Pandemic.... ?

Swine Flu (aka "Pig Sniffles") has been all the talk around here lately. I just heard that the nearby Plymouth/Canton schools have been closed due to suspected cases. Considering how much panic has been going into this, I thought I'd give it a little analysis.

Flu kills a lot of people. About 36,000 Americans die each year from it. That's about 1/100 of 1% of the population in whole. So far the Swine Flu, aka A(H1N1), has confirmed numbers of 876 infections and 26 deaths in the U.S. and Mexico. That is a 2.9% fatality rate, much higher than the overall influenza fatality rates each year.

The WHO defines pandemic as "widespread human infection." We are currently on phase 5 of their pandemic scale, meaning that human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region has been confirmed. Assuming it gets to full blown pandemic mode, the expected infection rate is 25-35% of world population.

6.77 billion humans x (25-35)% infection x 2.9% fatality = 49.1-68.7 million deaths worldwide

Let's hope that equation is very wrong.

And not to let potential tragedy go without some attempt at poorly timed humor, this may be the time to move to Madagascar. Or not.

Painting for Quality, part 1

I am publishing a four part article series on MyBattalion.com designed to take painters to a level higher than basic tabletop. Part 1 is there now. I plan on publishing one segment per week.

Let me know what you think!

Old Guy Update

Last week I experienced what some would call a "rite of passage" of aging. I got bifocals. At some point in the past I could have imagined not liking the idea, but I absolutely love these things! I can see again! It was getting hard to do much of anything up close with my glasses on, and my vision isn't clear for very far with them off. I have to retrain myself to not look over my glasses at near objects now.

By the way, did I mention I love my bifocals? I really do.

The only complaint I have is that I have to actually move my head to look at things. If I hold my head level and look at the floor using only eye-tilt the floor is somewhat blurry. It's disconcerting at first, but you adapt quickly. And I can see!

Social Networking for Gamers

Go sign up at mybattalion.com. I've been hot and cold about social networking in general, but I'm interested to see what a niche specific social network will produce. I've already discovered a local gaming club that plays regularly in the neighboring town, which was terribly difficult in the low signal to noise ratio environment of facebook.

Don't even get me started on myspace....

Working with Water Slide Decals

I've been thinking about decals lately, mostly due to having to paint so many Blood Ravens chapter symbols on my growing army. It's a bit of a pain to get them consistent, and somewhere along the line I had enough people ask me if they were decals to actually make me want to try decals.

The problem, as most of you who have tried to use decals on space marine shoulder pads know, is that flat decals don't sit well on aggressively curved surfaces. From various other tutorials around and about the interwebs I discovered "Micro Set" decal solution. Basically, it softens the decals so that you can smoosh them into position, more or less. Its counterpart, Micro Sol, is even more effective at softening. The fellow at the hobby store told me that if Micro Set does the job, then there's no need for Micro Sol. They were out of Micro Sol anyway, so I bought what they had. I've been testing it with decals on Mr. Missile Launcher here, and the results have been encouraging. Basically, you brush Micro Set on the shoulder, place the decal, then brush more Micro Set over the decal. A few minutes later the decal should be soft enough to tap down with a moist towel into some semblance of flat. I've had to make multiple passes with Micro Set over the highest part, so I might pick up a bottle of Micro Sol and see how that works.

After the first try I was surprised to see the first decal dry up and fall off the model! Maybe I wet it too long and it lost all its adhesive. For try #2 I put some matte varnish over the decal to try and "glue" it in place and hopefully obscure the edges a little. Big mistake! The varnish (Vallejo Game Color matte varnish) clouded the decal significantly. Spot testing the varnish elsewhere didn't cause the clouding. With the current run I wet the decal with a cloth from the back, hopefully retaining as much of the adhesive as possible.

Once I get these things to wrap around a should pad properly the next step is to print my own and see how they work. I bought a Testors decal printing kit (a paltry $10) and have been experimenting with the free image processing software Gimp to get exact measurement printing. Gimp 2.4 was terrible at it, but Gimp 2.6 is wonderful. Once I get a reasonable decal sheet of Blood Ravens icons I'll post them here. I'm a little concerned that the spray sealer that covers the printed decals will stand up to the rigors of Micro Set, but I'll find out in time.

Masking - No Salt Required

Salt masking has been all the rage lately, mostly thanks to giganticdark's amazing Space Marine. The technique requires multiple passes with a double action airbrush, which can be something of an inconvenience if you don't actually own one. This tutorial describes how to use a brush-on masking medium to achieve natural looking wear. This is a very basic tutorial, so please experiment and see how you can alter it to produce more complex effects. The key is this stuff: Vallejo Model Color Liquid Mask. It's a water soluble acrylic that dries to a gummy consistency like rubber cement. The key here is that when it's set it is easy to remove, revealing whatever color was under it.

Step 1: Deepest color. I started with a Rhino that I had basecoated Red Gore. To the area I planned on weathering I painted Reaper Shadowed Steel (basically boltgun.) Viewing the result, I think I would go with a brighter metallic next time, like Chainmail. After the steel dried I applied a very diluted wash of VGC Orange Fire, the brighter of their two oranges, to give the impression of corrosion. Let this coat dry thoroughly before continuing.

Step 2: Apply the mask. Put some of the mask on your pallete, pick a bit up with a coarse brush and then tap the mask lightly on the areas you want to reveal when the process is complete. Try to keep the pattern of application somewhat random while controlling where you want to wear to show most. It's much easier to see when dry, so don't be afraid to apply a little, let it dry, assess the pattern and then apply more as needed. I haven't tried this myself, but the "toothbrush spray" technique may work for random splatter patterns. Let the mask dry thoroughly before continuing.

Step 3: Match the base color. Paint over the mask and wear color with the base color again. I know I sound like a broken record on this, but multiple thin coats make for smooth paint jobs, not thick paint globbed on in one coat. Let each coat dry before applying the next, until the wear area roughly matches the rest of the paint color.

Step 4: Remove the mask. Use a colour shaper, pencil eraser, or a stiff brush that you have an irrational vendetta against and gently brush the mask off the area. It's gummy and will pill up, but it comes off eventually leaving the wear color from step 1 revealed. If you get it on a brush, soap will do a pretty good job of removing it.

That's it! A low sodium technique for natural looking wear. I'm sure this group can figure out interesting variations to get the most out of this. Show me!

My Level 18 Tourist has GDSM and Magicbane

This one comes from the "if you have to ask..." department.

I'm a long time fan of the game Nethack. Even before it was Nethack, I was busily souring my first stab at higher education playing its predecessor hack. It took me something like 17 years to win it for the first time. Yes, I kept coming back for that long, and I'm still coming back.

Currently, I have a very unlikely game going... a tourist in Gehennom with basically a full ascension kit in hand. I don't have the Book yet, but the Bell and the Candelabra are mine. As you can see from the screenshot, I have nearly every intrinsic. Currently, I am on a very low level (or high, depending on how you think of it) in a locked room doing the "cursed scroll of genocide" with nurses thing to gain max hit points. I still have two wands of wishing (wow didn't always mean World of Warcraft, kids!) that can be charged again with the Platinum Yendorian Express Card. I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but I may just ascend a tourist.

And for the uninitiated, GDSM is "gray dragon scale mail" and Magicbane is a unique artifact athame.

Blogger Tip: Wrapping Text Specific to Multiple Images

One thing I've struggled with in my blog is the ability to post multiple images and have text roughly aligned with each image. That way I can actually write about the image that's next to the text.

It's going to take some html changes. Don't be scared. You can do this.

If you don't know what html is, don't worry. It's the language that a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) uses to know where and how to put stuff on the page you are viewing. Html "tags" tell when to start and stop a particular format. The starts look like <this> and the stops look like </this>. Got it? Good, because you don't need to know any of this. Read on.

Here's the quick list of what we're going to do:

1. Load an image into the post
2. Add some text to go with the image
   
3. Add a snippet of html before the image
4. Add a snippet of html after the text

So start by composing a new blog entry and import an image into it. Just for grins at this point, click the "Edit Html" tab in the upper right of the compose window. The code for the image is a big scary block of html that starts with <a onblur="try... and ends with ...border="></a>. It should be about 5 or 6 lines total. Again, you don't need to understand it... you just need to be able to find the <a> at the end.
Okay, so switch back to "compose" mode (upper right tab) and add some text to the post. Now, switch back to "Edit Html." If you entered your text to the right of the image if should show up after the </a> part. That's good. That's what we want. Now find the end of your text. That should be pretty easy to do. Got it? Great. Guess what... we're half way there.

Okay, here's the fun part. Go back to the html and find the beginning of the image code again. Right before the <a paste this code:

<table style="border: medium none ;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%">

Good, now go to the end of your text and paste this code in:

</td></tr></tbody></table>

Good. Now go back to "compose" mode and look at it. Okay, so it's not so impressive.... yet. The trick of this is that those code blocks can be repeated to get the text to stay with the relevant image. Each separate picture and the associated text is surrounded by its own "table" tag. This way, the browser knows to keep them separate. The post immediately below this one is a good example of two pictures with associated text.

Here is the updated post html, the parts I added are red. Since there are two pictures there are two "table" tags included, as you can see below:

<table style="border: medium none ;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSWLwihwZWVfFdR_DapsP5f3wDUbiWr0t_LeV3-g3a2OUf4G1rmRD4IKmcPON4WyrOjBmpKTtJaUArTPHFxwFUTVYixn_o_DVPgv6ohDcla-fUPls9GS7GQd6T3AbyvYzoGIM/s1600-h/wip1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 243px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSWLwihwZWVfFdR_DapsP5f3wDUbiWr0t_LeV3-g3a2OUf4G1rmRD4IKmcPON4WyrOjBmpKTtJaUArTPHFxwFUTVYixn_o_DVPgv6ohDcla-fUPls9GS7GQd6T3AbyvYzoGIM/s320/wip1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319591784571512354" border="0" /></a>Hmm. The title sounds like "Kibbles and Bits"... Menites and Kans, Menites and Kans, I'm gonna get me some Menites and Kans.

But anyhoo.... I converted a Killa Kan from various bits, and I think he turned out okay. Meet Stompy and Chompy. I think the rationale behind Chompy's name is self evident, and of course Stompy is up on one leg. The third in the set is tentatively named "Clyde," named for the ghost in Pac-man who broke the rhyming pattern. I don't know what Clyde will be, but he won't be a stock Kan. Anyone care to share ideas?</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border: medium none ;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7BKuVUUoiBG7FlpdUc-sMU92_6vsgFNQ1TWwqvwK2Of2xQ15z646NKEKaUf3IGz8KIAMx1wIIQrIGlthF-fFf8TMl-9BnL5ykODbw4rvj02tffVjuXqF2gvsgNcR2wvpwfzL/s1600-h/wip1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7BKuVUUoiBG7FlpdUc-sMU92_6vsgFNQ1TWwqvwK2Of2xQ15z646NKEKaUf3IGz8KIAMx1wIIQrIGlthF-fFf8TMl-9BnL5ykODbw4rvj02tffVjuXqF2gvsgNcR2wvpwfzL/s320/wip1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319593172141889330" border="0" /></a>Also up are some models from the game Warmachine. I play the "Protectorate of Menoth" faction, and I absolutely love the models in this game. I have a standing challenge for a 500 point fully-painted game around May 1, so I'm planning what models need painting. My opponent will almost assuredly field Khador, so I'm in for a first-class whuppin'.</td></tr></tbody></table>

That's it! Go to town and let me know if it works/doesn't work for you or if you've found a better method to accomplish this.

On the table: Menites and Kans

Hmm. The title sounds like "Kibbles and Bits"... Menites and Kans, Menites and Kans, I'm gonna get me some Menites and Kans. But anyhoo.... I converted a Killa Kan from various bits, and I think he turned out okay. Meet Stompy and Chompy. I think the rationale behind Chompy's name is self evident, and of course Stompy is up on one leg. The third in the set is tentatively named "Clyde," named for the ghost in Pac-man who broke the rhyming pattern. I don't know what Clyde will be, but he won't be a stock Kan. Anyone care to share ideas?

Also up are some models from the game Warmachine. I play the "Protectorate of Menoth" faction, and I absolutely love the models in this game. I have a standing challenge for a 500 point fully-painted game around May 1, so I'm planning what models need painting. My opponent will almost assuredly field Khador, so I'm in for a first-class whuppin'.

My First Eight!!!

Since I discovered CoolMiniOrNot way back in '05 I have had the singular goal of getting an 8.0 score on one of my minis. Today I looked at my gallery and realized that I had one! The duel entry from Chicago Games Day '08 had been hovering in the high 7's for ages, but today it's at 8.0.

So why would this make me so happy? The miniature isn't any better looking at 8.0 than it was at 7.8. It still didn't win a trophy. I think the big deal is that I've always defined 8 as the "great" range for minis on CMON. To think that about 100 people think my mini is (on average) "great" is an encouragement. Golden Demon is a tough competition. To even think about competing against the likes Chris Borer, James Wappel and Vincent Hudon takes some cajones. It's easy to get discouraged, especially competing in categories like 40k single model.

The simple plan: Keep painting. Get better. Win a silver. Win a gold. Win a sword.

...someday

The Dollar Store = Kitbash Heaven

I have a confession to make... I'm frugal. Okay, maybe cheap is the right word. Either way, I've discovered in the past couple years how great the dollar store is for kitbash raw materials.

In case the term is new to you, kitbashing is taking something and disassembling/destroying it to get at its core components, then using those components to make something else. The toy section is especially handy, since a lot of the items have similar scale to wargaming. My BattleWagon shown here is a kitbash of a garden variety GW Ork Trukk, a dollar store steam roller toy and a dollar store Hummer Limo toy. Other bits from older GW models plus some styrene (used gift cards) were used as well. The big shootas in the front were originally the exhaust stacks from the steamroller.

The other Dollar Store item I really like is clocks. For only a dollar you get a wealth of cool gubbins like gears and springs and clear plastic disks. For Orks, all those fiddly little gears look great. I even used some broken gears to base my Grand Scrutator Severius last night.

Other Dollar Store items you might find useful:

• laser pointer (true LOS!)
• hobby paint brushes (for glue mostly)
• craft sticks (tongue depressor sized or smaller) for wooden planks
• plastic shot glasses for mixing 2-part epoxy
• steel cookie sheets for carrying magnetized models
• basing material (small rocks, spices, etc.)

Three Fails

1. Failed my "job" roll
My application that was supposed to go into production today wasn't correct. I'm scrambling to finish it now.

2. Failed my "parenting" roll
My five year old had been telling us that his pre-school class does "show and tell" so he had to bring something, typically a toy dear to him. It turns out that his class does no such thing, and this was just a sly attempt to take his favorite toys to school. The fact that it took three weeks for us to find out is the embarrassing part. Nice one, Jay.

3. Failed my "40k gaming" roll
I played a substitute game of 40k Saturday for a friend who had to cancel on someone. It was a 1500 point game vs. Space Marines. Since my friend plays Orks I took Orks too. The list I faced was that Salamanders character (Vulcan?) to 10 marine squads in rhinos, three Dreadnoughts, Three Predators (AC, 2xHB) and three Land Speeders. Ouch. I got destroyed. Granted, I had to scrounge to get to 1500 points, I've never played Orks before and I've never actually won a game of 40k, but I was still the optimist! Once he had nine kills points to my 3 we called it, roughly the end of turn 4. In honor of my Warboss' crushing defeat in the unstoppable grip of his Dreadnought I am painting my opponent a Warboss head to place under the foot of his Dread. In fact, I should pledge some sort of hobby favor for any loss I incur.

Wait, maybe I should make the "plain, blue police box" I owe someone first... (yes, I mean you.)

Imperial Fists Land Raider Redeemer WIP 1

This one has been on the shelf for a few months awaiting completion, and I think I'm going to get it done this week. I don't know how I would have done this without an airbrush. Seriously, I'm on at least coat 10 of yellow on the multimelta gunner and it's only now starting to look reasonably smooth. One of the goals for this one was a painted interior, so I ended up painting in the middle of assembly. That was a new experience, but I think it turned out well.

This is headed for eBay fairly soon. I made Chronus and the gunner removeable so you don't have to field them if you don't want. The final piece will include an "on-foot" Chronus in addition to the Chronus shown in the pic, both converted to Imperial Fists.

If anyone is seriously interested in purchasing this before it goes on the block, shoot me an email.

Take Cover! Final

Facing superior firepower and running low on ammunition, this Blood Raven waits for the right moment to unleash boltgun fire on the enemies of the Emperor. I wanted to convey a sense that the cover was insufficient compared to the enemy, and hopefully the big glowing hole in the rock says that clearly enough. I think this is the final product. Unless I find something glaringly wrong with it tomorrow then this is it. Thanks to all of you who suggested improvements. I really appreciate the feedback. It's interesting to note the difference in his right leg in terms of delineation of the kneepad, the lack of which was pointed out by Wienas. Both photos were taken in a light box with no direct light sourcing, and the darklining around the kneepad is far more visible in one pic than in the other. I'm guessing the camera was going through a little "red freak out" trying to figure out how to capture this. I didn't put the scorch marks Lord suggested, as I had envisioned that he wasn't right there when the hole was blasted in the rock.

Special thanks to Felix for the photography tips. These pics were f3.1 1/15 sec ISO 50. This is the first time I've been able to use the light box without pointing a light right into it. You, sir, rock.

The OSL was about as simple as it could be. I mixed some orange paint in with a great deal of P3 mixing medium and glazed it on in very transparent layers. It's pretty effective visually for the amount of effort. Damage on the shoulder pad is thin lines/spots of Reaper Bone Shadow with thin lines of skull white underneath. The key to thin lines is dilute paint and controlled brushload. Too thick and the paint gets chunky as you paint. If you pick up too much thinned paint on the brush it beads up or flows on the mini.

Like it? Give it a score on CoolMiniOrNot! http://www.coolminiornot.com/216976

Take Cover: Almost Complete!

Nearly done! Almost every part of the mini got some work tonight, with only the boltgun and chapter symbol as big "to do" items before Friday night. I'm going to complete this one!

The armor was highlighted with VGC Blood Red, glazed on rather than hard edge highlighted. The shading for the armor was VGC Night Blue / VGC Red Gore. Using a blue in the shading layer is something Jeremie Bonamant Teboul discussed in his painting seminar in Chicago in 2007. I took some notes on it, and he posted them on his site.

The damage to the armor is Reaper Honed Steel (roughly GW Chainmail, but a bit more blue) tapped on, then black edges along the top of the damage. I then used red gore again to touch up the black to more controlled areas, then selectively glazed with GW Terracotta to soften the area and give the subtle impression of rust. The face is washed with Ogryn Flesh, then re-highlighted with P3 Midlund flesh and shaded with VGC dark fleshtone. The stones were based with Foundation Charadon Granite, then washed with several different washes to give a non-homogenous look. The glowing damage is skull white at the center and layered through yellow to orange to dark red.

Okay! I'll post final pics when I get this fellow completed!

My Photography Setup

As my CoolMiniOrNot gallery amply demonstrates, I've struggled with how to photograph minis for some time. I've read so many articles on the subject that I can't even remember if I'm doing what they say to do or what they say to avoid.

Whether it works well or not, here's what I'm currently using. It's a cheap and easy method if you have never tried mini photography before.

The white box thingy is a 12" photo light tent I purchased from Amvona on eBay. It's collapsible, but I never collapse it. It came with a few colored inserts, but I like just picking pieces of felt or using a printed paper with a color gradient as the background. The lights are an Ott light (on the right) and a cheap desk lamp with a compact fluorescent bulb from the dollar store on the left. The price difference is extreme, but the light quality difference is negligible. Seriously. The thing in front of the tent is a piece of foam from a Sabol army transport with a notch cut in it for my camera. Yes, I use a piece of foam as my tripod. My camera is a Casio Exilim 7.2Mp. It's a nice little camera and it wasn't terribly expensive.

So to take the actual pics, I set the camera to "macro" focus mode (for close up things) and set the self timer to 2 seconds. I shine the lights into the tent (at an angle, shown in the photo) and position the mini, then put the camera on the foam support. I elevate the camera if needed (seen in the photo is a small box under the foam to raise it up a bit.) Press the shutter button and get your hand out of there. Two seconds is enough time for the shaking from the button press to be absorbed by the foam, so the pics come out fairly clear.

After the pic is taken, I use Gimp (free image processing software) to clip and sometimes alter the image for color levels.

Take Cover! Step 1: Basecoating

Tonight was priming and the most basic basecoating. Getting a consistent color as your base makes everything else so much easier. Even with Citadel Foundation paints you should use more than one coat. Do not be tempted to put the paint on thicker to get better coverage. Thicker paint dries unevenly, and the acrylic binder creates a rough texture. You really want to be painting as close to the original surface as possible. Paint should not be used as gap filler!

So, colors.... VGC = Vallejo Game Colors (a brand of paint)

Primer: Rust-o-leum gray automotive primer. This stuff behaves better than any primer from a miniature company I've ever used, and it's only $4 a spray can.

Foundation "Mechrite Red" for the armor. The initial coat had a purplish twinge that I see a lot with thinned out reds. Just keep laying on thin coats and the real color will develop.

Reaper Master Series "Bone Shadow" for the shoulder pads, purity seals and chest icon. It's a bit less yellow then GW's Graveyard Earth, and I really like the bone color combo of Bone Shadow, VGC Khaki, VGC Bonewhite, Reaper Linen White.

VGC Black.... chaos black? I don't know. The label rubbed off the bottle.

GW Foundation "Calthan Brown" for the ground on the base.

GW Foundation "Tallarn Flesh" for the skin. Again, multiple layers were very important here.

Now that I have a good base to work from I'll try and get some highlight/shade done tomorrow. This thing has to be done by Friday night at 11:59 PM or no possibility of Blood Ravens swag for me!

Modeling Complete... Painting Next!

My entry for the "take cover" contest is coming along quite nicely, if I do say so. It looks almost exactly like I envisioned it looking before painting began.

And now it's time to paint.


Couple more things.... my friend with the legal problems mentioned in a previous post got an adjournment of his sentencing. Basically, he hired a new attorney and there were so many things not quite normal about his trial that the judge is delaying sentencing by a month to give his new attorney time to act on all the issues.

Last thing: children + keyboard = broken keyboard. My space bar only works from the left hand side now. The right hand side is stuck in such a way that it won't depress correctly. No fewer than nine different children have used this computer at some point since it's purchase, so I'm not terribly surprised that something like this would eventually happen.

Switching Gears and Taking Cover

I've put my own army on hold for the rest of the week so I can power through an entry for the "Take Cover!" painting competition over at The Painting Corps. Since the subject of the competition is Blood Ravens, I don't see how I can pass this up. The theme is cover, and I found myself repositioning a marine to get the most dramatic pose possible. I'm hoping I can take this from vision to product in less than a week. The contest time frame was a month, but I just found out about it. I suppose I should have some sense of hush-hush about what I'm doing, but it someone out there can see what I'm doing and do it better than me in less than a week then they deserve to win.

I worked on the Librarian some more too. He's coming along nicely but I see more and more and more areas I need to fix on him. He's really going to take a long time tweaking the little details. I'll probably get him to the 95% mark and call it good for now, which actually means call it good forever.

Terminator Librarian WIP and thoughts on salt masking

I've been a big fan of this mini since GW first released it, and now I'm finally painting it! Like everything else I've done lately he's Blood Ravens. I will get to 1500!

I'm not sure I really like the face yet. I was going for a strange glow effect with completely white eyes, but I can't tell if it looks other-wordly or just unnatural. Thoughts?

I tried something new for the bone coloration, which is on the chest emblem and head crest. Instead of Bleached Bone (or VGC Bonewhite) I went with a mix of VGC Khaki mixes with a little Reaper linen white. Final highlights are entirely linen white. The highlights on the red sash is a mix of red gore and reaper leather white. Reaper has such an interesting line of white variants, and I love the way they interact with other colors.

I've been following giganticdark's WIP thread on the CoolMiniOrNot forum, and it's been amazing. One of the techniques that I'd like to try is the salt masking, but I think I'm going to develop a variant using Vallejo masking medium. Maybe if I toothbrush spray the masking onto the mini then glaze over the dried mask it will have roughly the same effect as the salt mask. Since I don't like to haul out the airbrush a lot (and especially because Ann Marie is probably going to want her airbrush back one of these days) I'd like to come up with a similar effect that can be brushed on.

Dreadnought w/ TL Autocannons

I've had a thing lately for converting vehicle weapons from the new Space Marine codex that don't have any official bitz available locally. Sorry for the pic. I should have taken it mid-conversion with better light.

In any case, the new Dreadnought can replace the Multi-Melta arm with a twin-linked Autocannon, and another option to to replace the Dreadnought close combat weapon arm with a twin-linked Autocannon. Of course I thought, "what if I replace both arms with TL AC's!" The Black Reach Dread is inexpensive enough to chop up without the twinge of "I just chopped a $40 model up" regret that comes with modding the regular Dread.

The conversion is a few Woodland Scenics styrene tubes (3/32" and 5/32") nested to make the barrels. The Multi-Melta arms had an obvious place to attach the autocannon. For the CCW arm, cut off the CCW and glue a bit of the cut off Multi-Melta barrel to the front of the arm at the same location as the other arm. Use some epoxy putty to build up the arm to the same general shape as the other arm. Privateer Press' P3 modeling putty cures harder than green stuff, and can be filed to the crisp lines that look good in applications like this. I can't remember where the ammo boxes on the outside came from... just regular rhino/razorback accessory sprue I think. I filed off the hinges to try and make it look more like a magazine and less like "box glued to the side of an arm." By the way, I use these same tubes to make Ork Big Shootas by drilling holes in the larger tubes as cooling, and putting the smaller diameter tubes inside as the barrel. It looks pretty good, and will give some of my deffcoptas a different weapon option.

So back to the Dread... other than looking a little too much like a Macross Defender Destroid, what good is this thing? It gets four shots, twin linked, with 48" range. With BS4 and twin linked you aren't going to miss much. With a Venerable's BS5 you are pretty much never going to miss (okay, well, you'll miss 1 in 36 shots statistically.) So what are four S7 AP4 shots good for? The only thing that comes to mind is Ork Nobs in heavy armor. Wounding on a 2+ with no armor save... but they'd still get a "feel no pain" roll if they had a Dok in the unit. A Predator might take a glancing hit or two. A Dread will probably take at least a glancing hit. Against heavy infantry I don't think autocannons would be as effective as an assault cannon. Both wound on 2+ against T4 and assault cannons get rending.

So... now that I have the thing converted, what should I use it against?

Devastator Squad in Rhino - worth it?

I've been contemplating this for a few days... would it be worth parking a Devastator squad in a Rhino for protection?

Pros:

• Rhino's armor of 11 makes them impervious to bolter fire.
• Possibility of 12" emergency move if needed
• Repair possible if Rhino immobilized
  
• Vehicle and squad can target independently
• Not significantly expensive (cheaper than extra marine + heavy bolter)
• Potential for two Storm Bolters
• Likely that entire squad would survive vehicle exploding

Cons:

• Only two models can shoot from fire points
• Points could be spent on additional long range weapons
• High strength fire magnet

So for a mere 175 points you get 5 Devastators with 2 missile launchers in a Rhino armed with two Storm Bolters and a Hunter Killer missile. For that same cost you could get a 5 Devastator squad with 2 Lascannons and a missile launcher.

Have you done this? How did it work for you?

Golden Demon Completion Meters!

They're back! I decided to improve them a little this year with a bit of JavaScript. For your technological edification I present it here. It could be easily inserted into Blogger or probably any other. Feel free to use/steal as you see fit. Just remember your old pal Mike when you're rich and famous!

Next up: more Blood Ravens!

Games Day: No Atlanta? No L.A.?!

Maybe I'm the last person to realize this.... on GW's Community and Events page for Games Day, only Chicago, Baltimore and Toronto are listed for Games Day 2009. At first I was thinking, "They'll probably add the other two later" until I saw this sentence:

There will be three Games Days in North America this year, one in Baltimore, Toronto, and Chicago.

That's it. Only three. No more Atlanta. No more Baltimore. Plus, the tickets are now $25 with the option to buy the exclusive miniature for another $15. Between lower ticket costs and fewer venues I can only come to the conclusion that Games Day attendance has been weak. Chicago seemed lighter in 2008 than it did in 2007, but that may be because I wasn't quite so overwhelmed by newbishness in 2008. I also wonder about the geography of the Games Day locations. Sure I'm glad Chicago is still hosting, but what are people in CA going to do? Or FL? Or WA?

What I'm really hoping is that this is not evidence of deep financial problems at GW. I like GW's miniatures and I like their games. I'm not fond of everything they do as a company, but I don't want them to go bankrupt that's for sure.

DIY Sternguard Veterans

I have a unit of Sternguard Veterans in my April challenge list. I own the new Sternguard models from the Space Marine Spearhead, but I decided to convert/paint some from existing plastics rather than paint the metal models. The primary reason was that I didn't want a power fist in the unit and wanted both a combi-melta and a combi-plasma. The combi weapons from the Space Marine Commander box work very well for this. Just clip a left hand from a standard tactical marine arm (you should have tons of these) and glue it to the hole where the Black Reach marine bolter/hand bit pegs in. The commander's combi weapons have the right hand included, and it works well on the Black Reach models. I'll post pics of that as I continue.

In the photo I have a standard tactical marine (speed painted for a "Black Reach in Four Weeks" contest) and the same model as a Sternguard Vet. In addition to the white helmet, the right shoulderpad has a Rosarius icon from the Terminator sprue to indicate his veteran status and a gold plate on his bolter. The lighting washed out the gold more than I would have liked.

Modeling a Mark 1 "Stronos" Razorback

Ever since I read the new Razorback options in the new Codex: Space Marines I've been wanting to model one of these. Since this is supposedly the oldest Razorback variant I wanted to make it look a bit different than the box kit looks. I had modified a Razorback to be lascannon / heavy bolter interchangeable, so making the Mark 1 turret was just a matter of building a small "cap" of styrene to fit on the turret mount. Since I had already removed the elevation pins from the mount, this was fairly easy.

The lascannon is a Predator sponson lascannon, and the plasmaguns are just Marine hand held guns with the stocks removed and enough of the bottoms cut flush so I could easily glue them together. The optics on top are from a Land Raider Crusader hurricane bolter. The conduits in the front are from the original twin-linked lascannon that comes with the Razorback. I had trimmed mine down as part of the interchangeable conversion.

I can't wait to try this out in battle against some foul traitors!

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.

Flash Kraken

Behold my first app written in open source Flash development tools.

Okay, it's not much but it demonstrates a few things I wanted to do, namely a progress bar that fills up as the image loads. The image is located remotely, and I need to figure out how to make libraries of resources that can be embedded in the flash app.

Project source: CTD.zip

The name of the zip and the swf file indicate my intended first game in flash, Coin Toss Dungeon. Coin Toss Dungeon references a "What's New with Phil and Dixie" cartoon from the early 80's that I originally read in Dragon magazine in my greasier teenage years. Through the magic of the interwebs (and Mr. Foglio's generosity) I present it for you here.

Farewell to Corinthian Leather

As a child, I remember hearing of famous people dying and wondering, "Who is this person, and why is everyone acting like it's a huge tragedy?" Today, I experienced this. Upon hearing of the death of Ricardo Montalban, I made an audible "awwwww." My younger coworkers on the other hand said, "Who is this person, and why are you acting like it's a huge tragedy?"

For the edification of the public, I present my first memory of Ricardo Montalban.



Wait... I thought it was rich Corinthian leather. Huh?

Slowly Reconnecting With My Life

Hmmm.... how to start. The past 90 days or so are among the strangest times I've ever experienced. I was prescribed some medication that had the effect of making me lose all interest in my own life. By that I mean I completely lost interest in both the things I previously enjoyed and lost interest in the consequences of actions in my life. As a result my online business has officially failed and is closed, I haven't picked up a paintbrush in months (missing promised deadlines without so much as a twinge of guilt) and my work at EMU has suffered. I spent money frivolously that I did not have.

I've always been a solitary sort, but this was a new extreme. I was trying very hard to disconnect with everything in my life except my family. Every time the phone rang I would say, "I'm not here." The only way people could contact me was to show up somewhere that they knew I would be (home or work) and confront me there, which annoyed me greatly. I found myself avoiding email, knowing that people would be trying to contact me. My mobile phone was commonly set to vibrate and left (accidentally, of course) in my coat pocket in the closet.

I think the word we're looking for here is depression.

Somewhere in this time frame also came some medical tests. My liver enzymes had been wonky for a while and my spleen, already 30% longer than normal range, was getting larger according to an ultrasound I had. I was bouncing between my primary care physician, a gastroenterologist and trying to schedule with a hemotologist. Oh, and lots of blood draws. An abdominal CT scan showed no abnormal growths in my liver despite is being lit up on the ultrasound consistent with fatty liver infiltration. Hooray, I just won a liver biopsy.

Biopsies are fun-on-a-bun. Doctors numb your side, jam a needle the size of a ball point pen in between your ribs, and grab a chunk of your giblets to gawk at under a microscope. In truth, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. After the burning zap of the local anesthesia I didn't feel anything. I was surprised to hear the snap of the sample being taken, not realizing they had actually pierced my abdominal cavity I expected to go back to work the next day, but was ordered to take the next 48 hours off. Whee. Here's a little glimpse of my happy-fun-time.

After looking over my innards, the verdict is apparently good. I suffer from "nonalcoholic steatohepatitis," a fibrosis or mild scarring of the liver. It can lead to cirrhosis if it gets a lot worse, and the treatment is to lose weight, eat a more balanced diet and exercise more. Imagine my joy.

Okay, so back to the reconnecting/depression thing. I talked to my doctor about what was going on and she altered some dosages. About a month later I can feel the fog lifting, and I actually returned a couple calls to people. I'm thinking about painting soon too, but we'll see on that. I'm not used to conditions that are not either on or off. This mental state is a continuum and it's hard to say where I am at any given moment. I like data. I like to be able to measure things. This is not really measurable. Even during the darkest time of it I wasn't entirely sure if something was wrong with me. I was fairly certain that I "wasn't myself lately" but I couldn't define what "myself" actually was, and was obsessed by the fact that if "myself" wasn't how I was acting at the time then how is "myself" even defined? Yeah, I know. It sounds pretty stupid in retrospect. My thought process was tainted. I wasn't suicidal, but my thoughts would be... I guess dark is the best word I could use. The idea of bad things happening was no concern to me. The idea of bad things happening to me actually held some appeal. The fact that the liver biopsy had a fatality risk gave me a sick sense of satisfaction.

Anyway, I'm feeling better. I managed to not alienate my kids or Stef. My friends are either oblivious to what happened or are somewhere between concerned and irked. My customers are enraged, and with good reason. The mere fact that I'm blogging about it is a major step toward normalcy for me, and I actually want normalcy now. That's a big change.

Maybe I'll even post some painting news here eventually! ...but not quite yet.

Untitled Poem

I dreamed of a girl
with dark skin and bright eyes
long hair and long neck
and warm copper lips
willing with chaste kisses
their taste the promise
of youth fulfilled
Out of place among us
in the midst of our filth
her royalty was unmarred
She gave me a gift
of gems and precious metals
but when I looked at it later
it was a simple thing
a child's thing
of bright colored clay

This poem is the direct result of a very vivid dream I had. The setting is an idealized evocation of warm summer nights in my teenage years. I loved the ambiguity of the symbolic gift.

Dreaming in Poetry

Okay, bear with me. This came to me fully formed in a dream while I was feeling quite poorly, and most likely feverish.

my attendants array before me each morning
in uniforms chosen through assessment
and reassessment
and as they diminish in service to me
throughout the month
until they are nearly spent
REBIRTH!
like the invincible moon
made full again

It wasn't quite as vivid as the hallucinations I had when I had meningitis, but it's still pretty cool for something that I didn't consciously write. When I woke the memory was vivid enough for me to quickly jump to the computer and write it down. Apparently I had gone to bed early (no recollection) because the time stamp is about 10:00 PM.

Staying on your Talking Points

This made me laugh.

My Contribution to Democracy

I stood in line for about an hour and a half to vote this morning. I'm glad the eather was nice. The people behind me passed the time by blathering on about anything and everything. The fellow who asserted (multiple times) that election day should be a national holiday almost made me laugh out loud.

Guy: Election day should be a national holiday. Everyone should just get it off work to vote.
Girl: I'm surprised the line is this long.
Guy: Yeah! And it's going to be like this all day!

So, I'm curious. If the line is going to be long all day, how would getting the day off work help? I guess I can see it if there were huge lines/waits early in the day and late in the evening, but if the line is long all day it doesn't make any sense. Also, I don't know if this guy works for a bank or something, but how many of us get national holidays off work? I don't know about you all, but I am here at my desk on Presidents' Day just like every other weekday. I honestly can't see Cracker Barrel or Kroger closing up shop on election day either.

So who did I vote for? The ballot was confusing... I think I may have voted for Buchanan. I'll just claim I voted for whoever lost. That gives me license to complain for the next four years about everything I don't like about the new administration no matter who wins.

Open Source Flash Development

Who says this blog isn't multi-interest?

I have decided to do some Macromedia Flash development, and in my usual frugal vein I am using open source tools. Here is what I am using:

• Eclipse IDE v3.3.2 (Europa)
• Motion-Twin ActionScript 2 compiler (v1.14)
• ActionScript Development Kit (ASDT)
• Flashout (Eclipse Plugin) (v0.2.1.6)
  

Making this all work together is all nicely written up on the communitymx website here.

I encountered some problems, mostly version based, with getting the HelloWorld example to work.

• The "New Folder" right-click command is apparently not enabled by default for the ActionScript perspective in Eclipse 3.3.2. To fix this, customize the perspective, choose the "General" shortcut category and check "folder" (and probably also "file".)
• The "core" linked directory in the example will not be created. A newer version of Motion Twin uses "std8" instead. No biggie, but a difference.
• And speaking of std8, the Eclipse preferences for Flashout want to know the "Directory of Macromedia's core classes." Give it the sdt8 subdir of the Motion Twin installation dir.
  
• The Flashout.as file required for compilation contains code that is not compatible with the newer version of Motion Twin. The "TRACE" function is now "trace", and no I don't know why. Open Flashout.as with a text editor and replace every instance of TRACE with trace. I recommend Wordpad if you use windows, since it has a replace function and treats the carriage returns in the file with respect, unlike notepad. For future covenience (read: laziness) I put it in the std8 directory in the Motion Twin install dir.

One issue I have not gotten to work is the suggestion menus for the Flashout class while editing the ActionScript class files. I'm afraid that when I move to multiple class files that one won't recognize the classes in another. It seems to compile and work okay, but it would be nice if the compiler gave some indication that it knows what I'm talking about. Yes, I've tried putting it in the source directories for the project.

Land Raider Redeemer Re-assembly

Last night I broke out the airbrush to start the Land Raider Redeemer base color. I've never built a Land Raider before, and apparently I fell into a classic assembly error. My error: I didn't sandwich the doors/control panel in between the body halves. I don't feel too bad, since I didn't have instructions. A few bonesaw swipes, some superglue and a wasted evening later, the pieces were back together and waiting for paint.

I'm excited to paint this, even though it's only for eBay. The priming has gone fairly well, with no discernible texture resulting from the spray can. The Iandan Darksun basecoat will make a nice undercoat for the golden yellow I'm making it.

One interesting Land Raider observation... if I put a pilot on top in the hatch and stick a pintle mounted Storm Bolter in front of him, it can still be fired by the Machine Spirit, right? It's odd to think of being there in the hatch and having the vehicle just wrest control of the gun right out from under you so it can shoot at something the rest of the tank was ignoring.

Codex: Space Marines... am I missing something?

Codex: Orks was filled with "huh?" moments. Are dakka-guns on bikes twin linked? What is the actual profile of a dakka gun? Can Stormboyz Waaagh? Can a mob of boyz with shootas have a Nobs with a power klaw, etc.

Codex: Space Marines is starting to cause me some head scratching. First up is the ubiquitous Signum, a sensor previously used by Techmarines to improve shooting of the squad to which they are attached. The rules for the Signum have been changed to prevent it from being used as "Gets Hot! Insurance." Instead of rolling misses (and 1's are misses!) it improves the ballistic skill of a squad member. Great! The only problem is that nobody can take one. The Techmarine doesn't have a signum in his wargear anymore and he can't buy one. In fact, no model that I can find has an option to take a signum now. Did I just miss it?
EDIT: Devastator squad sergeant gets a Signum by default now.

Next, the Razorback! First off, I love the option to have different weapon options than the heavy bolter/lascannon of the last edition. The one that I wonder about is the lascannon/plasma gun combo. In the roster entry, the upgrade specifies a single lascannon and a twin linked plasma gun. On the main page describing the Razorback a variant is described that includes a single lascannon and two twin linked plasma guns. Based on the Ork FAQ using the description page over the roster page I'm guessing it will end up as two twin linked plasma guns, so I'm going to delay modeling one of these until I know for sure. The twin linked assault cannon would use the same turret mount as a Land Raider twin linked assault cannon, but I don't know if the regular Land Raider box includes that particular bit or just the twin linked heavy bolter. The new plastic Crusader / Redeemer box has a twin linked assault cannon bit, but both variants use it. Any Land Raider owners out there want to help me out with this info?
EDIT: I completely misread this. It's "single lascannon and twin-linked plasma guns." One twin linked gun, just like it says in the army composition page.

Honor guard / Command Squad / Servitors: Both the Honor Guard and Command Squad have text that indicate that their inclusion does not take up an additional HQ slot. The servitor squad entry does not have similar text. Does that imply that servitors will take up an elite slot? I hope not. Also, am I missing something or do the independent characters no longer have to be attached to the squads they allow? Text seems to imply that the servitor squad can exist without the techmarine; there are even rules specifically based on the techmarine not being in the squad, and I'm guessing that's not just a "techmarine dies" rule.

Donut Cake Redux

Today is my department's staff picnic thing, and I (was) volunteered to bring a dessert. The coffee/donut cake a couple posts ago was a trial run for what I wanted to bring to the picnic. I made a few changes to the process, as follows:

Make the cake as per the directions on the box, substituting strong coffee (or espresso) for the water in the recipe. It's only 1 1/4 C, so it won't overpower the cake with coffee taste.

Use all large, round donuts (torus, not sphere shaped, would be more accurate I suppose.) Donut holes just didn't work out well. I might try using a chocolate covered cake donut in a future iteration. Try stuff out and tell me how it worked.

Glaze Topping:
1/4 C melted butter / margarine
2 C powdered sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
mix well, then add 2 Tbsp milk

And remember, it's better to be fat and happy than just fat.

Perverse and Often Baffling

Okay, I've repeatedly referenced this story by Malcolm Gladwell.
Here's a link. Finally.

Go here: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=348
Click the "Full Episode" icon on the left.
Fast forward to 45:30 or so. If you don't want to listen to the rest of the episode you'll either have to leave it paused for a while or drag the timeline arrow icon to the right as it loads to get to the desired time.

The piece in question ("Tough News Room") is about 12 minutes long. It's worth it.

Doubt journalism.

EDIT: I am saddened and begrudgingly relieved to learn that his story is fictitious.

Donut/Coffee Cake

Okay, I've been wanting to do this for a while. In a world of deep fried Twinkies I doubt this has never been tried before, but I'd never heard of it and it sounded good. I shall consider it original.

1 18.25 oz package Better Crocker SuperMoist Cake Mix (Butter Recipe Yellow)
6 cake donuts
9-12 chocolate "donut holes" (frosted or unfrosted)

Prepare a 13"x9" cake pan as normal, and space the donuts evenly along the bottom of the pan.
Prepare the cake mix as normal, substituting strong coffee for the 1 1/4 Cups water called for on the box. Let the coffee cool down before mixing into other ingredients to prevent the eggs from cooking.
Pour the prepared cake mix carefully over the donuts, trying to keep the spacing intact. Try to space the cake mix evenly in the pan, but even if the coverage is a little uneven the rising cake will cover everything up.

Cook at 350 about 30 minutes.
Let cool. Frost or glaze as desired.
Serves 1. Seriously, you won't want to share.

EDIT: The chocolate donut holes weren't as good as first reported. A night in the fridge left them a little tougher than the rest of the cake. Next time I'm going totally cake donut.

Space Marines: They Shall Know No Nerf ?

Well, I got the new Space Marines codex. There is a whole lot more fluff than I care to wade through right now. The rules...well.... I'm not sure how I feel about some of them yet. This is the first new edition of C:SM released since I started the game (I know, what a noob) so I'm not really sure what whether these rules hearken back to a previous edition or blaze new trails.

Let me highlight a few interesting points. For my 40k-impaired friends who actually bother to read this, "ccw" = "close combat weapon" (a knife, sword, etc.)

1. No more terminator honours. The one upgrade that all of my characters got is now just gone. Sergeants in squads now have 2 attacks on their profile (and an extra 15 points in the cost) but the option to have that 4 attack HQ is gone.
   
2. No more "ablative armor for a lascannon" squads. Only tactical squads of 10 Marines can add a special or heavy weapon, and flamer, heavy bolter, missile launcher or multimelta are free.
3. Characters are not chapter specific! Special characters that can only be fielded in a particular chapter or other always galled me. If I want to field Tigurius I have to play Ultramarines? If I want to play Shrike I need to play Ravenguard? In this edition it clearly states that you can paint the models up for any chapter you want, change the proper name and use the special character stat line. Good choice, guys.
   
4. (Reclusiarch + Master of Sanctity)/2 = New Chaplain. Only two wounds, only three attacks and he costs as much as a Master of Sanctity from the last edition. The worst part? Only initiative 4 now. Jumpy-killy-solo chaplain is a thing of the past. Even character chaplain Ortan Cassius is about this same stat line. EDIT: Except Cassius is T6 with Feel No Pain. I missed that the first time around. I'd take 2 wounds and that over an extra wound any day.
   
5. No CCW?!? One of the pre-release rumours I remember hearing is that all marines would have pistol/ccw/bolter combos, giving them that extra attack in the assault phase. While they have the bolt pistol (good for pre-assault shooty, I assume) they have no close combat weapon in their wargear, and no option to buy one. I had heard someone mention that all models in the game count as having a ccw, but I can't find that in the rules anywhere. It that were true, would a model with only a ccw in its wargear count as having 2 ccw's? I doubt it. EDIT: I see my preconceptions were unfounded. BA's and DA's don't have ccw's. Space Wolves do by default, but they don't have bolters by default. CSM's have the pistol/ccw combo by default, but they don't have the heavy weapon options. I see this as a good trade off now.
   
6. Techmarine! I like the changes here. I feel like the servo arm / harness is better defined in terms of attacks. The fact that he has to start the shooting phase in contact with the vehicle he wants to repair and not the turn makes him useful. This certainly would have prevented my three turn "run away, now come back" Techmarine event at 'ard Boyz.
   
7. Combat tactics. The ability to decide during deployment if a squad of 10 will split into two squads of five. Very cool idea that gives flexibility to the marine troops based on the mission type.
8. Sternguard veterans. This is a departure from veteran squads of the last edition, which tended to be tricked out in assault wargear (power fist or two, lightning claws, power weapon, etc.) The sergeant of this unit can get a killy ccw, but the real strength lies in the special ammunition they field. Given the different types of ammo they have I'd rather step back and rapid fire than charge in and assault (most of the time... especially since they'd only get two attacks in assault.)
9. Vanguard veterans. Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. These guys are the assault monsters that the regular veterans used to be. The difference is that the old veteran squad couldn't take jump packs and these guys can! And they can all have power fists and melta bombs. These guys really exemplify the elite army idea; you can have the killiest troops in the game, but it's going to cost you dearly. Imagine an assassin unit of 5 of these guys with jump packs, lightning claws and a relic blade or fist. Ouch. Killy, but >300 points.
   
10. Relic Blades. Something about a S6 power weapon that swings at initiative makes me happy.
11. No more anti-vehicle assault squads. Only the sergeant of an assault squad can take melta bombs now, and you can only take one plasma pistol per 5 models in the squad. EDIT: Vanguard Veterans take this role now, but they are soooo expensive. A Vanguard Veteran with jump pack and melta bomb is 35 pts, compared to 24 pts for the old assault squad member with jump pack and melta bomb. Sure the VanVet has 2 attacks, but that won't give you an extra melta bomb attack.
    
12. Terminator squads can only take one assault cannon / heavy flamer / cyclone launcher per 5 models in the unit. Very good choice.

There's more, but I have to run. Feel free to leave your opinion of best/worst in the new book. I'm a real 40k noob, so any insight as to how this edition compares to 2nd or 3rd would be helpful.

P3 Hobby Stuff

I have a box of miscellaneous P3 hobby supplies at home. I've used a few pieces, and I'll comment on others as I get impressions.

The Wet Palette - I just can't bring myself to open this thing. The one I use is nearly free, and I can't imagine the P3 version adding value for the price.

Work Hobby Brush - ugh. I figured this brush would be good for basecoating or something. It developed a wicked hook after just one day of normal use (not even harsh use, like glue or drybrushing.) I guess I don't know what to expect from a "hobby" brush. In it's defense it hasn't gotten worse since the first day, and I've been using it.

Work Studio Brush - that's more like it. This brush has kept it's shape for several sessions. It gives me hope for the Detail Studio Brush, which I will use when my W&Ns7 goes to pasture.

Mixing Medium - nice! I figured this would be a typical glaze medium, and it pretty much is, but it's nice and smooth and delivers a much better "low effort" value. I used this on about half of my quick-painted Black Reach Orks (on the skin) and they look better as a result.

Things I may try soon....

• Pin vise expansion kits (very clever idea!)
• modeling putty (brown/gray... I'd like to see how it measures up to green stuff)
• clippers, but only because I lost my normal pair somewhere

Want a review of a hobby item? Let me know!

A Few Thoughts on Magnets

I've been magnetizing my bases for 40k, Whfb and Warmachine for a while now. I've found fantasy units so much easier to transport when already ranked up than if each model is in its own little cell in a Sabol ATC, so I've typically used a steel cookie sheet (dollar store variety) to transport them, neatly arranged on a movement tray that, itself, has magnetic sheeting on it (ink jet printable refridgerator magnet type.) I should probably come up with some way to transport 5 or 6 cookie sheets at once... but I digress.

So far I've been using 1/4" Dia x 3/32" Thick NdFeB Disc Magnet, Ni-Cu-Ni plated from AmazingMagnets.com. They are strong enough that two of them will keep a heavy warjack stuck to the side of a filing cabinet. The problem is that with light plastic figures, the magnetized models tend to "jump" into each other if they get too close. I think I might try to find something a little smaller for the plastic figs in light of this. I would still use the stronger magnets for the metal models though.

I've also never used magnets for weapon/arm swapping, but I am probably going to do so after reading this entry over at "All Things 40k." The idea of being able to swap terminator arms out is too tempting with the new Black Reach terminators so easy to get. A single box of assault terminators + a Black Reach box = 10 assault termies or 5 regular/5 assault if you magnetize arms.

I am Painter 1450!!

Back when I got a bronze in Chicago this year, I mentioned (maybe not here) that one things I was excited about is that I would be shown on "Demon Winner", an unofficial Golden Demon collection site. Apparently they have updated, and there I am! I am officially designated as Peintre 1450!

Shown here is my official "Painter 1450" image. I'm not sure if I should submit personal photo to them or not. Yeah, I'm a big geek about this, but I'm really thrilled to be in such great company there.

Useless Pharmacology

I took a bottle of these to the tournament. They didn't help. They really didn't help. You wouldn't believe how many 1's and 2's I rolled when I needed 3+. Someone mentioned a house rule for bad rollers where all 1's become 6's and all 6's become 1's. Hmmm....

(Apologies to and inspiration from Jonathan Coulton.)

Bunny Slippers = #1

Remember that Night Goblin I painted wearing bunny slippers? For some reason he's the #1 google image if you search on "night goblin."

Go ahead. Try it:
http://images.google.com/images?q=night goblin

I eBay'ed that guy ages ago and he sold for like $10. I hope the new owner is getting a lot of mileage out of him!

EDIT: He's #2 now. Jakob Nielsen's night goblin army is #1, as it should be.

I Am Not "'ard"

I played Saturday in the local 'ard Boyz tournament, out at Planeswalker's Magic Bag in Munith. The good news is I got a t-shirt. The bad news is that I got second to last place. A friend of mine got last place, but if we had played scenario 2 correctly I think he would have smoked me, thereby cementing my position as the worst 40k player in southeast Michigan.

Round one was intense. My goal went from winning, to killing at least one of my opponent's models, to have at least one model remaining at the end of the game. I did kill off a few enemies and managed to get a weapon destroyed on a Land Raider (one of four in his list) and at the end all I had was a Drop Pod left, dutifully missing with its storm bolter each turn. The funny part was Tigurius doing "Fear of the Darkness" every turn, which would make my Techmarine run, every time. After rallying, he would run back to immobilized Vindicator he was so desperately trying to fix, only to have Tigurius make him run again. Three turns in a row this happened, until finally a lascannon pen-6'd the Vindicator and the explosion took out the Techmarine as well. I got massacred, and he got all extra points as well.

Round two was vs. Orks. It was a "dawn of war" scenario, so the Orks got a turn to run their heads off at me before I could realistically shoot at them. If he had brought his lootas on during turn 2 (as opposed to rolling for deep strike like we were doing, causing them to come in on turn 4) I would have gotten pummeled. The bad part for the Orks was when the Vindicator rolled onto the board and dropped a pie plate on his Warboss/Nob bike unit that had just finished assaulting a Razorback. Boom. Result was a tie.

Round three was vs. Iron Hands. A fellow I'd met a few times there was my opponent. He had fared about as well as me so far in the tournament, and we ended up tying. It was a good fight, but I was getting a little tired by the end and was making dumb choices.

In order to make myself feel better after my humiliating performance I went home and painted a Blood Ravens Dreadnought. At least I can still paint moderately well!

(Edit: The picture is one of the battles I got to watch at the tournament, having been stomped flat in record time. It was Orks vs. Dark Eldar, and a fine match it was!)