A little while ago, Frontline Gamer put out a charge to all of us, to think about the games that have shaped us, and talk about when, where, why and so on.
Well, I can't really let that Brit have all the fun, now can I?
I told him I had a lot, and I felt a post was probably a lot more appropriate than a quick reply over on his blog. So here we are at mine, with my ever so verbose thoughts.
After the jump, of course.
Showing posts with label miniatures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miniatures. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Pimpin': Headshots from the Heart
DaveG over at WargamingTradecraft.com is doing some awesome THIS SATURDAY!!
24 hour marathon of playing the video game Borderlands to raise money for the Childs Play Charity. The entire event will be broadcast online, hosted by more friends and volunteers.
Full details can be found here: http://www.
But basically we’re asking for pledges on a per-headshot-kill basis, direct dontations, and / or offers to cover expenses for the event itself. (Such as equipment, streaming, etc)
As for a minature gaming tie-in, I’ve been sponsored by MiniWarGaming to paint 4-6 Borderlands themed miniatures (the 4 PCs, Moxxi and Marcus) with full Work-In-Progress shots over the next month and a half, to be auctioned off during the event.
The WIP on those guys have been BONKERS. You should check them out and give Dave some love/cash/stuff for a great cause.
Monday, April 23, 2012
[Review] GW's How to Paint Citadel Miniatures Book/DVD
I am probably the perfect customer for this product. I'm a casual painter with absolutely no real training. I taught myself, but I have a notoriously heavy hand and I find my work to be sloppy, grungy and just plain messy. If anyone needs help learning to paint, it's me.
I love products like this, with step-by-step PICTURES of how those guys behind the curtain accomplished their magic. I bought the Privateer Press DVD as well, and watched it several times in the vain hope that talent would be transmitted through the screen to my feeble self.
I really enjoyed the P3 video, but I thought it went a little fast and missed some vital "up close" materials a NEW painter would want to see. Not so with the GW book. I've only browsed through it a few times and quickly gone through the DVD, but I can tell you that I will be checking both out over and over again.
So here's a look at the actual book:
It's got a "kickstand" or easel that's intended to help the book stand up right in front of you was you paint. The pages are magazine thickness and glossy, and spiral bound to make flipping to a specific page a breeze, with no worries about breaking your binding or pages falling out.
There are several sections of the book that I found super helpful, and others were "meh". The only issue was sometimes these were on the same page!
This example is from the "Shades" page. They show 3 examples of using their shades products. Example 1 is super clear about what they used and where. Example 3 is also perfectly clear- what shade was used, how much, and why. Example 2? VAGUE AS HELL. It also had a small box of text about "how much is too much" that I found to be counter-intuitive for a beginning painter, advocating a "laissez-faire" attitude on washes. For a beginning painter, this was not helpful. However, it's countered by two great samples, so it works out to be a "meh" for me.
| A sample of my work. |
I love products like this, with step-by-step PICTURES of how those guys behind the curtain accomplished their magic. I bought the Privateer Press DVD as well, and watched it several times in the vain hope that talent would be transmitted through the screen to my feeble self.
I really enjoyed the P3 video, but I thought it went a little fast and missed some vital "up close" materials a NEW painter would want to see. Not so with the GW book. I've only browsed through it a few times and quickly gone through the DVD, but I can tell you that I will be checking both out over and over again.
So here's a look at the actual book:
It's got a "kickstand" or easel that's intended to help the book stand up right in front of you was you paint. The pages are magazine thickness and glossy, and spiral bound to make flipping to a specific page a breeze, with no worries about breaking your binding or pages falling out.
There are several sections of the book that I found super helpful, and others were "meh". The only issue was sometimes these were on the same page!
| Warning! Blurry Pic. |
This example is from the "Shades" page. They show 3 examples of using their shades products. Example 1 is super clear about what they used and where. Example 3 is also perfectly clear- what shade was used, how much, and why. Example 2? VAGUE AS HELL. It also had a small box of text about "how much is too much" that I found to be counter-intuitive for a beginning painter, advocating a "laissez-faire" attitude on washes. For a beginning painter, this was not helpful. However, it's countered by two great samples, so it works out to be a "meh" for me.
I have only checked out two sections of the DVD so far. One was the "Basecoating" section, and the other was the "Glazing" section. The Basecoating section has been super, super informative for me already. Just by watching the demonstrated watering down technique, I can see where I have room to improve. (Uh, that would be everywhere, folks!) I also saw how OTHER people hold their brushes and their approach to the model that has given me a hint that maybe more is NOT better after all.
The glazing section was incredibly cool for me. I truly enjoyed seeing ways to add depth and intensity to models- it was sort of like watching someone get their hair glazed... but with models. (Dudes, ask your lady people about hair glaze. It's awesome.) I want to try it (someday).
The DVD comes right IN the book- no weird sleeve or taped in envelope to lose.
I've had a couple people in the store balking at the price. I can understand the concern, as it IS spendy. I did (and will) point out to those that are concerned on cost that I GLADLY spent $25 for the P3 video, used it over and over and over; and find the GW Guide to be FAR superior. It is well worth the money to me, especially with the well designed format and obvious THOUGHT that was put into how someone might want to use something like this.
The breakdowns and sections on each step of the modeling process inside the book are full of tips that I found very helpful (along with an interesting outright admission that FINECAST products are prone to warping and bubbles from the injection process), making the book more than a "painting guide". It's a great primer and starting point for a beginning or inexperienced hobbyist.
For the more advanced model enthusiast or painter, this product is a little tougher to see as useful. I didn't see anything "to write home about" unless the start-to-finish army guides are your thing.
Just having this book out and open ALMOST makes me want to break my models out again to start painting... which could well be worth the $50 price tag if it means my procrastinating streak is broken and I get SOMETHING done!
So there you have my take on it- I found it useful and will use it a lot, assuming I get back to painting. It is intended for a starting or inexperienced painter, but it's a well made product with thoughtful touches throughout to make a good, solid and useful tool for someone without a good painting background.
The glazing section was incredibly cool for me. I truly enjoyed seeing ways to add depth and intensity to models- it was sort of like watching someone get their hair glazed... but with models. (Dudes, ask your lady people about hair glaze. It's awesome.) I want to try it (someday).
The DVD comes right IN the book- no weird sleeve or taped in envelope to lose.
I've had a couple people in the store balking at the price. I can understand the concern, as it IS spendy. I did (and will) point out to those that are concerned on cost that I GLADLY spent $25 for the P3 video, used it over and over and over; and find the GW Guide to be FAR superior. It is well worth the money to me, especially with the well designed format and obvious THOUGHT that was put into how someone might want to use something like this.
The breakdowns and sections on each step of the modeling process inside the book are full of tips that I found very helpful (along with an interesting outright admission that FINECAST products are prone to warping and bubbles from the injection process), making the book more than a "painting guide". It's a great primer and starting point for a beginning or inexperienced hobbyist.
For the more advanced model enthusiast or painter, this product is a little tougher to see as useful. I didn't see anything "to write home about" unless the start-to-finish army guides are your thing.
Just having this book out and open ALMOST makes me want to break my models out again to start painting... which could well be worth the $50 price tag if it means my procrastinating streak is broken and I get SOMETHING done!
So there you have my take on it- I found it useful and will use it a lot, assuming I get back to painting. It is intended for a starting or inexperienced painter, but it's a well made product with thoughtful touches throughout to make a good, solid and useful tool for someone without a good painting background.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
[Review] Axis & Allies Angels 20
I have a giant soft spot for airplane games of any kind. I had pestered the living daylights out of TheDude for copies of Wings of War (now Wings of Glory), but he really didn't listen. (Sad panda!)
When Axis & Allies newest expansion line: Angels 20 came out, HiSign tried VERY hard to get me to buy it. I kept resisting, and he kept tempting me. I wasn't interested at first, and then I was worried I would spend too much, and I just didn't have anyone to play against.
Then TheDude bought a starter box. We all checked out the contents and were pretty impressed with the quality and quantity of items for the price. TheBoy started poking me about wanting to "play airplanes", and my resistance was wearing down.
The other day TheBoy out and out cheated. He asked me- "Mommy, will you play some airplanes with me?" He then proceeded to make cute engine and shooting sounds and batted his enormous eyelashes at me.
I bought a starter box and a booster.
DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!
The starter set comes with 3 German and 3 British planes, along with dice, stands, a rulebook and counters. I wish I had actually READ the box before buying it, because I didn't want Germans, and TheBoy wanted British. TheBoy got an entire flight (or bunch of planes), and I got zero planes I wanted. (More Sad Panda!) TheBoy took pity on me, and bought 2 boosters. I wound up with some Americans, some Japanese and some Russian planes. I still don't have a full flight of any one faction, but I have lots of choices.
We decided to try to play today. We set up the map, which is made of nice magazine thickness paper. There's not any obvious markings as to how they fit together, but after turning the map around a couple times, we figured it out.
Building my list of airplanes was really tough. With a point limit of 100 points, it was difficult for me to get more than 2 planes. I saw several options of 3-4 plane flights if I mixed factions (ie, 1 Poland, 1 Fin, 1 Britain) but single factions made it tougher.
For our first time around, I went ahead and played the Germans, even though I really didn't want to, because I had the most options that way.
This is what I picked from. I had a bomber, an ace and two "average" planes to figure out what to fly. I picked the bomber and an ace.
These are the planes TheBoy had to pick from. They were pretty sweet, to be honest.
We figured out initiative and movement pretty well. There was a little confusion on whether and how to turn (and when), but after a little discussion, we got that decided. We opted not to use altitude because the rules were wonky and we wanted to get the basics down first. We just pretended we were at acceptable altitudes and went on our merry way. Lots of "merrrrroooooooooooom" noises were made.
Movement went really fast. TheBoy had an ace that had movement almost double mine, so in one turn, it went from what you see above here to the picture below:
There was a little more movement (getting planes into place) that put us within a hex of each other. Unfortunately, we were situated in such a way that TheBoy was outside of my firing arc, but I was smack dab in the middle of his.
We did some shooting. TheBoy tore me up. It was awful. I am ashamed at getting beaten so badly by my lil punk so and so of a son. =/
I will take this moment to let you know that the rulebook is what I consider 'typical Hasbro/WotC' in that it is laid out badly and needs more examples. If I had any idea HOW bad it was, I would have brought TheDude's rulebook so I would not have spent so much time flipping back and forth from section to section for rules as we played.
We were interrupted quite a lot, so we didn't get more done, which is too bad. It was just starting to get fun. We both agreed that the game has a lot of promise to be extremely entertaining, but the map was way too small. There was not a lot of room for manuevering or moving around. Now, if the idea is to move the maps as you play, that might change things, but with the map staying static, we found it to be crowded.
We still had a blast and made way too many fun lil' airplane sounds as we tried to shoot each other up.
When Axis & Allies newest expansion line: Angels 20 came out, HiSign tried VERY hard to get me to buy it. I kept resisting, and he kept tempting me. I wasn't interested at first, and then I was worried I would spend too much, and I just didn't have anyone to play against.
Then TheDude bought a starter box. We all checked out the contents and were pretty impressed with the quality and quantity of items for the price. TheBoy started poking me about wanting to "play airplanes", and my resistance was wearing down.
The other day TheBoy out and out cheated. He asked me- "Mommy, will you play some airplanes with me?" He then proceeded to make cute engine and shooting sounds and batted his enormous eyelashes at me.
I bought a starter box and a booster.
DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!
| The map- pretty nice quality |
The starter set comes with 3 German and 3 British planes, along with dice, stands, a rulebook and counters. I wish I had actually READ the box before buying it, because I didn't want Germans, and TheBoy wanted British. TheBoy got an entire flight (or bunch of planes), and I got zero planes I wanted. (More Sad Panda!) TheBoy took pity on me, and bought 2 boosters. I wound up with some Americans, some Japanese and some Russian planes. I still don't have a full flight of any one faction, but I have lots of choices.
We decided to try to play today. We set up the map, which is made of nice magazine thickness paper. There's not any obvious markings as to how they fit together, but after turning the map around a couple times, we figured it out.
Building my list of airplanes was really tough. With a point limit of 100 points, it was difficult for me to get more than 2 planes. I saw several options of 3-4 plane flights if I mixed factions (ie, 1 Poland, 1 Fin, 1 Britain) but single factions made it tougher.
For our first time around, I went ahead and played the Germans, even though I really didn't want to, because I had the most options that way.
This is what I picked from. I had a bomber, an ace and two "average" planes to figure out what to fly. I picked the bomber and an ace.
These are the planes TheBoy had to pick from. They were pretty sweet, to be honest.
We figured out initiative and movement pretty well. There was a little confusion on whether and how to turn (and when), but after a little discussion, we got that decided. We opted not to use altitude because the rules were wonky and we wanted to get the basics down first. We just pretended we were at acceptable altitudes and went on our merry way. Lots of "merrrrroooooooooooom" noises were made.
| My planes after movement |
There was a little more movement (getting planes into place) that put us within a hex of each other. Unfortunately, we were situated in such a way that TheBoy was outside of my firing arc, but I was smack dab in the middle of his.
We did some shooting. TheBoy tore me up. It was awful. I am ashamed at getting beaten so badly by my lil punk so and so of a son. =/
I will take this moment to let you know that the rulebook is what I consider 'typical Hasbro/WotC' in that it is laid out badly and needs more examples. If I had any idea HOW bad it was, I would have brought TheDude's rulebook so I would not have spent so much time flipping back and forth from section to section for rules as we played.
We were interrupted quite a lot, so we didn't get more done, which is too bad. It was just starting to get fun. We both agreed that the game has a lot of promise to be extremely entertaining, but the map was way too small. There was not a lot of room for manuevering or moving around. Now, if the idea is to move the maps as you play, that might change things, but with the map staying static, we found it to be crowded.
We still had a blast and made way too many fun lil' airplane sounds as we tried to shoot each other up.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Interview for HOP- Von
I wrote a series of articles about designing better games for House of Paincakes over the past 2 months or so. While I was working on the process and developing material for the series, I conducted a good number of interviews with various people across the internet, as well as some real life folks.
Next up, I interview the person most like myself on the internet: a person who loves all kinds of games; adores strange games solely for their unique attractions and not to be "cool"; a person who looks at things and asks questions, a person who carries on all kinds of good discussion with everyone. Ladies and gents, I give you my smarter, wittier, more literate, beardier self: Von.
Next up, I interview the person most like myself on the internet: a person who loves all kinds of games; adores strange games solely for their unique attractions and not to be "cool"; a person who looks at things and asks questions, a person who carries on all kinds of good discussion with everyone. Ladies and gents, I give you my smarter, wittier, more literate, beardier self: Von.
| This is not Von. (Note the lack of beard!) |
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
[40K] More of This Game is Just Pretty
So a new guy came into the store the other night (after much prodding from TheDude) and brought some of his beautiful Dark Angels to show us. I thought I'd share...
I like it, I like it, I like it.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
[40K] Sometimes, the game is just pretty
I showed up to my 40K night the other day, and one of my regulars was showing off his new toys. He had amassed a very large selection of figures for a theme army and wanted everyone to see them.
Pictures don't quite do this justice- there's a lot of shine and reflection taking away from the detail and lovely work he put into this army- but I really want to showcase his work.
Long shot of the whole army.
A narrower look at the oncoming mass.
Hey look! Skimmers and dreads!
I love the feel of the army- the different poses really helps it have a personality.
Who doesn't love a wheelie?
The bank on this is just super cool.
Ever hear of flanking? Yeah, these guys have it.
Pictures don't quite do this justice- there's a lot of shine and reflection taking away from the detail and lovely work he put into this army- but I really want to showcase his work.
Long shot of the whole army.
A narrower look at the oncoming mass.
Hey look! Skimmers and dreads!
I love the feel of the army- the different poses really helps it have a personality.
Who doesn't love a wheelie?
The bank on this is just super cool.
Ever hear of flanking? Yeah, these guys have it.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
[40K] Works in Progress
On Saturday, our 40K league is hosting a Model Work Day. The idea is to allow a time to bring in models that need some work and learn from each other.
I'm thinking of bringing some of these guys
and trying to turn them into something like this
Am I up to it? Probably not. But I have a lot of bare basic Marines and some cool BT upgrade goodies, so we will see what happens.
I'm thinking of bringing some of these guys
and trying to turn them into something like this
| Courtesy of Darkfuturegames.blogspot.com |
Am I up to it? Probably not. But I have a lot of bare basic Marines and some cool BT upgrade goodies, so we will see what happens.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
[40K] He Defiles Explanation
Remember my buddy's Defiler/Dreadknight conversion?
Here he is now, all gorgeous and khaki.
You have to check out this awesome Big Infernal Contraption (BIC).
That's right, that DBG is a BIC Pen cap. My buddy is some kinda genius to come up with this chicanery.
All the fabulous paint is done by none other than a frequent commenter, Tom.
Beautiful work and fantastic collaborations, guys!
Here he is now, all gorgeous and khaki.
You have to check out this awesome Big Infernal Contraption (BIC).
That's right, that DBG is a BIC Pen cap. My buddy is some kinda genius to come up with this chicanery.
All the fabulous paint is done by none other than a frequent commenter, Tom.
Beautiful work and fantastic collaborations, guys!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
[40K] Grab Bag - Including WIP shots!
GMort's article about blaming dice made me smile. He's right, for the most part. But sometimes, you CAN blame the dice.
This week I did a lot of admiring. My Chaos-As-Space-Wolves friend showed me these:
I did get a game in against The Star Wars Imperial Guard Army. His Sentinels are really nice!
We played a pitched battle game where he seized initiative. We did a lot of blowing each other up to a mutually satisfying draw. I'll try to do a full bat rep later this week.
As one might expect, a guy with an army like this has a big personality. He was more than happy to model with his models!
Brother Darius continues to slay Heretics. Here, he's got a Guardsman hanging by that lovely sword.
I'm finally getting a little painting done. I am trying to achieve a brushed dark metal look- black, without USING black.
TEST MODEL 1
TEST MODEL 2
In person, I much prefer the Steel wash- it's got a slightly metallic look and gives a much darker feel. In pictures, it's tough to see a difference.
I've been putting off makimg my army ready to play long enough. I went through last night and sorted- what needs "repairing", what needs primed, and what needs painted.
I have a large batch of little plastic Space Doodz ready to prime. It's big enough it will probably take several batches to get them all done.
In addition to repairing some broken models, I'm putting new "choppy" arms on about 30 guys. I'm also considering putting together that Storm Raven. It has a lotta parts! (But thankfully comes with instructions)
I'll probably be throwing some guys into the purple lake tonight as well- I'm tired of the Ugly Crusade.
Be Well,
'Lo
| Really. ONE six and 9 ones (1 not visible in picture) |
This week I did a lot of admiring. My Chaos-As-Space-Wolves friend showed me these:
| Pointy Land Raider! |
| A Flamer. So fun! |
We played a pitched battle game where he seized initiative. We did a lot of blowing each other up to a mutually satisfying draw. I'll try to do a full bat rep later this week.
As one might expect, a guy with an army like this has a big personality. He was more than happy to model with his models!
Brother Darius continues to slay Heretics. Here, he's got a Guardsman hanging by that lovely sword.
And here's the hill after the assault phase:
I'm finally getting a little painting done. I am trying to achieve a brushed dark metal look- black, without USING black.
TEST MODEL 1
| Using Ral Partha's Steel as a wash. |
TEST MODEL 2
| Using P3's Armor Wash as a wash |
In person, I much prefer the Steel wash- it's got a slightly metallic look and gives a much darker feel. In pictures, it's tough to see a difference.
I've been putting off makimg my army ready to play long enough. I went through last night and sorted- what needs "repairing", what needs primed, and what needs painted.
I have a large batch of little plastic Space Doodz ready to prime. It's big enough it will probably take several batches to get them all done.
In addition to repairing some broken models, I'm putting new "choppy" arms on about 30 guys. I'm also considering putting together that Storm Raven. It has a lotta parts! (But thankfully comes with instructions)
I'll probably be throwing some guys into the purple lake tonight as well- I'm tired of the Ugly Crusade.
Be Well,
'Lo
Thursday, January 20, 2011
[40K] Arguing With Paint, Vol. 2: Opinions Welcome
In my last adventure with removing paint, I was regaling you with my distressingly bad results.
I'm glad to say that with the liberal application of your sage advice, I've assembled a small force of really plain guys.
But I still have a lot of work to do. I have all the guys in the Batallion Bag to do:
Plus the Vehicle Transport bag:
That's a lot of guys! Not all of them are being done right now. The guys I THINK I might use for league are staying ugly for the moment until I have a list- I don't want a crucial model to be in the soup come game day.
Here's one that is seriously un-pretty; but I'm not sure what his weapon is... help?
I also discovered even MORE surprises while going through the bags, getting little men ready for the swimming pool. Any idea why a Landspeeder would have magnets HERE?
The Landspeeder and many of the other Fast Attack/Heavy Support presented a totally different dilemna -
for the most part, the bodies are a very acceptable black. It's the highlight colors of really, really orange that I'm not thrilled with. Should I dip them, or leave them as they are and paint over the offending color? I'm really debating the Rhino seen in my first bat-rep, as it's a LOT of orange. Here's a bike, as an example of the rest of the models configurations.
There were some genuinely nice models in the bunch. This 'Dred was lovely- but not what I'd like for my army. He's getting a bath, too; despite being very pretty.
I assembled all these conscripts into a bucket (rather than my small Rubbermaid bin, which can only handle about 15 guys at a time) to be covered by Purple Power and paint removed. (This idea was the brilliant suggestion of TheDude.)
As stated before, there are quite a few more to be dipped yet- but they are potential army bait and staying out for a little while longer. At least until I have a couple 1K lists...
Next on the list after paint removal is test models. I'm hoping for the weekend, as this week is stuffed with some very exciting but massively time consuming activities.
Much more to come, with modeling (um, some Termie arms fell off... that means I can stick hammers on...) and painting (I'm aiming for a no-black used "black" color) and batreps etc.
Be Well,
Lo
I'm glad to say that with the liberal application of your sage advice, I've assembled a small force of really plain guys.
| And One Pre-painted Black Templar Termie. There's 4 more in one of the bags. |
But I still have a lot of work to do. I have all the guys in the Batallion Bag to do:
Plus the Vehicle Transport bag:
| Borrowing the Eldar Codex for a day. NOT playing them. |
Here's one that is seriously un-pretty; but I'm not sure what his weapon is... help?
I also discovered even MORE surprises while going through the bags, getting little men ready for the swimming pool. Any idea why a Landspeeder would have magnets HERE?
The Landspeeder and many of the other Fast Attack/Heavy Support presented a totally different dilemna -
for the most part, the bodies are a very acceptable black. It's the highlight colors of really, really orange that I'm not thrilled with. Should I dip them, or leave them as they are and paint over the offending color? I'm really debating the Rhino seen in my first bat-rep, as it's a LOT of orange. Here's a bike, as an example of the rest of the models configurations.
| Dip, or just repaint? |
I assembled all these conscripts into a bucket (rather than my small Rubbermaid bin, which can only handle about 15 guys at a time) to be covered by Purple Power and paint removed. (This idea was the brilliant suggestion of TheDude.)
As stated before, there are quite a few more to be dipped yet- but they are potential army bait and staying out for a little while longer. At least until I have a couple 1K lists...
Next on the list after paint removal is test models. I'm hoping for the weekend, as this week is stuffed with some very exciting but massively time consuming activities.
Much more to come, with modeling (um, some Termie arms fell off... that means I can stick hammers on...) and painting (I'm aiming for a no-black used "black" color) and batreps etc.
Be Well,
Lo
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