Where Are the Pics? State of the Union at Mik's Minis

A Warhammerin' We Shall Go

"Enjoy every sandwich." -Warren Zevon

Here we're at a year and a half in the new job!  Teaching was/is my dream job, but that's because I didn't know this could be a job at the time.  It really has been a perfect storm of my skill sets; classroom management, business management, professionalism, irreverence, teaching, learning, and of course the minis...those lovely GW minis.

It's funny, with all the vitriol that still persists about GW (so many backseat drivers in this hobby!) there's not a whole lot of discontent when it comes to the models.  Many start with, "Don't get me wrong, I love their models..." As for the company, never before have I seen so many armchair quarterbacks in my life!  When was the last time you did an financial exposé on the place where you buy your groceries, or your gas station?  How about the mortgage company?  No?  Yet, it's freaking forensic CSI when it comes to GW as a company.  Enjoy the hobby, or don't.  Obviously, I do.

There's a fantastic, intangible side effect to this job and that is the brotherhood.  It's a solo gig, we run our shops by ourselves, day in and day out it's just us, which is a boon if you don't like coworkers but can be a bit of a bummer if sometimes you just need a little interaction with someone in the same shoes as you.  Hence, this crazy peer network you make for yourselves with all your fellow battle brothers and sisters across the continent.  You find who you have a good connection with and you foster it, I've got buddies in Arizona, California, Canada, and wherever.  They're all just a text/email away.  Road trips are great 'cause you can always swing by someone's shop and see them in person too!  It's funny, I've got just as many (probably more) work friends in this solo gig than I ever had in ten years at FedEx or during my teaching gig.

Jeff debuted here on the blog a whopping NINE YEARS ago with his Sons of Medusa, now he's on the books as my backup!

This post is really just a puff piece I guess, but it's my blog, it's named after me, and it's about my life so you may have to suffer these from time to time.  With this third phase of my life in full swing now there's a lot of self-discovery I didn't think I had left in me.  Is it helping me paint figs faster?  Err, no, but there is a lot of good stuff going on in my head.  As with most things in life, it's all about balance.  Something I'm still learning.  I'm going to leave it at that, got some stuff to take care of, until next time...enjoy!

Rocket Time!

Just a quick trip with the fam down to the US SPace and Rocket museum in Huntsville, Alabama.  Well worth the drive, this place was fantastic!  Now, if yo're not really a science or history geek, you may be bored, fortunately I'm both so it was, ahem, out of this world (sorry, couldn't resist).  I'll leave the talking to the photos and I'll leave you to the enjoying, enjoy!

Wüntercabin Tres!

The views, the spendor...the games!  Another winter (yes, Wünter!) cabin is in the books.  Yes, it was eight months ago, and yes I'm just posting now, but better late than never.  Here's the view I wake up to in the mornings.  Not bad for a game weekend.  Speaking of which...

What is it?  Well due to the popularity of our summer cabins where we get the gang back together annually for nothing but what we always have done, game, we thought we needed more.  Hence a halfway point...the winter version!

If you think this is overkill, you should see the food...and booze!  There's way too many games here, but choices are good, options are good, but trunk space, err, not so plentiful.  I think we got a speeding ticket on the way home.  And destroyed a toilet at Arby's somewhere in the middle.  

Nik's Mini? Tau Piranha!

It's that time again!  That time when your young'un is old enough to hold a brush and paint a mini!  It seems like, well, not too terribly long ago that I posted about my firstborn doing this very thing, and now this little guy is in on it.  Of course my goal is to get them both ramped up to the point where they will batch paint whole armies for me, mwahahaha!

Enough about my plans, check out little man's Tau Empire Piranha!  I did prep his brushes but I left the application and color selection 100% up to him for this one.  I would suggest things, like washes/shades in the crevices, but again, it's all him all the way.  

While we're at it, here's big sister painting from the aforementioned post.  They're roughly the same age when they started too!  He was a mid-four in the above pic and she's an old-four in this pic, so I guess that's the magic age to get going!  Don't be afraid to sacrifice some minis and get brushes in their hands, they may just like it!

LEGO Lessons Learned

It goes without saying the LEGO Movie is watched at least once a week in my house, it's so good.  When it first came out all of my friends seemed to equate the dad character to me, because my Legos really are (were) off-limits to the child-folk.  It finally sunk in, and my lesson learned was to let my collection mingle with their imaginations.  Funnily enough I was very 'motherly hen' to my neatly sorted parts as they dug into them but relaxed.  To be fair, my kids both have a plethora of Legos, the Firstborn has her own themes she collects and the Halfling just has a bucket full of bits, my stuff is still regulated to a degree but no more 'off limits' signs.

the fruit of my three year old's labor; the winged gladiator coffee guy

The All Mighty

You know I'm behind if it's June and we're just getting into Halloween pics!  This year, err, last year (2014) my beautiful daughter went as a "good witch" and I went as the Son of Odin.  It was a lot of fun, and though my outfit wasn't stage-worthy I still felt the embodiment of the god of thunder.  Enjoy!

2013 Year in Review

It's that time of the year again, the special holiday year in review episode!  This makes the FIFTH year in review for Mik's Minis!  Let's look back at some of the past reviews:

2012 at Mik's Minis
2011 at Mik's Minis
2010 at Mik's Minis
2009 at Mik's Minis

Wow, looking back it occurs to me that I used to actually paint miniatures, haha!  The pendulum has been swinging, wildly I might add, back at forth here at Mik's Minis.  The past year has been filled with hanging out with friends at the gaming table, of which I am most thankful for; good friends and good games.

Looking back at those older year-in-review posts got me thinking, man this blog's been around for some time.  Sheesh, almost seven years!  In 2008 I didn't think of a year-in-review post, but I did have this post about some really cool 40K objective markers.  Going back just a wee bit more, the end of 2007 saw a "Warhammer work night" post where, inexplicably, it looked as if we were gearing up for some serious fantasy minis!  Alas, it wouldn't be the first time a promising project never got off the launch pad.  All right, let's get on with the reviewing.

Games Played:  84
So the first of my confessions seep through the text you read before you.  I lost track a couple of months ago.  The games were still going, but I stopped using my Boardgamegeek app to track what I was playing, and with the HUD being deleted, I obviously wasn't tallying them up there.  Up to that point though I did track them and solidly in first place is Smash-Up with a whopping fourteen plays.  A great card game for lots of players and lots of replay-ability, it belongs on everyone's shelf either as a filler game or all night smash-uppery.

Next up is City of Remnants at six plays.  I cannot say enough good things about this gem by Plaid Hat Games.  It's got all of the things I'm looking for in a game, it's no filler mind you, its got plenty of depth and is a worthy addition to your collection.

There's a three-way tie for third place at five plays each, three excellent games that all offer something solid, and since I'm saying 'buy this' and 'buy that', you may as well think about adding these to your respective collections as well.  Up first is 7 Wonders, which is fast becoming a classic.  Don't overlook this one, it's a keeper.  Core Worlds is up next, a galactic deckbuilder that is sometimes lost in the shuffle (see what I did there) with both Race for the Galaxy and Eminent Domain.  I dunno, if you were only going to own one space deckbuilder, I'm swayed to say make it Core Worlds over RftG.  I love this game, but get the expansion Galactic Orders as well because it makes a great game even better.  I've mentioned Qwirkle before, and here I am again saying how great this one is.  It's great for non-playing spouses, gamer-oblivious relatives, little kids, and seasoned hardcore gamers alike.  My suggestion is to get the travel version, it's cheaper and, umm, travels more easily.

Miniatures Painted:  10
So it has been another year of gaming, but not a lot of it (almost none of it) has been with painted minis going 'pew pew' on the tabletop unfortunately.  If you're not miniature gaming, you're just not painting miniatures, end of story.  So I have left the minis-posts up to the stalwart Rucht and his postings, even our part-time lurker, Chris has contributed more than I in the minis department.  So I painted up ten figs, yup, ten.  My moral victory is that I painted any at all, made better that I made it into double digits, err, barely.  Terrain making; also in the nada department.

Miniatures Bought:  None!
Last year I bought almost four hundred figs, which I thought would mean this year would see half that, a fourth that? painted.  Nope, I haven't spent a dime on figs, but haven't missed buying them either.  I have made some purchases in the gaming department mind you, boardgames and RPG books and the like, just no minis.  Now, trying to outsmart myself, I have also made some boardgame purchases that also include great minis as well, so if nothing else, I could paint those up and get a little bit of both worlds out of them.

So, I will avoid the usual parting shot and not make any resolutions to 2014 like 'paint more minis' or 'play more minis' games or the like.  I do hope Rucht continues to post his gaming exploits, as his contributions have helped keep this blog afloat during the doldrums.  I'd also like to see Chris post more, though I know his real life has his hands full to the brim.  He brings a whole new angle to our hobby and his stuff has serious fu to it.

Speaking of real life, I've taken a new teaching position that's been almost a year now and that's been great.  I've also ramped up a non-gaming hobby that I do by about 200%, so that has kept me incredibly busy.  On top of all that, over the summer I decided to get my health back on track and really put forth an effort to lose some weight.  Just using the age old, tried and true means of 'diet and exercise' I've seen some real progress, but am learning it's far more of a mental exercise than exercise of the body.  In the end I'm hopeful both mind and body will be the better for it.  So here's to tomorrow, to looking forward to another year of gaming and everything else that 2014 may bring!

Thor's Day Hero: David Byrne

I know something you don't, well, now you do. Thor's Day Heroes is kind of coming to a close! Remember, I've been writing these in the past, in fact LEGO Thursdays are still posting as I type this! Anyway, I've already got something new lined up to take the Thursday slot a few weeks from now, you know me, wheels within wheels.

But what about the smiling 'Ken' doll up top? Well if you know who it is, you don't need to ask, if you don't know it's none other than artist and musician David Byrne. I don't discount his early work as lead singer of the Talking Heads by any means but he has come a very long way since those days. His solo work is amazingly diverse and having seen him a few times in concert I gotta say he puts on one heck of a show. His music is one of those background tracks that I can watch through my own timeline over the last twenty years or so. Kind of neat when you think about it. Anyway, here's your bathroom key David, enjoy your stay with the Thor's Day Heroes!

Thor's Day Hero: Rankin Bass Bilbo Baggins

I had to be specific in my title, today's Thor's Day Hero isn't just any ole Bilbo Baggins. No, today's inductee is the one you see above, the Rankin Bass 1977 Bilbo. Sure, I saw Star Wars in '77 but it wasn't until a few years later I was into it thanks to the toys. My first geek introduction though, pretty much ever in my life, goes to my Lord of the Rings storybook record sets. Yes, records, played on my Fisher-Price turntable. Of those Bilbo and the tale of the Hobbit took center stage, we even named a litter of puppies at the time after Hobbit characters. Good, moving memories. Welcome aboard Bilbo!

Tuesday Art Leftovers: 'Bots and Scots

My opening piece for today's art leftovers is a fave of mine, not because so much of what it is but where it was.  Back before Christian's Destination Unknown, really before blogging in general, and way before his Loviatar 'zine he wrote Scrollworks Press.  Well this robot graced one of the covers of that indie gaming magazine a long, long time ago.  It was really cool to get it in the mail, see my art on the cover, and know that a lot of other people were seeing my art as well.  There's another Scrollworks piece floating around in the archives, I just don't know when it'll pop up.

I think I plug those ill-fated and little known LEGO wargaming rules of mine a little too much to be honest, but this next piece was a test from that.  We didn't know if we were going to use stat cards or what, but the idea here was to have a closeup, profile shot of the character on the card.  This was a "warpainted" Islander head atop some scale-mail. 


There's not much to say on this one.  It's supposed to be a Scottish Terrier.  Get it?  Scottish.  Terrier.  Ahem, moving on...

Last but not least is basically a doodle taken directly from a note page.  Also it's apparent that I can't seem to divide four into nine hundred without writing it down.  So basically you've got a fantasy version of Star Wars mixed even more so with the wild west.  The Texas Rangers/Jedi of the setting were monastic knights who had these "magic" swords made of a rare crystal.  Maybe it's a crystalline entity.  I don't know, the idea never got past the "crystal sworded knights" idea.  Looking at the pic I may have been thinking "ruby" not crystal.  I really don't know, you know how it is; you think of an idea, you jot it down, file it away. 

Until next time!

Thor's Day Hero: Dragun

This might be where it all started. The Shogun Warrior known as Dragun. I'm a kid, four years old, but I had this heavy, die-cast metal robot. I have no idea where I got it or who gave it to me, but it was awesome. It had these fists that were spring loaded and would launch at the touch of a button. He also had an axe too, but that got lost easily enough. Was it a man in armor? No, even as a kid I could tell this was a warrior robot through and through. He also had a cape. What's even more inexplicable, was the fact that had two of them. The above pic I found online, but coincidentally it's exactly as I remember my own.

There were four Shogun Warrior figures in the 1970's 5" die-cast line, and all of them were cool. How I ended up with two identical ones is beyond me. This was my toy though, lots of backyard adventures and the like were had with Dragun. We didn't have cable television or whatever, and I don't recall the packaging even, so I never knew Dragun's name or what he came from, just that he was awesome sci-fi robot goodness. So today Dragun, better known as GX-18 Getter Dragon, joins the ranks of the Thor's Day Heroes.

Tuesday Art Leftovers: Psykers, Spaceport Chicks, and Supers

Welcome to another Art Leftovers!  Today's trio could almost be thrown into the same genre together, almost.  I'm sure I've plugged the LEGO skirmish battle rules a buddy and I came up with a very long time ago.  If not, here you go!  The rules were written around '97, so the above image (which went with the rules) is about as old.  It's a psyker from the game; sci-fi mega-mind powers trooper.  Ride the lightning!

Up next is a spaceport chick.  Nothing much else to say, she's the kind of local you'd find hanging out at a spaceport.  She's tough, she's alien, she's hot (in an alien sort of way), and she can more than take care of herself, hence the blaster.  I don't know if she's wearing a head wrap or a bandage.

 Last up is a superhero based off a radio handle based off real life.  Once upon a time I was a delivery driver.  Our driver cohort numbered four and we had color-themed handles to use with the dispatcher.  Not happy with just colors we went a bit further so in the end there was Soylent Green (above), Blue Phantom (me), Agent Orange, and Red Menace.  Dispatcher was Echo Base.  It was a fun gig to have in your twenties, and the pay was decent enough.  Above is my buddy Oz who has made several cameos here over the years in his Soylent Green guise.

That's all the leftover art we have this week, thanks and enjoy!

2012 Year in Review

As I type this I'm snacking on some homemade fudge, must be December.  Which also means it must be...the end of the year in review!  Well I'm glad we avoided that whole polar-shifting apocalypse, honestly that's the main reason I didn't paint more in 2012, which we'll be getting to in a moment.  All in all it was good year for gaming in general, I don't have any complaints or regrets.  Well, not really.  I don't want to hold you up any more, I'm sure you have parties to attend this evening, so on with it!

Games Played: 127
I'm up six games from 2011's total meaning I played a game a little less than every three days.  A good pace by my estimate!  This is about the same as last year, but this year saw a lot of variety without a single game totally dominating.  Way too light on tabletop minis games though, and RPGs were...well read on. 

Race for the Galaxy leads the way in the boardgame (though it's all cards) department with a solid fourteen plays.  I love this game, plain and simple.  As my compatriot Andy has said many times, it meshes theme with mechanics better than the rest of the field.  The always-fun Qwirkle is a close second with a dozen plays.  This is a game that should be on everyone's shelf, it's quick, it's easy, it's a blast...but it's also filler, it's not exactly deep.  Thunderstone rounds out the top three most played boardgames, but barely, with seven plays.  I had numerous games tied for fourth at six plays a pop, and many with five after that.

The aircraft skirmish game, Check Your Six! lead the tabletop minis portion with a respectable six plays.  Another great game, but honestly you need to play with the right people for it to shine, I'm lucky in that department.  Both the sci-fi skirmish game Infinity and the Dark Ages warband game Saga come in tied for second place at a woeful two games each, which is too bad because both of these games are more than excellent.  A single game play somehow garners Hordes Primal MkII the third place slot.  I expect this to go up considerably in the coming year.  There's my words, mark 'em!

I had said that the RPG department suffered, well after looking at the numbers it's kind of a 'yes' and 'no' ordeal.  Turns out I played quite a few roleplaying games, it's just that none of them were with any consistency.  First place, with just three games, is the new(ish) Marvel Heroic.  Lots of fun, slick system, nice format, this game has it all.  I want to play more of this, and soon.  In an unprecedented three-way tie for second place, with two games each are: Legends of Anglerre (saddest loss of potentially the best campaign that never got off the ground), Pathfinder (so much potential, but needs a dedicated DM), and finally Rogue Space (a sci-fi indie RPG I highly recommend).  In third place with just a single play, is Fiasco.  I said earlier I have no regrets, well I take that back.  One play for a game as great as Fiasco is shameful, that's all there is to it.  I regret not playing Fiasco more.

Miniatures Painted: 14
I almost thought about copping out on this category's writeup because I really don't have anything to say for myself.  There's no excuse that a blog with "minis" in the title only paints fourteen models in an entire year!  Looking at tabletop minis games played however does shed some light on it.  You paint what you play, and I just didn't play anything really.  Check Your 6! requires ZERO minis on my part, the guys I play with have entire armadas of airplanes from just about any historical time period with  engines and wings, so no painting needed there.  I played the two games of Infinity and guess what, almost half of these fourteen figs painted were for Infinity.  The addition of Hordes to the game table is a new development, as in this very month.  I have models for it, they have no paint, I expect that to change.  I wish I could say more, but there's nothing more to say.

Miniatures Bought: 372
Well, maybe the "minis" in the blog title refers to figures bought instead!  As my blog-brother Brad pointed out, a lot of these shouldn't count against my 2012 totals.  However, since much negotiating with the wife occurred over a couple of these key transactions, I went ahead and counted them.  Namely the Reaper super-haul that 15,000+ of us bought into.  Well that package alone accounts for a hundred and fifty plus figures right there.  Speaking of Kickstarter, the Loud Ninja Games' Chuhuac Space Raptors project was just too good to let slip by as well, and since I'm on the Loud Ninja roster it'd be kind of suspect if I wasn't on board, haha.  Chalk up another sixty plus space raptors.  We're already way over two hundred figs.  It's those 15mm figs that have destroyed this 'bought' category, you just get too good of a deal with the little buggers, and they come in large quantities to boot!  I dare not make any lofty statements like, "With this minis figs bought in 2012 I shouldn't have to by any in 2013!"

Ahem.

So, without any resolutions or promises for next year, any goals or even a mention of the HUD (which is now at the bottom of the blog mind you) I bid you a hearty happy new year.  2012 was pretty much brought to life here on the blog thanks to friends like you who just happen to care enough to read to the bottom of the post.  Rock on.

Tuesday Art Leftovers: Aliens and Holidays

Necessity being the mother of invention I give you an impromptu new feature, the Tuesday Art Leftovers.  As you may have surmised already, the awesome Monday Night Miller feature isn't exactly every Monday night.  To make up for this I have delved deep into the archives to bring you some art "leftovers".

Unlike Squire Miller I do not have formal schooling in the graphic arts, I hope his weekly feature returns with regularity...and soon!  Without him you're stuck with me.  

Way back when, late nineties, I posted a bunch of stuff online at the Elfwood art galleries.  Great fun and gave me that posting/blogging itch way before such a thing was fully in my domain.  All the stuff you'll see here is saved material from that.  Old stuff, twelve years plus, unpolished, but still fun.  Enjoy!

Our first one, up top here, is an alien gun fighter chica I made up to act as part of a tramp freighter crew composed of various species.  More Firefly in nature than, say, Star Wars.  I like a lot of things about her, the green lips and eyes, her belt buckle, the cartoon style.  She was your typical 'bad attitude' shoot first-ask questions later member of the crew.  Plus she's a hot armadillo/reptile sort of gal.

Next up is an image I did for our family's holiday cards one year.  Of course my 'family' back then was just my wife and I, but we mailed out a ton of cards during the holidays, I think our mailing list was pushing a hundred folks.  It was fun and I made up the art for the mailings.  Here we have a mechanic elf in his garage.  Things I like about this one are all the bits of junk laying around, his blonde mullet, and the effect on the tree itself.  Kind of apropos given the date of this post I thought!

Rounding out this trio of art leftovers is one of my favorites.  It kind of needs no explanation, it's aliens...with guns.  Nice and simple.  We have your heavy weapons guy, a sort of beefy dino-reptile guy, you've got a terrapin-type alien, I'm thinking science/tech guy, and finally is the commando/leader type, umm, a multi-limbed walrus/dog.  I like a lot of the colors in here too.

That's it, the first (and hopefully not too frequent) installment of the Tuesday Art Leftovers; a backup plan to any missed Monday Night Millers.  Until next time!

Less Than Four Percent

That's about all I've put into this place lately, less than four percent.  It's a darn shame really, I love my blog, I love my readers, and obviously I love all the things I do here.  So what's been going on?

This ain't no apology post, life gets in the way of hobbies, that's just the way of it.  Yes, I just used "ain't" too, I don't know why, it just felt right.  I have often seen blogs I follow post an apology that they've been away, or neglected their blogs, hey, it happens.  Without the real life stuff, the hobby stuff ceases to be.

I guess I've been tired more than anything.  I've moved from being a stay-at-home dad to re-entering the workforce so I find myself falling asleep on the couch with Supernatural on in the background somewhere around the 10pm range.

Boardgaming has supplanted a lot of the other gaming in my domain as well.  It's easy to setup, easy to cleanup, and provides a lot of fun in one evening that's accessible by everyone at the table.  I do miss the roleplaying though, however it's hard to get, err, rolling.  I do miss the miniature gaming too, and with a couple of games of Infinity under our belts I am hopeful that is going to rise.

There's also been a crazy (and sudden) interest in both Warmachine and Hordes, so I suspect a lot of content will start focusing (no pun intended) on those two games.  People have bought armies and started painting them and those who didn't buy anything have tons of stuff laying around from our first foray years and years ago.

I myself have thrown my lot in with the Trollbloods, starting over from scratch after selling off everything I had some time ago.  You'll see more of them for sure.

As for the title of this post, my statline so bluntly tells I've painted a mere 3.76% of the minis I've bought this year.  To be fair the Chuhuac 15mm figs and the Reaper Kickstarter have both inflated this number considerably.  This feels about like the effort I've been putting forth though.  All I can do is go up from here on in.  On a personal note I've just accepted a new job, this time getting me back in the classroom a closer reality than where I am now, and with a twist of synchronous irony, the hefty pay increase (37.73%) is strangely close digits-wise to my current painting percentage (3.78%), give or take a decimal point of course.

I'm going to give another nod to my friends, both Miller and Rucht for posting their guest spots Monday Night Miller and Friday Rucht Hour respectively.  They're not just guest spots, they're co-authors.  Without their fresh input things would be downright desolate around here.  My Thor's Day Hero posts are here as well, but remember I wrote all of those months ago.  So where does that put us?  I don't know.  I'm still here, hopefully you are too.  Here's to the future.

The Proper Wargamer Query, Conclusion

Here is the second part (and conclusion) of the wargamer questionnaire I began a couple of days ago.  Thanks again to Ian over at the Blog With No Name.  Here you go, the conclusion, enjoy! 


Had a proper stand up argument over a wargames table?

I have had silly moments of pettiness (on both sides of the argument) from time to time.  There have been legitimate arguments and arguments out of sheer frustration but nothing too out of hand.  Certainly nothing "proper" to say the least!

Thrown a dice across the room?

Heh, yeah, I've done that.  I've banished dice from the table for a number of years.  I've hammered dice in front of other dice to serve as a lesson.  I've chucked them into a burning fireplace.  I am not kind to dice who are not kind in return.

Rebased an army for another set of rules?

I have never rebased an army in order to use for another game.  I've rebased figs for purely aesthetic reasons, or because I messed something up, but never for another game.

Inflicted a whopping defeat on an opponent?

I have, on occasion, absolutely destroyed my opponent at the games table.  But on the flipside I have equally been destroyed.  Really though, I fall into the 'laid back' gamer category and I do it as a way to hang out with my friends, so there's not a lot of 'whopping defeat' situations.  When it does happen it's still in good nature.

Suffered an embarrassing defeat due to stupid tactical decision?

The above question kind of covers this.  I'm never in a situation where a defeat may come off as 'embarrassing' in the first place.  But, as to the second half of the question, I have made countless upon countless blunders, errors, stupid tactical decisions, and more.  I've statted up armies wrong, I've completely forgotten very key and special rules, and the list goes on and on.

Joined a Wargames Club?

I haven't, not officially, and I don't head out into the public sphere too terribly often.  But what I do have to call upon are no less than 8-10 close friends who all share the love of the game(s).  In a sense we could be called a club.  We have our podcast, that's got to be a club substitute.

Bought a ton of lead that remains unpainted?

Yes.  Do I need to say more, really?  I have unpainted lead and plastics that are measured not by the number of minis but but by sheer weight.  I could open a store with the amount of stuff I still have in the package, let alone loose.  They say a gamer dies when they paint their last mini, this is my way of achieving immortality.

Been to a wargames show?

Yes, both tiny and immense, local and hundreds of miles away.  I'm somewhat of a shut-in when it comes to public gaming but all that goes out the window when it comes to a wargaming con.  There is so much great stuff going on inside those four walls it's too good to pass up.

Have more dice than logically required?

Yes, since I am fickle with my dice, and since I've already shown that I can be cruel to the little buggers (all justified I assure you), so it's necessary that I keep a lot on hand.  As with unpainted lead, the number of dice is measured by weight, not numbers, haha.

Well this was fun!  I always like these types of queries, gives one a little introspection into what we do and why we do it as gamers.  As usual, a little interaction goes a long way, so I'd be curious to know how you guys differ from me (or what similarities we share).  Until next time, enjoy!

The Proper Wargamer Query, part 1

One thing I enjoy seeing across all of our blogs are the Q&A type posts that give us more of a glimpse not just into the life of gaming in general, but the specific gaming lives of all of us as individuals.  Last time it was the "Angry Lurker" questionnaire, which was a lot of fun.

One such blog I've started reading, and you should too, is The Blog With No Name.  Over there they have answered a new one, with an entirely different set of parameters, all gaming focused still of course, which is why I had to jump in.  As you could tell from my para-phrased title, this one delves into what makes you a "proper" wargamer.  Something I never really thought about, let's see how I stack up. 

Spent over £500 ($800USD) on figures/tanks etc.?

When I saw this first question my first thought was, "In what span of time?" If we go with the length of one's hobbying days, well this number could easily be ten times this, if not more.  I'm going with a one year period.  And yes, I have indulged in a few $800+ years during this fun hobby.

 

Pricked your finger on a pike block?

Easily.  It doesn't stop there; pike blocks, spearmen regiments, leader models with raised swords, terrain pieces, and more.  I once leaned down for a model's eye view and came up with two goblin spearmen stuck, by the tips, to my cheek!  Now if we're talking modelling disasters with hobby knives, I've had to go to the emergency room to get actual stiches in my hand while whittling away on some GW plastics a long time ago.

 

Tried at least 10 rule sets?

In a lifetime?  Not a problem.  In a year?  Still pretty close.  The wargaming world is in a great place right now in that there is no shortage on rules and new things to try.  I couldn't imagine playing just one game and never trying the rest.

 

Bought an Army off E-Bay?

Yup, there have been some great finds on ebay and although I don't really have the kind of spending freedoms I once did, it's still a great place to pick stuff up every now and then. 

 

Sold an Army on E-Bay?

Ugh, I don't want to talk about this one.  We all go through inventory "purge" from time to time, but if I think of all the armies I've sold off it makes me sick to my stomach.  I always got a price I was happy with at the time, but I'd pay twice that amount to have that stuff back now.

 

Spent Months painting an army and used it just the once?

How about spending months painting an army and NEVER having played it at all?  That's what happened with my 100+ model sci-fi army.  One of these days perhaps...

 

Tried Several Different Periods or genres?

I kind of do it all really; boardgaming, tabletop gaming, videogaming, roleplaying.  As far as genres, that too; horror, sci-fi, historicals, fantasy, modern, you name it.  There are some areas I love above all else, like sci-fi, and some areas I'd like to do more of, like colonial era historical gaming.  I've had a lifetime of roleplaying, but I can always do with more.

 

Dropped a box of figures from a great height?

It was when I was clear-coating the aforementioned sci-fi army that has yet to see the tabletop.  I had them on a piece of plastic outside when a huge gust of wind picked up the entire piece and threw it about ten feet across my concrete driveway, scattering a hundred plus wee figs all over the place.  It was not a good day, I can still see them bouncing across the pavement.

 

Lost a battle on the last throw of the dice?

Full disclosure up front, it's not like I'm always winning games.  I enjoy what I do, but I wouldn't be what you would call a master strategist or anything.  I also don't know when to give up, so I tenaciously hang on until the last roll of the dice.  Does that mean I could've won had the roll been different?  No, probably not!

 

Made an enemy for life?

An enemy for life?  That's a little harsh, and besides, gaming can get tense but it's not that serious of a business!  Having said that though there are some folks who just aren't invited back to the game table from time to time.  Life is just too short to game with people that you just can't enjoy an actual game with.

This is just part one of what is now a two part article I guess!  I'll get the second part up soon, I hope you've enjoyed it to this part.  Let me know where you guys fall in with these.  Until then, rock on.

Thor's Day Hero: Batgirl

Batman was one of the first heroes brought on board with Thor's Day Heroes, so it would make sense that some type of homage would show up eventually. Here we have Batgirl, courtesy my daughter about five years ago. My best friend's son was dressed as Superman this year so I thought I would whip up a little hunk of Kryptonite for Batgirl to carry around with her, you know, just in case big blue needed to be taken down a notch.

Thor's Day Hero: Mike Brown

Well it looks like Oppenheimer isn't the only scientist to be given the honor of serving in the ranks of the Thor's Day Heroes, say "Heya!" to Mike Brown. This is a cool entry because Mike Brown is a pretty regular guy. I mean, he's a scientist and planetary astronomer, but he doesn't wear a cape (that I know of) nor does he have super powers or the like.

He did kill a planet however, and we're not talking Superman-level, Crisis on Infinite Earths, cosmic doom, Mike Brown killed a planet in real life. In 2005 he actually thought he had discovered our solar system's tenth planet, Eris. Turns out Eris was bigger than Pluto, and since the definition of "planet" didn't quite fit Eris, it meant both it and its smaller cousin Pluto were to be demoted.

Honestly, I was surprised at all the uproar, it's science people, things change, that's how we move forward. I didn't look at it as losing a planet, I saw it as gaining eight more Dwarf planets. That's right, eight new Dwarf planets. With Eris and Pluto leading the Dwarf planet charge, there's all kinds of other candidates for Dwarf planethood waiting to officially be made part of our solar system family. So welcome to the Thor's Day Heroes Señor Brown!