Back with a brief few words...

Ok, so here I am back again.  It took a little longer than I thought to get back actually but I'm glad I did.  It's really a lot tougher than I though to keep up with the blog everyday.  Some good things are going in life at home for me at the moment, but they do take time and energy away from things like the blog, and the hobby.

So, I do have a topic in mind for this evening though.  I'm an avid fan of MWG and most of their content.  I don't care for all the games they cover, but I watch most of them.  Today was Friday and MWG Matt put out his Sit and Talk.  Infinity came up and as usual he had some wise comments, but in this case I was somewhat more inspired than usual to sit up and take notice.  The notion that Infinity is a great game isn't new, and neither is the statement that it hasn't hit that critical mass to bring in good sized communities in many areas.  I'm sure if you're living in a major population center you're going to be able to find players but in my small area it's not even easy to bet a game of 40k going, let alone Infinity.  So, where to start expanding this wonderful game?

I decided to seek out as many as I could that were connected to the game through their site.  It's just a beginning but I'm hoping to connect with some new individuals regardless of their location and really contribute to bringing buzz and exposure to this game.  One main source of information updates for Infinity has been Beasts of War.  They have been able to cultivate a very good relationship with members of Corvus Belli, who produce Infinity, and actually bring excellent exclusives to us as well as give face-time to some great individuals who work for the company.  The game is produced out of Spain and so it's understandable that it might take longer to catch on in the United States.  I think helping it along is important though.  

I have a good sized army for Infinity and I'd love to be able to play and develop it.  So, I'm in the Southeast US, East TN in fact, but my location isn't supremely important to my goal.  It's merely to build more interest in general.  If you haven't looked at Infinity before, I highly recommend it.  The miniatures are terrific and the game system is unique and very exciting.  It's a game I can't wait to play more of even as I get drawn into working on 40k on a regular basis.  So leave your comments.  Let me know what more we can do to expand this community and create more games for all the players.  I'll be getting back to more hobby related entries and you all can expect me back again  very soon!

To be continued...

Oh, so shameful...

Oh no!  Just like that I missed a day already.  Well, I'm going to have to make up for it.

Without getting too deep in any regret over missing my post last night I'm going to jump into the first one today.  That's implying I might post more than once.  We'll see about that.

So, I've owned a Relic Contemptor Dreadnought since Games Day 2012.  I went there for a few reasons but one was to pick up a Forge World order I had made.  Of course after I got home I was a bit over-zealous and got right to work on the figure.  I did do some great work in my opinion but I also made some silly mistakes.  Things like not getting a full primer coat into all the nooks and crannies of the figure.  Finally my worst mistake was when I had nearly completed the model I decided to take it apart in a couple of sections and add more magnets.  In my desire to forge ahead I used a very large magnet in the pelvic section and didn't sink it's twin in the abdomen in deep enough.  The results can be seen below.  Sad face.

You can see there where the hip meets the abdomen section there's too much showing.  It should sit much deeper into it's setting.  So my main task was to fix that as well as find a way to more properly finish the paint job.  The good news is I was able to figure out a way to remove this magnet configuration even though I had used JB Weld two part epoxy to install them.  I chose to break the abdomen piece away from the upper body and drill down through its top.  That allowed me to get in with some other fine Dremel tools and remove this large magnet while not destroying the very soft resin cast part.

So now I was able to use some Green stuff to fill up those parts and smooth them back properly and they were ready to get a new prime coat.  I did do some masking with blue tack which really helped me keep some of the old paint.  As it stands it's still a WIP model but well on its way.

To be continued...

Alright!  

Tonight I have a little treat in store for the blog.  A lot of gamers and hobbyists paint 25-28mm models on bases and they sometimes need ways to help them get better at painting and techniques.  One great way to help is to sort of be open to cheating after a fashion.  If you don't naturally have great control or steady hands you need every advantage you can get.  One of the not so well kept secrets is that those that are considered very good at painting often do this as well.  

What am I talking about anyway?  What constitutes cheating to get a higher quality result in a faster amount of time?  Tools and tricks.  In the case of having an item or items that make your painting life easier we should be looking to use everything we can get!  Now I'm going to show you a great and extremely cheap way to do just that, and also sort of recycle after a fashion.

When you paint a single figure or even mutliples it's great to have something to hold onto that helps you control the model in your hand without actually touching it.  This is often just called a grip.  There are any number of things you can actually use for this and there are even products for sale for this purpose.  Really it can be anything that you like the feel of in your hand and that also holds the model well.  It's common to see models with pins in a Pin Vise, but I do like to paint with models that are already glued to a base so that might not work.  Another common technique is to attach a model to an old paint pot that has had its lid secured and has some blue tack on top of it.  For our purpose here the idea is actually very similar to that.

For my little method here you will need:  

Two twist caps from a 20oz. beverage bottle

Some masking tape

1.  Stack your two twist caps one on top of the other

2.  Tear off a strip of tape about 6 or so inches long and attach one end to the sides of both caps at once like this

3.  Wrap the tape around the two caps firmly until the other end is smoothly applied.  It should look like this

4.  Now, you actually already have the grip finished.  Simply apply about a quarter sized piece of blue tack to the top of this, or however much you like really, and then a model to the top of that!

Voila!  Super cheap and perfectly functional model grips that actually last for a long time.  If you ever needed to fix them you only need a fresh strip of masking tape.  

Now, I actually have about 10 or 12 of these made at the moment and pretty much replaced all the other ones I had created out of paint pots with them.  Ok that one the Assault Marine is on I kept.  I have that many made because it's the common number of many squads or units.  I came up with the idea because I'm always on the lookout to recycle everyday objects into useful hobby materials.  This is one of the great ways to save time and money when you're a wargamer.  Almost everyone drinks a soft drink or bottled water now and then.  Just save up the twist caps until you have what you need.

Well, I hope that's helpful to even one person out there.  If so I'm thrilled!  Can't wait until the next blog tomorrow and see you then!

To be continued...

I nearly didn't get any kind of entry in today as I really let time slip away from me.  Two things, chat rooms and army books.  Those two things really made the time fly by and before I knew it I was basically nodding off to sleep.  Well, not tonight!  I'm getting my daily post in if it kills me!  Lol, well it's not really that big of a deal but it is important to me to not fail to post once a day.

It's a test for me, something I need to do as a sign of mental discipline.  There are a lot of things in life that I let fall away from the proper routine.  That's not to say that anything is necessarily suffering in my life, it's not like that.  The idea that I'm keeping up with something is important to me though.  So, here I am.  I made it and have yet to let myself down.

Another thing I need to do is make sure that this isn't some type of random stream of thought that bores the tears out of my audience.  Who wants to just read the rantings of a half-asleep mind with no direction right?  So, back to the point of my blog.

I was going over some history of sorts today with a few wargaming compatriots.  The topic of Cypher resurfaced and I found that we were in a debate about this model and it's stat line really in comparison to some other game HQ heavy hitters.  Now, I'm not going to really go into detail on the stats here but I invite anyone and everyone to weigh in their two cents on just how good this character really is in battle.  I was certainly fighting for his merits this evening myself.  Seems pretty solid in a game that favors shooting.  His range is a bit short but all the other bonuses are impressive.  

The storyline itself that he's involved in is very nice.  So much maneuvering happening in his cloak and dagger one man crusade through the galaxy.  He plays both sides of the great conflicts so masterfully that you would think he operates with a head full of knowledge that no one else possesses.  If you haven't really looked into Cypher yet or don't even have the slightest clue what I'm talking about do check out the character in the 40k universe.  He's very well worth the time to investigate and learn about.

All right, I'm keeping it short and sweet tonight.  I really wasn't kidding about the nodding off part earlier!  I'll see you all tomorrow.

To be continued...