Actual Pictures of Miniatures!

I know it's shocking, but I actually have some pictures of miniatures that I've been working on. I felt compelled to post more pics when my friend Chris linked to my site with the phrase "models painted well." I was horrified to realize that I had no pictures of miniatures (painted well or otherwise) on my front page (By the way, if you want cool stories of Alaska, check out his blog).

Therefore...

Behold! My first Daemonette:

I'm going to call this a work in progress since I'm not very happy with the way the gold turned out. I have to touch that up a bit. Plus, the base isn't finished, so there's that.

New Game Store Alert!!

There have been rumor bouncing around locally-based web forums (Like Adeptus Windy City) that there is a new game store in Evanston. Ok, it's not Chicago, but it's pretty close. Plus, It's a independent game store not a GW store (No offence Jeff and crew of GWOP).

I made a trip to said store this week, and here I am to report back to you, my loyal readers (btw, if you're a loyal reader who doesn't live in the Chicagoland area, go read ++From the Warp++ or something).

Here's the facts: Gamer's Asylum, 611 Dempster, Evanston. www.gmasylum.com

It's a nice size store. They have two good sized gaming tables. They just opened, so they're not stocked to the gills like some games stores. Still, they had plenty of what I was looking for. Specifically, a handful of paints and a box of Bloodletters. 

The store is run by a very friendly father and son team. The father had his ork army on display and I was very impressed by the presence of some Rogue Trader-era miniatures.

I like this store a lot. I'd be nicer if it was closer, but hey, it's got everything else you could hope for in an independent game store: friendly knowledgeable staff, diverse products, gaming tables. 

I was thinking of giving them some unsolicited, vaguely anonymous, internet-based advice about what they should do with their store. I think I just keep an eye on how this develops and report back to youz guys when necessary.

Quick updates

Just two quick updates before the holiday weekend. I wanted to share what I’ve been working on.



First off, I’ve almost completed the map for our upcoming campaign. I have to tell you, painting Mighty Empire maps is tedious! I still have to paint all those little flags, too. Ugh.

Anyway, it was fun adapting it to 40K. I built 3 hives cites and added as you can see. I also made some counters to represent airfields (to be featured in a future installment). More on this to come.

I also started to teach my son to paint.

Not bad for a first time by a seven year old. It’s 100 times better then how I started (which is to say: In my mother’s basement and using Testor’s high-gloss enamel straight out of the bottle onto lead figures. They were made of lead for crying out loud!)


That’s all for now. Everyone have a safe Memorial day weekend.

Adepticon pt III: And the rest...

Now for the final instalment of our award winning Adepticon 2008 coverage. Remember, when you want to know about shit that happened three weeks ago, Citizen Nick Hobby center is your #1 news source.

Anyway, I wanted to post a few of the pictures that I took at Adepticon. For some reason this year, I had a real hard time getting decent pictures. I'm sure it had something to do with the high prices at the hotel canteen or possibly theme score judging. Whatever was the cause, I didn't walk away with as many pictures as in years past.


Here's a shot of the massive 1st edition space hulk game I played in. This, for me, was one of the most fun games I played at Adepticon. I had forgotten how much fun 1st edition was.

Some genestealers.

The Chicago Way demo. Awesome game with some awesome miniatures. Hats off to Dave for running this one.

John from Plastic Legions calculating his scores in the Warhammer tournament. For his coverage of the event, check here.


You know, I was totally entranced by the pattern of this carpet. I have to figure out a way to work this pattern into a miniature somehow.


Well, that's it for this year, kids. A huge Thank You to all the wonderful people who organize this every year.

My plans for next year have already been put in motion. Watch this space.

There's a Disturbance in the Blog-o-sphere

I now interrupt my half-assed Adepticon coverage with two new blog links.

First up is the blog of nine-time Golden Demon winner, Dave Pauwels:
Rabid Bat Studio

There are some great miniatures on this site. Everyone should go over there and pressure Dave to paint even more.

Secondly, here is a new blog by Nick Barran:
Redemptors of Golinar

Nick is in the the same gaming group as me, a former game store co-owner, and former GW employee. Nick has already posted some great articles and I'm sure there will be more to come.


I've made some changes to links. I've removed a couple of blogs that have ceased activity. I also removed the Warseer link because I figure most people know how to get there themselves. Plus, blogs are better than forums any day!

Stay positive, people!

Adepticon pt 2: Dramatis Persona

Fair warning,I'm about to get really cheesy. Not cheesy in the Nidzilla or Mech Eldar sort of way, but more of a sappy rose colored glasses sort of way.

I said in my last post that stuff was not the most important part of Adepticon. What is? People, that's what (I warned you).

Seriously, it was very cool to hang out with so many awesome people. Most of the people I already knew, and it was great to see all the people I don't get to regularly see. It's funny, many of the people I got to hang out with I talk to via the Internet regularly, but the last time I saw them face-to-face was Adepticon last year!

The people who taught the seminars were also very cool. It's great when you can talk to people who have so much skill but are will to share they're knowledge with everyone.

Anyway, shout out to everyone who made this year so great.

Adepticon Pt 1: Swag

I'm still recovering from my convention hang-over. Not a drinking hang-over, mind you; just too much fun and stimulus. I made it to work, of course, but I'm beat.

Still, I want to report on as much of my Adepticon experience as possible. Over the next week, I'll post short articles about various aspects of this, the king of all GW conventions.

I want to start off with what is definitely not the most important part of Adepticon, but certainly the easiest to write about. I'm talkin' about swag!

Every year, it seems like Adepticon gives you more and more for your money. Here is a list of free stuff I got with my general admission:
-Three Black library books:
-The Ambassador Chronicles, by Graham McNeil
-The Bloodquest Trilogy graphic novel
-Warhammer 40,000 Quiz Book
-A Dwarf Lord miniature from Avatars of War
-The Adepticon Miniature "Baegor the one-horned"
-A little bag of bits from the Warstore

About that last item, I have to say, I got more useful bits in that 2"x3" little baggy than I got in my entire BattleWagon Bits going out of business grab bag. How did they do that?

Some of the seminars had stuff included in the price. For example, the Chris Borer class came with three types of putty, four sculpting tools, a full-color booklet and a tiny piece of Plexiglas (for rolling out putty). The James Wapple glazing class came with a cool metal black orc mini with which we practiced the techniques of the class. However, since his and Cathy's basing class had so much material left over, he gave us two scenic bases and enough material to make about five more.

I've never really taken advantage of Adepticon's deal-finding potential and honestly, I was on a pretty tight budget this year (same as every year). However there were a few buys I simply could not pass up.

Black library was offering their books at deep discounts. I'm a big fan of their art books but usually the price prevents me from purchasing them. At Adepticon, Black Library was offering them at 50% off! I bought the last copy of Xenology they had and the Sabbat Worlds Crusade book. Nice find.

I found some awesome stuff at Saturday night's bit swap. I bought six old White Dwarf issues for 50 cents a pop. Most of them are numbered under 200. One is a copy of issue 84! Old school, yo! From the same vendor, I was able to pick up two more of the Mighty Empires tiles that came with White Dwarf last year.

I got two old style sprues, one CSM and On Ork, for $2 each.

I bought some resin-cast bits from Rich at the Chicago Terrain Factory and a handful of bits from some other folks.

Over all, a nice haul and I stayed under budget. Thanks Adepticon!