Wednesday Weekly # 14 – Spring Break! AFK

Hey folks!

I am gone for the week in Alabama to see the Wife's Family!

I will be thinking some Hobby stuff, hope to share when I get home!

Have a great week all of you!

-Rob-

Showcase Sunday # 14 - Some Terrain!

Terrain!

Today, I thought I would show you some pieces that I built for my gaming table… some terrain!

I love looking at quality terrain, terrain that is both awesome to play on, and fun to look at. Now, I may have achieved that, or not, that is for you to decide. I definitely do not have enough terrain to fill up my board, and have much more to build/paint. 

The first piece I am going to show you is an ancient meteorite that has fallen into a swamp, squishy and gross. This was my first real attempt to work with flocking, and I think it was fairly effective.

 

The second piece I am showcasing is a piece that was originally designed as a base for a Necron model, but it was just too much model to be functional. So…. I made it into a line of sight blocker.

Let me know what you guys think!

Thanks for looking,

-Rob-

Fun Friday # 13 – Displaying The Goods

Hi all!

Today, I wanted to talk about how to best display your favorite hobby pieces. When it comes to a nice model you painted, a rare comic book, or even a collection of Pop!s, you want to display what you have.

So for today, I wanted to share what I have, and what I have in mind... if money was no issue. Dreaming can happen!

My current display case I use mainly for my painted models. It is a 6 tiered wooden display, with glass facing on 3 sides, and a sliding door. There is a nice light that shines down from the top, and illuminates the models. The shelves are a bit small, but because my painted collection is not huge yet, that is not a problem. For some perspective, my full 1500 point imperial Fist force will only just fit on a shelf.

Now... if I was to talk about my dream cabinet...

Massive shelves, built into the wall, with a nice sliding glass door to keep it compact. I am thinking some drawers, or opening cabinets beneath, so I can store terrain, unfinished models, board games, the like. I am thinking probably wooden shelves, with downlights built into them so the models are well illuminated. I would also want varying sizes, so I can put the large models in safely, but also have ample space for multiple armies.

What would you want in your display cabinet?

-Rob-

Wednesday Weekly # 13 – Purple Nurple

Happy Hump day all! 2 more days till the weekend!

Hope everyone is having a good, relaxing week! Hope everyone has gotten some hobby time in this week!

This has been a fairly productive week... my biggest hobby related project has been the base coat of the 25 miniatures for my Emperor's Children army. Loads of purple to be seen... I was tired of looking at primed grey. So I did some work on the models themselves, and am well on the way to making them tabletop ready!

I was also lucky enough to be able to get another game of Warhammer 40k in... resounding defeat. Ok, looks like the Imperial Fists are a bit overpowered against a foot-slogging Emperor's Children Army. Guess I will be looking at some next tier stuff, see if I can find something to balance the scales. It was nice to be on the receiving of a strong army... all the things that I have not seen work well for my fists worked great for my opponent, so I guess that is a silver lining, for sure.

Lastly, in a bit of a hobby update, water is still really getting into the garage... so it is time to start moving stuff. I will be taking all the non-essentials up to my parents house for... well... a while. It will be nice to work only on the stuff I have easy access to for a while. I do have quite a backlog, and need to start powering through that.

Have a great rest of the week!

Thanks for checking it out!

-Rob-

Showcase Sunday # 13 – Imperial Fist Tactical Support Squad

Happy Sunday all! Hope the weekend was great and relaxing!

Today I am going to show you the first of the Imperial Fist Project from the Betrayal at Calth set... My imperial Fist Tactical Support Squad, with Plasma guns! I really like these models, they came together really easily, and the painting was actually a breeze. I will go over my finished Yellow recipe in a tutorial later. I wanted to go with a very gritty, dirty look, so it looks like these guys have been in the field for a long time.

I am very pleased with the helm of the sergeant, as well as the eye lenses for all the marines. I really feel like I am growing as a painter, and just need more practice. You know what they say about practice and making perfect.

Thanks for checking them out!

Let me know what you think!

-Rob-

Fun Friday # 12 – WAR THUNDER!

Happy Friday all!

Today, I think I am going to talk about something fairly near and dear to my heart... War Thunder.

Some background... I am a History Major, History is my real love, and the 1930s-1950s are my main area of interest... The build up to World War 2, the war itself, and the rebuilding after the war. I have loved this era for years, and love building, learning, and finding new things about it. So when I found a game where you play through World War 2 era planes and tanks... I had to play it. This was the game for me. Sure, for the most part, I hate online play, MMOs.... but I thought I would give it a try for the sake of the game. Oh boy am I glad I did! I was immediately addicted.

War Thunder is a Free to play game from Gaijin, a Russian company. War Thunder is not a pay to win game. You can spend money, buy planes and tanks that are pretty good, but the real bonus they give you is increased research points, which in turn allow you to unlock stronger and stronger vehicles. The only reason I say it is not pay to win is because those premium tanks you can get are tiered equivalent to the other types of tanks they would face. Meaning, with exceptions, there is no huge in game performance boost.

I started out with planes, and worked my way up through the tiers. There are 5 different tiers to play from, with a multitude of planes in each. When you are in matchmaking, the system matches you to planes/tanks that are of a similar Battle Rating, which is usually in an equivalent tier. Tier one planes are biplanes and first generation monoplanes, whereas tier 5 is jet propelled aircraft.

There are a ton of complaints regarding the Battle Rating system, planes that are unusable because they get into matches that are too high consistently, or have a low battle rating and destroy all in their path. There are issues getting into matches of appropriate levels, and it can be really frustrating at times... but after the anger and irritation subsides, you learn from mistakes. Learn how to combat tanks and planes that are ranked higher. You learn how to exploit weaknesses.

Interested in trying out war thunder? Like I said, free to play! Tons of tanks, planes, and explosions!.

Get in it!

See ya in the sky!

-Rob-

Wednesday Weekly # 12 – Bring on the Paint

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Hope the week is going well for all of you!

This has been a fairly productive week! I was at a stoppage point for painting because I was having issues with the airbrush... but I finally sat down and set to work cleaning all the gunk out of it. Once I finished that, I was feeling inspired... so I pulled some paint out, and get some models done! Am I going to show them to you? Not till Sunday, but yes. The biggest thing was that it showed me how quickly I can get paint on some models... so I think I will do some more. Next up on the paint table, I have a contemptor, my librarian, and my apothecary. The airbrush work for them all is done, just time to take a brush to them. Paint on!

However... I may have a problem.... War Thunder. I have been recaptured by the game. The gameplay is so addicting, yet so frustrating. There are times when I want to punch my computer screen in the face, and others when I am beyond ecstatic at a particular series of events. The biggest problem is that it is taking up hobby time... I am a busy guy, with a busy schedule. So the trick is juggling an awesome wife, and beautiful little boy, and work with hobby time, which of course is a pretty far step down the line. I need to prioritize. So I am working on how to divvy up my hobby time. Do I want to spend two hours painting, or shooting tanks and airplanes with my buddies.

Maybe that is the trick. If I don’t have people to play with on War Thunder, I pick up the brush instead.

Things to think about... What do you guys think?

Have a great rest of the week!

-Rob-