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 :(

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

Well, I'm not dead...

So as the title says, I'm actually not dead.  I do think that it is a little ironic that I posted that my wife may kill me, and then went silent for about 8 months, but it was purely unintended irony.  I had a sort of sudden falling out with the hobby, and I shifted jobs, so posting didn't seem like a priority for me.

So Apocalypse showed up...and now I'm broke

So the new Apocalypse is soon to be upon us, and I went on a spending spree of epic proportions!  For starters, I ordered the following new items:

The Apocalypse Collectors Edition
1 Khorne Lord of Skulls
1 set of the new templates
1 set of the AdMech dice, the 125 dice set
1 Vortex Template

That ran me a decent amount, but nothing I wasn't already bracing to spend anyways.  However, after finally finding the apocalypse formations on the website (which may or may not have taken me longer to find than it should have...) I saw my dream of fielding an entire Space Wolf Great Company become a reality!!!

I didn't actually buy the $1000+ one-click scam from GW, but instead shopped around locally, emptied the SW selection from various FLGS (including the one I run), and begrudgingly ordered a few blisters from GW's website.  All said and done, I ended up with 4 drop pods that aren't even part of the formation, 3 extra scout squads, and a Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf for roughly $900!!!  So quite a few extra models for over $100 cheaper.  Yay me.  Now I am off to figure out how to hide this purchase from my wife...if I don't post again in the next month, call a Life Guard for me.

The board and some other models that have had my attention as of late!

So here is where the board is at.  It's coming right along, with some Summer Leaves, and I have also started doing the bases to go along with it.  Once the 28mm bases are down, then I just have to paint the models...yay me.

As for the rest of these pictures, these were all taken with my phone, so bare with me on the quality here.

I fixed the board somewhat...

So here is what the board looks like now that I fixed it.  I'm happier with this than I am with how the train wreck prior came out, but still angry, haha.  I added some grass clumps sporadically around, and I have some leaves from Secret Weapon Miniatures as well to add, but I need to figure out what I am going to do with those.  I bought their Fallen Leaves - Fall Mix, which has a beautiful color that I REALLY wanted to use, but the board turned out much lighter than I imagined, and I'm actually rather please with the general color scheme.  They have some lighter colors that I coincidentally carry in my store, so I might have to snag one or two of those and try them out.

I based this with a dark brown from Minitaire Airbrush Paint, and then I used Dark Earth, Clay Brown, and Burning Sands pigments from Secret Weapon Miniatures in successively lighter dustings.  I love working with their pigments, and a project of this size gave me a LOT of practice on using the pigments.

For the trench line I based the bottom with a dark grey, followed by a dark wash, and then any dirt colored pigments settle where they may.  This allowed it to get dusty and dirty in a manner that appeared random as opposed to something that would have looked too forced.  Once the wash was dry, I dipped my finger in SWM's Metallic Iron pigment just enough to get some on my finger tip, and then I rubbed my finger pretty forcefully across the floor of the trench to pick out the raised edges and the nuts and bolts with a metallic tinge, since they would have been worn to a more metallic sheen through continuous use.

Anyways, this is what I am working on hobby wise, and I am also putting together an 1850 Ork list to break up the monotony of doing clean color schemes.  Here is what I am in the process of building:

Wazdakka Gutsmek

10 Lootas
10 Lootas

6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa

Blitza-bomma
Burna-bomma
Burna-bomma

Battlewagon w/ Killakannon
Battlewagon w/ Killakannon

So that's my 1850 list.  Terribly exciting, I know, but I think it should play well enough.  The 4+ cover saves on the bike are silly, as are the number of shots I can throw out a turn.  Anyways, I need to finish my work for the day, so I'll post again soon...ish.

So, being impatient is a bad idea

So I am working on a display board, and I was gonna wait until it was mostly done before posting any pictures.  Mostly done came yesterday, and I got done using about $40 worth of pigments to make the dirt look real.  I was sooooooo excited that I instantly wanted to Matte Varnish it.  One problem: I forgot to let all the pigment sealer dry.  Do yeah, this disgusting mess above is what happened afterwards.  Yay me.  Back to buying more pigment and starting over.  

Apocalypse next month!

I stole these from Blood of Kittens' Facebook.  I cannot WAIT to see what else is coming out!

Warhammer 40k Battle Royal!

So last night I ran a free event at my store which we called a Battle Royal.  We played on a 3' x 3' Zone Mortalis board (that I have yet to paint...), and we had 5 people show up.  Everyone brought 1 HQ choice, no special characters, no wargear that has the Instant Death special rule or removes models outright.  We did however allow models to be instant killed by failing a save from a weapon that is double their toughness.

We used standard Zone Mortalis rules, which roughly means nothing on a base larger than 60mm, no ordnance weapons, templates gain the Shred special rule, etc.  Doors were placed before any players placed their models, and we decided that there is two ways somebody can open a door: roll a 4+ while touching the door in your movement phase, where passing the roll allows you to control the door for your turn and you can continue your movement, and a failure means your movement is done for the turn, and the other way is to destroy the door.  As per the Zone Mortalis rules, the doors are AV13 with 1 Hull Point.

The rules were further altered in some fun ways.  You are allowed to shoot into assaults that you are not a part of, with wounds being allocated to the nearest player, and blast templates hitting any models touched.  This made flamers an amazing choice to take.  We also decided to have all of the players roll for turn order every round, which made it a lot harder to plan a strategy, since you didn't know who was moving in what order in the next turn.

The player who went first in the first round placed his model first.  We had the first player place anywhere he wanted, and then went in turn order with each subsequent player placing his model no closer than 18" away from another model.  This was not a true 18", but instead it was measured following the hallways in the fastest path between any two models.

The game lasted almost 45 minutes, since quite a few players played very defensively and waited for their fellow players to either die or lose some wounds before jumping into the fray.  The winner ended up being a fully loaded Space Marine Captain in Artificer Armour, with a close second being a Necron Overlord with a bunch of shenanigans packed in.  It was a very close game between those two.

Anyways, we all had a lot of fun, and we played several more games afterwards, which I actually played in since their was no prize, it was just fun.  I don't play in any of my free events since it would seem shady if I were to win.  I bought a bunch more Tau stuff, and once I find some fishing net, I will knock out my Salamanders models and the Tau stuff and post pictures of those as I get the airbrushing done.  Until next time, stay classy internet!

Played with some Tau today...

And holy broken, haha!  I ran a 1500 point list that ran roughly like the following:

Daemons w/ Tau Allies:

Herald of Nurgle
Herald of Nurgle
20x Plaguebearers
9x Nurglings
Soul Grinder w/ Mark of Nurgle

Commander Farsight
12 Fire Warriors
Riptide
Sun Shark Bomber
Broadside

So that's excluding wargear, which there wasn't much of to be honest, and I only took Farsight because I bought him for his looks before reading the codex.  He is a great HQ in my opinion, but only if you're running his 7 Crisis Suit honor guard.

Anyways, a very brutal game against a 1500 point Dark Eldar Wych list.  I deployed second but stole the initiative, and left my Nurglings in the middle of the board as bait.  I then made a gun line with my Tau, and shot everything to hell.  The game was over at the beginning of turn three, and I have to say, I feel that Tau have some real shenanigans in their codex.  That Riptide is just BRUTAL.  Anyways, I'll post pictures up soon, so thanks for tuning in and catch me again later this week.

50k page views finally!

So yes, I hit 50k page views this morning, and to all of you out there, thank you so much!  I know I have been sporadic with my posting, but you guys keep me going!

As for what I have been up to, I recently bought a Zone Mortalis board, and it is INCREDIBLE!  I'm hoping to have it painted up soon, but we'll see how long it actually takes.  I also have pledged for two different Kickstarters, which are as follows:

Secret Weapon Miniatures has one going that I mentioned previously in which they are working to get games boards designed with matching bases, walls, and terrain.  It is an AMAZING project they are working on, and it will help my store look even better with all the different boards we will have for people to play on.  Below is a link, and if you can you should absolutely jump on top of this one.  It's a great opportunity to get these before they hit stores.

Secret Weapons Miniatures Tablescapes Kickstarter

The other one I have jumped on board with has my inner child going nuts!  Growing up, I was a HUGE fan of Robotech and Macross, and now I can play out my wildest childhood fantasies on the table top.  Palladium Books, which previously has done great things with the Robotech RPG, is now putting out a 1/285th scale miniatures game.  Fret not with the scale, as the robots are so big that the miniatures are still larger than 40k Space Marines.  The Kickstarter has a lot to offer in the way of deals, so hop on this one to save yourself a lot of money in the future.  Click below to check it out, and there is also a video of their current rule set, which is still in play testing, being played out and discussed at Adepticon.

Palladium Books Robotech RPG Tactics

Anyways, I'll hopefully get more pictures up soon.  I finished a Maxmini Greater Plaguebringer that I finished painting, some Salamanders I am building for a 1000 point Zone Mortalis army, and even some German Tanks for a Late War Flames of War army I am putting together!  Those pictures will be up just as soon as I stop being lazy, haha.

Thanks again for everything you guys have done for me.  It really does mean a lot to have support of random people, and not just overly encouraging friends and family!

So more pictures!

So here are some models I have worked on while at my work.  We have a Thursday group that meets every week, and we all sit around, sip on some beers, and paint!  It's a lot of fun, and it is actually helping quite a few people with their painting.  I don't have much time, so that will be all of the words for now, so check below the break to see more!

So it's been nearly three months...

Yeah, so it's been a very long while since I have posted anything, but don't despair!  I have actually been working on quite a few things since we all have last spoke.  Check below the bump for more info on all of that.

Where the hell I have been, and other news!

So I haven't posted in a good while.  I have made a little bit of progress on multiple projects, but my biggest project has been a big.  I got hired by my FLGS to open up their second location.  With only slightly less than a month to do it.  And with no real distributors lined up.  It's been rough.  It has also been unbelievably rewarding.  I've been doing so much work that my insomnia hasn't been an issue in like two weeks now, and I'm making very good money from the LLC that owns it.

The new store is called Mandatory Fun.  For any of you military folk out there, that phrase has a very special meaning, haha.  For those of you without exposure to the suck that is mandatory fun, it's a term used to describe a horribly planned unit event, that is supposedly fun but never is, and you better go or else you're screwed.  If you're asking yourself, "Why would they name a store after that?", it's because it's a military themed store.  It's not even a true game store.  We carry military themed apparel, books, hold workshops for Veterans who want to learn how to write, get published, etc, and while we do carry board games, card games, and tabletop minis, they are all military based games.

While this is fairly far away from my big focus on 40k at the moment, it allows me to paint my own Dust stuff, create a league, and get paid in the process.  It works out rather nicely in fact.  As a Veteran myself, I also really do get pleasure out of working with soldiers and Veterans as well.

Anyways, the store opens tomorrow, so once it gets a regular battle rhythm going, I'll be painting and posting more.  Until then though, have a wonderful new year, and may the dice gods be ever in your favor!

Update time!!!

So yes, I am finally adding more pictures.  However, these were taken with my iPhone, so they aren't necessarily the best quality.  They will certainly do for the time being, however.  So this is the knee pad of the Chaos Reaver Titan I am working on.  For more pictures, check below!!!

New pictures coming soon!

So yes, I haven't posted in a while.  Nothing really new there.  However, if you have kept up with what I have posted, you'll remember that my son lost my CF Card for my camera.  And at 30 some odd dollars a pop, I haven't had too much money to buy a new one.  I got on finally though this paycheck, so once it comes in I'll post pictures up of what I have been working on.

The Reaver Titan is coming along, and I am done with the guns and almost done with the legs now.  I was having trouble settling on which copper color to buy from what brand, and after testing out a plethora of them, I finally settled on GW's.  I'm not as fan of GW's paints normally, but their copper goes on very smooth and coats very nicely with only 1 or 2 coats needed for the base color.

I also am almost finished with 2 Nurgle Blight Drones I am painting on commission.  I'll have pictures of them side by side as well on here when I get the card.

Finally, I'll have pictures of my finished Nurgle Warpsmith I converted up.  The thing came out nicely in my opinion.  I love the final look.  The Scythe and Forge World parts really pull it all together nicely.

Anyways, there is my small post.  Enjoy if you will, and hopefully I'll have a real post filled with all sorts of goodies later in the week. 

A Titan and a Hell Chicken

So yes, I have taken on another very large commission piece!  This time I have the pleasure of painting a Chaos Reaver Titan!  First off, this model is MUCH larger than I thought it would be, and it is a heavy piece of resin, haha.  I dread what Forge World will put out if they actually follow through on the Warlord Titan...  Anyways, check below for more info on how this model will play out as I paint, and also for my thoughts on the new Chaos Hell Drake.

Greater Brass Scorpion done!!!

So yes, as this title states, this thing is FINALLY done!  It took me WAY too long to complete, but I'm sure my friend is going to go banana sandwich when he sees it tomorrow.  I have to apologize for the really crappy pictures here.  I wanted to take great ones since it was finally done, but it seems my 2 year old thought otherwise when he took my memory card for my nice camera off my desk and hid it God knows where...  But anyways, check below for more!