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Introduction: I already have a few project logs here on Dakka but this is something a little different, more like a lifestyle blog...
The main function of this blog is just to chat about the hobby but I'll also use it to post small side projects and to do some personal blogging. It'll serve as a nursery for fledgling projects before they get up the pace for their own threads and, most importantly, it'll help me get feedback on all of that from you. So it's a kind of 'master blog', 'one blog to rule them all' kind of thing. As an added bonus, this blog won't dry up because I'm not working on a specific project, I'll always have something new to add.
IceAngel wrote:I must say Knightley, I am very envious of your squiggle ability. I mean, if squiggles were a tactical squad, you'd be the sergeant. If squiggles were an HQ, you'd be the special character. If squiggles were a way of life, you'd be Doctor Phil...
My Knightley in shining armour! I was just writing up the first topic and hoping someone would give me a bump.
And yes, I've been sitting on 500pts of Marines for over a year now and it's about time I gave them some attention!
Despite having had the army all this time I've just started to put together the fluff for them in the past week. I'd developed an exciting background before I bought this army but recently decided that it deserves much more hobby time than I'm going to put into what is a small gaming force. So I'll set that project aside for a rainy day and push this army through so I can get them on the tabletop.
The Fluff: The new lore is taking shape around my love of grimdark and the 3rd Edition Rulebook which is a true celebration of all I love about the 40k universe in writing and art. Now, grimdark is wonderful flavour but it's a design choice and not something I can hang my fluffy hat on. So I need something else, in this case the Ecclesiarchy is the perfect 'grimdark incarnate' hat rack and they have a history of using strange little forces like this one. I considered a humorous name like 'Fathers Grimn' but I'm much more likely to go with some like 'The Fatherhood'. So that's my core structure in place but anything else is open for discussion at this stage and I'd love some feedback.
The Miniatures: I went a bit mad, clipping bits off sprues and taccing them together, to give me an early sketch. Below is 'sketch one':
I've put a little thought into a paint scheme too! I would like to represent the art in 3D so I'm considering only painting the front of the miniatures and using a very stark black and white scheme. To liven that up I'm thinking that a deep wine red will pop well on occasional details and be in keeping with the grimdark/gothic horror vibe.
The List: The list was originally written as 90% competitive, not to WAAC but to weather all storms, codex creep and new editions. Considering how long ago it was written(almost 2 years) I think it's pretty astounding that nothing has really shaken it. I have to thank all the people that helped me with it back then but it's also got a lot to do with the small points limit, 500pts doesn't really change much edition to edition in my experience.
The one thing I've not settled on after all that time is Infernus Pistols or Meltaguns? They are very well balanced against each other and it comes down to a very slim margin of close combat vs range. I'm leaning towards Meltaguns... But anyway, here is the list:
Codex: Blood Angels
Reclusiarch + Infernus Pistol = 145pts
5 Assault Marines + Infernus Pistol = 115pts
Razorback = 20pts
5 Assault Marines = 100pts
Razorback = 20pts
Predator + Heavy Bolter Sponsons = 100pts
Total = 500pts
I'll stop rambling on now! Any and all feedback or general chat is welcome, don't be shy!
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/06/24 22:46:58
Thanks, panda! I'll get too it as soon as possible although my entry to your competition will have to take precedence. I'll make a post about that soon too and give you a plug!
Thanks, panda! I'll get too it as soon as possible although my entry to your competition will have to take precedence. I'll make a post about that soon too and give you a plug!
Yep, I've been running the Dakka Painting Challenge and it's the best one yet, even if I do say so myself! It's a really exciting theme and it's highlighting the game Infinity which, if you don't already know, is amazing!
There is one thing though, one thing that would make it even better... YOU! Yes, I want you to join in and I want you to bring a friend, the more participants the better and it's very easy to enter. Just click on the link above and get involved, there's nothing to lose and some awesome prizes to gain!
Check it out! The deadline is the 16th July and entries can take the form of Tanks or Monstrous Creatures.
This is actually a bit of a personal challenge that I set myself I while back. I spend so much time on miniatures and never seem to finish anything so I really wanted to force myself into getting something started and finished quickly, preferably within the confines of a competition. I put a quick sketch together during Round 4 but I pulled out because it wasn't the right theme for me, luckily this round is perfectly suited.
I also wanted to work on something very artistically freeing for a change, I'm a glutton for over-constraining my projects with difficult briefs so this had to be a simple concept. I dug through the dark part of my brain where I keep my project ideas and then my bits box. A few things stood out and I ended up with a loose concept for a Nurgle Ork Warboss with a possible Circus/Ringmaster theme. The bits I had struck upon were big and leant themselves to true-proportion which quickly lead to my first sketch:
There was a second sketch stage during Round 4 where I added the other leg but the pictures were a bit dark so I dumped them. Since 5 has commenced I have gone a long way to building up the body. This is the closest I've been to sculpting from scratch so I've been very careful to add muscle before flesh then fat and finally skin with each section. He's taking shape slowly and I'm using a tonne of reference pictures to try and put down accurate fat deposits. When I feel a little more confident that I've got it right I'll get some more pictures.
I'm still looking for feedback on the Marines to some extent but they have been developed a little more now. Pictures on that soon!
Thanks man! He's growing fast and daily. The proportions look mental because I'm working on one area at a time but as soon as it's even I'll take more pictures.
Haha, yep, he's out of private messages and into the cold light of day! Thanks for all your help, I hope I can do it justice.
A little bit of personal blogging now I think...
I used to play Rugby and kept a very intense training regime. Sadly, for a few reasons, I stopped about 4-5 years ago and since then I've piled on the weight. The thing about being in a rut is, the longer you're in it the deeper you go and the deeper you go the harder it is to get out. So things have been getting progressively worse and I've felt caged into a body that wasn't mine. I'm happy to talk about this stuff but I shan't dwell on it unless I'm asked.
So why am I telling you this? Well something clicked recently and I started running again! I say 'something clicked' but I know fine well that it was a myriad of factors coalescing into one big gear change. Healthy mind, healthy body. Healthy body, healthy mind.
I've still got some leftover hang ups like being very self conscience. I'm currently tackling that by being nocturnal and running at 4am before bed, ahah! Not the most sensible plan but I've got that flexibility at the moment and it's growing the confidence I need to start running at quiet but more conventional times. There are bonuses to running in the Scottish countryside at 4am though, the air and the view:
Lucky me! Plus it's even better in the rain and there is a lot of wildlife around as the sun comes up. I'm not focusing on the stats at the moment but I think I'm running about 5k in 40mins which is terrible but it's a start. I'm doing it every day right now so I'm seeing a lot of improvement very quickly, hopefully I can whittle that time down.
I think that's enough rambling for this morning! Have a lovely day/night Dakkanauts!
*drools* oh man... if I had such a view around the place where I have to live... I wouldn´t mind running a few miles each day too... but berlin is quite comparably uglier than this by a long shot...*envy you*
the orky concept looks very interesting... my steampunk frame of mind kicks in a higher gear instantly...
as for the other stuff... I am scrolling upwards to see what else you are up to...
damn... these comps are all out only it seems to catch me following yet even more threads
I like the Ork concept, look forward to seeing more of him.
Yeah, I know what it's like being stuck in ruts. Good luck to you, you can do it.
Mastodon: @DrH@warhammer.social
The army- ~2295 points (built).
* -=]_,=-eague Spruemeister General. * A (sprue) Hut tutorial * Dsteingass - Dr. H..You are a role model for Internet Morality! // inmygravenimage - Dr H is a model to us all Theophony - Sprue for the spruemeister, plastic for his plastic throne! // Shasolenzabi - Toilets, more complex than folks take time to think about!
Interesting idea for the paint scheme, kind of like a zenthil basecoat, but for a top coat. do it to one model and let us see how it looks!
Also I know what being in a rut is like, I used to be in the military and when I got out I stopped all exercise and ballooned up, didn't help I was playing WoW for 5-6 hours a night as well and sometimes 14 hours a day on the weekends (not conducive to painting might I add)
IceAngel wrote:I must say Knightley, I am very envious of your squiggle ability. I mean, if squiggles were a tactical squad, you'd be the sergeant. If squiggles were an HQ, you'd be the special character. If squiggles were a way of life, you'd be Doctor Phil...
also... i now had a look at yon marines... and i must say i like the name fatherhood... (me being a dad and so on ) and from what i see...(to be frank... a zoomable pic would have been nice...) i can say atm the one that looks like a jon woo fella... the one on the far right... i like the best...the others need a closer look...
Viktor von Domm wrote:*drools* oh man... if I had such a view around the place where I have to live... I wouldn´t mind running a few miles each day too... but berlin is quite comparably uglier than this by a long shot...*envy you*
Haha yeh, I used to live in Glasgow which is like Necromunda with lots of parks. The funny thing is, if you live in the country you want to be in the city and when you live in the city you want to be in the country! The grass is always greener on the other side! My aim is to eventually move back to Glasgow but only if I can manage to keep this house too, that'll be years off though.
Dr H wrote:Yeah, I know what it's like being stuck in ruts. Good luck to you, you can do it.
Thanks H! I'll give it my all.
Knightley wrote:Also I know what being in a rut is like, I used to be in the military and when I got out I stopped all exercise and ballooned up, didn't help I was playing WoW for 5-6 hours a night as well and sometimes 14 hours a day on the weekends (not conducive to painting might I add)
Two things strike me about this. Firstly, it never fails to astound me how many wargamers are ex or current military. Secondly is that I've seen mention of your Warcraft phase in your blog but I don't think we've ever discussed it. It sounds like you were in deep and I'm not surprised, I was too for a couple of years. It's scary how much of a hold it can have on you actually, I still get a huge dopamine rush when I think about it and I haven't played since I was at school. Clearly gaming addiction is no myth and Warcraft is a heroin grade habit with a fraction of the price tag. I'd be interested to hear your experiences: good and bad!
Viktor von Domm wrote:the orky concept looks very interesting... my steampunk frame of mind kicks in a higher gear instantly...
Dr H wrote:I like the Ork concept, look forward to seeing more of him.
Thanks guys, I'm not sure how steampunk I'm going to go but time will tell. I'm still working on blocking in the fat deposits so it's still rough and no where near the final shape. Nevertheless, here is a quick snap to show my progress :
Viktor von Domm wrote:damn... these comps are all out only it seems to catch me following yet even more threads
Haha yeh I have a huge list of threads to read! I'll get through them all eventually... I hope.
Knightley wrote:Interesting idea for the paint scheme, kind of like a zenthil basecoat, but for a top coat. do it to one model and let us see how it looks!
Very much so, I'm not sure it'll actually look good but it's worth a try so I'll give it a go on a test model first to see what you all think.
Viktor von Domm wrote:also... i now had a look at yon marines... and i must say i like the name fatherhood... (me being a dad and so on ) and from what i see...(to be frank... a zoomable pic would have been nice...) i can say atm the one that looks like a jon woo fella... the one on the far right... i like the best...the others need a closer look...
Thanks, the Fatherhood was a reference to the Catholic church but I've decided to change it slightly. I've pretty much settled on Ministorum Patriarchus now, which means pretty much the same thing but with some extra Grimdark thrown in. Thanks for telling me about the pic, I just access Dakka from my phone nowadays and I struggle to format my updates so that they view well on PCs. I've fixed it now I think, should be easy to view and zoom in to. I doubt any of those models will actually make the cut though, they are just an early sketch using some of the right bits.
Tonight I'm taking a break from my Warboss and I'm going to put together a new sketch for the marines.
that lot of fat surprised me quite a bit... but you totaly hit the nail on its head... the hoof looks quite fitting too!
as for the better pics... now that´s what we need! due to that the fella with the meltagun just left of jon woo is now my second favorite... he has a very manacing non chalante stance...i am not that fond of those BA masks... but that is something fluff always could justify^^
Hey Casey, good job on the marines and I can't wait to see what that Ork boss turns into. You and I have a pretty similar style of kitbashing marines lol, just clip out all the best looking bits from everything and to hell with whether it all matches up exactly.
Also, kudos on getting back into shape. I've had to do the same thing a few times and it always makes me happy to see other gamers getting up and exercising.
Man... I was in deep, like real deep, flashbacks and dreaming about raiding kind of deep.... (sounds awfully like a flash back from Vietnam)
Plenty to read below
Spoiler:
I started off innocently enough with vanilla wow on Blackrock, rolled a Shaman and got him to level 20 in the first couple of hours or so, then had to get to work. When I came back from work I was greeted with a 3 hours queue to play the game. Thought stuff that and messaged some of my older gaming mates and they had rolled on a Dath'Remar so created a druid on there and due to my complete noobish tendencies i leveled as Resto... yes you read that right, resto, it took me 6 months to get to 60...
But once I was at 60 then came the next part, raiding. I got to learn MC and the horrible trash pack pulls and runners and I was put into the healing role, I do recall my first raid ever getting three piece T1 then the next reset getting another two pieces I was considered rather jammy back then, but of course has no DKP for the next 4 months. Got to run through AQ20, ZG and hit a wall at BWL. At this point I was single and raiding till 2am NZ and ended up burning my self out pretty quickly. I moved north to the only big city NZ has and found out that Blackrock's queues has dissipated, so I left Dath and leveled my shaman to 29 and created a PvP twink character had a blast doing that and there were about 4-5 guys at work who rolled an twinked with me, and I tell you having 6 people rolling into an AB or WSG and melting face was very fun indeed.
BC came out and we lost one of the guys as he moved overseas and the group of us decided why not level to 70 and see what happens. Well over the weekend I was in outland, with very little sleep at all, this was probably the sign I was addicted. What really spurred me on was a good mate from Battlefield 2 messaged me wondering what game I was playing and after a brief chat he had an account and was leveling a BE paladin (I should add a disclaimer here, I thought I was addicted, I had nothing on my mate) he caught up to me within a week. Turns out he had gone online and looked at leveling guides, builds, grinding routes, you know everything someone would do if they didn't want a life.
He hit 70 well before I did and started running dungeons to gear as a tank and I was going to gear as the healer, except another mate wanted do to that so I ended up going enhancement on the shammy and we had a holy priest to throw out heals. Once I hit 70 I was probably playing 3-4 hours a night and about 5-6 hours on the weekend, I resisted regular raiding because going to bed at 2am really didn't suit me well. BC was dungeon and pug raid central for me. However. IIRC towards the end of BC they allowed PvE to PvP transfers and my brother had leveled my druid as boomkin from 60-70 and had siphoned the gold/rewards off which didn't bother me because I didn't use it. But now I had the opportunity to being back the druid.
Feth.
So transferred the druid, ran some dungeons to get healing gear (Preist gave up trying to raid against welfare epic'd noobs) and started running with my tank mate (who was raiding SSC and TK and was geared to the teeth so running hard dungeons got me geared pretty well. I socially ran Kara/Mags/Gruul to get some better gear and before long had out geared those raids and joined the SSC/TK guild, however they had moved onto BT and MH, the addiction kicked in full earnest and i was raiding till 1am, a small consolidation at the time in my mind. we tried Sunwell when it came out however the guild was carrying to much dead weight in terms of players not learning fights and which spec was the best and the guild imploded about half way through.
I thought I was done raiding then. I was wrong. So very very wrong. Up until now I had been raiding with Americans/Aussies with a smattering or Kiwis thrown in for good measure, but what happened next was awesome and terrible at the same time. There was a central person who started it (I think his toons name was unownable - ele shaman) and he wanted to raid NZ times with other kiwis, and he managed to get about 50+ kiwis to abandon their guilds and join his new one (Noxious I think it was called) This was about 3 weeks before LK was released and we spent the next 3 weeks smashing (and I mean smashing) the current content, We were clearing BT in under 3 hours to try get those swords from Illidan for our fury warriors, then LK hit.
I took two weeks of work for the release and was the 6th person in the guild to hit 80, I leveled having remembered not to level as resto and instead leveled as moonkin, switching to resto for dungeons, Once 10 of us had hit 80 we started with the 10m Naxx waiting for the next 10 to get into Naxx so we could then do 25m Naxx. At this point I was getting home around 5pm and playing till 12 every day, for weeks, On weekends I was blowing off mates and parties to farm mats, or do raids pretty bad, it got to the point people stopped inviting me anywhere (worked well for raiding, not for keeping up with what other people are up to) We cleared naxx, OS and Maly with quick ease, then the gak hit the fan, turns out our guild leader was turning up to raids under hit cap, claiming BIS gear and picking favorites. What happens when people get power hungry? Yep a coup happened, Noxious imploded, the old GL quit and 60% of the crew moved to the new guild (Called Intolerance, irony much?) and I moved across as well. I raided with them for about a month and blew out, I pulled out of hardcore raiding (and this was at the start of Ulduar) and had a casual streak.
That lasted till just before ToC came out when I ended up chatting to another bunch of mates from Battlefield 2 who just happened to be on Blackrock as well, they were getting through 10m Ulduar focusing on the Hardmodes, so I picked up and went through as moonkin (there was already 2 really good healers) we finished Hardmodes and went into ToC 10m cleared normal easy enough, then went into Hardmode and got stuck on the Faction Champions for what seemed like months, finally got them down and got through to Anub and spent about 2 months on him, once we cleared that we stopped raiding till IC came out and that was a good break.
IC was probably the most fun I had raiding, we had many lols took down some hard bosses, the problem was there was no new content for almost a year when IC came out so before RS came out I had gear for every druid spec, Resto/Moonkin/Bear/Cat/PvP Hard mode LK was the only thing we were working toward and that wasn't even that hard. It was about this point that my girlfreind raised questions as to why I was playing so much and was it good for me, so I took a break and started painting some 40k guys (Spoiler-ception incoming)
What I painted like
I didn't like what my models looked like to much and I went back to raiding when RS came out. When Cata came out I took another 2 weeks off work and powered through to 85 and started the whole process over again, leading the charge as a tank this time in 10m content we breazed through normal and got right onto hard modes and it was at this point I had a revelation, there was never going to an end to this game, I could stop at any point and I would have nothing to show for it. so I stopped. Cold turkey, gave all my gold/mats etc to the guild and stopped playing. I've been painting ever since and I seem to get a lot more enjoyment from painting than I have ever done while raiding.
High points while playing WoW:
Twinking at 29 and having 8 out of the 10 members of the other team trying to kill me, and not being able to.
Getting the lore master title before all the quests were adjusted
Almost getting the insane title (I was at honored for DMF - the last rep to do)
Getting rare mounts - Red Drake, Red Scarab, Headless horseman and the Ravenlord
Downing HM bosses for the first time.
There might be more to add later. A wall of text crits you for 9999
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/06/25 02:33:17
IceAngel wrote:I must say Knightley, I am very envious of your squiggle ability. I mean, if squiggles were a tactical squad, you'd be the sergeant. If squiggles were an HQ, you'd be the special character. If squiggles were a way of life, you'd be Doctor Phil...
Man... I was in deep, like real deep, flashbacks and dreaming about raiding kind of deep.... (sounds awfully like a flash back from Vietnam)
Plenty to read below
Spoiler:
I started off innocently enough with vanilla wow on Blackrock, rolled a Shaman and got him to level 20 in the first couple of hours or so, then had to get to work. When I came back from work I was greeted with a 3 hours queue to play the game. Thought stuff that and messaged some of my older gaming mates and they had rolled on a Dath'Remar so created a druid on there and due to my complete noobish tendencies i leveled as Resto... yes you read that right, resto, it took me 6 months to get to 60...
But once I was at 60 then came the next part, raiding. I got to learn MC and the horrible trash pack pulls and runners and I was put into the healing role, I do recall my first raid ever getting three piece T1 then the next reset getting another two pieces I was considered rather jammy back then, but of course has no DKP for the next 4 months. Got to run through AQ20, ZG and hit a wall at BWL. At this point I was single and raiding till 2am NZ and ended up burning my self out pretty quickly. I moved north to the only big city NZ has and found out that Blackrock's queues has dissipated, so I left Dath and leveled my shaman to 29 and created a PvP twink character had a blast doing that and there were about 4-5 guys at work who rolled an twinked with me, and I tell you having 6 people rolling into an AB or WSG and melting face was very fun indeed.
BC came out and we lost one of the guys as he moved overseas and the group of us decided why not level to 70 and see what happens. Well over the weekend I was in outland, with very little sleep at all, this was probably the sign I was addicted. What really spurred me on was a good mate from Battlefield 2 messaged me wondering what game I was playing and after a brief chat he had an account and was leveling a BE paladin (I should add a disclaimer here, I thought I was addicted, I had nothing on my mate) he caught up to me within a week. Turns out he had gone online and looked at leveling guides, builds, grinding routes, you know everything someone would do if they didn't want a life.
He hit 70 well before I did and started running dungeons to gear as a tank and I was going to gear as the healer, except another mate wanted do to that so I ended up going enhancement on the shammy and we had a holy priest to throw out heals. Once I hit 70 I was probably playing 3-4 hours a night and about 5-6 hours on the weekend, I resisted regular raiding because going to bed at 2am really didn't suit me well. BC was dungeon and pug raid central for me. However. IIRC towards the end of BC they allowed PvE to PvP transfers and my brother had leveled my druid as boomkin from 60-70 and had siphoned the gold/rewards off which didn't bother me because I didn't use it. But now I had the opportunity to being back the druid.
Feth.
So transferred the druid, ran some dungeons to get healing gear (Preist gave up trying to raid against welfare epic'd noobs) and started running with my tank mate (who was raiding SSC and TK and was geared to the teeth so running hard dungeons got me geared pretty well. I socially ran Kara/Mags/Gruul to get some better gear and before long had out geared those raids and joined the SSC/TK guild, however they had moved onto BT and MH, the addiction kicked in full earnest and i was raiding till 1am, a small consolidation at the time in my mind. we tried Sunwell when it came out however the guild was carrying to much dead weight in terms of players not learning fights and which spec was the best and the guild imploded about half way through.
I thought I was done raiding then. I was wrong. So very very wrong. Up until now I had been raiding with Americans/Aussies with a smattering or Kiwis thrown in for good measure, but what happened next was awesome and terrible at the same time. There was a central person who started it (I think his toons name was unownable - ele shaman) and he wanted to raid NZ times with other kiwis, and he managed to get about 50+ kiwis to abandon their guilds and join his new one (Noxious I think it was called) This was about 3 weeks before LK was released and we spent the next 3 weeks smashing (and I mean smashing) the current content, We were clearing BT in under 3 hours to try get those swords from Illidan for our fury warriors, then LK hit.
I took two weeks of work for the release and was the 6th person in the guild to hit 80, I leveled having remembered not to level as resto and instead leveled as moonkin, switching to resto for dungeons, Once 10 of us had hit 80 we started with the 10m Naxx waiting for the next 10 to get into Naxx so we could then do 25m Naxx. At this point I was getting home around 5pm and playing till 12 every day, for weeks, On weekends I was blowing off mates and parties to farm mats, or do raids pretty bad, it got to the point people stopped inviting me anywhere (worked well for raiding, not for keeping up with what other people are up to) We cleared naxx, OS and Maly with quick ease, then the gak hit the fan, turns out our guild leader was turning up to raids under hit cap, claiming BIS gear and picking favorites. What happens when people get power hungry? Yep a coup happened, Noxious imploded, the old GL quit and 60% of the crew moved to the new guild (Called Intolerance, irony much?) and I moved across as well. I raided with them for about a month and blew out, I pulled out of hardcore raiding (and this was at the start of Ulduar) and had a casual streak.
That lasted till just before ToC came out when I ended up chatting to another bunch of mates from Battlefield 2 who just happened to be on Blackrock as well, they were getting through 10m Ulduar focusing on the Hardmodes, so I picked up and went through as moonkin (there was already 2 really good healers) we finished Hardmodes and went into ToC 10m cleared normal easy enough, then went into Hardmode and got stuck on the Faction Champions for what seemed like months, finally got them down and got through to Anub and spent about 2 months on him, once we cleared that we stopped raiding till IC came out and that was a good break.
IC was probably the most fun I had raiding, we had many lols took down some hard bosses, the problem was there was no new content for almost a year when IC came out so before RS came out I had gear for every druid spec, Resto/Moonkin/Bear/Cat/PvP Hard mode LK was the only thing we were working toward and that wasn't even that hard. It was about this point that my girlfreind raised questions as to why I was playing so much and was it good for me, so I took a break and started painting some 40k guys (Spoiler-ception incoming)
What I painted like
I didn't like what my models looked like to much and I went back to raiding when RS came out. When Cata came out I took another 2 weeks off work and powered through to 85 and started the whole process over again, leading the charge as a tank this time in 10m content we breazed through normal and got right onto hard modes and it was at this point I had a revelation, there was never going to an end to this game, I could stop at any point and I would have nothing to show for it. so I stopped. Cold turkey, gave all my gold/mats etc to the guild and stopped playing. I've been painting ever since and I seem to get a lot more enjoyment from painting than I have ever done while raiding.
High points while playing WoW:
Twinking at 29 and having 8 out of the 10 members of the other team trying to kill me, and not being able to.
Getting the lore master title before all the quests were adjusted
Almost getting the insane title (I was at honored for DMF - the last rep to do)
Getting rare mounts - Red Drake, Red Scarab, Headless horseman and the Ravenlord
Downing HM bosses for the first time.
There might be more to add later. A wall of text crits you for 9999
Good god! and I thought i had no life. Knightly! no one can kill you man. I glad to see you choose a lesser deamon however.
So my chatty blog hasn't seen much chat has it? I've been a very busy little bee recently not to mention getting my phone repaired. Although I'm still very busy I'm back and I'll get the pace going here again. Let's start with some very belated replies and then we'll see what I can do about an update or two!
Viktor von Domm wrote:that lot of fat surprised me quite a bit... but you totaly hit the nail on its head... the hoof looks quite fitting too!
Yeh it's a big change, he's even fatter now and still piling on the pounds. And I'm losing them in exchange! But that's for another update. If you've followed any of my work before you'll likely have seen how much thought I put into each decision I make and this is no different. Many of my Nurgle cues were pretty obvious but I researched them anyway. The fat is obviously very common especially on Great Unclean Ones but what I didn't know is it's actually bloating caused by all of the diseases that infest Papa's minions. The fat I'm sculpting is more like standard fat than bloating but it's aesthetically pleasing in a grotesque way and makes sense for The background story. Since he's an Ork Warboss, Papa Nurgle has bestowed him with the exponential growth that he desires to cement his rule but it's not necessarily the growth he wanted before the tainting. The goat leg was another obvious choice since it's a common Chaos design which stems from the Christian devil being depicted as half goat. I decided that just doing it to one leg was more striking and the right leg remains as a reminder of his Orky heritage.
Viktor von Domm wrote:as for the better pics... now that´s what we need! due to that the fella with the meltagun just left of jon woo is now my second favorite... he has a very manacing non chalante stance...i am not that fond of those BA masks... but that is something fluff always could justify^^
I'm sorry to say that, that sketch has been disassembled and a new one has taken it's place. I'll save that for another update but i've glued the main components now, filed off the details I didn't want and am replacing the rest with press moulded ones from other miniatures. They are starting to look like a proper unit now.
bossfearless wrote:Hey Casey, good job on the marines and I can't wait to see what that Ork boss turns into. You and I have a pretty similar style of kitbashing marines lol, just clip out all the best looking bits from everything and to hell with whether it all matches up exactly.
Thanks matey, definitely a good way to go with marines! Get the bits you like and make them match up later! A little update on the Warboss below, I hope you like where I'm going with it.
bossfearless wrote:Also, kudos on getting back into shape. I've had to do the same thing a few times and it always makes me happy to see other gamers getting up and exercising.
Thanks man, it feels amazing and yeh it's really nice to see other gamers do the same. There is a motivation group of a few of us DCMs which is a really nice way for us to keep each other focused. I'll try and slip in an update about it today.
Knightley wrote:World of Warcraft..
Man... I was in deep, like real deep, flashbacks and dreaming about raiding kind of deep.... (sounds awfully like a flash back from Vietnam)
*snip*
Deep? You ain't kidding mate, that's insane! I wasn't in anywhere near as deep but the vivid dreams are something I can relate to. Sometimes I even got confused about whether things had actually happened or if I'd dreamt them. I even told my friends a really long story about it once only to realise that only the first half had even happened and that I didn't know the ending because I had woken up. Man, it really gets it's claws in, you know something is wrong when you wake up early to check your mail and spend a couple of hours doing business at the bank... in Azeroth.
I can't say much about raiding because it wasn't my interest, that probably saved me getting any deeper actually. I was a huge PvE fan and loved doing business and quests, I levelled really slowly becuase of it but I was still obsessed. It was very much big boys Runescape for me if that makes sense. The guys that got me into the game were lvl40+ at the time but I caught up at what they thought was immensely fast but was actually very slow. Still, I spent hours just standing in the bank sometimes and always stayed at least 10lvls behind them. I think I was pretty good at actually playing despite my lack of commitment, I did very well all the way to lvl60 with 5 lvl40 Blue armour items which was a running joke between us.
I'm so glad my mate wasn't as much of a geek as he thought and that we liked to drink as much as game. We talked about power levelling guides, max grinding and buying gold but never really carried through with it apart from him buying a little bit for his flying mount. The power levelling stuff is scary deep as you obviously saw in your friend, you have to plan breaks to eat and power nap, scary, scary stuff.
When I hit lvl60 raiding became my main option like lvl70 did for you. My guild, The Lost, were really nice guys, all max level and they made an exception to let me in and train me up from lvl30. At lvl60 it was time to harvest so we started raiding dungeons way out of my league to get me the gear I needed, I honestly didn't enjoy it much though but I owed them that for all the help and free stuff they'd give me. When I first joined they got me a full set of Netherweave bags for a fraction of the mats for instance and used to power me through low level dungeons to grab loot and experience.
It sounds like your girlfriend did you a huge favour by questioning how involved you were. A lesser woman might have ragequit the relationship and forced you further in. Then where would I get my crisp and grey fix from?! Give her a high five from me! My girl at the time was pretty supportive of it but as I said I was equally as interested in getting steamboats and hanging with her so it wasn't as much of an issue for me. I was playing during the week, 5pm after school till between 1am and 5am so I was tired a lot and skipped a lot of school bit I had my weekends and the occasional night free. Well... some weekends I guess.
The revelation that ended it for you was very similar to mine. I realised there was no end to it, there was always something to do and they were going to keep adding more levels. I had a load of chars by that point and decided to take a break. Next thing I know I get an email saying my account has been hacked and that sealed the deal for me. I didn't make a complaint, just walked away. Best decision I could have made although it tore me up inside.
Knightley wrote:High points while playing WoW:
Twinking at 29 and having 8 out of the 10 members of the other team trying to kill me, and not being able to.
Getting the lore master title before all the quests were adjusted
Almost getting the insane title (I was at honored for DMF - the last rep to do)
Getting rare mounts - Red Drake, Red Scarab, Headless horseman and the Ravenlord
Downing HM bosses for the first time.
There might be more to add later. A wall of text crits you for 9999
The funny thing is, no matter how much we know it was a sickness those high points were really high, weren't they?
I got quite obsessed with the PvP battlegrounds with my main char since I realised I was pretty good at it despite my class and equipment. So I ended up rolling a spoilt rich kid of a twink too. Level 29 twinked Blood Elf Rogue with maxed Alchemy/Enchantment. That's the sort of guy you want to punch in the chops... I can't remember the name now but there was a huge Blue item sword for lvl 29, they went for about 100g at the time, I got him a couple of them to dual wield. Not a common loadout because of the cost but probably the best at the time. Pretty rare drop from one of the dungeons.
Other highlights of mine were pretty varied.
Orgrimmar got attacked by three lvl70s once and I lead at least two full raid parties to Stormwind for an almighty clash on the bridge. Amazing fun. Ended up with just me and some heavy geared lvl70 rogue hiding in the train station type place preying on whatever dropped by. Eventually a few of their best came down and got us though. Must have taken most of day but felt like minutes had passed.
Seeing a lvl70 Tank Warrior get overrun in RFC and promising never to tell anyone who it was. I'm not sure I remember his name now anyway but he was very embarrassed.
Beating my friend in duels that I should have lost within seconds.
There is a tonne of other stuff but I don't remember a lot of the names and places now so I won't bother. I even had to check the professions of my twink.
Thanks for going into so much detail man, it's brought back loads of amazing memories but also made me feel quite sick. Sorry I couldn't go into as much detail but ny memory is hazy and my lack of raiding and serious PvP makes my stories slightly less interesting.
cormadepanda wrote:Good god! and I thought i had no life. Knightly! no one can kill you man. I glad to see you choose a lesser deamon however.
Right!? That's what Warcraft does to you, it's a dirty habit! It's really scary how pumped up I get with adrenaline and dopamine when I talk about it, it's still rooted deep into my psyche. I imagine Knightley is the same or worse. I'm really glad he ended up with the much more expensive but less dangerous habit, the plastic crack we all know and love!
Okay! So you deserve some sort of update at the very least if you even read a snippet of that.
I've been crazy busy as I said so I'm way behind on my Warboss and the deadline is coming at me like 20stone of loose head prop. I'm really determined to get it finished so cross your fingers for me! Here is my progress as of yesterday:
I'd love to hear what you all think, hopefully I'll churn out some more for another update tonight.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/13 17:41:32
Nice sculpting Casey. You've captured the affect of gravity on the flesh really well and the hoof is really clean. Good job.
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Thanks Dr H! I'm putting a lot of effort into getting accurate and realistic fat deposits so I'm glad it's coming across. The goat leg is the only bit that's really near finished in that picture. Once everything gets to that stage I'll add details and give the beast a layer of liquid green stuff to give it a final smoothing. I hope I can keep up the accuracy!
So anyway, it's a beautiful summer afternoon and it's Saturday! I think Dakka needs some livening up with a bit of music so crank up the volume, press play and enjoy the sun!
And here is a little something to cue up while your listening.
I've been keeping up my running too! I'm taking a couple of days off right now to try and swap from staying up to 4am to getting up at 4am and although it's a nice break I'm itching to get back out there. I'm easing into the new routine quite well and am confident I'll be ready to go tomorrow morning or the day after at the latest. There has been a big change in my attitude now that this is part of my standard routine. I run about 3 days in 4 and no longer feel the need to beat myself up for missing a run to recover or get a bit of extra sleep since I know I'll be back out there the next day.
My occasional smoking is definitely slowing me down so I need to stop that. My lung capacity just isn't good enough. Likewise my legs sometimes still get tired after a few days without a break which can kill a run time so I'm going to introduce some squats soon to encourage some muscle growth and build some stamina. That'll slow me down to start with but once I'm comfortable with it, it'll help a lot. My best time is 37m30s now but I was really hoping for 35m at this stage, the smoking is the big problem here.
Well that'll do for now, get outside and enjoy the sunshine! If your on Dakka or working on a hobby project then take it to your garden or something, you won't get this day back! I hope you enjoy the music, I'll leave you with a picture from one of my runs!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/13 14:07:06
Medium of Death wrote: Great idea on the early morning summer running, those pictures are very nice. South side of Glasgow I assume?
Also, what's happening with your awesome Tyranids?
Yeh i'm normally a fan of the winter months but this is a great time to be out running. I can't take much credit for the pictures, my phone camera and the great scenery are doing all the work there. I'm a bit further south than that actually, I live in Strathaven. a town south of Hamilton and East Kilbride. Yourself?
The Nid's are crying out for my attention and I feel really bad about neglecting them. I still love my concept and I think they have been working out nicely but I'm not particularly inspired right now and I don't want to do a slap dash job. I'm really glad you like them, I'm very proud of them and I think they'll look tops when they're done. The Warboss is giving me tonnes of confidence in sculpting the rest of them and they are more and more on my mind these days. I am certain they will get some attention this year but I couldn't say exactly when that'll be. It's likely that I'll have my Bakunin and Necromunda painted by August at this rate and at that stage Blackbird will become my priority again with the Marines seeing work at the same time. The real focus right now is clearing up my to do list, 5 active projects is too heavy especially with at least 3 more in concept. When I get it down to two I can spend more time keeping them rolling.
I'm glad you mentioned them for sure, talking about them always gets me thinking about them more and pushes them further up my to do list.
inmygravenimage wrote: Looking good mate, excellent sculpting - I was a bit unconvinced by the idea initially but it's really coming together. Also, Mon the Biff!
Mon the Biff!
Not their greatest song but it seemed apt today. I totally get that it wasn't a convincing concept and probably still isn't at this stage, I tend to see things in a very strange way. A couple of unusual bits at a certain angle can morph into something completely different in my mind and even then the concept is very much alive right through the process. This is a prime example, I saw a certain poise in the bits and it fleshed itself out in my mind. Hopefully I can do the idea justice.
I guess you think the WoW thing was bad, do I go into the Diablo 2 addiction?
Also liking the sculpting and its direction!
IceAngel wrote:I must say Knightley, I am very envious of your squiggle ability. I mean, if squiggles were a tactical squad, you'd be the sergeant. If squiggles were an HQ, you'd be the special character. If squiggles were a way of life, you'd be Doctor Phil...
Knightley wrote: I guess you think the WoW thing was bad, do I go into the Diablo 2 addiction?
Also liking the sculpting and its direction!
Thanks mate, curing time is putting huge dents in my progress and I'm more and more certain I'm going to miss the deadline but I'm keeping at it and crossing my fingers in between sculpting.
Are you telling me that your WoW addiction was dwarfed by a greater beast?! That's a worrying concept. I've never been hugely into computer games but I tend to get very obsessed by the ones I do play. I've purposely not bought Skyrim or anything that'd require similar commitment because of it. If I were to play something like Warcraft nowadays I'd go way too deep, my age saved me first time, I was too naive to bolster my experience via the internet. I'll keep my distance now I'm a little wiser, I've grown fond of human interacrion and bathing over the years.
As an added bonus, this blog won't dry up because I'm not working on a specific project, I'll always have something new to add. 
- looking forward to seeing where you end up with him!
Da Dark Angelz
Arakasi vs Infinity
IMPOSSIBLE IS RELATIVE 
Man, it really gets it's claws in, you know something is wrong when you wake up early to check your mail and spend a couple of hours doing business at the bank... in Azeroth.
