My son got quite a lot of Halo Mega Bloks for Crimble. Fortunately, he also had a Dad with silly amounts of wargaming terrain in the garage, so he wound up playing with this set-up for a few days post-Santa. Fun times

And it’s not about writing or any of the games I play!  No, I have just agreed terms for the sale of a board game I invented

I can’t really tell you much more at the moment, but I am very excited about this!

In other news, there is a 750/800pt 40k mini-tournament coming up. Not sure what to take. I can rule out Deathwing at those points, so Tau? Ravenwing? Chaos?

Haven’t played Chaos at a tournament ever, but OTOH I have just finished assembling 600pts of Ravenwing.

Lastly, if you haven’t heard already, the 40k rumour grapevine is abuzz with word of a new Tau codex Q1 next year, with Chaos to follow. Could be an expensive year!  I really hope the Tau get some fun new stuff to play with.  What would the Tau equivalent of flying Land Raiders be?

Nothing to do with miniature gaming, or gaming of any kind, but about all the best and worst things that make Doctor Who a mythology for the ages, and of all ages, without any blether about tedious things like canon and retcon and timelines.  If you want your Doctor Who dissected lovingly but unsparingly into in his occult, science-priest, glam-soldier and Lord of Stories parts all at once, go take a look.

In short, I am loving this blog, and now you can, too.

Belial Conversion

Every Deathwing (by definition) needs a Belial.  Mine had lightning claws, but for the tournament this Saturday I decided that I wanted a proper figurehead model, so I opted for a Belial with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield based on the Forgeworld Lufgt Huron model.

Seriously, Lufgt?  Lugft?  However you spell it (and GW spell it both ways), you cannot pronounce it.  Perhaps if you have some kind of forked tongue and daemonic teeth you could manage it – but, does that mean he was always destined to fall to Chaos?!?!  Was his fate gifted him by his mother and father?  “We will give him a name he can only pronounce with suitable mutations!  Praise Nurgle and pass the baby-wipes!”  Or did he fall to Chaos out of sheer frustration at trying and failing to tell call-centre staff his name?  “Lufgt.  It’s Lufgt Huron.  Not Lift.  Not Luft.  Not Luff-git.  Bloody Lufgt Huron!  What?  Huh?  No, I can’t remember my password!  Just tell me my balance, or I’ll have you turned into a servitor!!  What?  You already are one?  Sod, it – Chaos, here I come.” The mind boggles!

Oh, yes.  Painting blog.  Sorry.  Couple of things to note about this model.  One is that without my Windsor and Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 Size 1 brush this would have been ten times harder to do.  You have no idea how much control over paint placement, detail and paint flow you can have with a brush until you try one of those.  Otherwise, it’s like wearing a blast shield and trying to paint with the Force.  I know, wrong IP.  Sue me.

The second point is that I used an alcohol-based paint for the gold.  Wow.  Just wow.  I will do an HD video of this guy just so you can see how it looks as you move the figure around.  It is impossible to consider going back to acrylic gold after using this stuff.  Don’t use your Windsor and Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 brush, though, as the alcohol will dry out natural bristles.  Try washing your hair in vodka if you don’t believe me.

I did a few test models with the Liquid Gold, and found out that applying it makes it look like you have electro-plated the model.  This is good and bad.  Good in that you could probably sell your model to a kid as a “real gold Space Marine” and then run away before the crying starts.  Or you could just stand there and watch him cry – he’s a kid, what’s he going to do?  Bad in that all the usual problems of scale come into play, and it looks like a model, not like a Space Marine.  The shadows are notable by dint of not being there at all.  Even a wash doesn’t really help, and dulls down the gold.  What I did was to base coat with a mix of a medium brown and Vallejo Brass.  Tin Bitz would probably do as well.  Then I washed it with undiluted Vallejo Brown Ink.  Then I basically dry-brushed the Liquid Gold on.  Before you hold up your hands in horror at the dusty abomination that is dry-brushing, know well that because the medium is alcohol and because the metallic particles are so fine, the end result looks nothing like actual dry-brushing.  The end result looks like King Midas and Montezuma joined forces in some parallel dimension, snuck into your house and superglued antique gold to your model (I know because that actually happened once).

Infinity – Another Try

My first (and last) game of Infinity did not grab me.  I was expecting another miniatures game like the ones I have played to date, so I pretty much threw my people forward to see what they did.  They died, and I was left unimpressed.

This time I played it as more of a tactical shooter, and I have to say I enjoyed it a whole lot more.  Rather than trying to accomplish something on my Turn, I found myself thinking about what my opponent would do on his, and setting up my models to capitalise on that.  Overlapping fields of fire, no approach uncovered, areas choked off with anti-personnel mines – that kind of thing.  It was a fun game, and very different to other miniatures games I have played.

That said, Infinity badly needs an objective system.  Something to make you need to move about and to force you into harm’s way.  Maybe I am missing something, but it seems like unless one player is willing to push the pace, the game could get very slow and cagey.  I am sure more games will help.

BTW – this time out I took Nomads.  I like them a lot better than I did the Haqqislam.  A bit more cartoony.  I don’t like too much realism in games like this.

Puppet Wars

From the good peoples at Wyrd, I am fortunate enough to have a complete set of Puppet Wars, plus all four of the initial Booster Packs, along with two of the Gencon-only models.  Woot!  There is a video here of my swag-bag that I could not resist taking, because it is not every day Santa says, “f**k it, Xmas is coming early for this punk.”  (and Santa does swear like a trooper – I have a vivid childhood memory of waking up late on Xmas Eve, and hearing Santa stumbling around downstairs and swearing up a storm as he stubbed his toes in the dark.  He sounded drunk as well, now I think about it, but most every Santa I met in a shopping centre Grotto as a kid smelled of booze, so that makes sense.  That crinkly, brittle beard?  Washed in vodka)

Deathwing

Just got a couple of Terminators to paint tonight, and then tomorrow night I can get the whole lot touched up, based and packed away.  Simples.

Test game?  Nah.  No time.  It’s Deathwing – how hard can it be? 

To be honest, I am just looking forward to shuffling models around and rolling some dice.  The armies at Counter-Attack! are usually excellent, so I will get some HD video of them.  And maybe try and shoot some of my games, too.

"REPENT!"

Trawling through my attic with my eldest kid, and I opened up an old cardboard box.  Not only did I find a tonne of my old Runequest stuff, I found an issue of The One magazine from December 1993.  The One was an Amiga magazine.

The problem I had with games back then was the same one I have now: they cost too much money to buy them all.  I remember at the time looking at all these cool games coming out and wishing I could afford them (piracy was a lot harder in those days, since we had no internet, but on the other back in those days we had shops up the town centre who openly sold pirated software).  One such game was called One Step Beyond.  It was a marketing tie-in that is doubtless long-forgotten, featuring a character called Clumsy Colin from a series of TV adverts.  I forget the product.  Let’s say it was socks.  I read previews of One Step Beyond, featuring Colin in his endless, puzzle-based quest for more socks, and I remember thinking how badly I wanted to play this game, based solely on the previews.  I studied the screencaps.  A lot.  I read everything I could about it.  Which in those days meant buying one of three monthly Amiga magazines.  Oh, internet, how you have spoiled us.

You see, back in those days there was one program I had been able to afford.  This little beauty was called AMOS (AMiga Operating System) and it was a BASIC programming language with a compiler.  And, I had got pretty decent with it.  So, instead of buying One Step Beyond, I made my own version.  Screw you, capitalist pig-dogs!  I won’t play your game!  I’ll write my own

I left out the socks, though.  That would have been silly.

And once it was done, I sent it into a couple of Amiga magazines to review.  One gave it 4/5 stars and the other gave it 83% (I was pleased, but I did wonder what the 17% was I had got wrong)

So, in a dedication to bedroom coders, to the UK games industry as was, to the spirit of Just Making Shit and, lastly but not leastly, to the joy of rummaging around in dusty attics and finding time capsules you left yourself, here is the review I got in The One magazine.  And, yes, they spotted my, err, homage…

The guys from the Aethervox podcast (“mostly Malifaux”) interviewed me for their show last week.

Ian and Julian (whom I met in Glasgow a month or so ago for a game and a pint) wanted to chat about writing for Wyrd, so we talked for about an hour.  I hope that in that time I managed to say at least one interesting thing.  If not, then perhaps the guys will just put a silly filter on my voice so at least everyone can have a good laugh

If you have never heard the Aethervox before then it is highly recommended.  From the very first episode this one has stood out with great production values, attention to detail, interesting content (yours truly excepted) and one of the best theme tunes you could imagine for a Mostly Malifaux podcast.  Add it to your queue.

Not a technique I have seen used before, and one that is very easy on the paint budget.

The model on the left was painted with a combination of Vallejo and Citadel Foundation paints, including Citadel washes, having been through a process of serial dilution making the paint to water ratio 1:1m. The model on the right was painted with the same basic paints, but this time further diluted to make the paint to water ratio 1:100m. I think we can all agree that the vibrancy and depth of colour in the second figure more than proves the worth of this painting technique.

As in Narnia, time passes more slowly in the blogosphere than in the meatosphere, so it was nearly a couple of weeks ago in the fully 3D-enabled Real World that my leg was well and truly humped by Suneokun of Pathfinder, and he gazed up at me with those puppy dog eyes he will deny possessing and declared me “Stylish”.

We all know puppy dogs are short-sighted; this just confirms it.  Mrs Sholto laughed long and hard at the designation, let me assure you.  It was only when my kids joined in, and their friends, and then even their imaginary friends that I knew I better buy some new clothes sharpish.

So, in the meantime, and in slavish service to the meme of the (yester)day, here are seven facts about me:

1. I once ate a raw onion covered with suntan lotion for a bet.

2. I once drank an entire bottle of malt vinegar from a chip shop.  For a bet.

3. I was in and out of hospital for most of 2009 with undiagnosed gall-stones.  I have no idea what I might have done in my life to bring on such gastro-intestinal mishaps…

4. I used to go caving, back in the day.  I think it was a Tuesday.  On this particular Tuesday, I was descending the main shaft into Alum Pot, which is about 140ft deep.  Halfway down I got to the point where two ropes were knotted together.  There is a technique for getting past this, which is safe and reliable.  That was the technique that had, moments before, fled my mind and was currently dancing in the updraft near the top of the waterfall.  So I proceeded, 70ft above the wet rocks, to invent a new technique that has since become known as, “you did what?”  I successfully detached all my safety apparatus from the rope and, clinging onto said rope with just one sweaty hand, swaying gently in the breeze and trying not to think about how quickly my leg bones could be forced through my cranium by a combination of wet rocks and gravity, re-attached the apparatus below the knot with my other hand.  Hurrah!  A success!  I completed my descent, and was met by a gallery of white faces at the bottom once I told them what I had done.  I think they were in awe of my genius, although one did uncharitably point out that I could just have climbed back up the rope and asked how to get past the knot.  I am a do-er, not a thinker, I hope that much is obvious.

5. I have bungee-jumped.  I did all these things when I was younger, you know.  I have kids now.

6. I have kids.

7. And a wife.  I love them all very dearly.

I am supposed to now nominate ten blogs I really like.  On the assumption that I cannot nominate Pathfinder (although I would, and not only because he bought my Chaos Baneblade off me), I will nominate ten others.  Although if you’ve ever taken a look at my blogroll, these won’t come as much surprise:-

a. Yes The Truth Hurts.  Emo drama, playground temper tantrums and solid tactical advice collide in some kind of weird entity that could only exist on the internet.  So, it does.  The internet is kind of like that, I think.

b. Chicago Terrain Factory.  I love the idea of making so much terrain, I need a factory to do it.  I will live this dream one day, and until then, here is CTF making it happen.

c. John’s Toy Soldiers.  I should have called my blog that, although I am not called John.  It would still have made more sense than Incunabulog.  What the hell was I thinking?  Anyway, I have a friend who is eerily like John of JTS, right down to the Dr Who obsession.

d. Hogs of War.  Loads of great content, and touches on all kinds of areas of the hobby.  Always something interesting.

e. The Painting Corps.  Lots of tips and tricks, and interesting reviews.

f. Twilight Emporium.  Love that terrain.  Mmm, love it.

g. Way of Saim Hann.  Always interesting tactical chat from Fritz, and good video batreps.

h. Ghost Nebula.  Writing fiction and playing with wardudes.  He’s just like me

i. Tau of War.  Old Shatter Hands is a stalwart of the Tau scene (yeah, there’s a Tau scene) and his Crisis Suit conversions have inspired me more than once.  He is toying around with Blood Angels these days, but you know that once the new Tau dex hits he’ll be like out the traps like a greased greyhound.  Keep the faith, bro.

j. And lastly, a non-40k blog.  Writer, carnival freak and all-round top bloke Hal Duncan keeps a blog, and this is it.  Notes From The Geek Show.  He has read some of my stories.  I have read some of his.  He is a hundred times better than I am

Man cave.  As the name implies, gamers from before the dawn of civilization have wanted – nay, needed – a place to call their own.  A place to hold their dreams.  A place to store their junk.

The very first gamer probably used an actual cave to hold his collection of carved whalebone figurines and customised mammoth-tooth dice, but that is pure conjecture on my part, and I cannot back it up.   Suffice to say that today, few of us will use an actual cave to hold our proliferation of gaming goodness, and progress is a good thing as caves are damp, dark and lacking in the door department.  I suggest a garage or spare room, but whatever.  Here is my man cave:

Here you have your classic B&Q plastic shelving.  Clockwise from top right you got terrain and bitz, more terrain and rulebooks, more terrain, and terrain-making supplies in that white tub.  Under the tub is a box with a painted Macharius Vulcan tank, and more bitz.  Carrying on there are boxes of AT-42 armies, a landing pad beside a tub full of plasticard and a bazillion other modelling supplies and above that more and more terrain.  Out of shot above is, yes,  more terrain (and Heroscape).  Models?  Yes, I am getting to those.  In fact, there are some excellent Chaos models in that briefcase.

From top left down.  Two hefty tool boxes with two Deathwing Land Raiders apiece.  Next down, my shelf of bottles – everything from spray paint to liquid rust to varnish to glues to paint additives.  Below that, my modelling toolbox (worth a post in itself) sitting on a stack of paper terrain I have not yet got round to cutting out.  Next to that is some of my Malifaux terrain.  Below that is two tubs.  The left one has sprues – loads of spare sprues, most with plenty of bitz on them.  Also all my Robogear bits.  Next to that is a tub full of Hirst Arts pieces.  My airbrush is in there, too.  Bottom shelf holds – well, not sure what is in that tub on the left!  Hmm.   Unassembled cardboard boxes by the look of it, from my last Ebay selling spree.  The tub on the right has lots of terrain painting supplies, as well as a Bio Chemical Plant kit I use for bitz.

Bored yet?  I’ve only just got started!!!

A stack of boxes.  My office will never miss them…  From the top, Malifaux terrain. Then some Necron terrain that I will rip up for bitz one day.  Below that is a box full of my Chaos army vehicles and daemon princes.  The three boxes below that are all terrain, either home made or bought.  The orange box has small terrain elements in it (mostly resin), and the heavily spray-painted box below that has all my Chaos infantry models packed in foam.  I have about 2500 points of infantry in there – my original Chaos horde of Ebay

On the right is my foamboard, three MDF boards for a gaming table, grass mat and some 3″ thick pink foam for terrain.

Two sets of trays full of minis.  Deathwing, Witchhunters, Malifaux, Chaos Renegades, Orks, moulding supplies and some Tau that won’t fit anywhere else.

The pressure washer is for stripping minis.  It really works*

Painting station up the top.  I don’t paint in the Man Cave – I take that out so I can paint somewhere else.  Like Starbucks, or the local pub.  All the foam trays have Tau in them.  The  black laptop bag is packed with everything I need to play Malifaux, including a couple of small foam cases of models.  Under that are two foam hardcases, both empty for now.

Hey, there’s my Munchkin game!  I was looking for that!!!

Underneath is a load of terrain bitz and supplies, and 3/4 of a large cardboard box I use as a spray booth.

Two Figures In Comfort foam cases full of Tau.  Both of them still have my 3350 point army from my recent game against Jamie.  On the right are bags of cat litter and sand for, yes, terrain.  I also have cats, but this litter is not for them!

The workstation folds away, but it is handy for doing the odd small job.  As I said, I don’t usually work in the Man Cave itself.  I made the mistake of sawing some wood in here last year, and covered everything in sawdust

And lastly, a shot of the whole thing:

And there you have it.  I keep telling myself I have enough junk supplies here to keep me hobbying for a year or three, but I also keep buying new stuff.  Damn hobby!

(*this is a lie)

I am sorry to say that it looks like Wyrd and WWG have run into yet more problems with the production of Terraclips, and the design team have had to go back to the beginning. I know this sucks, as I have been looking forward to Terraclips for months, but it seems we will have wait again.

Turns out the cardstock material was considered too flimsy to bear the weight of multi-level structures. Various other materials have been tested, including Plasticard and Foamed PVC, but I understand Wyrd have opted for a high alumina silica compound with an excellent compressive strength of around 50MPa.

The clear plastic clips proved unsuitable for holding the material together, and have been replaced with a flexible bonding system utilising a workable, aggregate paste. Setting time is fast, although the adhesive offers a reasonable working window for manipulating the build.

The only remaining problem is unit weight, which means that Terraclips has now moved to a much more modular system.

Wyrd/ WWG will sell walls in single units at a time:-

although the adhesive paste is readily available in larger quantities:-