Acknowledging Acknowledgement

Just wanted to pop in to show off a mention I got from Ganesha Games in their most recent 4AD release; Digressions of the Devouring Dead. I'm truly honored to be mentioned in this book, it absolutely made my whole week (though I'm still puzzled on how they ended up finding my rulebook from over 3 years ago.) Anyway, if you haven't played 4AD before, I highly recommend it. The core system of the game is so simple, yet incredibly engrossing and fun. And for only 8 bucks, you can't go wrong. I haven't played Digressions of the Devouring Dead yet, but the price point on it (and really all of Ganesha Games' content) is fantastic as well.

As for the hobby, I sold off most of my miniature crafting/painting stuff, so I wouldn't expect my hiatus to end anytime soon, unfortunately. That's all from me for now! Later days.

Look What I Did: Built A Table

So the hobby table has been pretty vacant for the last month, but only because I've been creating a gaming table. I've always wanted to make my own, with all of the bells and whistles, but without time, space and knowledge on woodworking and electrical work, I never really got around to it. Until I moved to a new place with the room for such a project. And so, I dove in. More after the jump.

Awakened Tree Complete (I Am Broot!)

Any DnD druid that lives long enough to see level 8 wants their very own Awakened Tree, my druid being no exception; having already picked out the name Broot for his future buddy. So, in preparation of hitting level 8 soon (I hope), I got this "miniature" off of Mierce Miniatures. I put quotations around that word because this thing is pretty damn big. Like, throw it at somebody and cause a concussion big. And maybe it was the size of this canvas, maybe it was feeling like I had more freedom with all of the randomly placed foliage or maybe it was simply that I wasn't painting those dumb vampires, but this project was a lot of fun. More pics after the jump.

Vampires Complete (These Sucked)

Every now and then, there's a project that you love. You can't wait to get home from work and just start back in on it. It keeps you awake at night, the memories of joy and the pain of not being able to spend every waking moment at the hobby table. For me, this was the opposite of one of those projects. I hated painting these (mostly the horses), and though they turned out great, it's hard to tell since I didn't even care to take pictures that showed them off. These were merely models I had started and needed to finish to get to my next project (something I'm ecstatic for!) Pics after the jump, I guess.

Uncanny Against Darkness (Back To The Rules-Writing)

Ever played Four Against Darkness? Well, you should. It's Ganesha Games' newest game; a standalone, simple, yet engrossing RPG that only requires you and one d6. The best part? The entire rulebook is only $8 and their first two expansions are under $3 each (you can check out their products HERE). This game comes from the same company that brought us all SoBaH (another one of my favorites). Anyway, after I finished my first dungeon I was hooked and decided to expand the game out a bit with some new classes that I've enjoyed from other RPGs.

You can download a copy HERE, but you'll of course need the Four Against Darkness rules first. I will keep this link updated with the latest version as I continue to refine and playtest it.

Uncanny Against Darkness is a fan-made expansion to the official game Four Against Darkness. It was made without the permission of...well, anyone. This is a no-profit, made with love for the game PDF and is only meant to promote Four Against Darkness further. Happy gaming!

Mycolo Solis Complete (Mixing Magic And Mushrooms)

A side-effect of finishing 43 models in less than a month is getting burned out on painting. So after a three-month hiatus, I'm back with a model I can't get enough of. A new druid character in DnD I made demanded this model, and luckily I got it when I did as it looks to be sold out of its limited run as of this posting. I'm delighted with how this turned out and the OSL attempts (one of my first) turned out better than I thought it would, though it's hard to make out in most of these photos. More pics after the jump.

Shout Out: HopeRiver's Valley

"There will always be someone better." I think Kermit the frog said that or something, I don't know. My point is there are a lot of people in this hobby that put my simple skills to shame. Well, I'm here to make a shout out to someone who puts all of those shame-destiny-creators to shame. What I'm trying to say is, "Suck it people that are better than me; there's someone better than you! Ha HA!" But, you know, in a more polite way than that. If you haven't seen Nadya's Eldar (or her work in general), I suggest you head on over to HopeRiver's Valley to check them out. Unless you paint Eldar, like myself; you'll feel like a toddler with finger-paints in comparison.

Werewolves Complete (I'm Lycan 2016 So Far)

2016 begins! While I'm still not used to writing the correct year on checks and...anything else outdated that requires the year written by hand, I'm still in the swing of the hobby. Not to be slowed, I finished the three werewolves for my Army of the Undead. The eyes didn't turnout exactly how I expected (still working on my dayglow pigment skills), but for some quick work, I think the models as a whole turned out just fine. More pics after the jump.

Look What I Did: 2015

This year was a damn good one for me hobby-wise. I painted, I built, I played, I read, I got good news and I surprisingly stayed consistent on this blog and at the hobby table. 2015 was a good one, so join me as I run through the ups and downs of the hobby for me this year and as you prep to get sloshed tonight, won't you? After the jump, a recap of 2015 here at TLA!

Vaneth Jornis Complete (2015 As Well, For Real This Time)

Okay, one more done for 2015. With my group starting a new DnD campaign, it was time to make a new character, and with it, a new miniature. I've had this one from GW's fantasy line for quite a while, hoping I'd be playing a rogue again in the future. Well, that day has come! I kept to darker colors (clearly), using blacks, greys, dark purples and dark-bronze highlighting to the armor, though it's hard to tell in these pics. I kept his face/eyes, daggers and even the highlights on the poison tips of the blades bright to keep the focus on them. Lastly, this was the first model in quite a while where I didn't use static grass for the basing! More pics after the jump.

Undead Protector Complete (Along With 2015)

Just under the wire of 2015 I finished a miniature that I'm not embarrassed about. In fact, I've had this model for years and continue to attempt terrible ideas on it because I like it so much (Anyone know what range this thing is from? I can't remember). This time around I stripped it down with the intent of making this thing something I enjoy so I can stop stripping it and starting over on it every few years. Finally, I have a product I'm happy with. Next time our group plays SoBaH, he'll be ready to roll. More pics after the jump.

Wraiths Complete (Disappointment Is The New Black)

So in an attempt to hit the 100-models-completed mark for 2015, I raced through some zombies in my last post and lastly I was taking care of ten wraiths I have from KoW. I wanted the wraiths to be set apart from the other ghostly member of the army, so I experimented with the ghostly scheme to add something more than just whites and greens. Unfortunately, these turned out terrible, I hate them, and I may never love again. I have some plans in the far future to try and fix them with a few ideas rolling around upstairs, but for now, they'll just hang out behind some taller model. More disappointment after the jump.

Zombie Horde Complete (Shambling To The Finish Line)

The end of the year approaches and, with it, that special time where everyone gets a chance to look back on the last 365 days as they stare up into the sky thinking, "Shit...I didn't do anything." That moment came early for me; about a week ago in fact, while at the hobby table. Every year I make a post for a Look What I Did going over my year in the hobby and like last year, I wanted to count up all of the models I finished in 2015 in comparison to last year. The count was in the high 60's, and while that's better than 2014's total, I wanted to hit the triple digits. Enter, the zombie horde.

The Watcher Complete (Who 'Ya Gonna Call?)

Quick picture dump today as I finished another ghostly model. This time it's The Watcher from the Kingdom Death: Monster Kickstarter. This model is elegant, beautiful and a massive pain in the ass to put together. No instructions came with this guy so the internet had to help me out in putting him together. All in all, I'm happy with how this one came out, but I'm finding myself already bored of this ghost-making technique. I'll likely be moving on to something entirely different for my next model. Anyway, more pics after the jump.

Skeletons Complete (Now With 23% More Ghostliness!)

With a few more Harlequins done, I switched gears again to work on the Kings of War army I got through their Kickstarter, and seeing as how my Necromancer can summon skeletons in DnD, the skeleton portion was an obvious next step. A very easy time with these as unlike most of my projects, very few colors were used and it turned out that basing these guys was the step that took the longest (and I'm still not even close to getting rid of all of this basing flock!). More pics after the jump.

Faces by Matthew Farrer (A Book Review)

As I mentioned in my last book review, I like to read novels that center on the project I'm working on. Unfortunately for me, there are only two novels for the Harlequins (The Victim's Dance doesn't count). So I picked up Faces by Matthew Farrer shortly after finishing The Masque of Vyle and dived right in. This is minimum spoilers country, people. You've been warned... More after the jump.

Shadowseer Complete (Now Ya' Seer, Now Ya' Don't)

The second to the last piece of this army is complete, and I think it turned out great considering I just kept tossing idea after idea into this thing as I went along. I must admit, having read a Harlequin novel where a Shadowseer pumped narcotics into a large area causing others to hallucinate was a driving force behind this finished product from the transition of colors, to the spotted effects, to the teal hallucinogenic smoke pumping out; it was all new to me as I went along and I'm lucky as hell it turned out as well as it did. More pics after the jump.

Death Jester Complete ('Dem Bones 'Dem Bones)

Another Harlequin down and this time it's the Death Jester. I love this model, I love the concept of the Death Jester in the novels and I'm just a fan of anything grim reaper-looking in general. That said, this model was infuriating to finish as the shoulder half-cloak part of this model does not go place very easily, if you paint models in pieces like I do. Kudos to anyone else who has tried this; it takes some effort. Anyway, more pics after the jump.

Solitaire Complete (Though, All Alone...)

After a short hiatus from the Harlequins, I'm back on track with the next (and easiest) part of the troupe completed. Assuming I ever play 40k again, I wanted the Solitaire, which is relatively easily killed, to not be painted as some grand miniature on the battlefield. I wanted the model to be forgettable and painted like a model that doesn't really matter that much to my tactics on the table, just like an IG basic foot-soldier; when, in actuality, the Solitaire would play an important role in my army's strategy. It's a game of psychology here at TLA! More pics after the jump.

Slaanesh Daemon Prince Complete (So Much Excessive Detail)

One of the things I never thought to get for my Slaanesh CSM army is a daemon prince, just in case one of the characters wins a fight and rolls lucky enough to turn into one. Luckily, when this model caught my eye, I remembered what my army was missing and nabbed one. As you'll see after the jump, this model has an astonishing amount of detail and is surprisingly on-the-nose for a representation of a daemon of excess from a third-party company.