Thursday, May 23, 2013

F*** You GW! (fs/ft part 1)

the straw that broke the camel's back
Well, that's it.  I have stood loyally by Games Workshop through price hike after price hike (whether really required or not) through consistently failing to support games beyond the big two (sometimes even actively destroying that gaming community) and I've finally had enough.  Below is an except from the latest NAF newsletter, explaining that after 10 years of allowing NAF to produce block dice for it's members, GW has refused to renew the license.  I completely fail to understand the point of this decision, although I bet it has something to do with the recent Cyanide blood bowl game and somehow thinking stopping block dice from being made will increase sales of that game.  Considering their recent announcement to stop producing figures from the Specialist Games range, I highly doubt it is because of a new blood bowl box set.
Crimson Fists
So I have decided it is high time that I seriously consider why I continue to support this company that clearly cares so little for it's long time customers/supporters in favour of gouging the newcomers repeatedly.  I will definitely keep my specialists game related figures as I have no need for GW to continue enjoying playing those games, and I will likely keep my flesh tearers since they incorporate my space hulk terminators as well as possibly a fantasy army since it may well fit with other games.  But my mass of space marine armies (in various stages of completion) are gonna start getting sold off.  First up is a small cadre of Crimson Fists, some painted and some primed.  Here is the full list.

Pedro Kantor
10 Sternguard (2 heavy flamers, 2 combi-meltas)
6 Terminators (1 heavy flamer)
10 Tacticals (1 flamer, 1 missile launcher)
10 Devastators (4 heavy bolters - old style)
1 Rhino
1 Land Raider Redeemer. * multi-melta piece needs fixing
1 Objective.
as many Crimson Fist decals as I can find
Also was planning to make a small fluffy honour guard squad with 3 metal vets, all with power fists and bolters w grenade launchers, see this pic

I am interested in blood bowl or necromunda figures, or cash for now.
I could be interested in terrain - GW or not.

Here is the excerpt from the newsletter.

Dear Members 
This is always an exciting time of year as the NAF announces new dice. We are keeping this tradition but sadly, after ten years, Games Workshop has brought this great tradition of new block dice to an end. 
We tried many angles with GW, but ultimately the licensing department would not renew our deal meaning that, for 2013, a new colour of blocking dice cannot be issued. We have good relations with GW and hope that with continued communication this may change in the future. 

This year we will instead be issuing matching coloured sets of 2D6, plus a D8 and a D16. In the great tradition of the NAF, the new colour and unique design will be announced at the NAF Championship 2013 and attendees renewing their membership can get their new dice. A picture of the new dice will go up on the website shortly afterwards. 

We are excited about our new dice, however we also have stocks of some of the classic back catalogue of dice and are very well aware that many would like to get their hands on some. So until further notice, when members renew or sign up, we will be able to fulfill their request for block dice. Current supplies are Red, Yellow, Light Blue, Light Green and Silver. 

We hope you're as enthusiastic as we are about this fabulous opportunity for NAF members to expand their collections of Blood Bowl accessories. The brand new dice sets will be available from June 1st this year, but members will have the option to request dice from our classic collections (as above) instead. 
Happy dice rolling! 
Dave 
NAF President

Saturday, May 4, 2013

minis painted for Axt - ZOMBIES part 4

The funniest thing of all, receiving a painted model of yourself as a zombie!  This is exactly what happened to Axtlinge (aka Axt) with the final figure of the fab four.  I chose to make Axt a rugby player because he loves the all blacks and the zombie pieces I had suited it.  First the legs weren't proper shorts and seemed to have some extra padding/protection which makes more sense for a proper contact sport.  Secondly the hand with the thumb pointing up reminded me of the Haka dance that his favourite rugby team the All Blacks perform.  I had a bit of help from Abraxis who sent me a couple photos of Axt so I could get him right without giving away the secret - thanks buddy!
zombie Alberto
As with the others, I built up the base with filler.  The flock is the same as used on my figure but underneath I gave it a coat of brown paint instead of green to try and show how rugby fields are usually more torn up than footy fields.  I used some bits of medical gauze twisted and glued to create the long beard and pony tail.  I also used a little water effects for the blood on the recently ripped off leg he's carrying around ;^)

Hope you enjoy them pal!

dual posted on Merry Mayhem News

Friday, May 3, 2013

minis painted for Axt - ZOMBIES part 3

Second to last, here is Paul - of The Man Cave fame.  This was actually the inspiration to do "us" as zombies.  You may not be aware, but Paul is a honest to goodness real life ships captain/commander in the Australian navy.  In fact he just shipped out on a new mission called SLIPPER.  Anyways as soon as I saw this body (it was the only one where legs/torso were attached) with the long coat all I could think of was a ships captain (obviously the ship this zombie was commanding was a bit different to the one Paul commands now!) so as soon as I thought "ship captain" I equally as quickly realized "MMN crew zombies"!
zombie Paul
As with the others I built up the base, and then instead of using flock I just attempted to paint a wooden deck using various browns.  One side has a line of tin paint to make it look like an edge or something like that.  I also used my now pretty common style of painting reddish/ginger/orange hair which involves starting with orange, and using washes of both a reddish/metallic colour as well as simple red wash.  The reason for the metallic choice is it gives a bit of sheen to the hair, without actually colouring it metal.

dual posted on Merry Mayhem News

Thursday, May 2, 2013

minis painted for Axt - ZOMBIES part 2

Next up on the dock is Paulo aka Abraxis, winner of the Zlurpcast Meatloaf Fan award.  As soon as I got the bare torso piece off the sprue I knew I had to have Paulo running with his jersey off after just scoring a goal.  I leveled the base with filler as on the other figures and I made a jersey out of a napkin with paint. After painting the zombie and jersey separately I superglued them together.  I also used an extra coat of painted varnish to try and give the jersey some strength before I gave the whole figure a spray coat of varnish.
zombie Paulo
In case you are unaware, Paulo's favourite football team is Benfica, so it's very appropriate I am posting this today, as both his team and mine are in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals tonight.  Chelsea have a 2-1 lead and are playing at home, while Benfica are looking to reverse the tie (currently 1-0 for Fenerbahçe) and are also playing at home - the Stadium of Light.  Good luck to Benfica tonight, with any luck we will have a Benfica/Chelsea final in Amsterdam and we might all use skype to hang out while we watch the match!

dual posted on Merry Mayhem News

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

minis painted for others - ZOMBIES part 1

I am going to break this post up into series like I did with the necromunda walkways.  You may remember, long ago I received a couple harlequins painted for my spire brats gang from my MMN crew buddies in Portugal - Abraxis and Axtlinge.  Well I think I covered myself with glory in recompense to Abraxis by running the "Give him a Goblin" contest, but I still owed Axt something - and he had requested a painted zombie.  Originally the plan had been to paint him a zombie fan of my undead blood bowl team - but clearly after such a long time that plan was not motivating me.

I finally decided to just bit the bullet and get some zombie figs (warlord games I think?), hoping that would motivate me - and it did!!  As I put them together a brilliant plan started to develop and I would paint fans of my undead blood bowl team - US!  Here is the first one, which is zombie me in Chelsea kit with a football.  I painted our names on the front of the base and used our online nicknames for the back of the jersey.
zombie Tristan
I built up around the base attached to their feet to fit the square base with filler.  Each base was painted/flocked slightly differently.  Probably the hardest thing was getting the design on the football right.  Also those shoes are painted like my actual cleats!  I found the detail on these miniatures was not the greatest but hardly surprising when they are about $0.50 each!  Up tomorrow is Abraxis :^)

dual posted on Merry Mayhem News
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