A bit of painting does you good!

I’ve been trying to fit in some miniature painting over this last week, I admit that it’s been ages since I’ve had time to get some colours on any of my miniatures, so with a bit of inspiration from my lead haul I attained from triples a few weeks ago, I thought it was about time I at least kept my hand in it. (I’ll be posting a belated triples review later…)

As you can see, these weird beasties are thhe start of my 15mm version of my 40k tyranid swarm. So, I know there isn’t any 15mm tyranid stuff, let alone anything in 15mm for 40k, but since there are many great hobbyists creating fantastic 15mm versions of warhammer 40,000 stuff on the net, they too have been my muse to try it for myself.

While the above may not be 100% acurate renditions of the tyranids, I’ve tried to get stuff that is near enough for me. You’ll notice there are some cracking Pendraken worms, alien creatures and a queen that fit nicely with the theme, as well as Darkest star miniatures skyth war beasts that serve well as my primes and hive tyrants. Even a classic kryomek helion which I bagged from the bring and buy stalls makes a good carnifex type stand in. To unify the tyranid feel, I’ve got some GW tyranid rippers too, whilst not that intimidating in 28mm, they make great tyranid beasts in 15mm.

I decided on a “spiderman” colour scheme for them after seeing similar on the net, its bright and stands out, as well as tying the whole lot together. The pic is just a few of the swarm, and I did them to just see if the idea would work as a force, which I think does.

Next up is the first bit of the opposition, my Orcs. Although I have only two actual foot figures done (3 if you count the tiny gobbo gunner here) my warbus is looking swell! I have still some work to go yet, but I’d say its 80% done and will serve my “Brass Crabz” warband well!

I am a long way from finishing any of the two sides, but hopefully I’ll try and find the time in between jobs to carry on. I’m planning a genestealer cult army after these and maybe some other 40k themed forces too. Next I’ll be showing you the squiggoth that i’m painting (it’s a great scotia grendel kev adams warbeast I had knocking around) it too is coming on a treat with all the added bells and whistles.

Right, I suppose I’d better get back to sculpting and modelling, so many distractions….

 

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Media hype wargaming connection with convicted murderer (here we go again…)

 

Well, the UK press are at it again, and I don’t just mean talking crap and hacking phones, this time us wargaming bods are under attack. It all concerns this fellow in the picture trying to dress like an assassin (which is exactly what he became as it happens…)

The story goes that Wayne Smith, a jilted husband, took revenge on his wife’s new boyfriend and killed him with a kitchen knife after travelling by train to the guys home, stabbing him at his front door. To try and make an alibi, he claimed to have spent the time in question at a friends house, playing (wait for it…) Necromunda!

DNA from his discarded mask and kit pretty much nailed him bang to rights, and now he’s doing bird for murder.

It seems as if the press has latched onto the Necromunda alibi and tried to turn it into another bashing of the hobby (Like the 80’s D&D satanic bullcrap and Fighting Fantasy calling to be banned etc, the list is quite long if you care to look it up. Even White wolf came underfire for the vampire RPG…) Just lets say that GWs old classic tabletop skirmish game has just been added to the ranks of demonised games.

If you take a look at the pictures of the guy, it looks as if he was a LARPer at some stage, but strangely, there is no mention of it, rather it has been lumped under the banner of wargaming.

Well done Daily mail, for spouting yet more crap and discrediting the UK press even further than was thought possible, what is even funnier, is that the article has an info box that gives you some data about the game (for the moral middleclass readers who probably don’t have a clue what the fuck Necromunda is!)

Truth is, a psycho could come from any walk of life. He could have any profession, any hobby or interest, be any race, gender or religion. Why not just focus on the real meat on the bone.

I know countless people who have played and enjoyed Necromunda, and as yet have not killed a person, yet I actually do know and have met “real” murderers, and none of them had the slightest interest in wargaming, RPGs or LARP.

The mind boggles.

CCTV of Wayne Smith en route to stab love rival Jon Britton | Mail Online.

 

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Fan Vs Fan, Tales of Star Wars fandom and extended universes…

English: Opening logo to the Star Wars films (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In times gone by when I was a nipper, I remember the old crappy plastic chewbacca costume I used to own. How I’d run around the place pretending to be the famous wookie co pilot of the millenium falcon, I was nuts about Star Wars.

As luck would have it, I’m still a fan today. You know when someone asks if your choice is Trek or Wars, wars wins hands down everytime. Even though I’m not a die hard fanboy, I still enjoy the franchise, and I’m quite stoked about the news of all things episode 7. For us old school original trilogy fans, it’s what we’ve been waiting for for ages, all the old gang back to save the galaxy! Wahoo!

I like to follow the latest movie news in general, but I visit a news blog as often as I can that keeps upto date on the latest developments on the new movie  starwars7news.com, it’s a pretty good site and a good read if you like all things wars.

What does strike me as addictive reading over there, is the comments sections after each post, sometimes rather odd, sometimes funny and sometimes quite embarrassed for some of the saddo’s that post there.

You see, what really intregues me is the sheer poison and hatred that seems to be generated by the various sects of fandom over there. On one hand, you have die hard fans of the OT (original Trilogy) who think all the later additions to the wars verse is just not good, while you have PT fans (Prequel Trilogy) who talk shit about Annakin being the chosen one all the time (and darth Plagueis). Then you’ve got EU fans (Extended universe) who love all the crappy spin off novels, comics and so forth.

But guess what? They all seem to be at each others throats over there for some reason! I know that in some fans it instills a savage passion about the whole franchise, but come on, it’s a fucking film.

I’m not kidding about some of the vitriol spouted on there I’ve read, usually pretty childish and disturbing (By disturbing I mean grown ups swearing and arguing about star wars, it’s pathetic) but, I find myself visiting regularly going there, just to see what shite gets posted! It’s strangely addictive to read how these sub sections of the star wars community are willing to clash with each other, as well as all the speculative fanfic fantasists that offer their predictions of how they think the new trilogy will link back to what has been set as canon.

Funniest thing I think is now that Lucasfilm/Disney have pretty much wiped out most of the EU garbage post Return of the Jedi, this has turned the EU fans rabid at times, they simply will not let go of the mostly piss poor un-star warsy material that was generated in the time there was a star wars hiatus.

Don’t take my word for it, go and have a read your self, I find it hard to stomach myself at times, and I feel ashamed to class myself as a fan if this is the kind of no marks that make us laid back fans look like dicks!

Myself, I’m a fence sitter, there’s bits of all the star wars stuff I like and dislike, but remembering 1977 and seeing it in my local cinema, I’d class myself in the OT (as long as I can hit the rest with a lightsaber, I’m in!!)

Here’s to Episode 7 being some good!! (hopefully…)

Now did I ever tell you about the time I could have been an extra in the Phantom menace…..

May the force be with you……

 

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Crowdfunding Spotlight: Impudent Mortal’s 15mm/28mm Industrial Terrain Kickstarter

 

Another great looking KS, is Impudent Mortals newest set of 15mm & 28mm laser cut scenery. As ever I fly the flag for 15mm and have to say these are really nice looking and quite reasonable to boot.

There’s plenty here for players of both scales, and no doubt loads of applications for the terrain in terms of games they can be used in (Necromunda anyone?) I’m really not surprised they are well funded already as they really are nice bits of kit.

Check it out, Nuff said!

Impudent Mortal’s 28mm & 15mm Industrial Tabletop Terrain by Walt Langhans — Kickstarter.

 

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Crowdfunding Spotlight: Tabletop Towns – Cargo Containers Kickstarter

 

There’s so much cool stuff for 28mm wargaming these days, it almost makes me want to start the switch back over. The choice and availability for the scale seems to far outstrip the rest that for most, it’s classed as god’s own scale!

Regulars to the site will recognise this latest KS from the tabletop towns stable of products, with this time, something for the wargamers who play modern & scifi. These containers suit the modular nature of the tabletop towns style of simple block shaped buildings and terrain, and I’m sure there will be plenty of takers for them.

Ideal scenics for a modern/zombie setting as well as the plethora of more scifi orientated stuff, and quite asthetically pleasing when grouped, it adds another string to their growing catalogue of portable card scenery. If you’ve been paying attention to the evolution of tabletop towns, I can see great things to come from them in the future.

Personally I’m holding out for some 15mm stuff (city blocks and the like) and I’d be all over them like no ones business, but I think that there’s probably more viability in 28mm in terms of sales from the 28mm folks, but with the growing popularity of 15mm, I still reckon there’s a good untapped market with the 15mm crowd.

As ever I wish them the best with their campaign (even so I know they’ll get full funding)

Tabletop Towns – Cargo Containers. by Julian G Hicks — Kickstarter.

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