I'm back baby!

I know, I wasn't posting for a while, but it all was due to my stupid exams that I have to take once in a blue moon... Anywho, I'm through all of them now (the last one-History Of Polish Cinematography-was today...) and I'm preparing for a serious Warmachine butt kicking in New York! Yup, in 5 hours a nice cab will appear at the frontyard of my house in Krakow and will take me to the airport. Darn exciting perspective, but a 5h wait in Munich and nearly 10h flight to JFK is a bit daunting... I'll take it like a men!

With the USA adventure there's also one more thing corelated - a trip to Indianapolis in August! You know what I'm talking about baby? Yes! You were right - the one and only GenCon Indy! I've already prereg for 'Game On' and 'Tour Of Duty' (both twice!) and all Speed Painting Contests I could (meaning one for each company, of course...). I'm also a little sad, because I won't have the 750pts needed to throw some Hardcore games there. I'm not mourning too much about it though for there's no reason to do so. I'm really glad that I've found the 'GenCon UN' group where I'll hang out with a bunch of Aussies, Canadians, a few guys from Japan and a Norwegian (but I'm sure our group will grow and grow!). It's a really good to know now how much of a social event a GenCon is! I'll do my best to update the site with reports from this event each day, but giving the amout of things you can do there I'm not quite sure I'll be able to...

Now let's get back to painting shall we?

In the past three weeks I did a lot! Besides learning I've painted a Kodiak, Kell Bailoch, Juggernaut and did flats on Karchev and Manhunter. Not too bad I say! I've made some nice photos for you paiting looneys, so there you go, my painted part of the Khadoran 500pts:

• Kodiak


• Juggernaut


• Berserker


• Kell Bailoch


• Gorman Di Wulfe

Please keep in mind that all models, but Kodiak and Zerker, were painted in a pattern roughly called 'speed over quality'. Kell took me 3 hours - my personal record!

I've been lately extensively watching MST3K and I've advise for all the uptight gamers all round the world:

"just remind yourself it's just a game/I should really just relax"

Peace Out, I'm going to throw some CS:S with my friend from Lancashire, so keep your eyes open for a headshotting estro_pajo...

PS on the photo on the upper left it's me. I know it may be a little out of place, but I hate to post on a blog without a picture and it's all I have on my hand at the moment. Enjoy it or not...

Progress

And here I am, just a few steps into my insane 30 days run. How am I doing? Could have been better...

Good news are that Gorman is finally done, You can see a rough photo of him on the left. I've painted him using only my right eye, as my left one doesn't see too well. Because of it I was forced to take a lot of shortcuts with this model so I incorporated overbrush and washes as my main techniques. I think that for an amount of attention I've put into him, Gorman worked out pretty well.

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The Brass Balls Kodiak is finally assembled, primed and waiting for P3 metallics to arrive on tuesday(-ish). Untill then I need to fully paint my Juggernaut to finally get him out of my head. I'm not moving fast enough with him even though I have to... It's all because of my exams - History Of Polish Cinematography and Theory Of Television on, respectively, thursday and friday. I find it hard to divide my attention at this time of year...

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My order for Karchev, Manhunter and Kell came through and I expect them soon - before saturday sun rises up I shall be gently touching His bold head and licking his rusted metal. Your boiler is so hot!

However, before enjoying that glorious moment, I need to DO the Juggernaut. I can't leave unfinished work ...well...unfinished... - I must be methodical in this particular case. With Jugger out of my head I'll have only two contest models to take care of, which should be in within my reach.

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During the past few days, besides watching Deadwood (never seen a better drama about 'how the states were build'!), I got back to my old love - The Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3k for those unfamiliar with the series). Oh how I loved this when I was 16! And it still amuses me a lot, it didn't lose it's unique charm in any respect. MST3k is like a delusional dream or a future film critic's ultimate amusement (ie ME!). It's a shame that this show cannot be run on any non-english TV station, and only a small group of people has the opportunity to appreciate this truly outstanding show...

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The music of the past few days was mainly Van Der Graaf Generator with the sparkling of The Legendary Pink Dots. And now I'm going nuts!

My puppy!

And there it is - my Destroyer on every corner in whole Poland. Not literally, but still...

I've made my decision now and for the Warjack/Warbeast category I'll enter my Juggernaut and for Warcaster/lock/solo I'll put Karchev (for his own wicked indulgence). The Kodiak goes for the Brass Balls Challange for dessert.

I've a rethorical question at this point - should people be allowed to enter to a contest a mini they've painted a year earlier? I know it's all so hard to verify, but what if one arranges a painting contest and 1/3 of the contestants enter their old minis? It doesn't look right. I think everyone should paint a new model for each new contest. That's what I think.

The pin vice is on the move!

You bet it is!
My vision is blurry as hell, and sometimes I even see double, but I at least menaged to pin my bloody Kodiak! He's done on 2,26mm copper rods and 2,5mm brass rods (the latter-right foot and arms) with GS securing the joints.

My end-year exams are nigh and I need to learn. I really do. But there's so much to paint! The Brass Balls Challenge, the Polish National P3 Painting Contest and I also need to prepare a 500pts army for my summer vacation in New York! That's a lot of work!

Today I've made a schedule for the upcoming 5 weeks:

• Kodiak - for the Brass Balls Challenge


• Karchev The Terrible - for the P.N.PP.P.C.
  
• Mechanic with 4 assistants - gaming models
  
• Manhunter - gaming model
  
• Kell Bailoch - gaming model
  
• Juggernaut - just the reds and details left, shouldn't take me long.

I hope I'll make it... Probably not... Oh, well...

Today I also came up with my 'NY 500pts Khador List' that will pwn all other armies in Abstract Games in south Brooklyn (especially yours Kurt! Beware!):

• Karchev The Terrible

1. Kodiak
2. Juggernaut
3. Berserker

• Mechanics (1+3)
• Manhunter
• Gorman Di Wulfe
• Kell Bailoch

...and that makes for the precise 500 points.

Normally I'd prefer to go with the Marauder (nasty synergies I've forseen!) instead of the Berserker and Kell, but my limited chrono-resources made me change my plans. I like the way how you can put together a complete denial army with Karchev - K's Fissure, Juggers critical, Marauders Slam, Berserkers chain attack and Tow away, Gormans Black Oil and Kodiak taking advantage of kd's. Embrace Karchev's DEF 17 against range attacks and there you go. I really looking forward to plying this list - just need to buy K, Kell and Manhunter.

Recently I've started to listen to the Fell Calls podcast. It appears like a bunch of guys are doing a radio beer'n'pretzel version of Battle College. Most of the time they read stats from the book and state the obvious ('he's ARM 12, which is low','yeah,it is low','it could be higher','yeah, it could' and blablablabla...). Sometimes when they pick some interesting gameplay issues they get caught in a cobweb of words like 'cool', 'awesome' and 'incredible'. I'm tired of listening opinions build upon sentences like: 'he's cool, but no without drawbacks, but yeah, he's awesome, yeah, I'd say he' pretty cool, definately cool' and so forth. I can't understand the popularity of this podcast. I mean, if I wouldn't have any friends to talk with I could pretend that those hollow debates interest me, but belive me, if I want to hear a casual and meaningless conversation about Warmachine I can arrange one myself. I even know people that are not talking rubbish when it comes to wargaming - I think it must be rare if so many people are devoting their time (90-120min!) to listen to a pointless conversation.

Yeah.. That's all for today. I'll keep watching the horizon for my P3 metallics are due to arrive and I'll keep You posted!

Hoity-Toity

That doesn't make for a good start, does it? A two day delay after the first day, eh...
Right now I've put my recent painting ad acta and focused on my model for PP Brass Balls Challange - a Khadoran Kodiak.

The contest mini has to be painted all in P3 metallics, so I had to choose a warjack that will still fit to my existing force. I think that a warjack of reknown will do just fine, as it is forgiving to a different paint scheme.

I hate to say it, but despite good sculpt this model has a dreadful pose. I've heard an inner voice telling me to cut it to pieces, what I gladly did without any hesitation. On a photo you can admire early results.

A few days ago I've asked my brother-in-law to look for P3 paints in New York, because they're not aviable in Europe yet. He finally got them in one store in the city, but unfortunately they haven't got the Morvahna model, which I madly desire. I can't understand why, the street relase was a week ago and she's nowhere to be found in the whole New York. Not in Manhattan nor in Brooklyn. Strange.

Oh, and my CMON gallery is not up and running yet, 'cause I'm still experimenting with the best ways to photograh a mini, but hopefully it shouldn't take me long.