Sorry, trying to get my mojo back.

Not much has been going on for me in the hobby front lately.  Real life is dragging me down and I spend my time on youtube.

I just stare at my nearly completed Kanz and sigh with a complete lack of interest.

Plus I've been trying to get back into MTG so when I am on youtube it's either mtg or car videos.

I do have an upload schedule set so that's been a help.  So has getting back to a scale model car club meeting. 

Monday: Monday madness (hobby, rants, whatever)
Wednesday: New talking about orks
Friday: New battle reports

so far so good, especially since I can record for future uploads.

anyway I hope to get a kan showcase up soon.

Be well!

Studio Update and 200,000 views!

I just noticed the other day I went over 200,000 views on this blog.  Wow. Thank you everyone for reading and being interested in my hobby.  I went into the archive and the post that was 100,000 views was in July 2013. 4 years for the first 100,000 yet only 15 months for the second. I hope to get the next 100,000 in less then a  year.

Last few days since I finished Khan I have not had any major projects, so I grabbed some minor stuff to do. I finished building and assembling my Farsight model. I bought it when the new Tau book first came out..that's how long it's been sitting.

I have also been playing with my Trukk boys unit and tankbustas, only to realize the models needed some work. They were both done in just a base coat and wash. I've gone through, fixed the chips on the metal models, added layers to the skin, fixed up teeth and other details, added a unique base rim color to both units and finally given them a proper varnish.  Much improved for not a lot of work.

Since this unit of boys is a dedicated Trukk unit, I will probably paint up one of the trukks specifically to go with them.  Might also mean I'll actually paint one of the trukks...

Also today is my 6th year anniversary on Youtube.

This has been one hell of an awesome week for me. 

Change is in the air...

If you hadn't noticed, I now have the domain www.da40korks.com for my blog!  Sure it's not a big deal to some, but for me it's pretty cool.

This is mainly because I've never tried to do any self-promotion, never tried to really do more with this hobby then what I'm doing for myself.

My time will still be mostly spent on doing stuff for me and my own personal wargaming, but I think I want to expand my footprint a bit.

I haven't figured out exactly what that means yet, but I'm working on ideas that I can both manage and will be beneficial to the community.

Now you can contact me here. 

This should be a lot of fun!

The time is finally here!

Yep, after 7 months of working on game night, I finally was able to change my schedule so I have Wednesdays open again.

That means a whole lot more battle reports are coming, and will be almost exclusively Orks

I will be trying out different things over time, as I get used to playing the new book.

I will be concentrating my hobby time on building up my summoned deamons, and figuring out some Chaos Space Marines to use as an allied detachment.

I can't wait to get back in the grove of a regular 40k game.  I've been spending so much time and money on Star Trek Attack Wing that I've gotten use to it.

Also, Space Wolves are coming very soon. I do have some of them, which was always meant to be a small allied force for my Tau.  That idea is out the window for the most part, but at least I can still ally with my much-forgotten Blood Angels.

So anyway, look forward to more and more batreps soon, and what I learn from them.

Oh, and WS5 FNP 'ard boys are still FREAKING SWEET!

I finished an actual model kit: Revell EC145 Demonstrator

With 7th edition nigh and unable to work on the Kill Krusha I've worked on other stuff. First was to actually finish my helicopter model.  This was a lot of detail work.   The Badger Minitaire gloss varnish worked better this time but a few spots are still light and not shiny.  It did work very well over the windows though..that made me happy.

Very happy to have this finally complete after so long.

Last few days with not much else to do I've been working on Blood Angels. Yes, actual Blood Angels. With magnets.  I built a tactical squad and 10 more Death company.  I'll probably wait for their new book before painting though, just in case.

I've got another Imperial Fist Storm Talon on it's way soon, plus combing through 7th of course.

More to come!

Painter's block.. but never stop working!

So with still having painter's block over the Kill Krusha, and not wanting to start on the Riptide quite yet I've been working on my heliocoptor.  I did not realize it had been over 2 years since I touched it last!  But it's getting closer and closer to finish now, with the last 2 nights working on decals. There are A LOT Of decals, and without micro sol it would be downright impossible.

But one whole side is now done.  It's coming out pretty darn cool, despite all the issues I've had with working on it. Small, fragile parts are not my forte.  Many pieces have broken off, and like the tail rotor has broken off and been fixed so many times it's all fuckered up.  But hey,  that's why I'm doing this is to learn.

Just the sheer amount of decal work plus some touch ups means I'm still a few days of work away from finishing it, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.



On another note, I took this pic right after finishing the last Imperial Fists commission, showing how much mess it makes getting through a project.  I have since cleaned this up, putting everything where it belongs but when you're busy working you need to keep everything you need handy.

So that's it for now. 

Off topic train: Youtube networks and 4 stupid things.

If you've been watching my Youtube stuff, you'll know that I've recently started a new series called 4 Stupid (Warhammer 40k) Things. It's not an original idea at all, but if I keep the topic on 40k I don't think I'll be stepping on anyone's toes.

BTW, the next installment is written, recording shortly..

I'm hoping this new series will grow my channel, and add some much needed levity to 40k in general.

In the last few months I've received many messages about joining a Youtube network. What is a network? Well basically it's a company that takes a cut of your adsense revenue in exchange for production and promotion assistance or ditches the entire Google advertising model and sells it's own on your content.

Either way they try to sell themselves as a way to earn more money.  I've been reading a lot online about specific networks and networks in general, and so far I'm not that impressed. Looks like Tony over at The Sustainable Center has joined one, so I guess it can't be all bad.

But the questions remain. I've not responded yet to any inquires, and thankfully Freddie Wong has a great post about the pitfalls of a network. I'm not a lawyer, and it looks like you can easily be taken advantage of if you're not careful with the contract.

Anyway, for now there will be no changes on my channel or blog. Just expect more 4S(40k)T, at least 1 a week..not like there isn't a huge list of things to comment on...

Digging through the project box..Hobby ADD: Tau Pathfinder

Today, another day..another random model painted!

This time, it was a Tau Pathfinder I didn't even know I had until couple days ago!  I was going through my Tau stuff and found this guy in the bits. The only thing wrong with him is that the tab had come off the bottom.

I remember at the time, being unable to know how to get around that problem..seems so odd now as simple pinning fixed it.   That was more then 4 years ago however.

Not only the modeling, but the painting. Nothing really wrong with the paint on my Tau despite being so long ago, but I do notice the paint isn't thinned well and the edge highlights aren't great..probably from trying to use a crappy brush.  This guy is miles ahead of where I was then.

Anyway not very exciting but to me a very interesting note on hobby progression.

Pic, then bed. 

Codex supplements - Best thing ever, or blatant money grab?

So I recently posted a video of my review of the Farsight Enclaves supplement.  First comment, was from someone who usually I greatly respect but in this case I think he's way off.

 

"All of this should have just been in the main codex..  this is little more than blatant cash grabbing."

Ugh. no.  First, and most importantly..these supplements (especially the Black Legion one coming next month) have been one of the things people have been asking for, repeatedly, for a long time.

Basically GW does what it's customers ask for, yet still gets belittled for doing it? Damned if you do, damned if you don't, eh?

So the response to this was:

"it should have all been in the codex, especially when released THIS close to the initial dex's release.. they obviously had all of this in mind when releasing Codex Tau. If you feel that charging the same amount for an additional book containing roughly 3 pages of actual RULES which still requires the main codex to play is NOT gouging, then congrats on being exactly the type of customer GW feeds on and why everything they sell costs so god damn much."

Oh bugger.  Really? No, it should not have been in the codex. First, this supplement and the Iyanden supplement have both been, what 50% or more as big as the codex.  So including all of this in the main codex would make it much more expensive. For content only a fraction of the customers will ever use. He seems to think people only care about rules.

However, nothing could be further from the truth.  Most people love the armies they play not because they beat face at Adepticon, but because they love the background, look, play style or some other aspect which can be unique to one army or faction within an army.  My Orks, for example, are slowly moving towards Blood Axes.  Not only are Blood Axes a fairly rare look among Ork players, but the fluff fully matches my play style.  And camo is fun as fuck to paint.  If there were ever a Blood Axe supplement, you would be damn sure I'd eat ramen for a week to get it.

The other important point, is that supplements are OPTIONAL. Completely, totally optional. No one is required to buy one to play, unlike say..models.  If you don't like Farsight or Iyanden, and most people who play those armies don't, then don't buy the supplements.

A lot of Space Marine players hate Ultramarines.  So, having a Space Marine codex that isn't Ultramarine centric isn't a bad thing. Then those people that do like them, can buy the supplement to fully conform to the Codex Asartes.

My opinion stands. Codex supplements are not only something people WANT, but want them for their army.  They can't put 50 plus pages for each of 2-3 factions in the codex (say Beil-Tan and Saim-Hann for eldar) .  If they tried, then you suddenly have a 250 page codex. Then he would be complaining about the price of the codex!

All I have to say is, keep it up GW. Giving people what they ask for can never be bad, and fuck the nay-sayers.

P.S.  Blood Axes, please?

Hobby ADD kicks in again - Cynar models based!

Last couple of days I've been wondering between projects.  Yesterday I worked on my next 5 Grey Hunters. I based and washed them, then pulled off the non-helmeted heads and painted those. Then started working on some dry brushing.

I got bored with that. However I did it mainly to try out my new GW dry brush. I have been using flat, cheap synthetic brushes for drybrushing but they die very, very quickly. My goal was to see if the GW one would last any length of time. I have more to do to find out for sure, but I can say the results are miles ahead of the cheap flat brush. I'm going to try a cheap round brush to see if it gives the same results.

Today I started by priming my Vengeance Weapon Batteries. I was going to start painting them, but have not decided fully on what exactly I'm going to do with them.  So I started organizing my hobby stuff..starting with my resin bases.

Which lead me, irrevocably, here.  I found the resin bases I bought for my Cynar that I had completely forgotten about. So I grabbed them, some plasticard and went ahead and based all my models. I really, really wish I had the money to finish buying my 35pts. Sigh.  Anyway I have a nice industrial decking theme from the resin bases I did buy, and just built my own for the rest.

So that's it for now.  I can't seem to concentrate on any one project long enough to finish it. 

Where the hell are the posts?

Sorry for not keeping up on the blog. Basically I have not been doing much at all. I am in the process of finishing an Iron Warriors Rhino for the toys for tots auctions this year, and I am working on the chaos lord from DV for a client.  I hope to get pics/video of the rhino up soon.

Basically life is kinda crappy, got 'asked to vacate' my apartment, so I've been trying to find a new place. Turns out being 'asked to vacate' means I can't get approved for most places.  Sucks.  We did get approved for SSDI for my Autistic son, so that helps a lot.

So goes my hobby, goes my blog.

I did get a dropzone commander rulebook however!  Very happy about that, and my first model. 

I love the models. The game seems pretty simple to play after a full read through of the rules.  Can't wait to give it a try.  Expect video(s) of the rulebook soon. Just need motivation, which is the hard part lately..

The only thing keeping me from going hog wild on DzC is both money and the move. Don't want to get a bunch of stuff just to have to move it again :)  Probably wait for taxes then buy an army deal.

So that's about it for now. Need the weather to cooperate long enough to dul-cote the rhino, plus some pigments then it's all done.

What does Wargaming mean to me?

If you have not seen this video yet, please watch it. It's an amazingly well made, high-quality look into the wargaming subculture.   The father and son building and playing together was really touching. 

What does wargaming mean to me? A lot, that is for sure.  Sitting in the quiet painting or whatever after work and/or after the kids have gone to bed is my time. My chance to relax, recharge and escape all the problems I have in reality for just a little bit.

Now my son is starting to show interest in modeling and painting.  It's hard right at this moment because of having to move this month, but I'll deal with it.  I hope to get him involved as much as I am someday.

Beyond that it's also my chance to get out of the house. Sure a lot of guys go out to the bar or whatever, not me. I just want to hang with my friends and throw some dice.  It keeps me out of trouble with the lady-unit, which is good for everyone!

First post of the new year!

So I said I was going to write stuff up about what happened in 2011 and what's going on in 2012. Well I changed my mind. The videos were pretty good so I'll let them do all the typing.

I'm going to be working on the mek, get it at least 3 colors and based in the next week or so.  I'm also working on Orcs and Goblins construction. I want to get everything put together as quickly as possible so I'll be hitting it all pretty hard.

Oh, and my truck got wrecked going home from gaming last Wednesday. No one got hurt, and it wasn't my fault.

So Vampire Counts is coming out in a couple weeks.  All the new stuff looks awesome.  I will end up with at least 3 or 4 boxes of hexwraiths, a dragon box and 2-3 boxes of the monstrous infantry.   Might have to wait for taxes though.

Lastly, here is a unit filler for my NG spearmen.  I didn't come up with this, saw it online.

I had a great day..

Saturday May 7th, I got a few hours off. Off life, off reality, off from everything. I didn't intend it to be that way, but it worked out for me.

Real life is sucking big right now, mainly due to cars and money. well cars sucking money. I'm sure everyone knows what I mean.

Saturday my cousin was going into my FLGS to buy and futz with new Tomb Kings stuff. He has a substantial army already but needed new toys. I got to get away from the family and hang out with him. It was awesome.

First, I brought my vampire counts and went through and fixed all the broken models I had and made a few bases of fillers for my skellies and crypt ghouls.

After that I played my cousin's Deathwing in a game vs Blood Angels. It was a fun game, I can really see the appeal of Deathwing...it is a LOT of fun to play. This is the list I ran @1750:

HQ: Belial; TH/SS
HQ: Interrogator Chaplain, Terminator armor, combi-melta

Troop: Upgraded Deathwing, Banner w/TH/SS, apothecary w/TH/SS, Cyclone w/TH/SS, 1 guy with LC and another TH/SS guy.
Troop: Deathwing; Cyclone, 3xTH/SS, 1xLC, 1xChainfist/SB
Troop: Deathwing; Cyclone, 3xTH/SS, 2xLC

Fast: Speeder; Typhoon, MM
Fast: Speeder; Typhoon, MM
Fast: Speeder; Typhoon, MM

Heavy: Predator AC/HB
Heavy: Devastators 4xML, TL-Las Razorback.
Heavy: Vindicator

Mission was roll dice and tie with dawn of war. He placed scouts on his objective and I placed the dual-lc unit on my objective in opposite corners. I then dropped the non-command squad next to his objective and turbo-boosted the speeders there as well. The idea was to bait in his LRC full of assault termies, priest and libby to kill off my deathwing sqaud leaving them open to MM the LR and vindicator the squad.

He took the bait, but I made so many saves the combat lasted 3 turns before the last guy died. I did end up killing the land raider though. Then the command squad didn't show up until turn 4, but was able to wipe out his termies. I was about to assault the scouts when the game ended on a roll of 1 at the end of 5. 1 good turn of shooting took out almost everything I had (including a sniper scout improbably exploding a speeder).

In the end I only had 1 immobilized speeder and 5 termies left. My objective was contested and I was out of range of his, giving him the win. It was a great game that went back and fourth from turn to turn with dice luck playing a huge factor!

After the game I sat down and started assembling my second stormraven. My biggest decision is to paint the interior or not. I have not fully glued it together yet for that reason. But it was great sitting there without any kids bugging me to play barbies or mario party 8 and just talking warhammer and sniffing plastic glue..

I would like a 4th 40k army sometime. I am waiting patiently for Tau - which could be even before the end of the year - before I decide. I am considering deathwing and the henchmen-heavy Coteaz hybrid list posted earlier.

Anyway long post with a wall of text. I finished assembling my XV-9 with phased ion guns and will probably be painting that over the next week for the Freebootaz challenge. I love these models, so easy to pose!

Yay!

If you didn't know I've been posting my videos on miniwargaming.com. I did it mainly to enter their contest, but it has really been a good thing. I've been getting a lot of views there, to people who have never seen my youtube channel. It's great! I would recommend doing it to all the 'smaller' youtubers out there.

I also noticed one of my vids is on their 'top content' list, my artic ork test model. I'm lovin' it!



I plan on playing Blood Angels this month. I played them on Saturday and really enjoyed it.

297 videos uploaded..

So as I approach 300 videos, I'm trying to figure out something cool to do. I might do a give away, if I can find something to give away lol.. I really, really don't have any ideas.

So tonight is league night, yay! I get to remove myself from reality again for a little while. I find myself needed to escape more and more to fend off depression. Money is super tight and both cars have issues so real life is sucking hard right now.

I printed off my super elite bike list, changing the grots to 10 shoota boys. Not sure what I'll play or play against. I just want to have fun.

There are still so many things I want to do for youtube. seems like I can't ever focus long enough to get any of them done. I did finally force myself to do the rhino interior videos though, so there is hope!



lastly I've been adding videos as content on miniwargaming to enter their 40k contest. So far it's working out great! getting more views all the time. I'll probably add a few videos a day ..maybe even the entire talking about orks series if it continues to go well.

A bit of fun for the night..

Last night I was painting and my daughter asked if she could paint. It was too late, but tonight I got out some guardsmen that was in my Tau army when I bought it. I tried to help them out a bit but basically just let them go and have fun. Recorded some of it on video too. was a fun and relaxing evening.

Time to face the music.

Yep. I might need glasses. I guess it happens when you get old. I am having intermittent trouble focusing on my models when painting. Problem is I can't afford glasses...I don't have optical coverage on my health insurance. I haven't needed it before!

Last night I was painting nob bikers without any real problem. So it's kinda freaking me out that sometimes I can see fine, other times I can't focus on anything small hardly at all.

Anyway..next week..