A good haul of books!

 As people who follow this blogs Haul Report have seen in the past weeks, I have been bringing home whole cartrunks of books.

The story is as follows: my mother in law plays in an amateur theatre, but as they are fusing with another group, they are clearing out all their props.

And amongst those are about a 1000 books.  Initially, I was aksed to come and pick the books I wanted, being mostly the english languaged fantasy books, and I even dug op manga in the piles and cabinets.  But as they don't have enough man- and carpower to bring the books to the recycling center's book department, I reached an agreement.  I would take ALL the books, even those I don't have any intrest in, and would sort them out in the piles for me, for Noshi, for my collegues and friends etc...

I would then either try to sell off those that are still decent for a single euro a book to sponsor little Thorin's toycollection, and bring the books that I wouldn't want to put the effort in to the recycling center so they can sell them for their own profits.  Anyways, I could do with them whatever I wanted, as long as they where out of their storage.

So I agreed to this, and have been ferrying, sorting and listing hundreds of books over the past weeks.  It was hard work, taking up almost all my freetime, but in the end worth the effort.  Noshi got a nice stack, the children's books where nearly all divided amongst relatives and collegues with small children, and all the rest have been shifted and stored, or brought away.

But of course, I also had a hefty pile for myself from amongst all those books, and that is actually what this little post is all about, so without further ado, here is MY loot pile from this insane book haul!

Now that is a lovely pile of reading material, and much to bring reviews about as well in the coming years!

Bringing my Keeper of Secrets to Age of Sigmar 4th edition

 Well, I finished rebasing my old Warhammer 40k Demon Princess, Bar'ba'Rah the Thighchoker, for use in Age of Sigmar.

I did wait a while with doing this until 4th edition came out though, to see what the current basing needs would be, but it remained a 100mm round for a Keeper of Secrets, which is what I will be using this model for.

The model itself was painted almost 5+ years ago, as she led my Emperor's Children in 8th edition, but now will become the X-rated centerpiece for my Hedonists of Slaanesh.  I deliberatly kept her gloss finish, to show her wetness though.

The base itself was as such painted up in the style I want to do all my forces for AoS 4.0 in, to give a bit of unity, with details to be added as seen fit (for example, my Idoneth will have some puddles added) depending the force.

Now to first assemble the Spearhead set for these guys, as I will be joining some friends to try those rules out, though I doubt I'll have figures assembled by then, let alone painted.  But it is a solid base to get the Slaanesh to 2000 points (she costs 400 by herself) and join some low level events to get a hang of the game.

Now, off to the next models to finish!

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S Special: Japanese Hospitality

 An anime I discovered thorugh Noshi, I think series is awesome fun and well, cute.

So after watching all the seasons, all that remained was the special episode after season 2, Japanese Hospitality.

Taking place after Kanna's trip to the United States, the friend she made there, Chloe, comes over to Japan.  Meeting up at the airport, the group is taking her on a sightseeing trip along Tokyo, "expertly" guided by Tohru and joined by Kobayashi and Ilulu.

 

Starting out in Akihabara,  they travel there by train, meeting with Fafnir and Aida to play a VR game and get some gachapon.  As they need to go look for food, they meet up with the foodie of their group next, Elma.

Returning home, Saikawa runs in on them, and they soon befriend each other as well.  They show her their school, going for a swim in the pool there.  Back home the girls pass by Ilulu's store for some japanese candy, before going to the summum of japanese hospitality, traditional dressed fireworks play during a lqte night bbq on the roof.

This was a fun special episode, that showed a lot of the typical japanese activities and cultures in a fun style.

On the Painting Desk 290

 Condemnors done, Keeper rebased, Shatterer's done... yeah, it has been a good week for certain!

But the pile goes ever on, meaning I still have projects running while starting other ones as well.

So let's have a look at what is currently on my painting table, and chatter a bit on what is about to come in the future if I keep this rate up.

 

 

This all looks like by next week, I'll finish the Akhelian King for certain, and hopefully got some work in on either the Wood Elf general or the four demolishers from the Horns of Hashut, the two targets now to get progress on first.

 

Check back to see where I ended up!

One Punch Man 2nd Season Specials

 Time for some gags in the following anime to scratch of the list: the specials that came on the One Punch Man second season BluRay.

Short, fun 10 minute episodes on average, they take a look at side characters that appear in this epic series.

Like when Saitama runs into some minor villains in a public toilet, who planned to do a robbery, and who have truly miniscule powers with more show to unleash it then potency, but he convinces them to train and become heroes.  

Silverfang in the meantime is enjoying a nice fishing outing, discussing their students and young generation of heroes, as they see the bravery of the Mumen Rider.  Genos in the meantime suffers from amnesia, accidentally having been hit on the head by Saitama.  

Saitama and Genos enter an online gaming tournament, where he is defeated in mere seconds, but it turns out to be King who actually wins the tournament.  In the meantime Puri Puri Prisoner stops an attack on the jail, and protecting jailbreakers from an eel like monster.

The final episode is a murder like investigation, with a lot of high level heroes gathered in a lodge snowed in.

This was a fun series of specials for sure, and lovely to put some focus on the side characters.

Blue Period volume 12 - Tsubasa Yamaguchi

 Summer break, and his part-time teacher job, are over, so Yatora prepares for his second year at TUA (Tokyo University of Arts).

And that also means it is a return for me to the beloved manga, one I truly enjoy reading.

 

Arriving back at the university, he runs into Maki.  She has recollected and refocussed herself, and transferred to TUA through sculpture courses.  He also meets her friend Fuu, whom he had briefly ran into in the past together with Yuka.

 

As they get to meet their new teachers, one of them, the refined Inukai, is kind of a big name as he is one of the vice-presidents of the school.  Afterwards, he returns to Maki, getting to know people actually not in the oil painting course like himself.

But then Inukai gives them their first assignment, making no less then 500 drawings in two weeks time.  Yatora struggles to find a concept to tie them all together though, as he drops by Maki in the sculpture atelier and seeing the piece she is working on.  He seeks advice both from her as from his friend Yakumo to motivate himself to get started on the assignment.  But on the train home, he just starts drawing people he sees, and having found his concept does this for the whole 500 drawings.

During review, Inukai tells Yatora that he needs to focus less on himself and take a broader look at art that others have been creating as there next assignment is all about "guilt".  Running into two other students he met at maki's, he joins them to visit Fuji-san.  She runs an art collective called No Marks, and he lends a hand setting up for their exhibition.  As he misses his last train back, he stays over for the night at the collective.  The next morning, he learns more about her, like how she views museums.  As he learns her insights on the evolution of art, he decides he will attend the event No Marks is running the evening after, getting a fresh view on art in the process.  And he learns his end of the first year work actually made an impression on her.

 

 

Thinking over his art, he has skipped school for 2 weeks now, staying over at No Marks.  But he gets ever more comfortable in the group, their shared house style and people, and especially Fuji's opinions and views on art.  He even starts doubting if TUA is actually the right place for him, and when he finds a ticket to a solo artist that is self-taught, he goes to see the exposition.  There he sees Inukai as well, but the professor doesn't seem to recognise him.  

He realises he is falling in love with art and wants to become part of Fuji's circle.  But then his fellow TUA student, who made him doubt if the school was something for him or not, unexpectantly tells him he won't be visiting No Marks anymore without sharing his reasoning...

What influence this will have on Yatora and what decision he will make we will hopefully find out in the next volume of this highly enjoyable art manga!

On Tour to the Frituur part 5: 't Duivels Frietje in Merksem

 Time for another frituur visit, because...

We where at grandma's, and little Thorin wanted fries for dinner, so out I went to the little fires place around her corner, one we have frequented already a few times, but now it's time for some spotlighting.

Located on the Lambrechtshoekenlaan 341 in 2170 Merksem, 't Duivels Frietje is ran by a friendly family of chinese people.

Our order

Being again a family meal, that meant I can't do my usual mini fries, specialty meat and tartare saus, but instead we ordered a small fries with spices, a large fries with salt, 2 spicy cervela (this is one of their specialty meats), 2 curryworst speciaal (thats with mayonaise, ketchup and raw onion) and a cold meatball, for a total of 22.60 euro.

The fries aren't the very best I had, but they are good, standard baked non-greasy fries.  The cervela still has that pink touch on the inside, and the special sauce was not overdone as tends to happen more then I'd like, making you able to actually taste the curryworst as well.

The venue has some tables inside, seating two times maximum 4 people, but when it is good weather also has some spacey outside seating.  The place itself is small, yet functional and an overroofed driveway allows for waiting in some fresh air on your order.

Conclusion

This is the basic, okay frituur, good for that craving every belgian is born with.  Nothing spectacular, neither nothing bad, this is the sort of place everyone should have within walking distance.  I'm scoring it a 6.5 out of 10, the perfect score for that "you just have to have one" place.

Next time, I'll be looking again for some places to "solo" and experiment, as I'm making up a list of frituurs in the neighbourhood, and the not so close neighbourhood, to try out!

Warhammer Underworlds: Ironsoul's Condemnors

 The word of Sigmar is out, and that word is SMASH!

 

 

When I got the Champions of Dreadfane box not that long ago, I immediatly liked this band of Stormcast Eternals.

 

Because they are so subtle as a brick in a bag of iron bars.  Hitting like a train, with solid defences and an Inspire mechanic that requires to roll criticals on either offense or defence, this looks like something right up my mind-set of "Red Burn" from my old Magic days.

So I pretty quickly went around painting them, leapfrogging them in the planned Underworlds paintschedule to be able to give them a try very soon.  They are all about rolling hammers and doing 2 or 3 damage a blow, while hiding behind their armour and big shields to score the needed glory points.  Which is also their biggest drawback looking at their Rivals deck, a lot of cards need cooperation with two fighters, and against magic heavy bands this can prove difficult.

But they are superb models, and I will definitly field them one of the comming weeks in a Casual Gamenight!

Fafner Dead Agressor - Behind the Line

 A special movie made to celebrate the end of the series and the overwhelming fan support for more, Behind the Line takes place between Heaven and Earth on the one side, and Exodus on the other.

In this hour long special, a tale is told from never before.

With peace returned at the moment, our pilots are graduating from being Fafner pilots.  But this means they will start following courses to decide what jobs they want to pursue now.

But this brings issues, as they are war veterans focussed on protecting the island, their families and their friends, while now they have to try and settle on a life without those requirements.  Some try a career in medical, others in operations, but also in the military as regular fighter pilots.

 

Miwa and Canon visit Karin's grave, as the older ones look on, wondering how Maya will grow and evolve.   They all look back on the past and their paths to the future, and doing routine things like going to cultural events and having tea together.

Yet they keep longing for their Fafner's, as those keep being interweaved into their lives and possible new careers.  Soushi harshly, yet correctly, rubs in the truth that they just linger around, waiting for retirement without any set purposes in their life.

When the alarm goes off, the new generation has to come into action, the elder pilots staying behind as reserves.  But the sortie is not needed in the end as it turned out to be a drifting hulk, as Kazuki and Canon start accepting they must think about "tomorrow" again after all those years.  

At the festival, they finally start coming to terms with their fates, and make peace with it as the lanterns of their lost ones drift away over the water...

So this was a calm and relaxing instalment in the franchise, and felt like a perfect send-off for the series.

The Haul Report 402

 Well, a bit of a strange episode this week, as I actually can't post pictures of some for various reasons.

So I guess you will just have to take my word for it...

The first thing being I picked up my permanent driver's license!  So now it is time to start stickering the car and more importantly, be able to drive around back to my club, events and tournament.  Which I actually immediatly did hehe.

Well, because I picked up this figure from Mike, I won it in a clubauction for sponsoring the scenery account for our fantasy group.  I have no plans to play Stormcasts, but I'll be putting her to the side in case I ever organise that Spearhead tournament I have playing in the back of my head for the price support.

The final piece that arrived is a big box from TokyoCatch, but I can't show the contents or the unboxing video I already taped, as Noshi's motherday present is also in there.  Something I played for to high heaven until I finally caught it, but I think she will find it ubercute.

So that's it for this week, see you again next episode!

On the Painting Desk 289

 Well, I don't work halfdays on wednesdays during the summer period, and I had a lot of books still to sort...

So needless to say, the paint table has been a bit neglected these days, and that is why it has been a while since the previous update.

But now I can touch my desk again, so in we went with new courage and a fresh brush, to get at least some numbers decently painted up this year.

A lot of fresh projects have already been assembled as such and shuffled onto the desk, even though they probably won't receive any work this or next work.

But the momentum is gathering again, so it might all of a sudden go fast and I hope to at least finish the Condemnors this month to get something done!

Check back next week to see where we ended up, take care!

Lord Ipsqueeck's Adventures: Riding wild in the Efteling

 Greetings and salutations my followers, and welcome to another tale of a might adventure I had last weekend!

Because I went for the second year in a row to The Efteling, an amazing theme park in The Netherlands with a fairytale forest, but more importantly, some wild rides!

 

 

You know, that kind of thing I brave like a real man while my daddy is whimpering at the back... like here in the Max and Mauritz rollercoaster, which we went in twice!

It did help that saturday the weather was a bit less, but that made it nice and calm with short waiting lines, always a good thing for sure!  Like when we joined Sindbad on his merchant boat voyage, where we weathered a storm no less, salaam, without any queue to wait in.

Of course, we needed to do the Carnival Festival as well on both days, as it is such a great fun ride with heaps of things to see.  And a fantastic theme music to boot, right daddy?

 

Another calmer ride was the monorail in the Land van Laaf, which was time for some high up rest and relaxation.

But not all had to be calm, as we went on a variety of merry go rounds, including the Steamcarrousel.

I also spotted the Dance Macabre, a huge ghostly mansion that will open later this year and which I will be exploring next year as a result.

 

 

Some riding around on the Old Tufferbaan and the cycling trains of the Blauwe Reiger later, it was time to go to our weekend house, the awesome Efteling hotel with it's thematic interior, and of course I tested the bed.

 

Tested it very intensely even...

Fresh for the second day after a good breakfast, it was time to return to the park for more adventuring!  The benefit of being so early is no waiting lines, and my daddy to everyone's amazement went into the Roc alone, a rollercoaster in the dark, to "prove a point".  I think he looked pale though afterwards.

Adventuring does bring with it the risk of injuries though...

But a nice little Gondola boat ride later, all was forgotten, and I even went on a trainride which compared to here in Belgium actually rode on time!

 

We went to the Sprookjesbos that afternoon, but I refute any claims I fell asleep in the calm and melodic forest, okay!  I was just overthinking some things, like the awesome slides all around the park for me to try out.

While mommy and daddy enjoyed some iced coffee, the weekend was coming to a close and we had to return homewards, but not without daddy drooling over some scale models of the park... and taking home some beer, because what else with him.

 

 

And so this adventure came to a close, another fantastic weekend and one I will be repeating again next year for sure!  Thanks mommy and daddy for taking me there, I really enjoy this place!