Star Trek Online, and some WIP shots

So I'm going to start this out with a blanket statement that I am not really a huge fan of the Star Trek TV shows.  I watched a lot of Next Generation and Deep Space Nine in my younger years, but I honestly attribute that to being a huge Sci Fi fan and not having anything else on TV at that time, and the fact that I was living on a military base overseas and AFN only had like 2 or 3 channels back then anyways.  That being said, I am actually a HUGE fan of Star Trek Online.

My brother and his friends have been playing this game for a while now, and I finally caved in and downloaded it.  It's a Freemium game from Perfect World Entertainment, who has a near perfect track record of being buy to win with online games.  This one isn't too different in that regard, but I like it enough that I am actually willing to over look that issue, for now at least.

You start the game by picking one of three allegiances, Federation, Klingon, or Romulan (who end up joining either the Feds or Klingons at level 10 anyways), and are quickly immersed in the two different aspects of the game: ground combat and space combat.  The ground combat is really nothing exciting, running fairly decent graphics but a physics engine that feels lack luster and clunky.  The space combat though is where I am invested in this game.

There has not been a huge amount of space combat games that I have liked in the last decade or so.  Eve is cool and all, but I like to physically control my ship while fighting others.  The Star Wars MMO has a realllllllly fun space PvP system, but I can't stand to play the game because it feels like you're getting punished severely for not giving them money.  The combat and ship building systems in Star Trek Online though have cured my itch.

You unlock larger classes of ships as you level in this game, which makes sense, and you also unlock different crew and bridge officers that help you in various ways as you complete missions.  You can equip what ever types of weapons you want on your ships, which all have different damage types like energy, plasma, etc, as well as each having different ranges and firing arcs.  This lets you build the ships to your play style, and gives you the option to play a high risk, high reward type of gaming by putting a bunch of strong, 45 degree - 90 degree firing arc weapons on your ship and hoping nothing gets stuck behind you.

Aside from all of that, I have actually managed to get some painting done as well.  Mostly just base painting and some layering with my airbrush, but check out what I have so far.  These are all work in progress shots, so hopefully I'll get some finished shots up soon as well.

My three Avenger Strike Fighters that I have to support my Mechanicum.

A closer shot showing the airbrush work I have done so far.  Needs a lot of detail still, but it's coming along nicely.

I am also working on some Night Lords models, probably not as a full army, but I loved the Sevetar and Curze models so much that I just had to buy them and get them painted.  Only have a few colors down at the moment, but I'm loving it so far.

Well, that's it for now.  As I get more done on the models I post more pictures.  Stay classy internet, and if any of you cool kids out there have video game suggestions, feel free to post them below and I'll check them out.

Often over looked tool in my work space

Yes, Woodland Scenics Latex Rubber is a God send, although it does smell fairly awful.  I use it for masking things on about 3/4 of my projects, and the best part is that a jar of it lasts a LONGGGGGGGGGG time when you're using it for modeling.  I slap it around wherever I want to mask, let it dry, then airbrush the hell out of everything all willy nilly.  When the paint dries, I use a dental pick to get a solid grasp on the Latex, pull, and viola!  It looks like I took my time when I really didn't.  Currently I'm using it to mask off the base on my Konrad Curze that I picked up from Forge World, since they were so kind to sculpt him onto the wall...(would have really loved to paint him separate and pin him on, but nooooooo).

Anyways, after tonight I should have my projects base painted and then I'll try to toss some pictures up.  I also downloaded Star Trek Online, since I hear so many people talking about it these days, so maybe I'll write a review of that some time in the near future as well.

Check out this game, Invicta

A good friend of mine has been working on a RTS called Invicta.  It's set in a Sci-Fi universe, and allows users to switch between RTS and First Person Shooter as they want.  It still has a ways to go, but is a LONG way past where he started.  Check out this video, and give him a like on youtube if you like what you see,

Other than that, I am still slogging away at my Admech army.  Lots and LOTS of taping while airbrushing, which sucks, because it takes longer to tape the models than it does to paint them :(

Horus Heresy: Drop Assault launched yesterday on Android

I've been following this game on Facebook for a while now, and a few of my friends had it on their iPhones (since it launched early on the iTunes store), so I was pretty excited when I got an email yesterdat stating that it had finally launched on Android.  I picked it up shortly after, and had a pretty good time playing it while laying on my couch.

In a broad comparison, it's very similar to Clash of Clans, or just about every other base defense game on the market.  You start by getting a brief description of what's going on in the Galaxy, Istivaan III, etc, and then you're asked if you want to be a loyalist or a traitor marine.  Pretty cool so far, right?  I chose to be a traitor, and then right away Angron comes on my screen all angry like and what have you.  You go through the basic tutorial, and you get the sense quickly that it requires quite a bit more strategy than other games in it's genre that I have tried.  There a lot of different support features, such as orbital strikes, virus bombs, and a slew of other cool toys to play with, but the main one that stands out is an ability that lets you control your troops after they have been deployed.  It may not seem like a big deal, but for those of you who have played other games in the genre, you usually just drop your dudes in and hope to God for them to do kinda what you were thinking.

Now, the game does have a micro-transaction store to it, and like every other game similar to it, you use the in game credit to speed things up instead of waiting 5 minutes for your troops to build, or 3 hours for your building to upgrade, so nothing new on that front.  At the low levels, a few dollars goes a LONG way, but the cost escalates quickly.

All said and done, I'm pretty happy with where the game is, and while their are a few moments where the game bugs out on me, nothing game breaking or major has happened so I can deal with it.  If I had to rate this on a 5 star system, I'd give it a solid 4 stars, but a lot of that might have to do with me being a 40K fan boy at heart. 

So what have I been up to?

Wasting away in Diablo 3, as well as World of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm.  Blizzard somehow has a strangle hold on me to where I have to play all of their crack all the time (except Hearthstone, because if I wanted to buy cards nonstop to win, I'd play Magic).  Season 2 in Diablo 3 has started, and every time I get ranked on the national ladders and go to bed, I'm back down several hundred spots by morning.  Well played Blizzard, well played.  Add to that the fact that I destroy solo level 34 Greater Rifts on my Demon Hunter, but keep getting screwed with horrible RNG on level 35 rifts, it gets really frustrating.

That aside, I have been doing a LOT with Admech, both modeling and reading.  I finished the Priests of Mars series from Black Library, and it is absolutely amazing!  It has quite a few different character types it follows, from the witty Rogue Trader, the obsessive Eldar Farseer, to your rarely discussed in previous books Skitarii Magos even!  Space Marines, Admech, Titan Legions, it has everything!  It has also fueled my need to work on my Admech army that I have been blowing money on regularly (thanks Forge World...dicks), and I'm actually waiting for paint to dry right now on some models while I type this.

Finally, my play group and I have been knocking out some campaigns with D&D 5th edition, which is MILES above where 4th edition was, but we have had to take a break while our DM spends some time in Africa...  We managed to switch to Twilight Imperium to kill time on our game nights though, and that has actually been working out great.  It takes a while to set up, and even longer to play, but once people start texting each other secret plans and alliances, it gets interesting.

Now, as I had mentioned previously, I have 2 auctions up on eBay for those of you looking to score some SWEET deals.  The first one is my half painted and heavily converted Lamenters army that I was working on.  It has LED headlights in the Razorbacks, custom shoulder pads from Shapeways, everything!  With all I have been doing for my Admech though, and all the stuff that keeps coming out for them, it's impossible to focus on two large projects.  Since Forge World and GW only want to make stuff for one of the two, I choose Admech.

The second listing I have is for my Fantasy Endtimes Glotkin army that I bought,  Everyone at my FLGS swore up and down that they were going to play Fantasy, so I bought this army because I thought the models looked awesome.  Long story short, nobody else ended up following through on that idea.  So yeah, it's for sale now.  I base coated the big models, but most of it is still in boxes.

Anyways, by now the paint on my models should be dry, so back to my airbrush, but keep an eye out for more posts, rants, pictures, and what not from me.

Under Construction, pardon my dust

So yes, I haven't posted in a while.  A lot has changed in the last two years or so.  I've become burnt out on playing wargames in general, but I still collect and paint.  I also play a lot of games on my computer, because I'm a nerd.

I've thought about this a lot, and what I have decided is that I am going to focus on the broader idea of gaming.  Board games, video games, card games, I want to cover it all.  I mean, come on, what's the point of calling this "ADHD Gaming" if I focus on only one facet of gaming?

So with that in mind, please bare with me as I get everything up to date and looking new, and hopefully get a new writer or three to help me out as well.  Thanks.

- DTV