I love the rules and fluff behind Stormboyz. I’m hoping the rumors are true that they can be used a anti-air units in 6th edition.
Boss Zagstruk is a terrific addition to a Stormboyz unit. His high-initiative powerklaw, deep striking, and commissar abilities make him worth the points to me. An extra bonus is he has a great mini, and is fun to paint!
I give you my Boss Zagstruk. Again one of my earliest painting attempts but still loads of fun!
I like dry-brushing fur details. This was my first attempt at that.I used some extra Dark Angels stuff to accent the base.Ork Face!One of the Boss’ claws broke when I was taking him off the sprue. I built him some new ones that aren’t TOO obviously scratch-made.That’s a flag from LOTR elf cavalry drastically altered.I like the details on his Rokkitpack. I may do a different Boss just to make it a bit cleaner.He got a bit of a diorama base.Lacky grot!Da Boss!
I mentioned in one of my very first painting posts how much I love orks. Though I still consider myself an imperialist at heart, orks are so much fun to paint and play that I knew when I got the Black Reach starter set I’d be able to make use of both sides.
I’ve gotten a bit better than I was when I first painted that Black Reach warboss. I’ve been able to do some layering, and I’ve gotten into basing (I really enjoy basing) and making some custom additions to each model.
This was my first warboss after the Black Reach guy. His attack squig and armor left plenty of room for customization. I gave him a spike with some space marine helmets on it, but it was metal and it ended up breaking the resin pole. I just glued the hell out of it to make it stick in the end.
I gave him a couple of helper grots (both metal) and ammo crates. The Ultramarines bomb is actually from a Trumpeter 39(H) French military tank set I had. The rocky base is terra cotta (which I highly recommend, it’s light, breakable for customization, and can be painted and textured to provide any look!) with some extra bits around to give it character.
He got a little dusty and he was hard to clean without snapping resin pieces off. It adds a bit of character 😉
My favorite part of painting this guy were the human heads hanging from his belt. I gave each one a different wound. Obviously, basic rudimentary stuff (I’m not ‘Eavy Metal!) but they were a lot of fun!
I like my Goff orks grungy!This boss has a couple runts, this guy with the stikkbombs was a favoriteFull view!Back view! You can see where his boss pole was “repaired”Dem teef!My favorite feature. The severed heads over an Ultramarines bombs made from a Trumpeter 39(H) French tank kit I had.The other runt prepping to bravely hurl a stikkbomb from behind his boss.Attack squig!
Some things can’t wait. This post is one of those things.
Instead of a traditional story of the month, we decided to talk about the Nashville Comic Con and Expo we attended this past Saturday, Sept. 14. It was actually our first take pics, spend-lots-of-money con!
Highlights
Robert Englund: I can’t speak for our whole group, but hearing Englund tell stories about shooting the Nightmare on Elm Street movies or share his feelings on the reboot was a real treat. Englund is a cool dude, and he loves the entertainment industry. You can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. I was blown away by the number of kids ages 10 and under who stood at the mic and asked him questions about his movies — it just shows that the slasher movie is alive and well. Englund treated every fan with the same respect and gratitude his fans showed him.
Costumes: I admit I was impressed by the costumes people walked around in all day. Sure, there were some standard ones you’d find at a party store, and then there were the costumes. The ones that made you stop and ask for a pic because they were so freaking cool. We all were so inspired by the ones who dressed up, we all decided to dress up for the upcoming Wizard World Comic Con in October!
This guy’s costume came complete with lights and sound effects!
The Crowd: Everyone was so unbelievably nice. There was no pushing, no fighting, and no attitude. It was a large group of people who were there to have fun. I did not see one person decline a photo op; it didn’t matter what they were doing at the time. The artists talked to you without pressuring you to buy, and you could walk away with almost anything signed.
Merchandise: One tip: bring cash and lots of it. It was no surprise there were dozens of vendors, but the amount of items they brought with them surprised me. There was SO much cool stuff – and it wasn’t just comic books. We found clothes, figures, games, accessories, artwork, hair bows, posters, weapons, stuffed animals, and almost anything else you can imagine.
My son bought a replica of the Master Sword. It’s almost as big as me.Awesome Raven from Teen Titans print that I framed the next day.
We did miss Maggie and Glen from The Walking Dead, and I would have liked to have stayed for the costume contest, but I can see how the first time can be a little overwhelming. Thousands of people wandered all over the area, and you could easily spend 20-plus minutes at every table browsing through stuff or talking to artists. If you have never been to one, plan to spend at least a few hours there.
If you attended the event, we’d love to hear about your experience, and don’t forget your tickets for Wizard World. Who knows … maybe next year RevPub will have a booth!
I’ve been working in an office environment for about a decade now. I know that’s not long by some standards, but I have been around to watch several trends expand and evolve as time progresses and more and more people realize what they can do with the tools provided. Email isn’t a new feature, but for some reason people don’t seem to understand certain etiquette or common-sense approaches to using it. That being the case I thought I’d offer some advice for idiots starting with the “reply all” feature.
Reply all is very useful when talking with a group about a single issue, even if some are included just to “stay in the loop” as it were. It becomes a nuisance when people misuse the feature or don’t follow basic practices for use. Here are some things that would make life easier when dealing with reply all:
1.) Ask yourself: Is this an appropriate response for all to see? A lot of emails go out something like, “What does everyone think about X?” A slew of responses come back voicing their opinions on “X.” This is fine. But if you have a closer friend amongst the recipients of the email and want them to see that you think “X” is silly or make some inside joke about how “X” reminds you of “what she said” then you probably shouldn’t “reply all” that response…how about just reply to the individual you’re talking to…
2.) If the conversation continues in a more focused manner does everyone need to continue to be included in the string? I have found typically the answer to be no. Almost all the time. The argument is that it’s “informational” so everyone knows what’s going on. I’ve found that when most people are “reply all’d” unless they are directly involved they mostly ignore the email. They think, “if it’s not directly to me, this might as well be spam.”
3.) If you’re added to an email string late, PLEASE read the entire string before weighing in. This one seems to be a no-brainer to me, but often I’ve been involved with a string that starts: “Hey I wanted to remind everyone ‘Y’ is still a problem. ‘X’ seems to be ok but I’ll need to change it to make it work with the new system.” Ten emails later a new person is added to a continuing conversation and is asked to weigh in on how to fix “Y.” Their response includes, “I’ll look at ‘Y,’ a reminder though that ‘X’ looks fine but it will need to be changed to make sure it’ll work within the new system.” Really!? Does it!? Was that not present in the original statement? Before you respond read the entire string so you know what needs to be said and what HAS been said.
4.) Does the email string need a response at all or was it informational, if it DID need a response, did we all need to be copied? Someone sends an email, “Wanted to let everyone know mail pickup is an hour early today.” It goes to 30 people. In response you, and EVERYONE in the original string, gets a reply all from 21 people that reads an insightful “ok.” In the case of strictly informational emails needing no reply, senders please consider BCC as an option…
5.) Don’t use an email that has a many individuals included to continue a private conversation, if you DO don’t Reply All. Though it’s related to the first complaint I’ve seen this one specifically and frequently. A genuine “reply all” string is resolved and begins to have a private conversation but continues to reply all. Once the string is resolved, the rest of us don’t need to know where a group of you are going to lunch, or what you are doing over the weekend.
So what can you do?
First only send an email string with many recipients if it’s necessary. Second, only reply to those who NEED the response. Third, private conversations should be kept private amongst the appropriate respondents. Fourth, pay attention to long strings. If you’re included assume it’s for a reason and your advice should be included only after previous comments have been reviewed. Fifth, if you’re a sender consider whether BCC accomplishes the same thing!
Our generation (everyone who’s around 30 something now) has received a lot of criticism from our parents’ generation as being “immature.” Almost as if, though we’re in our late 20s and early-to-mid 30s, we are arrested adolescents who don’t want to “grow up” in the same way their generation did.
Honestly I remember, as a kid, everyone I knew who was “30” seemed very grown-up, very adult, very boring, and OLD.
Well I’m over 30 now. I do feel a bit old as I have, honestly said “kids these days” recently, and my body doesn’t like the idea of some things as much as it used to (I have thought, “Oh lord my knees won’t be doing THAT” recently as well). However I have to point out, I see nothing wrong with being a member of the Toy-R-Us generation. I’m a Toy-R-Us kid. I don’t wanna grow up.
I have a grown-up job and grown-up responsibilities, but the day I stop finding the joy in playing with toys, board games, and old-school video games is the day a part of me dies. If older generations heap criticism on us for enjoying reading Wolverine instead of The Washington Post I say it’s their loss.
Which brings us to the topic of the day. Recently, on a whim, my lovely RevPub counterpart and I were walking around a park at night. It was a park I visited as a kid, and I was reminiscing on the dodgy playground that used to be on the grounds. Near the end of the trek, I spotted landmarks I remembered; a bell, a café (that was just a bathroom at the time), and a picnic area. I then discovered the old playground was long gone, replaced with a NEW one. A new one that had features big enough for adults. We spent the next 45 minutes or so running around on the playground structures, sliding down the big tube-slide, traversing the awesome twisty slide, and the monkey bars. Afterward we ran over to the swings and swung for another few minutes (I’m so lame I got a bit nauseous and it was at this point I thought “I used to jump off while swinging! Oy my knees wouldn’t take that now…”)
After the run around on the playground we both agreed, there NEEDS to be playgrounds for adults. Playgrounds where NO kids are allowed (so you don’t have to worry about knocking over tiny people while running like crazy or watching your language), rides big and high enough for adults, and open all hours.
Look at that! Fun for all ages!
Imagine a busy day at work, but taking a break on lunch to have a go on an adult-sized merry-go-round or teeter totter. We loved them as kids, had great fun, got all our frustrations out, and got exercise. Part of adult frustration is no exercise. The secret to exercising is finding an activity that’s FUN. If it’s not fun, you won’t keep doing it. I haven’t had as much fun exercising as I did playing on the playground and could see doing that every day if I could!
It would provide adults with a healthy activity, relieve stress, and help us forget the troubles a bit. You can’t be angry on a swing set!
So come on playground/park industry. Let’s make this happen. I think everyone I know who is my age would spend time on an adult playground, and we can’t be the only ones.
And fellow adults, let’s let go a bit and enjoy a go on the slide. We loved them then, and I think a part of us will ALWAYS love them. Never forget the responsibilities of being an adult, but also never forget the pure, carefree, joy of being a kid. I think finding a medium between the two is the secret to being truly happy.
Though I was a video gamer from a young age, playing Atari and NES, I didn’t get into PC gaming until I was in middle school.
My first home PC was a simple IBM with no hard drive. I played games directly off a 3.5” diskette and could only play shareware versions of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and use Print Shop Pro to print on the DOT Matrix Printer. As time went on it became difficult to find games I could play that only had one disk…luckily we eventually upgraded our PC to one with a moderate hard drive (I think around 120 mb or so) and a whole new world of gaming opened up.
This was when I was introduced to shareware versions of Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone, and eventually Doom.
These represent the first person shooters I ever played, and some of the earliest entries into the genre. My friend Mike provided me with Wolfenstein and eventually Blake Stone. We played both shooting games on the 8th grade newspaper computer instead of actually working on the school newspaper (I don’t know if we even had one) until we got caught.
Wolfenstein Title Screen
Wolfenstein 3D was fascinating, killing all those Nazis in castle hallways. Hearing their low-fi German shouts (“Halt!” “Guten Tag!”“Mein Leben!” “Schutstaffel!”) and eventually working up to fight some strange version of Adolf Hitler in terminator armor.
“Halt!”
Blake Stone is almost forgotten now, but it was a sci-fi game of the same making. I remember the blue-green gun and the mad scientist and green alien bad guys. Blake Stone was another one Mike and I played in English class (right behind the teacher if I recall…) and, though I never played it at home, it really got me into the corridor shooter game.
When Doom came out it changed the dynamic for me. Released from the corridors, you now moved through expansive locales and multiple-story levels. I played it on shareware, only the first few levels and I played them over and over. It’s the first “god mode” I ever used (IDDQD!) and even more often I’d use IDKFA for all weapons.
I played Doom relentlessly. I was one of the few individuals who bought a Sega 32X and even though it didn’t have a lot of games I truly enjoyed the ones it had. I listened to Use Your Illusion I & II and played Doom for months on my 32X as a middle schooler.
Once my PC could handle it I finally got a copy of Ultimate Doom and Doom II at the local Media Play and swapped the dozens of disks to install them. It was this era when you could play a game for months…even years. Turn on some midi music and play Doom for hours just as a time waster. I can’t even remember how many homework assignments I blew off to kill the Cyberdemon yet again…
I’m pretty sure the Imp sound effects are actually camel sounds. Weird to think about it now….
I actually remember it being a controversy at the time: did Doom make kids violent? It was ludicrous to me. Doom was as realistic as a cartoon (though a tad gorier than most I’ll admit) and it would follow that kids would only learn how to kill cacodemons with a keyboard while wielding a pixelated plasma rifle… How that equates to loading a pistol I’ll never understand. I’d say unless you’re a spiked imp throwing fireballs on screen and I’m a crew cut face wielding a video-chain gun society should be safe.
Doom really stands as the last first person shooter I really loved. Others came along (Duke Nukem 3D shortly after the Doom era…Kingpin when I was in college) but none really captured that Wolfenstein–Doom feeling for me. Now it’s one of my least favorite genres, burdened with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer (I’ve said it a million times…I deal with idiots all day in my real life…I don’t need to deal with anonymous idiots during my leisure time…) and less on long campaigns I could put on some music and kick back to they haven’t appealed to me.
So here’s to the 90s first person shooter. Turn on the game, turn off your brain, and enjoy some mindless (but entirely harmless) violence!
Revenant Publications 