The Kids are Alright!!

Evenin' all!

This is the lad Simpson, Wasps' scrum half. His excellent solo try from the base of a scrum on the halfway line saw an ugly win away at Leeds. After recieving a sound thrashing at home from Northampton last week it was a very neccessary win, especially given the ever growing injury nature of our injury list. Meanwhile, after digging a large hole for a composter at lunchtime, I managed to grab a bit of brushtime this afternoon and finished off my white undercoated Ninja Kids :)

Overall I'm rather pleased with thier outcome and feel a lot happier about painting onto a white undercoat. It took a bit more effort and fore-thought than I've been used to but I feel that a good result has been achieved and the white robes were much less of a struggle than normal.

As they're only tiddlers, those are pennies they're mounted on, I'll claim 6 PPs for the four of them to round off the monthly total at 24.

With just one project left on the active list, for the moment at least, I'll be doing a bit of teeing-up for the rest of this week and whilst the missus is out tomorrow night I'll be reconnecting to the X-Box, though not literally. Wolfenstein or Fable II.......

Black and White or Shades of Grey?

Please don't worry I'm not about to indulge a spurious journey into the meaning of life or anything like that. It's all about the hobby!

Within said hobby there are many polarised points of view about just about everything. It seems to be a Nerd thing.
At the club last night I played two games of Blood-Bowl 7s. This wasn't the best start but I pulled through to a reasonably glorious 2-nil victory.

At least some of this was due to some very useful block dice rolls and, according to my gracious opponent, effective use of the Bull centuars.

The second game with dice honours even resulted in a rather less glorious 1 all draw.But a draw is definatley not a loss!The week before I rolled out my now fully painted copy of Space-hulk for the first time. Playing through the 1st mission three times saw the Blood Angels with little to celebrate!

Post game commentary often involves the turning points in any game and the chestnut that when your dice are having a bad session it's normally one way traffic!

Turning, eventually, to my main point another black or white subject of conention within the hobby is that of primer.Having been a possible hobby pro via 6 years employment with GW, possibly the biggest black/white topic out there, I've always considered white undercoat as being for proper pro-painters as it demands a higher level of skill and application.

For the record at least 99% of the figures that I've ever painted have recieved a black undercoat.

So with my project list short and uncertain I grabbed these little lads and lasses from the pile and thought I'd have a go at something DIFFERENT.

They're primarily intended for when we get back to Star Wars roleplaying and I want them to have a very 2000AD Hondo City sci-fi yakusa look. Lots of white robes.

The brow has been increasing deflected but the enjoyment so far has been tremendous. Always nice to add a little colour to life :)

China in my Hand?

An obsucre T'Pau reference, for those of you too young to realise, to the fact that The Brajhd-Fjord Bulls are now fully finished.

As I type that I realise I COULD sort out some cheerleaders (ahem..) but I'm not even sure what what Chaos Dwarf cheerleaders would look like. To be honest I'm not sure I even want to. Rain-check!

I'm particuarly pleased with the coach, having taken inspiration from GW's Dwarf Lord. Hopefully he'll bring me a win or two come Tuesday night.

8 figures and a couple of counters. 18 painting points a la bag :)

Working the Chain Gang!

Bit of a quick one really (ooh er missus) with WIP shots of my Hobgoblin substitute Line-Slaves for the CD BB team (translation?). The shots are a bit dark but they've just been washed with Devlan Mud, which I now believe that I probably can't paint without!

Returning from hols I've been keen to crack on with them despite the eventual arrival of the Gobbo figures from Impact. They were waiting on the doormat just as I was gearing up to request a refund.

I'm sure I'll find a use EVENTUALLY but for now they are condemned to LEAD MOUNTAIN. They did however come with a pair of rather funky weather dice which I'm keen to find a use for somewhere, somehow.

I'm particularly pleased with the Coach figure I've worked up but he'll have to wait 'til the weekend whilst I work on his paint scheme. I'm probably just over-complicating again :)

It amuses me that half of them have been blinded in some way or the other and I think that they'd also do well as alternative Human or Norse Linemen........ hmmm :)

Playing the Role

Following the Turkey hiatus the shed saw some D&D action last night with electric heater newly installed.

As you can see we weren't short of a biscuit! For those hungry to know Hob-Nob Lights are tasty enough, though nothing compared to the full fat variety, but a little dry and don't hold up very well to tea. No foul though :)

Also in great abundance was some actual ROLE-play and mightily enjoyable it was to. Now that we can rattle along through basic rules it's an element that's been on the increase.

In short, this time round we / I had a change of plan and headed back to the Deurgar FORTRESS OF DOOM to make an assault.

This change was entirely in line with my character's (Halfling Rogue Tobias Flynn) outlook on life. In other words, I found an angle to do a deal, any deal just as long as it's a deal.... Basically, we gained the blessing of the local overlords and look to gain some loot and a potential business premises and partner with a local "entrepreneur".

Having previously rescued a column of slaves we sent them back home to Lord Big-Nob and received the assistance f some of his least fine warriors / cannon fodder. Delivering them as new "slaves" our trap was sprung and general melee ensued.

As the dust settled the Paladin said "The Prayer of the Fallen" quite a few times (ROLE-playing), I attempted to unlock various locked chests (ROLE-playing) and the Sorcerer collected a variety of ears (ROLE-playing) whilst the Ranger communed with his new wolven buddy (ROLE-playing).

Most entertainingly, the more nefarious members of the party were encouraging the Lawful Good Dwarven Cleric to keep the magical flaming mace recently procured from the Deurgar Lord. He knows that he shouldn't but we've been encouraging him "across".

He wants too,.. he really does but he knows he shouldn't and is wrestling with his conscience. That's ROLE-playing that is. Powerful stuff!! :)

Yusuf Mehmet the (potentially) Unstoppable

Last night's meeting of Enfield Gamers saw round 3 of the Blood Bowl 7s take place and having missed round 2 whilst on holiday I was a couple of games behind. Perfectly placed to raise the Bullz from the foot of the table!

Having added Yusuf Mehmet, my 2nd Bull Centuar, to the roster I was looking to apply a little muscle and score a few TDs.

First up were "Rob's Ratz" who obligingly had a horrific game repeatedly failing to pick up or pass the ball whilst rolling double skull on a number of occasions.

The CD contingent set to work laying a smackdown which caused a couple of casualties and an awful lot of KOs. As I've, painfully, learnt myself anyadvantage in numbers soon tells in 7s and Rob did well to keep the score to 3-nil.

Flush with success I then took on Mr C's Human "Salsa Queens" (undefeated) and soon came unstuck.

Initially, as the architet of my own downfall, I was too agressive with the B-Centuars not supporting them allowing the Queens to gang up on them. No significant eye scratching though!

A botched hand of to a BC, which would have seen him in space by himself, coughed up the ball and the Queens worked a well scored TD.

Dice then came into play and it was my turn to roll pure smeg whilst Mr C could roll no wrong. Karma eh? Grin, bare and stick the boot in when you can ;)

With a few turns to go I was 3-nil down and hadn't scored a single SSP. The Queens' kick went off the pitch for a touch-back so to see how well he'd go I gave the ball to Yusuf Mehmet.

The short answer was a mucular bundle up the pitch for a 3 turn TD and some saved face. The resulting MVP gains Yusuf Break Tackle which should enhance his ball carrying abilities....... just as long as I can get him to hold on to it!

Anatolian Plain?

No, not a bit of it though it does help if you like kebab!

I'm not going to bore you with infinite detail of our many visits to a number of Turkey's premier sites / sights but I do now know how to tell if an ancient wall was built by Greeks or Romans. An important life skill indeed.

What I have found interesting is how your allowed to clamber all over these sites. English Heritage would have a major eppy without a silk rope in sight and never mind the Health and Safety Executive!

Gallipoli was particuarly interesting as we visited with a couple of Aussies and Kiwis. Despite my knowledge of the actions involved I felt the need to respect thier more direct connection with events, as well as the Turks, finding the whole experience very evocative.

Additionally,I've learnt that Turkish soldiers refer to themselves as "Mehmets" and I'd likely to incorparate the term into the names for the Blood-Bowl team as a sign of respect.

Having done a lot of travel it's beach and pool for the next few days. Apparantly it's raining in London!