Another side of hobby life....

This is a link to my other hobby, which is photography:

http://malpeza.blogspot.com/

It got recently substantial boost due to new DSLR camera. I hope that it will allow me to make some better photos of those tiny figurines...

And our alternatives are...

      Upon looking at the assembled miniatures of Khornates and Sigmarines, I believe that the Age of Sigmar starter box has a great value, and the rules are free. However, the latter are seriously flawed for longbeard veteran players, by not having point values, nor army organization chart. Some groups made attempts to invent their own house-rules, but they always will be tainted by local impact and lack of broader acceptance. Another option is using well-comped rules of Warhammer 8th edition, but the "well-comped" term is quite crucial and goes into the same category as above mentioned modifications of Age of Sigmar.
      So, maybe it is the time to drop Warhammer rules altogether and try something different for our precious 28-mm fantasy miniatures. Below are just few propositions, I'm sure many more can be found ... the point is to encourage you for searching a system fitting your taste.

Kings of War 2nd edition by Mantic (free download)

One page rules (for fantasy, sci-fi and historical)

Shadow Storm aka Fantasy Hail Caesar PDF (adyswargamesden.com)

The Shattered Crown: The Fantasy War Game Reinvigorated (KS project)

Age of Sigmar, or Let's make it usable...

Sad days... after pretty long history of entertaining us (1983-2015), Warhammer Fantasy Battle is dead, or at least stored under Oldhammer label... We have a new product, which is quite far from being perfect. No points system and lack of any army organization chart make it difficult to use outside of a close friends circle, not even starting to talk tournament play... Simple counting wounds doesn't work, either...
Below, are 2 links to some preliminary (and unofficial, of course) ways of fixing the mentioned problems.  I found them interesting!

Age of Sigmar - Azyr Composition Rules (BOLS Lounge)

Simple point system for the Warscrolls (YT video)

Unofficial errata and game mods from GW store (sic!)

 (Jair Nunez conversion)

Fighting windmills - Change.org petition to GW

From the petition on Change.org: 

"Refocus your business model on the sale of a game and support of a gaming community vice the pure sale of collectible miniatures."

Afterlife: The Shards of Liberty - 28mm scale tabletop wargame

This interesting KS project needs some help to be funded:

AFTERLIFE : The Shards of Liberty

by Anvil Industry

I have many resin minis from Anvil Industry and they are of very high quality - some of the best casts in the market. 

Miniature bases - one more option

I believe, supporting interesting KS campaigns is important for development of our hobby. This is a reason why I'm putting so much effort in this direction lately... Nevertheless, another nice project with Polish participants:

Plastic scenic bases for miniatures for CMoN/Micro Art Studio

Formally, this are inserts for recessed bases, but you can glue it on the top of the regular base as well...

No much more to say, it all depends on your taste and the value of the offer, which is better and better with each stretch goal reached.

New painting tutorial from France - traditional paper approach

Nowadays, the amount of electronic publications which one can find through the web is enormous. This apply also to our little hobby of painting tiny toys with acrylic paints. However, some people still like traditional paper books, especially those full of pretty pictures. Multiple enthusiastic opinions regarding such publications as Forge World Model Masterclass books shows this quite clearly.

Figone, a French miniature company is running Indiegogo campaign to publish a book devoted to miniature painting techniques.

The goals are pretty simple. So, take a look, maybe will find it interesting...

So, all those Americans were green, you say?

Although KS campaigns lost their novelty feeling long time ago, some of them are still really exciting for me. One example just started and it is about WW2 themed Ork army in 28mm scale:

The green alliance

Below are some interesting photos, imo:

The miniatures look fantastic and cast quality of MaxMini has been proven in the past. The only small disadvantage is the material of ork and gretchin's bodies - white metal. Not because of detail quality (as this is equally good for metal and resin, the metals are just difficult to photograph without paint) but because of sheer weight of the squad :-).

Collapse of competitive gaming scene?

In the (not so distant) past, in the days following a large WH40K tournament the related blog-sphere were full of excitement, discussions, and list analysis. This year the Nova Open went by and ... practically nothing. No posts, no lists, no discussions. I was surprised, but then I've seen the list of winners... Tau/Eldar, Eldar/Tau, Tau/Tau... and this post (see discussion below the main text):
http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2013/09/nova-2013-stop-the-madness-edition/

Very sad. At least, those new miniatures are better and better quality designs... and they do not require a codex for standing in a display cabinet...

GW guards their secrets (quite) well

As many fans of WH40K, I was looking recently through the range of new Space Marines miniatures, especially interrogating all photographs of the plastic sprues. To my surprise, all of them are dated 2012 (see photo below)! This means more than 9 months between  final acceptance and the release. Taking into account that first leaks appeared no more than one month ago (during White Dwarf printing, I bet), this shows how serious (and effective) the company is about keeping their secrets, despite efforts of some bloggers to publish rumors early. 

I wonder, what they have in the office desks already (beside the tyranids, of course)!

Kickstarter worthy support

Maybe some of you can support this kickstarter campaign? It could be a beginning of new miniatures company...

LINK

Pride of resin miniature makers (rant with a wink)

Disclaimer: Well, let me start with a statement that, I love all the miniatures shown below, and if anything, want to encourage everybody to buy them, as the quality of the product is high (in contrast to "made-of-old-bubble-gum" Finecast minis). I also understand, how hopeless my rant is, so, take it with a wink.

      Over last few years, we have seen an appearance of huge number of relatively small miniature making companies. Three things came together making this possible: maturing of e-commerce, development of 3D-printing and, easiness (in comparison to plastic injection) of resin casting. The result is a rapidly growing offer of original models and/or alternative replacements for established game systems. From the point of view of design this figurines are often top class, while the quality is (can be) comparable to modern plastic models.

      Sometimes, however, I feel that endless price increases of some largest players in the market born belief that collectors will swallow any burden in order to possess their toys. Going to the point, I feel that, some resin minis from smaller makers are overpriced (in a similar fashion like 90% of ForgeWorld catalog). Maybe I will offend somebody but, do not confuse pride with stupidity! 
So, hereby, I would like to ask corresponding persons in charge for discounting the following miniatures... let say, by half ;-) :

39 USD (30 EUR) for something what essentially is a Deffkopter model is little bit overboard!

20 USD (15 EUR) for one (1) fur-less pig which represent just a bike?

Staying in a biker theme: 16 USD (12.5 EUR) for just alternative Tomb Blade model...

23.5 USD (17.90 EUR) for 5 terminator legs? uff...

 

 

71 USD (54.5 EUR) for essentially 3 terminators, c'mon!

 

52 USD (40 EUR) for a chimera/razorback alternative?

 

These are just examples selected from a legion, and do not ask me even about resin bases.... Please, make your prices more reasonable! Lets change the world! We can do this, just try!

(23.80 USD)

Communication Dish needed, or, help me finding alternative model

To whom it may concern: I'm looking for this particular miniature from Quantum Gothic range, or (better, as I need two copies) some kind of quality replacement/alternative  (it's 28/32 mm scale). Their shop is offline now, without clearly defined deadline for re-opening. Does anybody have suggestions? Please, post them in the comments...

While googling, I found the miniature shown below, but again it is missing from stock in the online shop of the makers. I believe, it was made for Battletech, and I'm not sure what the scale is (I never had interest in this system).

 

Another  alternative, which I found is too large and too expensive for my purpose (which is DA Darkshroud conversion, BTW)...

So, as said previously, I need your help...please.

 

By Fire and Sword - a historical wargame

This is relatively new historical game, which sports a novel army composition rules and put huge attention to reflect historical realities, yet avoiding unnecessary complications. According to information on the Facebook profile, it soon will be officially released in English.

"The premiere of the English version of By Fire and Sword will take place on
20 April 2013 at the SALUTE 2013 in London. Before the premiere, at the
beginning of March, we will start a crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo in
order to gather means for the print of the English version of the rulebook."

 Check also this blog for more information (reviews, interviews, ect.)

To 3D or not to 3D, that is the question

    Recent advances in computer modeling software and 3D printing technology, together with improved resin casting and cheaper plastic processing,  are having huge influence on our miniature hobby. On one hand, smaller companies (often involving single or a few persons) are able to deliver models showing exceptional level of details without investing tens of thousand USD. On the other hand, many models started to give me (you?) a taste of excessive similarity...a "made by machine" feelings"... I suppose, this will lead to a new kind of miniature collector, who is looking only for human-hand sculpted models. Maybe they are already among us...What is your opinion on this?

MaxMini gothic jetbike

Paulson Games Mech Autocannon

Anvil Industry assault rifle

Heer46 tank previews

MaxMini heads (intended similarity to some well known line of miniatures, or just 3D-processing induced similarity?)

 As said, the results are often very pleasant:

 Would be this achievable by hand, w/o computer?

The very basics of MMORPG - the First Principle

Games Day Spain 2011 (pictures)

Below is link to my photos from Games Day Spain 2011. This year many of gaming activities have been prepared by associated gaming clubs from all the Spain. All these were games for fun; no serious competition...

Pictures from Games Day Madrid 

Additionally, I updated my folder with Golden Demon photos:   LINK
See you...

Golden Demon SPAIN 2011

These are some photos of miniatures from GD Spain 2011 contest. They were taken with my compact camera through a glassy cabinet in the crowd of excited geeks; take this into account before start whining...

Miniatures from GD Spain 2011

I will try to add more pictures soon. Also, in a next post, I will show some photos from Games Day events (various "beer & pretzel" activities for kids of different age)... be in touch.

Progress Exists

Super Blog Chain Giveaway - free, free stuff for you!

As I recently won (and received) an old-school Screamer-Killer Carnifex from Faolain at Awakening Ynnead blog, I´m starting now my own giveaway to keep things moving...

What is the Super Blog Chain Giveaway?
The fellows over at Santa Cruz Warhammer got the ball rolling in an effort to foster folks in our community reaching out and seeing what other blogs have to offer as well extending a helping hand to fellow gamers.

Want to participate?
If you want to win a prize of your own and join this Give-Away, go comment on this blog. The rules of the give-away are as follows:

1) You must have a blog.

2) You must have something worthwhile to offer up to give away for free.

3) If you win, you must hold your own blogsite giveaway using the same rules to pay it forward. You must contact us with a link to your give away so we can send bloggers to your site. 

4) You may only enter once per give away.

To Enter: 
1) Be follower of this blog (must be something for me, too!)
2) Leave a comment to this post as follows:
- 1st sentence, why you need the prize (justify your need!).
- 2nd sentence, what you will give away on your blog to pay it forward.

I will choose the winner based on how convincing they are and what they offer to the next winner.

What’s in it for you?
The winner will receive five (5) unpainted unassembled plastic SM terminators (with generic-codex, OR Dark Angels Deathwing, OR Black Templars, OR Space Wolves shoulder pads - your choice!), OR alternatively five (5) ForgeWorld Plague Marines with bolters and plasma gun (also not painted, unassembled). Just to avoid disappointment, notice that these are bits (new, never used) but not full sprues/boxes. Of course, free shipping included!

UPDATE (24/07/2010): I want to encourage people a little bit, so I will give to the winner a set of  5 tech-industrial themed resin bases of a proper size (40 or 25 mm).

The dead line to enter will be the August 5th, 2010, and then I will announce the winner within few days (depending on my holidays :-).

The best of luck to you.....