Off the Top of My Head #12: Warhammer 40K Orks Dreadtrukk

On May 8, 2013May 7, 2013 By James CastroIn Games, Random Fun5 Comments

If it wasn’t clear from my previous posts, most recently the one about Dreamlike Gaming (congrats on the new store guys!) I’m pretty well into the Warhammer/Warhammer 40k hobby now.

Over the last couple months I’ve built two 40k armies. One went along with the release of the new Dark Angels codex. Dark Angels are troubled and all about smiting chaos (with their own flaws so that makes them interesting) not to mention a super-cool robed look. I love my Dark Angels army and pics of them will be coming soon. However…my favorite 40k army is orks.

Orks are a great horde army. All movement and weight of fire. They have a terrific all-id attitude and slight regard for personal survival; it’s all about the good fight.

One of the tragedies of the orks is their slightly humorous persona. Orks ARE funny and I do love that about them, but their cockney slang accents and brutish attitude usually make them difficult to tell entire stories for. I’d hate to see them lose their sense of humor but I’d like to see some good, long narratives from Black Library about them. Like Rodney Dangerfield….they get no respect. Except Ghazghkull.. If you don’t believe me read Chains of Golgotha and see how menacing this guy is.

My favorite tabletop aspect of orks is their junkyard tech. They can make things work just be believing they work, and can “loot” vehicles from other races, make ’em orky, and use them under the “looted wagon” codex profile (btw orks REALLY need a 6th edition codex…c’mon Games Workshop!)

Keeping this in mind I was able to get my hands on a Chaos Defiler for a discount price and, as I truly despise the traitors, I knew I’d never use it in a chaos army…but I could loot it!

Since it’s half Deff Dread and half Trukk I dubbed it the “Dreadtrukk.” It has parts of a Chaos Defiler, Battlewagon, Trukk, Land Raider Crusader, Wartrakk, Dakkajet, and Warbike to name a few.

Attached are pics of my looted Chaos defiler. It was a challenge to build, but I created it under codex rules and gave it:

DredTrukk	Points	Number Taken	Total
Original Points: 35			35
Skorcha	15	1	15
Big Shoota	5	2	10
Red Paint Job	5	1	5
Stikkbomb Chukka	5	1	5
Armour Plates	10	1	10
Boarding Plank	5	1	5
Wreckin’ Ball	10	1	10
Reinforced Ram	5	1	5
Grabbin’ Klaw	5	1	5

Total			105

The lower “jaw” is obviously the reinforced ram from the battlewagon. Believe it or not it is held in place with the left “arm” weapon of the Chas defiler left in two pieces. It worked remarkably well.

The Skorcha is actually the Flamestorm cannons from a Land Raider Redeemer. I made the Crusader variant but liked the look of the flamer so I was glad to use it. The turret still raises and lowers slightly which means the jaw actually “works.”

Inside the “mouth” is a ram head from a warbike.

The boarding planks I attached to the back of the trukk bed rather than the sides. Since the legs are on the sides it gives a bit more range, plus they can board whatever is “grabbed” by the Grabbin’ Klaw. For the Grabbin Klaw I used the claws that came with the Defiler and laid the trukk bed on top of them.

The “commander” is a nob with a stormboy head in a cupola made of Killa Kan shoulder pads an a vision slit.

The left side gunner is from the old Wartrakk set, I made a skorcha out of that too so I had him left over.

The right gunner is a “big shoota” boy with a nob head (no laughing!) I was very please with his posing, the big shoota held wildly in one hand and the human head held high in the other. I gave him a bloody chain axe just for fun. His “turret” is made of left over parts of the Dakkajet, a bike tire half, and Killa Kan parts.

I admit I like my orks “dirty” and scratched up even when bright and flashy. I had it painted in a nice pristine color scheme but didn’t like it until I scratched it to kingdom come with Necron compound.

I have another looted wagon I actually like better. A typical Leman Russ wth a boom gun. Pics of it and my custom warboss, Grimskragg Defftrigga, coming soon!

Click the picture below for a 360 view!

The death card from the Rider Waite deck

New Hobby: Tarot Card Reading

On May 5, 2013May 4, 2013 By R. PettyIn Art, Random FunLeave a comment

Thanks to TV and movies, I always thought Tarot card reading was a special skill or belief. I assumed it was frowned upon unless you were or wanted to be a psychic or someone else seeking supernatural guidance. It never occurred to me that I could pick up Tarot card reading as a hobby. Until now…

Recently, while reading the Beautiful Creatures quadrilogy (or quadruply as I like to call them), it dawned on me I could order a pack and learn to read. In the series Amma, a Seer, uses cards to see the future outcome of events. This character triggered a curiosity in me that I buried as a child because I thought Tarot cards were wrong in some way.

So, I ordered a pack. My friends and family thought I was a little crazy, but they embraced the idea, and I received a Zombie Tarot pack as well (thanks, James)!

The Cards and What It All Means

Tarot reading does not insinuate worshiping Satan or not believing in God. It’s about symbolism, and as an English major, I was trained to look for symbolism in everything I see and do. It’s all about interpretation. The cards represent human emotions and situations, and although some look into them for prophetic reasons, I am more interested in picking up a new hobby to entertain myself and friends.

There are multiple ways to lay out the cards depending on what you want to know. Each card represents specific emotions and can have different interpretations. For example, the death card does not necessarily mean death – it could mean the end of something or change. The lovers card does not mean sex, it represents youth, innocence, and true love “before it is corrupted by material possessions.”

The Rider Waite pack designed by Pamela Coleman Smith in 1903 is gorgeous; each card is a work of art. They are simple and effective, almost mystifying you as you shuffle them. My Zombie cards are somewhat bizarre and modernized, but they are very fun and zombie-apocalypse specific. I recommend either deck and encourage you to look for ones that may interest you; there are also angel, Steampunk, vampyre, and witch designs, to name a few.

The lovers card from Zombie Tarot — Photo from manplat.wordpress.com

The few readings I’ve done were lots of fun and full of laughs. Finding new hobbies can be a great stress release, rejuvenate you, and teach you something – especially about yourself. Sometimes a new hobby pulls me out of a funk or opens my mind to more possibilities, and often times, my hobbies help me focus more on things work, family, and goals.

Do you have any unusual hobbies you recommend? Feel free to share below!

Off the Edge #3: Random Annoyances

On April 24, 2013April 23, 2013 By James CastroIn Opinions, Random FunLeave a comment

As anyone with the internet, a PC, a car, or a television…I get a little tired of things sometimes. Not just typical annoying things, but other things that might seem harmless, or even wildly popular, but for some reason I just get incredibly weary of some aspects about the culture and just life in general. Just for fun (bring it on internet) I thought I’d do a list of the things that have been especially annoying recently in no particular order:

People: They’re rude, selfish, and needlessly hateful. In fact it’s such a surprise when someone is civil you aren’t quite sure how to take it. When you get the note from the guy who scratched your car or a “thanks for the tip” on a youtube comment it’s stunning.
Reality TV: I used to wonder when this trend would end. I don’t think it will. There are way too many shows with washed-up celebrities and/or “regular people” competing or behaving stupidly on TV. I only turn my television on for 2-3 shows. If I see one more person crying on TV I may just wait til things show up online and give up cable altogether…
Dropping Things: How do they vanish into oblivion? I dropped it straight down. I can understand it might bounce an inch or two but how did it get 12 feet away underneath the aquarium?
Parking: How on earth do people NOT hit the lines? Ok we all can leave a poor attempt at parking on occasion but I’ve noticed a LOT of people park consistently badly and leave it. When you use the same parking lot every day you can see the same white truck or the same blue car crooked over the lines. If they have that much trouble with painted lines while stationary I live in fear of how they deal with them while moving.
Hipsters: What pop-culture crypt spawned these foul creatures? They’re this generation’s beatniks; only instead of being annoying poets they mostly just criticize annoying poets. For not being annoying enough. That’s a double whammy.
Geek Culture: NOT geeks. I have no issue with dorks since I’m a huge dork myself, but it’s more the marketing toward geek culture that drives me insane and how people wear geek culture like a jacket now. It used to be geek culture was driven by the geeks. Now people become geeks the way they become raver-kids or goths, they wear the clothes, watch the TV shows, and learn some lingo. It’s just what is popular right now.
Movies in CGI: Yeah that’s what it is now. No more CGI in movies. It’s more movies that are CGI. They’re all CGI. People don’t build sets anymore just green screens. No one builds props anymore, they’re just rendered. I’d rather see something in front of the camera than see an undulating cartoon character or more pixelated fire. I don’t think I could take seeing another computer-generated army running at another computer-generated army.
Model Glue: Why does it stick my fingers together better than the model parts?
Fanboyism: Sometimes people just can’t see the problems with their own beloved obsessions. Nothing is ALL good and what is good, better, and best is all a matter of personal opinion. So what’s with all the flame wars?
Apple: I know there are scores of Mac lovers but honestly I find Apple’s practices as insidious as anyone’s…probably more-so. The big problem is some publishers ONLY publish their digital material in the iTunes store…to get it you have to have iJunk. So to get a 15 dollar book I need a 300 dollar device…
Traffic: I’ve noticed nearly all traffic problems are caused by selfish and/or over-reactive people. One jackass stops or pulls out in front of everyone and that spot will sometimes create a chain-reaction back-up for hours.
Haters: People who only find the negative in things. “It’s a great ::blank:: but it has this stupid thing.” Or “It would’ve been perfect but ::whatever:: ruined it.” And yes, I see the irony in having haters on a list about things that annoy me!

That’s all I can think of now. Again, this is just me. We’re all allowed our opinions so feel free to disagree!

And as usual, it’s all just good fun 🙂

Off the Top of My Head #11: Roger Ebert

On April 11, 2013April 10, 2013 By James CastroIn Movies, Opinions, Random FunLeave a comment

We at RevPub love movies. We go to a lot of movies, buy a lot of movies, and watch a lot of movies on TV. Our love of the media made us especially sad to hear of the death of singular film critic Roger Ebert.

As I said in my Dreamlike Gaming post, it takes more than negativity to review movies. Roger Ebert loved movies. He had an undeserved reputation of being a “film snob” (this was more true of his partner Gene Siskel who died in 1999) but I’ve found this not to be true. He really loved movies and loved to watch them. He simply expected a lot of them, and when they failed to deliver never hesitated to tell us.

While many of the movies you’d expect him to dislike he happily obliged and those art house movies you’d expect him to gush over he often did, he could also surprise you by giving you a review of a film you’d expect him to hate and finding he loved it with a classic “this is the reason we go to the movies.” He could appreciate the deep themes of a terse drama as well as the big dumb fun of a well-made action film.

It is a pleasure to read his good reviews, whether you agree or disagree with him as he always give specific and valid reasons for his opinions. More fun, however, are his extremely negative reviews. When he hated (or hated, hated, hated) a movie; because he also had valid reasons for hating them and often had his sharpened pen ready to draw blood…

Roger Ebert showed us why film critics are a specific breed. He noticed aspects of films for his reviews after only his screening views I don’t notice until after repeated viewings and could make judgments using his epically deep knowledge of film history.

I’m incapable of describing the prowess of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with the proper acumen so I’ll let the man speak for himself. But the next time you go to a movie raise your 44oz soda, frozen coke, bucket of popcorn, or tray of nachos to the true loss of a real film institution.

Here’s to Roger Ebert. We’ll miss you at the movies.

Roger Ebert’s Website

Some incredible negative reviews:

North

The Village

Deuce Bigalow European Gigalo

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Reviews of some of my favorite films:

Seven Samurai

Yojimbo

Shaun of the Dead

Negative review books:

I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie

Your Movie Sucks

A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length

Positive review books:

Roger Ebert’s Four Star Reviews

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies II

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies III

Waverly Hills Sanatorium: The Two-Hour Tour

On March 31, 2013March 30, 2013 By R. PettyIn Random Fun1 Comment

My co-workers thought I was nuts. Others knew there was no holding me back. I would eventually tour Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

We’ve talked about it for years, but haven’t been able to plan a big group, and we had no idea what to expect. All I can say is we will definitely go back. Here are tidbits from our two-hour tour:

Body Chute

We walked to the bottom of the body chute. There were steps on one side and a ramp on the other, and both descended at a 45-degree angle. It was daylight when we went down, and I don’t think I could go down in the dark. There’s only one way out.

Temperature

It was very cold inside. It was chilly outside, but there were times I put my nose in my son’s sleeve to warm it up. It was 15 degrees colder inside the building, which probably measured about 40-45. I also found it interesting there was no draft, especially because of missing windows.

Shadow People

I knew James would volunteer because he would never miss that opportunity. I saw one shadow on the floor, but I did see the hallway go black. And I watched him disappear into the darkness. For his full story, read A Walk with the Shadow People.

Hair Pulling

Waverly Hills’ Facebook page warned me of this. I had my hood up the entire time because I didn’t want to risk it and, as mentioned, it was cold. We were in the electroshock therapy room and something grabbed my hair clip through the hood. I was about a foot from a wall, and there was no one behind me. I was also standing still, so there was no way my clip got caught on the hood.

Lil Man’s Ghost

My son was such a trooper and escorted me the entire time. After our tour, he told me when we first arrived he saw a full figure in a window, and it slowly disappeared. He isn’t one to lie to exaggerate, so I believe him with all my heart. He also admitted he is not afraid of ghosts now, which made the trip even more worth it.

Tour Guides

It’s interesting the guides are volunteers, and the two we spoke with have been volunteering for 10-plus years. There are no gimmicks, no one jumps out, and nothing is staged (except for a few Halloween decorations left over from their biggest fundraiser). The money goes back into the facility, which needs windows replaced and some cosmetic work.

Pictures

We're not sure what on the left... On the right, we think it's a Blackberry lol. — We’re not sure what on the left… On the right, we think it’s a Blackberry lol.

I took this right before we left. No settings were changed, and I think it turned out cool.

Outside Waverly Hills
View from outside and down the fourth floor.

One of the rooms. I didn't spend much time in them. — One of the rooms.
I didn’t spend much time in them.

Two sisters stayed here. One lived the other passed. Story says you can hear the deceased one calling for the other.

Gathering room — Where people gathered for religious purposes, etc.
It was still daylight.

Outside of Waverly Hills.
It’s a huge facility.

Off the Top of My Head #10: A Walk with the Shadow People

On March 27, 2013March 26, 2013 By James CastroIn Opinions, Random Fun2 Comments

“I’ll do it.” There was no hesitation or doubt. Even the small apprehension caused by timidity of the unknown wasn’t severe enough to stop the response. The fear for missing the chance was more severe… Standing on the lightless 4th floor of Waverly Hill Sanatorium, having gone through the better part of a two hour tour, heard stories of the innumerable ghosts that legend says still haunt its halls and seen photographic and physical evidence to corroborate several of these stories, when the tour guide asked “I need a volunteer to walk to the end of the hall alone, who will do it?” “I’ll do it” was my response almost before he could finish the statement.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium was once the gold standard in tuberculosis treatment and research in the world. I won’t provide the history of it, numerous sites are available for that, but over the years since the closure in 1981 of the home for the elderly which inherited the building Waverly Hills has been the subject of ghost stories and legends and now has a reputation of being one of the most haunted places in America.

The only camera I had was, unfortunately, my phone. When I go back I'll bring my real camera. — The only camera I had was, unfortunately, my phone. When I go back I’ll bring my real camera.

I’ve had an interest in Waverly Hills since I first saw a documentary about it in 2006. The documentary itself was full of some horror movie cheesiness (and was produced by the makers of a B-rated horror movie Death Tunnel) but it also contained footage of the old hospital, a good deal of history, and interviews with former staff and patients. It was also intriguing. There is something inherently frightening about hospital settings, massive structures, you know people have met unfortunate ends there, and dark corridors with numerous rooms.

A friend organized an opportunity to go and my RevPub co-author and fellow ghost enthusiast and her son joined the group and we all ventured to just south west of Louisville, Kentucky to go on the paranormal tour.

We started the tour at dusk so the sun was still out. As the tour progressed it got darker and darker outside... — We started the tour at dusk so the sun was still out. As the tour progressed it got darker and darker outside…

The tour itself was excellent. We had a great tour guide who provided levity when needed and gave actual history of the grounds and facilities along with the tales of the supernatural. But it was the 4th Floor “Shadow People” that made the tour for me.

You stand at the end of the dark corridor, first as a group (there were about 20 of us) and watch the floors, light coming in from the glass-less windows shines through the doors of the vacant patient rooms. By paying attention you can see shadows moving…almost like patients pacing in their rooms. When the guide asked if someone would walk the corridor, past the numerous rooms, and stop in the dark shadows I couldn’t pass it up.

I won’t lie, it was unnerving. The entire time in Waverly Hills I was freezing. I never once felt threatened or afraid, but there was always an awkward feeling like something…off. Almost like a painting slightly out of proportion…you realize something isn’t normal but you can’t quite place what it is. Walking the hallway was a mixture of adrenaline and what I can only describe as “pressure.” Not a heavy weight on you…just an environmental pressure like the space itself is closing in around you. I’m not easily scared, but the whole experience was so unnerving that if the tour guide had asked me to walk to the wing of the hallway, by dozens more empty rooms and out of sight of the rest of the group, I would’ve hesitated to do it…

This is how that dark hallway looked from my view...only darker... — This is how that dark hallway looked from my view…only darker…

I couldn’t see what was happening behind me, but I was told the shadows in the doors definitely peaked when someone passed (there’s nothing quite as heart-stopping as having your back to several supposedly haunted rooms and hearing the tour group softly gasp…) and that during my walk back I seemed like I was swallowed in the blackness.

It was an incredible experience that will take some time to fully digest. I’m definitely glad I did it and plan to go back for the full-on paranormal investigation.

To schedule your own tour or investigation visit their site here!

Revenant Publications

Category: Random Fun