Somewhere over the rainbow…

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 2]

I got a couple of more bits done…

Maybe a few streaks of crud? Maybe not. Is everyone having fun?

 

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 1]

@unclejimmy – they totally rock! Who makes them…I might want to get some?

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 2]

@unclejimmy – they are from the unbeatable MicroArts Studios. You might be out of luck as they go out of stock really fast! Thanks for the comment. I agree, they rule.

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 0]

@oriskany – no, just one! Well, if nobody is going to tell me what is going on then i’ll just make it up as I go. It has been here since just before 1200hrs (my time). Maybe this is a sign?

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 2]

I got through one box and a packet of things…here you go:

…and by section:

 

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 3]

I might take a break. Anyway there are a few tumble-weeds I need to chase…they just rolled by!

Some mooziks, but just for me.

(what a night that was)

There is a very handsome guy down the front!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij089OiN8cc

[sundancer 42933xp 3]

Tau with metal parts? Those are ancient aren’t they? 😉

[nogbadthebad 5771xp 3]

Sorry missed the questions, answers are:

1. Genuinely the only songs I skip are those inappropriate ditties wife doesn’t approve of or doesn’t want Patrick listening to (so F*cked by an Anchor by Alestorm is out ?). My defence is that I was very selective about what music is on my phone for the car, and there is a lot of oddities on there already but I make no apologies for them (I like the Wurzels and Avril Lavine) but my record collection does include the Bwitched….

2. Too many to really remember- non are worth it as am far too fond of a bad pun or dad joke so I fling more than my share of shit and occasionally something sticks! If pushed then, not really a come back, but my boss was on a con call to the US office and complained the guy “sounded really far away… all I did was laugh, a lot. In terms of be offensive an meant it, nearly every car journey when am running late… (so every journey ?)

3. Yes, it’s even better when I am hobby-ing at work and people make the mistake of asking those questions that you cannot give a short answer to. Why carry on – why shouldn’t I!

4. No love letters, am an accountant… that involves having feelings and emotions which are not allowable under IFRS375

[oriskany 60771xp 3]

1. I want to know are the songs that you secretly listen to, but would skip if someone was in a car with you.  I await your displeasure.  Gangster rap.  There are some old early 90s that I sometimes listen to, but not usually around other people.   Yeah, yeah, boo and hiss.  Like I care by this point.

2. Nobody knows how to give a good come-back anymore. Do you? Actually yes.  But most are not family friendly.

3. Do you ever get funny looks when you tell people you play with toy soldiers?  Not really.  One of the few benefits of playing historical.  It gets just that “nth” of an extra degree of a pass from the unwashed masses.

4. When you have sent love letters, or little notes of affection you didn’t sign, what did you say? I can’t remember.  You’d have to ask your mom.

JUST KIDDING!

Consider that my answer to Number 2.

😀 😀 😀 😀

 

[oriskany 60771xp 2]

Pledge:

1) Build Darkstar game this evening.

2) Record Podcast tomorrow morning with @stvitusdancern and others.

3) Run Darkstar tomorrow afternoon with @damon and potentially an opponent, perhaps @gladesrunner .

4) Draw Panzer Leader Poland map tomorrow evening.

5) Run Panzer Leader: 1939 game tomorrow afternoon with @yavasa .

Somewhere in there, finish script for Episode 10 Ops Center, finish sound mixing on Vietnam: Australian Tanks game video Part 01, start an Arab-Israeli Wars scenario design for @unclejimmy .  😀

Last night ran a live stream on Twitch for creating new counters in Valor & Victory with @elessar2590 .

Still have to finish leaders, trucks, helos, and one more thing … oh yeah … the enemy.  😀

[oriskany 60771xp 4]

My hobby desk / dining room table had officially reached that point I think all hobbyists dread, when … every time the planets align and yet actually get 20 minutes of time where you’re (a) free and (b) not friggin’ exhausted, you actually feel like this all isn’t a colossal waste of time … and you actually feel like picking up a brush or knife or glue … and you realize you have 45-60 minutes of real WORK to do before you can even start …

So I nuked it clean. NOW I might actually be able to get something started or finished.

Went out for a smoke break this afternoon and made a new friend.  He was enjoying a lunch of grass and clover.

 

Whaddup, bud?

[irredeemable 3742xp 2]

Hails all,

Many moons since I last got involved with this but with four days off lined up from Sunday, I very much intend to get quite a bit done.

Niceties first:

1. You won’t find them on any playlists but if you glanced through my ‘recently searched’ there’s every chance you’d spot some Avril Lavigne, Beyoncé and Fiona Apple.

2. I work with the public so I have to practice the fine art of firing off a comeback without the customer realising I’ve just scored a point off them. They should suspect it, but just not be sure enough to tear me a new one on Google reviews.

3. Oh yeah. Usually sandwiched in between the funny looks that follow “Yes, I’m an adult and I still listen to metal” and “I have three cats”. For most people the only reference point they have is green plastic army men so they’ve no idea of the time and effort that actually goes into the hobby. Same thing with roleplaying games.

4. Once only did I attempt to articulate feelings of romance on paper. I think I was nineteen and it was in a Valentine’s card. I wrote some drivel that I thought sounded suave only to realise later (sometime between the card leaving my hand and hitting the bottom of the postbox…) how dire it actually was. I got a polite ‘Thank you’ text and never spoken to again.

 

Pledge time!

I’ve been working on a squad of Deathwing Knights for the last few weeks. This is actually my second time tackling them. I had painted their armour with a brush the first time and really didn’t get anywhere near the smooth finish I wanted. So they sat ignored on my paint tray for over a year. I decided to revisit them when I was a little more confident with my airbrushing and was much happier with how they looked. Right now most of the large areas (armour, metals, tabards) are done and I’ve basecoated the details. Starting into them on Sunday morning and I’d really like to have them done by Monday. I like to follow a squad with a single mini and I have a pre-shaded Riddler for the Batman Miniatures Game lined up. He’s a fairly simple scheme but I like to push myself on the BMG minis and try for a standard above my rank and file stuff. He won’t have to match any other minis either so I can play around with shades.

Aside from those guys I’ll be doing some prep for next week’s game of Coriolis and I’m expecting @mage at some point for a game of X-Wing or BMG. I also promised a friend I’d learn the rules of a boardgame she bought and teach her how to play.

 

@unclejimmy

TTcombat really do good stuff. They have a really cool set of Venetian scenery for Carnevale that I’ll be grabbing in the near future. HDF is still something I haven’t painted much of. A lot of the buildings I see have very fine etched lines for brickwork and I’m not sure how to prime the pieces without really covering that over.

The weathering on those crates looks great.

 

@oriskany

When you say you’re drawing a map, do you mean hand drawing or are you using a program to do it digitally? I love campaign maps for mini games and maps/floor plans for RPGs but I haven’t seen a map editor that looks usable.

 

Sound…

According to Spotify, Pink Floyd were my most listened to band last year. Probably because long concept albums are great painting music.

 

Finally bought the digital version of this album on Bandcamp today. I have it on CD and LP for years but never had a copy I could listen to out and about. €6 well spent.

 

These guys are coming to Dublin later this year. Can’t wait.

 

Work and a BBQ tomorrow so I’ll check back on Sunday.

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Getting ready for a live web game of Darkstar tomorrow.

August 3, 2519:

Scenario:  Xi Boötis is a Second-Band star system about 22 light years from Sol, currently hotly contested between the United Kingdom and the Holy Russian Empire.  In this star system, the British have key military, industrial, and economic installations orbiting the moons of three of the outer gas giants.  One of these orbital platforms, Ravenwood Station, is in trouble.

Sensors on Ravenwood Station have detected an incoming gravimetric ripple, the tell-tale sign of ships in a Darkstar Wave.  The speed of the wave clearly indicates warships.  The amplitude of the wave indicates at least a cruiser strike force.  Yet although the wave is too fast for civilian traffic, it’s not fast enough for just a Russian cruiser raiding force.  The incoming warships are only doing a 9th-magnitude wave, about 150 c.

This probably means troop ships.  The Russians are coming to Ravenwood Station to stay.

Sure enough, as the Russians drop out of their Darkstar Wave and begin to decelerate to attack speed, British sensors identify the threat.  This is the battle-hardened Lazarev cruiser squadron (reinforced) under Captain Piotr F. Myshaga, a bloody-pawed bear with a plasma-scorched record extending back to the Psi Serpentis Wars of 2512.  The last ship in his battle line is perhaps the most chilling … the Zhukov-class assault destroyer Katukov.  Small and practically unarmed, she instead carries almost 200 elite Russian zero-g assault troops.  The Russians mean to take Ravenwood Station.

The only British force that is both powerful enough to match the Lazarev squadron and fast enough to make the intercept this far out in the Xi Boötis system is the Bellerophon battlegroup.  Accelerating to short, slow (but thereby hyperaccurate) intrasystem Darkstar wave, the Bellerophon and her escorts drop out of FTL just a few thousand kilometers from this moon and Ravenwood Station.  The Russians are already on their approach.

General Quarters!

The full map sheet:

Matchup of the approaching forces. The British have the heavier guns, especially aboard HMS Bellerophon and the installation itself. But the Russians are much faster and more numerous. CPK Katukov is the troop ship, carrying six assault boats and 168 shock troops. If she manages to dock with Ravenwood Station …

 

Xi Boötis is where the battle is taking place.

 

Some of the rarely-used charts to resolve boarding actions, the firefights that may be taking place while the naval battle is still ongoing.

 

The station sheet and the sheet for CPK Katukov, a modified Zhukov class assault destroyer (troop ship).

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 1]

The place is like the Marie Celeste (an old boat for the idiots) on Giro day, but soon the Vultures begin to circle. 100pts. Wow, I am really on form. Probable the worst morning ever. Then again, we did wake the children on xmas morning to find Jerry (the rabbit) has left us during the night.

How’s it going honkies?

@sundance – well, I am older than the parts! They are yours if you want them. There are a couple of Hammerhead Turrets somewhere.

@nogbadthebad – ah, this should raise my spirits. If it doesn’t I have three-quaters of a bottle of Port that might help.

1. I know those songs you mean. 50pts. Heather was shopping, beards ago when Jamie was 3-4, and she called and asked if my friend would pick her up from some shops about 5 miles away. As I was with John, my friend with the car, we set off to meet her with the mini-disc player at 11. Plenty of cock-rock classics. UFO, Journey (live), Van Halen, Saxon, etc, etc…compilations we had made for our various adventures over the years.

We meet Heather (who has Jamie with her) and the first thing she told us to do was to change the disc. She doesn’t like cock-rock. So I put in another disc from the box we had and we set off home. As we got out of the car park and onto the main road ‘Firewater Burn’ started, but as Heather was busy sorting out junk in her shopping-bags that she must not have noticed.

As they started singing, “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire…” Heather snaps, “Turn that off now!” At the speed of fright I turned the volume off, but Jamie just kept singing. John and I quickly glanced at each other in fear. She quietly said, “I’ll speak to both of you when we get home.” For the remaining three miles she just sat, arms crodded, and engine running!

Children are great, but can easily drop you right in it. I took Eve to Wacoshop when she was 8 and I bought two of the old metal Hive Tyrants and a few other bits and off we went. We were going to an exhibition about Bats and having a skive into the bargain.

We were in a shop that Eve loved. They sold ‘Living Dead Dolls’ and those kind of t-shirts. My darling, first born child then says, “Dad, buy me this.” It wasn’t a question. I didn’t even look. “Not a chance as you have £33 in your wallet. Mother told me.” Her reply was something like, “Yes, but I don’t want to spent my money. If you don’t i’ll tell mother what you bought in GW.” Not a hint of threat in her voice either. Never teach your children anything. Ever!

The Wurzels rule. They played a show at country park where we were doing a demonstration. Awesome. I remember them being on TV. As for Avril…totally awesome live. That was 2003-2005 – might be different now. I’d still take her for a weekend up at my cottage. Soup anyone? 100pts.

I have loads. Nothing I would hide or deny under duress, but that give me a little blush. Adam & the Ants, Madness (not because of the music), Japan (yes, I did copy the look), and a few others that slip my mind. Must be the effects of the strokes. Speaking of which…4th anniversary tomorrow. Heather used to be into Culture Club and she was a bloody goth.

I thought about ABBA, but they were masters of the perfect ‘pop’ song. Real stories in the songs and amazing music. I would list “The Day Berfore You Came” as one of the best songs ever written. It can make a glass-eye weep.

We all know why you have the Bwitched album sleeve. Sitting in the shed pulling the top of it! 1000pts. Smash Hits was like a softcore porno mag when I was 13+. I came across Bananarama in Smash Hits. Then they were singing with FB3. The Go-Go’s too.

2. The US Office rules. I might have to say a bit more then the UK version. 50pts. Poor Dwight. It is only because someone asked me this question the other day that it made me think. I am more into sarcasm, but abuse has been fun on the few times I have employed it.

If you want to hear the worst one I ever heard then you had better sit down first…it still makes me cringe. When we were in basic training each section had it’s own Corporal who was in charge. There was three section and the Cpl from B section was a pure knob-head. He clearly did not have enough hugs when he was growing-up as everyone said he was really nasty in ‘real’ life and not just giving us a hard time. He was a Cockney and never stopped going on about it. Our Cpl. was away somewhere and he took us for fieldcraft for the afternoon.

In our four-man room was a very young lad called Owen. Old enough to get into the real Army by about 3 days. Never been out of his own garden before. It took him a while to get the hang of things, but this was early on. We had done some drills and than had a break. That dick Cpl. then a flashbang and told us to get to the next rv point. We get there, 3 miles later, and Owen asks if he was supposed to bring his weapon too as he thought we were going back later.

We were lined up and by the look on the Cpl’s face I thought he was going to really fill him in. No. He walked over to him as calm as you like and without raising his voice he said, “Owen, you are a c*t de**h.” Horrible man.

I did tell a young lady in a recruitment agency that “Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to sniff my smelly sack.” I was hold said item at the time. It started because I pointed out to her she had mayo on her cheek.

In the very few instances where there might have been problems to myself (or others) then a prescription from ‘Doctor Foreheed’ is often enought to make things better.

3. I know the looks you will get too! 100pts. You would think you were confessing to being a serial killer. Small minds. As for carrying on…I don’t know anything else. I have been building models since I can remember and ‘gaming’ since I was 17. If I did it would not be good for my mental health either. The same would probably be the same for you too. I mean, what would you do with all the spare money? 50pts.

4. Never…not even a couplet? 10pts.

@oriskany – right on time! As always.

1. I don’t mind some very early Public Enemy as John Peel used to play them quite a bit. A few MM tracks get played here now-and-again. 50pts. Back then they had messages in the lyrics and it was not about “bitches and guns” and all that rubbish. I would take them “Gangstazs” up to Goven…they wouldn’t last 15 minutes. If the Neds didn’t get them then the jakkies would as they tried to escape.

2. I can dig it. Anyway, it is so easy to insult someone these days that sometimes I do it just out of spite!

3. My experience of ‘Historical Players’ were the greasy guys that used to hide at the back of the room. If you went anywhere near all their laptop screens get closed. They couldn’t make it to games on a tuesday evening as they had to go and sign the nonce-jotter.

I used to get my FW orders delivered to where I worked and I would sit and file bits during down-time of breaks. One of the women whispered to her friend that she bets I have great hands! No idea what she meant.

That said, she was a dreadful roaster that would ride you like Seabiscuit if you bought her a drink. You could tell she was having an orgasm…she would drop her chips & gravy. Boom-boom.

4. Well, I remember my birth certificate and it said, Mother: Lyinda Oliver. Father: 4th Batt.USMC. Now it makes sense. I’ll tell her you said that. 500pts.

Now, she does have the ‘power’. It runs in the female side of the family!

[unclejimmyMember 9225xp 0]

I will get full caught up after I have a trough and a bath. Play nice.

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