I want you to first read ColCorbane article on From the Warp. In this article titled GW scenery bad for the hobby is something I had not considered before.

After reading the article I though a lot about the topic. Questions that came to mind were some of the following.
Is it good there is a familiar standard of terrain? no matter where you play in world? Are the terrain making skills of those new to the hobby not being developed or just postponed till they are truly motivated to create something unique?
Does GW continue expand its Scenery products to more race specific and/or unique?
Will competitors of similar scale games make scenery products to rival the popularity of GW's?

As I though about these questions and those posed in the original article I came to a couple personal opinoins. To answer ColCorbane
question "it all going to to be "Ultramarine" flavored in the end?" I would yes with and asterisk. That asterisk is if competitors decide to make quality kits such as GW's. I do not see the tables commonly found in game store or more home gaming tables being custom in the future. I already see this as the "norm" in my opinion. Their kits are generic enough to use for many gaming systems and detailed enough to display their quality. They are also an extremely easy to use kit(s). The pro's for using these scenery kits tend to outweigh doing custom work yourself or purchasing some competitor's product. It also doesn't help the case for competitors that GW has the largest market share for tabletop games of its type.

To the over arching question of "Are hobby skills being not being developed/lost for doing custom scenery work?" My opinion is this is somewhat true. I feel a great many will never develop the skills to make great custom scenery. The first reason is scenery is secondary to building the armies for so many. I am not one of those people (I feel I'm in the minority) as I have more scenery than models. When I see pictures of games I check out the scenery first to get ideas. On the other side I think because the hobby has grown so much over the past 10 years there are more individuals that have those scenery skills. As the hobby continues to grow standards have risen on scenery. Those determined will always create fantastic custom scenery. I can not remember 10, 5, or even 2 years ago seeing the level of custom work that I have seen recently in person or the internet now. Can you?

I do think that GW scenery has elevated the quality of our gaming tables and will continue to do so. My hope is that GW scenery and their competitors products become the "norm". This will in turn I hope inspire/give incentive for more custom work for any number of reasons.

This column is about the top ten things that I viewed hobby related in the past week on the web that I want to pass along as a "must see" type of thing. Check out the video for my comments and the links to them are next to the article.

10 BTP- Death Korps
9 800 point Warhammer Intro Game P1
8 Total War 100 Shiznaft Made the Semi-Finals Part 1
7 vlog #20 - 'ard boys 2009 battle report
6 Imperial Apocalypse Warhammer 40k Gaming Board
5 Inside Gaming Exclusive: Warhammer 40K Interview
4 GAME TABLE AND IRON SNAKES WARHAMMER 40K
3 Incoming! Space Wolves and Bastions
2 double-Bastion bash!
1 Power Tool Dip

So I advanced ordered the Blastscape from GW simply because it was while supplies last. So I received my order today and damn if I wasnt about to ship the whole damm thing back to them. The quality is terrible! I repeat TERRIBLE!!! The details are ok looking but not great like in the advertised picture. That is why I bought it. It is a thin piece of plastic. If I put my old metal dread or any heavy model on it... it is going to crack and/or dent the shape. It is the same stuff in terms of terrain for italeri and zvezda WW2 models they have. ITS CHEAP QUALITY. So now I have to fill in the bottom with some heavy strong plaster or even green stuff to give it some rigidity and durability as terrain before actually basing it. For the price I would have thought better. Damn was I duped! below is my video and I am still upset. I even end up messing it up just applying some weak pressure in the video. Well I am done. Take from this what you will. I just needed to vent. So I feel duped and I over paid.

link to my video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ZWUMzc2BM

This column is about the top ten things that I viewed hobby related in the past week on the web that I want to pass along as a "must see" type of thing. Check out the video for my comments and the links to them are next to the article.

10 BTP- City of Death Completed
9 Warhammer 40K - Apocalypse 8K - Eldar, Tau VS Chaos, Necrons, Orks
8 40K Intro- Warhammer 5th edition Tutorial Series 3 Part 1
7 Making a liquid storage facility, scenery & terrain for 40k
6 Vindicator Space Marine Tactics Warhammer 40,000
5 Necrons Vs. Eldar Battle Report Warhammer 40,000
4 planetstrike-hands-on-review
3 BaCon 2009: 2 Months, 20 Tables! (Warhammer 40k)
2 Started building my new table ...
1 Iron Lords Space Marines. 2nd Company.

This column is about the top ten things that I viewed hobby related in the past week on the web that I want to pass along as a "must see" type of thing. Check out the video for my comments and the links to them are next to the article.



10 painting yellow #1
9 Cellar Dwellers Tournament @ Dark Tower 6/6/09 1 of 2
8 BTP- Cities of Death Update
7 95,000 Point Warhammer 40K Apocalypse Game at Origins 2009
6 BTP- Hordes Overview part 01 of 30
5 Imperial Guard VS Tau Battle Report P1
4 TerranScapes Martian Waterfall
3 Imperial Guard Light Tank Tactica P1
2 Warhammer 40k Imperium Vs. Xenos (14,000 apocalypse game)
1 Warhammer 40k Magnetizing the Stormlord Part 1

This column is about the top ten things that I viewed hobby related in the past week on the web that I want to pass along as a "must see" type of thing. Check out the video for my comments and the links to them are next to the article.



10 Warhammer Battle Report One: Dark Elves vs Empire 1500pts (Part 1 of 2)
9 Warhammer 40k Space marine tatica The Land Speeder Storm
8 copper roof tutorial
7 How do you deal with Independent Characters 40k.
6 HOW TO: Build your own Realm of Battle board for 20% of the price!
5 How To Build A Lava Field Gaming Board
4 Sportsmanship scores
3 Table design - wetlands
2 CITIES OF DEATH ( work in progress )
1 Successfull operation

This column is about the top ten things that I viewed hobby related in the past week on the web that I want to pass along as a "must see" type of thing. Check out the video for my comments and the links to them are next to the article.



10 TerranScapes BB Pitch with Skull
9 Wargaming board making video log: Channel opening, test video.
8 Warhammer 40K Apocalypse Event
7 All comers, fluff or win at all costs?
6 Vash1313's Bretonnian Themed Vampire Counts
5 WHFB: High Elf Unveiling [p1/2]
4 Whatwhat's greenstuff tips and tricks
3 scratch built necron pylon completed
2 Heat Tools Tutorial #1
1 Warhammer 40k Battle Report Necrons vs Orks (PINK ORKS?!?!)

A couple updates ago I got the WIP from Micro Art Studio on the Flyrant I commissioned. They have finished and here is the final result.

This column is about the top ten things that I viewed hobby related in the past week on the web that I want to pass along as a "must see" type of thing. Check out the video for my comments and the links to them are next to the article.


10. Hairy's Terrain Log
9. Gareth's Challenge
8. Space Wolves Dreadnought conversion
7. Terrainaholic
6. Shiznaft1
5. Blue Table Painting
4. Skavenblight Gazette
3. Bell of Lost Souls
2. Doremicon 30k Battle report
1. Bootleg's Trip

At the beginning of the year I made a list of Hobby Goals for the year As five months have passed I know I did not complete any of my goals. So lets see how little I did get accomplished.

1) Finish my Arctic Game Board: I keep looking for a magical solution to the resin and water effects. I just can't "half a$$" it. So I am stuck on the fence doing nothing.

2)Finish the Bunker: Another half finished project.

3)Strip all my old Tyranid Models: Mostly done. I just have not gotten out a point like a toothpick to get the crevices.

4)Finish my Carnifex: I have him all cleaned and ready to for when I get him painted by MAS.

5)Build some Tyranid objectives: That would be a no

6)Design a campaign: I have put down some ideas but nothing even close to a real campaign. Maybe planetstrike will help boost my confidence to make one.

7)Get about 1000 points of Hive Fleet Erebus painted: To date I have gotten 1 broodlord, two tyrant guard, and dual scything talon Hive Tyrant. My Flyrant is being finished so that counted I have about 460 points with minimal biomorphs. Its not a bad start and I hope to finish strong.

With a little more than half a year left there is time. I accomplish things in a year that some people can pump out in a month. I am still holding myself accountable and hope to finish the year strong.

I bought a couple of products to test them out a little. The first was Pledge with Future. Path of the Exodite had a post on using this product as water effects. After working with the product a little bit I found that you can color it. I recommend an ink, dye, or food coloring. I had a problem mixing it with paint. I could not get a uniform color. It was harder to mix and it made the pledge clump a little. This which when trying to spread it....made it a tad more difficult. This may have been due to the paint as it was general acrylic paint from Micheal's. After playing with colors I put it a couple more tests.

I originally bought the product as I wanted to know if it could be used in larger volumes for my board. After testing I found that it is not possible. This product seems to only dry when in small small amounts. In larger amounts it just stays in liquid form. After a month my test is still sitting there laughing at my optimism.
It does make a great water effects in small amounts as Path of the Exodite use it.


The next product I bought was polycrylic. I have not tested this product yet. I wanted to see if once dry over paint it is safe to use epoxy resin over top. Lets hope for the best. I bought a cutting board with a grid unlay from my local hobby shop. That is about all on the purchase front. I finished reading Decent of Angels and started reading Legion. The HH series is coming along nicely. I hope to catch up on the series by the end of the year.

I got some updates from MAS on my flyrant so here they are.

So I want to rant a little about some people, not all, just some select few that just bugs me on the internet forums.

My first complaint are people that do not use the simple search function to see if their has been a post on an answer to your question or the topic itself. It takes almost no time to do. For those who help the people that do this, I appreciate the ones that encourage them to search and then kindly respond to their answer. It is possible they do not know how or not familiar with forums. Its ok to make mistakes but try to learn from them. For those who just say in their post they are to lazy to search and just want and answer....I know your not going to learn cause you do not want to. I just wish people had better common courtesy.

The next is in regards to something that people just get need to quote sources where they came from. I just think linking to something that links to real source is a waste. Just go straight to the source. Save everyone time.

So who do I think are these people that just upset me so much? I am going to be bias and blanket them into two groups. One, I would say are minors who dont know better or could care less. The other are people that I feel just lack some common sense. You can not teach common sense. I am just frustrated and glad that there are forums where you can have a real discussions without the problems above.

I am done and I should probably calm down, repent, change my ways, etc... and I really would like to give some people a good "something" to.

After being frustrated trying to actually navigate my own site, I decided to give it a much needed overhaul. One of a couple reasons for this site was as a personal homepage with all the quick links and interesting stuff all in one location. After some searching I found this template you see now. I lost all the information I had before and will take a while to get everything up as I see fit again. I feel for Ron at FtW and his entire rebuilding work.

On a hobby note I got my table outside and sanded for a good couple hours this week and am very very happy. Over the winter the plaster dried and hardened very nicely for sanding. This allowed for less "weak plaster pockets" that seem to just fall out and/or crumble during sanding. I just need to do some minor touch-ups and I am ready for the water effects part all over again. I have learned a lot from my first mistakes (mistake part 1 and part 2)

I set about today to help organize and decide what order I should have things painted up. I remember when this use to be a lot easier as a teenager. I only had money to buy and then paint one unit at a time. I have over now the course of time amassed a lot of unassembled and/or unpainted models. Up until this point I had painted up what models I liked with a rough idea of using them in Apocalypse formations and/or games. Here is the list of what I had painted by MAS or is in process.

Painted
1 Broodlord
12 Genestealers with Scything Talons
1 Hive Tyrant with Bone Sword, Barbed Strangler, Toxin Sacs
1 Hive Tyrant with Wings, Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs (in process)
1 Hive Tyrant with two Scything Talons, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands
1 Trygon
5 Zoanthropes

Sadly after looking at the list it is dominated by HQ choices. So I decided to force myself to start rounding out the army with my new plan. Here is what I came up with.

Group 1
20 Termaguants
20 Spineguants
1 Lictor

Group 2
24 Hormaguants
5 Raveners
1 Carnifex

Group 3
20 Devilguants
1 Carnifex
5 Warriors

That is the plan as it stands. Once I get this all done I will move to planning the next group.

I started the other day to clean up my game room to drag out my table and get the much needed sanding done on the plaster. That will allow me to move on to less time consuming aspects of the table. After cleaning everything off and ready to drag the table outside on the my lower deck I notice a pile of old lumber that I had not taken to the dump. So, I took it to the dump like I should have done in the fall. Upon my return the rain came was unable to get my board outside. I was so close.....

I was still in the hobby mood upon my return. I put on a podcast and finished cleaning the mold lines(I think I'm OCD when it comes to those damm mold lines they can't exist!) on my screamer killer fex. I debated on what to do next but decided to cut out the pieces to make 8 guants with devourers(devilguants) with toxin sacs. After putting the extra bits in my bits box it was full. Time to get a larger box.

So after some unpleasant current events I have done nothing hobby related other than listen to hobby podcasts on airplanes and read some horus heresy books while on the road or in hotels. The weather is starting to get nice and I am itching for day off to get WIP table outside and finish up some messy grunt work.

I did order a while back some forgeworld models above and beyond what I needed. Forgeworld is just so addictive. Real drug addicts could probably last months on what I payed for forgeworld models. I only needed the wings from the forgeworld hive tyrant with venom cannon I bought. I sent the wings off with a couple other bits to have a converted winged hive tyrant done for Hive Fleet Erebus. Instead of only getting the hive tyrant, I justified getting a malanthrope (one of the best looking tyranids imho) a stonecrusher carnifex, a scythed hierodule, Imperial Armour: Apocalypse, and two sets=6pair of warrior wings. That just adds to number of unpainted tyranids and/or unassembled tyranids I now own. It must be around 6,000-7,000 points of unpainted and 1,000 points of that is assembled. That is just sad. Must work more!

There has been a tyranid codex playtest version floating around the webs. Most say its fake and most hate the direction it takes tyranids. I dont think its entirely fake based on I trust some of people that have spoken about it. So that aside, I think some of the changes are great while others are lackluster attempts. I am very happy about making our guants and hormaguants more worthwile. Well go find it and see for yourself. At least you could see what codex: tyranids streamlined might look like.

EDIT: Now to bite my tongue as Brimstone who once believed it to be real confirmed it as a fake so no need to discuss at all

I started the year just as many do with some goals/resolutions for the new year. (seen here) After two attempts to make the bunker templates work, I got discouraged, upset, and quit. I am not giving up on the bunker. I am taking the easy way out. I bought the sanctum imperialis to form the front and sides of the bunker. That makes my original 6 sided bunker into a much easier project. I hope to put up pics of the constructed bunker soon.

I stripped most of Tryanids I had with superclean. I still have quite a few to go. In total I have to strip 2 battleforces, the battle for macragge nids, and a couple others.

I have done about 80% of prep on the carnifex with regaurd to mold lines. I still need to see how to pose and repose the legs to get the effect I want. I hope to finish the mold lines this week.

Overall a very lackluster month and half. I need to master more of the do a little bit more often than looking for a large chunk to do hobby stuff. More to come, hopefully sooner than later.

Micro Art Studio finished another Hive Tyrant for me. I enjoy the running pose that has. Its similar to the broodlord that I converted with it looking to run over the rubble to reach its enemy. I am just wishing my shipment from forgeworld comes in. I then can send them some forgeworld wings to make my winged hive tyrant. Well enjoy the wonderful pictures they have provided me. I have also included the video of what I have in the color scheme so you can see everything in real lighting.

MAS finished another three models for me. Here they are.