The Haul Report 265

 So, stainless steel and PLA... it doesn`t work, lesson learned.

But no problem, fresh print nozzles arrived this week, good old brass variants.

 

 

So now to install them, and we are back to printing up lots of stuffsies...

On the Painting Desk 180

 More progress for the AHPC of course this week, and we are nearing the second level of the challenge map finish.

And to that end, my focus will be shifting the coming week to these Underworlds ladies, and get them done asap for the next entry on there to be posted.

But that is not all I`m working on, some Lord of the Rings of course, but also more models for a CSIR entry I'm doing... and I really should get going again on those Dacians.

 

And then there are those guys...

Though I have low hopes for that Battlesuit in the back...

What I Painted in January 2021

 The new year has begun, and the AHPC is in full swing, so of course all what is painted up these days are for that purpose.

And I must say, I made some good progress towards my 1000 points goal I set in the challenge, standing at 119 points at time of writng this.

Starting out this month, are some Hobbit Tookish Hunters together with some 3d printed pittraps for the Scouring of the Shire book.

 

The next entry is Arwen, pushing the Rivendel goal to completion, that's a nice green line on the sidebar in the first month already!

I then painted up some Tau for my SEED Destiny inspired force, with two drones and a battlesuit added to the still small army.

The next chamber made me paint was The Larder, where farmer Maggot defended his crops.

Descending as such to the second level, a dragon hatchling was painted.

 

 

Not all entries are of course connected to locations on the map, and the next one, the first of my painted ruffians, is such an entry.

 

As well as some furniture for my solo game endeavours

And that's about it this month, all for the AHPC, because some of the next entries are rather big ones (in numbers, not per se in scale) and aren`t done yet...

That means this first month kicks off with 46 models already done, a good start for sure!

Salvation season 2

 For those that read my review of the first season, I stated that I hoped the series would get on track for it's second season, namely destroying the asteroid hurling towards Earth.

 

So, as the series did get cancelled after this year, it has a rather open ending, but in the meantime of it's 13 episodes, did they find a way to stop the rock and such...

Bear with me... because we got: a sabotaged hangar plot, a hacker group hijacking a nuclear cluster missile to threaten the world, a vengeful police officer, a presidential assassination, a besieged White House, a domsday suicide cult AND a group of wealthy magnates seemingly running the world from behind the scenes.

 

So no, the fact all life is threatened by a giant ball on a collision course, it still seems to be only an afterthought in a series build around that premises.  While I still "dig" Cabrera's performance as president Tanz (yup, it goes THAT far), the whole fact that everything gets the overhand on the actual main plotline doesn`t do the series any good at all in my opinion.  Especially since, as it's all compressed in 13 episodes, it get's a rushed and pushed feeling all of the time.

 

Ow, and that asteroid... wasn`t an asteroid in the end.  But who cares, it has been ignored for the better part of two seasons anyways.

So no, this series has been a flop for me definitly. 

AHPC11: Decorating the Dungeon

 A small entry of essentials from me for this next update on my journey to the "1000" in that I painted up some dungeon furniture this week.

It is essential in such a way that while I have already printed quite some exterior scatter material for (solo) gaming, I realised I barely have any interior pieces.

To that end, I am going to be running my Ender 3 on that job (after I replaced the nozzle, this one has seen it's time, overextruding as a result) and make sure to get a lot of small stuff done, as well as piles of extra dungeon tiles.

Because who knows, this pandemic might actually end this year and I can get that planned DnD campaign going at last, only with a delay of 1.5 years.  Which is still faster then your average public transportation bus here in Belgium...

AHPC11: The Hatchery: Dragon Hatchling

 Entering the second level of our decent into the Chambers of Challenge, we arrive in a large room called The Hatchery.

 

And the theme of the setting is "something that came out of an egg".

While my initial idea was to paint up some raging dwarf shouting Leeeeroy Jenkinssssss I instead went for another model.  Rummaging through my pile of figures I printed up for DnD (delayed due to you know what), I came across this dragon hatchling.

Now, there is no particular reason the little beastie is of the Blue Dragon variety other then that I was working on another entry with blues in it mostly, so that's rather easy going.

And as such, for this chamber I have a single 28mm figure painted up, and the journey continues onwards!

Smallfoot

 In the early days of the new year, when this little bloke had something called va-ca-tion, me and Noshi binged through quite a few movies.

And one of those couch moments, was Smallfoot, an animation movie from 2018 we could watch together with Thorin.

 

A village of Yetis lives in isolation on the top of a mountain in the Himalayas, above the clouds and hidden away from sight. Migo is a yeti who abides by the law of the ancient stones held by the Stonekeeper, the yetis' leader. Migo's father, Dorgle, projects himself through the air each morning to hit a gong with his head, as the yetis believe this wakes up the sun. While learning how to ring the gong, Migo is distracted by the Stonekeeper's daughter, Meechee, whom he has a crush on, and misses the gong, landing outside the village. There, Migo witnesses a plane crash and finds a "smallfoot" (human), whom the yetis believe is mythical. Migo runs back to inform the villagers, but he lacks proof, and Stonekeeper claims he is lying and banishes him from the village. Migo is suddenly visited by rejected yetis Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem who bring him to the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society (S.E.S.), which is led by Meechee. She convinces Migo to travel below the clouds despite the stones telling them that there is nothing underneath. After some hesitation, Migo agrees to go, but his rope snaps and Migo falls, where he discovers land.

Percy Patterson is a British human filmmaker of wildlife documentaries who has lost most of his viewership. He meets the pilot who saw Migo, and in an attempt to regain his fame, tries unsuccessfully to convince his assistant, Brenda, to dress up as a yeti for filming. Migo arrives and unknowingly scares Percy when trying to communicate with him. Migo takes Percy with him and they stop in a cave to wait out a blizzard. Percy films and uploads a video of Migo narrating that the Yeti plans to eat him, before attempting to escape. While chasing Percy, Migo's toe becomes caught in a bear trap and Percy takes pity on him by removing the trap and bandaging Migo's wound. Percy agrees to go with Migo and they head back up the mountain, where they reunite with the S.E.S. 

 The villagers are confused by Percy's appearance, but happily accept him and learn about his culture, much to Stonekeeper's dismay. Afterwards, Stonekeeper takes Migo inside the palace and reveals the truth: yetis used to live below the clouds, but were forced into hiding by the humans who attacked them. To keep them safe, they created the stones, and the clouds are actually steam made by the yetis' daily tasks to keep them hidden. In order to protect the village, Migo agrees to continue the lie by telling the yetis that Percy, who is experiencing high altitude sickness, is just a hairless wild yak. Stonekeeper takes Percy and locks him in a box, so Percy will be unable to alert other humans of the yetis' whereabouts. Migo later discovers that Meechee took Percy away to return him home, and jumps down the mountain with Gwangi and Kolka following suit.

Percy recovers and discovers that his video of Migo has generated public excitement, but then notices that Meechee has become distracted by the wonders in Kathmandu and accidentally causes a disruption. Meechee is attacked by the police, but is rescued by Gwangi, Kolka and Migo. The yetis try to make it back to the mountain, but are chased by a SWAT helicopter that Stonekeeper takes down using his stones. Migo attempts to divert the police away from the other yetis, when Percy arrives on his snowmobile and shoots Migo with a tranquilizer gun to save him. The police chase and capture Percy in his yeti suit, and arrest him for public disturbance and fraud. 

 Back at the village, inside the palace, Migo explains the truth to the yetis and apologizes for lying to them. He tells the others that even though humans may still be scared of the yetis, they should try to communicate with them. The yetis leave the village, and when Percy and Brenda notice them, they emerge from the crowd and stand up for the yetis. The rest of the humans slowly welcome the yetis and accept them into their lives. 

It certainly was a funny movie, and that is always a bonus for those lazy sunday afternoons with a piece of pastry and a hot coco.

Frozen 2

 Me and Noshi sat down to watch the sequel to the immense succes that was Frozen (though neither of us really liked the movie), the aptly named Frozen 2.

 

And in this Disney movie, we wondered if there would be an earwurm like Let it Go.

The answer is no, though they did try with the Elsa goes home sequence, but me on the other hand was a fan of the Lost in the Woods song from Kristoff, a real 80s glamrock ballad.

But heck, that aside.  The movie handles about Arendel being threatened by elemental spirits, accidentally awoken by Elsa.  They learn that they come from their neighbouring Enchanted Forest and it's inhabitants, Northuldra.

These people have been betrayed by Elsa and Anna's grandfather, who build a dam on their lands as well to keep them under his power.  They must find a way to free these people, and yet save Arendel as well, because breaching the dam would mean that Arendel gets flooded.

In the meantime, they discover the lost ship of their parents, and Elsa learns she is actually the fifth spirit of nature, a bridge between the elements and mankind.

To be honest, I thought this movie better then the first one.  For me it felt more as a fairytale fantasy story and less political then the first, and that is something I prefer for a movie.

So sure, this movie is worth watching, as it is far better then most Disney sequels, whom are often straight to DVD affairs!

The Brexit Alternative: trying out various european mainland retailers

 Well, Brexit... 

It sucks gigantically for us mainland wargamers, as overnight everything became a lot more expensive.

Whose right, whose wrong, that's a discussion I don't get into, as only time will tell, and I`m not a UK citizen, nor was I there to vote, comment or hear campaigns.  But I do know that the current result (heck, it might change if agreements get made) is nefast for my wallet and collection drive (okay, Noshi does`t agree on the wallet part).  Import duties, customs costs, Belgium being already a high taxing country... we are looking at about 30% on top of our order total (including shipping costs!!!) for our lovely little parcels from the UK now.

Granted, there are some ways around it, like having GW delivered straight to their stores, but you lose the benefits of the UK retailers luke Wayland, Element or Firestorm, and it actually now comes out MORE expensive then ordering from GW itself (simple math, 15 or 20% reduction vs 30% added) and store picking up.

Not to mention the very, very difficult, or expensive, way we now need to get our smaller brand fixes like Oathsworn (for my Burrows and Badgers) and about everything 6mm apart from the company in Poland that makes ACW and Napoleonics (I have an army for the first, and no intrest in the latter period)... so yeah, hard times it are.

So with this irregular feature on the blog, I`ll be looking and trying out various online retailers I found on the web, mostly located in either Spain or in Germany.  

 

The selection criteria I used where pretty simple: 

 

1. Carry a gazillion ranges (fantasy and sci-fi), preferably NOT only the large brands (Games Workshop, Warlord Games, Flames of War,...) but also smaller, not per se obscure lines.

2. Like the above mentioned retailers, offer reductions across the whole board so it is actually cheaper then RRP

3. If possible, have some long forgotten treasures in there, usually at large discounts, of flopped or discontinued lines, but still usuable "for something".  Which in this last points case is often fantasy to be used in either T9A or DnD.

So I made my first order today at one of those retailers, Turol Games from Spain, and I will keep you all updated on how it went once the order has arrived.  I also on purpose went for something that ticked all three boxes above.

Hopefully until soon for the first reporting back on this matter!

Star Trek Discovery season 3

 Well, this was an odd one for me...

Don't get me wrong, I don`t believe Discovery is bad at all, and Noshi took a liking to it as well.  But, well, some things.

The Discovery, after the finale events of season 2, finds herself stranded 900 years in the future.  The Federation is but a shell of itself, pushed back to a single hidden starbase and counting only 38 member planets, none of their originals included.  Vulcan (now Ni'Var) still finds it's pacing with the Unification that Spock had begun all the way back in The Next Generation, Earth has turned in herself and Andor is now in an alliance with the Orions, the Emerald Chain.

And so the crew starts to not only find their footing and rebuild what is possible of the Federation ideal, but they also investigate an event that transpired 125 years ago when all the dilithium in the universe suddenly exploded.  This event, called The Burn, is the reason the Federation fell apart as in a matter of moments, billions where lost and long distance travel became impossible.

This season as such also carries back to the ideal of Star Trek, exploring strange new worlds (or, in this case, often rediscover old, familiar worlds) and carrying the torch of co-operation.  But there where downsides for me as well this season, and I`m not talking the finale where the Discovery's interior is like a gazillion times to big in the turbolift sequence.

No, this is the first season I actually was annoyed with the "Michael Burnham does everything" syndrome, and even though she gets the chair flying into season 4, she was just to omnipresent for my liking.  Other mainstay character like Stammets really became glorified cameo's.  

The other thing I was a bit urgh about, is the actual cause and source of The Burn.  While it has been worked out very well for what is was, it was just, well, underwhelming for something that impacted the galaxy so hard.

But on the other side, the series DID bring the Abramsverse into the canonical fold, and in a pretty nifty way I must say.  And we met a very, very old face again...

All in all, it wasn`t a bad season, and the idea was really great in my opinion, but the main point above distracts a lot from it, so let's see how season 4 will handle this new dynamic before placing a final judgement.  Like every Trek series, this has been the season it became it's own storyline, and a 32nd, the Federation is not almighty, setting is very intresting for sure to explore!

Let's Fly!

The Haul Report 264: Saint Seiya rulesset!!!!

 After skipping a week for no haulings, we are back with some nice stuff.

And for little Otaku me, some VERY nice stuff

NonsenseMiniatures has put the free to download beta rules for their Constellation Warriors on the website.  And this is nothing less then rules to play with SAINT SEIYA figures!!!

Yup, I`m so going to try those out, I still have the painted gasaphon to try the rules, and I have their models as well to build and paint soonish.

AHPC11: Ruffians

 Not every entry in the AHPC is for the Chambers of Challenge, as the objective of this bloggers community event is still to reduce Lead Mountain.

 And this is one such entry, not attached to any location, just some nice little pile of figures reduced from the unpainted stack.

The models are Games Workshop ruffians for the Middle-earth setting, and part of my grand plan for 2021 to paint all the needed models for the scenarios in the Scouring of the Shire campaign book.  A good little rulebook that makes fantastic introductory scenarios to real new players into the game, with it's small tables and not to fancy rules laden characters.

Armed with a variety of weapons, these 7 guys are there to bully around some poor hobbits.  The two archers provide some long range support, while the guy with the whip is there to put the p into pain on those he manages to catch.

So that makes a little entry of 7 models removed from the to do pile, and a small step closer to my target for this year!

On the Painting Desk 179

 At the risk of getting boring, yup, more ahpc this week... 

The second month has started in the challenge, and I`ve been mainly painting on some bigger "points" entries.

But also on various steps of the challenge map.  I hope in the coming week to tie things together and get another two or three entries in to boost the points some more.

But for now, it's time to finish some things and put in a flocking afternoon...

No Game No Life 5 - Yuu Kamiya

 Gamers vs God Slayers!

In the next instalment of this beloved series of mine, the story continues as Sora, Shiro and the crew try to help out Plum the Damphyr in waking the Siren Queen, and as such saving both races from extinction.

 

After rising to rule as the king and queen of the remaining humans in the world of Disboard, gamer siblings Sora and Shiro bail out of an unwinnable romance game against the races of Dhampyr and Siren!  To uncover the true strategy to beat it, they head for the home of the angelic Flugel: the flying city of Avant Heim!

But the Fluger are a mad race of god killers - will things really go as Sora and Shiro plan?  Can our one-winged gamers together conquer sky and sea to bring three races into their grasp?

Using their cunning abilities as "two in one" gamers known as the Blank, they device a plan to not only beat the Flugel in a game imposed on them, meaning they didn`t already have the upper hand from the word go, but also to spring a trap on those that thought they had them trapped!

Another enjoyable instalment in the series, and with a very surprising conclusion, especially for Sora.  It is already a shame I`m halfway through the series now...

AHPC11: The Larder: Farmer Maggot

 As we prepare ourselves to decent towards the second level of the Chambers of Challenge, it is time to gather some supplies.

 

I had found a nice heap of crops, with pumpkins and cucumbers as big as an arm, when suddenly wild barking emerged out of the darkness...

For the next of my entries, the Larder, I painted up some more models from Games Workshop range of Hobbits.  namely Farmer Maggot and his fierce dogs Grip, Fang and Wolf.

 

In game, they are as viscious as the forces of The Shire can get, and I thought him the perfect match for this chamber as he protects his crops from wary adventurers... or pesky Hobbits setting out on one!

I also printed up a piece of crop for this entry, just to round it all out a bit better with the theme.

And now, we are going to decent into the second level of rooms for this year's challenge!

MESBG The Best of White Dwarf Magazine

 Games Workshop used to bring out these White Dwarf compendiums for the first iterations of the Middle-earth game, and now they are back it.

Best of White Dwarf features a lot of articles, some of the recent version of the game, some of the older issues of the Dwarf all the way down to the very first published battle report.

But that is the beauty of the game, even now in it's "6th edition" even though one cannot count it like that, as the first three where basically tied in with the Lord of the Rings movies when they came out originally, it still are the same rules.

No mayor overhauls compared to their regular mainstream games, just tweaks and turns in the various editions, and this allows you to use the material in this book with next to nothing of adjustments to be made.

After the introduction, we get no less then 5 Battle Reports, including the Battle Companies campaign one from this edition.

Next up is a personal favorite of mine.  A narrative campaign for Battle Companies with the focus on Evil warbands instead of the more "good centered" one from the BC rulebook.  So instead of ending up facing a dragon, your minions might have to take on no other then Boromir himself... a hard task for an army, let alone a rag tag band of adventurers.

Duel on Zirak-Zigil is another classic article, giving a mini game between Gandalf the Grey and the Balrog of Moria.

But there are also some fun scenarios in the book from ages past, like Fatty Bolger's escape or Fiends & Fireworks, both allowing for a totally different sort of game then the basic battles.  Storytelling scenarios are the forthe of the system after all.

There are also the rules for assaulting across rivers in the compendium, for those wanting to take Osgiliath, and rules for fighting over Lake Town.

The remainder of the contents are some opinion and tactica articles about the armies and magic in Middle-earth, and some hobby articles like paint splatters of the recent plastic kits of Theoden and Gandalf the White, as well as a hobby workshop on making a Mordor board.

A really great compendium I thoroughly enjoyed reading and nosing through, bringing back fond memories and a handy place to have articles combined!

2.11.0.0

Aladdin

 Recently, me and Noshi sat down to watch one of her christmas gifts, the real life version of the Disney classic Aladdin.

 

And I must say, I thought it the best of the remakes so far.

The story is well known: common street thief Aladdin meets with princess Jasmin in Agrabah, and wants to win her heart.  He is recruited by the evil vizier Jafar, who sends him to a cave to retrieve a magical lamp.  However, Aladdin sees through the ruse, and obtains the lamp and a flying carpet for himself.

 

By rubbing the lamp, he is granted three wishes by the genie inside, and he vows to save his last one to set him free.  He becomes a prince through the magic of the lamp, and vies for the hand of Jasmin, but the truth gets revealed when Jafar places a coup for the title of Sultan.

Through trickery they manage to seal Jafar away in the lamp though, and set the genie free in return, causing Jasmin to become the next Sultan and change the laws so she can marry Aladdin.

It was a good fun movie, and perhaps I have only two points of critque, one which isn`t even really a critique at all...

Will Smith does a wonderful job as genie, but if you are from the generation like us that grew up with the original one, the ghost of late Robin Williams keeps hanging around.  He just was totally awesome as the genie, and it are peraps impossible steps to follow.

 

The second one though is Jafar.  He is by no means menacing or feeling scheming enough like he was in the cartoon version, and that is a pity that takes away a lot from the film.  

But, as I said, for me the best real life adaption Disney made so far, and a truly enjoyable and visual spectacle!