Much needed Break

It's been a gross week of everyone being sick around here. Aches and pains and coughing and sneezing...I am so done with being sick. Part of life I know but I am tired of it but then who likes being sick right?

I am going to have to take a brief break from writing and hobby. Life provided us with some upheavals over the Christmas holidays and we haven't completely finished sorting back through our house so our hobby area is currently buried under three feet of Lego and tools and things that need to find a proper home.

When I get it all done I hope to be able to invite you along on the journey of building and painting a landship.

So for now keep watching for my articles on Bell of Lost Souls but until we're finished fixing the upheaval I won't be updating here.

See you soon!

Time to start...finally painted some Empire

As promised I started painting my empire. 

GottaCon

Escalation-My Empire

Despite organizing the Escalation league I only opened up my boxes of toys yesterday. Sad really but with real life happening and a crochet challenge (two if you count the dice bag I was asked to make that I can't post until after GottaCon) I have been trying to prioritize.

That is part of what I like about the League, it is flexible around my schedule!

I have been wracking my brains on what 500 points to paint and yesterday pulled out the models I do have because I doubt very much the rest of my Forgeworld could arrive in time.

I have decided that for Stage 1 I will paint 10 Halberdiers, 3 cannons and a character (not sure yet if I am feeling like painting a Captain or a Battle Priest).

It does not make a legal list but we don't have to paint legal lists. I am getting my Forgeworld order ready so I can get all the rest of the Marienburg models and getting Dice Bag Games to bring me in a bunch of the other models I will need.

I have chosen a pain in the butt color scheme because after painting my Brets I am bored to death of painting red and blue. I am painting Yellow as my dominate color. I always remember people saying yellow and red are two of the hardest colors to paint well. Not being a patient painter means I don't do well waiting for layers of paint to dry.

I am actually going to try out a Christmas present I got to see how it works for models: I got a machine for drying nail polish. It doesn't blow air like a blow dryer so I am interested to test it and see if it helps with my lack of patience.

Will take pictures as I go and post a few up here for people to see but will mostly have them up on my BOLS painting thread.

Pre-Event Thoughts: GottaCon

For 5 years Evan Hatch,Carson Upton and their team have run a successful three day convention in Victoria, BC and year six of GottaCon isfast approaching. Alreadythe organizational team hasbeen hard at work preparing for oneof Canada's largest events which is to be held the end of February2014. I have attended GottaCon for the last two years,and played in the Warhammer Fantasyevent both years. It pains methatI cannot attend this year but was thrilled to hear ofthe growth to the event.

Traditionally the Fantasy eventis 2500 points out of the box Warhammer: no comp,and special characters allowed. I love this typeof gaming as it allows gamers to maximizethe full extentoftheir armies. It means gamers like me can use special characters if I want and gamers advocating comp can bring broken liststo show the rest of us the purpose of comp (ha ha). Before I realized I wouldn'tbe able to attend I was debating whether I should bring the Fey Enchantress or the Green Knight this year,and I have really enjoyed sitting around discussing army builds with some ofthe locals at the last few tournament weekends to hear what projects are in the works.

Several "secret projects" are set to be revealed and I am keen to see thepictures that will come up after for all the different armies that arebeing meticulously painted and accessorized. My favorite part of these events are army reveals. I know of at least three secret projects I am excited to see and hear how they do. Late night karaoke is next up, 40 or so gamers sitting around, talking about their games and music,it brings lots of laughs, discussion and a great community building experience.

Although I can't go I still find myself writing army lists as if I am going and working on some painting projects on the off chance my schedule were to change. Does anyone else do that?

Friendly rivalry has sprung up over the years between the Mainland groups WCP& CHOP and the Island club Greenskin Nation to see who will win. Pat Carolan, a Mainlander from CHOP (and co-host of Chumphammer)was the winner of Best Overall from the 2012 event and when the 2013 Best Overall was announced as Greenskin Nation's own Ian Harris, Pat presented Ian with a crown. I am curiousto see this year which club will successfully hold the crown after the 2014 event--though as an Islander my hope isfor Ian to be able to defend his crown.

Great times can be had at many conventions and events, for more information about GottaCon go to their website, meanwhile would love to hear some of favorite parts of going to a Con.

Escalation League - Report

We got started this week and currently have 5 confirmed participants. Its a little slow to start because we have a major event happening the end of February but I am sure things will pick up.

For myself I was not prepared to start and therefore none of my models have arrived for the first stage. I have chosen to do Marienburg Empire army with all those pretty Forgeworld models.

I have 10 halberdiers to work on, they're currently primed and on my painting desk and a while bunch of character models, including Theodore Bruckner on Reaper and two unassembled Landships. Considering the inattention is to have somewhere around 100 infantry models I was hoping to do the characters and landships as a reward for the tedium of painting ranks of infantry but with the clock ticking and a little under the two months to go I think I had best forego waiting on my Forgeworld order and get to work on the stuff I do have.

One other participant, Ryan, is also doing an Empire army, Alex plans to continue to develop his Orc army, Paul to starts Ogres and James to.start Dark Elves.

Once we get some pictures of some WIPs and finished models we'll post them.

WFB - Escalation League

Our gaming community is spread out, we live on an Island made up of many small communities and really only two of any major consequence, as a result regular scheduled game nights and events are harder to hold. Well we decided to fix that. Instead of only getting together two or three times a year in any sizable gathering we have decided to start an escalation league (open to anyone who wants to participate).


Being an organizational type, that of course meant I just took over and made up the rules and told everyone what we are going to do and we started as of today.

Here's our rules, and heck if you want to participate as a way to kick yourself into get back into Fantasy or as a way to start feel free no matter where in the world you live (obviously you wouldn't be able to participate in the tournaments but it is really the painting and having an army table ready that's the point)

Warhammer Fantasy Escalation League
Hosted by Kippers’ Wargaming

Object: to have a fully assembled and painted 2500 point Fantasy army by end of 2014

How to participate: if you want to participate in the league contact me on Facebook or at kippersmelee@gmail.com. Participants will select one army type to build and paint for the league and inform me what it will be. Participants will be asked to paint 250 points each month (totalling 500 points each stage), a tournament will complete each stage. Only fully painted models can be used in tournaments—tournaments will be open to league and non-league players. If you do not complete your painting project on time you may still continue with the league just try to catch up. Points will be assigned each stage (breakdown below), at the end of Stage 5 a final tally will determine the winner of the league. Top participant who fully completes their 2500 points will receive 40% of prize pool, favorite army as voted at the end 30%, raffle draw 30%. Because we do not all live in the same area progress reports will be due the second Saturday of each month via email to kippersmelee@gmail.com and will be posted on Jen’s blog.

Cost: Free to joint he league, we will have tournaments every two months (entry will be $20 with a portion of that going to the individual tournament prize pool and a portion to the league prize pool)

Stage 1
• starts immediately and ends March 8, 2014
• 500 points

Stage 2
• Starts March 9 and ends May 10
• 500 points (totals 1000 points to date)

Stage 3
• Starts May 11 and ends July 12
• 500 points (totals 1500 points to date)

Stage 4
• Starts July 13 and ends September 13
• 500 points (totals 2000 points to date)

Stage 5
• Starts september 14 and ends November 8
• 500 points (totals 2500 points to date)

Points breakdown:
General Points:
• 50 points - when each stage is completed successfully and on time
• 50 points – display board
• 5 points – each tournament participated in
• 1 point – each vote for Favorite army (conducted at end of stage 5)

Points Each stage (10 points per stage max):
• 1 point – all models painted to basic 3 colors
• 1 point – all models based
• 1 point – all models painted to better than basic 3 colors
• 7 points – progress report submitted by noon on end date

A Cautionary Tale

These signs and caution about other wild animals are common in town. The bank, the grocery store, even the local hospital have similar signs posted on walls and windows. Our town is not unsafe by any stretch of the imagination, but as we are well known for our fishing and trails it is a great caution. Why doesn't super glue come with such warnings?

Have you ever read the back of a super glue bottle? We all use them wrong, we should be wearing gloves and masks to use the stuff. Toxic, caustic...you can't get much worse, and if you are pregnant or your partner is  be especially cautious because it is dangerous to be around. And yet we use it for our minis. Or try to. If you are like me you wind up wearing about as much glue as you get on the models...one reason why I prefer to let my hubby assemble the models and I do the painting. 

One time I spilled an entire bottle on my hands just trying to open it! And this morning...just after he leaves for work I decide to try again and wind up with glue on my pants, my fingers and just about on the floor...guess that figure I was going to glue can wait hahaha.

What kind of adventures have you had with super glue and what do you do to get it off unwanted items and areas?

2014: welcome

Well 2013 was not looking too swell at the end with much turmoil in the personal life but am pleased to be ringing in 2014 with a new nephew, some new vision on achieving long time goals and a fresh year.

Happy 2014 everyone!