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.