Incomprehensibly Tough Competition

After stopping by my LGS a few days ago for what was likely my last visit, I am forced to admit that I have not given the 40k scene there the proper consideration or respect that it deserves. I now believe that my soon to be former LGS can in fact boast of having the toughest competition of any game store in the world. Need proof? Check out this sign-up sheet I spotted for an upcoming 1850 point tournament they will soon be hosting:

That's right, both Chuck Norris AND Bruce Lee have signed up to compete! Who would have ever guessed that my humble LGS would host the most epic confrontation in the history of table top gaming, if not that of all humankind? And you just know those guys are total WAACs, too. ;) I'm not sure about his skill as a 40k player but I'd say Springsteen is a lock for third place and the Players' Choice award. I mean really, who's going to give The Boss a bad sportsmanship score? (Uh, besides Julianne Philips, that is.)

Considering the dramatic rise in competition at my LGS, I am a little sad that I won't be able to play in this tournament, nor even be in attendance to witness what will surely be a battle for the ages. The reason for this is that I am officially moving to Asheville, North Carolina a mere two weeks from today... hooray! No more speculation or hopeful optimism, this time around everything has been confirmed and it's truly a done deal. We will be moving into our new place on June 2nd so unfortunately I expect that I will be too busy even for the colossal Norris v. Lee showdown scheduled for next weekend.

Preparing for my family's move to NC has been the main cause of my recent decline in blogging, as well as my overall lack of hobby time over the past two weeks. Since my previous post I've picked up my paintbrush just one other time before doing so again earlier tonight to work a little more on Captain Homer. I'd like to finish him and a few other small projects before I have to finally pack away the last of my hobby gear, though I am not terribly concerned should I end up having only a minimum of painting time for the rest of the month.

Nonetheless I will try to post at least a few more times before then. Tonight I just wanted to provide a little update on what I've been doing and to offer an explanation for my absence from the blog. I've been really busy but I am so excited about moving that it has been very much worth all the associated hassles. I hope all of you are doing quite well too, goodbye for now!

Captain Homer WIP

Hobby time has been sparse the last couple of weeks and I feel as though I've been in sort of a painting funk as well. There have been some exciting developments for my family concerning our desire to move to North Carolina which I will explain once things have been finalized, but in the meantime that is what has been taking up most of my spare focus and energy. I have therefore just been working on a few small projects whenever I've found both the opportunity and motivation to do so. There are quite a few half painted minis on my desk I can choose for such tinkering, none of which have been sitting there for as long as Captain Homer. I therefore decided a few nights ago it was time I went back to work on him.

Well what can I say? I hate painting white. It drives me crazy and is the reason I waited so long before returning to this miniature. Yet there's no way for me to realize my vision of Captain Homer without him wearing the blue and white power armour. As expected it's been problematic and I am not entirely satisfied with the results so far. I am happy nonetheless to finally be making some progress on this guy even if it has been at times frustrating. This should be however only the first of my Captain Homers as I plan on making several other alternate models of him for use with my Stonecutters army. Also, having been inspired by the story from Treehoue of Horrors XIII, "Send in the Clones," I would eventually like to make a squad of Homer clones with the same color scheme for use as the army's Death Company. I therefore should have numerous additional chances to practice working with white paint and hopefully I'll soon find a technique that feels more comfortable to me.

That happy little fellow pictured to the left of Captain Homer is his buddy, Mojo the Helper Monkey. Simpsons fans will remember Mojo from episode #5F15 of Season 9, titled "Girly Edition," in which Homer acquires a service monkey to do the various chores and duties that he is too lazy to do himself. Once I saw this miniature from the CoolMiniOrNot Limited Edition Series of a monkey armed with a flamer thrower, I knew he would make a perfect Mojo and had to find his way into the Stonecutters project. The approach for 40k that I've chosen for this is to treat Mojo simply as a marker denoting Captain Homer's weaponry, thus abiding by the standards of WYSIWYG but otherwise having no in-game effects. This particular Captain Homer will count as being armed with a power weapon and a hand flamer, making him a fairly cheap HQ option relative to most of the others that I expect to have with this army.

I am excited about the prospect of having this miniature painted and complete. It marks the long awaited beginning of the actual assembly and painting stages for my Stonecutters army, having been previously stalled in the conceptual and planning phases for far too long. If my schedule cooperates I think I should be able to finish Captain Homer and Mojo in the next few days, although I still have not made up my mind what I'll be doing for their bases which might have to wait a while longer. I'll try to get another WIP update posted soon once I've made some more progress. So until next time... happy gaming and painting, everyone!