Here we go, starting in on the new style of blog posts. For the longest time I’ve been using this website less as a blog and more as a regular website with WordPress as my content management system. The other day I complained about lack of traffic. Instead of complaining and doing nothing I’m changing things up. Hopefully the increase in updates will show a similar increase in traffic.

I am sure that there are more than a few of you reading this and saying that traffic shouldn’t be the primary reason for creating this site. While that is true to an extent, if I didn’t care about traffic why spend the time and energy putting this online when I could easily create a project journal in Microsoft Onenote. I do have project journals that I find useful, but I also want to show off and share my hobby with others. All bloggers are in some way exhibitionists with enough of an ego to think other people will care about what they have to say. Most, like myself, were probably inspired by similar sites. We know people want to read this sort of thing because we want to read this sort of thing.

The very tempting Assault on Black Reach Starter Set.

Just a quick note: I am aware that the images on the top-left are skewed. This was part of the site redesign and I need to recreate all of the images. At the same time I’ll add some more. Otherwise, any feedback is much appreciated.

Current Projects

Speaking of projects, I’ve recently been rethinking the projects on my workbench. I’ve written about this before. I’m the kind of wargamer known as the Butterfly. Manly. The butterfly flits from project to project and generally shows the attention span of a gnat. As an example, I picked up a White Dwarf for the first time in forever. A podcast I was listening to mentioned that GW was focusing more on painting and modelling in White Dwarf. The theory was that this is to compete with games like AT43 by promoting the hobby sides of the game as a selling feature. A good idea, and the type of articles I felt I was missing when I stopped reading the magazine. I happened to be at Chapters and decided to take a look at the magazine. When I picked it up my mind was immediately made to give the issue a try. It wasn’t the cover, but the physical feel of the issue. White Dwarf #28 comes with two sample miniatures from the Assault on Black Reach game; a Space Marine Terminator and an Ork Nob. Sold!

I’ve enjoyed reading through it and realized something very important about myself. No-one is ever an ex-GW Fanboy. The recovering process, like that of alcoholism¹, is ongoing. As I read about the new release I thought that it might be fun to pick it up. After all, I am not the wargamer I was when I first played GW games. The last boxed set I purchased was Starship Troopers, and I’ve painted all the miniatures from that box. Perfect rationalization for buying a new boxed set. Nevermind all the other projects I should finish first, nevermind that I’ve decided to avoid GW products in favour of all the other excellent wargames that are much more affordable. I must have it. It must be mine!.

Then reason started to creep into my thought process. I purchased a large set of Space Marines years ago that I never painted. I have a couple of Tactical Squads, an Assault Squad, a Bike Squad, a Captain, Librarian and Chaplain on Bike, a Landspeeder and Predator tank all waiting to be painted. That’s enough for a decent starter army at least.

This boxed set almost ended my relationship with my wife before it even got started. In a fit of oxygen deprivation at a GW Store auction I spent all of my money on it, not realizing it would leave me too broke to even take my wife, then new girlfriend, out for her birthday.

Even this small level of madness passed; a display of awesome wargamer willpower. I already have enough on my plate that thinking of adding something new at this point is a bit premature. However, it’s not like I have so many projects that I can never add anything new. Which got me to think about what projects I do have on the go. Being a wargamer butterfly, this seems to change day by day as new projects grab my interest and old ones are temporarily forgotten. Here are the projects in the order I plan to tackle them. Remember, for me, a project is something like painting a wargaming unit, not a whole army. Right now I don’t get to play much, so painting an army is less of a priority than painting something interesting and different.

• TMP Article: This is a short project. I am painting some miniatures for The Miniatures Page. I’ll link to the workbench article when it is finished.
• Warlord Games Romans: I painted 16 Warlord Games Romans for a Battlesgames article. I haven’t heard if it’s been accepted yet, but I still have the remainder of the box remaining. Instead of packing them away I am going to finish painting them to create a complete unit. Unfortunately I won’t be able to describe how they were painted for a while, if ever, because of the magazine article.
• Warhammer Fantasy Orcs: Remember when I was painting these guys? I stopped before they were finished in order to paint the above Romans for a deadline. Once I start painting them I’ll actually be able to get some more WIP images on the site. I started painting this to encourage a friend to paint his Tomb Kings. He hasn’t even started so I doubt I’ll be playing with him. Meanwhile, one of my Magic and D&D players, an ex-Assistant Manager of a local GW store, has started painting again after a hiatus. He’s doing up some Warhammer Chaos figures, giving me a reason to continue and perhaps expand this fun project.
• Heavy Gear Blitz! Army: While the army is complete, I still have plenty of Gears to paint to increase the size and give me more options. Now that my current job means I’ll always have weekends off I can consider playing this game regularly. Actually playing a game is a great incentive for painting.
• 1812 Project: This project has been on the backburner for a long while. I need to take some pictures of my miniatures in terrain and paint some new figures. It’s something that I’m interested in, but it is a long-term project and not something I expect to be able to play anytime soon. Sometimes I get the urge to move faster on it and painting up a unit will scratch that itch.
• Field of Glory: Although I’ll have a unit of Early Imperial Romans based for Field of Glory soon, I’m still undecided on what army I want to collect. Although I started with a lot of enthusiasm, much like my 1812 project, I despair of ever finishing it.
• Warhammer 40K Space Marines: Will this become a project, or will the urge fade by the time I clear my workbench? I certainly plan to paint the Terminator and Nob as soon as possible.
• Necromunda: Some of my friends still idly talkk of starting a new Necromunda campaign. They’ve been away from wargames for a long while and I wonder how much is nostalgia, and how much serious plans.
• Warmaster Ancients: Another Ancients wargame where I’m not set on which army I want to paint. I’m not sure if I’m going to ever return to this.
• Warmaster: I’ve painted two armies, not sure if I’ll ever add to them.
• Battlefleet Gothic: Another old friend is talking about returning to this game. While I have fond memories of playing it, I sometimes think I’d rather find a similar game and use some of the awesome Ninja Magic miniatures. They have their own rule system too, hmm. Oh no, another project!

Well, so much for more frequent, quick blog posts. This one has turned into a monster. Once again, feedback is much appreciated. Please do me a favour and take the time to leave a comment. It’s simple and easy, no login required.

Tyler

1) I am not seriously comparing purchasing hobby products to the disease of alcoholism. Buying GW products is never romanticized in movies or tv. Seriously though, I’m just goofing.

 Loading ...

A blog I enjoy recently celebrated their 1st birthday. Reviewing his previous year, Der Alte Fritz mentions that he averages 170 visitors a day, or 5000 a month. Wee Toy Soldiers, now on permanent hiatus, averaged a respectable 3000+ unique visits a month. The General’s Tent, on the other hand, manages just 772 visits a month. Being deeply vain, I wonder why I don’t get as many visits as these other sites.

I’ve recently made some changes to the site and am thinking about more. On the left, you can see that my sidebar is wider. It bothered me that my search bar over-ran it, plus I wanted to add a poll to it, requiring more space. The original width of my sidebar was determined by trying to squeeze as much of my content area into the right side of the site. Since I originally designed the site I changed my content area from dynamically adjusting to the page width in favour of a constant width. I also fixed some IE alignment issues that have been bugging me.

As you can see from the poll, I am also wondering about my update schedule. Perhaps if I updated more often instead of sticking to a weekly schedule. I’d like to hear people’s feedback, hence the poll. Plus comments are as welcome as ever. Anyway, back to the regularily scheduled post.

My entry in the 2001 Canadian Golden Demon

I won the first painting competition I ever entered. It was a small store competition introduced by Games Workshop to promote new releases. They give you a basic miniature to paint, you bring it back in a week for the painting competition. It was the first of its kind, in Canada at least, and it was for the 6th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I won through a combination of eye-catching paintjob and lack of serious competition. I think my miniature was good, but I also realize that not many of the top painters in my area were aware of the competition.

My success at the competition, and a chance to attend my first GW Games Day, lead me to enter a miniature in the Golden Demon painting competition. This is a competition that, if people are going to a Games Day, everyone should compete in. It challenges you to paint to the best of your ability, to improve and stretch to greater heights of painting talent. Just be aware of your chances of winning. I was too confident, with hopes set too high, when I entered and it still makes me a little sad today.

I didn’t advance past the first round. Looking at my entry I can clearly see why. However, it was one of the best miniatures I had painted at the time, one of my first conversions and a miniature I am still proud of today.

The miniature is a converted Space Marine miniature by Games Workshop for their science fiction game, Warhammer 40,000. The miniature represents a standard bearer. The conversion was relatively minor, especially considering what is winning today’s Golden Demons. I chose a Space Marine Captain with force-axe based on its pose. I cut off the axe and drilling out the marine’s hand to accept the standard pole. The standard was created in a graphics program and printed with the incorrect latin motto added by hand. It should read Nemo Me Impune Lacessit, meaning Noone Provokes Me with Impunity and is the motto of the Order of the Thistle and of the Royal Canadian Highland Regiment. I also sculpted a laurel wreath on the marine’s helmet, having read in the Warhammer 40K background that all Space Marine standard bearers must have won the Laurel Wreath for distinction in combat to earn the right to bear a company’s standard. The wreath was sculpted with Miliput. Finally, the banner pole was finished with a finial taken from some Inquisitor bits.

The miniature was painted with Games Workshop paints. The scheme was for my fan-made Chapter, the Black Watch. It was based off a scheme I saw in the 4th Edition Warhammer 40K Codex: Space Marines but could never quite match. You can see it here as the Raptors Chapter. I was basecoating with Camo Green, then glazing with brown to get that olive green colour. I was never really happy with it, and one day I will paint some more Space Marines and give the scheme a new try with my Vallejo paints.

Painted: 2001 with Games Workshop paints.

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine produced by Games Workshop, converted.

Tyler