The Redwood Raven

So if the current internet buzz can be believed, it looks like the Stonecutters will be getting a Spruce Moose* after all. Woo-hoo!! I haven't had a whole lot of time today to check out the news but I hope this is legit. My first impression is that the design doesn't look terribly intimidating or mean, instead reminding me of a cross between a bumble bee and a lawn dart. Or something else equally silly. But for a Simpsons-themed army I think this model would be perfect. It's got a lot of comedy potential and will be a nice centerpiece for the army once I get around to them.

I'm psyched. The Blisstonians already have their Copperhead in which to chauffeur around Plant Manager Burns. Meanwhile it looks promising that the Stonecutters will have a Storm Raven to spearhead their drunken (airborne!) assaults. Hooray, flyers for everyone!

Sorry I've been quiet the last few days. I became ill at the start of the week but am feeling better now. Painting continues on the Citadel Woods although there has not been a whole lot of progress since my last post. More to come soon... cheers!

*From "$pringfield," episodes #1F08. Another plane belonging to Mr. Burns, the Plywood Pelican featured in episode #FABF16 "Midnight Rx", would also provide suitable inspiration/precedent for a Stonecutters Storm Raven. I cannot however find any reference pictures of the Plywood Pelican so that's why I'm going with the Spruce Moose. It's also from an earlier episode so that gives it primacy.

Welcome To Your New Home

We arrived home late last night from our trip to Asheville. To my delight I saw that the Copperhead Valkyrie from Col. Hessler had arrived while I was away but I was too worn out and decided I should wait until I had recovered from the trip a little. I unpacked it today while my daughter took her nap and took it for a test flight around the yard. The crew of the Valkyrie seem to be quite happy and look forward to their easy new assignment. They've heard that they'll just be flying around a factory boss and his bodyguard. Sounds simple enough, what could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to your new home, flyboys! Don't worry... it's a quiet, safe neighborhood. Most of the time, at least.

Thanks again to Col. Hessler for this awesome model! If anyone has suggestions for color schemes, I'd love to hear 'em.

Good Karma Pre-Heresy Celebration

I've had a lot of good luck recently. Early last Friday I was overjoyed to see that I had won an awesome "Copperhead" Imperial Guard Valkyrie created by Col. Hessler, author of SADOUKAD 16. I am very grateful to have won such a cool and unique model. Woo-hoo!

Copperhead Valkyrie, currently en route to my corner of the Imperium

My winning streak was then confirmed on Monday when I scored another choice victory, this time in a contest held that morning at The Astral Wolves. Thanks to the fortuitous intersection of Hunter S. Thompson trivia and some adorable kitties, a link back to here is now kindly featured in a place of great prominence on Von Drakin's blog. But that is not all as my winnings also included the promise of a feature article to be written about this very blogging enterprise, diceRolla! (I admit this does make me a little nervous.) Lastly he's going to paint a miniature in my honor... how cool is that?!?

Thank you very much, gentlemen!

With such good fortune on my side I've decided this is the perfect time to kick off another contest of my own. I've actually been thinking about this for a while. More than a month ago I gave in to temptation and clicked on this blog's "Stats" button for the first time. My goodness, I was shocked to say the least. Thank you to everyone for checking out my little world of internet gaming silliness, it amazes me how many people I've been able to reach here with my curious efforts. And in the time since my last contest the number of people following diceRolla has more than quadrupled, for which I am very appreciative, and I feel this is overdue for some celebrating as well.

Therefore, as an expression of my gratitude for your continued support and encouragement, I am offering the two sets of Forge World pre-heresy Space Marine goodness seen below. I understand not everyone plays Marines, or even 40k for that matter, so to hopefully broaden the appeal I'm including for each winner a resin display base from Secret Weapon Miniatures designed to hold the individually based models. That way even if you don't normally do anything with Marines, perhaps you would still enjoy painting them for your display shelf.

(Sorry about the dark, awful photo. You can click the links in the list below to see the primary items at the company websites.)

The two winners of the contest will each receive the following:

- five MkIII Iron Armour Space Marines

- five Umbra Patter X10 Space Marine Bolters

- one pre-Heresy style Flamer

- one pre-Heresy style Meltagun

- one pre-Heresy style Missile Launcher and arms

- one resin "Squad Display: 25mm Trench Works" base

- five matching resin bases for individual models

So here's how to enter:

1) Join my Esoteric Order if you haven't already (i.e., click the Follow button).

2a) Either leave a comment on this post with a link to something you've written of which you are particularly proud...

2b) Or leave a comment on this post with a link to someone else's work that has inspired you or helped you out with your hobby in some way. It can be a piece of artwork, a tactics article, some army list advice, a painting tutorial... anything really. Just no links to diceRolla, please. (It's probably not necessary for me to specify that last part but I just want to be clear on the matter.)

And that's it. For the links I'm essentially interested in seeing an example of what drew you to bring your hobby to the internet. While more demanding than the terms of my last contest, hopefully it is not so great an obstacle as to discourage anyone from entering. On Sunday, October 24th at 10pm EST I will randomly select two people who've entered this drawing to win one of the prize packages described above. So please pick out a link you'd like to share and enter the contest... good luck!

And thanks again for supporting me in my blogging adventures, you make it a far more fun, interesting, and rewarding experience for me. Thank you.