That "Wrong Thing" I Was Talking About

Gonna keep this installment of the running thought experiment a bit short even if it is 'late'.  Fallout New Vegas has been sucking the life out of me through my eyeballs for four five days now (in a good way).  I'm a little bit sleep deprived, a little bit addled and a lot distracted.  I'm also jonesing for more Fallout.

On my desk right now, I have 6 bottlecaps.  If I was in the Fallout universe, I'd only have enough money on me to be barely worth the ammo it took for the hero of the story to kill me as I tried to mug him for no reason.  He'd be frustrated with me and would probably be wondering why he used his fancy pistol rather than the service rifle he has a bajillion rounds for.  That would last for a few seconds and then I'd be just another generic corpse for him to step over on his way to the next town.

Why did I think mugging a heavily armed sociopath was a good idea? Was I really that high on jet?

The Forgotten Piece of the Puzzle

Now that I've finished reading and digesting IA9, I can finally get around to a painting theory article - one of the things I'm actually good at.  To be honest, I haven't sat down and mapped this one out (I'm experimenting), so it'll be probably be a nice mix of light gonzo journalism, running discussion, swearing and rambling logic.  It might not make a lot of sense. Oh, and I won't be crowding the narrative with RPG content.  Its not good for either subject.

Sit tight, coz this is gonna be a long one.

Lets get started, shall we?

Or rather, lets get prepared to get started.  I have to admit:  I've had a lot of trouble getting this one of the ground.  Lots of false starts, unnecessary detailing of my lunch foods and even a near miss with e-drama.

But a trip to the grocery store put things right. Which is where we actually start...

It was midnight and I was entering the grocery store smack dab in the middle of the third shift's restocking routine.  Having worked in a grocery store that was open 24 hours, I know what this is like.  The store is basically open as an afterthought - no extra staff around to smile at you and tell you where the olives or even register your presence.  Sometimes they don't even bother with wet floor signs.  But that's another story about bruised egos and the hidden dangers of flip-flops.

Imperial Armor 9: Is Awesome

I was gonna start writing some stuff on the importance of je ne sais quoi when it comes to miniature painting, but then IA9 came in the mail yesterday and ruined all that.  

Forgeworld is the kind of thing I'm glad I didn't really discover until I was a gainfully employed adult.  The big price tags would have driven me mad for putting so much amazing stuff just out of reach.  At the risk of sounding like a fanboi, its just so damn cool!  Even if it is largely useless in the regular game of 40k, there's just something appealing about the stuff they make.

Actually, its not an amorphous something.  I know full well while people go ape-shit over forgeworld stuff. Its rare by virtue of its cost and often a kind of status symbol.  The detail level of the models is intense and the they strive to make things seem otherworldly in comparison to the regular plastics.  Plus, the units the make are both unfettered by the rules and internal logic of a codex and, often, extremely powerful.  Its just... unique.

But that's just the models.  They also print specialist books.  And that's what really gets my dick hard.  I've had more than a few forgeworld kits in my time, but its usually been a part of the typical process of building an army. the books, on the other hand...  are the exact kind of thing that I just can't resist.  At all.

Bonus RPG Content: The Boring Technical Stuff

Since Monday's post was too long for another installment of the RPG stuff to be added, I thought I'd write up an entire post on the subject.  Also, big thanks to everyone who's been following along so far.

I was planning on going into the meat of the campaign - things like character creation and what we wanted to do in terms of balancing the narrative with hack n' slash with all the other stuff.  Unfortunately, I think it makes more sense to first talk about the boring techincal stuff that makes this RPG campaign work.

When UglyRaincoat first brought the idea up in gchat or somesuch g-contrivance, the whole idea of getting back into some RPG action it seemed more like it was born out of a simple urge to recreate good, old times and reconnect with friends.  I'll definitely touch on what the idea matured into at a later date, but at that point in the game the question of whether it was possible was more important than what it would look like.

Take Your Readers to Work Day

While I was shooting some awful pictures of some works in progress, I decided to go all out and document my entire hobby cave.  So, lots of pics, not that many words.  There's also a few random things I found on the camera and a few re-shoots that I took when I went through the camera's memory this afternoon and found some things where the flash hadn't gone off.

My hobby cave is actually a large closet attached to the loft area of my apartment.  It was actually one of the selling points for the only decent apartment we found when we first moved out to Connecticut.  We didn't know anyone out or even have the first clue to the housing situation so our efforts in tracking down housing were a bit rough.  This was made worse by the fact that the extreme distance we were moving (1000 miles) and short time frame only allowed for one trip out here to look before we moved.  The place we moved into was great, but considerably more expensive than we wanted.  In any case, we decided to spend more money on a nice place rather than being miserable in a cheaper, crappy place.  In any case, special lady friend was  gracious enough let me use it right from the first day we moved in.  Being in a loving and supporting relationship kicks a whole ton of ass. 

OK, lets get started!

Quick hits: wots all this then?

Since I have yet to construct a light box despite owning tracing paper, I haven't taken pictures of the stuff I've been diligently working on. So, its time for another bunch of (extremely) quick hits as a lead in into some RPG discussion.

1) Tyranid FAQ Blues - I'm really tired of hearing about how the FAQ nerfed everything to hell.  Yes, we all get it the Mycetic Spore stuff rulings are complete ass.  As for the hive commander issue, I don't see why people are so upset - the writing was on the wall when the IG FAQ came out.  So, do yourself a favor next time and just go ahead and automatically assume that reserve bonuses wont stack unless explicitly stated.

pictured: Tyranid players

2) Plague Bearer Progress - I've got 15 done (in three color schemes, no less) all the way to varnishing.  I've got another 5 on the table that should be done this weekend.  Progress has been good for the most part with the exception that one of my color scheme gradients had too much distance between shades and ended up needing a lot more work than anticipated.

The Monster Mish-mash

Been suffering a bit of writer’s block with a mild case of apathy of late. It’s been kind of difficult to get momentum built back up on my own blog on top of keeping the posting schedule over on the HoP on track in the face of Dethtron’s increasingly glamorous lifestyle. What with the fancy degrees and the metal and all. The lucky bastard. Lol.  Brent too, for that matter. Man, I forgot how much of a bitch school could be this time of year if you’re a student.

My main issue has been getting posts to a full length. So, I think I’ll just go ahead and try and scotch-tape two ideas together..