Friday 11 January 2019

The Last Chance Open 2019

The Last Chance Open is tomorrow in Southport. I believe 96 entrants will be throwing down in the 'Port. It's ITC rules so there is a lot of filth but some of these guys are top ranking players with reputations at stake so it has to be expected. I think they said one guy, with a good result, could go to the Las Vegas Open as the number 1 ranked ITC player in the world!


And then there's Liam, Ben, Otty and myself with cobbled together armies of the weird and wonderful with no tactical nouse whatsoever! All the pairings have been done and I'll be facing Astra Millitarum for my first game against Pask, 8 other Leman Russ, 90 conscripts a psyker and Company Commander! So if I can find a way to punch through the bubble wrap and get to the tanks I might have a chance but that might be a big ask. The Honest Wargamer did a matchup review last night. They were impressed by all our lists for the randomness and unique choices among the other cookie cutter net-lists, but they only thought I would be triumphant out of the four of us in the first game and only because they liked me taking the Lancer.
They'll be live streaming tomorrow on https://twitch.tv/thehonestwargamer no guarantees on the battles but there will be a roving reporter talking to people and checking out armies so alongside the battles there's a chance of seeing us 4 and other folk and hobby. Check it out if you can.

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt8. 'primed & grimed'

It's time to prime and I did this in less than optimal conditions, because it was cold I did it in the garage... when the tumble drier was running and it is not a condensing drier!!!


So, if you zoom in you can see areas of grey, particularly in the recesses where the primer just didn't stick. Now I'd be pretty miffed but there are going to be so many washes and texture layers, gloss varnish bases for decals and weathering those unprimed elements should be no bother.


But you can see even the extra spray of black on the edges of the shoulder pads didn't cover up those bits - that'll learn me. Next year I should just build over the winter, maybe I should make it a hobby goal...?


Vermilion craft acrylic for my texture - one thick coat!


I sponged it on for extra texture, I could have done to do a second pass for even more but too late now. Ready for Warplock Bronze...


But before all of that some weathering on the base. I desperately wanted yellow pipework but much more weathered and rusty than my Genestealer Cult Sentinels. If you look back at the first image you can see they were initially brown, with texture and then Ryza Rust and a Strong Tone wash.


But I wanted most of that weathering to show through but still have the yellow. Rather than salt weathering or hair spray I inverted the weathering process and sponged the yellow paint onto the brown/rust base.


Some additional rusty orange streaks and Rhinox Hide drybrushes helped blend it together with a few minimal gunmetal scuffs to give a greasy feel.


The supports need a bit more weathering, they're supposed to be different but they still need rusting up.


Might as well use this seeing as I done it!

 

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |


Today was the end of the first week [out of six] of Radiotherapy at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for my hero. He's found it challenging, some nausea and funny tastes in his mouth which both have reduced his appetite.We had some transport issues yesterday and today because we took advantage of the medical transport offered. This allowed me to come into work, instead of working from home. Unfortunately drivers were late/misinformed about collection times and both days were stressful for my wife, moreso as I wasn't there.
We'd not really considered using the service but we were advised it was one less thing to worry about, when in actual fact it just became a series of different things to worry about. I'll be back driving them mostly next week but more importantly he's 1/6th the way through his treatment. We think we've got his anti-sickness tablet regime organised better so although the second week has been looming [they estimate hair loss and fatigue kicks in around this time] we might be on top of the more disruptive symptoms. Can't wait to say 1/3rd done.



Tuesday 8 January 2019

Terrain is Everything - Brian the Sewer Vent 2.0

I had to share this. Over on the Brian the Sewer Vent Facebook page I received a couple of posts from fans Dominik and Alexander drawing my attention to the new Urban Conquest set available for pre-orders this weekend. Aside from the Battle for Macragge energy fences there was something very special in the terrain pieces...


 That's right Dominik and Alexander had spotted something very similar to Brian the Sewer Vent, but in a slightly smaller form factor.

Obviously I couldn't let it go and had to ask on the official 40k page and the Warhammer Community team were their usual awesome selves, joining in with the fun and alluding to a direct lineage to my favorite terrain piece. 


And then I had it proper confirmed from Nick Bayton [who kindly engineered my meeting with Brian in June] that Brian's Father - Dave Andrews had spawned a second sewer vent specifically because of  my love of this terrain piece!


I'm not sure how to process that to be honest exceptto be absolutely over thre moon with delight that my persistence has brought this mini version to the hobby community. I can only hope the next thing on Dave's hobby table is a replica scale version that will connect with all the industrial terrain sets ;) I'm like Andy Dufresne in Shawsank...






Friday 4 January 2019

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in manufactorum pt7. 'big builded'

Hard to keep track of all this now but I took some pics at the time so I would have some record of my WiPs.

I had some fun with the base adding in my urban debris mix.


Quality greenstuff skills as usual. It doesn't bother me, although this pipework is significantly more prominent than the molded plastic I only ever do them slightly highlighted black so they're very much a background element and hopefully the sculpting will go unnoticed.


Love the pale blue bits I get out of an old tumble dryer ball.


Large bore shell warheads [OK, they really should be expended shell casings but nevermind] and where I've pulled them off the ball I get that perforated twisted metal effect.


More greenstuff.


And around the toe joints.


Scruffy but functional.


Again, they hardly feature once painted so as long as I made some attempt it was enough


Not that I'll be really keeping track this year but why not...
Imperial Knights - House Corvus Twins in Manufactorum
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

Yesterday we took the boy for his preparation session at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre as we couldn't be in the treatment room with him we can only go by the radiologists assessment that he did brilliantly and how positive and mature he was when he'd finished. Obviously that's without any treatment and his response over the next 6 weeks will change the longer he has it. There are so many unknowns at this stage it's very hard to draw conclusions on what's about to unfold, we'll just have to see how it goes and react as and when things happen. 

Aside from being clamped to the machine and in a room on his own, it appears such a simple procedure - less than 20 minutes, no pain, possibly no sensation of anything taking place but fundamentally altering his body at a cellular level in the most destructive way and changing his future [both good and bad]. It seems so innocuous and as we sit outside in the plush waiting room [the children all get to use the 'private patients' linear accelerator instead of the NHS ones] it's very hard to take in the enormity of what is taking place. The only thing to help is to acknowledge it HAS to take place, there is no choice and whatever the result it will be surely better than the alternative. So, Monday - EXTERMINATUS begins!

Monday 31 December 2018

Hobby Spends 2018


Following on from previous year's spending record I've kept another log for 2018 [and will do so for 2019]. The final figure of £624 was £134 more than last years gross spend of £490. But again I tried to limit my spends as much as possible to Christmas money and vouchers, of which £214 came in. My Google AdSense also matured which prompted the purchase of Forgebane.

On top of that I had quite a number of surplus items I earmarked to sell on ebay to cover my hobby costs. In particular I sold the Necron half of the Forgebane box and some Age of Sigmar Paladins. I also had a bundle of ancient Windows Operating System licences which had sat in the garage for over a decade. In 2006/07 I was buying up all the copies of Win 95/98/NT I could off ebay and reselling them to a local educational software supplier. Most of the time ebay would cancel the auctions due to OEM restrictions and I'd pick them up from the seller, I managed to dispose of nearly £5,000 worth of software until my buyer went bust and these licences were all that's left. Still £87+ for the hobby fund wasn't too shabby



So my net spend of £173 over 12 months is £200 less than last year! Most of my outgoings were on tournaments, but match up to last year in that I paid for my GT3 heat and the North West Open while this year it's my GT3 hotel and next years GT4 heat, although I'll probably get a refund on GT4 as I'm no longer attending. More importantly my figure purchases are down. The Ravenwing bits/Land Speeder and Mechanicum half of Forgebane are the only things I added... OK two Knights and some Shadespire warbands too. But with the Warglaives painted at least some of the things I bought were put to good use and not just straight into the grey tide.

I've still got a few things to sell on ebay next year [those Warhammer Conquest Calsius models...] but with my hobby focus on these purchases and limited expectation in going to any more tournaments than the LCO I'm not sure what I'll be buying in 2019 - Chapter Approved but not much else planned...



Anyway, I had a good year, bring on 2019.

Friday 28 December 2018

Terrain is everything - T'is the season to pick up trees

A few years ago I picked up a bag of model trees from Dobbies, our local garden centre [and craft shop]. They only have them in the run up to Christmas as they're for making your own Christmas scene with miniature revellers and holiday nik-naks. I managed to pick up a couple of sets post Christmas a couple of years back 50% off and I've just had a look online.


They are on sale at Webb's Garden Store again at just £6.99 with £4.95 postage, so I thought I'd share so everyone can get a chance at a bargain. There may be other offers online, this was just the first hit I got off Google. The set I got was 21 pieces from a company called Lemax. Clearly there's at least two that are just a bit too big, they're the same size as my 40k outpost that got bigger! but great line of sight blockers for a Trygon!


Of course the originals weren't going to fit with my table so I decided to paint them - undercoating them all in Red Oxide primer and then repainting them in shades of yellow.


Although I still have to complete the 2 newer sets here's the finished first set:



Tuesday 25 December 2018

HAPPY X-MAS


Merry X-Mas from Professor Egon Seuss and the rest of the Magos on Ferron Proxima. Additional felicitations from the guys and gals at the Vulcan Institute of Techno-Archaeology. May all your X-mas wishes be plastic [or resin, but not Finecast].

In case you're not X-mas orientated please accept the following good wishes: