Back to the Future

I went to the Science Museum on Saturday for the first time in many years.

I went with the Missus and the Harnetts who have Ben, 5, and Jack, 3, who were the prime reason for the visit.

As such we visited pretty much all of the interactive stuff, such a chore ;), and had a vague wander around the rest until everyone's legs gave out.

What I hadn't expected to find was "Dan Dare and the Birth Of Hi-Tech Britain. I had to be dragged away by all involved......
So, the premis was that post-war Britain actively looked towards a new, gleaming hi-tech future that Frank Hampson struck a chord with as Dan Dare cut a dash across the pages of Eagle comic.

Despite being born in'75 I do have a child's recollection of Dan and Eagle, at least partially through a fairly ropey Spectrum game.

The whole display was excellent, surrounded by various examples of 50s and 60s industrial, cold war and labour saving technologies.
Surrounded by Vulcans, Mini's and Cappucino makers it suddenly stuck me where Thunderbirds, Forbidden Planet and The Voice of The Mysterons, all parts of my childhood, came from and why.

Personally i'm a big Fanboy for 2000AD, Star Wars, Aliens and Excalibur. So where does all of that come from?

Anyway, i've got a GD of Nurgle to put together!

Whiff of grape-shot

Or more to the point....... varnish.

As previously mentioned the curse of the freshly painted figures raised its pungent head on Tuesday night and my dice ran for cover.... little buggers!!

Myself, Ian and Charlie were trying out multi-player Uncharted Seas and the stripped down mechanics allowed things to happen pretty easily.

I've had this theory about not using a battleship but events and fleet composition rules say otherwise!
Freshly painted sighted sir! Just send a couple of frigates, the fools won't stand a chance!! The manoeuvre below was well planned and executed with a minimum of smugness.

A sinking was assured until the dice hit the table...... shocker!! Thankfully, for me, Ian and Charlie took out each other with a couple of magazines exploding whilst I looked on and then, with the only battleship left afloat, cruised in to claim victory.

Another magnificent theory exploded!

Rather busy with life otherwise this week bar a few bits and bobs.
I've downloaded and printed the AT-43 rulebook from the Confrontation website recently. All the army books are there as well. Two thumbs up!!

So I've been reading through as and when and have been really impressed by the cohesive background. Feels very "Blade Runner" to me which I like. Plenty of inspiration there for a couple of potential other projects including Star Wars.

Meanwhile i really need to get round to Trev's stuff. Got a bit of time off next week so a big green beasty looms large with my conscience.

Make way for Grand-father Nurgle, Lord of the Lurgy..........

Yo-ho Heave Ho!!

Finished the second Bone Griffon starter fleet and "inspired" by Aaron's alternative Orci i've tried something slightly different...... such as The Bone Beast here.

Not so sure on the name, happier with the result.


The Black Pearls. I want to try out squadroning Cruisers in pairs and thats as much excuse as I need. It'll also give the fleet as a whole a more rag-tag look which I think suits.

The final cruiser is of the slow, catapult, variety giving me a squadron of three contary to my theory as propsed above. Excellent!
The White whales, three of which are somewhta patterned Killer Whale like. To that end i've also gone back to some of the original Orci, below, and used the scheme reversed.

The entire fleet, plus my sofa in the background. Getting another game or two in tomorrow night at 600 points. The odour of varnish may be noticeable to the dice so I may get my metaphorical feet a touch on the soggy.

Otherwise thats another 16 PPs and another project complete.
Big Trev's stuff needs to be next :(

Learn with Mother?

Mornin' all,
Star Wars once again the other night, no bad thing. We moved to Thursday night as Aaron couldn't make Tuesday, so then Jon and Ian got caugh up at work. No worries.

Being a vaguely cunning type I'd written the next mission to introduce a new section of the rules, namely vehicles... such as this one.


Tasked to recover a somewhat larger vehicle, a shuttle named The Betty, our boys needed to do an old Wookie a favour, taking out an APC, to get the low-down on it's location.

What I failed to plan for was Rob and Charlie's ability to find a bar brawl from almost nothing,... almost.

The final result was the ambush I had expected and a group learning session. Intersting result. Vehicles have the same stat line any character with Damage Resistance rating, subtracted from damage dealt.

Rob's natural 20 still dealt double damage and took off about 50 of the APC's 120 Hit Points in one shot. I did blow up his Speeder Bike though :) Still not entirely sure how to balance vehicles against charcters on foot. Charlie feels that its designed for vehicle vs vehicle and I can see his point. We shall see how we go.

Showing off, I've taken my out of the box Oni Medium Destroyer added some of those FW Tau transfers, washed, weathered and finally impressed myself mightily :]





Not too much work really so just 2 PPs I feel. Just the rest of the box to go!

God Bless Her.......

....and all who sail in her!

£20 inc postage got me a Revell EasyKit Imperial Shuttle from Amazon and very pleased I am with it to :)

It does indeed snap-fit though a bit of glue isn't a bad idea and it's definately a model rather than a toy. About 90 minutes in front of the telly saw it built and I genuinely considered not painting it all, just weathering it up.

I have to admit that I didn't fancy using washes straight over it so a can of Chaos Black got me started.

Base colours on it was looking a bit 70s rather than the Firefly look I imagined but the crew look 70s to so why fight it.........MAN?

The transfers are ForgeWorld's white Tau sheet and really got the asian influenced Firelfy look that I mentioned earlier.





I wasn't brave enough to try out the weathering powders I picked up from FW so it was the tried and tested black/brown washes and some drybrushing.

So, your shuttle, The Betty, awaits. Well used is the phrase.

5 painting pots, I thank you!

The Colour of.........

.......MONEY, MONEY, MUN-KNEE!!!

Hobby money is an interesting thing. It can almost always been found to tip the need / want balance but, in this hobby at least, seems to be very hard work to earn.

I, like all true gamers, have no idea how much i've spent on TOYS, I don't want to know, but feel happy that i've had VALUE.
That's fine by me :)

Meanwhile, in a time and place not so far in the past, I once upon a time used to paint for cold hard cash. Part time as such!

It was hard work and to be honest became a chore that threatened my own hobby. I'm gald that i'm fortunate enough not to have to anymore.

There's still a slight hangover from back then as I still owe my mate Big Trev paint jobs for a Great Unclean One, a few bases of Nurglings and a couple of Khemri Tomb Priests.
Bad Steve. Added to the list.

Someday I may just paint up Space-Hulk...... sniff

Meanwhile, i've recently recieved my E-Bay bill of £50 which combined with a £20 fee for recieving my wedge has "spent" a fair lump of it.

Still, not a moan, as i'm still left with almost £400 AFTER the Oni. More.. a learning experience.

Continuing on my theme of "I don't think i'll actually spend it all on toys" bit, i've put a good lump of it towards a new Dell laptop.......... SHINY!!

Some of this was because my old knackered one wouldn't run Blood-Bowl in any form...... SOME of this.

My old one is no longer fit for purpose and Mr T's reccommendation assures me that I'll get several years use..... and he's got NUTS!!......RESULT!!
A month 'til delivery though........not so shiny.

I about the only bit of hobby progress recently, work was in capitals and bold last week, I ordered some of ForgeWorld's Tau transfers, in white, to detail the Oni vehicles.
At checkout I was informed of the £10 minimum sale..... so I added a couple of weathering powders.
Want / Need balance?

On my final note of the post my gym trainers are also no longer fit for purpose. The missus pushed the point the point that I should spend that bit more on a pair that would support my feet properly,.. so I bought these.

£50 reduced from £75.... she's not so keen on them :)
Want / Need balance??

P.S. Wasps win again whilst Sarries loose...again.. :)

ONI the Strong.........

Just one phrase, so many poor jokes.......
My ONI have arrived and i've finally had the chance to unpack them and have a decent look and the short version is that i'm seriously impressed.

You get a serious amount in the box including scenery, a double sided playsheet, quick start rules plus a tape and dice.
The figures themselves are in a proper hard plastic and well constructed. I wouldn't go bouncing the off the floor but they're definately sturdy. I doubt that they'll chip too easily!

I'm particuarly impressed with the vehicles, they're proper plastic tank kits a la Tamiya but in one piece and pre-painted.

To be honest the "paint jobs" are relatively basic but are clean, clear and have a consistent of shade though of a relatively limited scope.

I'm already thinking that a bit of wash and highlight work could go an awful long way. With a few transfers and a bit of decent detail work you can get a major result.
The wheels don't go round but you can't have everything now then can you :)
So a bit of a result really, well pleased. Say hello to Mr Convert :)