Beardy Git

After my devastating loss to Shane, I am definitely in the Warhammer mood again. He salved my wounds with 3 unpainted Marauder Dwarfs, which will find a home in my Black Oak Regulars unit. The Black Oak Regulars are a unit of Dwarf Warriors with hand weapons and shields, the most basic sort of fellows, really. The difference being in the painting and composition of the unit. I am using only metal dwarfs and no repeats. In a unit of 25 that is not too hard to pull off. The theme is that these particular Dwarfs are the patrons of a tavern, the Black Oak Barrel Tavern, and defend it as needed. The only real conversions I have planned for the unit are the standard bearer and a Thane to join them.

For the standard bearer, I plan on using a tavern sign from one of the Warhammer buildings mounted on copper tubing and placed in the hands of an old standard bearer. For the Thane, I plan on putting a pins in his feet and making two bases for him: a basic one and a big black oak barrel for him to stand on. The idea being that the barrel could double for an Oathstone.

I am pondering whether or not to use craft sticks for the bases to give a tavern floor effect or to go with sawdust. Decisions, decisions...

Play Date

Shane had a little get together today at his place. Ryan and I went and got a solid introduction to the new rules. Wednesday, I am taking my Dwarfs over for my first game of 8th Edition.

Thoughts and Concerns

Since my last post, a lot has occurred in my life. I went back to school to get my .NET certification, I became pretty adept at driving, and I am very close to getting a job that will change my life. That job will change my schedule, as well. With a 9-5, weekends and holidays off, kind of job, I can finally play some games of Warhammer and 40k with normal people. Things like painting nights and the such are suddenly doable. Plus, the income would be boss.

As I went through my training, I briefly considered leaving the hobby. I no longer read White Dwarf every month and it has been 6 months since I entered a game store. My geek cred is currently lacking, for sure. Thing is, I will likely be giving up a different hobby instead. Since I will be working with computers 40+ hours a week, the attraction I once had to video games will likely wane.

Vandals and Vagrants

After a long layoff, I finally painted a new Sister. It went swimmingly and I am very pleased with the new direction I am headed in. More soon.

Welcome To The Fold

After a long stretch of working my ass off, I was able to visit 31st Century Games and acquire a few new ladies for my army. I picked up a Sister with a Meltagun, a Seraphim with Twin Hand Flamers, another Cannoness, a St. Celestine, and a vanilla Rhino. I guess I really should get back to painting.

I really like the way my attempt at metal armor went so I am going to do another test model. This time the plan is Boltgun, followed by a generous highlight of Chainmail, a wash or three of watered down Devlan Mud, a tight highlight of Chainmail, and, if I feel chippy, a super light highlight of Mithril Silver. The fabric will be Deneb Stone washed with Gryphonne Sepia to get an aged muslin look. It's all sadly theoretical until I make time...

The Motor Pool

So, I got an interesting package in the mail today. A guy sent me the old Immolator, a set of new Immolator bitz, and a set of old Whirlwind bitz, all in pristine shape. Greatness! I plan on assembling the old style Immolator as such and using the other bitz to make an Exorcist and an Immolator out of two standard Rhinos. Currently, I have three complete Immolators, still in the box, and the bitz to convert two more from Rhinos. A fellow in England sent me more of the metal Immolator bitz, so my motor pool looks like this:

1 Exorcist, completed
1 Exorcist, bitz need Rhino chassis
3 "New" Immolators, complete and unassembled
1 "Old" Immolator, complete and unassembled
3 "New" Immolators, bitz need Rhino chassis
1 "Old" Immolator, bitz need Rhino chassis

If I spring for some bitz store Rhinos, the kind without the accessory sprue, I can get them for $15. I need 5, so that is $75 or so. When I pick those up, I will have 2 Exorcists and 8 Immolators. Awesome!

Now, obviously, that is a lot of Immolators. What I will more likely do is go more along the lines of 2 Exorcists, 4 Immolators, and 4 Rhinos. All I really need now are some Sisters...

Want List:
8 Storm Bolter Sisters
4 Meltagun Sisters
1 Seraphim with Hand Flamers

Well, off to the grocery store.

The Flow of Time

So, two things:

I built a tank! Not just any tank, either. My very first Games Workshop tank. I built an Immolator chassis with a Whirlwind turret to use as an Exorcist. It went together well and I am quite pleased with the results. I have three more unassembled Immolators and an extra set of Immolator bits. As well, some fine folks set me up with some cheap as free bitz! I'm getting one more set of modern Immolator bitz, a set of old metal bitz, an assembled old school Immolator, and an old metal Whirlwind turret. Great! If I pick up three or so Rhinos, I will be set for tanks. All I really need now are more Sisters with Special Weapons and I am good to go.

Secondly, I have orientation at my new job tomorrow night! Yeah! It's only a temp job, but work is work and it could lead to a real, full time gig. Plus, it gives me an excuse to wear a tie.


Third on my increasingly misnomered list is that I am going to try a different color scheme on some Sisters. The bone is okay, but I am going to try Boltgun-Chainmail-Devlan Mud-Chainmail armor with Graveyard Brown-Devlan Mud-Graveyard Brown for the fabric. It's worth a shot, I guess.

Back in the Fold

During my unexpected bout of unemployment, still ongoing, I drifted away from Warhammer 40k. Between going to the unemployment office, filling out applications, and going to interviews, I have not been in the mood for miniatures. Instead, I have spent the majority of my free time playing video games and writing about them for www.diehardgamefan.com.

Miniatures gaming is something I have always done as a form of meditation. Put on some soft music and paint with my wife. When I am agitated or in poor spirits, it is hard for me to paint. Maybe it is because I am not a naturally gifted painter, but it takes a lot of concentration for me to achieve the dizzying heights of mediocrity with my painting, let alone something I would like to share with others.

This week, however, I find myself drawn back to my Sisters of Battle. While I will likely not return to my Dwarfs until after 8th Edition launches, my Sisters are untouched by rules changes. Plus, without a community of Sisters players to influence me, I can endeavor in the creation of a different sort of Sisters army. I see Storm Bolters in my future. Lots of Storm Bolters...

Unemployment Day 10

If the student loan goes through, I'm going back to school. Exciting, for sure.

Unemployment Day 7

So, after one week of being jobless, I have figured some things out. I am going to school. I would say back to school, but I dropped out of college a decade ago, so that hardly counts. There is an IT school with 4 month classes starting on Sept. 14. I'll be going to class until mid-January, slowly eating away at my savings, but the upside is that I will be certified to be a programmer, something I've done on my own since I was like 5. As a bonus, the fellow I talked to said that my background in video game reviewing for www.diehardgamefan.com gives me a leg up, especially if I want to take further steps towards being an instructor or technical writer. I know it is hard to tell from this blog, but I can actually write, when necessary. One more, slightly self-aggrandizing note, I scored in the 95th percentile on the numeric part of the test, a test that is designed for people who are already proficient in the field. That was a good feeling.

Unemployment Day 3.5

Got my Learner's Permit and did some driving. Fun. I am becoming really frustrated. Do I go crawling back to the casino business and get steady employment? Do I tough it out and learn a trade? Do I go to IT school for 4 months and hope that works out? I'm really stuck.

Unemployment Day 2

When Heather gets up, we are going to the DMV to get my Learner's Permit. Since it will eventually snow, I will need transportation besides my Triumph, eventually. If things go well, I could start one of the training programs I have been looking at sooner than later and we could use our savings to buy me a small pickup truck or the like. I would hate to sell the bike, since I still owe on it and I enjoy riding it, but I will if I have to.
No list for today, besides going to bed early to try and get off of my night shift sleep schedule. I'm going to do more research on cabinetmaking and maybe look into community college courses to take alongside the Carpentry training. I want this to work.

Unemployment Day 1.5

As I'm getting ready for bed, I feel pretty good. I have found two apprenticeship programs that I can apply for, one for plumbing, the other for carpentry. I am leaning towards the carpentry school, since it is 3 miles from my house and I like the idea of learning to build. Maybe I'll be a cabinetmaker! After all those years at the casino, producing nothing but cheap thrills and false hopes, it would be nice to actually make something tangible. I might be overly romantic about it, but I love the idea of MAKING something with my hands and tools. Being a skilled tradesman would be a step up from being a skilled cardsharp. Besides, I do play Dwarfs, so it would be appropriate.

Day 1

I put both feet on the floor and got up. Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
Wake up
Apply for unemployment
Mow the Lawn
Sort through Grandma Jean stuff
Update resume
Finish King of Fighters XII Review

This is my list for today.

5 down!

Unemployed

Well, my job of 7 and a half years just evaporated. Poof. Now I have a little severance money and no job. Lovely day, though.

Exorcist

As I have stated before, I have a Whirlwind sprue and spare Immolator parts to convert an Exorcist from. This week, I have given some thoughts to a different conversion. I was eying the Empire Helstorm Rocket Launcher. It is a cannon mounting with nine rockets on it. After a quick sanding of all the Fantasy icons on the rockets, I could mount the rack inside an open backed Rhino, like a Basilisk. This would be pretty cool looking, I suspect, and better reflect the theme of the Exorcist than a tech looking rocket launcher. As a bonus, I would have the Helblaster bitz left over to do as I please with. Maybe a Hydra conversion, if I ever do some Imperial Guard?

Plans

So, this weekend I will have no painting time, which is a bummer. The upshot is that I get to spend some time with my little sister and visit 31st Century, to pick up my order (2 Sisters with Meltaguns and 1 Seraphim with Hand Flamers) as well as a White Dwarf and some paint.

Big Ideas

So, tonight, I will either be painting and chilling out with a rum and pineapple juice or going out with friends. Either way, it should be a cool night.

Monday, Post-Mortem

So, I got my Shatter review done early, got the lawn mowed, and got some of Heather's Wood Elves assembled. Tuesday morning, I will prime up the Woodies and paint some of my Sisters. I ordered a few more of the Sisters of Battle minis I need from 31st Century. I ordered a pair of Meltagun Sisters and a Twin Hand Flamer Seraphim. The Seraphim was on a whim, but I'll need her second set of Hand Flamers if I am going to use the Seraphim. That leaves my current shopping list looking something like this, in descending order of importance.

1x Rhino, since I have the spare Immolator and Whirlwind bitz to make an Exorcist

1x Exorcist. I do not know if I am going to get a Forgeworld or a Games Workshop one. The Forgeworld one will blend in with my Whirlwind/Immolator kitbashes one better, but the Organ one from GW looks pretty keen. I might just kit bash a second Whirlwind/Immolator, but that could be more expensive than a proper one.

2x Heavy Bolter Sisters. For my eventual Retributors squad.

3x Storm Bolters. I have the disturbing idea of a 4 Storm Bolter Dominion squad with a Storm Bolter equipped Sister Superior. Not the strongest unit in the world, but pretty killy, on paper. Might go with 3 Storm Bolters, 1 Meltagun, and a Sister Superior with a Storm Bolter.

These three are all of about equal importance and are more ideas for the future than planned units.

6-10x Adeptus Arbites with Shotguns. Not the strongest unit. Not the cheapest unit. There is just something about a squad of shiny black Adeptus Arbites hopping out of a shiny black Rhino and laying down some serious shotgun fire. I might even have to spring for a Uriah Jacobus to ride with them, if I ever get them to begin with.

30x Sisters of Battle. I would like to be able to, on occasion, field an all foot based horde of Sisters. 100+ nuns with machine guns would be sight to see.

1-2x Mordian Iron Guard Squads. I love the classic Perry Brothers Imperial Guardsmen, but the Mordians are my favorite. A foot platoon would be okay, but two Armoured Fist Squads with Sentinels and a Leman Russ to back them up would let me expand my army without painting too many more Sisters, open up the way to Apocalypse scale games and Super-Heavy tanks, and would give me a foothold on a second army, if I so desired to start one.

Under the Milky Way

Today is Monday, which means I am compelled to paint. I have two Sisters begging to be finished. I will be priming some Wood Elves for my wife and assembling a couple more. I might have time to clean and prime some stuff for my army, as well.

As an aside, does anyone have any suggestions about resin bases? A dozen or so of my Sisters have broken or clipped tabs and I figure they might as well get resin bases. My other minis are getting Tamiya Black Lava painted on to their bases, unless I thing of something more novel.

Did I mention I have 1000-1500 words on Shatter for the PS3 due tonight, too? And I have to mow, so I better get down on it.