"I see beautiful things."

It was my brother's 40th Birthday on the 21st and it just so happened to coincide with the return of the Floral Hall Rock Night. We'd been looking forward to this since January. The Floral Hall Rock Nights were my first taste of debauchery when I was 16, grunge was just hitting and my first night I was involved in a three tier human pyramid to Slayer - what price such memories? Well the Floral Hall is a little more upmarket now but they started letting us old rockers back a year or two ago and this was our first 'reunion' [they were called Old Ba$tard Reunions back then]. I'd booked a hotel for the wife back in Jan and so I got it 'cheap' and it was kind of an anniversary present too.

But my back's gone, so no dancing and the drugs I'm on? No drinking and I was awoken on Saturday morning at 5:20 am to the dawn chorus of the wife vomiting her guts up! I had some irrational fear of pregnancy for a split second - that ain't happening but the culprit was decided as sweetcorn - sodding Jolly Green Giant. So she was not going anywhere and to top it all the mother-in-law was sick on some new tablets for a kidney infection. We're a right family of infection! So even if the wife got better we weren't going to ask her to look after the kids overnight. So I gifted the hotel room to my bro and his new girlfriend, it seems generous but in reality if the wife was well he was just getting the entrance fee to the rock night!

If you recall the post about my 'gaming crew' you may remember this picture of the guys, but they were also my Rock Club buddies, from our local venue in Ormskirk, to The Floral and Manhattans in Southport.

And here are some of the same folk back on home turf 20 years later! It was a great night, even sober and my back was fine until late on, I guess standing up was good for exercising the muscles in a non-impact way.

So what's this got to do with the price of fish? Well some of the guys still game, Ben [second from right] lives just down the road from my sister-in-law Otty [front and blurred] has even been to my local friendly neighbourhood gaming club as Rob the chairman teaches his kids at school. And of course who can forget Liam, he of the scratch built Warhound and Warlord [front and center]? So a lot of catching up and great fun, but...

as my bro was otherwise engaged that evening he asked me to drop his card off at my parents home the next day. So after chatting about this and that to my folks I finally did what I've been wanting to do since I started gaming again and that was to have another root in the loft. I did it many moons back but purely for bits to sell on ebay, this time I was after a few things:

• The Blood Bowl box with two thirds of the Astrogranite™ pitch
• Advanced Space Crusade
• Any original Tyranid torsos, legs etc. from the above
• Any of the Blood Bowl elves or treeman

The loft was where I spent many of my formative years painting figures, I've shared a lot of them here already. It's now a dumping ground [as most lofts are] there are at least 3 TV aerials up there, only one functioning, 6 or 7 suitcases, a crib, a full size workbench [no I've no idea how it got up there] an old empty water tank. Obviously these were not the things I was after and the treasures I did find may not have been all of what I was after but I think I may have found so much more and so I was reminded of Tutanhamun's Tomb, which we saw recreation of in Manchester

"I see beautiful things." Howard Carter on opening the tomb.

I have such treasure to share with you, on top of all the progress so far during my recuperation I wanted so much to take a picture of the haul but I'm having to bring it piecemeal into the house so as not to arouse suspicions of the good lady. As a taster though I found a stack of old White Dwarfs, I've checked out just six so far ranging from issue 139 to 157 and I've been able to date when I went to Golden Demon and when I went to Games Day from these alone. More importantly I actually have photographic evidence of the original inspiration for my battlefield Mars or Ferron Proxima as we now call it. There's a picture of

'The forces of Khorne and Slaanesh fight over the blasted Chaos terrain for the control of skull castle' 

and if you can get past the shell suits and greasy haired youths a'gaming you can appreciate why it still inspires me to this day.

So plenty to look forward to and considering I was up until 3:20 last night why am I writing this at 12:50am when I could be writing it any time when it's flippin' daylight, so much for these drugs making me drowsy!

'nids part 31 - Broodlord 2 electric boogaloo

The latest edition to the Hive Fleet, a second Broodlord. This comes from my nieghbour and car share buddy Mark. This was his 'Christmas Tree' Broodlord and it just goes to show how a simple colour scheme can still be very effective. I felt quite sad to repaint it.

Also of note is a Citadel resin base. These are very odd as they ar bigger than the 40mm base. I'm sure I've read that somewhere else but it's still a surprise. It's very nice and I'll not be rebasing him but it's still odd.

A las-gun on the base and those green arm spikes make him look like Ozzy Osbourne in his tassle shirts ;)

Before...

... and after.

Looks a bit bland now :(

Blood Bowl - Referee

Not much here but something that amuses me and he deserves his time in the sun. This is my Blood Bowl Referee. I don't know where I picked him up but to quote the song "this deaf, short sighted dwarf sure plays a mean Blood Bowl" and a pink rinse too on his beard!

I love the fact he has no feet either, his robe is so long it just covers his tootsies.

"the Referee's a what...?"

To be honest I'm not sure why I'm not parking this post for a future date so I can get some cooler stuff to you now but I may as well use it anyway As this post is a bit 'feature light', I'll fill you in on a few things. My back gave out at the weekend, that's the third weekend in a row. The first weekend wasn't too bad, I was getting some old clothes out of the back of the car to take to a charity shop. It was better by the Wednesday. Then Easter weekend I was keeping an eye on the microwave when the pain came back, gently at first but by the evening I was in agony and didn't return back to work until Thursday. Then this weekend it just went again  and I could hardly stand. The end result is two weeks off work, to keep moving but not exert myself.

So I'll definitely be trying to catch up on a lot of the stuff that's been on hiatus because things are getting done and I've reached a part in Dawn of War that's just a bit tedious. Like I mentioned in one of my comments I  based 50 miniatures the other day, red planet painted and once all the final touch ups are done it's the Mechrite Red, I've ordered a new can of Purity Seal to protect them and even finished my Deathwing, or should that be Porkwing as pigs must be flying tonight!

Mechrite Red RIP

"The old paints are dead, long live the new paints!" We all saw the '145' new paints [not to be confused with the '456' from Torchwood] and we're all confused but interested in what's possible with these new colours and textures. Personally it doesn't affect me too much, I use mainly Vallejo paints but of course one Foundation paint in particular is essential to my scheme - Mechrite Red.

I had my Mechrite Red epiphany when I first struggled with Red Planet Basing. In fact the very picture I used to illustrate how cool it was [the Rippers below] is pertinent to the situation I now find myself in.

My immediate concern was Mechrite's replacement. I've still all my Dark Angels and my Son's Eldar to base and I need that colour on the base edges or we're stuffed. I checked on the BoLS forum for a conversion chart and I was duly shown the one from this month's White Dwarf [incidentally my mate Liam, he of the scratch built Warhound and Warlord fame has his Dark Eldar featured in the Bolton GW review at the back]. It stated that the 'base' replacement for my Mechrite is Mephiston Red. Well folks here is Mephiston Red:

Having had the opportunity to nip to GW the other weekend I gave Mephiston a shot. I took both kids with me and me and the youngest [6] painted his first ever marine [I'll share pictures eventually] and we used Mephiston on the Bolter and I can tell you Mechrite it isn't. For those out there after a vibrant red your prayers have been answered. This is very reminiscent of my Vermilion Craft Acrylic you can see on the Ripper base above, just a denser colour - more like paint than say margerine. However for my bases it's not going to work.

I read someone comment that trying to buy up the last of your favourite colour was delaying the inevitable but I managed to nip up to my local independent GW stockist* and got one pot before the '145' was released and when I found out the entire old range had gone back to GW central I packed the wife off to get me another pot, the very last in the shop. Now I think I've managed to base all the 'nids with one pot so I don't think I'll have to face my inevitable end to Mechrite Red for a very long time, but there is a glimmer of hope, something I'll have the leisure to find out whether there is in fact a replacement in the '145' [although there may be another manufacturer who has a Mechrite equivalent] - Khorne Red. I look at the pot and I've seen the examples in White Dwarf and by far this looks like a more accurate replication of Mechrite Red. Did GW get confused or were they just so happy they managed to pull off a vibrant red with 'base' properties they'd rather trumpet the 'new' instead of match the 'old'.

Hopefully I'll get chance to pop back to my local GW and they'll have a pot for me to test out so I can be relieved that my Ferron Proxima bases will always match up, fingers crossed.

* I also picked up another Gryphonne Sepia and the last Badab Black. The Badab Black replacement, Nuln Oil, I tested had a very matt finish so I was happy to delay the inevitable just a while longer.

'nids part 30 - Devilgaunts

My neighbour and carsharing gaming buddy Mark was getting rid of some 'nids so I decided to pick up these ten Devourer Termagants. I hope you recall that 'To Do List' indeed these aren't on it, neither's the Broodlord I picked up or the two Blood Bowl teams I'm painting.

I may well be adding to my figures despite not finishing what I've already got but if the new figures I get are completed "tout de suite" then all things are forgiven. It's also particularly useful to have something to re-ignite the painting passion. Call these a catalyst if you will to getting into painting so I can tackle those Dark Angels anew.

And here we are with the base coat of 'Cappucino' art acrylic [bonewhite substitute] and Ultramarine blue. Notice the Toxin sacs on their backs. These will be useful in differentiating squads of ten at least. 20 in a Mycetic Spore would be fun 60 shots! but two separate units could be handy too or even just as another to gants to be spawned, just pretend their Fleshborers, not that I've ever run out of spawned Termagants, yet.

Next up is the liver colouring on the Devourers, muzzles, pipes and Toxin Sacs, then washes.

Fall of Arminius - Game 1, Tyranids Vs Space Wolves pt3

My Sky Slasher Rippers drop in and shoot the scouts, but one remains. Here's where that failureto spawn first turn would have ensured a scoring unit might have claimed my own objective.

Meanwhile the Hormogaunts fail their instinctive behaviour test and set about the squad of marines, once again it does not go well and perhaps by this stage the main objective is now no longer in my posession. I'm not even sure where the Devgaunts are in this now.

Doing what the Stealers failed to do the Prime and warriors mop up the other squad of marines and consolidate onto the objective hidden from the Long Fangs.

The Gargoyles set about the reaining wolf lords [?] whatever, they were in Terminator armour and I think they were about as ineffective as you could imagine. 

The Ymgarl's appeared at some point, but by then the squad of marines were out of charge range and had consolidated onto the main objective. Meanwhile the Razorback and Vindicator rounded on the Prime and Warrior and pulped them to pieces leaving my one captured objective free again. This pretty much left me with nothing except the points for killing his HQ.

Then I had to work out Kill Points, which wasn't fun. He'd killed a lot and I'd done little a comprehensive defeat. I'm not entirely sure what I could have done differently but I think losing the Tervigon and Tyrant was tragic and coming back from that was probably too far. I couldn't take out the Long Fangs and the LandRaider was never going to be an option. The Stealers failing to perform was also unlucky. Anyway the next match was a chance to win one for the Ripper!

Where's my head @?

Wow, I'm seriously enjoying 'the hobby' at the moment. I've talked about my obsessional behaviour before and how I become addicted to a certain thing and right now 40k is in the ascendancy. Sure my Dark Angels are taking a back seat because of my use of my Son's 'nids in my gaming but hopefully all this action will eventually spur me on to finish them. With plenty of rumors suggesting the Fallen will feature in the 6th Edition box I'm quite content to leave them on hiaitus for a while.

It's not just the painting and converting though, it's the actual games that are fun, the great bunch of guys at my friendly neighbourhood gaming club, my continued fun of my Dawn of War 2 campaign and an avalanche of content and thoughts about fluff for the blog. The only thing I'm actually lacking is enough time to fit it all in, hence my new bedtime of around 1:00am. Midnight used to be the norm, then it started creeping up and now I don't think twice about 12:30 or 12:45. On a 'school night' my alarm goes off at 6:00am so I'm really going to screw myself over if I carry on like this, especially with me stopping my train naps too.

Anyway, just a little update on stuff. My minds full of all this and like a Pensieve I need to offload.