Noel's Log 7-23-2012

First I want to welcome a new author to the my blog, Welcome My self!!!
I will now be posting from two accounts. I have a large number of photos on my gmail account so I need to host the blog photos from another account. From now on I am using my second NoelVH account to host photos I am taking, and sharing of my minis.

Work Bench:
This weekend I spent time working on a gift for a friend of mine. This friend is leaving his current job for a new one, and I have been working with this geek for over three years now. I wanted to give him some thing, but I am not a person with lost of $$$, so I was thinking what can I give him. Now I was thinking of this while painting Saturday morning. Opened a storage area on my desk and found some 19/20mm Dwarfs I am not going to use, but are fantastic sculpts.

These Dwarfs are from Splintered Light games, and I got before knowing they were not 15mm. What a shame as these are great minis. So I set out to pant and base them as a desk topper. Some thing to keep the dork/geek in my friend at his new job.

I did not have the time to photo them correctly so please forgive.

So I took 4 of the base Dwarfs, and a Shaman. I think they came out great. I started work on the base, and the minis Saturday morning, and it took about 5 to 6 hours total. The base is layers of plastic card, with a magnetic bottom. I used old GW bases on the Dwarfs. I also got to try my new static grass flock out. I am having fun with that stuff.

OK so I worked on a gift for a friend, but I also finished up my mounted Saber tooth tigers.

I also worked on my cracked earth basing, but all my tests have failed. I did some research on this subject, and found another glue that creates the crackle effect. Hide glue, I guess this it the stuff from the old cartoons ware they sent the old horses off to. It is made from animal protein. Yuk!!!!! But I will try and pick some up this week, and have another go at it. No I did not get a chance to take any photos this week, but will make up for that later this week or my next log.

New Miniatures:
While working on this article I got a phone call from my son letting me know I got some minis in the mail. So I have stopped till I can check them out.

OK I have gotten my first minis from Trench 2114, and I will say I like them very much. I ordered two packs of the Panzer Troops over a month ago on a pre-order deal John posted. Let me say I have a hard time finding just what I want in 15mm. We all know I have no issue with Orcs and such, but for my SicFi troopers my mind is all way looing for what I loved in 28mm, and that was my Warzone collection. Now I was more or an Imp player than the Bahas player. But I had both armies. Well to get back to the 15mm Panzer Troops, John got them dead on for my taste in SciFi troopers.

I got 20 of them total and only opened on bag of 10. There are three poses in this bag. the mix is a bit off. There are three of the guy that look like leaders and I would rather see two of them. This way one bag would make two five man squads. With that said this is my ONLY complaint about these minis. Holding the minis in my hands they have a great feel to them, I see no flash and all most no mold lines. The mold lines I see are in the inner legs, and in areas you really do not see. So perp work will be next to nothing from me. The have good bases, not very thick so should mount very well. The one of the three stand 17.5mm to the eye, the other two are 16.5mm to the eye. They do not look out of sorts in any way to me. The arm, legs, body all look like the fit correctly. The have a high level of detail to them. The detail is heavy, and what I mean by this is it will not get lost in a coat of paint. Heavy in my mind means I can see it from a distance, after paint, and brings a great level or reality to the figure. (if I was a word smith this would be written better).

Over all some of the best 15mm SciFi I have ever owned, and I am looking for more of their stuff to make it to my mail box. John--- you hit a home run whit these miniatures!

Now for three crapy photos. Sorry I did not get a chance to take better photos.

 

Leader type.

 

May the Die Fall in Your Favor!
Noel

photo from Trench 2114 used with out permission, if this is not allowed please contact me directly for prompt removal noelvh AT gmail DOT com.

Noel's Log 7-16-2012

Noel's Log for the week of 7-16-2012

Blog Reviews:
This week I wan to share three blog posts from my reading list. The first is from a fellow that likes Orcs in space just like me. Thorlongus has a blog called "The 15mm Plunge" and has posted a few photos of a great conversion he has completed. He took some fantasy Orcs, and put some AK47 on them and poof he ended up with some cool SciFi Orcs. Have a look.

Next Ken From Proxie Models has posted he created some 20mm round raised lip bases, that he is selling. I have been looking for just such for my single based 15mm troopers. You may know I have used buttons in the past, but would rather uses these. I have dropped Ken a line in hopes he will get back to me with more info.

Lastly here is a very cool Ork troop transporter. I will not build it in paper, but might give it a try. I was more going to take the idea, and build it out of plastic. This thing is like a WWII landing craft with Orky treads and guns. How cool is this????

Workbench:
Well I did not get a hole bunch done this weekend, as it was my weekend to work from home. Once a month I have to update all legacy computers at work. So I did work on some mounted Dwarfs, but did not take any photos. I also tried another cracked earth base, and failed. So I have set up a control strip and will try a bunch of different mixes and see if I can redo what I did the first time. Very sad, I was really hoping for a big wow out of this.

I did take some time yesterday to build some units for Fantasy Rules 3 in Universal Battle. This is a tool that will let you replace your minis, table, and other players and be any ware in the world with internet access. I have been a big fan of this software, but have a hard time explaining it to people. Picture your self playing your game. You have your army on the table in front of you, and your opponent has the same. Now lets take the minis and turn them into digital versions, lets do the same with the table, and the opponent is 100,000 miles away. Here is how you would play the same game with the same rules. This is a pay to play software. There is a free version that can be used, but you can not save any thing. I have found if you have one paid account and every thing is in that account Units and such, you can have people with free accounts join the game.

I think it is $14. for one year, and $29 life time. I started with the one year and went to the life time. Also there is a week, and month pass. Any way the $29. is a deal.

This example can be used to play ANY miniature game. You can use this for RRtK, Pride of Lions, For the Masses, HOtT, Mighty Armies From Rebel. Your imagination is the limit here. Just think if you could play your favorite game with some one across the country, or world. I bet you would play more. To make it better you just need a VOIP call service like Skype, or google talk.

Any way here are some of the units I built this weekend in the army creator.

First up are my Dwarfs. As you will see I was able to recreate just about every unit type I have in real lead.

Starting at the top Left:

Row1- Hand units, Flying maidens, Mounted , Battlewagon.

Row2- Hand units, Xbows, Mounted, same Battlewagon as above.

Row3- Hero, Shaman, General, Blista , Heavy Artillery.

Next are my Lizardmen.

Row1- Hand unit, Heavy mounted, Battlewagon, Large beast.

Row2- Pikes, Light mounted.

Row3- Flying cav, Small turtle battlewagon.

Lastly my knights.

Row1- Mounted, heavy mounted.

Row2- Hand units, Single Mounted chars.

Now I have more units to create and it is very simple to do so. I am also looking into creating a few simple videos on how to use this software for other game types. I have started but not sure how or if this will come to life. I have never really done videos, and editing. I have all the tools just not the know how.

So that is it for this week, and I hope you have a great one.

Please not I have shared the other content with out there permission. If this is an issue please contact me, and I will remove it at once.

May the die fall in your favor.

Noel

Noel's Log 7-9-12

Another summer weekend passes, and what a hot one for my area. I ended up doing yard work on Saturday, and got attacked my my weed whacker. The cord got pulled out, and when I went to put it back in the loop in the handle twisted up and was pushing on the trigger. So holding the whacker up right in my left hand with the head on the ground, and plugging it in with my right hand the whacker drove right up my leg.

Work Bench:
So that put me in the mood to finish my yard work. So I ended up in my hobby room working on the Dwarfs. This time I primed all the minis I had ready on bases and in my jig. Then I took on the Dwarf maidens. Now I tried to do gray horses as my daughter likes grays, but I have mixed feeling as to how they came out.

I also worked on my Dwarf Shaman, and tried to create a cool base. The mini is a mini, but I wanted a base to really set him off. What I was thinking is have him draw his power from the living rock. So I set out to create a base that would be like cracked earth with lava showing through. I did a test base but just as cracked earth not the lava, and it was a full 40x40 base. It turned out great. With the test done I did the same for a 20x20 base and it did not turn out as well as the test.

As you can see the cracks are not very big, and there are to few of them. I tried to help them by scratching the top layer in hopes the cracks would grow by they did not. So I am not going to give up on this I just have to try another approach. 

So this is what I did. I got this idea from a video I saw last week of a guy basing on a cracked earth and he use products to do this that cost money. Thanks to my late Aunt Judy, who told me to crackle paint use PVA glue. So I first base paint my base a dark color, next paint a layer of PVA glue over top (not thinned). After the PVA is dry, I mixed a bit of rock putty, and lighter color paint, and painted this on. I then put the base near heat, I used a lamp. few hours later it was cracked earth. 

What went wrong? I think the base was to small, and I also think I need a thicker coat of the rock putty, and paint. So I am going to try and do two bases both 40x40 scored to me 20x20 so if it works I can snap it done ow size. But I was also thinking of using the 40x40 but put the PVA down in a circle from edge to edge. This way it will look as if the power from the rock is controlled. So that is what I have planned for the week.

Here is another shot of the Shaman.

And yes I went back to the red beards as they show up better on the smaller scale Dwarfs.

Book Review:

We I am just about finished with the third book in the  Paksenarrion series from Elizabeth Moon. This is the lat boo in this three book series. I have ordered the first book from the next Paksenarrion series. I hope to start this second series this week.

************ Warning************

If you like Apple and there products please stop reading here.

************ Warning************

Tech Review A:

Well if you know me I have a second hobby, and that is computers, it is also how I make a living. I am a PC support for a Pharmaceutical, both desktop, and lab support. So when it comes to computers I love to tinker. I am also a Linux fan and user. Now I am not hard core techey I just love to play, and this past month  brought the next release of PinGuy OS. This is such a big deal to me that I have had to put the minis, and my Android tablet down for the last two weeks. I can go on about how it blow Windows, and Apple out of the water on so many levels, but I can not argue with the brain washing they do. If you would like to take you current Desktop/Laptop and make it safe, secure, and run free powerful programs give it a try. All you have to do is down load the iso file from HERE, burn it to a DVD then boot you system with the disk. Now it will not install unless you select it to , but it will load the full operating system to your ram memory. Once loaded this is what you will see.

This OS is so easy to use, my kids 8, and 9 have it on there laptops, as well as my 76 year old Dad runs it on his machines. 

Tech Review B:

Well my Daughter wanted a Ipud touch, and I would not let here as I hate Apple with there over priced products, and their My stuff is better than your stuff bull crap. So Best Buy had the Samsung Android 5 player on sale, so I let her get that. Boy she is happy. I got far more product for the money, then I would at Apple. I loaded my account on it and all my games, and content came down. This crap about Itunes is the only way to buy and manage music is bull crap. Amazon music, buy and download direct to device, Google play is the same buy and download direct to device. And the music on my pc Open any player software and hit send to device. So you see I hate apple, and this Android player is very good, I will get the smaller one when my Sandisk dies.

Well that is enough for this week, and I am sorry if I have offended any Apple people, but the shoe is on the other foot now. You put Android, and other products down I will do the same to you.

Oh one more thing Did Apple stop the Galaxy S III from coming out? I do not think so!

My the Die fall in your favor!

Noel

Noel's Log 7-2-12

Well it is July, and the 4th is just 2 days away. I had a good weekend, went fishing down the Jersey shore with My Dad, his wife, and my Kids. My girl caught her very first fish, and was not grossed out by the bate. She was batting her own hooks. Me and my boy got skunked. Spent Sunday in the sun, at our town beach, then grilled up dinner.

Work bench:
I have been working on my 15mm fantasy, and was in need of new basing material (plastic sheet) and I have all ways wanted to try out static grass. I got the plastic at my local hobby shop, but no static grass. I have flock and have been using it for years I just want to try something new with the tall grass look. So I have placed an order for three different colors today from the Warstore. So I hope to have it by next weekend.

I did not let my lack of flock stop me form getting some work done.

First up is the Dwarf King from Mirliton with a Dwarf knight. I still have to finish the bases.

Next is some cross bows from the Mirliton. Also need to finish the base.

Lastly here are two units I finished during the week, just need to flock the bases. These are Black Raven Foundry, from Old Glory 15s. The one on the left is a sword unit, and the right is an ax unit.

Next week I hope to get some work done on basing with the static grass, and I will try and do a how to on how I base my fantasy units. As a intro I basically use plastic card cut to 40 x 40mm then apply a magnetic backer. Next I mount the minis, followed by layer of Rock putty to create the ground. Paint the putty earth tone, follow with PVA glue then flock. I will follow the same but add in the static grass. In reading up on static grass I have seen a number of way of applying it, but I think I am going to try super glue, and dip the figure in the grass. I will start with blank bases and go from there. I will make the blanks this week, and report next week.

So if you have any tips, on static grass please email me, or share them in the comments. noelvh (AT) gmail [DOT] com. Any tip shared via email well be posted in my next log.

I also do not have any reviews for movies, but I am still reading the Elizabeth Moon books, and they are great.

As all ways may the die roll in your favor.

Noel

Noel's Log 6-18-2012

Well it is now half way through June, and my kids only have today and tomorrow in school. Summer is fast approaching. This weekend was as full as a weekend can be. Saturday: 9am soccer game (the girl's last game), 12 soccer all star game(the boy's last game), 2 kids went to a birthday party for a family friend's son (I needed a break). Then it was off to Monster jam, this was our birthday gift to our son now 7. I have been to many monster truck shows back in the 80s, and very early 90s,  and this was not even close to them. I did not know a truck can do a back flip, and one tried to do a double back flip. I was very happy, oh and my son was as well. I forgot I was there for him, it was that good of a show.

Sunday? Well that was Father's day and my wife and kids gave me a great day. My wife asked me at the end of the day if I had fun and I told her I did. I also told her she kept me from my minis but I did not miss it. Oh as a fat guy one would think I have had brisket but no I have never till yesterday. We had dinner at an award winning Texas BBQ joint. It was very good!!!!! My son eat all most half of my meal as he loved it as well.

On to the minis I did take time Saturday to work on minis. I was able to base some of my painted Dwarfs, and finish some bases of others I had not gotten to in some time. Here are some photos of what I based. I  did not take photos of all I worked on as I took the photos before going to work today. I also worked on a Demon, and a greater demon both for my lizard man army.

First 4 photos are Black Raven Foundry, from Old Glory 15s.

Next two are from Mirliton Dwarfs.

Next three are Rank & File from Old Glory 15s

I am currently reading books from Elizabeth Moon. Sheepfarmer's Daughter and Divided Allegiance both of these books are great. The first is about a girl who run away from home and joins and army. The next is about the same girl after she leaves the army and starts out on her own. The first book plays to my mass combat side of gaming, ware the later plays to my D&D side. Both are great. I will be picking up the 3 book in the series, but not before I go back to the John Carter of mars books.

Movies: I just saw the movie John Carter, and I do not care what people have said I loved it! I think that Disney made a big mistake by releasing this when they did. This should have been a summer movie. More me the one draw back was the actor who played John Carter was not good in this role. The rest of the movie was great from the beginning to the end. This is a must own for me, and I do not buy movies much.

Well that is it for me.

May the Die fall in your favor.
Noel

Noels's log 6-6-12

So what have I been up to. Well I have gotten the fantasy bug more after reading the books about the Legend of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. So I started to look at some new rules for 15mm mass combat. For years I have been a fan of Chipco's Fantasy Rules 2 & 3 then the new simple tournament rules. But I see that Chipco has fallen off the map. Not really they are just not active any more. So I picked up Rally Round the King from Two Hour Wargames, and the new Pride of Lions v2. I have gone through both and find I still like Fantasy rules. Do not get me wrong both rules sets are great, they just have some thing I do not care for. Rally has a focus on command, and this is cool but the units are a bit off for me. Pride well the army construction is odd. I have to by units in 3s, and that left me thinking of how to field single units. Both systems need a how to play video. As I can not make it to cons to see demos of the games this would help. One of the best for this is Robin From Gruntz. He has made videos to explain most of the rules. So it seems like I am sticking to Fantasy rules for now. Oh Chipco you need to cut the price down to $10.00 for both FR!3, and TCE together. You will then have a product back on the market. Now my hat go off to both Doc and Ed for two great rule sets. Whit the rules out of the way I have also set my self up to fail. I have till tomorrow night to finish my 15mm Tree beard mini. I have it bases and primed now just waiting for it to dry. Will post photos soon. May the die land in your favor.
Noel

****Edit****
Photos posted.
http://theorky15mmscifi.blogspot.com/2012/06/ent.html

Noel's Log 5-1-12

Welcome to my very first posting of Noel's Log.

Well here it is my first log. I have changed the look of the Blog to help it be a bit cleaner looking. I still hate the Blogger tools, and the lay outs never work well. I start a post and some thing all ways goes wrong, and lines to not line up any more. You can see this on the bottom of the Old Crow photo. I spent 20 minutes trying to get the line right. Well it work, just not great, and I have tried some other tool and there is all ways an issue. Read, enjoy, comment, and if you have some thing to add, or want to post some thing I will create a guest heading.

*Miniatures....
I have been painting some of the fine miniatures from Khurasan Miniatures, and I have been working on the Terran Federal minis. In a past post I talked about these miniatures, and coming up with a color scheme for them. Well I have made yet another change to this. After applying the dip I found them to be to dark. I have altered the color for lighter green with brown clothes.

It is a bit hard to see from this photo but the trooper on the left is a bit lighter then the trooper on the right. I did still keep the orange highlights. Over all I have to say I love these minis. I have painted 18 of them and prepped another 12, and only one had bad lines, and 2 had bad flash between the legs. I will buy more of these guys in the future.

Next I would like to show some side by side form different manufactures. This is just for fun, and I take no responsibility for the miniatures, as I only painted them.

Right to left: The Scene, Old Glory 15s, Khurasan, MJ (oop), Shia Khan 15mm UK.

Right to left: The Scene, Old Glory 15s, Khurasan, MJ (oop), Shia Khan 15mm UK.

Old Crow tank with miniatures from The Scene.

*Book Review....
Book: The Kingkiller Chronicle: The Name of the Wind
Book: The Kingkiller Chronicle: The Wise Man's Fear
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Audio book
I did not read these two book but rather listened to them, as I do audio book. I have a 45 minute commute to work each way and this is my free time.
These two books were unlike any I have done. The tale is a bit strange as the main character sits down to relate his life story to a chronicler. I was hooked in the first 45 minute trip home. I was so nuts about this book I would get to work and sit in my car for 10 more minutes. 10 minutes is how long the power stays on in my car when you turn the key off. I really can not get into the story as I am not that good of a writer my self. But I can say this guy tweaked fantasy just enough to make it fresh, and like new. Well worth the read, or listen.

Big con: The third book is not out!!!!!!

*Work Bench....
Well I have the minis I have picked up on the bench, but I also have downloaded all the scenarios from Barking Irons for the USE ME 001. I will be playing them out solo using the online tool Universal Battle. I am going to tweak Gavin's work a bit, and make it mostly Orcs fighting the human forces, as that is all I have for bad guys. I have the units in UB all ready, I just have to build the map boards. I know UB is a fantasy based system, but with the unit builder and a touch of imagination you can make all most any thing.

I have been thinking of this type of scenario for a while now, and have been thinking of doing my own. So I am jotting down some notes, and mine will most likely be open for a large number of rule sets.

*Spotlight....
Robin over at Gruntz, has come up with some new videos showing off his shooting, and close combat rules.
Over the last two years Robin has risen to the top in my book as a force behind the 15mm SciFi moment.
Head over to his site and have a look at not only his rules, but the fantastic tables, and miniatures he put forward.

Well that is is for now, but I will have more for next weeks Noel's Log.

May the die fall in your favor!
Noel

noelvh AT gmail DOT com

The New Path for This Blog!

Well I have been Blogging from awhile now, and I rather like the Blog format. That was not all way so..... I have had some sort of web site from years now, I think I started my first in 1998 on Geocities, then moved on from there. I have even had my own server and hosted my Web page from my house. Well with Google killing Google Web pages, and moving to Google pages, I got sick of years worth of changes. I then started this blog, for SciFi, and one for Fantasy. As of late I have discovered I no longer want to host two Blogs, I juts want to host one. So I have seen other go through this very same thing, and convert, and move stuff all over the place. I am not going to do that. I am going to keep things as they are on this Blog. I am not going to change the name, the link, or any thing that will confuses the people that do follow me. I am just going to post what is on my mind here!!!!!!

Also I have signed up for the Adsence to be added to my blog. I am not doing this to be greedy, and try and take from my followers. I sat and thought of this, and came up with what I call a great plan to support my minis, and mostly 15mm. I will place ads on my Blog, collect the money, and spend that money ONLY on miniature base items. This is not just an idea, or a nice thing to do but a pledge. 100% of all monies collected from Ads on my Blog Will go to the purchase of Miniature related items. Of the items my focus will be on 15mm. This pledge will go so far as to only be spent on legit vendors, not person to person, and eBay items. Not one cent of this will ever make its way to GW!

Why am I doing this? I am not a man of money, and what I mean by that is I have limited amount of money to spend on my hobbies. I have seen people take risks over the last few years, to bring a great wealth of 15mm stuff to market. I want to support them and their work, and this is one way of doing so. When, and if I collect money from Ads I will post on this Blog who I am making a purchase with, and what items I am buying.

Also I am going to try an be more regular with posts. I am by no means a writer, but I have so much I can write about. So if you can deal with my poor writing ability, I will try an push out a post a week. I will go back though my vast collection of minis and see if there is some thing I have not written about, and get it done. I will be calling this weekly post Noel's Log. Now This my start as weekly and end up biweekly. I also want to link my G+ account, and G+ Miniature page with this Blog. Now I not a supper big fan of Bloggers tool, and it never turns out as I would like it, but it is the easiest Blog tool to use. I may look for a new lay out soon but from now it will stay the same.

Now you can see I started to go off track in that last paragraph, and that is my poor skills. When I ponder about my skills the number of posts drop off, so once more if you can deal with my skills I will try and push stuff out.

Thanks
Noel