Daemon Week: Friend of a Fiend

This week is gonna be a bit different.  I'm pretty pumped about my recent Daemon purchase, so I though I'd mine that feeling for a whole mess of articles.  So my recent schedule will be interrupted while I deal with my warp-spawned boner.  Its entirely likely that there will not be a Tutorial Tuesday or even a No Pants Friday this week.

The post from last Friday generated quite a few comments.  Most of them on the relative merits of which model to use for Fiends of Slaanesh.   So I think this is the place to start my discussion on my choices for my army.  Or, at least, the choices for models for the army since I am unabashedly copying one of Stelek's lists.

Sylvester Sneekly is also a fiend.  But irrelevant to our discussion.

No Pants Friday: Daemons

Like I keep mentioning, its been a hell of a week.  HOP launched on Monday and Dethtron and I have been working our asses off over there as well as trying to keep up with our own blogs. The school semester started too, so my job is busy (and rewarding) again.  Plus, I had to drop off some guns at Jimmy's to match some silencers he had gotten, I had to pick up my brother at the hospital and drive him back home for dinner and then I had to pick up some new Pittsburgh stuff for Lois to fly down to some customers I had down near Atlanta. THEN I had to get back to the house to stir the sauce...

Still, It's Friday and we're takin' our pants off to let it all hang out.  It's No Pants Friday!

I was feeling generous today.  I went with the surreal rather than the awful.

Today's pants-less topic is daemons.

Elfs, Part 4: The Darkest Dark Before Total Darkness

I'm actually, doing it, I'm finishing an article series.  Huzzah!  After this post on the Dark Elves, I've got just one more bit of writing to do and I think I can call this one done.  Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Let me just take a second to preemptively pat myself on the back.

The Dark Elves

They may still have a huge collection of teribad names, but some of them actual manage to sounds scary.  Of course, most of those have to resort to the hackery that is looking up 'evil' in the thesaurus and then making names out of the synonyms, but still...

Have you seen the Avatars of War figures?  Spooge,

The rest of the fluff is more than makes up for this.  I'd be willing to bet money that the authors felt the needed the douchy names so that they could bring the bad-ass-itude of the Dark Elf fluff within the safety limits set by the World Health Organization.  Seriously, if it wasn't for the names, you'd have to have a hazardous materials license and keep the book in a lead case to keep it from melting people's gonads.

Tutorial Tuesday: Glaze Medium

Man, things have been a bit rough around the edges this week with the new semester starting and the House of Paincakes taking off considerably faster than Dethtron and I had even dreamed possible.  Actually, the fact that new blog has more followers than old blog is one of those things that makes me jealous of myself.  Thankfully, day two has been much more subdued and allowed us both to get our feet back under ourselves.

In any case, since I imagine that some new traffic is headed my way via the super cool new network I've helped create, Its pretty important - paramount, even - that I keep up the post schedule.  Wouldn't look right if one of the founders dropped off the face of the planet now, would it?

Probably not.

So, I find myself at the nub end of another Tuesday and in need of another Tutorial to link the two concepts together Voltron style to form blazing sword and Tutorial Tuesday. 

A Slightly Different House of Paincakes Shout Out

More than likely, you’ve seen quite a bit of buzz/hype/hullaballoo about the House of Paincakes today. Since I’m one half of the team that brought this baby into the world, thought I’d talk about it slash promote it. Plus, since I’m posting my promotion later than much of the rest, I have the added bonus of a slightly different perspective.

It’s been a crazy day so far for me. The response we’ve gotten is bordering on overwhelming. I kinda expected us to languish in obscurity for a while longer. At this point, I’m wishing I had taken the day off to deal with all the traffic and incidental stuff that’s cropped up. None of that is to say that the publicity and the work have been unwelcome - quite the opposite. To be honest, we’ve exceeded my own best case scenarios and I’m sure Dethtron’s as well.

Just by the time I woke up late this morning, we had already had something like 10 blogs applying for membership. Add to that the genuinely useful & constructive criticism* over on YTTH, the unsolicited promotion by our new members and the tremendous support of our initial blogger group and it has been one hell of a Monday. In a good way!

However, the biggest surprise isn’t the successful launch or even the existence of constructive criticism. It’s the amount of positivity and genuine excitement that’s been cropping up around us. A full half of our members have thrown up a post about the network. All of them have been pretty pumped that we exist. Apparently we correctly identified a need/hole/niche in the community.

To be honest, all the positivity and the collaborative spirit that we’ve been riding all day are the reasons we’re doing this.

For us, the whole blogging thing has become the unexpected third leg of the hobby.**   Blogging is a motivator and an outlet that we’re, frankly, lucky to have. It’s the kind of thing that has really helped us step up our game and meet some genuinely cool people. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But let’s face it; it takes a lot more than simply writing a post to get your own word out.

So that’s where we hope to come in. Like we said in the vision, we want to help you get the word out. That’s why there are so few language rules and why we’re entirely disinterested in the difference between casual and competitive. Like so many others, we genuinely want to promote the hobby in as many ways as possible.

Hell, we’re just a simple blog network now, but Dethtron and I have a ton of ideas to play with in the future. Big things are on the horizon and we look forward to sharing them with you. And that’s a key point – the sharing. So as much as Dethtron and I are running the blog, it’s entirely about you guys and your work.

So, check out the site, sign up if you’re feeling saucy, hang out and help us build this House of Paincakes.

No Pants Friday: On Cheating

Its Friday and you're at home rather than out and doing something fun.  LETS TAKE OUR PANTS OFF!

That's right, bitches - It No Pants Friday!  Before we get into it tonight, here's your obligatory disturbing image for the night:

Ahhh, South Carolina

Right, tonight's post might not actually be all that fun.  You see, its been a while since I've got my rant on.  I've been trying to hold back a bit - I find that ranting begets more ranting and eventually leads you down the path of the asshole.  Often times an asshole who then has to spend time defending being an asshole.  I'm not really in to needing to defend my self all the time. So I I've been trying to keep it cool and engage people in conversation rather than hit the caps lock hey and scream at idiots.

But this week has surpass my ability to avoid drama.  Well, lets get into it...

Elfs, Part 3: You Guys Wanna Get High?

I’ve got lots of stuff coming down the pike in terms of my hobbies, so I thought it best to try and finish my thoughts on elves before I get waylaid by any one of the three projects that are about to start.

As much as I love the Wood Elf models, they’re eliminated from contention until a new book drops. Since the internet doesn’t seem to think it’s likely in the next year or more, it’s probably best to move on. Kind of a bummer, I know, but the book is just too old and has too many leftovers from a totally different design era. I’m sure they have some good builds hiding in the book; I’m just not interested in suffering long enough to find them

Which brings me to the High Elves.

Tutorial Tuesday: The Elusive Vyper Shuriken Cannon Upgrade

[Pre-game Groveling:] For large portions of my day of late, I've been saddled with an absolute dog of a laptop.  More of a crap top actually.  Between it and whatever pack of lies it has that's claiming to be IE, its eaten three posts now.  This was one of them.  Hence the lateness.  Please forgive me, faceless peer group!

I'm back with another Tutorial Tuesday!  We're back to Vypers (which are not here to vash and vipe your vindows) tonight AND we back to a tutorial that I have first hand experience with.  Well at least I should anyway. I wrote it!

NOTE TO SELF: TITLE ALL POSTS

NOVA came and went and as far as I could tell, it went well.  Everybody involved seemed to have a good time.  There was no drama at the actual event (though I'm sure this wont stop the peanut gallery from stirring shit up after the fact).  So big props to MVB for creating something fairly unique and pulling off a number of amazing feats in the face of the so-called 'common knowledge' that the other events stand by.

Quickly now:  the coverage on the NOVA open was petty solid and, in particular, the U-stream feed was a nice change of pace from the likes of the random video collages and the various BoK cheating watchdog videos that we're normally subjected to.  However, I think that a bit more thought could and should be put into things.  Or at least, better preparation.

No Pants Friday: Wood Elf Motivational Seminar

3rs party profits are up this quarter at Laubersheimer Industries!* As a reward, please enjoy this mandatory motivational seminar brought to you by Matt from S/Energy Global (a wholly owned subsidiary of Amalgamated RoboDynamics, Inc). Lets all give him a big round of applause for hosting today's No Pants Friday.

Motivation made manifest.  Now, go out and sell, sell, SELL

Since most of the 40k blogosphere is losing their collective mind over the NOVA open tonight (myself included), I thought I'd post up some very cool advice I got from Matt.  Way back when, after a post on Wood Elves, Matt was kind enough to drop some science on me and was then kind enough to let me post it.  It's solid stuff that I think is worth sharing and comparing.  It also gets me out of actually writing a post so I can get to the business of obsessing over the NOVA Friday Night Exhibition Matches. 

Thutorial Thursday: MORE DIY Light Boxes

Here I was thinking I had successfully staved off the first Thutorial Thursday for another week. I thought my clever combination of lies, excuses and techno-wizardry had been enough.

Then some helpful jackass super-pal posted up some additional light box alternatives.

Then it dawned on me that my posting was a bit light this week and I was still saving all of my juice for AFTER the NOVA open and for when people aren't gonzo for tourney's.

Begrudgingly, It's.... Thutorial Thursday.

Tutorial Tuesday: DIY Light Boxes

When I sat down to write today's Tutorial Tuesday, two things happened.  1) I had no idea what to write but I managed to figure something out.  2) Blogger conspired with IE and ate my post.  In any case, I figured I'd better get off my duff and re-write this thang just so I can move those creepy Asian guys further down the page and further out of our memory.  I do believe I've managed to gross myself out.  Ugh.

Lets talk about some macro photography rather than dudes in suspender mankinis and their bulging whonngs.

Sunday Apple Turnovers: Now With MORE Piping Hot Filler

Hey, everybody, just a quick filler post to entertain yourselves with on this lazy (for me, anyway) Sunday afternoon.

This picture is only partially relevant

No Pants Friday: Net Liszts

Ahhhhh, the sweet smell of the same Franz Liszt joke Dethtron and I keep using that nobody seems to care about....

For those of you fleeing the latest Friday Night Internet Fight, here's some good news - the  refugee camp that is No Pants Friday has plenty of room for you.  So lets begin the orientation and begin your re-adjustment to real life so you can reclaim your place as a productive(ish) member of society.  I may have to let the Surgeon General know about this FNIF stuff and what it's doing to the populace, she* may need to get some warning label's ready.

The start of the process begins.... NOW!

I'm more than willing to help rehabilitate you, but nothing is free.

As previously stated, this week's No Pants Friday is all about net lists.  Or, as I like to think of it, a great way to avoid wasting time and money. 

Wednesdays in Progress: Eldar and Some Pics I Promised

For the last two Tutorial Tuesdays, I had forgotten to take pictures of my own efforts utilizing the techniques.  Time to fix that.

First up, from last week, here are my attempts with Lemmingspawn's hawt lava bases:

This one has been photoshopped a bit to give you a better idea about the actual color of the finished product.

Tutorial Tuesdays: Foam Trays

Tutorial Tuesdays is still kicking and still holding off the nearly inevitable dawn of Thutorial Thursdays.  Continuing along with my theme, today's super useful and way sweet tutorial is yet another that I've put into practice myself.

But first, some exposition.  Here we go!

In the race to get our models painted, we often forget about the most crucial aspect for ensuring that your minis have a long life - storage.  Or we flat out ignore it.  I've done it myself in the past.  I can't tell you how many times it ended up that my ENTIRE Chaos army ended up traveling in the upturned lid of a copy paper box.  Just looking around at some buddies of mine, some of them are still holding on to the idea that an unpadded tackle tray will keep things safe.  Some of them don't even bother with that.

Just because it has compartments, doesn't make it safe.

Elfs, Part 2: Deforestation Kelly

Despite my proclivity to start articles series that I never finish and even despite blogger eating the first draft, tonight brings us to part two of my totally awesome Elf series.   Same caveats as before - it's gonna be a while before I start up some fantasy, so I'm just spinning my wheels for fun. 

I'd also like to state that if any of my handpicked, elite cadre of readers wants to shout out some Elfy advice to feel free and do so.  8th edition has shaken most of the low hanging fruit of the ol' list building tree and there are many of us that have no idea of even how the rules shake out let alone what to spend 2250 points on.  So while I'm clearly fishing for some knowledge I can put in the bank, this could helpful for a lot of other people too.

Oh, also, as an elite cadre, feel free to conduct ninja training or super secret raids on my behalf.