2016 - A Reflection

Yeah I know 2016 isn't over just yet, but I'm doing this now cause I'll probably forget or something. So anyway, the year is coming to an end and oh boy, what a year. I'll try to keep this both brief and simple, keeping politics out as best I can (cause I could go on for hours on that and that's just on Australian politics) while also keeping personal life matters out (save for the first one on this list anyway). So here we go.

The Diploma

So the first half of 2016 was me trying to cope with the disaster that was the latter part of 2015. I won't go into it (well, not in this post anyway), but it was a rather unpleasant experience. So it was during this time I decided I wanted to do something and that something was videos. Having seen so many possibilities, I wanted to have a go and do something beyond just another gaming let's play channel (though they're always a good start). Problem was, I had no experience with video editing, effects, etc. So when it came time to take up some study, all the courses I had originally wanted to do were not mid-year, but a Visual Effects course was. So I took it up.

No it was meant to be part-time due to my health, but sadly it seemed that option went out after I had signed up. Luckily for me, support services have been great and the teachers are (for the most part) aware of my conditions, which has helped a lot. It's nice to have people be understanding when you need a week off to help recover from extreme suicidal thinking, something I'm very thankful for. I'm doing good so far in the course, though next year will be a lot harder. I'm hoping for another cool patch and to get over this current bad depression streak I'm going through (it seems to now be a regular thing that hit every year now around Christmas time), so I can sit down and work on some stuff. Wanting to get a title screen for the Zargooran video page and to work more on visual effects and green screening. I'd love to do some animation work, but we never did 2D and we won't work on 3D till next year. Still, looking forward to in.

Television, Animation and Youtube

It's amazing, but I think I watch more online videos then normal television now. Perhaps it's more entertaining or I find the people on there have more charming personalities (just avoid the comments section if you value your sanity, worst aspects of humanity are found there). I am finding I'm watching less of the bigger channels and more of the smaller ones, though it might be more to do with people focusing on less group content. Heck, it's helped me find some of the more smaller fandoms that produce much more wonderful and respectable content (trust me, I've seen some really messed up shit in some fandoms).

Television saw the return of one of my favourite shows, Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell. It's a comedy show mostly making fun of politics and some of his gags have left me with a near on Asthma attack they were that good. Have you been paying attention was another that still got a run this year, though I had to watch the encore versions as I missed them when they were on (study nights). I find most television these days are either stupid reality shows, uninteresting sports or biased programs with a political agenda. Maybe that's why I've turned to Youtube.

Animation is still going strong. Re-runs of Gravity Falls are nice. MLP is still going (but as I've stated in the past, I don't like the idea of another season or the movie in fear that they'll screw something up) and I even checked out some episodes of Star vs the forces of evil, which I did enjoy. Thinking back, there really hasn't been much in the way of great shows released recently, though once again, there are some nice animated shorts on the internet, so keep an eye out for them.

Movies

I haven't been to the movies in a long time, but that hasn't stopped me from seeing a couple of them. I got to see two movies that were released in previous years. The first was Guardians of the Galaxy, which I freaking loved. The other was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which I found to be a lot less enjoyable. As much as I'll tick fans off with my opinion on it, I felt it was trying too much to be like episode 4 and the first two acts were rather boring. The writing was off, I just couldn't connect enough to care about these characters. Well, save Rey, who parts I enjoyed watching. For a pass over, Rey is a great character and I hope the next one focuses more on her.

As for my movie of the year, that has to go to Zootopia. A great story with a wonderful cast of characters, the animation was amazing and I just wanted to see more of it (and yes, I've already made my own fan character, a bat cause I haven't made a bat character in a long time). The meanings in the movie I feel was a great way to project the messages and I'd like to see it taken further, perhaps a predator/prey relationship and some of the stigma with that (though a nice happy ending, cause I feel the residence would be more open and more positive about such things in the city then outside it). I was surprised we didn't get any animated shorts, given the way most major 3D studios add them in their release products or released seperatly. What I feel was lacking was merchandising. Surprisingly, there is Frozen still all over the place, yet good luck trying to find Zootopia stuff beyond the movies and books (I did get the Art of book, which was better then I imagined). I like a few display pieces for...well...display. Hell, only found out recently they had Disney Infinity models, but they were so rare to find and only became harder when DI was terminated. Given I have some display pieces like Chip N Dale, I was hoping for some similar display pieces, but I guess Disney isn't interested in that anymore. Shame really (Still not sure why there has been little promotion of Zootopia compared to Frozen, but then again, maybe it has something to do with having a lot more songs to sing along to...maybe?).

Gaming

Well, it's been interesting. Played a few games myself, seen games played by others. I have no great one of the year as most of my enjoyment from them comes from playing with others, not so much the game itself. I was disappointed that Disney Infinity got cancelled, but given what Disney has done with it since shutting the studio down simply confuses me. It's clearly a popular game, so why not give it to someone more trustworthy to keep it going.Given peoples reactions, it seems a shame to do this, especially after that horror called Skylanders Imaginators. Seriously, the story in that game is not only terrible (given they took all that was good and decided to make it into a long episode of that blasted Netflix show and yes, Kaos and Glumshanks are the only good parts of that show), but characters like Flinn and his friends rarely get an appearance and the villain's 180 flip at the end makes no sense nor what happens to him after. DI deserved to beat that damn product. I'd point out the Lego version is overpriced compared to them, but I'm more concerned that Gremlins is an actual product. People do realise that Gremlins was a horror themed film right and Gremlins 2 was more of a horror comedy? Gizmo may be cute, but how many parents are really going to show the first movie to their kids? Didn't think so.

Ah well, nuff raging on that crap. There were some great games out this year and while I didn't play many of them, I am going to try some of them soon. What I am looking forward to are ones like the Civilization 6 and Planet Coaster. I have been playing some Total War: Warhammer and I do hope to get my own little review of that one out soon. I've had some excellent fun with StarCraft 2, it's Co-Op gaming is a lot of fun (so far I've level 15 Kerrigan, Abathur and Stukov, with Stukov being my favourite to play at the moment. Infestation is fun). Beyond all that, I've returned to Warhammer: Age of Reckoning or rather, Return of Reckoning as it is now known. Yeah it's a buggy mess and it needs a tone of work done to fix it, but given those working on it don't have the original code and are merely fans trying to set up the game so people can have fun, I won't blast them for it (unlike some of the player base does). Perhaps I'll do an update on that one in the future too.

Miniature Wargaming

So I'll wrap this whole thing by looking an miniature wargaming for me. Malifaux has had some interesting miniature releases and just recently set up their kickstarter for their larger miniature battle game called The Other Side. Thus far, I'm probably going to side with the Gibbering Hordes. I got a bunch more miniatures done, but still have a lot more to do, so thank you for being patient for waiting as I slowly get them done. I will have something uploaded soon, that much I can promise. I've been opened to a bunch of new games and some of the miniatures look amazing, only fueling my want to paint the odd one here and there. 

It would be wrong not to mention Games-Workshop for the year in this. I'm sorry, 'Warhammer' is what they call themselves now. I'm still not buying the reason they gave for the name change, still saying it's to distance themselves from the bad rap GW name has attached. Still, if what I've been told is true, then some new guy at it's financial head is an actual fan of the hobby and if so, that would explain the recent changes. We got classic, long thought lost armies returning to 40K, they put points in Age of Sigmar to make a competitive scene, White Dwarf has returned to it's former glory somewhat and we saw the release of Bloodbowl and shock of all shocks, they plan to support it too. While I'm still questioning if I'll return to AoS, a Bloodbowl team is something that does look interesting. It's a good change for the company and it's a path I fully support.

Conclusion

It's a mixed bag this year. We lost some great people like Prince, David Bowie, Gene Wilder and today (Australia time, this blog uses a different time stamp to me) we lost Carrie Fisher. It's been a sad one. That said, take out politics and stuff and I just realised just how boring my year has been (or was it, I just realised I'm a boring person.....). I think the hardest part is that unlike most end of years going into the next one, this one feels the most uncertain. Fear is more rampant then ever before, but if you step back and look, it's not the ones you think to fear that are causing it. Still, there are plenty of good things coming next year, so here's hoping it'll be a great one in disguise.



Note: I know this wasn't much of an end of year report, I'm not the best at writing these things. Sorry.

Out Of It

So my first week off study and I get struck down with a head cold, which in turn (due to weak lungs from long term Asthma) ends up infecting my chest. Good news is recovery is going well, but bad news means nothing has happened.

Well, that's not entirely accurate. I did get the epoxy resin done, but since the plastic meant to contain it fell off, it's turned into a real mess. Fixed most of it, but due to some issues I have had to finish the last parts off using GW's water effects. For some reason however, the blasted stuff isn't drying fast enough. Two days since the last batch and it's still sticky and I can't work on finishing them until I get the water parts done, so I must continue to wait for the stuff to dry.

With any luck, I should have them done by next week, so we'll see what happens.

Supanova Brisbane 2016 Update

So I did go this year, part of my personal treatment to get out of the house and partly to help with my Bro, who's going through some hard times himself. Gotta say, it just felt really disappointing with the event this year. Can't put my finger on why, but it was so bad that I didn't even take any pictures this year and I don't know why I didn't myself.

Wasn't all bad though as we did get to meet Jason Hayes, one of Blizzard games composers and his band Critical Hit. Their music was rather refreshing and picked up our moods greatly and we got a chance to speak with him during the signings, probably to the annoyance of those behind us. That alone saved the event for us and even the nasty storm we had to walk through to get back home didn't faze us (well, not that much at least). I do hope their turning romantic game music into rock songs (romantic rock as he calls it) goes well, but I would love to hear more of his rock versions of game tavern music as that was probably one of my favourite ones (they did a rock version of a Hearthstone music bit). I do suggest you go check them out if you can.

Malifaux: Dem Gators

I personally don't do things like unboxings or the like unless it's something really special, but occasionally there is something that really catches my eye and I just have to point it out. McTavish is an generally a good model to use in a Gremlins or Swampfiend crew, but miniature wise he looks much like most human characters do, so he looks much like I expect him to look. What I was not expecting was just how nice looking his Gator was. Not only was the model one of the easiest and well designed to put together, but it just looks terrifying given it's size.

I am overall impressed by it, mostly cause I didn't expect it to look as good based on the 3D pic on the boxes back. That said, it stands out more when you compare it to the miniatures from the Bayou Gators set.

Not only is this thing a beast, it's size really gives it the advantage over the other gators. I feel somewhat disappointed that fro the base size (40mm) the gators aren't that big. Compared to the average human size, I feel it's swallow whole trigger on it's basic attack makes little sense unless the model it was against was height one, and even the Gremlins on the gators are smaller then most Gremlin miniatures.

Once I'm done painting them, I'll do another epoxy resin batch to match the other Gremlins water bases, though this time I'll probably do it with a mix of the green/brown wash to show as if they had more mud around them, as opposed to my first few batches which were more teal (I later justified it by saying the water had Soul Stones at the bottom which were glowing and given how many Gremlins seem to die there, it does make some sense). I'm almost done painting and hope to start the epoxy by the weekend.

Project Update October

So you may have seen little in the way of updates since The Wild Ones got uploaded. Thing is, my course has taken a lot more of my time then I had originally hoped and because I'm having another major depression downwards spiral again. As such, projects will be kept on hold for a few weeks until the assignment period is up. After that, I have a few projects to work on, though when they get done I've stopped promising, but I'll be slowly working on these over the holiday period. Here are a few of them.

AoS:

- A small unit of Horrors (Technically they are Pink Horrors, but I'm going to just go crazy colour on them).
- A small unit of Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch (and Champions, a Lord etc)
- Possibly more Skaven stuff (I still have that Mordheim band to work on too), looking into Stormfiends as an option.

40K:

- Finishing a few more models to create my Inquisitor Warband Kill-Team (Two more to complete it)
- Both Inquisitors (and a few more henchmen)
- Inquisitorial Chimera
- Genestealer Cult Primus
- Possible Genestealer Cult Kill-Team (postponed for time being)
- Chaos Space Marine Possessed Kill-Team

Malifaux:

- McTavish + Gators
- Jakob Lynch's Crew
- Viktoria's Crew
- Colette's Crew
- Possible future stuff

Other:

- More Mouslings
- Possibly looking at the Marvel miniatures game, but I doubt I'll get that far for a while. If I were to start, I'd look at focusing on a Guardians of the Galaxy crew first (I'm also looking at those 90's X-men, but that's more because I was a fan of Gambit and Rogue from the show).

Apart from the Genestealer Cult Kill-Team and future Malifaux stuff, I already own the models and it's more just never getting around to it or never felt like working on them (the joys of clinical depression). So much of this stuff is just sitting in containers and I really want to get some of them finished. Some of them (like the Possessed and Inquisitors) are mostly done and just need a little time and a tone of motivation to work on them. Some things (like Malifaux and the Kill-Teams) are more serious in the painting styles while other stuff like the Horrors are meant for me to have more fun with doing as part of my on going treatment.

This is also the list of miniatures to be done and I do plan to work on other things during this time too. I'll be putting the things I'm learning in my course into some use as to practice and get better at them. I also plan to get that puppet idea done too, though I still need more foam and trying to obtain it in Australia is extremely difficult. I really do want to get that done and start practicing using the puppet, recording and editing to see what happens.

My biggest problem (as so many people have pointed out about me) is that I'm full of ideas, but making them practical is still something I need to learn. It's one thing to have big ideas, it's another to ensure you are focused and skilled enough to pull them off.

Thoughts on Character Creation - The Making of Dimitri Benois

 This article is still WiP

So as much as I love to give my thoughts on creating characters, I felt it would be interesting to actually go through the creation of an original character (a.k.a an OC) for a game I like. So here is the basic and simplified process that went into creating my OC for the miniatures game Malifaux.

Part 1 - The Idea

So things had not gone well for me after the collapse of Warhammer Fantasy and for a while I thought I'd just give up on the hobby. It was then I stumbled on a metal miniature for a game called Malifaux. It was a greenskin called a Gremlin, a LaCroix. Thus, I delved into the world of Malifaux.

Gremlins was my faction and the more I read the more I liked them. Greenskins who were a mix of the Hillbillies stereotype and cowboys. They were about booze, banjos and guns. Having started collecting and playing, I really wanted to do battle reports. The idea came of an individual who would introduce the games in the form of a story format. A banjo playing, story telling Gremlin. Despite writing a few ideas down, this part never got off the ground due to not being able to really draw and colour characters, but the idea still remained.

Part 2 - The RPG

Wanting to learn more about the world of Malifaux, I purchased the RPG players manual, a game called Through the Breach. While being a humans point of view, it still gave me ideas thanks to it's classes (called Pursuits) and it's skills and talents section.

I gave my Gremlin character more focus on areas like music (banjo), social skills like bewitch and convince with more survival areas like evade. The Performer pursuit was more to his style as a musician and story teller. A traveler who has seen things, been places and is always ready to tell others about it (even if they don't want to hear it). But he still wasn't done, still didn't feel right.

Part 3 - Into the Bayou

Given things hadn't gotten too far and the battle report idea was now pushed back to just an idea, progress on the character stopped. That all changed with the release of the RPG expansion 'Into the Bayou', a Gremlin themed add-on. The information was exactly what I needed for this character. New traits, an advanced pursuit called a Virtuoso who debuffed/buffed much like a Bard through music (a goal for my character to achieve to), but best of all was the family names. Each Gremlin belonged to a family and it was basically their last name. It was your allegiance and what your family was like was going to help shape you growing up.

Up until this point my character had simply been referred to as 'The Narrator', the one who told the stories. With this new character creation, I flipped the cards and let fate decide. As a result, a few finer details emerged.

- His name was Dimitri Benois. The Benois family were between the Joneses and the LaCroix families, but also near one of the human towns too. From this I had it that Dimitri had learned an equal amount of his music knowledge from them as he had his own kind.

- He had drawn the Magical Conduit talent from the Conflict talent section, meaning positive magic buffs on him would also heal, but took extra damage from offensive magic. I had pictured his in his younger days walking into magical ruins and experiencing an event that would change him (something he refuses to speak about to this day).

- His fate once flipped stated:
- The moon whispers secrets in silver light
- and you will rise above the vile crowd below
- the rapids sweep you from the path
- If you hold him back
- and the eyes in the darkness will change you

Not sure what it all means, but there are some dark aspects to his fate.

He's not strong and not very cunning, but he is very charming and somewhat tenacious. Has alright speed too.

- Having set when he learned what skills at what times, I built his background on this and above. This was the brief story of his past:

Growing up, Dimitri wasn't the strongest of his siblings and wasn't much of a trouble maker either. Despite this, he rarely got into trouble as while he might have appeared to be an easy target to place the blame on when his siblings caused trouble, his way with words seem to convince the elders of his innocence. Some grew jealous of him, while others found him charming. That said, he was adventurous and would love to explore places when trips were made. One such little adventure had a more permanent effect on him, though what happened to him, Dimitri will not say. He had a fascination with the sounds of the banjo and the stories told by others.

As he grew older, Dimitri began interacting more with the Humans and learned much about their way of life and their music. He soon found his natural talent with the banjo drew more attention and that he was able to duel with the best of them. Practicing more and more, he could pluck the strings faster then most and was well noted for making the pace of a dance to go faster and faster, leaving them exhausted by its end. He would travel across the land, see many things and would return to the Bayou with stories of both adventure and action. His skills with both instrument and words had the ladies flirting with him and the guys offering him booze. Any normal Gremlin might have been content with this lifestyle, but Dimitri felt something different, as if a calling to be elsewhere. Fate had plans for Dimitri, though what they were was something he did not know.....yet.

Personality wise, Dimitri comes off as both positive and optimistic, yet he hides a number of secrets. He tends to not talk much about his past and certainly such a hidden event in it might explain why he is quick to stand in defense of the swamp hag Zoraida and is always willing to help her without asking for anything in return (it's hinted that she rescued him from that something which was responsible for his 'Magical Conduit' conflict talent). While he seems to appear fine on the outside, a keen ear can pick up his true emotions through his music, a passion of Dimitri's.

A veteran of a number of scruff ups, Dimitri always has a tale to tell and loves nothing more then recalling a conflict he saw or was in, with the occasional exaggeration to improve the excitement of a story, though he will never outright lie or deceive his listeners with cruel falsehoods (he respects his audience too much for that). He tends to encourage his fellow Gremlins to have fun and tends to flirt with a local lass or two, though he doesn't seem to have anyone in particular to focus on (though he has admitted that it's more down to finding someone who is more a kindred spirit then just simply hooking up with a cute girl).

In a fight, Dimitri isn't so much a coward as he is just very cautious. He knows he isn't much of a fighter, but isn't the type to simply run away and leave others to their fate. After all, how is he to tell the latest tale of his recent encounters if he isn't there to see it. If anything, his banjo is his greatest weapon because once he starts plucking those strings and the speed increases, his music can have a devastating effect.

- The future of Dimitri would be shaped by plans I had, but there was still some things that needed to be done before he was ready.

Part 4 - The Design

With the character in full swing, now was the time to start planning the design. I felt the best way was to start with the designing of a miniature. As luck would have it, the next wave was herald by the arrival of the newest book, Ripples of Fate. In this book came a set of miniatures I had longed for, the Banjonista (banjo playing Gremlins). The idea was simple, take the male banjo player, replace his head and green-stuff some extras. The only problem was a) the Banjonista were not yet released and b) I had not yet picked a head to be the replacement. For the head I had a few options, the first being that of a Bayou Gremlin while another was Burt Jebson, but converted with a more closed jaw and converted hat. I did have a spare Bayou Gremlin, but when I went looking for him, he had vanished. So at this point, there was some thinking to do.

Months later (cause things happen in life that tend to drag me away from these things) and something occurred to me, I can't play as Dimitri in a game of Through the Breach. I had advanced the character so far in creating it and moving his story forward that he has evolved to be more of a story driven NPC then an actual player character. This is where Maurice comes in to help solve the design problem. It was from this revelation that I decided to create a second character to use for if I ever got to play the game, one who had some information preset, yet still be enough of a blank slate to still need things like the creation flips to set him up (which is why he has no family name yet). What was determined was that he would be a Boozer with the occasional time spent as a Pugilist. As such, there was a perfect model to represent that, a Bayou Gremlin who is ready for a fist fight with a jug of moonshine on him. It is this model I have decided to use, swapping the head with the Banjonista (when they come out) with some green stuff and a few Warhammer Empire troop booze bottles thrown in. This would be the set up for the basic design for both of these characters.

Stage 1

Sadly, that plan didn't go the way I'd wanted it to go. While I did find that missing Gremlin, my original idea was sort of scrapped when I realised that the heads of the various plastic Gremlins were not of the same size. As such, I decided to keep the head of the current Banjonista (I wasn't too keen on the beard, but what can you do) and use one of the Bayou Gremlin hats as I felt a famous banjo player like himself needs a big hat to show his importance. The ears needed to be worked on slowly, heating up some pliers and bending them several times to fit more into place with the hat. My plan was to green stuff some hair and a coat, possibly some sort of foot wear. However, I still needed ideas for a base and a paint scheme. I didn't need to look too far for the latter.

Turns out one day I started humming a song and wondering where I had last heard it. Turns out it was from this classic gem of a movie:

This movie is a comedy about a country boy living on his families apple farm in Tasmania. His name is Albert Einstein and his famous mass-energy equivalence formula is what put bubbles into beer, but also ends up creating an atomic bomb. Yes, it is an incredibly silly movie, but one I do enjoy. As such, the plan will now take some inspiration from his clothing (he does have a hat and coat also in the movie) and I may even make a few modifications to his banjo, though I am unsure if I could pull off a decent enough conversion on it to make it a good reference. Unsure if I should paint the pants similar to his main clothing (as seen here on the poster) or the jeans like riding pants he used when horse riding (which would blend more with the usual Gremlin clothing).



To Be Continued...

How Long is Too Long?

One of these big questions I've had over the last year or so is how long is too long for a series to run. As a fan of various series over the years, I feel in some cases some should have ended sooner where as others should have gone on longer. I've give two examples: Gravity Falls and MLP: Friendship is Magic.

Take MLP:FiM. Right now we are finishing up season 6, moving into season 7  with a movie on the way. For me, I feel that the series is beginning to run out of ideas (I admit I really watch most just once and never re-watch most of the last few series due to more of them being less interesting compared to earlier episodes), which can lead to unnecessary changes to story and characters, ones that may not go to well with some people. Hell, I feel the movie idea is a few years too late as it won't grab as many people now the height of the fandom has already peaked and is now cooling down.

Gravity Fall on the other hand only lasted two seasons before wrapping up with a nice conclusion, yet many felt it could have gone on longer and had more stories to tell. Here was a show that was reaching it's peak, but cut itself too short for many fans. That's not to say anything bad about it as unlike many shows they did give it a great ending that finalized the series, but did leave it open for continuation down the road.

Don't get me wrong, both a great shows and I do enjoy them, yet one must wonder how does one tell when a series reach the point when it just has to end? I gave two cartoon examples above, but you could literally apply it to any media series (television show, comic, game etc). In my experience, somethings have gone on for so long that they get different writers in who decide a story or character(s) need to go in a new direction, changing completely without proper explanation. A character who seemed deep and who's personality was one thing, suddenly changes to a polar opposite out of nowhere and any explanation never justifies the change. This is one of my biggest fears when it comes to something I begin to follow, a steady build up and path, only for something to undo it all without the need for it. I guess it's something fans go through, but when milking a series for all it's worth, is it really worth it if it ends up destroying it and alienating a fan base?

I don't know, but it does open itself up for an interesting discussion.

Genestealer Cults

I know right, "Why talk about GW? Didn't you finish with them?"

No, not really. I stated I hated the company, not the product. Even though there is very little they produce now that has any interest to me, they do occasionally pull something out of the bag. I admit, I really don't keep up with GW news lately (hell, I have long since stopped going to the Bell of Lost Souls website as that place has now become a pool of putrid hate and vile), so it took me by surprise to see that they actually did bring out a Codex: Genestealer Cult. While I still feel the miniatures are a little overpriced (seriously, the cheapest unit to buy are the Purestrain Genestealers, who are actually better then those from Codex: Tyranids and have been out for sometime), their design is faithful to the those original metal models long ago.

Their rules actually look rather good and despite the cost of the miniatures, their in-game cost does feel right. They actually have rules that match the fluff, which is a rather nice change. That said, I am not a fan of all these battle formation things (even those of AoS) as they all feel to benefit those with a larger wallet then those who just want to play a fun game. I am aware they do have points costs to balance it, but I guess this is more of a topic for another time.

My only real disappointment was the lack of some larger monstrosities. Given their genetic nature of infection, you'd think they could alter the genetic material of the more larger, passive creatures on a world and use them as rampaging beasts or mounts. Perhaps the next edition maybe. Overall, this is probably something that actually has my attention and even though I'm not big on 40K (I feel most of it's lore and stories have become rather dull and uninteresting over the years), I will probably consider getting a few to paint and may even get enough for a Kill-Team some time down the long road. Given the recent update to the Kill-Team rules, I would be rather interested in formulating such a team.

I new it sounded familiar..

So I've been playing a game or two of Heroes of the Storm here and there with my brother and I've been listening to the comments of Alarak and for some reason I felt the voice sounded familiar. Having just looked it up, I found out he was voiced by John de Lancie. For those who don't know, he played Q in Star Trek and Discord in MLP: FiM. Gotta say, he has an amazing voice. Feel I need to get the character now just to enjoy the voice (though, that said, I got Medivh just hoping the character starts quoting Raziel's sayings from Soul Reaver).

Malifaux Experiences: Dark Debts Crew

So I'm wanting to come up with ideas for articles to write and this has been floating around for some time. Malifaux experiences is a series where I talk about my experiences from playing, versing and even watching others use certain models in Malifaux. Please note, this is not a guide to play them nor is it meant to be a tactics guide, it's just my views on how the models play from my experiences. To start us off, let's talk about the one crew I have yet to beat, that from the Dark Debts box set.

Jakob Lynch

I must admit, I have had very little in the way of experiences with this Master. What I have learned is that this character is great for dishing out the Brilliance characteristic with his Pay for Blood attack and the Hungering Darkness really benefits from his upgrades of The Rising Sun (if killed he is buried and when an enemy model with the Brilliance characteristic is killedwithin 6", old HD is placed back next to that model good as new before they are removed) and Endless Hunger (HD's Terrifying now counts as All and he gets a bonus Action Point to use a Ca action).

Shifting Loyalties: Even though a Master can only be hired halfway through the campaign, one benefit that Lynch has is his Ace in the Hole ability, where if an ace is drawn during a friendly models phase, then he may place it in his hand after the actions resolved. This can be useful cause when a model dies, you need to flip a two or less in order to avoid flipping on the injury chart and so by having an ace you can cheat that in. Avoiding injuries can prove very useful in the later parts of the campaign.

Hungering Darkness

Don't be fooled by his DF 3, it is very misleading if you are not prepared. It might be easier to hit him, but if you use the wrong model then you might be surprised at how well he can do. His Incorporeal ability means he takes half damage from MI and Sh attacks and you quickly find that he can take a lot of hits to remove him. Magical attacks or Ca attacks are your best bet to take him down quickly. At Terrifying (Living) 12, one must need to

Healing is another factor with HD, as he has two means to do it. The first is his tactical action called Consume Brilliance in which he heals one wound for each model with the Brilliance characteristic within 6" aura of him, but those models must take a TN 13 horror duel. Given that the base WP of your crew with that characteristic will be 6, this is a little risky, but can prove very useful in small games where he is the crew leader. The second is his Tendrils attack which has a built in mask. There are two triggers he can use, the first being to heal two wounds and the other to apply Brilliance. This can be difficult to decide as the attack does get positive flips to damage vs Brilliance and with the Addict upgrade gets a positive flip to attack and damage flips (so technically double positive to damage flips). Damage vs Healing is a hard one to decide, it all comes down to how positive you feel about the situation.

Oh yes, with that last attack, a rams gets you a 4/5/7 damage instead of 2/4/6. With those positive flips, you could deal some real damage, particularly against other Incorporeal models.

I have found that taking half damage from non-casting/non-magical attacks along with his constant healing makes it difficult to remove in smaller games. A real nascence when trying to assassinate him. 

Shifting Loyalties: If you want him to lead your crew, remember that to hire a 0 cost character, they are thirteen minus their soul stone cache, so that brings HD to a cost of 8 Soul Stones to use. Since you now have to add the leaders cost to your crew hiring, it's important to remember this if you want to run a Brilliance crew.

The Illuminated

While not as horrifying as HD (they are living 10), there DF 5 is only slightly better, but they do get Armor +1. Just like HD, they do have the ability to heal, though somewhat differently. First off, they get to regenerate one wound when they activate, they also get a single cast of Brillshaper, a 0 action which gives a 1/2/3 heal flip and only needs a five or more to cast. This means they can heal between 1-4 wounds per turn (depending if you cast successfully and how much you heal on the flip). Given they are resilience and the free cost of healing, it can be difficult to remove them and without any real focus damage, they can prove to be a real headache to deal with.

They do have a decent melee and range attack, though against Brilliance is when they become deadly, as their 2/4/5 damage flip gets +2 damage against Brilliance. A second mask gets you the trigger to cheat damage flips, even if they are at a negative flip.

Movie Making - An Introduction Title

One of the fascinating things I'm learning from this SFX course is the difficulty in creating a great movie introduction title sequence. I feel the more I learn the more I find my respect for those behind the scenes grows. In trying to produce one that adheres to the rules of constructing a title sequence with examples to prove ones work, while at the same time making it creative and different, it has proven a lot more difficult then I had originally planned.

The amount of work that goes into such an endevour is quite remarkable, the amount of time spent fixing it after changing something slightly is a little more annoying. Trying to get the camera moving smoothly can get fiddly when you have to move it around a 2D object and then once you decide to alter your idea, you have to make the changes just right or redo it all over again. I think I've spent more time trying to get a 14 sec clip working then the time creating a 3D model with texturing. Still, I've learned a number of neat skills in After Effects that I had never thought was an option and as such it is turning into a rather interesting (if rather stressful) experience.

Things That Annoy Me: Recruit A Friend

There a times where I need to just get things off my chest and so I've decided to do a small series called 'Things that annoy me'. So to start this off, lets discuss the recruit-a-friend scheme that many video games have. So why this? Well, after looking over a few of them and the rewards they give, it occurred to me that for something like this to work I would need to ensure my friends hadn't already joined of their own choice. I can understand the idea to help get more players into a game, but from my experience just about every time one of us goes to send it to the others, we find we're already joined up and therefore ineligible. Hell, some of them really limited you to getting that one item, but you have to sign up a boat load of people. So for all my talk, what would I do?

I'd still like a program to push playing with friends, I'd rather it be a currency and shop type program. Have it that you can set up a number for friends. If they haven't set up yet, then give both the recruiter and the recruited a bonus amount of 'friend' currency. You earn more of this currency by playing with those friends for set periods of time. Then, you can spend such currency at a 'friend' store, which is full of special cosmetic items to choose from. This way, most players have a chance at getting said items, encourages people to sign friends and to spend a lot of time playing with those friends.

I'd like more players to join up and have fun, but there are better ways to encourage it.

Paladins - My First Impressions

So with the massive raging that Paladins was some type of Overwatch clone (or whatever people were yammering on about), I finally decided to give it a go. Having played it all I can say is that I am going to need a lot more practice. The gameplay is the usual Heroes V Heroes in an objective based match and once you pick your character, you stay that character for the whole match and players on your team can't be the same character. I'm fine with this as it helps me get better suited to the characters I would be playing as.

Speaking of which, at least half the roster is unlocked to start with and you can unlock the rest through cash (the in-game currency) or gems (the real-life currency). Again, being a Free-to-play (F2P) game, this is something I'd expect. The outfits are rather limited (it is in beta) so there aren't a lot of cool looking designs, but I'd guess we could see a bunch more in the future (it's how free-to-play games make their money).

Game wise, I enjoyed it. I'm not very good at it, but I had fun. My character was Pip, an anthropomorphic fox/rodent? character who's class was support (cause I always seem to play supporting characters) who's special is to turn enemies he hits with it into chickens for a limited time. I really like Pip. You also have a card deck which you can unlock new cards either through opening chests (from level rewards or from purchasing them with gems) or just paying the cash cost to unlock them. You build a deck of five, but also have a points limit of twelve with them, so my guess is some cards are more powerful then others and this is a way to control that (I didn't have many cards unlocked). You also have a match based currency that unlocks buffs during the match. There a four categories and once you pick a bonus in one, you can't pick any more in that same one (so one per category). That said, each one starts at rank one and can be upgraded to rank three, and you earn the currency for such things from killing heroes, capturing or holding objectives etc. It can get a little confusing and you do find after a few games you will figure out which ones work best with which playstyles.

It feels like a F2P game and it plays like one. This is the kind of game I'd like to play with friends just for a bit of fun with that added drop of frustration thrown in. One might wonder why I'd choose this over a game like Overwatch (you know, apart from the fact it's F2P), but my experiences with that game just rubbed me the wrong way and while I stand by my decision, Overwatch is still a good game. That said, it's not for me. This game however, might be something extra to play here and there for a little enjoyment (as long as I'm playing with a friend anyway).

Creating a Small Display Board

I through out the idea if people wanted me to photograph my miniatures on a white background or on a themed scene and the response was a themed scene. My problem is that while I have the stuff for Gremlins, for most others I don't have. I hope in the future to get print outs to use underneath or small boards that connect, but for now I just have to work on ones for current projects. The recent one was the nightmare box set called 'The Wild Ones', a Lucas McCabe alternate box set. Since I wanted a Guild themed crew, I worked on creating the right crew with a sort of wasteland feel.

Note: This article is simply to give you an idea on how to create a simple board for photographing miniatures on. You don't have to do it like this and is just meant to show that such things can be done easily and hopefully you'll be inspired to make your own. This project was a rush job, so there were various problems here and there. I would suggest taking your time in making your own as you can better pick up faults during the various processes and fix them up before you reach the later stages, which can be extremely difficult to fix up.

As it just so happened, the box that my GenCon order arrived had a cardboard top that suited my plans perfectly. I decided to make the scenic board based on their scenic bases, so that meant making the base on a larger scale. First step was to use a lot of wood filler mixed with black paint. The result darkens it, but it's more a muddy sort of grey-brown colour.

After leaving it overnight to dry, I sanded and glued on a few rocks. I then began layering brown paint followed by a wash or two of black wash. Once dried, I began dabbing various amounts of Agrellan Earth from the GW range. After a few hours, I returned to add an extra amount here and there where it wasn't working.

After leaving it overnight (again), I began layering various layers of paint. These included Zamesi Desert, Karak Stone and Bleached Bone with a very light dry brushing of Terminatus Stone here and there. The rocks were based with Bleached Bone, followed by a brown wash, a Karak Stone drybrush and finally a Terminatus Stone dry brush. A mix of brown and black wash was added into the various cracks that didn't stand out as much, a Gryphonne Sepia was placed in a spot or two along with a mixture of brown and flesh wash to add colour to some spots.

Finally, dried grass clumps were added to finish it off.

I only had a few problems making this and it's very obvious as to where they occurred. The cardboard was slightly bent when I did the layer of wood filler and after it dried I noticed it. I tried to fix it, but it cracked the middle. Worse was the fact that I rushed the layering of the wood filler and you can see it in the overall look. It doesn't matter too much to me personally as it was really only going to be used for a one off set of shots (I doubt I'll do much more guild then this), but for those who want something more permanently, I do suggest taking your time to shape it. Overall, it works for what I wanted it for and the results are acceptable.

General Update

So I have gotten two Hounds painted and the other two will be put on the back burner to be done at a later date. With luck I'll get the photos tomorrow and have them uploaded. As for other miniatures, that's up in the air at this moment.

See, depressions been bad and I really need to focus on my movie title project, which really hasn't moved over the week long break and it's due in the next five weeks. As such, I really have lost confidence and am already beginning to feel the stress and pressure of it. I'm hoping that my mood will shift into a more positive area soon, having focused more on eating fruit and less high sugar products, but still not feeling any different.

I've also noticed I really haven't done much photography lately too and should make a day dedicated to getting a few more shots done, though with all the medical appointments booked, that may have to wait a week or two. So perhaps something will happen within the next few weeks, with luck.

Update: Yes I know, I'm delaying again (though you probably are already expecting it by now). Turns out things have not gone as well as I hoped and unfortunately, my flat mate is staying home tomorrow to play his new game, meaning I can't do it then either. I'm aiming for Friday afternoon, but who the bloody hell knows when by this point. 

My Issue With Twitter

Social media is a great way to get ideas about and discussions going (well, most of the time). However and I'm sure this is an old complaint, I really dislike the limited amount of characters you can use. Last week I mentioned how bad it was to use such things on my iPod, but one thing that really stood out was the inability to have a proper discussion.

An example, one artist I follow called Tsitra360 (who's a rather talented artist in my opinion) was saying how Hasbro designers keeps making better ponies then OC's (I assume Tsitra meant the shows designers and not the toy designers), to which I responded about how that it's down to how the artist makes them look good or not. The replay was that a bad design could be improved, but a good design would go further, which I do agree with. Now I would love to have continued with such a discussion, as while I have made a ton of characters, visual design is something that I would love to learn more about. Sadly, the situation I was in was not the best for a discussion, but limited space typing would have not gotten many points across. Now I could have sent a message or mail, but since I don't really know the person and my social anxiety, I felt doing such a thing would be inappropriate and rude. I don't know if an opportunity to discuss character visual design with artists will ever come up again.

Sometimes, limited words can be good, especially if you can get your point across in as few words as possible. Clearly I am not one of those people and this is one of my main issues with Twitter. That and the fact that I prefer using it on my computer, in which they are never in posted time order, which infuriates me to no end.

Bring on the female superheroes! | Christopher Bell

Hell Fucking Yes!

Back into Malifaux - Sort Of

So good news and bad news. Good news is the Hounds arrived and I got a game with my Bro. The bad news is I was unwell, so I didn't get any picks, plus we hadn't played in a while and so we decided against playing one of the event games. That said, I'll give a brief overview of the game in case your interested.

25 Soulstone game, Ten Thunders vs Gremlins, Corner Deployment, Turf War and we both had the Assassinate and Make Them Suffer schemes (though looking back I should have gone for the Power Ritual that was available).

I spent more time helping my brother to pick his crew from my models (he still hasn't found his yet) and I sort of wasn't paying attention to my crew choices, but I still stand by them.

Ten Thunders

-Hungering Darkness (Leader - Henchman) - 7 SS cache
       - Addict
       - Recalled Training

-Illuminated (Minion)

-Illuminated (Minion)

-Illuminated (Minion)

Gremlins

- Trixiebelle (Leader - Henchman) - 5 SS cache
       - A Gun For A Lady

- Francois LaCroix (Henchman)

- Raphael LaCroix (Enforcer)

- Bayou Bushwhacker (Minion)

- Old Cranky (Peon)

The Game

Oh boy, things did not go well for me and to be fair, it was partly my fault. I'm happy to help my opponent to understand his crew and to give stat details of my own (good sportsmanship is very important in my games) and it's fair to cop a pounding by helping him pick out suitable targets. No my biggest problem was not using my crew well enough. By focusing on Turf War, I ran many of them towards the center. What I forgot (until the last minute when I realized, damn that was a funny moment) was that my crew is better at range then melee, where his is better at melee then range. I admit, my Gremlins do lack melee models (really all I have is Mah Tucket and she's a Master, so couldn't be used in this game) and I should purchase a few for future battles.

If there was one thing I can say, is that the Dark Debts crew has one hell of a self healing set of abilities. Raphael tried his best to take down the Hungering Darkness and at first things went well. Francois ran in to help, but after taking half damage to deal a good chunk to HD, the old Entity hit back and Francois was the first to fall. Darkness would keep leaching life and even drained his allies to heal, which they passed their tests. Meanwhile, the female Illuminated got into a fight with Trixiebelle and the two got into one heck of a slapping match. Old Cranky tried to help, but then the nearest Illuminated joined the fight and beat the old man down.

In a bad situation, I was left with the choice of trying to take down Hungering Darkness or save Trixiebelle. My Bushwhacker decided to take on the Darkness, but after a few slaps of the pan, only one wound was achieve and the third Illuminated counter-charged, but failed to damage anyone (he spent most of the game just roaming around and when he got into combat, he failed. Won my Brother's 'Most Useless Member' award). Despite having only four wounds left, Raph failed to make any sort of impact to Darkness, despite having three action points from his bonus reckless.

Trixie, now in a 2 V 1 fight, held out amazingly well. Using stones for damage prevention and a good card or two, that gal was fighting against the odds. Things were less well, and Hungering Darkness just destroyed the Bushwhacker and the Illuminated aided in removing Raphael. It wasn't going to end well for me, but Trixiebelle survived to Turn 5 before finally falling, thus denying my opponent full points for Assassinate. Ten Thunders had won, 7 VP to my 2 VP.

Regen plus a self heal per turn meant my damage could not wear them down, but given I do better damage at range then melee had resulted in the stupid decision to get in close so early had me at a disadvantage. The terrain didn't help, but I should have planned better. Even at DF 6, WD 8 and no defensive triggers, Trixiebelle held off two Illuminated quite well and even her poor damage was keeping the one Illuminated close to mid wounds. Had I gotten her better support, I might have gotten one kill for my scheme. Like I said, I should have gone for the Power Ritual as I'm sure I'd have gotten at least 1 VP for it and would have probably had a model or two in a better position.

Overall, this was a very fun game and I had a blast. We hope to do another one soon (and with luck, I might have a better chance with getting photos/video next time) and perhaps we might be able to do one of the event missions too.

I'm Back

So just got back today, just in time to finish the assignment that's due next week. Unfortunately, my Guild Hounds still have not shown up and I still need to do some more work on the scenic base, so those delays are still there.

I'll do a proper update in the next few days (going to rest up tonight), but with luck my brother will be up in the next few days, so we should get a game or two when he does. As to whether or not I'll do a photo report or a video report I still don't know, but we'll see what happens.

Isolation Feeling

One thing I've really notice being away is how isolated and trapped I feel. It's as if being away from things like my miniatures (to paint) or my computer gives me this trapped feeling. Is it because I can't express myself? Is it because I can't distract myself? I can't truly say.

Trying to use this old iPod to type is frustrating. I tried to use Twitter with it, but after a few messages I gave up. How can you communicate to people with so little characters to get a point or give a respectable response, let alone on such a device. I want a civilized discussion, but with limited words it's hard to say things and I don't want to sound rude. Even typing this on the iPod is irritating me. Guess this is just me being irritable at the moment, most likely due to my mental state. I'm always happy to help out family, I just need to come up with things to do in the down time.

New Delays

So there will be a slight delay on those uploads. A family issue has come up and I'll definatly be away this week and the beginning of next week. I hope to catch up quickly, but given the situation I won't make any promises as to when those projects and uploads will be ready.

Second to Last Wild Ones Update

So the Wild Ones models are done, somewhat. They are finished to the point that I've stopped painting, I'm not skilled and to try and any attempt to 'fix' them will just make things worse. I'm hoping the Hounds will be in by Wednesday and I can get straight into working on at least two to finish the full crew off. So why haven't I done a shot of the finished models and uploaded them?

Well, I asked in the Old Cranky shot if adding scenery was better then just while card and the response was a big yes to scenery. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to buy new scenery or a mat, so I'm doing the next best thing and making a scenic stand to shoot them on. This means making a small board to display them on with a few coloured pieces of paper on the side to give a desert feel (I don't have access to a printer yet, so no scenic backgrounds unfortunately).

As of this moment, I am working on making the ground the same way as I did the bases, with wood filler that's had black paint added to darken it, a thin layer of brown paint (I'm running very low so I had to skip parts) and finally a black wash layer to give it an even darker look. This will help when the cracked earth paint is added tomorrow. From there it's down to how much I want to add to the base. A few rocks and a bush or two of dried grass, perhaps a broken wooden sign or something. Might have to sketch up some ideas as to what to add as I don't want it too blank, but I don't want to overcrowd it too. Sometimes minimal gives the maximum effect.

What I will do is do a light progress of creating it as an article, which I will upload along with the pictures of the miniatures. Perhaps it will give me (and even yourself) ideas for creating more improved scenic pieces (this is a rushed job after all).

Miniature Wargaming - The Endless Variety

So recently I've been wondering about what one can do in miniature wargaming. Since the events of the End Times and having the chance to experience a variety of different games, this is something I've been wanting to talk about and having talked to the guy an my local newsagent (who sells a number of miniature wargames at his store and plays a few different games), now is a great time to do so. I want to talk about a few games that have caught my eye, either by their models or game styles, but for this I won't really talk about games of 40K/Age of Sigmar/Malifaux as I already have experienced them and I want to focus a little as an outsider looking in. So here we go.

Warmachine vs Hordes

So I've seen both these two before, but it was my local guy who showed me their starter sets and told me a little about them. What I find very interesting is that there are now rules that can have an army from one game fight an army from another. That's amazing. The idea of having such a means is one I find very interesting and only serves to enhance the game, allowing players to fight one another with armies that at one time, could not.

While I don't really want to get involved in another big army style game, I do like the look of two of the factions, the Cryx from Warmachine and the Legion of Everblight from Hordes. The Cryx were described to be as a sort of Cyberpunk cross Necromancy faction, while the Everblight are more based of the Demonic in nature, thought both sides seem to have some Elvish nature to them. Both sides have some awesome looking miniatures, though sadly the best ones are the more expensive ones. The Cryx are in the starters pack, which ranges around the $135-$145 mark, so not too bad and something I may look into further down the line.

Marvel/Batman

These games are more new-ish (the Marvel one more so) and is probably the only game in which you'll probably spend more money on scenery then on the actual models. These games are small skirmish ones, with two sides going against each other in combat. The Batman games usually have the good guys verses bad guys, with one player picking his team to go take out one of Gotham's various crime gangs. The Marvel one has you with a set team from one of their three factions, Avengers, Mutants (a.k.a X-men) and Guardians of the Galaxy. Here you do toe-to-toe in a super hero fight, from throwing opponents into buildings, tossing vehicles at enemies or simply going for a good old fashion beat down. I've seen a battle report or two on this game and it does look incredible, but as I pointed out, you do need a bit of scenery for a good game.

It's style and rules means you could implement them into other shows, like Dragonball Z for instance. There is a great potential now for shows and movies to move into miniature wargaming thanks to games like these.

Dropzone Commander

Perhaps I was too quick about my scenery comment above, as I had completely forgot about this game. To simply put it, Spaceships and Mecs, what else is there to say. The game have a few factions, with various air and ground units as you battle through cities and the like. Ground infantry is basically a single unit, with most being things like Mecs, Walkers and Tanks. There are a number of large and small air units too. I don't know much about this game, but I have seen some amazing game boards done for it and the miniatures themselves look quite nice too.

Alien vs Predator

More like a boardgame style, it does seem a little expensive to me. Shame, as I really do love Aliens and Predators. Never seen it played, but it does emphasize my point that you can turn a franchise into a miniature wargame and allow people to experience it in a whole new way.

Guild Ball

Everyone remember when Games-Workshop did Blood Bowl, cause it seems GW seemed to have forgotten it. So much so, that another company decided to make a game about factions fighting is a combat ball sport and it seems to have taken off. Again, another game I don't know much about, but the miniatures do look very good. Maybe I might paint one at some point.

Overall

There are so many more out there, but these were a few that caught my attention. More so, they have given me plenty of ideas of what a person can do with a few simple ideas. Think about it, you can take your favourite show/movie/comic/game and turn it into a game. Just alter a few rules and get a few miniatures. Even better if you know someone who can do great 3D models as with the rise of 3D printers you could create a basic model and pose, print, paint and away you go. Custom rules and a few playtests, one could create a good fan game to share with friends. If you have your own characters and stories, you can modify them to make a miniatures game to share and expand. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination (and copyright law. Some companies don't take too well to fan games).

My Time Studying - A 10 Week Overview

So we are about to start week ten of my time studying a Diploma of Screen and Media (Visual Effects) and I just want to put up a little recap. This is more for myself then anything else, so feel free to skip this one.

I've learned a number of things, like the basics of storyboard art, visual manipulation, sound editing, 3D construction and video editing. All things that have proven to be very interesting, if a little difficult. Sadly, my condition is a serious concern as it has resulted in me not keeping up at times and at one point, having a violent Anxiety attack, which ruined my day to no end. So far I have passed the first set of assessments, though as we now have only six weeks until the next set are due, the pressure just seems to keep building up.

The latest one is to create a movie title sequence from a movie you like, but it has to be different from it's one. This means you have to be creative with it, but still keep to the formula of what a movie title entails and that it must be like other movie titles before it (as in, you need some reference material to show that similar styles have been done before, or else it may not feel like one). Naturally, I'm going to do one based on my number one favourite movie: The Dark Crystal.

That said, it's easier said then done. I'm already in the planning stages, with ideas that must be story boarded and a short 3D piece to test create to see if my main idea works. The one problem with being a creative person (something I'm sure you have all experienced at one point) is going in over your head. My idea is a big one, but I am unskilled, short on time and my mental health isn't exactly helping in solving issues that may occur. I need to have a backup plan (I have one, but it costs money for props, something that may be an issue - guess that means I need a backup-backup plan then eh?) and focus to get things done.

Overall, I have seen boundless potential with what one can do with the knowledge that this course can bring, but I'm really feeling the strain that doing it is also causing. Will do my best to remain as positive as possible, with the hope that perhaps I might get the chance to use such skills in a few videos soon enough.

Divergent Paths Is Almost Upon Us

So the promotional material and base rules for the Divergent Paths campaign is now up. It will involve a series of story games which follow three new human arrivals from the Breach, a snarky practical joker, an inquisitive child, and a self-righteous man. As such, each faction is trying to alter the fate of these individuals. At the end of each story encounter, the faction with the most wins will grant that character a special ability. By the end of the campaign, the fates of these characters will have changed and the consequences will be felt as each character will become a model who's stats and abilities will be determined by this event.

This sounds very interesting, three characters who will be reforged into something different based on the actions of those involved. I just hope people play more for the fun of messing with them then actually trying to win a factional victory like the last world campaign. It will get boring real quick if we keep seeing the same top three of Guild, Arcanist and Ten Thunders over and over again.

Also, quick update on the Wild Ones. For the most part, I have only one more Ramone to complete and while their paint coats aren't the best, I'm overall happy with what I've done. The Hounds still haven't arrived yet, but with luck, I'll have them done by the end of next week. The plan is to have the full 50 Soulstone group painted up of photos, though I might be busy next weekend too, so we'll have to see what happens. Also, noticed a Bayou Gremlin has gone missing and two Bushwackers and the Lucky Effigy were not finished. Working to fix that up, though I admit that my Effigy looks like he's a football supporter who stole the cloths off a dead clown. I can't tell if he's disturbing or disgusting.

Wild Ones Crew Setup

So after looking over a number of models and rules, I think I've got my Wild Ones 50 Soulstone crew final setup complete. The list goes as follows:

Master - Mounted Rollins (Counts as Mounted McCabe) - Soulstone Cache - 4
                       - Glowing Saber - 2SS
                       - Elixir of Life - 2SS
                       - Strangemetal Shirt - 1SS

Totem - Iggy Pup (Counts as Luna) - 4SS

Henchmen - Cherri Bomb (Counts as Sidir) - 9SS

Minions - Elli Ramone (Counts as Mounted Guard) - 8SS
             - Patti Ramone (Counts as Mounted Guard) - 8SS
             - Miss Anne Thrope (Counts as Wastrel) - 4SS
             - Brutal Effigy - 4SS
             - Guild Hound - 3SS
             - Guild Hound - 3SS

        Total Cost - 50 Soulstones

While I did discuss the benefits of the combination of Iggy, Hounds and Mounted Guard, there are a few more to go with this option. I chose the Effigy not only cause it was cheep (and looks bloody awesome), but it can be useful to trigger a slow on enemies and to help keep Rollins alive longer. Miss Anne, being a Wastrel, allows for more movement in the use of the upgrade tossing, plus her tactical ability is very helpful. In fact, the only character I haven't figured out is Cherri, mostly cause I haven't played this crew before. With a few Upgrades tossed her way, Bodyguard seems like a good choice. I will most likely keep her and Iggy as backup. Iggy needs to be well protected at first cause if she goes down, then the Hounds regain their Insignificance rule, which can be a real pain early in the game.

Again, the look and feel of this crew list matches well, but I won't know much about strategies until I actually use them in games (or someone else uses them against me).

(Quick update: Both Iggy and Dismounted Rollins are done, the remaining four have all been coated is a base colour and are at various stages of completion. I'm away this weekend, but should have them finished by next week. By then the Hounds will have shown up and I can quickly complete two to have the group set up for photos.)

WTF Youtube, Dangerous Waters Man

We are entering dangerous waters with this shit here man. I can understand wanting to keep some of the hate filled troublemakers out, but this is overstepping the boundaries. The system is already unfair in it's treatment of it's users with it's failed Copyright system, allowing the large companies to abuse it without fear of consequences (well, until it actually goes to court, but even when they loose it's no real problem for them), but what are the chances that videos from these companies will be targeted by this new system.

As it stands, many media companies have their videos on here and many of them are monetized. Some of there big and popular ones go against these guidelines, but many of us feel they'll be passed over in exchanged for targeting smaller channels. Hell, I don't know if any of there systems could be classed as legal in some countries and it's only a matter of time before one country makes that decision. This is another form of trying to shut off both creativity and free speech. Yes, some people should not have the right to post videos and the like cause they're out to harm other people, but Ad friendly? Has any of these guys looked at ads lately? Some involve things like sex, abuse, offensive meanings, gambling and drug use. Ads are not ad friendly by that standard. Much of the entertainment we watch on Youtube has swearing, sexual innuendos and the like, but you cut them off and your cutting off an audience. A very angry audience.

This would not only cut off the livelihoods of a number of great content creators, but those that work for them. Remember that many of the big names (and smaller channels) have other people work for them, people behind the camera, extras and most importantly, Editors. If the channel can no longer make ad revenue, then those who work behind the scenes will loose there jobs too. Such a blow would be very bad publicity for Youtube and Google and could see many content creatures change formats. Cutting ads from the big channels (and a tone of smaller ones) would also hit Youtubes bottom line. They are literately cutting their own throats with this shit. This does not make sense, not from a moral one, a business one or hell, even common sense. There is no explanation to justify this, no reason to explain why they chose to do this (and no, Ad friendly non-sense. T.V has violent, offensive, swearing shows and they have ads. Hell, the news has gambling ads in ad breaks). I don't know who is in charge, but clearly someone needs to explain to them that they need to stop following this self destructive path, before it's too late.

(I know I've gotten carried away with this, but it's hard to see a positive to content creation when all those who do good suddenly find their work restricted financially. Doesn't help when big companies continue to get a free pass, yet the hard working smaller channels are getting punished. It frustrates me to no end).

Worst Parts of Anxiety

Anxiety for me can be a real prick for me sometimes. An excellent example was yesterday, in which during class it struck. Having been force to leave class and head for the campus Councillors, I had to take a ten minute detour to a bathroom and empty my stomach. Shaking and cold sweat is also a memorable experience, which is usually followed by an hour or two of severe Depression as one blames themselves for having the Anxiety attack.

The thing is, I was fine up until the attack and for the life of me, I'm still not exactly sure what brought it on. That's the worse part for me, the fact that it hits you out of nowhere and it hits hard. Social Anxiety is something I've lived with for years (Hell, I've lived with Clinical Depression for over nineteen years now), but I've really only suffered these physically violent Anxiety attacks for the last year (from what I can remember at least, my memory about such things isn't the best) and it's the fact they can strike me at anytime that really concerns me.

Naturally, time spent both with the Councillor and alone helped calm me down, but had to go home and rest as I was in no state to start working on future solutions. Did get to spend my afternoon painting as part of my recovery, so yesterday wasn't a total waste.

Through the Breach: Into the Bayou Short Review

So it's in and I've been reading and re-reading it since I got it. Now, I want to point out that I've never played the Malifaux RPG Through the Breach, mostly cause I don't know a lot of people or anyone who would want to play it. That said, I absolutely love Gremlins and this book really gives me a good insight into them, but also helps me define that Gremlin character I've been working on. So lets get into this.

Obviously, this is an expansion to the rules set out from the Through the Breach core rulebooks. It's broken into several parts from Lore and character creation, new pursuits (classes), advanced pursuits, talents and skills, gear and stats for a number of creatures your party might encounter while in the Bayou.

Lore

This got me giddy with excitement as many of the books Wyrd releases for the Malifaux miniatures game really don't give much lore, other then a few stories, for the Gremlins. This gives a nice description of the Bayou area, the creatures in it and some of the more famous locations with in it (There are even rules to gamble against the Hag Witch Zoraida, though be aware that such a thing is very much in her favour). Gremlins get the most detail in this, such as their beliefs, habits and their love for booze. Family names are something they hold dear to themselves and work much like a community or tribe, so every Gremlin belongs to a family (or at least until they are thrown out). Life for a Gremlin child is rough, as a mother can sometimes forget you exist and can end up rounded into small groups that can form gangs. Some are more favoured by their mother (particularly girls, due to their rarity) and they tend to get better treatment (until the next back of children are born anyway).

Marriage and Love are also slightly bizarre. Love is fine, but the very romantic type many of us enjoy is seen to go a little too far, so they prefer you keep that level of affection at home. Marriage is more of a reason to just throw one massive party and booze up, but it's also to bring one member of another family into one's own. As such, a female Jones marries a LaCroix male, the female will change her family name to LaCroix and depending on her memory and booze tolerance, it will determine how much time it'll take for her to forget she was ever a Jones. Even Humans can marry Gremlins, for they are not overly against this as after all, once you are part of the family, you are treated as one of the family. It's not rare that a Gremlin can get so plastered at these events that they can end up marrying a Pig or even an attractive looking rock.

As mentioned, Family is important and the book give a page worth of detail for each of the major Gremlin Families (lesser families are mentioned, but they are kept unknown for the Fatemaster to expand upon). There is also some interesting information on the families from the Three Kingdoms region and they defiantly sounds like there will be problems with the Ten Thunders and the Black Dragon. I get the feeling the Gremlins will end up in a massive war amongst themselves when things go to hell.

There is also some brief information on Kythera, but more importantly, the Red Cage. While I'm not sure when this happened (was it due to the Nythera campaign or is it part of Ripples of Fate, I don't know), the Red Cage is the giant crater that housed one of the legendary Tyrants, which occurred when one of the other Tyrants called Plague tried to steal their power, but failed. Needless to say, it's an important part to the ever growing story unfolding in Malifaux and it's nice to see us Gremlins being dragged into it.

Pursuits

There are eight new Pursuits to pick from in this book, with the focus that Gremlin characters are more likely to be these compared to other factions like Humans or Neverborn. These consist of:

• Bokor (A Shaman like character who prefers to manipulate minds)

• Boomer (A shotgun fanatic)

• Boozer (Yes, alcoholic is now a playable class)

• Buckaroo (If it's big and not defiant, you can ride it)

• Copycat (Start with imitation, end with short bursts of becoming that person)

• Pugilist (Fist fights and Wrestling, what more could you want)

• Swineherd (Raise cute pigs to become killer pigs)

• Trapper (You use a variety of traps and trapping techniques)

All have their related Talents added to their descriptions, so no flicking between pages like in the Fated Almanac. But if that wasn't enough, there are five Advanced Pursuits to go along with it, with these first two being common in Gremlin lands, while the last three are very much Gremlin focus and will be extremely difficult for non-Gremlins to obtain.

• Virtuoso (Music that can effect allies and enemies)

• Rocketeer (Slap a rocket to your back and away you go)

• Lightning Bug (Beg Wong to teach you and learn just how dangerous you are to your friends)

• Taxidermist (You stuff animated dead animals.....with explosives)

• Big Hat (Get the biggest hat you can find and force them to make you the Boss)

Conflict Talents

Unlike the family history card flip for Humans entering through the Breach, Gremlins flip for a Conflict Talent. These are a special Talent as a result of your characters childhood, which grants them both a positive aspect and a negative one. The character creation example for instance give the character the Gator Bait Talent, which gives the character +1 Damage to creatures with the Swampfiend characteristic, but they also treat creatures with the Swampfiend characteristic as if they had Terrifying (All) 11. This represents their fear of such creatures, but also their desire to see them dead. Many of them are quite good at fleshing out a nice backstory.

There are also a few, more Gremlin related Talents (we have Squeal) and there are three new skills that anyone can use, but again, Gremlins will probably benefit from them depending on the Pursuit chosen.

Gear

Gremlin gear isn't known for their fine craftsmanship nor their reliability. It's no surprise then that some items lend themselves more to the comedic aspect of the Gremlins. Such items I'd like to point out are things like Fryin' Pan, Pig Prodder, Backwater Pepperbox and the classics like Metal Pot as a helmet and the old Whiskey Barrel.

Magic

They have a few new spells, but since I've never played the game, I can't tell you how effective magic is in it. That said, I do like the spell 'The Kitchen Sink' (summon a large, heavy and comedic item to fall on your enemies head) and the Bokor's own advanced spell 'Animal Hex' (transform a person into an animal for a number of rounds, with a trigger called 'Princess Clause', meaning they need someone to kiss them to turn them back to normal faster). There are also a few new Grimoires that tend to be located in the Bayou and are more likely to be useful to Gremlin casters.

References

As mentioned above with the 'Princess Clause', there are various references to other, more pop culture related references. Wyrd is well known for doing this and it's great to try and find a few of them. Obviously, the Rocketeer has the ability called 'Blasting Off Again', which clearly references Team Rocket and their iconic phrase as they are hurled into the distance. There's even a reference to that singing frog gag from the loony tunes cartoons. They even threw in a MLP gag with the Big Honkin' Gun, which states how Gremlins prefer this weapon as it's 20% Cooler then other rifles in the Bayou. Yep, seems they beat me to a Friendship is Magic gag.

Bayou Beasties

The end part features a story of a Human taking notes on their journey into the Bayou and the various stories and creatures they encounter. Designed to help Fatemasters by giving them the rules/stats of the various encounters one might have in the Bayou along with a quick sketch of what said creature looks like. For me, I really want them to make an Ahool model, those things sound bloody awesome. For that matter, why haven't they made Whiskey Gamin miniatures yet. Maybe they will in the future.

Overall

If your a Gremlin fan then you'll love this book. It gives you a lot to work with for both Gremlin lore or even to do a story campaign for the miniatures game. If you play the RPG and want to add Gremlin players or just some neat Bayou stuff, then you'll most likely get this book too. If you play the miniatures game (or even the RPG), but have little to no interest in the Bayou or it's inhabitants, then you can pass on this. For me, it was well worth the wait and cost. As a Gremlins fan, a must have.

Malifaux: Divergent Paths - A New Campaign?

So Wyrd has announced their latest global event coming in September. Called 'Divergent Paths' (or at least, that's what the image states) it will no doubt probably be related to the Ripples of Fate book that is coming out (unless you got it a GenCon).

I don't know if I'll participate this year, as last years event I had my Brother to play against, but we really haven't interacted much over the last few months. Plus he now lives further away. I don't think there will be any major gaming groups forming in this area just yet, but who knows. If I do join in, you can expect my Gremlins will be going full on in. That said, we still won't be getting those Banjo playing miniatures for some time. Pity about that, am really looking forward to those models.

Given the way the last event went, I feel we'll just get a sort of repeat from last year, with the top three spots being contested by Guild, Arcanist and Ten Thunders. As much as I'd love to see my beloved Gremlins on top, I do hope that the Outcasts give them a run for their money.

Wild Ones Play Style (One Way to Play Them)

(I will refer to the models by their 'count-as' names as it will make it easier for referencing)

So spending some time going over the models and their rules, I think I've got a feel for the play style this box set gives. While the style of McCabe, Luna and Sidir have their usual connection, though I feel that McCabe would work well supporting his crew either through upgrades or combat support, it's Luna that would be useful when you throw in Guild Hounds. This idea was brought about by the two other models in the set, the count-as Mounted Guard.

Mounted Guard have a few good abilities (though their attacks are good) that when I looked over them, made sense when working with the hounds. First off, Luna removes their Insignificant problem (Guild Hounds need other Guild Hounds nearby to ignore this issue), which removed problems they have with schemes. With this in mind, sticking them next to a Mounted Guard will let them benefit from their Cavalry Charge ability. Cavalry Charge lets the charging Mounted Guard to pick a friendly non-leader model within 2" and LoS with a Cg value of 7 or more (Hounds have Cg 9) to be placed within 2" of the Mounted Guard after they've made the charge move. This means you can either move the Hound into combat with the same enemy target as the Guard or move them just out of range so the Hound can run off to drop more scheme markers or something else. As far as combat after the charge is concerned, the Mounted Guard can use his 0 action to discard a card to give a 3" aura that gives friendly models a positive flip to Df flips. Not only that, but the Guild Hound also has the Companion ability, meaning he can then activate after the Mounted Guard is finished. This would let them benefit in that they are a killer combat combo or it means the Hound can just run off straight away to take any advantage that shows itself. Hell, if you really want, throw the Hound a Strangemetal Shirt to activate in harder combats and you have one mad tag-team.

This means I'll have to get myself a few Guild Hounds to go with them. Still not sure what format to use, such as if I should replace both Guild Guard for two Hounds or one Guard and the Effigy or what. Perhaps when I finally get them all done I'll get a chance to play test and see what happens.

Malifaux - The Other Side Preview

So Wyrd has started their applications for people to play test their new game - The Other Side. Sadly, I have to skip this due to the ever increasing stress from study and the like. That said, they did provide a preview sheet for the game, along with the request to support their Kickstarter campaign for the game when they get it up, most likely later in the year.

The game is somewhat different to Malifaux, with different stats and the like. It still uses the Fate Deck, though it appears that damage flips are no longer a thing (at least, not from the character card in the preview). Stratagems will give your commanders useful tools to use during battle, though most a one shot effects, so you have to play smart with them. There's even a special type of moral system which you can build up to activate Glory, which lets you use the other side (or Glory side as it's known) of a miniatures card, usually giving it better effects like more damage and stuff. The game has you picking one of two sides it seems (Earth or Outsiders), but this may change when they increase the number of Alliances. Yep, Alliances are a major feature, as they seem to grant you special game effects and help you better focus on what units to take.

Ah, Units. Yes this game has more of a group based focus this time, with small units being a focus, along with a large monster-like miniatures and command characters. While the units themselves don't seem to be big in number like some other games, they are still making it more unit focus and even plan on adding special movement trays to help out. While I'm not a really into the idea of this game, from what is planned the miniatures will look amazing. The humans have that great Steampunk cross magic feel, while the other worldly creatures feel like they are terrors from the Abyss.

Obviously being an alternate Earth set in the 1900's, I would really like an Australian faction (or at least a unit or two, even if they are serve under The King's Empire alliance), little is known about this Earth other then mentioning Brittan, China and Abyssinia as locations. Beyond that it's hinted America does exist, but not much else sadly. Hopefully we'll get more information the closer they get to starting the fundraising (We know The King's Empire and The Gibbering Hordes will be the first alliances to be released). As for which side I'll pick? I like some of the humans look and would defiantly pick up any Aussie miniatures, but then given my character of Zargooran and the love of monstrosities, I may also take on one of the Breach alliances.

I'll make a real choice once we have a lot more details on it, but the game sounds good.

What I've Learned From Video Recording

Trying to get good footage is very difficult. Sure, recording inside is easy enough, but I need to obtain footage from both parklands & the city and from my experience so far I have got very little that someone might consider 'usable'. I have another run tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

It gets worse as I then have to use that footage to form a montage, which means getting that footage to somehow blend well enough that the scenes look right and don't stand out like a sore thumb. This has been a real eye opener and I'm going to need a lot more practice if I plan to go ahead with video making. 

More Project Uploads

While I'm still waiting for my damn Gencon package to arrive (Seriously, how long does it take for Sydney to deliver that bloody package to Brisbane), I have uploaded a few new uploads to my DA page, including the updated Skith 2.0

I'll link my page here: DeviantArt Page

Thoughts on Character Creation - Flaws are the Best

You know you've seen them, read about them, those characters that are perfect. They can do anything, beat anyone and everyone loves them. Those heroes who are unstoppable or an OC (Original Character) who outshines and outlasts the main cast. Those characters who are always so perfect.....and they are BORING!
Note: I try to avoid referencing anything as a Mary Sue/Gary Stu as I find such titles to detract from what is being said. Yes, I know what they mean, but like most things I hear or watch, they tend to come off so negative. They talk about all the bad things associated with them, but they never really talk about how to take something perfect and to make it flawed in a way that gets the point across. That said, I doubt I'll do any better, it's just that I hate hearing those two names all the time when character discussions occur.

If I can say one thing when it comes to creating characters, is that you should always consider the flaws before you get into depth with them. This is more true when it comes to a characters backstory, as the two tend to go hand-in-hand together. Flaws are usually associated with something to do with their past and their past can be shaped based on their flaws. Flaws a fundamental when creating your characters and while their is nothing wrong with creating characters with god-like powers, you should also give them god-like flaws to match. Flaws are interesting, they provide limits for a character as well as create new interactions with other characters who may share similar flaws or have strengths that can help cover those flaws.

The first type are small flaws. These can be minor things like a small fear or personality trait that can show up on occasions, but doesn't cause too much problem in the over all story. These things can be simple fears and phobias, such as arachnophobia for example. Such things can help keep a character on the bad end when they should have no problems and even help flesh out a backstory to explain such fears. They can also have opposing flaws to their own talents, cause just because your good at one thing does not make you great at everything. Having them not be good at things helps balance their talents out, with them having to deal with the fact they fail at things or that there needs to be other characters around to help off set those flaws, creating great opportunities for character interactions.

Now lets go to the other end, having a great power, but giving it a flaw. Making a character with incredible skills or powerful magic etc. is perfectly fine, but giving them limits or flaws can help not only balance that character out, but makes them more interesting. Limit their ability to use this power or add some form of negative backlash to using it. Perhaps they can only use that power by possessing certain items or through some complex ritual that grants power, but is short lived. The greater the power, the more limited it must be, otherwise what is the point. There is no drama, no tension and it makes it harder to feel the emotion or to cheer on the hero. There is nothing wrong with a character calling on power at the height of the battle, but you should make sure that it is hinted at or shown in small doses leading up to it. I guess the best example I can use is Gohan from Dragonball Z, who leading up to his true power in the Cell Games Saga had several scenes over the series in which he got angry and unleashed power, hinting that he had great power within and so when it was used during that saga there was enough backstory that it made some level of sense when he became that powerful for that fight. They even threw in a fall, before leading to that final moment of triumph. Even at the height of power, they can still have flaws that can cause the Hero to risk defeat.

This leads to personality flaws. A character can be anti-social (which is a common one, but if done right it works wonders to a story) or they can be overly trusting or gullible. Perhaps they are egotistical or simply absent minded or eccentric to negative degrees. While personality flaws are the common go to ground for character flaws, they are also very important to the overall view people will take on what they think of your character. As with the last paragraph on having great power, having personality flaws can also be added to help offset these issues. Arrogance tends to lead to the downfall of many powerful creatures or perhaps fearful or even being a pacifist can also restrict a character from getting involved. Personality flaws are the easiest to add so be sure to really get creative with them.

Another one is more focused on OC's. Never have your OC Hero beat a shows main Villains, nor should they out shine the main cast when their Villains are involved (to be fair, they shouldn't out shine the main cast in most things anyway). These Villains are meant for the shows main cast to overcome, not your character. If you do want to have a Villain as a Arch-nemesis for your character to overcome, then create one. Much like Heroes having flaws, so too can your Villains and thus making them more interesting too. However, you should also consider what reason or flaw that the Villain would have that gives a reason why that Hero is able to defeat them. This can be anything like a flaw in their power that only a character who was a descendant of a particular bloodline can overcome (a little far fetched, but could work in a supernatural setting) or perhaps there is something about the Heroes past that is somehow connected to the Villain, making them more focused of getting at that Hero. A past history with that character would add to the backstory and show reasons why that Villain is so obsessed with your character over the main cast, even going so far as to explain why your character feels that they must be the one to defeat them. Villains themselves are great for using flaws, as they can range from the most despotic and sadistic to comedic.

I admit, these aren't the greatest of examples. Their there to help give an idea of how a character can be shaped by flaws. One thing I suggest to you is to find characters you like and try to find their flaws, look into how they effect the story and how they make the character more interesting to you. There are also a few places on the Internet that have RPG flaw lists and generators and I highly suggest you check them out and look through them. They might give you ideas of flaws and maybe even give ideas for strengths for other characters too. In fact, I highly recommend you check out various RPG's as they are great inspiration for character creation ideas and is something I highly recommend looking at if you want to add more flavour to your characters.

Don't be afraid to try out a few of them and see what kind of character interactions or stories you could tell with them. Ask yourself if those flaws fit the characters style and personality and how they interact with their strengths. You don't have to flood your character with flaws, just adding a few and toning down on strengths can be just as good. Sometimes a simple character with a few strengths and flaws can be more interesting then someone who has a bunch of them.

Remember, character flaws can by just as much fun as character strengths.