Scott Forrest, 1974-2024

Afternoon, this is a post I hoped not to have to write. It's been 12 years since I reconnected with my gaming crew - a fierce band of friends who had such a profound impact on just 2 years of my life between 16 and 18. Then, when I went to uni we lost touch and it would take a further 15 years to cross paths again. Regular gaming sessions ensured a handful of us continued to see each other and even during the pandemic we had the occasional role-playing session online. 

For some of us it was easy as we live close by, for others who still gamed it was more of a challenge. Every now and again we'd arrange a weekend session or go away to Warhammer World but the real reason we did all this was just an opportunity to hang out with your mates.

One of those friends Scott, lived a little bit further away. So until Otty built shed 1.0 I didn't see Scott as often, but he and Liam lived close by and met up regularly. These guys have been friends throughout all these years and Ben and Scott had known each other since primary school! They'd done everything from medieval and civil war reenactments, holidays and family meals. They were as close any friends could be.

Unfortunately, Scott discovered he'd got cancer a few year's back. He's had operations and radiotherapy and it seemed like he'd beaten it. We celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this year, surrounded by friends, copious amounts of pizza and Dev Patel's Monkey Man! Sadly he was then told he had 6-12 months. He continued to fight, with rounds of chemo and when he could he'd pop to the shed to roll some dice with us.

When shed 2.0 came on the cards we all tried to get it done so we'd have a new space to play and share with Scott. A few weeks back it was clear time was short, he'd got married to his partner Liz but still wanted to see his mates so we rocked up at his house again for pizzas, Deadpool and Wolverine and Space Marine 2 on his X-box. He wanted to go to the shed and fishing one last time, but each attempt proved too much for him. By the following Saturday he was admitted to a local hospice and we arranged constant visits among his many, many friends, which helped him so much in those last few days. Sadly, he passed away on Friday 1st November.

In truth, out of all of my friends Scott was probably the one I'd had least connection with in those glorious years between '91 and '93. But that meant nothing to a person so blessed with friendliness that any time we met up he'd want a hug from me and we'd spend our time together laughing and chuckling. It's small proof of this when he won Throne of Skulls at Warhammer World, in part because of those 'favourite game' votes that are so hard to get, while simultaneously beating the person you're gaming with. It's a measure of the man that he charmed everyone, made them feel comfortable and made them laugh. 

Today we will lay our brother to rest. It will be sad and heartbreaking, but also filled with memories that will hopefully bring smiles and even laughter where a Scott sized hole now resides in our lives. He was a champion of friendship and positivity and we will forever play on with you in our thoughts.

'nids part 370 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary talons, claws and brain glow

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's the end #DreadTober2024 and it's bittersweet as I didn't quite meet my pledge. But, last year I started early and was working for almost 2 months to get everything done [in time]. This time I started early [as usual] but didn't work continuously through September. So maybe this is all just delayed [gratification].

As you can see I've added in the orange glow to all the brain bits, the fleshy tendrils and all the black highlights on the talons, claws and hooves.

Unlike the orange brain Zoanthrope I put the highlights in the brain creases rather than on top of the folds. Slightly harder to do perhaps but perhaps the better solution.

The back piece is a little less successful, because it's just harder to get to. Hopefully because it's also harder to actually see it doesn't really matter.

The tentacles have come out OK, messy but not wholly unpleasant. I still think there are some more highlights to do that will help. And also the nodules at the end - the plan is they will be green like the vent glows but I have seen some amazing orange ones and I'm just taking time to make the right decision. Again, I don't want to rush this. Also a close up of one of the talons.

This isn't all I've done, I've painted the tentacles on the Neurotyrant and Neurolids, just didn't get them to a point where I could do their brain glows at the same time. I've also done some highlights on the GSC sentinels but haven't taken pictures. What do I have left to do? 

• Fix tentacles
• Green glows
• Some minor claws on the tentacles need highlights
• Some tonal shading on the bone
• Bone chips on base
• Metallics on base
• Fleshy bits on base
• Odds and sods I can't think of
• Matt varnish
• Gloss varnish
• Blood FX

14 year blogiversary

Morning #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been blogging for 14 years now!

That's right, 14 years! I've said many times over that I do the blog purely as a record of what I've achieved. The fact it's proven valuable and entertaining to other hobbyists is an absolute bonus. I said 12 months ago that I don't do it for numbers but had to acknowledge 3,000,000 page views in August. Now look at it 3,600,000, over half a million in 3 months! It won't be long before it's 4 million - it's just silly and given 739,000+ have come from China I'm thinking that's a lot of bots. So, I acknowledge, but I don't celebrate. Although, if it turns out I have a massive Chinese following then please do reach out 😁

That said I have been less active on the blog recently. I just haven't had the motivation to do the hobby let alone blog about it. Add in that much of my hobby work can be hard to capture as WiPs I'm even less inclined. 2024 is likely to be my least published year. And that's OK. The last thing I'm going to do is beat myself up about it. I don't need another reason to feel reluctant to put the effort in. It can be hard to find time when you're being pulled in so many directions. I really wish I had more time and effort to put into the blog but I'm still here!

And a number I can definitely trust is that 14 - 14 years of blogging. There are still a few of us around with that sort of longevity, I think if you committed this long it's hard to kick the habit. I've even seen a few people joining the platform. It's nice to see people on Threads and Facebook sharing their blogger links, ahead of Instagram or YouTube channels. I may not be as active in the space as I used to be, both publishing and reading, but I still think it's the best place to share your own hobby efforts. If you also have a blog and have been blogging for a week, a year or even 10 or more then this celebration is for you too! And, if you want 739,000 Chinese bots to see your blog then don't forget to share a link in the comments if you too are keeping the hobby blogging dream alive!

'nids part 369 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary Tourquoise highlight & fleshy bits

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's #DreadTober2024 and it's  turquoise highlights. Overall I am much happier with my results than I was in previous posts.

I still feel I'm not at the standard I wish I was but the results look pretty good and I think it's finally coming together for me. I also added in the pink brain tentacles, I didn't want to go red on these and actually have so far painted the Neurotyrant and Neurolids the same.

Close up of my paint strokes. I am going to add some minor third stage highlights in places. Although I'm happier I am less confident I will get it done in time. It just goes to show how important those head starts have been. I wasn't kidding, I know my pace. In some respects I'm surprised I got this far, even though it's much smaller than last year's pledge.

We'll just have to see how I get along.

I added the final set of highlights to the turquoise and started on the red fleshy bits.

This has had 4 sets of highlights! I know, ridiculous. But I looked back on my Screamer Killers and I did a Heavy Red base, shade, Heavy Red highlight, Mephiston Red, Bloody Red and Bloody Red/White highlights. So I had to repeat.

The base in particular is starting to come alive with this.

The face too is more expressive, although the brain matter has been left red as it will all be glowy. I'm thinking orange and yellow like my last Zoanthrope update. There is going to be green glow on the vents and some of the toxic areas so the psychic ability needs to be something else and I'd rather not confuse with the blue 'plasma' from the Screamer Killers.

Hard talon black highlights next and then the glow.

I just think I'm running out of time. I think I have a couple of weeks effort left and the Sentinels haven't been touched since my last update. I'm not going to rush it though and be disappointed with the finished result. I'll do my best.

'nids part 368 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary Bone highlight & tourquoise

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's #DreadTober2024 and it's bone and turquoise. Perhaps it was obvious in my last post and I'm sad to say it there are certain aspects of this paintjob I am not enjoying. Mainly the realisation that my skills are somewhat lacking and I may not make improvements in the future.

Throw in how tedious this process can actually be and it feels like the results are not delivering on the effort expended to achieve them.

That said, the second set of bone highlights has both reaffirmed some of those feelings and reminded me to not judge a model until it's finished.

Because, although close inspection shows brush strokes I am less than happy about I do think it's an overall improvement. Furthermore, from a distance [tabletop standard] it looks pretty good.

But the bone is done now and I will add some additional tonal variations and shading down the line but next up is the turquoise on the chitin - lets see how onerous a task this will be...

Very onerous is the answer, but not actually more than I could stomach. But overall it looks great and it looks much more impressive than close scrutiny reveals but I'm OK with that.

All of the turquoise took about 3 sessions, it was much too labour intensive for me to cope in one sitting. Now I did do some bits on my sentinels and even Leviathan Tyranids, which may seem odd to break up painting a Tyranid by painting more Tyranids but I assure you it made sense at the time. Unfortunately the sentinel progress was not worth taking pictures of so there's no update for them this week.

However, the challenge here was made harder by the choice of paint. For this side I was using a cheap craft acrylic I've used before, but it's dries quite quickly, meaning it becomes quite gloopy. Unfortunately thinning it down with water makes it flow too much. I end up with big globs of opaque thick paint on my brush while the watered paint soaks in the bristles and travels up to the ferule. Getting fine feather stokes is almost impossible.

So for the other side I switched to Miniature Paints aquamarine, which is almost identical [I know the colours look wildly different, but that's different exposures on the camera]. You can see a subtle difference when the aquamarine is next to the turquoise but when it's painted on like this the difference is indistinguishable. But the main difference is in the application. It's slightly thinner, more consistent and thins better. The second half was a much more rewarding experience, which was a relief.

I've already started the next set of highlights and I've done the base, legs, torso, head, and arms. All that's left is the carapace - the crests have two sides each and then back mound has left and right sides which are everso fiddly to get into. I hoped to have got it done, but fell short, maybe over the weekend?Second highlights are a little easier because you can see where you are going to paint. But, you have to be more careful with the brush stroke to get the lines thinner and not obliterate all the painting done here. I don't always manage it but it's looking OK. At least at this stage I am much happier. This will be as good as my Screamer Killers and High Rule Dude from DreadTober 2023, so whatever disappointment I did feel hopefully I've come to terms with it. 

Test

Test

Don't dlvr.it

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been using dlvr.it to autopost my blogposts to my other social platforms since September 2017. As time has gone on the amount of channels has been reduced and I was left posting to Twitter and Threads. Now I was only posting to Twitter to prevent my username being recycled. The platform itself is too depressing so I rarely engage with it now. However, Threads feels like a much more pleasant experience, so reposting my blog there made even more sense.

However, I recently discovered my new articles weren't being reposted. Initially I thought this was some permissions thing. Back in the day Facebook needed to update permissions on a monthly, bi-monthly schedule, but it wouldn't always remind you so often they wouldn't get posted for weeks on end.

Well, it turns out that's not the case at all. Those folk at dlvr have finally had enough of us freeloaders and their starter plan now costs $4.99 a month! Trying to find a free alternative has been challenging, not least because sending an RSS feed to socials for free is not high on the list of tech goldmines. But I eventually found this article:

How to Automatically Post Blog Content on Threads App via RSS Feed Using IFTTT and Buffer (Without Spending A Dollar) (digitalinformationworld.com)

It uses buffer and IFTTT to achieve the same thing. It's a little convoluted but I'm hoping I've got it to work, this is something of a test. The big difference is it's not immediately responsive, you have to tell it  when to check, but you can schedule that multiple times a day to help cover your posts. I usually schedule my posts around lunch time anyway so setting a few checks between 12 and 1 should cover it 🤞 

Currently it's also free, but that's not without a catch. IFTTT only allows you to have 2 free applets. I don't know if this applet with service whichever feeds I plug into buffer or if I need to do an applet for each platform - I guess we'll find out. Currently I already have an applet set up for a security sensor in my shed, although it's not been active for a while. It does mean I'm at the limit of my applets and any new ones means I have to archive and old one. It's a little frustrating but even if I needed more it's $2.92 a month rather than $4.99.

Anyway, if anyone blogging had also come across this issue, or wanted to start doing so I just wanted to share how I've addressed it in the hopes I can automatically post again to those platforms. Here's hoping...