Sabotage - D(e)ad Tired...

So its been a little while. 

When I started this whole blogging malarkey, I thought I'd be the one that never posted one of those 'I'm not dead' posts. I'd post regularly. I'd do all the things that blogger recommends. There'd be pictures. There'd be gripping commentary on your topic of interest. Cutting wit and devastating insight. 

Okay, there's no need to look at me like that. There have been pictures, okay?

Anyway, here's my 'I'm not dead' post: There were seven of them. One had a cricket bat. They wanted my money. I fought valiantly - I think I broke someone's knuckles with my face and I certainly remember poking someone's finger with my eye. It was glorious, but in the end, I was overcome...

Okay, there's no need to look at me like that. I thought it would make a more interesting story than just saying 'I had stuff to do'. Nothing exciting - no gripping real life problems, just lots of little annoying things that meant the blog was always just on the horizon, but never closer. And, of course, I'm a new dad. I'm using that excuse until she's two. 

So I'm sorry. 

We can still be friends, right?

By way of atonement, I thought I'd rejig the site a bit. That's way better than writing some devastatingly insightful articles. I'll get to those later. Here's a picture:

As you may have noticed, its the new logo for Warhammer For Adults. There is more rejigging to come, mainly around the colours, but layout, streamlining and the new logo are already present. I removed the Why is it Called Warhammer For Adults page. I will write another one, but having re-read the stuff I wrote there, I realised it was a bit too 'ranty' and not enough 'sense'. I know what I wanted to say, but the original page didn't do a good job of conveying that. 

Fortunately, you will not have been starved of interesting events on the blogosphere. 

Back to the rejig. Highlighted in one of the links above is a bloody good idea which I also happened to think of completely independently a few days ago. Although fantasy is my first love,  that marriage-destroying-80s-fanatic Orlygg set off a parallel interest in Rogue Trader. This, combined with my (and yours - you know it) fascination with the Realms of Chaos can lead to only one outcome - a small force of Chaos Renegades. What that means is that I've updated my trades pages. Firstly, they've been split into 'stuff I have' and 'stuff I want'. Secondly, the 'stuff I want' page has Rogue Trader content on it. 

So, if you happen to have some Chaos Renegades lying around (you know, clogging up the drains and whatnot), let me know. 

Also, I've moved the navigation pages. They used to be at the top, but now they are on the left hand side. There's other stuff on the left hand side too. But the navigation links are the main things to care about. That's where the trade pages are...

Finally, I must issue an apology. There were ten comments on my last post, none of which I've responded to. I will redress this shortly, but I think I have an idea of how to proceed with some sort of meeting. I guess that'll be another post, but I want to be sure that you know I'm not just ignoring you. Thanks for the suggestions. 

Oldhammer Vintage Rally (cooler name pending)

Well. It appears that young Mr Orlygg has galvanised the internet! Oldhammer T-Shirts? Check. Custom Oldhammer figures? Check! Oldhammer Painting Competition? Check.

I guess we should expect to see the formation of a hair metal band shortly? Possibly the lesser known Bolt Thrower tribute act, Stone Thrower? Organ Gun, perhaps?

Anyway, seeing as how a movement appears to have occurred, I thought I'd pile onto the bandwagon. And, seeing as how our little community quite organically has picked different areas to focus on, I was quite surprised to see the gentle suggestion surface, but not actually be 'grown' any further.

Fortunately, this one has been quite close to my heart, so I'll take it.

I've made reference to the idea of a classic car warhammer rally before. I believe I've even referred to this on some forums, but I cannot find those discussions right now. Seeing as how all the other stuff is moving along, though, it now seems prudent to suggest just such a thing.

Essentially, a meet up. A classic, warhammer/gw/80's rally. At the end of the day, the thing we all want to do (I suspect) is to actually play these games. I realise that there are others, focussing just on collecting, but I would imagine we would all find kinship if we found ourselves in the same place at the same time.

So heres how I thought about it:

The first problem is that everyone is, well, everywhere.Skarsnik's map will tell you that.
The second problem is that most of us have our own little miniatures at home, who need to be fed, bathed and generally looked after.
The third problem is that a meetup may require some serious logistics - its not just about figures - its about scenery. Tables. Toilets. Parking. Food.

So, intriguingly enough, the answer I ended up with was Warhammer World.

Now I'm not saying that's the only option. That's just the thing that popped into my mind. Let me explain:

I think (if there were enough of us) they would be most forgiving of the older model ranges, including the other non-citadel products that they used to sell at the time. They have the tables, parking, toilets and food that we need, in vast abundance. Although many of us are suspicious of the evil empire, it would be some sort of homage (Pilgrimage? yes I know, it should be to Hammersmith, but they don't have that store anymore) to a different time and I would imagine that it would be garner no small amount of interest from anyone where on the day. I daresay that if we alerted them to what we were doing, GW may even be interested in proceedings.

Also, the fact that they have a pub on site means that we could literally stay there until they close, talking, playing, trading and generally reminiscing of a different time.

Yes, we'd all have to apply for a weekend exit visa, and probably have to pay some money to stay in the dodgy little travelodge next to Warhammer World, but I think if we make an event out of it, it could be done. I've started laying the groundwork with Her Excellency, The Grand Minister of the Interior, and I haven't been shot down yet.

To be clear: not a tournament!

Very much like a classic car rally, really.

So, to put it to the forum: how about such an event? Is it worth it? Would you go? If not Warhammer World, where else?

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

I want to talk about finding opponents. I would suggest that my title is a little specific, as I'd be interested in opponents with other names too, as, I'm sure, would you.

Fortunately, our man over in Nottingham, Skarsnik And-Old-Lead (of the Nottinghamshire And-Old-Leads, not the Devonshire And-Old-Leads, who are altogether different people, not to be consulted with at all regarding the location of opponents!) has developed a means of discovering opponents.

He has also focussed on making the thing even more specific, aiming to help us all locate Warhammer 3rd edition opponents (of any name, not just Romeos). If you are looking for martial arts opponents, or political opponents, allow me to suggest that you look elsewhere.

So, if the thing that floats your boat happens to be Warhammer 3rd edition opponents, then our man Skarsnik And-Old-Lead has just the thing for you:

The WFB 3rd Edition Opponent Finder!

Astute readers may also note that I've created a tab designed to connect to this resource as well. Essentially, the thing works like this - you visit the page, post up your approximate location, and Skarsnik will put a little pip on his map which will point out whereabouts on earth you are.

In related news, I was thinking of something similar, in the shape of a player registry. the bit I was missing was the easy visual reference (you know, like a map) at which one could easily gauge the relative distance from a potential opponent. But, the solution does provide something else - a means of establishing contact with each other, without having to leave email addresses or phone numbers just spattered about on the internet. When you do that, people from ex-soviet states will try to get in touch with you to sell you cheap medication, or high quality education at low, low prices, or penis enlargements. Bad business - so you should protect your contact details wherever possible.

This, then, is the registry:

Oldhammer Player Registry

Essentially, it is operated by a free piece of software called Groupspaces, which basically means that it is extremely limited. It's an ugly page, to be sure, but you get what you pay for (nothing, in this case).

The reason that I had not mentioned this earlier is that I was not happy that it was doing the right thing, but now that the missing component has been completed (in the shape of Skarsnik's map), it might, might just fly. Also, note that you cannot peruse the contents of the site until you have applied to join. Membership is granted by a human, who, according to Brussels, are entitled to Human Rights nowadays, so please allow a small period to pass before going postal.

Of course, all suggestions are welcome as regards these things.

Finally, if you happen to be both technically brilliant and bored at the same time, perhaps you could take the time to either merge, or create, a 'thing' that does what these two 'things' are trying to do separately. We, the forum of potential opponents, wait with baited breath...

Terror of the Lichemaster: 16 / 17!

It seems that fate has a sense of the dramatic.

Having found my Grimwald, the only outstanding character from this motley crew is now the Lichemaster himself: Heinrich Kemler.

Oh, the tension...

Anyway, this is Grimwald:

And this is the lot laid out on the catalogue page:

Eyes peeled, kids - we're nearly there!

Well, except for the buildings I still need to source. And the 40 odd imperials that I'll need to get. And the painting that I'll need to do. But we're more nearly there than we were last year!

AB + GW != ©

Last weekend I was contacted by Lone Wolf Development and informed that all GW related data files had to be removed from the datafilecentral. You can read the public announcement at http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=21779.

I moved the WFB3 data files to a new home at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/88045154/wfb3v2.ab.

Is this just another way for GW to alienate themselves even further from their fan base or are they up to something?

This month's figure...

I'm a new dad, so painting is hard.

But, it appears that the stars have aligned appropriately, as Venus ascends through Basingstoke*. Or something. The point is that time, paint, an unpainted figure and myself all appeared to find ourselves in the same place and the same time.

We decided to hang out.

This is the result:

Another chaos dwarf. This plus this and this means that I now have a unit of 10 (painted).

And, off the back of the advice I received on the 'Warhammer for Parents' topic linked above, I also experimented with inks. Or washes. Or whatever they're called. So this is a goblin, painted just in basic colours, and washed in GW brown (I forget what its called, its the new one) and then highlighted with the same base colours as before. The point of this exercise was speed. I won't lie, I'm not thrilled with the outcome, but it is better than I thought it was going to be. And, it only took about 40 minutes (not elapsed time, mind, but total) to do. So...something to think about.

This is a hobgoblin that I decided to try GW black (I forget what its called - its the new one) with. Again, base, wash and highlight with base. I think it turned out better than the brown.

Again, the point was speed - nothing else. This is a comparison with one of my Groms, which was painted without washes:

For interest, the chaos dwarf was painted using my regular layering approach, in order to maintain consistency with the rest of the unit. Assuming my other experiments go well (the two goblins above were a huge fight against my OCD first and foremost - the bases are not done because I genuinely thought they would be in Nitromors by the end of the day!), I think I could really get these washes to work.

*I don't know, but I have it on good authority that a gentleman's club may be found there, from which an especially suitable view of Venus may be appreciated. Venus appears on Fridays and Saturdays.

Army Builder: WFB3 - v2.0

Hear ye, hear ye!

Version 2.0 of the WFB3 army builder data files have been published. They can be downloaded through a licensed Army Builder or manually at the Data File Central. Just open the file with AB and follow the installation instructions.

Roster sheets made by previous versions are not compatible with this version. This version includes the following features:


Version 2.0 18th June 2012

• RoC: Added Champions of Chaos of all Chaos Patrons.
• RoC: Added 125 personal Chaos Attributes, except: Chaos Were, Duplication, GM'S Choice, Siamese Twin & Invent Your Own.
• RoC: Added 67 Chaos Gifts, except:Daemon Weapon, Chaos Spawn, The Eye of God.
• RoC: Added Spells & Magic Items of all Chaos Patrons
• General: Categorized spells based on level instead of lore.
• General: Added categories for Race, Abilities and Traits.
• General: Remake of Ld,Int,Cl,WP bonus system.
• General: Fixed incorrect stats.

Submitting Bugs

PLEASE include the race the problem occurs with, and any info I need to reproduce it (e.g. units to add etc.). You can report bugs on this blog post or at http://forums.wolflair.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70.

Enjoy!