The Price of Failure

Just recently my hobby life has been one big epic FAIL.
I've had to cancel a long list of various gaming engagements due to real life, mainly a bit of Ick and work going mental for a fortnight or so. Until last night I'd not rolled dice or played a card or picked up a brush in a couple of weeks and was getting the Geek DTs. Worse than that I've had to blow-out on my gaming mates, apologies lads :(

As some of you may have noticed I've also not posted in a while. Some of this was having a lack of much to post about but more, if I'm honest, was due to Blogger's recent update and the work browser's inability to cope with it. So basically NO BLOGGER AT WORK!

Doesn't sound like too much of a biggy but like many of us might I often upload post photos at home and then blog during my lunch-breaks or if not blogging browse my reading list. I didn't realise up until now how important this was in keeping me inspired to go home and make the relevant effort. TGN has just about kept me going but it's just not the same :/

Thankfully I had yesterday free and got stuck in to turning recent events around :)

Stewart dropped around last night for a night of GEEK which kicked off with him running me through Mantic's latest boardgame, Project Pandora, which I'd heard about and quickly labelled Space-Hulk but not. Based on Dwarf King's Hold it was going to have to do well to impress me. I've played DKH once before and wasn't overly enamoured but that was probably because I was tired at the time and suffering poor dice which lead to a little bit of toys out of pram......my bad :/

So in short we ran through the Training Mission twice, having a go with each side, Corporation and Veer-Myn, and then had a go at a proper scenario. In short I was well impressed :)

Despite assuming that it might be a little bit "bashed out" it's a really good game. Very tactical and you HAVE to try and think a few turns ahead. It easily produces the same claustrophobic tension of Space-Hulk with a clever token driven activation sequence that forces you into hard choices every turn.

Stewart is one of Mantic's Pathfinder chaps, and does a very fine job, and though being a good mate has had his work cut out convincing me about a number of Mantic's offerings. This time I was doing the job for him and I'd really like to go back and play DKH in the correct frame of mind. Guilty of thinking that these were throw-away games quickly and cheaply produced they're most definitely not! As a plug let me point you to Mantic's first Podcast, well worth the time!

Previously that afternoon I'd invested some more brush-time into the DW French. Have to admit I'd been struggling with these and the new GW wash (as previously bemoaned) which just wasn't getting the recess detail as I needed it to. Reverting to a bit of older Asyurman Blue helped greatly but was taking me farther away from my envisaged scheme which I wasn't happy with in itself.

As much as this is Fantasy Steam-Punk I want to my ships as ships. By this I mean an absolute minimum or no bare metal. In the real world, rolling around on the briney deep, it just didn't happen. Suspension of disbelief is fine but assuming that nothing will rust is just not on, at least not for me!

Envisaging gleaming white hulls and superstructures it's just a bit too boring for the figures and the setting while I  also want to stay away from any wazzy camo-schemes, just not doing it for me. Chatting through with Stewart, okay whinging at him, I realised that the extra washes were taking me towards a nice mid-light blue that could be worked up from a black undercoat which would save me time and wash-rage.

I had been thinking of blue accents against the white but why not white accents against the blue! Why not white turrets, weapon systems and bridges which would also mean no bare metals? I can still keep my tricholore smoke-stakes and it wouldn't take anything massive to colour code the Frigate squadrons should I feel the need!

So, first-ish thing this morning I've re-sprayed everything black and this evening will work up through Shadow Gray and Ice Blue to wash back down and see where I am. I shall update you later as to results, including state of mind.

Sometimes the price of failure is well worth paying :)