Old Stuff Day!

As decreed by Rob over at Warhammer 39,999, today is Old Stuff Day for all of us hobby bloggers. It's a chance to dust off some old favorites and to take another look at posts that may have been forgotten, overlooked, or otherwise somehow missed by the internet since originally being posted. Not many folks have the time or interest to dig around through archived material to find the juicy bits, and certainly some blogs [ahem, diceRolla, cough cough] do not make it terribly accessible either. So hooray for Old Stuff Day!

For today's fun I've picked out links to a sampling of vintage diceRolla posts, including a bunch of still unfinished projects, all of which I plan on returning to later this year. Therefore as well as being a sort of review of diceRolla's past, this is also a preview of some projects which I hope to work on in the coming months. Even though I might not have mentioned them in quite a while, they have not been forgotten. For your consideration the posts I have chosen are: a 40k army project, a Killzone project, the collaborative results of a contest, a "semi-regular" blog feature, and a 15mm historical minis project from long ago relative to the lifespan of this blog.

The Drones of Sector 7G (Illustrated) - I love the Simpsons, and I love 40k. Newer readers might not be aware of the ways I've been trying to make the two subjects intersect. This post describes the selection process I went through in choosing which units to include in one of my current army projects, the Blisstonian 9th, an Imperial Guard army based on the workforce of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Competitiveness, efficiency, and all other normal gaming considerations were discarded in pursuit of my chosen theme, an admittedly silly one at that. Work on this project has been on hold for several months with just a little bit of occasional painting but it's still one that I am very eager to get back to, hopefully sometime this coming spring or summer.

Killzone WIP: Rogue Trader Crew - What can I say, Killzone is awesome! Unfortunately I've only been able to play a handful of games so far since Big Jim and the Killzone development team made available this amazing set of fan-created skirmish rules for 40k. As part of the 10/10/10 Killzone Blitz I decided to put together a Special Ops team based on a Rogue Trader accompanied by his closest associates, bodyguards, and allies. I didn't finish painting these guys in time for the Blitz but was able to get a decent amount of color onto each one, certainly enough to get a sense of what they'll look like once fully painted. I'd like to have them completed later this month in anticipation of the big Killzone extravaganza at this year's Adepticon.

Contest Links Bonanza - This was the culmination of the most recent diceRolla contest, a big list of links supplied by lots and lots of hobby bloggers. To participate in the Good Karma Pre-Heresy Celebration and qualify for the prize drawing, I had asked everyone to provide a link to something of which they were particularly proud, or to link to someone else's work that had inspired them in some way. I really enjoyed following the links to learn more about my fellow hobby enthusiasts and to see the sort of things that really motivate and inspire them. This contest was a lot of fun for me and I look forward to hosting another one in the coming months, though details of which are yet to be determined.

Flashbacks and Nightmares: Plaguebearers - Ahh... the sweet, sweet taste of internet fame. :) This post garnered the much sought after approval of my peers in that it made From the Warp's Tuesday's Top Ten list. WOOHOO!! Many thanks to Ryan for being so kind as to honor some of my own handiwork with inclusion in one of his weekly lists, this was indeed an early highpoint in my blogging adventures. It also happened to have been the second and final installment in what I had planned on being a semi-regular feature here at diceRolla. I have a fair number of old minis I'd like to photograph for use in future Flashbacks and Nightmares, I just haven't gotten around to it yet... almost a year later. Pitiful, just pitiful. We'll see, I'd like to revive this series if it can even be called that.

Woo-Hoo!! Painted Archers! - I generally advise against going too far back into the history of my blog but this is a special day after all, so for this last one let's go waaay back. This post is from the second week of diceRolla and showed off the first minis painted since having started the blog. At that point I was primarily focused on de Bellis Antiquitatis and so I spent most of my hobby time working on various 15mm armies. These archers from Corvus Belli are for an unfinished Hundred Years War: English army that I haven't touched in over a year. Since moving on from the idea of collecting Bretonnians, I've realized that whatever interest I had in painting medieval knights and archers could be directed at this old HYW project instead. I don't know when I'll work on them again but it's nice having them around should I feel so inclined. And once I've finished with the English there's still the French to be painted, too.

That's it for my participation in Old Stuff Day. I hope it's been an enjoyable look back at some of diceRolla's past glories. Thank you very much to all my readers, both old and new alike. It's been an exceptional joy posting up my hobby ramblings here for you to read. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to check out what I've been up to and I am grateful for all the excellent feedback and comments I receive. I understand the blog has been quiet lately but with Adepticon less than a month away it's going to be a busy couple of weeks. Thanks for sticking with me so far... there's lots more hobby fun still to come!

Reminder: Loq's B-Day Contest

This is a reminder for you procrastinators (no offense intended, I assuredly am in that group as well) that today is the deadline for Loq's birthday contest. So hurry hurry if you haven't already sent in your entries! If you were waiting for the last minute, well you're pretty close... the deadline is set for 10:00AM CENTRAL.

Details about the contest and guidelines for submissions can be found here. All you need to do to enter the contest is help Loquacious out a little by writing a descriptive sentence about her blog, World of Wonder. There's also a way to enter for the more visually oriented of you but I imagine time's running short to design anything. Now go on you slackers, send something in and wish Loquacious a happy birthday, too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOQUACIOUS!!

[Edit: I posted this earlier today when there was just a little more than an hour before the end of the contest, which has since then closed. Thanks, folks!]

Deepstrike Radio's Queensland Flood Relief

I saw the info for this charitable effort yesterday over at Sons of Taurus and wanted to repost it here to help get the word out. This is just a copy/paste job so if you want either more details or to make a paypal donation, all of that can be found at Deepstrike Radio. Here's the basics, though:

"In wake of the 2011 Queensland Floods, Deepstrike Radio is launching it’s first Flood Appeal. With an estimated $30 Billion damage bill, 18 dead at time of writing, and some 17,900 houses dramatically damaged, it is the least we can do.

Our appeal will happen in two stages:

1) Accepting donations of Space Marine boxed sets and money. Any money received will be used to build Space Marine army force together with donated box sets.

Donations can be made either through our paypal donation button (located on the front page) or if you are contributing a box set – email deepstrikeradio@gmail.com and we will provide you with a postal address. Donations will be accepted until 30 Jan 2011.

2) Combined Space Marine army force will be put onto eBay on 1 February for you to bid on. This army will come unpainted so that you can choose which chapter you want to have, however, Dave Taylor (davetaylorminiatures.blogspot.com) will paint a Space Marine Captain in a chapter scheme of your choice for a Centrepiece model. Awesome!

As an incentive to donate, we are able to announce that we will be giving away books signed by both Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill to the person that donates the highest amount to this appeal.

All proceeds raised will go the Queensland Flood Appeal.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us: deepstrikeradio@gmail.com

Big thanks must go to Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill and Dave Taylor."

I hope Deepstrike Radio is able to raise lots of money with this relief drive. The people affected by this disaster definitely need help so check it out if you think there's someway you can contribute. Thanks, everyone!

Saying Goodbye to 2010

In lieu of a traditional look back at the hobby year that was as seen through the diceRolla blogging lens, I have rather decided to review the year that wasn't. I wanted to do a review of 2010 and still very well might in the days to come, but right now I do not have the energy or excitement to do so. The last few days have been rather exhausting as preparations for moving have now kicked into high gear around the homestead, leaving me this evening feeling perhaps a bit dreary and flat. I therefore don't want my current state of mind to sour any reflections I would have about my hobby adventures through 2010.

I've chosen instead to look back on some of the blog posts from the past year that never saw the light of day but instead ended up tossed aside on the cutting room floor. Regular readers of diceRolla may be surprised to learn that I do in fact exercise some discretion when deciding what to publish here, although I admit sometimes that filter is not quite fine enough. Nonetheless I do try to catch myself when I suspect something of being too dumb, pointless, or grossly off topic even for my own permissive standards.

Hopefully this will be a fun way of concluding 2010 here at diceRolla. My approach to blogging is I believe somewhat haphazard and I certainly do not have any notes or saved drafts to reference in preparing these examples of articles killed by the editorial staff. After scanning through old files of saved photos I was able to put this list together by memory and thus will only show the opening illustration and title I had planned on using. I think in most cases both the content of the articles and the reasons why I ultimately trashed them will be clear enough. So without further delay...

diceRolla's top 10 bad ideas for blogging from 2o1o

1o. Why guest cameos are bad for The Simpsons.

9. Terrible songs to listen to while painting your army or playing 40k.

8. H2O and You - Lubricate your Hobby.

7. Things Seen in Lombard, Illinois.

6. Step Brothers may cause brain damage, film review at 11.

5. How to ruin your Hobby Saw.

4. Jervis Johnson... time traveler?

3. Rejected Ideas for the Beasts of Annihilation.

2. Keep your Dignity - Losing with Style and Grace.

1. A History of the Groening Sector, Parts 1-3.

That last one is something I've held back on for reasons very different than those of the others listed above. Rather than labeling it as a "bad idea," I think it was rather like biting off more than I could chew as a writer. It's still an ongoing project that will hopefully someday be in good enough shape for me to publish here. Currently however I am happy to take my time and not rush anything along. So that's it, I hope you enjoyed this quick look at some ideas for articles so bad even I knew it was best to just discard them. It is sometimes good to just move on to more worthwhile pursuits. Even if I don't always get it right, I do try to make that distinction.

This really has been a great year for me on all accounts, both in HobbyLife and RealLife. I am very thankful for all of you who have played a tremendous part in making this such an enjoyable year. I appreciate the support you have offered to me and my efforts here at diceRolla and I value all the contributions you make to my blog. You have broadened my hobby horizons and for that I am quite grateful. Thank you and may you have a wonderful 2011!

Happy New Year!!!

Nurgle Drives a Mini-Van

I’m home! What a day, what a day it was. Seventeen hours on the road have left me feeling rather weary and depleted so please forgive me if I seem a bit off. I slept about four hours last night after packing and loading everything up, then awoke with the family at 4am and was on the road driving fifteen minutes later. It rained the whole way and I didn’t once see the sun the entire day. I drove the first half of the way and, after napping through the state of Virginia, spent the rest of the time trying to keep my daughter entertained and happy. Our little one, 22 months old, did very well as always and is turning out to be an excellent traveler for which I am so grateful.

Unfortunately I cannot say her parents fared nearly as well. It was during the last half of the drive that my wife and I both began feeling ill. For sure it made it an even more interesting trip than usual with the onset of our symptoms, but it was worth it to press on so that we are at least home to recover. Sick or not, it’s good to be back. I suspect my brother-in-law may have passed on a mild flu to us as he has been suffering similarly for a few days now. (Cheers, Jeff, I hope you feel better soon!)

Normally I’d say these are less than ideal conditions for blogging. I saw something however on my phone just a short while ago as we neared Charleston that has compelled me to not let this opportunity pass. It’s b.smoove of A Gentleman's Ones birthday today!

Happy birthday, b.smoove! Hooray! I’ve gathered together a bunch of the Beasts of Annihilation to help me wish you a happy birthday and all the best in the year to come.

Leading the huzzahs is a miniature that’s very dear to me, a Chaos Lord of Nurgle (MoN, Personal Icon, Wings, Daemonic Weapon) who now commands this warband of vile renegades. He’s still a WIP but I just had to bring him out for the occasion. Pretty cool, right?

What’s so special about him is that he is in fact from the b.smoove collection, sent to me as a surprise gift following one of my contests in which the Gentleman was a runner-up prize winner. The contest was based around the idea of passing on old projects to new hands and so b.smoove returned the favor by sending me this awesome model to finish and add to my own army. Amazing!

I originally planned to show him off here once I had completed the little bit of work left to do but I can’t wait any longer. Life is what it is and I still haven’t gotten around to completing him yet. I just think it’s too cool of a model to go uncelebrated, and considering the special day, I thought it was time. Needless to say he takes pride of place in my army and will no doubt lead them to glory.

Thanks again, b., and happy birthday!!

We Have a Winner(s)

I want to start by saying that I am sorry for being so late in announcing the results of my "Hey, Win Some Stuff" contest. I did a poor job planning out the day and have been racing around trying to get things done. The good news though is that I'm going to skip whatever blather I might otherwise have penned about the release of Warhammer 8th edition and instead get right to the interesting stuff. Be sure to stick around after the main announcement, though, as I've got a few other surprises for everyone.

So congratulations to the winner of the new Warriors of Chaos army, Sons of Taurus! Clearly he has already traveled far down the path of damnation and proudly bears the mark of Chaos. I therefore suspect it was Tzeentch's scheming that caused his number to come up when I cast that fateful d8 this morning. I'm quite happy to see them go to such a welcoming home. Contact me at [removed] and I'll get everything packed up and shipped to you right away.

Again, I really appreciate people getting involved and helping me out with this blog, and particularly for making this contest a lot of fun for me. I hate the idea of any of you going away entirely disappointed and so I have some consolation prizes for the rest of you who entered. I've lamented before my current lack of space for my hobby, particularly since becoming a family man and selling off my old businesses, and I really like the idea of handing off some neglected projects for which I no longer have room to keep around. I therefore spent a chunk of time today digging around old boxes and picked out some items for each of you based on the type of projects I've seen you discuss on your own blogs. This of course involved a lot of guessing as to what might be appropriate so let me know if I messed up on anything as I'd be happy to take another swing at it. Here then is the run down:

Gyro - You strike me as a fan of miniatures in general and in all their many varieties. I feel like if anyone can come up with a good use for an assortment of Lord of the Rings miniatures, it would be you. Included in your selection are nine Mordor Orcs with swords and shields, six Mordor Orcs with bows, two with polearms, two with two-handed weapons, one Orc with a standard, one champion-looking guy, and a shaman. The last dude is already glued to a base, the rest are all loose but otherwise untouched. I also want to send you a Mordor Troll still in the original packaging to add some muscle to those Orcs, and lastly an unopened blister of Sam & Frodo in Orc Armour. I think they're pretty funny and would be a fitting part of this bunch.

Kuffeh - Are you still actively working on your Dwarves? If so I've got a few boxes of basic dudes that I'd like to send to you. It's one each of the Dwarf Warriors, Dwarf Thunderers/Quarrellers, and Dwarf Cannon/Organ Gun box sets. A few weeks ago I opened them for the first time in search of drinking mugs that I could use for my Stonecutters. Otherwise they are untouched as I didn't see anything helpful for that project. I've also got a new Gyrocopter that I'd like to include if you're interested.

Murl - You're an Imperial Guard player, and if there's one thing that makes Imperial Guard players happy, it's tanks. If I'm not mistaken, I spotted recently a Graia Pattern Hellhound on your blog. If you're interested in having another, I've got a complete and unassembled Forge World Graia kit that I'd be happy to send your way. Also if you're still looking for pieces from the old Leman Rus kit, I've got one of those as well if you want it. Lastly I'm including for you a pair of FW Cadian Veterans with Shotguns upgrade packs. I hope these will help add to your awesome army. [EDIT: Oops, I forgot to mention there's also a Cadian Heavy Weapon Team box for you as well.]

b.smoove - I had a hard time finding anything appropriate for internet celebrity b.smoove. Your stuff is all so fantastically converted and creatively kit-bashed that I'm really not sure what would be of use for you. I do know however that you're a fan of historical miniatures and have recently mentioned wanting to spend some time on those of ancient Rome. (Welcome back from your trip, by the way. I apologize for not having said so sooner.) I don't know if you focus on any particular period of Roman history but I've got two sets of plastic Romans from the Wargames Factory picked out for you. One is the Caesar's Legions box set containing 48 legionaries from the late Republic including enough pieces for three sets of command groups. The other is labeled as 12 Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary Cavalry, but with the possible exception of the command guys they could probably fit into most Republic and Imperial periods as well.

Mihalis "Cadaver" Skalkos - It's looks like all of your commission work keeps you fairly busy so again I wasn't sure what would be a good selection for you. I think I remember you were considering working on Skaven again, and though I don't have a whole lot of those, I would like to send some to you if you wish. I have 3/5 of a box of Skaven Plague Monks still on the sprue for you (I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to the other eight fellas), three unopened blisters of Plague Censer Bearers, and one blister pack of a Clan Pestilens Plague Lord. Since you're an Ork player I can't resist the opportunity to also send you a box of Ork Nobz and a Painboy blister to go with them.

Beef Nuggets - To help fill some of those gaps you mentioned in the Nuln army you're now working on, how about two new warmachines? One is a new Empire Artillery box (the cannon/mortar one), the other is the Empire Volley Gun/Rocket Battery box. Also I've got a box of Empire Wizards, Empire State Troops, and a blister pack Master Engineer Repeater Pistol. I hope these will help you out.

Matty - I think I've scraped the bottom of the Wood Elf barrel with those Dryad bits I mentioned to you, though I do have 12 assembled but unpainted Dryads that you are welcome to have if you like. I don't know how excited you still are about Necrons, but I've finally decommissioned the Necron army that I've been working on for my brother off and on for most of the last decade and thought you might want some of the remaining elements of that project. I have for you one box of Necron Warriors (unless you've already got 120 of them, there's always room for more...) and one Heavy Destroyer. Also I picked out for you two Necron Immortal blisters, one Flayed Ones blister, and two loose Flayed Ones. Let me know though if you're not all that Necron-crazy anymore and I'll go have another look around for you. Oh, I almost forgot... I've also got for you one each of the Citadel Hero and Urban Basing Kits.

DrGabe - For having the temerity to try to crash my party and turn my Followers against me (what is this, 7th grade all over?), my gift to you is a bitterly contested, lifetime rivalry to be fought out in small scale on tabletops the world over. Of course considering we only see each other once every decade or so, this really is kind of a hollow gesture. Oh well. I hope life is treating you well, buddy!

Damn, that took a while... whew. Please everyone, I really am sincere about wanting to give these miniatures and whatnot away to you. Not only am I thankful for your patronage and support, but you'd also be helping me out as well. So hit me up at [removed] and tell me where I can send all this stuff.

Thanks!

PS - This is my 151st post on diceRolla... woo-hoo!

PPS - Just to be clear, the middle initial [removed] is the letter q as in Quincy. And don't worry, I'll remove all that once I've heard from everyone.

Hey, Win Some Stuff

Sorry I haven't posted anything here in quite a long time. For the last several weeks I've not been able to get any time for hobby stuff other than reading the occasional game book, most notably the Malifaux rulebook and the Bretonnian army book. (Malifaux was interesting and looks like fun, and while the Bretonnia book is certainly nice, I think it's showing its age a bit.) Not being able to paint has been frustrating but I'm hopeful that I'll soon be back at. All the home remodeling projects are finally complete and my Father's Day gift from my wife was a yet-to-be-picked-out hobby desk. For more than two years now I've kept all my gaming and painting junk portable and packed up when not in use due to life being something of a whirlwind. Therefore the prospect of having somewhere I can safely leave my projects overnight is very exciting for me. Even if my painting does not improve, I'm pretty sure my productivity will as I've managed to set a rather low baseline for myself these past few months.

Okay, enough of the non-update update. Now for the winning of things. I'm very grateful for those of you who have signed up as Followers of this blog and I appreciate your contributions to it. You've made this a much more enjoyable experience for me. So as a way of saying thanks I thought it would be cool to pass on to one of you an army project I know I'll never have time to work on myself. To celebrate the release of the new edition of Warhammer a little more than one week from now, I'd like to give away the selection of Warriors of Chaos boxed sets and blister packs pictured above. On Saturday, July 10th, I'll randomly select one of the Followers who have commented on this post (all you need to do is let me know you're interested in having a shot at the prize) and then I'll announce the winner that day at 8pm EST. Simple, right?

Here's a list of what the winner will receive:

WoC Battalion

Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount

Sorcerer of Chaos

Nurgle Chaos Sorcerer

Warriors of Chaos (boxed set with 12 guys)

Chaos Marauder Horsemen

Chaos Warriors (the one with 3 guys)

Chaos Knights

3 Chaos Trolls (one of each pose)

A long time ago I was gung-ho about cranking out this army and getting it on the table, but life intervened and this project kept getting shoved further and further down the priority list. Eventually the enthusiasm was gone and last summer I realized that I was no longer even interested in hanging on to them, but I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with the evil little bastards. With the new version of Warhammer only days away this seems like as good a time as any to find a new warlord to lead them, so hopefully at least one of you will want to give these savages a happy home and take them off my hands.

Thanks again for taking an interest in my quiet little niche of the interwebs. I'm confident that things will get (mildly?) more interesting around here soon.

diceRollaversary

Today marks the one year anniversary for diceRolla... woo-hoo! It's been a fun and rewarding experience for me and has really helped me stay motivated. I haven't found much support for gaming in my area so keeping this blog has been a good way for me to stay focused and active in my hobby. Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read my ramblings and I would like to apologize for all of my nonsense. Hey, at least I'm no longer trying to post each day as that turned out rather disastrously... the internet already has enough crap as it is.

I am very grateful to those of you who have seen something here that you liked and decided to come back for more. I really appreciate the support and encouragement that you've offered me, as well as all of the useful suggestions, ideas, and feedback. Thank you, it's been great to hear from you and blogging has certainly been a lot more fun knowing people might actually take a look here. So for diceRolla's first birthday I would like to send out gifts to any of my loyal readers who would like to get some free gaming swag.

For the rest of the month, anyone who is a Follower [edit: or not, whatever...] of this blog can comment on this post to let me know you would like to receive something to commemorate the occasion. Plus you're welcome to tell me what type of stuff you're interested in or collect and I'll do my best to find an appropriate gift. On the first of May I will post a list of what I have picked out for each respondent and those who are happy with my selection can then tell me where to mail it. Easy, right? I've got lots of unassembled, and in many cases still new in the box, miniatures that I'd be happy to give away as part of this celebration and so I'm confident that I will be able to come up with some cool thank you gifts.

Right then, hopefully this will be fun. I appreciate everyone who's contributed to my hobby experience and look forward to more of it in the future. This has been a good year for me and I just want to do something nice in return. So again, thanks!

AdeptiCon 2010

Some big news to share today... I'm going to AdeptiCon! I've never been but I've been reading about it and hearing about it for years now so I am really excited about going to the 2010 event. Making it even sweeter, I am going to be attending with one of my very best friends from my younger years with whom I have not been able to hang out in a long, long time. I am going to be so full into geek-mode, it's ridiculous. As my loving and supportive wife said, "I'm so happy for you, you're going to Dork Boot Camp!"

With AdeptiCon just 120 days from now, I have some serious preparing to do. Even though I won't be involved in any of the official tournaments, I want to be sure I can take advantage of any opportunities for pick-up games. I therefore want to have an army painted and ready to go so that I can take it with me to the convention, but I don't know quite what to bring. I will be flying to Chicago so I need to make sure it's a compact force which I can fit entirely within one Army Transport bag. Having thus eliminated any horde armies, that leaves me with either Marines, Chaos Marines, or Eldar from which to choose. I'm tempted to throw caution to the wind and go with Eldar as I assume power armour will already be very well represented. On the other hand, though, I have almost no experience using them and don't think I want to add the challenge of learning a new army as well. So that leaves me with some variant of the Space Marines, but which to choose?

Since I am already a ways into putting together my Black Legion Chaos Marines, it would make sense for me to push on with them and quickly get to painting. I now feel however like I don't want to rush them for this event and would instead prefer to take something else, especially as I still do not know how I plan on highlighting all of that black power armour. Turning therefore to the loyalist Marine chapters, I have come up with two options: my own Stonecutters, or the long-historied Dark Angels. Although it would be cool to premier my DIY chapter at AdeptiCon, again I don't want to rush them, especially as I hope to learn much in the hobby and painting seminars which I could afterwards apply to painting the Stonecutters. So that leads me to the First Legion, the Dark Angels.

This is how it always seems to happen. I start one project, but then I get excited about something else and switch gears. Even though this is something I have been trying to avoid, with little success so far, I think in this case it is a special occasion. I'm going to continue with my other terrain projects and what-not on the side, but until AdeptiCon my main focus will be on painting the Dark Angels. That's the plan, at least.

Oh yeah, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you!