A Little Milestone: 50 000 views!

Hi folks,

I don't usually post about blog statistics, because they have never really been a focus of my bloggitude (is that even a word?). When I started Old School Gaming it was really just a haunt for my old gaming buddies, which I furnished with gaming curios. I had a good idea of how many friends I had, so after sharing to my private Facebook group, I could pretty much tell when everyone had read a blog post. After that view counter clicked to 7, I was happy. After a few weeks you can imagine my vexation when I hit 23 views one night. Who the hell was reading my blog? Even more importantly, I had to ask myself why were they reading my blog. The article in question was about Raphael the Ninja Turtle, if you're interested.

I came to the conclusion that trying to second guess what people wanted to read about was not for me. So I just posted what I was interested in, and things that I was proud of. Some things were just weighing heavily on my mind and had to be expressed. The blog has grown steadily since then, but not much has changed in terms of my motivation. At some point last night, the total number of blog views ticked over 50 000. That's small change compared to most of the blogs I read, but I still found myself celebrating this morning with a Caramello Koala (if you don't know what this is, you have not truly lived).

Can you spot the two Russian bot spikes?

One thing that has changed is that I don't just post for my old gaming buddies anymore. I have found many friends online that I respect greatly, who have inspired me and made this hobby so much more enjoyable. It is one of my great joys, opening up my Reading List to check what everyone has been up to and reply to comments that people have taken time to leave.

Instead of vigorously pursuing higher levels of readership, I have tried to make meaningful connections with people. To those of you who are regular contributors to my blog, by visiting or commenting, I just want to say thank you. You are more than just a number to me.

See you across the table,

Marc

Van Diemen's World Devils: Battlewagon Progress

Hi folks,

I gave myself an hour to see how much of my Van Diemen's World Battlewagon I could get finished. It turns out I can get quite a bit done! I started with a Nuln Oil wash over the olive armour plates and metallics, then used a short bristled flat brush to add Ushbati Bone highlights, which seamed to tie everything together. I also added some Runefang Steel highlights to the metallics and Shadow Grey to the blacks.

Next I added a blue jewelled effect to all of the little lenses (I'll give you a cookie if you can find all of them...).

The biggest job of the night was wet blending the roo shootin' lamps (note: I don't shoot kangaroos. I quite like them, unless they are jumping in front of my car in the middle of the night). I still need to clean up the shutters a little, because I got some white on them during the blending process. Avoiding this would have been more trouble than it was worth. When it is nice and neat, I'll whack a coat of gloss over the top to make it look like a big light bulb. I still need to paint the small headlights at the front, which will be tomorrow Marc's problem.

The next phase of the paint-job will include some weathering of the tires and rear assault ramp. I'm thinking of getting some red planet BASE! action going, because that would fit nicely with the Australian theme. I am also going to use a Black Templar decal on the assault ramp, because you don't just get Landraider doors from any old place. Let's just assume that they "borrowed" the door.

I also need to add some carbon scoring to the "smoke stack". Goodness knows how they get a battlewagon to run on steam, but I love the idea of it tooting in defiance as it unleashes all of those heavy bolters!

See you across the table,

Marc

The Weekly Review 25/3/17

Hi folks,

As the smoke settles on another week, I am glad to be able to report some progress, on both my Landraider Excelsior and a project that I am working on for a mate.

On the Table 

This week I have focused on the driver and data augury on my Landraider Excelsior; there are no holes in the hull anymore! The driver is a Techmarine which I painted in the same scheme as Hephaeston, my Deathwatch character. The augury was made from a little Dark Angels receiver dish from the Ravenwing sprue and a piece of armour from the Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnought. It's nice and small so that it won't distract from what ever I end up doing with the Aquila Aegis Field generator (I only have a shadow of an idea at the moment).

Under the Knife

With ANZAC day coming up in a few weeks, I figured I should get cracking on the Van Diemen's World transport I am putting together for The Trooper. One of the jobs I needed to do was to pin and glue the front wheel assembly, which I pimped out using parts from Victoria Miniatures.

With construction completed, I need to finish off the painting, which includes adding depth to the metallics, finishing off the weathering, painting the glass lenses on the roo shootin' lamps, some carbon scoring on the exhaust, everything on the twin heavy bolter and Colonel Clancy himself. I'll probably work some blue OSL in there somewhere, to match the lasguns on the infantry.

On my Mind

The 8th Edition rumours have been exciting this week. As a child of 2nd Edition, the idea of armour modifiers and individual movement stats are all pretty familiar to me. Having different ways to play the game is also pretty attractive, as the current rules haven't gained much traction in my gaming group the past couple of years. It would be interesting to present something really fresh to them and see if I can bring a few old friends back to the fold.

Also on my mind has been my health. I have a had a real shocker this week, with two trips to the Emergency ward at my local hospital. Whilst I am out of the woods, I could really do with a few weeks of peace. Let's hope the next review sees me enjoying better times.

See you across the table,

Marc

The Weekly Review 18/3/17

Hi folks,

I don't usually post my progress very often, even though I have about ten projects rumbling away at once. Literally, ten. So I have decided that Saturday night is going to be my weekly review night. I'm hoping that it will give the people who are interested some insight into the process I go through to get things done. It is also to motivate me a bit more to get back into the swing of things. To provide some structure I will be splitting the post into three parts: On the Table, Under the Knife and On my Mind.


On the Table

As I mentioned in the preamble, I have way too much on my table at the moment. Among the unfinished projects are two that I have been working on for my friends, a Van Diemen's World transport for The Trooper and a star of Ghost Bear battlemechs for KuriboGoomba. Both projects have been at the top of my personal to-do list for such a long time it is driving me slightly crazy, but it has been hard to get the motivation to finish them off. Desperate to shake the monkey off my back, I have been working on something completely different (project... 11, I guess). Today I spray undercoated my converted Landraider Excelsior black, followed by some Army Painter Angel Green, which I sprayed carefully to add some subtle zenithal highlighting and shading.

I spent a bit of time this morning picking out some metallic details with Leadbelchers and Warplock Bronze. I then went about weathering the front tracks and assault ramp with Caliban Green and Rhinox Hide mixtures, and Leadbelchers, all of which were applied using stipling.

While I was at it, I also undercoated four Devastator Marines armed with missile launchers. I'm planning on using them to bolster my air defense. I also figure they will pop more MEQ's than my plasma cannons, without killing themselves in the process.

Under the Knife

To finish the Excelsior off conversion-wise, I needed to build something to represent the Data Augur and fill the hatch-hole on the top surface. I dug deep in my bitz box and scrounged enough pieces to build a little Dark Angels themed radar dish and a Techmarine driver (some of you may recognise him...). I am going to paint the driver separately before installing the cupola to the hull of the Landraider.

On my Mind

After I have blown away all of the cobwebs, I am going to get cracking on the unfinished projects I have lying about for my mates. I am also messing about with a "40K in 40 minutes" set of rules that includes instructions for simultaneous movement and shooting. I have play-tested this before and the small change makes for an intense game. If you are interested in giving it a go, let me know in the comments.

See you across the table,

Marc

Dark Angels: Landraider Excelsior Build

Hi folks,

One of the unexpected products of the past couple of weeks has been a loss of sentimentality when it comes to my models. In particular, my Dark Angels tank paint scheme and overwhelming need to put plasma weapons on everything have withered under harsh scrutiny.

Back in the hazy days of 2nd Ed., put a bit of energy into painting an Unforgiven Crusade army, featuring the four paint schemes of the Dark Angels and their successors (Angels of Retribution, Absolution and Vengeance). My Predator Annihilator was the only model with an Angels of Retribution scheme, but it was so big compared to everything else that it seemed like an adequate representative to me.

When I  repainted everything to have the Dark Angels Chapter scheme, I left the Predator as it was because I had worked so damn hard to get the bone colour right. Every tank after that I have painted in the same scheme, or undercoated in preparation for that scheme. It has become a bit of a barrier for progress, however, as a plain green scheme is so much faster to paint (I have that stuff in a can). Additionally, the old paintjob is now getting on 15 years old. A lot has happened since then...

...so, last week I grabbed my tanks and dropped them all into a plastic box of Simple Green and just walked away. After a test scrub, I could see that the Simple Green was doing its job.

After it was stripped as much as possible, I dug through my bits box and converted it into a Landraider Excelsior command tank. It only has one detail left for me to add: the Data Augurs (though arguably, the antenna will do). If I can kitbash anything interesting you'll see it in the next post.

Grav and amp.

The Aquila Aegis Field generator is a set of angel decorations from the Ravenwing Command sprue, as well as a Dark Angels icon of the style I would usually discard in favour of a decal. I'm planning on painting that icon with a glow effect, similar to a power weapon. Any similarities to Dan Abnett's chaos glyph concept in the Gaunt's Ghosts series is completely coincidental (voi shet, Magir?).

The open portal is for the Data Augurs. I haven't decided what that will look like yet.

Of course, with a Landraider Excelsior you also have to take a Rhino Primaris, which will be my next kitbashing project. I am also tinkering with my Dark Angels quite a bit to get a better balance of weapons, with the plan of jumping back into gaming when the next edition hits.

See you across the table,

Marc

Old Stuff Day!

Hi folks,

For a few years now there has been a movement to rediscover old articles from the nether regions of hobby blogs. I still feel that my blog is a bit too young for this brand of blogomancy, but I thought I would throw back to a few articles from my first year that people may like. Here goes it:

1) Genesis: a short story about the night a girl loses everything and starts her journey as a Callidus assassin.

2) Old School Fathers Day: sage advice for Dad's that game and a bit of my origin story.

3) The Battle for Nurgle's Cookbook VII Part 1 and Part 2: If battle reports are your thing, here is my favourite homebrew scenario, played for the (nailbiting) 7th time. Come to think of it, it's about time I organised TBfNC VIII...

Last post I interviewed the wifey and she had a bit of a dig about one of my oldest and fondest miniatures: Suriel the assault squad veteran sergeant.

She remembers what this guy used to look like when we first started going out and liked the old look much better. In the old days he never had a shield and power weapon was painted with a solid blue glow effect. To give you some kind of an idea, here is a weird collage thing I did of the guy back in highschool. Talk about Old Stuff, this thing would be about 22 years old!

So, being the sensitive and responsive husbo that I am, I spent a few hours pulling the old model apart last night and wound back the clock 20 years. This involved repainting the power glaive/naginata and converting the left arm. He now looks quite a bit more... belligerent...

With some very simple changes I have captured the spirit of the original conversion I did all of those years ago, which was to become my favourite model and my little avatar on the battlefield. Best of all, the wifey approves ;o)

See you across the table,

Marc