Hooray for AB40k.org !

If you've never tried ArmyBuilder, I recommend you do. It eases the creation of army lists for GW products immensely. It's primary strength/weakness is that it relies heavily upon a user community committed to creating the data files that allow legal lists to be created. The initial purchase of ArmyBuilder comes with a finite timeframe license in which the softwrae will automatically detect that updates are available for the games data files you have installed. After that you either renew or download them manually. I have chosen to let me license expire and install manually.

Enter the good folks at ab40k.org, who faithfully produce a data file for 40k each time a new codex/rules edition is released. Yesterday they released version 1.01a of their 40k 5th edition data file. I just want to thank them publicly for all the work they put into the product.

Dangerously Close to 1500 pts Painted

The current challenge recently written about is actually closer than I had previously thought. After making a 1500 point list, I compared what I had painted to what I planned to field, and they aren't that different. I had forgotten how much I painted of the Assault on Black Reach box.

1500 Pts - Space Marines Roster - Blood Ravens

Painted:
HQ: Space Marine Chaplain (jump pack, plasma pistol)
HQ: Space Marine Captain (terminator armor, power weapon, storm bolter, hellfire rounds)
Elite: Dreadnought (heavy flamer, multimelta)
Elite: Terminator Squad (3 x power fist/storm bolter b, sergeant w/ power weapon/storm bolter)
Troops: Tactical Squad (7 x bolter, 1 x missile launcher)
Troops: Tactical Squad (7 x bolter)
Troops: Tactical Squad (sergeant w/ bolt pistol, chainsword)
Fast Attack: Assault Squad (4 x bolt pistol, chainsword)

Need to paint:
Elite: Terminator Squad (1 x power fist /storm bolter + cyclone missile launcher)
Troops: Tactical Squad (1 x meltagun, 1 x plasmagun, 1 x heavy bolter)
Troops: Tactical Squad (finish sergeant w/ pf/bpistol in previous post)
Fast Attack: Assault Squad (Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs; Storm Shield; Power Fist)

2 x Rhino w/ Storm Bolter
Land Raider Redeemer w/ multimelta, storm bolter

Army Total: 32 infantry, 4 vehicles

Painted: 26 infantry, 1 vehicle
To Paint: 6 infantry, 3 vehicles

That's it? 6 infantry and 3 vehicles? Could this possibly mean I'm going to get 1500 points on the table painted for the first time ever? ... don't hold your breath.

Flash Kraken - Complete!

Okay, goal #1 for Open Source Flash development is complete.
Behold a single SWF file that shows a picture and plays a song when you click the play button. It will take a minute to load, since it's 6MB or so.

I used swfmill to capture the assets in a swf file, then compiled onto that using the FAME combo. Big thanks go to Kevin of http://open-actionscript.blogspot.com/ for providing the resources for the button logic. Flash can be a little esoteric for the traditional C programmer sometimes.

Source, including assets and xml file for swfmill here.

Blood Ravens veteran WIP... I painted!

After a four month hiatus, I have painted! He's not done, and I think he looks better in person than in the unforgiving context of macro photography. All in all, not bad for an evening of painting.

The important thing is... I painted. And I enjoyed it.

My friend Mark and I have a 1500 point game lined up for sometime in the future. Basically as soon as we each get 1500 painted we're going to roll dice. I've never had 1500 points of my own models painted in my life, so we'll see what happens.

Today is the Day I Paint

I've been away from painting for a while. During my little mental hiatus I just had no desire to pick up a brush. In fact I remember picking up the 40k rulebook at one point during the whole ordeal and asking myself, "Why do people consider this fun again?" The last time I painted something was October 23, 2008.

Even though I am feeling a lot better I still have not started painting again. I really want to, but I can't seem to decide on how to actually start. Last night I dug through a bunch of miniatures just to figure out what to paint. I didn't actually decide, since the hunt turned into an exhaustive search for a box containing particular Space Marine sprues which I may have taken to work. The end result is that I've gone through just about every miniature I own and today I am going to paint something. I need to get a brush in my hand again. It's been too long.

I will post results here. Please verbally abuse me if I do not. The internet is my accountability group.

Micheal != Michael

What kind of idiot misspells his own name, you ask? This one. I just corrected my name in the (c) footer of this page. I am Michael, not Micheal.

In other news, I was at work until 2:30 AM last night trying to dig myself out of the volume of work I had committed to. I think I might be over-promising lately, but I've always struggled with that.

Next up: fully painted armies and fantastic games programmed in Flash! Plus advanced degrees and career upgrades, martial arts ranks, self-employment and ... well, you get the idea.

That Crucial Moment

There are few experiences in life that can rival awaiting the reading of a jury verdict. I got that experience Wednesday as I sat in a courtroom with a friend whose fate lay in the hands of a jury of his peers. For days we had heard testimony and arguments. Sure, I was biased by friendship and the experiences of knowing this person for the last four or so years, but even imagining myself as an impartial listener the evidence seemed so strong for the defense and the prosecution witnesses contradicted each other repeatedly.

The court officer called us back into the courtroom.
heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat
The jury oozed into the courtroom in slow motion.
heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat
The foreman of the jury stood.
heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat heartbeat
Guilty.

It's like getting punched in the gut with a pillow. Guilty.
The feeling is utterly helpless. My mind was frantically racing for some way to change what was happening, all the time knowing I couldn't. Wake up. Go back. That didn't happen. Guilty.

I sat there not sure what to do. It's over, but as long as I sit here it's not really over, is it? The sentencing date was set and the next case on the docket began and I was still sitting there.

Even now I still have that sudden urge to change things somehow, knowing I can't. I feel helpless. I couldn't stop it. I can't stop it. It's going to happen. I can feel my stomach clench at the thought. I know it wasn't me in the defendant's chair, but it feels like I was.

It feels like I still am.