The Day After Black Friday

So, it's the weekend after Thanksgiving and I'm watching folks round here wander to and fro with loads of goods in their vehicles. I've been hopping t'wixt hobby stores and the like most of the day and people seem a little stressed. I spent most of yesterday puttering round with the Techpriest I picked up and he's turned out alright.



Aside from that, things have been pretty sterile here. My shift has swung every which way but loose and it's really not conductive to doing much besides work. In the company's defense, that is why I'm down here. We also discovered the Flying Saucer which is a very nice brew pub in San Antonio. The staff is friendly and they stock a descent selection of beer I usually drink. Finding Unibroue products was a pleasant surprise.

Sunny in San Antonio

It's been a busy couple of months. Finished my first class here and they've turned out quite well. To say it's been a whirlwind of activity down here is an understatement. Lots of things going on to be sure.

The site opening is proceeding quickly. We're looking at around 1200 people on site at present and we're bringing more folks on tomorrow. ABay validation went quite well. Should be finished today.

On the non-work side, things have been just as busy. Seen some pretty neat things in town, lots of good food. Found a couple of the local hobby shops, neither of which seem to stock Reaper paints, which is a little puzzling. Definitely got some good deals out of the visits as well.

At any rate, back to it.

Everything Really Is Bigger In Texas

Well, the food seems to be at least. I'm rapidly finding out that most of things I take for granted as coming in bottles or small containers at home seem to come in medium sized buckets here. I'm getting used to it though, just more partial containers in the fridge and the like.

The flight in wasn't too bad, though I could have done with a longer stop at O'Hare. Perhaps next time.

The hotel is quite nice and I'm finding the people here quite pleasant. As to the actual call centre here, it's massive by our standards in North America. This will be our largest site on the continent by a sizable margin once we're done.

Aside from that, the team is generally good and fun to work with. This weekend will be interesting I'm certain.

Back In Barrie......For A Couple Of Weeks

Well, I think 'whirlwind' would be an apt description for the last while with me.

Work picked up from busy to nuts on quite a few fronts. I've divorced myself from the 'Client Who Shall Not Be Named' and one of our sites and dived into a brand new one. Bright House is picking up again in terms of training and the like, so I'm working updates and recursive training across four sites, seven teams and three countries. It's crazy busy, but my team is full of super stars. As insane as it is, we're making it look easy and it's pretty fun.

We've started work for Comcast in San Antonio and I'll be heading down there to train in a couple of weeks, so I'm on to the pre-planning and running reviews for my team on top of everything else before I leave. It's been a while since I've done a site opening, so I'm looking forward to that. I've never been to Texas before and it looks like a really cool area. Definitely taking in the Alamo, northern Mexico and Corpus Christi while I'm there. Looks like I'll be coming in to a nice jazz festival when I land too, so that's good. If anyone can suggest some other things to see, by all means, let me know.

I returned from Niagara Falls (more accurately Tonawanda) on Thursday. Good visit overall, saw the Falls and things like that again, but I was much more excited to meet my team. Great bunch in that site too, I'm happy to say. Went to some neat places and got to hang out with some very cool people.

Late in August, I got word that my Dad had been in for kidney surgery, so I packed off to Owen Sound for a couple of weeks. Spending some time with my family and with the team in Owen Sound was a pretty good thing all things being equal. It was a double boon since I'm not sure when I'll be back in Canada.

On the modeling front, it's been stop and start to a greater or lesser degree. I've been working on two boxes of Lootas for a couple of weeks now. It turns out that speed painting isn't my strong suit these days. I think I've been spoiled by too many HQ type units.

At any rate, the bodies of the Lootas are done and I'm working on the rest of the mob in pairs. If things go well, I might even have a couple finished up today or Monday.



On the other side of things, I've pretty much been working to get old projects off of my desk. Of course, me being me, I've managed to sneak in a few of those models which I really wanted to paint.

I finished up the Tallaran Officer Nic gave me to paint about a year and a half ago.



I've a Lexmechanic done.



And I couldn't resist doing a Death Cult Assassin because the model is just awesome.



I'm also working here and there on an Imperial Bastion, but there's not much to see yet.

I've also started puttering with a War Machine Bloat Thrall which will probably wind up going into Sean's army of Nurgly stuff.



In terms of current projects though, the main one I'm working on is my Lootas, at least for the moment.

Back In Barrie.......For A Couple Of Weeks

Well, I think 'whirlwind' would be an apt description for the last while with me.

Work picked up from busy to nuts on quite a few fronts. I've divorced myself from the 'Client Who Shall Not Be Named' and one of our sites and dived into a brand new one. Bright House is picking up again in terms of training and the like, so I'm working updates and recursive training across four sites, seven teams and three countries. It's crazy busy, but my team is full of super stars. As insane as it is, we're making it look easy and it's pretty fun.

We've started work for Comcast in San Antonio and I'll be heading down there to train in a couple of weeks, so I'm on to the pre-planning and running reviews for my team on top of everything else before I leave. It's been a while since I've done a site opening, so I'm looking forward to that. I've never been to Texas before and it looks like a really cool area. Definitely taking in the Alamo, northern Mexico and Corpus Christi while I'm there. Looks like I'll be coming in to a nice jazz festival when I land too, so that's good. If anyone can suggest some other things to see, by all means, let me know.

I returned from Niagara Falls (more accurately Tonawanda) on Thursday. Good visit overall, saw the Falls and things like that again, but I was much more excited to meet my team. Great bunch in that site too, I'm happy to say. Went to some neat places and got to hang out with some very cool people.

Late in August, I got word that my Dad had been in for kidney surgery, so I packed off to Owen Sound for a couple of weeks. Spending some time with my family and with the team in Owen Sound was a pretty good thing all things being equal. It was a double boon since I'm not sure when I'll be back in Canada.

On the modeling front, it's been stop and start to a greater or lesser degree. I've been working on two boxes of Lootas for a couple of weeks now. It turns out that speed painting isn't my strong suit these days. I think I've been spoiled by too many HQ type units.

At any rate, the bodies of the Lootas are done and I'm working on the rest of the mob in pairs. If things go well, I might even have a couple finished up today or Monday.



On the other side of things, I've pretty much been working to get old projects off of my desk. Of course, me being me, I've managed to sneak in a few of those models which I really wanted to paint.

I finished up the Tallaran Officer Nic gave me to paint about a year and a half ago.

I've a Lexmechanic done.

And I couldn't resist doing a Death Cult Assassin because the model is just awesome.

I'm also working here and there on an Imperial Bastion, but there's not much to see yet.

I've also started puttering with a War Machine Bloat Thrall which will probably wind up going into Sean's army of Nurgly stuff.

In terms of current projects though, the main one I'm working on is my Lootas, at least for the moment.

Back In Barrie......For A Couple Of Weeks

Well, I think 'whirlwind' would be an apt description for the last while with me.

Work picked up from busy to nuts on quite a few fronts.  I've divorced myself from the 'Client Who Shall Not Be Named' and one of our sites and dived into a brand new one.  Bright House is picking up again in terms of training and the like, so I'm working updates and recursive training across four sites, seven teams and three countries.  It's crazy busy, but my team is full of super stars.  As insane as it is, we're making it look easy and it's pretty fun.

We've started work for Comcast in San Antonio and I'll be heading down there to train in a couple of weeks, so I'm on to the pre-planning and running reviews for my team on top of everything else before I leave.  It's been a while since I've done a site opening, so I'm looking forward to that.  I've never been to Texas before and it looks like a really cool area.  Definitely taking in the Alamo, northern Mexico and Corpus Christi while I'm there.  Looks like I'll be coming in to a nice jazz festival when I land too, so that's good.  If anyone can suggest some other things to see, by all means, let me know.

I returned from Niagara Falls (more accurately Tonawanda) on Thursday.  Good visit overall, saw the Falls and things like that again, but I was much more excited to meet my team.  Great bunch in that site too, I'm happy to say.  Went to some neat places and got to hang out with some very cool people.

Late in August, I got word that my Dad had been in for kidney surgery, so I packed off to Owen Sound for a couple of weeks.  Spending some time with my family and with the team in Owen Sound was a pretty good thing all things being equal.  It was a double boon since I'm not sure when I'll be back in Canada.

On the modeling front, it's been stop and start to a greater or lesser degree.  I've been working on two boxes of Lootas for a couple of weeks now.  It turns out that speed painting isn't my strong suit these days.  I think I've been spoiled by too many HQ type units.

At any rate, the bodies of the Lootas are done and I'm working on the rest of the mob in pairs.  If things go well, I might even have a couple finished up today or Monday.

On the other side of things, I've pretty much been working to get old projects off of my desk.  Of course, me being me, I've managed to sneak in a few of those models which I really wanted to paint.

I finished up the Tallaran Officer Nic gave me to paint about a year and a half ago.

I've a Lexmechanic done.

And I couldn't resist doing a Death Cult Assassin because the model is just awesome.

I'm also working here and there on an Imperial Bastion, but there's not much to see yet.

I've also started puttering with a War Machine Bloat Thrall which will probably wind up going into Sean's army of Nurgly stuff.

In terms of current projects though, the main one I'm working on is my Lootas, at least for the moment.

It's Been One Hot Couple Of Weeks

That's about all I can say there, we've had a little heat wave and I don't do that well in heat.  Surprisingly enough, I was alright up until last weekend.  Brutally hot would describe the weather.  I painted outside most of Saturday and the air conditioning felt good when I came in.  On the plus side, my unit of Burnas is finished, capped off with a Mekboy I gave a looted Doomsiren too because it was fun.  My last Crusader is done.  I got a good start on Ghazdgkull  and the Warp Spider Exarch which has been sitting on my desk for 18 months.  Just finished that one up tonight.  It's good to have it done.

I've been a little out of the photography mood of late, so I haven't gotten pictures of the models yet.  A task for later this week I suppose.  I'm going to take care of a Skull Probe next for a little change of pace and a small project, then I'll start drilling out the torson on the Ork Boss.

Busy Times

Things have been pretty busy since I returned from Waterloo.  Work's ramping up, well still and looking at doing the campaign at Sean's next weekend means that I have to have the campaign booklet done and the appropriate miniatures.  Means lots of front loaded work.  Should be fun though.  Ivan gave me a Magic deck too, which was nice.  Turns out there are a few other cards I'd like to have, so I'll get those, but I should be more than good to go once my little box is filled up.

A Trip To Waterloo

Had a nice trip to Waterloo. I caught up with Sparky and V, did some painting and hung out. It was a lot of fun. Veronica painted up the first batch of my Sisters of Battle for me, which I thought was nice. I think they turned out well, though the pictures don't quite do them justice, the white is very bright and I'm trying to photo to models at night without a light box. I'm using the flash, but it reflects pretty heavily off of the Skull White. I'll try to get some better pictures tomorrow.

Ever find one of those models that just about paints itself?

Well, I did today and it was added to a pretty short list. I've painted quite a bit (well, for me at any rate, I'm sure other folks have done more) and there are only a few models for which I've seen this occur. The old Possessed (what can I say, they're goofy looking and I like them), Boss Snikrot, the Vostroyan Sniper with the funky optic helmet and this Commissar Nic gave me. It's a great model and it got finished in record time. The only real pain in the arse was gluing the right arm on, but for a model this fun to paint, I'll deal.

Gaming and Painting

A bit of an odd Saturday. I slept in and puttered away at my Crusaders. Talk about fun models to paint, they're beauties. I doubt they'll be as cool in game as they look, but I'll field them anyway. If GW ever comes out and does a plastic Inquisition Retinue kit, I'm sure they'd wind up with some pretty cool stuff. Nic gave me a Commissar and an Ogryn to work on as well and they're coming along well. I've gotten the Commissar about half done in the last hour or so. The Ogryn will take a little longer since he's a bigger model and he's getting a bigger gun as well, but that's alright.

Sean and I went to the Gamer's Lair today and played a game through. We drew the game at two objectives each. Sean brought out the Daemons and I went with a thrown together Ork list which worked pretty well considering. Aside from that, Doug mentioned that he's gutting the store in August to be rid of the rat maze effect and make room for more gaming tables, so that's a good thing. He showed Sean and I the drawings and it looks as though the place will be considerably more open when he's done. He's also going to start selling used models and things, which could be interesting. I know I've gotten some bits and pieces from Doug's used cabinet before and they've been descent deals, reasonably comparable to eBay when you factor in the shipping and things.

It's a cool July

So people are saying anyway.  I don't mind it.  Good weather for wandering round.

Work's been busy and getting busier, par for the season.  I've gotten three new trainers hired on and they're doing well, so there should be more breathing room now than before.

I've gotten Nic's Burnas done, which is a good thing.  I hadn't painted in bulk in a while and doing so again was a bit of a departure.  I can still do it, but it takes longer to get back into that groove than it used to.  I guess I've been spoiled by doing too many command units and similar things.  I've decided to work on either a Crusader or a Wolf Priest next, though I think I've settled on the Crusader.  I want to play around with fabrics and see if I can make them look good with a bit of a cross between blending and dry brushing.  If I get too frustrated with that though, I can pull out the Wolf Priest.  Models like that make me wish I was making a Space Wolves army.  Their regular Blood Claws and Grey Hunters are very nicely done and their character units like Rune Pirests, Wolf Priest, Wolf Guard and Iron Priests are just beautiful.  At any rate though, we'll see how it goes.

Hotter Than A Snake's Ass In A Wagon Rut

GMDF, it's been a hot and weird week.

It was after 19:00 when I got out of the office today, but thankfully, there was a nice breeze.  Even with that though, I worked up a sweat walking haim. 

Anyway, a really strange week of stuff coming from the wood work.  I wound up a little jacked up, to the point where I stopped at Scotty's for a read and a pint after work just to be sociable.  I'm not even sure which helped more.

At any rate though, I'm looking forward to a nice, reasonably quiet weekend.  Might even happen.  Who knows.

Games Day Toronto 2009

Sean, Mike and I went down to Games Day yesterday. Lots of people there and it wasn't a bad day. We wandered round, took in the sites and greeted some friends, which was great. Then, we nipped out for lunch. We would up getting a little turned around in the city, so we just grabbed some McDonalds and headed back to pop into the Forge World shop before heading back to Barrie.

In terms of Games Day, it wasn't bad. Definitely better run this year than last. The volunteers seemed to be much happier with what they were doing and that's always a good thing.

The GW store was great this year in terms of selection (as opposed to the minimal stock they had last year) and while there were no prices on the kit, the volunteers were pretty much right there to lend a hand, so it wasn't the end of the world.

The Forge World store was pretty much a waste of my time since they didn't have anything I wanted. They offered free shipping at which point, I realized that the items of my list weren't really a priority, especially since they weren't picking up the duty on the stuff coming over. I've had enough issues with that sort of thing in the past that I wasn't about to do it again. The one bright spot though was the folks running that store. Very personable and efficient, even later in the day after they'd been run off their feet for hours. Really great job by these folks.

The Armies on Parade was a nice touch, though I didn't get over to see it later in the day when everyone had gotten their entries in. The ones which were there in the morning were some very nice armies though.

Golden Demon was there again this year too, but I didn't find it as impressive as last year. The entries which won deserved to win I think and there were some fantastic models there. On the whole though, there didn't seem to be as many models there as last year and the split between the ones which made the first cut and those that didn't was very obvious. More than a few of the entires were on par with what I paint up for the table top. Mike and Sean seemed to think that was because I'm getting better year on year. Hopefully they're right. If that's the case, I should have something worth entering next year.

The other thing I noted a distinct lack of was store tables. There were far fewer tables at Games Day this year (though there were some very big and very nice ones) and very few stores. I can't really say I blame them since they can't sell at the event. I've often thought it would be nice to let the stores sell and just have GW run the Forge World and Black Library stuff, maybe a small section for their Direct Exclusive stuff. Less maintainence for GW and for the stores, what a great way to be rid of dead stock. Of course, you'd probably also see things like sales at Games Day in that event too.

In the end, it was a descent outing. We went down, saw the place out, went round Toronto a bit, then came back to Barrie and did our shopping at our FLGS where Mike got his case and I found a deal on some Multi-Melta Sisters. If I've got to pay retail anyway, I'm pretty much going to buy where I play.

Back Home From New Brunswick

I got back from New Brunswick on Thursday evening. It was a pretty entertaining trip back between Sam and I thinking we were running tight for time and the construction on the 400. The top chuckle of the day though had to be the drive back from Pearson to Barrie. With the 400 down to a single lane in a couple of spots, the drive actually wound up taking slightly longer than the flight from Fredericton.

It was a good trip though, I can definitely say that. Very different (and nice attitudes) in that Province. I got to meet my team in Oromocto after working with them for a couple of years from Barrie and we did a few touristy things. The Reversing Falls were pretty cool and St. John was nice, as was Fredericton. The big winner though was the Bay of Fundy National Park. All I can say is 'Wow'. It's a beautiful place. It's a good thing that my camera is smarter than I am.


On the way home, I also got word that Ivan and Bec are engaged. I gave Ivan a ribbing, but that's what guys do. I'm very happy for both of my friends.

Saturday - 1800 pt Rogue Trader Tourney

Well, Saturday was the 1800 point RTT at the Gamer's Lair. I had some pretty good games. I played Eldar first and whittled them down in kill points. Next up was a narrow loss to a CSM player (should have charged in with my Shoota Boyz I guess), followed by beating a Space Marine Army. My final game saw my Orks massacred by Eldar, which was probably revenge for the first round. On the whole though, they were all good games. I placed 4th in Generalship, which is a good reminder to watch my units since I forgot to move units a couple of times and that had a pretty pronounced effect on the game. I did get best presentation though, which was nice after all that painting. Folks liked the Orkalith, which I borrowed from Nic. I made a point of telling everyone that it was a borrowed model though, so I'm happy with it. All in all, the Gamer's Lair continues to have a nice group to play with. I think Nic and I are going to the doubles tourney next weekend, which should be fun.

I Have An Ass Shock

Yes, yes I do.  I went out for a ride with Ivan and Bec today and noticed again that the seat on my bike was rather high.  Well, Ivan took a look since I'd put it as low as I could and he knows more about bikes than I.  Well, he found the seat was as low as it could go, but it was OK, because I had an ass shock.

Anyway, a good trip to the Outfitters got me some wash for my coat and a case for my camera.  I was a happy camper, especially on the Gore-Tex cleaner.  Last time I bought it (and this is going back a ways), the stuff was twenty bucks a bottle and you needed the detergent and the stuff to replenish the DWR layer.  This time, 10 bucks got me a two in one, so I was quite happy to spend another $15 on a Pelican case for my camera. 

Autarch Finished - Mostly

I finally got that last Autarch done. He's been on my desk for around six months now, so it's good to have him not there. I need to clean up a couple of highlights, but that's about it. I'll be interesting to see how he does on the table in Mike's army as well. With the wings and the Fusion Blaster, he should be able to flit around annoyingly and roast some tanks and I'm hoping the Mandiblasters and Chainsword make him reasonably hitty in close combat. We shall see though.


I also finished another book (I seem to be reading a lot these days). I picked up Heroes of the Space Marines, it's an anthology from GW. Like most anthologies, some of the stories are good, some are mediocre and some are junk. This one was no exception, though I didn't find many junk stories. What I did find though, were lots of odd choices. While I realize that the setting for 40K is of the grim and dark variety, there were enough stories featuring betrayl, human sacriffice and chainsaws to the face (alright, both sides did that last one), that I wound up wondering if the Black Library folks had made a mistake on the jacket, intending to call it Champions of the Chaos Space Marines instead. Perhaps I've just a more conventional view of heroes.

Victoria Day

Today went pretty well.  I got the wings for the Autarch done and I just need to add some detail to the body and that's finished too.  I also got some reading and some Dawn of War 2 done.  Tonight was Star Trek with some friends, which turned out to be a good movie.

Long Weekend

Well, what I originally thought would be a quiet weekend with lots of time to paint has turned out a little differently. Seems alright though. Friday I went to Chapters to pick up a couple of books and Sir Games-A-Lot to pick up a Trukk. I figured I'd have time to at least make a start on the Trukk and clear some outstanding stuff from my desk. Well, sort of.

Saturday, I grabbed some lunch and a book and killed a couple of hours that way. Then Ivan and Bec asked me to see Angels and Demons. Honestly, probably not a movie I'd have bothered with otherwise, but it wound up being a nice evening with a couple of good friends. The early show was sold out, so we took in the later show after another visit to Chapters and some Vietnamese food at Pho J&J (which I highly recommend, that place is fantastic with the best mango shakes I've had outside of Asia). All in all, a nice evening.

It turns out that we enjoy eachothers' company enough that we opted for breakfast today as well. What can I say, I've fun friends. Anyway, today wound up being a whirlwind. I was home for about twenty minutes before Terry and Jason swung by to pick me up to head for Tanesh's place. That was a nice afternoon of conversation and friends. Some folks didn't turn up for various reasons, but we had a cosy little gathering and Tanesh was good enough to send me home with some of her curry. Good friends, good food and good times.

Thus far, I've basically gotten nothing accomplished this weekend, but I'm OK with that.

Anyway, for the moment, I've decided to start working on an Autarch for Mike. I made a start on the body and the wings, but the model have been on my desk for months now and I'm in the mood for something a little different. Since you can't get much further from smoke belching, rusty, klanking monstrosity than the thin and elegant lines of the Eldar with their natural looking Wraithbone constructs, this seemed like a good choice.

Big Bang Theory & The Battlewagon

Well, a second recommendation from work and this one is a swing and a miss, though I might give it another kick later on. We shall see. I'm beginning to think that I might be designed out of modern sitcoms (with the exception of How I Met Your Mother, but hey, Barney is awesome). Anyway, back to Big Bang Theory; I found this one much like True Blood, just uninteresting. Sad folks in general, but that accomplishes the fundamental effect of TV, making a person feel better about themselves.

On the Battlewagon, it's going on hold for at least a couple of days. It's shaping up a little too normal looking and I want to prevent that and get a better idea of what I want. I sort of started building hoping it would come together and that's not the best idea ever.



Anyway, I'll be back on it once I get a proper idea of what's what. In the meantime, I've plenty of other things to paint.

Wednesday Afternoon Off

Yeah, I'm eventful.  I took the afternoon off to do laundry and play around with my soon to be Battlewagon.  This is really my first experiment with plasticard and it's been interesting.  Next time though, I definitely work with raw models rather than ones already assembled.  The thick paint on that Basilisk I picked up has been an issue a few times now.

40K Team Tourney - 09 May 2009

The good news is that I went to my first team tourney at the Gamer's Lair this weekend. It was a pretty good time with two of the four rounds being pretty general, the first round being quite good and the third round being exceptional.

The only bad news was that I forgot the cardinal rule for any Ork Army: Boyz Before Toyz. I went with the following list:

Warboss with Power Klaw, Boss Pole, Twin Linked Shoota and Cybork Body

5 Nobz individually kitted with a Painboy

2 Mobz of 19 Slugga Boyz each with a Nob with Power Klaw, Bosspole and 'Eavy Armour

13 Grotz with a Runtherd

It just wound up being too few boyz for a 750 point list. More's the pity.

Still a good game though.

Reading of Late

I picked up The Wanderer from the bargain bin and that one was proof that some books belong there. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea, I don't really know, but it definitely goes into the fairly short list of books that I've no inclination to finish.

On a brighter note though, after the OK showing of Mechanicum (I wanted to read about more crazy Ad Mech weapons and such than were in the book), I picked up a couple of other 40K novels. I'm in the midst of Scourge the Heretic and while it looks like a 400 odd page ad for Dark Heresy, it's at least entertaining. The real gems I've stumbled on so far are the various Space Wolves books from Lee Lightner. One could argue that they're not literary masterpieces, but they're fast paced, possessed of good imagry and the stories are entertaining. I enjoyed Wolf's Honour, so I picked up Sons of Fenris and have pretty much consigned myself to reading the books in reverse order.

On the modelling side, I'm frankensteining a Chimera and a Basilisk together to make a suitably klanky and smoke belching Battlewagon. It's been entertaining so far and it's my first time using plasticard, so that part has been pretty interesting. I've dumped the Earth Shaker Cannon into my bitz bin to eventually create a suitably Orky gatling artillery cannon. Obviously I need to get better at scratch building and obtain a few more Earth Shakers, but I'm dreaming big!

Starting a Blog

Well, I decided to start one of these things rather than constatly abusing my Dakka Dakka article. Should be interesting.