DIY Budget Mat/Board

It's me, back from the dead! Two months without posting. Work, family, blah blah. Also, I went into shell shock after Adepticon.

And now, there's a new version of Warmahordes coming in a few weeks, I've started a Frostgrave warband, I got excited by and then completely disillusioned by Dicemasters, I bought, opened, and then put away

REVIEW: Novus Design Studio Buildings

Like Nagash, I'm returning this week after a long (six month) absence. Hello, readers, sorry for abandoning you. I'll have a separate post for why I've been out of the blogosphere, but today, let's talk about buildings. Particularly, buildings from a little known vendor Novus Design Studios.

Interesting packaging

Speedpainted 40k Buildings

The University of Chicago

I've been on a one month hiatus from the hobby due to work and family commitments as well as my perennial revamping of the home recording studio. In the meanwhile, several supplements have been released (Inquisition and Iron Hands) or are in the process of being released, and there are rumors of Nids and IG flying around. All exciting stuff. Being away for a while has helped me focus on what I need to do to really start enjoying eternal warfare. The first task is to finish my home table. In a previous post, I show the frame and boards.

Chapterhouse and Wargamma Defense Walls / Aegis Counts As

I saw this morning on Apocalypse 40k that  Chapterhouse, on the heels of the relatively advantageous (to them) court decision has initiated a Kickstarter for army-specific defense walls.

It's a clever idea for those who don't relish aquilas on their Eldar, Tau, or Ork wargear. It's also an idea that was implemented by others before this Kickstarter.

News & Gale Force Nine Custom Terrain Tables

This is not CGI

Whew! As of this morning, I have finished a major work project that completely wiped me out. But all is well for the holidays. do any of you actually get MORE gaming in during the holidays? [more]

Utterly Amazing

Every once in a while, I will stumble across some tidbit on the Internet that influences my take on 40k. Sometimes, I'll find something that is compelling enough to share with the community. And then there are very rare occasions where I will repost something from the 40k community because it's just that cool.

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[Review] Bases by Phantom Fox

I frequent three FLGSes. One of them, Games Plus, has the biggest selection of miniatures I have ever seen in one place, but it is no longer local (I went there as a kid in the 80s). The second one, Lightspeed Hobbies, is a friendly place and they carry Games Workshop and a few other miniature lines, but their main push is Magic the Gathering and Yu Gi Oh.

The third store, Critical Effect, has a really friendly staff, some nice tables, and a mellow atmosphere. Their community is small but seems very active. They have started carrying terrain and bases from a local caster, Phantom Fox. As soon as I found out this was a local concern, I purposely didn't inquire further about the creator's identity. I wanted to give as impartial a review as possible. *more*

Wall of Bones

I was at Games Plus on Valentine's Day (I'm not THAT much of a geek...the wife and I went for sushi earlier), and I happened to pick up two pairs of these:

Can't see the catalog picture well? Here:

2 pairs of bone walls with my AoBR converted Chaos Dreadnought for scale. Armorcast used to do a ton of stuff for Games Workshop, and these terrain pieces maintain the same sort of aesthetic as the GW stuff...kind of chunky.

They are beige resin with remarkably little flashing to cut away. Nevertheless, I wore a breathing mask when I did the tiny bit of filing. A quick bath in a mild detergent to clean the release agent, I was ready to paint.

It's still below freezing here, so I started with a heavily watered down gesso that was mixed with cheap black acrylic to make a dark grey primer. After drying, I dry brushed with even cheaper white acrylic. Then a heavy coat of Badab Black wash. After that mess dried, I dry brushed again with Bleached Bone followed by a light wash of Devlan Mud. Total elapseed time including drying: 2 hrs. The little details like the purple intestine took no time at all.