So recently I got to have my first Warcry battle with my Skaven crew. I fought against the Daughters of Khaine and the results were....less then stellar. It was a secure objective mission and I lost 1-0, with only two Clanrats and a Packmaster surviving the battle. My crew consisted of:
- Fangleader (Leader)
- 2x Stormvermin with Shields
- 4x Clanrats with Rusty Blades
- Packmaster
- Rat Ogor (2 Claw Arms)
Numbers wise, I was 9 models to his 10 models, but it was clear how green I have become with the game. For starters, I placed me models into equal number groups (Shield, Dagger & Hammer) which was a big mistake as my hard hitting team of Rat Ogor and Packmaster were in Hammer and showed up last, while my Leader and his Stormvermin bodyguard (and a single Clanrat) where my Shield and where on the board first turn. My opponent had both of his melee serpent ladies (one of which was his leader) along with two basic Daughters meant he had a good weak force to secure one objective while his heavy hitters went straight for my Leader and his buddy. This meant I would spend the whole game trying to contest as opposed to securing objectives. From what was explained to me after the match, the Shield group has about a 75% to start first while I believe the Hammer has the weakest chance of showing up first. Clearly I need to think harder about strategic grouping instead of clean numbers.
The second was the Skaven crew abilities and their effectiveness in a game. As such, the Rat Ogor got his charge ability off along with the Packmaster giving him a bonus attack action ability. There was no point of the Clan Pestilens one as I will not add one into my crew (perhaps down the road I'll do a pure Clan Pestilens crew), while there was no point running my Clanrats away from combat as they were trying to contest and combat was the closest I could get to the objective. The Leaders bonus attacks to friendlies couldn't be used as they killed his Stormvermin buddy first, which also brings in the problem of not being able to use the bodyguard ability when they ignore the only nearby model to attack them first. It's clear grouping my numbers may improve this problem.
Finally, perhaps I should have skipped the Rag Ogor & Packmaster for more Stormvermin/Clanrats for more numbers, or maybe the ranged Rat Ogor to shoot at the tougher ladies. Either way, I'll need to do up a few lists to try out and learn to better design around the factions I face. Was still a fun match and have learned new things as a result of this game.
Am also working to get a second Warband going, with the Disciples of Tzeentch Daemon crew in the works to test out at a later date.
Saturday, 14 March 2020
Saturday, 29 February 2020
Stephen Colbert Villain Facial Hair Mask Sketch
Finally, the true face's of villainy can finally be protected, the world can now rest easy.....I think?
Friday, 21 February 2020
Miniatures Update February
Bit late on this one, wanted to get the recent Burrows & Badgers models that I just got in with this as well. Also, sorry for the poor quality of the photographs, will make sure that the painted versions are done better. This was sort of a late minute rush job just so I could get something up to show progress. Also, due to the basing paint, it seems the bases have blended in on the blue cloth I had them on for some reason (may have been the light I used). So let's start with Moonstone:
The First Set is Boris the Bunny Summoner and his Murder Bunnies, The Jackalope, Gloom and Chubs. After I undercoated them I noticed the gaps more clearly and have begun fixing them with green stuff.
The Second consists of Drunk Fritz, Anotnia, Danica, Zorya, KS exclusive Zorya, KS exclusive Gwendoline and KS exclusive Loubard. Fritz was probably the hardest to put together, but a few of these minis were also difficult to clean up.
Finally there is the Burrows & Badgers stuff that arrived. We have a Magpie, a female Hedgehog archer, a male Squirrel warrior, the KS Mole and a large female Border Collie warrior. The first three will be added to my own crew collection, while the last two will be the start of my second crew collection, which I'll start adding to later this year.
With any luck, I'll start feeling well enough to begin actual painting of these miniatures. I know that with the cooler weather coming over the next few months, that it should make it easier for me to get back into painting again. Let's hope so.
The First Set is Boris the Bunny Summoner and his Murder Bunnies, The Jackalope, Gloom and Chubs. After I undercoated them I noticed the gaps more clearly and have begun fixing them with green stuff.
The Second consists of Drunk Fritz, Anotnia, Danica, Zorya, KS exclusive Zorya, KS exclusive Gwendoline and KS exclusive Loubard. Fritz was probably the hardest to put together, but a few of these minis were also difficult to clean up.
Finally there is the Burrows & Badgers stuff that arrived. We have a Magpie, a female Hedgehog archer, a male Squirrel warrior, the KS Mole and a large female Border Collie warrior. The first three will be added to my own crew collection, while the last two will be the start of my second crew collection, which I'll start adding to later this year.
With any luck, I'll start feeling well enough to begin actual painting of these miniatures. I know that with the cooler weather coming over the next few months, that it should make it easier for me to get back into painting again. Let's hope so.
The Quest For Footage
So one of the biggest problems I found when I first started Animated Reflections was that there are many shows out there that have little to no footage on the internet. This problem is made worse when you realise that many of those ones also don't have DVD versions either and that the ones that do tend to be region locked to places like the USA/Europe. Thankfully, there are things like multi-region DVD/Blu-ray players and even video player programs on PC that allow you to view these, which has been a big help lately (recently I've begun looking back at the 80's/90's Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoons and thanks to a few programs I have I can now acquire some of the limited available US DVD options to view the shows).
But it's not just limited to animated shows, but to a large variety of them, including puppet based ones. Over the last few months I've been trying to find out anything I can on a show called Commander Crumbcake and as such there is little to no knowledge on it available. Even the few clips I've found a poor recordings of the theme and a few short clips of the first episode (which really doesn't give me much to go on). There are a couple of VHS tapes on ebay, but I need to unpack my old VHS player first to see if it works and even then there is no guarantee that the will work. At least Puddle Lane has a few clips up I can watch.
And these are for the shows I can remember. There are a few in my head where I remember a single scene and for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the show or even find something that comes close to it. Robo Story was one of these ones that I only recently discovered over the last few years and so had to do one on it.
Hopefully with the way old footage keeps popping up more recently, I may get a chance to finally find or at least recognise some of these great classics from the past.
But it's not just limited to animated shows, but to a large variety of them, including puppet based ones. Over the last few months I've been trying to find out anything I can on a show called Commander Crumbcake and as such there is little to no knowledge on it available. Even the few clips I've found a poor recordings of the theme and a few short clips of the first episode (which really doesn't give me much to go on). There are a couple of VHS tapes on ebay, but I need to unpack my old VHS player first to see if it works and even then there is no guarantee that the will work. At least Puddle Lane has a few clips up I can watch.
And these are for the shows I can remember. There are a few in my head where I remember a single scene and for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the show or even find something that comes close to it. Robo Story was one of these ones that I only recently discovered over the last few years and so had to do one on it.
Hopefully with the way old footage keeps popping up more recently, I may get a chance to finally find or at least recognise some of these great classics from the past.
Saturday, 15 February 2020
Sonic Movie Was Amazing!
OK, so let's start off by clearing a few things up. I am a Sonic fan and as such that probably helped swing my enjoyment of this movie a little. Second is, this is clearly set up as an origin story for both Sonic and Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and as such, this isn't going to please all fans off the bat. That said, thank goodness they re-designed Sonic from that original abomination, cause damn did that make a difference in being able to view this movie. So I'm going for a spoiler free round up, so as such there are a lot of things I can't talk about sadly. That said, their choice of actors for this movie was brilliant.
There's no looking past it, but Jim Carrey was the perfect person to play the outlandish Dr. Robotnik. His performance has been refereed to by many as 90's Jim Carrey, but for me it just seems he was having a blast playing the character and really enjoyed getting into the role. The character of the Doctor is an egotistical genius who cares only for himself and his machines, with a complete disdain for humanity and believes himself to be always right and unbeatable. This leads to some really great moments between Robotnik and other characters in the movie. To Robotnik, he is the greatest person ever to have existed and everyone else is as nothing to him. It really is all about him and his invulnerable brilliance and he can't stand it when it isn't.
Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic was another great choice. He nails it as a lonely, but fun loving youth who just wants to belong and have friends, but is forced into a life of hiding because of his powers. As the movie goes on, the character begins to slowly evolve into one we are more commonly familiar with, but still lacking some of that full confidence of the current version from years of battling the Doctor. He's a mixture of 90's Sonic mixed with things associated with modern kids, which may not appeal to all fans. He is also incredibly hyperactive, so also keep that in mind. I also believe (theory) that the energy he uses is also an explanation for why he can smash robots up like he does in the games, though he doesn't really spin dash in this movie much (he doesn't really understand the power or know how to really control it. So yeah, origin movie).
While I hate movies that take characters from their settings into our modern world (WTF Smurfs, Seriously?), this movie was probably one of the least problematic ones, given that it made some sense from a story stand point and Sonic has interacted with modern earth like elements in the games, so it has a better believably to it. Another problem with such movies is that it focuses too much on the human character rather then the main stars and feeling more irritating then adding to the story, but in this movie they seem to have avoided a lot of that, with a focus on fewer characters and more on the main ones and their interactions.
This is where the character of Tom Wachowski (played by James Marsden) comes into it. He's a small town sheriff who wants to join a big city police force in an attempt to feel like he can save lives and not just be someone who spends his time on pointless animal chasing and empty roadside speed camera runs. He is given enough time to get the audience familiar with him with out the character overstaying his welcome and his interactions with Sonic do come off quite genuine, as does his annoying of Dr. Robotnik. For a human companion to a cartoon hedgehog, this one worked really well.
There are also some rather nice references to not only the parts of the Sonic lore, but also to the fandom and online jokes (Sanic anyone). Also, stick around after the mid-credit sequence (done in a classic Sonic game style) for a scene which sets up a sequel.
Given the reaction in the theater, many of the kids and adults really like this movie. I absolutely loved it. Not only did it succeeded in satisfying the Sonic fan in me, but the movie overall was just fun in general. I have no doubt that if given the chance, I would definitely go see it again. It may even be my favourite video game movie now (going to really have to compare the enjoyment or re-watching it vs the Mortal Kombat movie, as that one was the original top spot to see which one now has that spot). Needless to say, I want a sequel and I want it badly. There is so much they can do with this now and the fact that they changed the movie for the better before release means they are on the right road to creating an even better sequel.
Either way, it's a great kids movie and a must see for any Sonic fan (might also be if you're a Jim Carrey fan too).
There's no looking past it, but Jim Carrey was the perfect person to play the outlandish Dr. Robotnik. His performance has been refereed to by many as 90's Jim Carrey, but for me it just seems he was having a blast playing the character and really enjoyed getting into the role. The character of the Doctor is an egotistical genius who cares only for himself and his machines, with a complete disdain for humanity and believes himself to be always right and unbeatable. This leads to some really great moments between Robotnik and other characters in the movie. To Robotnik, he is the greatest person ever to have existed and everyone else is as nothing to him. It really is all about him and his invulnerable brilliance and he can't stand it when it isn't.
Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic was another great choice. He nails it as a lonely, but fun loving youth who just wants to belong and have friends, but is forced into a life of hiding because of his powers. As the movie goes on, the character begins to slowly evolve into one we are more commonly familiar with, but still lacking some of that full confidence of the current version from years of battling the Doctor. He's a mixture of 90's Sonic mixed with things associated with modern kids, which may not appeal to all fans. He is also incredibly hyperactive, so also keep that in mind. I also believe (theory) that the energy he uses is also an explanation for why he can smash robots up like he does in the games, though he doesn't really spin dash in this movie much (he doesn't really understand the power or know how to really control it. So yeah, origin movie).
While I hate movies that take characters from their settings into our modern world (WTF Smurfs, Seriously?), this movie was probably one of the least problematic ones, given that it made some sense from a story stand point and Sonic has interacted with modern earth like elements in the games, so it has a better believably to it. Another problem with such movies is that it focuses too much on the human character rather then the main stars and feeling more irritating then adding to the story, but in this movie they seem to have avoided a lot of that, with a focus on fewer characters and more on the main ones and their interactions.
This is where the character of Tom Wachowski (played by James Marsden) comes into it. He's a small town sheriff who wants to join a big city police force in an attempt to feel like he can save lives and not just be someone who spends his time on pointless animal chasing and empty roadside speed camera runs. He is given enough time to get the audience familiar with him with out the character overstaying his welcome and his interactions with Sonic do come off quite genuine, as does his annoying of Dr. Robotnik. For a human companion to a cartoon hedgehog, this one worked really well.
There are also some rather nice references to not only the parts of the Sonic lore, but also to the fandom and online jokes (Sanic anyone). Also, stick around after the mid-credit sequence (done in a classic Sonic game style) for a scene which sets up a sequel.
Given the reaction in the theater, many of the kids and adults really like this movie. I absolutely loved it. Not only did it succeeded in satisfying the Sonic fan in me, but the movie overall was just fun in general. I have no doubt that if given the chance, I would definitely go see it again. It may even be my favourite video game movie now (going to really have to compare the enjoyment or re-watching it vs the Mortal Kombat movie, as that one was the original top spot to see which one now has that spot). Needless to say, I want a sequel and I want it badly. There is so much they can do with this now and the fact that they changed the movie for the better before release means they are on the right road to creating an even better sequel.
Either way, it's a great kids movie and a must see for any Sonic fan (might also be if you're a Jim Carrey fan too).
Thursday, 6 February 2020
February Update
Quick update, just recently started a new medication and damn have those side-effects have hit me like a train. So heads up if you don't see too much over this month.
Positive side, my Moonstone Kickstarter has arrived. Due to the casting and molds used for the models, there is quite a bit of cleaning up to do (they're a small company, so I'll let them off the hook for that), but once I clean them up and base them I'll do a little update and review on them. Needless to say, I am looking forward to getting a Faun/Animal crew up and running.
Update 9/2/20:
So quick update, while trying to clean up the miniatures, I ended up cutting myself. Blade slipped off while trying to fix up one of the models hair and pain ensured. Fun times. Anyway, there may be a slight delay on the clean and setting of the models because of this (due to not being able to hold them properly with the cut), but will try to get back on track as soon as I can.
Positive side, my Moonstone Kickstarter has arrived. Due to the casting and molds used for the models, there is quite a bit of cleaning up to do (they're a small company, so I'll let them off the hook for that), but once I clean them up and base them I'll do a little update and review on them. Needless to say, I am looking forward to getting a Faun/Animal crew up and running.
Update 9/2/20:
So quick update, while trying to clean up the miniatures, I ended up cutting myself. Blade slipped off while trying to fix up one of the models hair and pain ensured. Fun times. Anyway, there may be a slight delay on the clean and setting of the models because of this (due to not being able to hold them properly with the cut), but will try to get back on track as soon as I can.
Saturday, 25 January 2020
2020 Plans and Goals
Trying to look back at 2019 is pointless for me as I have great difficulty pointing out all the good from the bad, so instead, I'll use this to focus on what I want to work on in 2020 in the hope that I can achieve some of it, so lets go.
Miniatures:
So cutting back on the whole 'big armies' thing this year. It seems that due to the current situation, trying to build and paint so many miniatures is just not possible at this point in time. As such, my focus will be on smaller projects, mostly based around Skirmish games. This includes expanding on Warcry, completing my Daemon Kill-team, an Escher Necromunder crew, finishing that Skaven/Goblin Blood Bowl team along with adding some more to Malifaux, Burrows & Badgers and finally Moonstone.
I'll probably look at adding more scenery too so I can have enough stuff to run games with however games with me.
Moving:
Yes, at some point this year I really want to move into a place of my own. For those who don't know, I have been lodging with an old school friend for some time now in a Unit. While it was meant to be temporary, the rental market has made getting housing all but impossible. As such, much of my stuff is cramped up or boxed up and there isn't the kind of room to work on projects (which only adds to my lack of motivation).
While there are some new options for me in this regards, there is no guarantee that I can find a place suitable for one with the mental health conditions that I have. Still, must try to keep positive about this.
Puppet Project/VFX Project:
The main goal out off all things, this one has by far been the roughest by far to deal with. Limited space to work and trying to find solutions to all the problems associated with such an endeavor has still left me stuck in a sort of planning phase. While I do have some materials and a tone of various tutorial videos, nothing has really moved forward.
This year I hope to change all that and get progress moving again. Recent videos have also shown me that you can still achieve the basics even in limited space and while I doubt I'll get much more done where I currently live, should I find myself in a place of my own then I'll have the space to really get the ball rolling. This is one of those things I really want to achieve in getting base completion done this year, so will have a little more focus on it later in the year.
Animated Reflections:
So behind on this one. I've really been questioning the format of these short look backs as they still feel too much like a full on review instead of a nostalgic reminder of past shows/movies I watched over the years. I do expect to get back into it soon (I've watch a number of animation show Youtube reviewers, so I am trying to motivate myself to get back into this one too).
Blog:
Which finally brings us to this site/blog itself. It is still woefully in need of a serious update and some better content. I plan on trying to add more to it in the future, but am still trying to figure out what to talk about. Maybe I'll do some actual reviews or perhaps talk about current things that are happening, but I want to steer clear of a lot of negative things (we all have strong opinions and sometimes mine my slip the gaps of this rule) and ultimately just want to talk about things that I feel comfortable talking about or that I enjoy talking about.
Again, what that will be is still unknown, but then 2020 is still very much an unknown year to us all, so let's see where it takes up.
Till next time.
Miniatures:
So cutting back on the whole 'big armies' thing this year. It seems that due to the current situation, trying to build and paint so many miniatures is just not possible at this point in time. As such, my focus will be on smaller projects, mostly based around Skirmish games. This includes expanding on Warcry, completing my Daemon Kill-team, an Escher Necromunder crew, finishing that Skaven/Goblin Blood Bowl team along with adding some more to Malifaux, Burrows & Badgers and finally Moonstone.
I'll probably look at adding more scenery too so I can have enough stuff to run games with however games with me.
Moving:
Yes, at some point this year I really want to move into a place of my own. For those who don't know, I have been lodging with an old school friend for some time now in a Unit. While it was meant to be temporary, the rental market has made getting housing all but impossible. As such, much of my stuff is cramped up or boxed up and there isn't the kind of room to work on projects (which only adds to my lack of motivation).
While there are some new options for me in this regards, there is no guarantee that I can find a place suitable for one with the mental health conditions that I have. Still, must try to keep positive about this.
Puppet Project/VFX Project:
The main goal out off all things, this one has by far been the roughest by far to deal with. Limited space to work and trying to find solutions to all the problems associated with such an endeavor has still left me stuck in a sort of planning phase. While I do have some materials and a tone of various tutorial videos, nothing has really moved forward.
This year I hope to change all that and get progress moving again. Recent videos have also shown me that you can still achieve the basics even in limited space and while I doubt I'll get much more done where I currently live, should I find myself in a place of my own then I'll have the space to really get the ball rolling. This is one of those things I really want to achieve in getting base completion done this year, so will have a little more focus on it later in the year.
Animated Reflections:
So behind on this one. I've really been questioning the format of these short look backs as they still feel too much like a full on review instead of a nostalgic reminder of past shows/movies I watched over the years. I do expect to get back into it soon (I've watch a number of animation show Youtube reviewers, so I am trying to motivate myself to get back into this one too).
Blog:
Which finally brings us to this site/blog itself. It is still woefully in need of a serious update and some better content. I plan on trying to add more to it in the future, but am still trying to figure out what to talk about. Maybe I'll do some actual reviews or perhaps talk about current things that are happening, but I want to steer clear of a lot of negative things (we all have strong opinions and sometimes mine my slip the gaps of this rule) and ultimately just want to talk about things that I feel comfortable talking about or that I enjoy talking about.
Again, what that will be is still unknown, but then 2020 is still very much an unknown year to us all, so let's see where it takes up.
Till next time.
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