournament.  The last tournament I was in was just over a year ago, also in Grande Prairie.  GP is about two hours away and is the closest large centre and it isn’t even that big, my town is just that small.  I’m not going to go through battle reports, because I was a little overwhelmed and can’t really remember a lot of details.  So, I’ll just make some points.  Sorry for the lack of pictures but I was busy keeping my shit together.

Level of Competition

There was quite a range of skill levels represented.  There were at least two members of the Canadian WTC team there and a couple of others in that league.  Mixed in were a bunch of locals and a few of us that were sort of out of our element.  My first game was against a very good Circle player from Red Deer, AB named Cam.  He knew what he was doing and made it clear that I really didn’t in comparison.  Cam was a really fun guy to play though, because he saw where I was at and didn’t get all super competitive on me.  He played to win, as he should, but we had fun at the same time.  When I made a mistake he corrected me, but didn’t make a big deal out of it.  It was that way all day.

Organization

The tournament organizers did a wonderful job.  The games and rounds moved along quickly and the next scenario was set up without the players even really noticing.  Scoring was quick as were the next matchups.  The tables were set up with an appropriate level of scenery that was attached, so it didn’t scoot around on you.  An excellent job was done.  The only downer was that we started about an hour late.  For someone who had to drive two hours home after a day of gaming that sort of sucked.

My Performance

In a word, weak.  It was expected though.  The death clock put some pressure on me at first and I had to play faster than I’m used to, which lead to some bad decisions and mix ups in the order of activation.  It came down to not playing enough of the came to have any automaticity in my game and that made it harder.  I came in third from last and didn’t score a single control point.  The one game against Retribution where I could have, I came up against very hot dice and it was still a close thing.  My goal was to not time out and I didn’t, though I did end one game with 9 seconds left.  My other goal was to score a control point.  That didn’t happen, so will continue to be a goal.

Summary

Overall, I had a great time.  I played against factions and casters that I don’t get to play against in my local meta.  I got to play against players much better than myself which, if you are paying attention can teach you a lot.  I met a lot of really great guys and reconnected with a few I hadn’t seen in a long time.  I was exhausted at the end of the day, but happy.  Failure can be an excellent teacher if you are willing to reflect on why you failed.  I have much reflecting to do.

Bits and Pieces

I found the time to do some hobby yesterday.  I got Rhupert Carvolo, a mercenary solo base coated.  I’m going to try and get some highlights done tonight.  You see, I need Rhupert for a tournament I’m going to in Grande Prairie this weekend.  It will be my second Warmachine tournament ever.  I also just read the information more carefully and discovered that it is a death clock event.  I have never played death clock before, so that is going to be a bit of a steep learning curve.

My biggest challenge for this tournament is overcoming my competitiveness.  I know I won’t do well, so I have to get into the mindset of having fun playing and meeting new people.  I like to win…a lot.  I need to learn how to have fun just playing.  It’s a work in progress.

Coming Up For Air

Whew!  It’s been a hectic few weeks.  With school starting late and quite suddenly as well as teaching a new grade, I have been run ragged.  Even when I had a couple of hours at the end of the day, I was brain dead would just flip around on my tablet for a while before going to bed early.  Things are still really busy, but I’m hoping they will normalize a bit.

I haven’t really accomplished much hobby wise.  I did a little bit of highlighting on the Judicator, but nothing even worth taking a picture of.  We’ve been busy the first two days of the Thanksgiving weekend, but I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll get some solid hobby in.  I have some repairs to make on some models and one in particular that I need to get painted before I finish up Judy.

Keep your eyes peeled for an update later in the week.  I’m making the commitment publicly so that the fear of shaming will make me write again AND do some hobby.

UNDER SNOWY SKIES

We had a bit of an unusual cold spell the past few days up here.  On Saturday it was 24 degrees and the next day it was one degree and snowing.  It snowed for two days straight.  Yesterday, the weather recovered a bit up to 10 degrees, but it was not very nice.  The weather was a great excuse to stay inside and hobby.  I have been working on the Judicator and will probably be working on it for the foreseeable future.

After spending lots of time prepping the model I put it together in chunks.  I have been using my airbrush more lately.  Once I got over the trepidation of using the thing, I’ve tried to  use it more and more.  My control is still not great, so I thought that having the model in smaller pieces would make it easier to get into the nooks and crannies as well as not painting parts I hadn’t intended to.  Sadly, it happens a lot.

I used my new Vallejo primer in the airbrush for the first time.  I loved this experience.  You have way more control over where primer goes and how much goes there when using the airbrush rather than a spray bomb.  I’ve found that paint is adhering well to the primer as well.  I had been using Army Painter spray primer and I found the paint adhesion was extremely poor.

I base coated the parts dark green with the airbrush and then it was time for a leap off of the deep end.  I decided to try and use the airbrush to do some highlights.  I thought that I won’t be doing a model this large again any time soon, so I would take the opportunity to try something new.  The results were acceptable.  The lessons learned during the process were invaluable though.  I tried airbrushing without the needle cap on and learned about dry tip, where paint dries on the tip of the airbrush and needs to be cleaned or your painting stops.  Overall, the results will do and I’m more happy with the fact that I took a chance.

Finally, I decided to try some masking and do a second colour on the forearm shields.  The results were ok, but I got a bit of a wash that I put on in between coats under the mask and had to spend some time with a makeup applicator removing it.

Unfortunately, I pulled a small bit of paint off of the green area down to the plastic while removing the masking.  I need to spend some time deep thinking on how I am going to fix this without it looking odd in with the airbrushing around it.  Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

END OF SUMMER UPDATE

Well, summer has past and with the beginning of September, fall is here.  As a teacher, this is how the seasons work for us.  Although it is a bit strange not to be back to work.  Hopefully, that situation will be taken care of in the coming weeks.  Regardless, with the coming of fall, it is time to see what I managed to accomplish over the summer. 

I just finished two more models.  I finally have Lady Ayana and Master Holt to add to lists for some high armour cracking potential.

With the completion of this trio, I counted (and recounted) how many models I completed during my Summer Surge.  It turns out that this summer turned out to be more of a gentle nudge than a surge.  I only managed to finish 17 models this summer.  Granted, I had a lot of other stuff going on, but I really dropped off in August.  I don’t know if I hit a wall after doing so much in July or what happened. 

I have decided to keep doing the graph and add any models I have acquired and of course those that get finished.  I think it’s a nice way to visualize what I have and what I have to do.  It helps me from becoming a collector of models and a painter instead.

Finally, here are a couple of shots of my next project.

Mr. DIY

I realized today that it has been a few days since I posted.  I had a trip to Kamloops for a conference, so there was no hobby going on there.  I was also pretty busy the few days before I left.  I had decided to start a little DIY project for the ol’ Man Cave.  I have been looking for a suitable paint storage solution for ages.  I have never really found something I like.  Until a few days ago I was using a small little shelf thing I picked up from Winners a few years back for around $10.

As you can see, it was great space wise, but it was hard to find the paints I needed in all the jumble.  There was also a suitcase of Vallejo Air paints on the floor under the desk.  It was not an efficient setup and I didn’t use some paints because they were crowded out.  So, I went to work and made myself a shelf where I could see everything I have. I didn’t take pictures of the process because it was so inefficient and generally a shit show, that I didn’t want to advertise how much I suck.  But here is the result!

It’s just made out of pine and stained a dark oak with a few coats of varnish to wear a bit better.  So, I spent some time yesterday loading her up with my stuff.

Life should be good now, right?  I can see all of my colours and washes.  It is even beside the desk, so I have to get up once in a while to get other paints.  Sitting for too long will kill you they say.  There was only one small problem.

Son of a bitch!  Not all of my paints fit!  I even went through my older GW paints to check if any were dried out so I could chuck them.  A few were, but I still had this small collection left.  I am also eying up the soon to be released Vallejo Game Air paints.  I’ll likely be getting a few of those to add to the mix. 

I went out to the shed today and took stock of my scrap lumber.  It looks like I have enough to do a narrower version of this shelf for the other side of my desk.  It is supposed to rain the next couple of days, and then I’ll have to get back to the woodworking. 

As they say, the best laid plans…

A Comment-able Goal

First off, I must apologize for the horrendous pun in the title.  With that out of the way, I can explain why I subjected you to my rapier whit.  While reading through my blog roll a while back, I realized that I commented in my head about what I saw quite a bit, and then moved on to the next blog.  I never left a comment for the author about what I had thought.  I realized that I was a natural lurker.  I like peeping in on what people are doing and then slinking away.  Now that I am blogging again, I realize how nice it is to get comments on what you are posting.  The comments both let you know that someone is actually reading the stuff you are posting, but also if it has any resonance with the reader.

I also realized that just reading blogs and not interacting with the authors is ultimately unsatisfying.  I feel like the poor kid looking in the window of the fancy restaurant.  I see the people having fun and eating delicious food, but never really get to partake of it myself.  When you don’t put yourself out into the community you are ultimately only getting vicarious enjoyment from real enjoyment of others.

The above realizations put me in a frame of mind to change my lurking ways and come out into the light.  If I read something on a blog that gets me to thinking or even just makes me go “Wow!”, I try to make sure and leave a quick comment for the author.  It makes me feel better and I hope it adds something to the blogger’s day as well.   So far, I find it satisfying to leave my thoughts.  I haven’t been at it long enough to develop any familiarity with any of the bloggers, but one can hope that it gets there someday.

So, if you have read this or anything else on here, take 30 seconds to leave a comment and tell me what you think.  If you have a blog, let me know and I’ll swing by and return the favour.

 

photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/liviacristinalc/3402221680/     Lívia Cristina  http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

Yay, Kickstarter

Back in the spring I backed a Kickstarter by DS’tone Art for vinyl gaming mats.  If you have played the X-Wing miniatures game, you have probably played on one of these mats.  The draw for this Kickstarter was the option of picking the size and the images on the mats.  Also, while the price seemed pretty high ($70) it turned out that Canadian customers got two mats due to the lower postage required to send it here.  That turned it into a no brainer.  Now I don’t have to use painters tape to mark out a 3X3 area on the table.  I’m pretty jazzed.  Now I just have to get a game in on them…

Rookie Caster

I backed the Warmachine Tactics Kickstarter last summer.  I was only mildly interested in the game, but I was very interested in the limited edition sculpts for he Journeyman Warcasters that were some of the rewards.  I received my physical rewards a while ago, but just got around to building and painting Tristan Durant, the PoM journeman.  He’s not bad looking and I think he’ll find a place in a couple of my lists.  I’m looking forward to getting him on the table and seeing what he adds.

His base was my second try at using crackle paste for a desert base.  It turns out that the first time I spread it a bit thin and it lifted from the bottom and may be a little fragile in the long run. This time I spread it a bit thicker.  It still lifted, but was thick enough for me to glue back down.  I like the desert look it gives for a fraction of the cost of resin bases.  I also played with the airbrush to give it a bit different look.

Visual List Building

I just read an article on Hand Canon Online that gives a lot of information for people newer to the game of WarmaHordes, but also introduced me to a more visual way of building lists.  Even after a few years of playing the game (albeit not at a high level) I still have difficulty getting my head around synergies in lists and what models to put into a list to do all the jobs I need doing.   I’m definitely going to give this a try and see if it helps me out.

Check out the article here.

Quick update

I have finished a couple more models in the past few days.  I must admit to a waning of the urgency I felt last month.  Unless I were being paid for it, I don’t think I could paint non-stop all the time.  I like to spend my time doing other things as well.  Those other things are just starting to look better and better is all. 

Anyway, first is the Monolith Bearer UA for the Holy Zealots unit.  I tried to paint around the cracks in the monolith rather than drybrush like I normally would.  I’m reasonably happy with the outcome.  Again, the backgrounds are discarded scrapbooking paper.  There’s a new background each time because I’m trying them all out to see what paper works best with what colours.

Next is the Hierophant.  I’m pretty pleased with the paint job on this guy.  I’ve been working hard on my blending and glazing.  I am by no means a pro, but I’m seeing progress, which is all anyone can ask for.

Finally, here’s a WIP of Menoth’s journeyman warcaster, Tristan Durant.  I just have his head and base to finish.  I’m hoping to get the head done today.

Just as a note, I would appreciate any constructive criticism from anyone with skills or knowledge they would like to pass al0ng.  Just leave me a note in the comments.

Hobby hack

Here’s a quick hobby hack for all of you modelers out there.  I know when I started trying to take better pictures of my minis, the first step was setting up some sort of light box, but the next step was finding appropriate backdrops for the photos.  After some searching I found a very cheap and easily accessible solution.  Use scrapbooking paper for your backdrop.  I discovered this use when my wife was cleaning out a bunch of old papers she no longer wanted.  I went through the pile and picked out some promising patterns and colours.  It worked like a charm!  All of my recent pictures here on the blog have used scrapbooking paper as backdrops.

Scrapbooking paper is 12”x12”, so will fit most light boxes set up for photographing miniatures.  I have trimmed some of mine to fit into the 10” width of my Foldio.  Scrapbooking paper comes in a dizzying  array of colours and patterns.  This explains why my wife can spend countless hours in Michael’s looking at paper while I wander around looking like a vagrant looking for a place to spend the night.  Most patterns are unsuitable for using as a photo backdrop, but some are just right.  Scrapbooking paper is often two sided, so when you are shopping, make sure you check both sides.  I found that there is usually a bold print on one side and the other will have a more muted pattern of colours in the same palette.  Finally, scrapbooking paper can be found at your local Michael’s or scrapbooking store.  Prices vary from around $2 per page to under $1.  If you are looking for cheaper stuff, look in the clearance areas.  These are full of papers that are discontinued or out of style in the scrapbooking world.  They are often still good enough for what we’re looking for. 

So, the next time that your significant other drags you to the scrapbooking store, don’t sit in the car and sulk, get in there and look for a deal.  Don’t let her know that you will enjoy your visit though, you don’t need to go that often.

Disclaimer:  The author in no way recommends or authorizes you, the reader to raid your lady friend’s paper stash.  Any actions taken in a woman’s craft room can and will end in sorrow and severe repercussions for the transgressor.  Scrapbookers have an unhealthy attachment to those piles of paper.  You have been warned!

Gallery update

Just a couple of pics of what I’ve accomplished lately.

The Bastion Seneschal was a ton of fun to paint.  The only problem I had was that he tipped over a couple of times and his halberd is a bit bent.  It looks that if I try to bend it back again it will come right off.  I’m trying to avoid that particular repair for a while.

I also got a full unit of Holy Zealots finished.  My Foldio is a bit small for the whole unit, so I just took a picture of a grunt and the leader.  I just finished the Monolith Bearer today, but he’s drying on his base.  Pictures to come.

I currently have a Hierophant on the painting table.  It will be nice to get some focus management help.

Until next time, hobby on.

Summer Surge: update

Here we are at the beginning of August already.  I thought it would be a great time time to post an update on my Summer Surge progress.  As I’ve posted earlier, I have had a lot of non-hobby stuff going on the past month.  I think I would be forgiven for a poor showing over July.  However, I think that I did alright.

Before I give you the results, I think it is important to remind you about a few of my hobby hang-ups.  First, although my painting doesn’t look like it, I am a perfectionist.  Second, I am a completionist.  What I report to you as finished is all there is going on.  I do not start and work on multiple projects at the same time.  I am a linear thinker to the core.  So, be kind when you judge me.

As you can see, I completed 13 minis during the past month.  Considering one of the models was a battle engine, I’m pretty happy with that number.  However, you can see that if I don’t do better this month, I will be nowhere near my goal of 50% of models unpainted at the beginning of the summer being completed.  I guess that means that I have to put the pedal to the metal for the next month.  Hopefully, that will mean plentiful hobby updates on this blog during the next 31 days.

I believe I have spent enough time reading.  I have lots of hobby to do!

Pain

You may wonder why there is a picture of my house at the top of a post on a hobby blog.  That is because my house is what I’ve been working on the past week, rather than hobby.  Look in particular at the roof.  I spent a week with my father-in-law roofing my house.  Yes, my in-laws are up for a visit too.  More on that in a bit.  Just a tip for those thinking of doing renos on their house, if someone tells you that they know exactly how to help you do something, don’t just take their word for it.  My father-in-law spoke a good game about how to roof this house.  However, when the rubber hit the road, it came out that he hadn’t roofed a house in over 20 years and then was only helping someone else.  So, a week full of sore backs, knees and legs ensued.  I was too tired at the end of the day to do any hobby.

My other hobby problem is the visit of my in-laws.  As you would expect, I can’t just disappear into the Man Cave whenever I want when you have guests.  I do find myself down here as a respite on occasion, though.

I hope to have an unexpectedly positive update on the Summer Surge in the next day or so, however.  Stay tuned.

perfect balance

As I mentioned in a recent post, I used to play Warhammer, but fell out of love with it.  One of the things that always baffled me, was how players of Games Workshop games had such a love/hate relationship with the company.  Whenever something new came out, be it rules or models, there would be an orgy of teeth gnashing and ripping of hair because the new thing broke the game again or was too expensive or…whatever.  All this while the same people were on their way to a local shop to buy said new thing that they must have.  GW “fans” are unbelievably critical of the company, it’s business practices and its’ games. I’m not saying the criticism is unwarranted, but the fans don’t really act like it.

Contrast this with the players of Privateer Press games.  This company could drop a turd in the middle of the road and the fans would find something good to say about it.  The shape would be complimented and the location on the road would be perfectly balanced.  It is hard to find anyone in the Warmachine/Hordes community that has much bad to say about Privateer Press, its’ games or its’ models.  I was reading a blog post last night that showed off some horrific mould lines and gaps in the fit of model pieces.  The author thought that the mould lines were not too bad and the gap was pretty good.  Let me tell you that those imperfections would have been ok 20 years ago when I started building models, but not now.  When I recently ordered a bunch of models to start my Retribution army, I had to order replacement parts from PP three times in the first week due to missing or miscast parts.  I read a lot of Warmachine blogs and nobody addresses these issues.

Don’t get me wrong.  I would not like to see the flagellation party that GW “fans” engage in, but I think it’s dangerous when people don’t question what is happening and don’t hold companies more accountable.  There has to be a balance between appreciating the things a company has done well and calling them out when they are not hitting the mark.  The only way companies improve is when their customers demand it.  I love Warmachine and Hordes and I think Privateer Press is a great company, but I think they are short changing their customers in some areas.  In the future I’ll be pointing these things out.  I just wish that others would take off the rose coloured glasses and start talking about both sides of the story.

vinny!

I managed to squeeze some hobby in the past couple of weeks.  I managed to get the main floor spare room turned back into a spare room from the craft room it was for the past four years.  Lots of painting, installing trim and a new closet organizer.  It was also 30+ degrees Celsius every day I was working on it.  This far North, we don’t usually get a lot of hot days, so air conditioning is uncommon.  Suffice it to say, I sweat A LOT.

I did manage to pump out Vindictus.  I’m happy about getting this guy done, because I think he has a lot of potential.  I also want a second unit of Bastions and I think two units of Bastions and True Path may be a thing.

I also finished the Bastion Seneschal tonight, but haven’t got to taking pictures yet.

Sorry, it’s a cell phone picture using my handy Foldio.

book recommendation

I just finished reading Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia.  The book is about a regular guy who gets attacked by his boss who turns out to be a werewolf.  The main character, Owen Pitt is then invited to join Monster Hunter International a private monster hunting company.  It turns out that Owen is really good at killing stuff.  It also becomes apparent that Owen is not a “regular” guy.  His father drilled him in the use of multiple firearms and Owen is a meat mountain.  Oh, he also has some special connection to an ancient artifact and a creepy monster called The Cursed One. The Cursed One wants to end the world and allow the bad interdimensional beings called the Old Ones to come to Earth.  That would be bad for humans.  Owen and his monster hunter buddies need to save the world!

This book was a fun read.  It is ridiculous at times and even nonsensical at others, but fun all the same.  If you’re looking for a book to read on a long flight or on those long summer days, this is it.  I had to skip a few paragraphs here and there due to excessive details about specific firearms and their special features, but that didn’t detract from the book.  The author is obviously a gun nut.  The action is non stop.  Think of it as a Michael Bay film with a story.  I enjoyed it and I’m now reading the second book in the series.

Image copyright Larry Correia