[unofficial weekender] almost one third done

[sundancer 42900xp 2]

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First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

Introduce yourselves (New member thread)

https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/

Read all of this before you start as it will save you any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is the unofficial Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

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Questions:

• Working in the miniature/tabletop industry: Would you like to work in the industry of our hobby and if you do, would you like to “get out”?
• Is there any job you really wished you had the chance to get into?
• What other hobby would you like to explore but just don’t because the barrier to entry is way to high?

And now back to the show.

[sundancer 42900xp 2]

My pledge: stay sane over the weekend…. visits have been announced…

• Yes but no. Yes for the obvious benefits you usually have (x% off buying stuff, getting to know things early etc) and no because I don’t want my thing that’s there for relaxation to become also my reason for stress. So… yeah…
• When I was younger I really wanted to get into special effects in the movie industry (I blame Star Wars and every other cool Sci Fi movie) but I really didn’t know how and to be honest didn’t have much support for it from my family. If they even really realized that I wanted to go that way. In addition to that I wouldn’t have know where to go to or who to speak to. This is all decades before the Internet so “finding out stuff” and getting into inner circles really required some connections…
• Basically every hobby that has a technical aspect to it. But most of the time you need a) space and b) money to set up any kind of “hobby area”. And because I have bitched and moaned about that multiple times you all know: it ain’t gonna happen any time soon.

Back to my coffee.

[demonsub 12746xp 1]

Happy Friday.

My pledge is to finish the miniatures from the Sláine starter set. I’m playing an intro game tomorrow and I already have the miniatures up to a rough tabletop standard. I’ve mainly highlights and some detail work to do.
Going to try a practice game in my own later this afternoon so I can pretend I know what I’m taking about to my friends tomorrow.

Working in the miniature/tabletop industry: Would you like to work in the industry of our hobby and if you do, would you like to “get out”?

I like to keep my hobbies and my work separate. If I was to get a job in the industry, then it would have to be the non artist side, maybe casting miniatures, or editing or retail, that kind of thing.

Is there any job you really wished you had the chance to get into?

A Medieval monk illuminating manuscripts, but I was born 800 years too late and I’m not religious so, oh well.
Maybe a librarian or something scholarly. I wanted to be a scientist when I was young but after going through university I realised I didn’t have the focus to study just one thing, in that much detail, I like bits of everything and with a lot less technical maths.

What other hobby would you like to explore but just don’t because the barrier to entry is way to high?

Time traveller? ? Not sure about this one. Archeological perhaps? But then would I have the patience?

 

[sundancer 42900xp 1]

@demonsub  have fun with the game.

[limburger 21668xp 1]

ooh the 3 questions from the Wizz ‘ard

• Working in the miniature/tabletop industry: Would you like to work in the industry of our hobby and if you do, would you like to “get out”?

Nope, I can’t see myself being ‘creative’ on command 40h/week …
The simple fact that people can do such work and not tire of it is amazing.

• Is there any job you really wished you had the chance to get into?

Is being a lazy rich bastard a job ? ’cause I wanted to be that one 😀
The one thing that kind of grinds my gears is the idea that you’re supposed to want ‘more’ responsibility and such.
We should be allowed to be happy at whatever level we’re comfortable with instead of climing the career ladder until you die.

• What other hobby would you like to explore but just don’t because the barrier to entry is way to high?

Watching people like Adam Savage, Simone Giertz and Colin Furze sometimes makes me wish I could do the things they do.
I know that Simone kind of has proven that you should just go out and do it … but somehow I just don’t have commitment to do anything even more complicated that assembling a plastic model kit.
So effectively my only barrier is myself (and maybe a bit of dedicated hobby space).

[danlee 22433xp 1]

This week’s pledge is to assemble and undercoat some 3D prints, and possibly start painting them if time permits.

 

I finished another batch of 10mm wood elves last night. I’ll be taking a little break from them for a while now. https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1706063/

 

 

• Working in the miniature/tabletop industry: Would you like to work in the industry of our hobby and if you do, would you like to “get out”? – I’d prefer to keep my hobby and job separate. I believe its better to have more variety.
• Is there any job you really wished you had the chance to get into? – Does superhero count?
• What other hobby would you like to explore but just don’t because the barrier to entry is way too high? – For me the biggest barrier must be lack of time. It would be nice to actually play games again. Leather crafting has been intriguing me these past six months or so.

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 1]

Sorry I’m a bit late, chaps; end of the school year can get a little mad… I will pledge to maybe start…something… I’m a bit late to pledge to paint the T-47, seeing as I finished her last night… Well, minus the glass… The project log(s) for it are up, but here’s the finished article:

As for questions…

Working in the miniature/tabletop industry: Would you like to work in the industry of our hobby and if you do, would you like to “get out”?

It’s one of those things that sounds fun, until you actually talk to someone who does it for a living… Maybe running a little model shop once I retire just for funsies sounds doable for me.

Is there any job you really wished you had the chance to get into?

Well I’ve been all over the place in the past with things I wanted to do…so who knows? I’m starting my first geology summer job in a month, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I started my uni programme 4 years ago… 😛

What other hobby would you like to explore but just don’t because the barrier to entry is way to high?

Travelling. I want to see things, go to places I’ve never seen before, just get out in the world and explore…but it is so damn expensive to actually do…

How about some music? I found some good ones recently!

[sundancer 42900xp 1]

Sunday almost done…. almost envious of you lot doing all the hobby… maybe tonight I will start cleaning the hobby/home office area… or not. And then watch the good lad Mel the Terrain Tutor on the YouTube.

[limburger 21668xp 0]

Slaine’s late … I think he forgot how clocks work or something.

Meanwhile I got an email telling me the Welsh will be arriving ‘soon’

I wonder who’s getting here first 😀

GW announcing ‘big reveals’ at Wammerfest … and I sit there thinking :
– 40k ? surely yet another codex and maybe a new boxed set featuring one or two models that are actually new
– AoS ? maybe a new boxed set with an army and a codex ?
– WarCry ? new boxed set ?
– Necromunda ? that’s the ash waste boxed set …
– killteam ? the new a vs b team set
– Underworld ? didn’t they recently release a new starter set? maybe a new team or two ?
– Horus Heresy ? probably a final reveal of the trailer for the pre-order of the boxed set they will allow us to pre-order in a couple of months …

meh …
I must admit that I like the old school space marines, but given that it’s the ancient rules set and they (once again) fail to take the opportunity to rewrite the thing from scratch for a setting that will be very limited (just space marines vs space marines).
And don’t give me that “they don’t want to upset the fans” nonsense, because the release of AoS clearly proved that they don’t mind burning the bridges and then dropping a nuke on the remains …
The only reason they’re using the ‘old’ rules is because they can’t be arsed and this was cheaper.

/rant

Can I say that it really sucks that a fantastic setting is wasted on such a mediocre set of rules ?

Reading Deadzone and Firefight rules has been soo refreshingly honest and inspiring.

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 1]

The Welsh arriving in the Netherlands? Has Boris started evicting them en masse? 😛

I guess I’m usually classified as a ‘GW fanboy’ by now, but I kind of agree with you there, @limburger; the rules are kind of dragging down the setting. It is all down to money, really. They burned down the old Fantasy rules because no one was buying anything; everyone was using their armies from years and years ago and buying the newer rules when they came out. The game was difficult to grow at the point at which they axed it in favour of AoS. Even their ‘big reveals’ are as predictable as you suggested. I’d say I’d take bets on what you right or wrong, but no one would bet against you, really. 😛 Their ‘balance’ dataslate was a joke because it a. ONLY counts for Matched Play, and b. just made stupid blanket changes rather than fix individual problems.

There’s one of the Yogscast streams I sometimes watch where one of the guys was explaining that he was testing out playing ’40k’ with an alternate (free) ruleset to see how it was. Can’t remember the site he mentioned now, but I can try and look it up later. In the end, though, playing 40k or any GW game is a choice we make. I would, for example, never touch Infinity with a barge pole because it sounds like the most horrendously complicated nonsense I could imagine in a wargame. That’s my opinion, though; doesn’t mean someone else isn’t allowed to enjoy it. I like to build complex model kits that sit on a shelf once I’m done with them; doesn’t mean someone who uses quick build kits with a few block colours on the mini to play games with is any less than me. Sorry if this seems a pretty oblique direction of conversation; but I guess a lot of my hobby thoughts of late have been directed towards a growing personal feeling that we as a community (community here spanning far beyond our own little gang here at OTT) are becoming more and more polarised. I hope I’ve imagined it in my head…I do do that sometimes with all the other nonsense going on up there, but I do worry it’s happening…

[limburger 21668xp 1]

The difference between Infinity and GW products is easy (IMHO) :
= GW is complex because it is system geared towards buying the latest models.
Every single time something is released it is ‘better’ than what the faction had and it is crystal clear that it replaces something.
The simple fact that their ‘balance’ had to address the fact that people could take multiple flying vehicles or orks using ‘too many’ of their ‘special’ vehicles is shows that they knew what they were doing all along.

Nothing shows this better than the new Killteam … I must admit that they had me fooled into thinking that the ‘compendium’ would give me playable factions, instead it became pretty much obvious that any new faction release would get more than a few point tweaks to the stats in the compendium itself. I really should have seen it coming, but I was thinking it was like the Indexes they did after 8th edition …

= Infinity is complex, because it has a lot of options, everything has a purpose and there is a clear design strategy
Everything I’ve read about it shows that they really thought about how features impact their overall gameplay.

I think  ‘Code One’ was a good step towards making Infinity playable for beginners, because it shows they understand that the system itself had become too complex to be understood.

I think that as a community we are pretty much happy to let everyone enjoy the things in the hobby that they like. We may rant about things, but it is never personal …

I can’t read a single Reddit topic without commenters posting something along the lines of ‘git gud’ or ‘you are having wrong fun’ with not a single attempt at actually providing help. Meanwhile any topic on OTT has always useful answers or at least helpful hints.

// @crazyredcoat

This may be the alternative 40k/AoS rule set you want :

Games

I’ve been looking at them myself. Haven’t had the time to digest what it means for the stuff I’ve got, but it certainly is on my list as an alternative to the GW rules.

[sundancer 42900xp 1]

On a completely different topic (and probably violating my own rules (again)).

• Musk buys twitter.
• Internet looses its shit
• Hordes of users flood the Mastodon fediverse instances. (decentralized, open source Twitter alternative micro blogging service)
• Lunatics on Twitter go ballistic on everybody who dares mentioning Mastodon

Never have I seen so much chaos erupting online within 24 hours. At least I can’t remember. People really have to much spare time on their hands…. XD

[limburger 21668xp 0]

Twitter is filled with loonies …

watching the events unfold as Musk announced his bid and the attempt at stopping him was as hilarious as it was enlightening.
All the morons showing their true colours.
All the big investors showing what they perceive as a threat to their existance …
And we all know that like any of these boycotts they will return once the dust has settled, because being able to tweet nonsense is more important than actually doing what you say.

The best image I’ve seen so far were Bezos says something like “what’s next .. Amazon?” followed by an image of Musk with his credit card …

The big problem with Twitter and those trying to compete with that platform is that you need a shit load of money just to get the hardware to the same level and then you need to convince people to leave their audience and hope they bring their followers with them. It is why any competing platform is doomed and simply buying Twitter may be the best solution if you really want to change how that thing works. wether Musk can do any of that and how much momentum he needs before things start going his way … that’s a big question.

Open sourcing a lot of the ‘secret’ code behind Twitter’s timeline mechanics is a good idea no matter what legal issues may need to be resolved.

I’d summarize it with these lines :
“Meet the new boss
same as the old boss
will get fooled again ”

’cause the more things change … the more they stay the same.

// —-

In other news … I gots me Slaine and Dredd things.
The courier almost ran a way before I could tackle him (impatient twat … ), but I gots it.

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 1]

I was deff meaning the hobby community as a whole, which includes reddit, sadly, and they drag the rest of us down… I agree that we here at OTT are a much more relaxed subset of hobbyists that, by and large, just let things be things. I also see your point with the Infinity vs. GW, I was just using it as an example of a game I find to be too complex for my tastes and as I don’t play GW games competitively then I can ignore a fair amount of the imbalance within the game (though it does still bother me that they can’t just fix the damn thing…).

It wasn’t One Page Rules I was thinking of, it was something called Battle Forge. Here’s the link for it: https://www.battleforgegame.com/. It has a bit more ‘depth’ than the One Page Rules, but is also modular, so there’s a common ruleset with different modules you can use for flavour/setting/even scale, I think. I might see if I can convince my brother to at least give it a go, but he’s pretty happy with the current GW rules because he ‘doesn’t care about competitiveness’…but also doesn’t understand how unbalanced the narrative play stuff is as well…

Ol’ Musky just wanted Twitter so he could stop people saying mean things about him…

[limburger 21668xp 1]

It’s not the imbalance that bothers me, but the simple fact that even core troops get a ton of ‘special’ rules.
The core concept in 8th edition 40k (and AoS) was nice and simple.
8 pages for the rules, a few exceptions on the stat cards and get playing …

A few codexes later and everyone has multiple exceptions and rules that have synergies, which you won’t discover by reading the core rules. And then there’s the enemy who may have features you aren’t even aware of, unless you buy their codexes. Did I mention that similar rules get different names across every faction ? Even if GW wanted to make it balanced they didn’t make it easy on themselves.

Compare this to Mantic’s Firefight. All possible ‘special’ abilities in the rulebook and all faction forces in the other.
The only thing I’ve noticed is that not every faction has a unit with the ‘hacker’ keyword, which is sort of beneficial in one of the narrative missions.  It probably fits the theme of the factions, but as I am aware that the skill exists it won’t be an unwelcome surprise.

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