What Has 2015 In Store For Me???

Well its 2015, and I am now planning for a new year in which hopefully I can turn things around and have an awesome year.

However it got off to a tough start, the pain from the head injury has subsided and although that might sound good, but in reality its not, because the pain from it has dulled the pain from my body due to the CFS, so now I am feeling both pretty badly. Add to that my numerous pills have damaged my lower intestine and there was some bleeding, and now my social anxiety is really playing up again.

But you know what, screw that, I have lots of cool stuff to look forward, I have lots of cool models to build and paint, specifically the last of my Space Wolves, and a brand new Tyranid army, and I am also building a Blood Angels army with Megan. I have Kings of the North coming up, which is getting better every day, and stuff is just gonna get better I think. I just need to keep on swimming!

So come on 2015, I wanna have a great year, so lets just be positive and make the year a good one.

On other news, have you seen the new Fantastic Four trailer???

Its looking really really bad, I mean its just dreadful. The cast just look far too young and with Billy Elliot playing The Thing, all I can think of is The Thing in a tutu.

Frankly the Fantastic Four is an amazing franchise and it really feels like they are making this simply to avoid returning the rights to Marvel/Disney, who could do a much better job integrating into the Marvel cinematic universe.

But what can we do, I am just gonna have to suck it up and try to resist watching it, so that I don’t have to hate myself for doing so.

Kings of the North and Other Stuff

Been a long time since I blogged (shame on me).

The Space Wolves, well they got finished and did ok at the tournament, it was an awesome birthday, won 2 games and lost 1. Beat a summoning Chaos Daemon army easily in my first game, my drop pods landed right in their deployment zone and kept them stuck there the whole game as I took apart his psykers and easily whittled his ability to do damage to me piecemeal. Had the time limit not ran out I would have table him.

Second game was humiliating, a Tyranid swarm ripped me apart in a few turns, leaving only my drop pods on the field, it was mucho embarrassing, but the guy is one of the best players in the north east so I am not all that surprised.

Last game against Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons was quite fun, again dropped my Wolves into the middle of his deployment zone and spent the entire game bit by bit pulling him apart, my only downfall was when he summoned a daemon prince of Khorne and he took my last objective from me.

Highlight of the game, was my Rune Priest denying Ahriman every single one of his psychic power manifestations, and then when he killed a Wolf Guard Pack Leader he immediately turned into a Chaos Spawn.

Once again Worhamma put on a brilliant event.

So what else is going on, well I am finally gonna crack open Dreadfleet and build and paint it up with Megans help.

And the biggest thing going on is Kings of the North

 

 

No One Will Do It For Me.

I have for a few years had an idea in the back of my head that has refused to go away, to organise my own wargaming event, but not just a tournament that anyone can do, but something more.

What I have wanted to put together is the Ultimate Gamers Experience, with players staying on site, playing some incredible games, having great food and basically having an amazing time.

We see some amazing events in the US and I have always thought that we can do some much better here, but we just needed to do it. Blue Table Painting put on events they call Vahalla which have influenced me greatly, and well I realised that though I wanted it, and other people wanted it, no one was interested in organising it.

So I realised that I want it, but no one will do it for me, so I need to do it myself. Well that was two years ago. Now earlier in the year I hurt my head, it still hurts to this day but it gave me time and I filled a notepad full of ideas for this event, and I have pushed onwards with it, and the guys from Worhamma got on board with me too after I surveyed the community and found out people wanted it too.

My original idea was more laid back, no real formally organised tournament's, hopefully some guests from the industry, some great terrain and some awesome food and drinks.

However we are now organising an event which is just as good, its a full weekend of tournaments and campaigns, a 2 day 40k tournament, 2 day Dystopian Wars/Legions campaign, 3 single day Malifaux tournaments, and a single day X-Wing tournament.

So Kings of the North is happening on April 17 – 19th, at Moor House Adventure Centre just outside Durham, I have paid the deposit and now have to work hard to make it happen, and you know what I think we have put together a fantastic proposition, for £66 you get two night full board, plus entry to a tournament with prizes, and we already have some amazing sponsors, Hawk Wargames, Spartan Games, KR Multicase, Privateer Press, Kromlech and a few more waiting in the wings too.

I hope people enjoy it, I know I will certainly enjoy organising it, but now already have plans for the original idea to happen in October next year as well, just gotta put the plan together for that one, already a few ideas have been written down.

Anyway I am off for the night, and I must remember to blog more often!

Man Vs. Hobby Day 11

Today I got basing and undercoating done and a little painting too, yay!

Last night I stayed up and added basing material to the models, I add it prior to undercoating because I find the undercoat helps to keep it attached to the base. For basing I use a tub which contains a mixture of bird cage sand, bird cage grit and some kitty litter. In my opinion this gives a great varied texture and is very cheap too.

This morning started off with a visit from a dear friend Chris, was lovely to have a cup of tea and a catch up.

This was followed by two hours of undercoating, for this I have always used the ProDriver Auto Spray Paint from Poundland, its good value and give a nice surface to paint on. I know other people will look down their noses at it, but when one is on a budget one works with what one can afford. Anyway it was very very hot, and I just had enough undercoat to actually do everything, then proceeded to blackout once it was all done due to dehydration.

And of course I was able to begin painting, concentrating on the models that make up the Fierce Eyes Finest formation first. I have laid down a basecoat of The Fang first followed by two very thin layers of Russ Grey, then a wash with Agrax Earthshade, and then another layer of Russ Grey, its slow going, but at least the painting has begun. Tomorrow I continue to get some colour on these models and hopefully order Space Hulk and a Rune Priest in the evening.

Man Vs Hobby Days 8, 9 & 10

Due to blackouts my hobby time has been restricted as has my time to blog, however I have got some stuff done.
But first off let me start with this video that Games Workshop debuted on Monday!
I wonder what this could be, Space Hulk perhaps!!!
Monday I had to go into my doctors to be examined to make sure I wasn’t going to drop dead as a result of the blackouts, and have to have ECGs and wear a heart monitor, not good stuff. Afterwards I did accompany Megan to the Metrocentre, where we had a KFC, my favourite fast food.
Afterwards, she then splashed the cash and bought herself some stuff for her new Ork army, the Ork Mekmob and Badrukk’s Flash Gitz boxes, to add to the two sets of Stormclaw Orks that I gave her, minus a Warboss, I wanted one for my Orks. She also picked up a Talos Pain Engine for her Dark Eldar, because she is into those S&M freaks!
Tuesday, was quiet, had a delivery of some present I bought for Christmas and then I did a bit more Christmas shopping, and today I had to go back to the doctors, we think the blackouts are a result of new diabetes medication, dehydration, my head injury and the chronic fatigue, so lets see how that goes.
Anyway back to hobby stuff well I have built quite a bit thus far, got another unit of Power Armoured Wolf Guard built with their Drop Pod, and two units of Grey Hunters along with their Drop Pods and of course Wolf Guard Pack Leaders in Terminator Armour, I also built the last drop pod as well, meaning now I have built all seven drop pods.
I have still yet to strip the metal Rune Priest, and need to purchase another, but I intend to do that Saturday when I go to the Metrocentre and buy Space Hulk, which is awesome and I cannot wait to get my hands on it, also, hopefully acquire some more of the Terminators for a future Blood Angels allied detachment. Oh and some Genestealers too, you know in case I ever decide to start a Tyranid army up!
I think I am done with building for now, so tomorrow I am going to try and undercoat some of these bad boys at last, and finally begin the painting phase, and lets face it there is an awful lot of painting to do.
For this I think I am mostly going to be following the guide that was put up by Games Workshop movie star Duncan Rhodes in his tutorial video on the GW YouTube Channel. These videos I think have been utterly fantastic and have given some really great tips, particularly for unskilled painters like myself. Anyway lots and lots to do still, so lets get on with it!!!

Man Vs. Hobby Days 6 & 7, & Games with Dylan

The visit of my muggle brother has restricted hobby time, but that's cool cause I have got the chance to spend time with my amazing nephews, Dylan, Rieley and Max.

On Saturday I managed to build a Stormfang, not the best use of the kit but this will serve as my primary anti-armour and anti-air unit until I am able to add a couple of Storm Wolves and perhaps a Fire Raptor. Equipped with Lascannons, Skyhammer Missiles and the Helfrost Destroyer it should pack a nice punch.

I also managed to introduce Dylan to a couple of decent games, Castllan on Saturday and Rampage and Dino Hunt Dice on Sunday, he love them all, however I now have to play Monopoly with him tonight :-(

Castellan is a great game for kids and I really think Steve Jackson Games should try and market the game to younger kids, I suppose the small bits are an issue, but every time I play it as an MiB it goes down amazingly with kids, yeah it's a pricey game, but the components are top notch, the rules are simple and it's a great way to teach resource management and how to plan ahead to children.

On Sunday spent time watching the Great North Run, my brother Paul got an impressive time of 2hrs and 19 Minutes and did me and his family proud, well done you silly idiot!

I did manage to build a single Grey Hunter, used the torso from the Stormfang kit, and I used a Space Marine biker torso for the pilot. Again, I like to mix a few parts around so I get a slightly more unique army, and it's a nice torso, too nice to be behind a canopy!

Due to blackouts the girls had me stay at home rather than either go to South Shields to cheer Paul in as he finished or head up to Newcastle to check out the new Comic Book cafe, but well they have to look after my health, I suppose.

Anyway, tomorrow I plan to do some undercoating and finally strip the Rune Priest, still need to buy an additional Tune Priest however, and perhaps a Wolf Priest too.

Man Vs. Hobby Day 5

Today i have been having blackouts, possibly a combination of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the sever head trauma and a change to my diabetes pill, the girls exiled me to bed fairly early.

So all I did was complete my Void Claws. My brother is coming up to run the Great North Run this weekend for CLIC Sargent, so if you want to support this wonderful charity who helped my nephew Dylan survive leukaemia then visit his Facebook page and show some support and if you can donate something.

Unfortunately my brother is a muggle, so there will be little hobby time with him around, but I hope to get Dylan playing some good board games, all he plays at the moment is Monopoly, despite me giving him a copy of the excellent Castellan for Christmas and Dino Hunt Dice about a month ago. We shall convert the child to our ways yet!!!

Man Vs. Hobby Day 4

Still a bit ill hence the late post again, but got a bit better in the afternoon so I build two drop pods and a unit of Wolf Guard. Also began work on the Void Claws, a rather tasty formation form the champions of Fenris Supplement.

Got the Space Wolves Accessories frame as well so that has been put to use in this Wolf Guard unit, and I think they look pretty cool, the parts are a little retro and do seem to have a bit less detail than the regular Space Wolves stuff but that's because they were designed for the old school Space Wolves box from the late 90s. The ornate backpacks will look really good on the power armoured Wolf Guard Battle Leader for the Grey Hunters I built yesterday, because I really think with the Mk VIII Errant Armour, it needs something really ornate and awesome looking.

The Void Claws are a fantastic little unit and their ability to help with reserve rolls will really help me out a lot, I am heavily basing my Space Wolves around drop pods, why because that's how Space Wolves should roll baby, drop from the skies and pump bolts and melta into the enemy in a crippling alpha strike. Only issue is that they have to wait a turn before they can assault anything, being only armed with Wolf Claws they can’t do any fighting in the turn when they arrive.

I am building them using some parts from a Wolf Guard Terminator set and an Assault Terminator set, again some kit mixing to give a nice varied appearance to these Sky Warriors of Fenris.