Daemons and Marines Vs Blood Angels...

... a Team Game Battle Report!  Please note, I'm formatting the report in a way I hope organizes the action; let me know if it helps.

Today's Battle Report is the followup game from yesterday's Video Battle Report... and while you won't have cause to regret listening to the Professor's antics, I find I must warn you ahead of time that one of these pictures is so shocking, so outrageous...

...that I'll never look at my poor Horror in the same way again.  Click the 'read more' button to continue.

Video Battle Report: Team Game Practice

It's been awhile since I've dropped a video battle report on an unsuspecting audience.  We're practicing for a team tournament at the Comic Asylum, a new favorite venue in the Metroplex after the last trip Whit and I made.  Anyway, it's me and Big Whit Vs the Mighty Mighty Carlos and the Professor.



The Professor made my job difficult, no doubt... he was extra chatty and constantly interrupted the video.  Some of you will find it funny and some of you annoying.  You've been warned. :)

Warmachine! Again!

I'm loving me some Warmachine.  I really am.

***

HALT THE PRESS!  The one (sometimes I wonder...) and only Messanger of Death dropped me a line to shoot the bull about Davy Taylor's Steel Legion competition!  He's entering, I'm entering, the King is entering... why aren't you entering?  *key peer pressure*  Give it a try!  Dave Taylor is a one-of-a-kind hobby icon, so any prize he gives the winner will inevitably be worth it!

***

It's been ages since I've liked a game so much right out of the gate, and games they have come and gone in the local scene...

Random Week's Pics

Here are some random images; the first two models are from the Mighty Mighty Carlos' collection, while the last are left over from the last few days.

The Gun Shy Storm Raven... (just 'cause)

For better or worse, here's the updated Storm Raven.

A New Pattern Strictly Average Storm Raven?

Okay folks, I've finished the first major overhaul of my Storm Raven...

...I think I'll call it the Gun Shy Pattern Stormbuster, because after the Internet destroyed my first humble effort, I find I'm a bit worried about the reaction to this one.

On Unicorns and the Holidays

'Boys and girls, Unicorns and children of all ages...'

Here it is, my Bell of Lost Souls intro and one of those things those who love to hate me love to hate.

I dig it!  It makes me happy to tweak the nose of the easily annoyed - but what does it mean?

Some of you know, but I'm very sure the vast majority don't.  Even if you were reading Strictly Average way back then, it's one of those inside jokes that's easy to miss.  Here's the secret history of the Unicorn.

The Secret History of the Unicorn

(Sorry.)

I've been Stalking Jawaballs Since 2009, but sometime last year he started using the term Unicorn to describe female gamers.  As I recall, it was around the time of the infamous, stomach-turning article, Anatomy of a Girl Gamer...

Nothing But Love for a Bell Author!

Today's post is a bit of a rant... and I thought long and hard about writing it, for a variety of reasons.

Brent's We Need a List, List: the Strictly Average Edition

1)  It's not entirely positive.  I always strive to stay positive and avoid the tar pit of negativity.  I stopped writing gossip posts ages ago and never regretted it.

(So, in a way, this is all about me.)

2)  Writing this will solve nothing.  Those folks willing to take a cheap shot will always take a cheap shot.

(And aren't there a million bad jokes to top that line with, such as, "*SELF-EDIT*?"  I know, that was bad.)

Top Tip: Stripping Miniatures

I think hobbyists are divided into two broad groups: those who've stripped paint off of old miniatures and those who haven't.

It's possible to save big bucks on minis by purchasing them on Ebay, but usually you're going to have to work on them some to get value back out of them.  Don't just paint over someone else's crappy base coats and bad prime job!

The Empty Digital Headache

The logo for Strictly Average, from the very beginning, is the Empty Digital Headache.  The site has a number of mottos, the two most notable being, 'Because 6-inches is All You Get' and 'Stalking Jawaballs Since 2009' but the most subtle (and probably the most accurate) is...

This is the 2nd Generation Empty Digital Headache.  I did it on Photoshop and am actually pretty proud of it.  It's cropped from a larger image, and the idea is the Avatar is raising itself out of the digital stream.

Real Life Happens

I spent yesterday in the car, driving across Texas to arrive in El Paso.  One of my closest friends lost his father in a pretty horrible accident, so I'm here for whatever little support I may be able to provide.

I've got nothing profound to say.  Pain is part of the human experience and loss is inevitable; it doesn't make it any less tragic.

I had three primary running buddies in high school in England.  Three of us live in the states and the fourth is living his rock star dreams back in Europe, filling in as a lead singer in a killer cover band.  We all of us are still in touch and get together every decade or so.  Time falls away when you're hanging out with someone who knows you, and there are very few people who know me quite so well.

I managed to hold on to some of my stuff from the original Space Crusade run.

Games were a big part of our entertainment back then, including (on the rare occasions we were forced indoors) D&D and Space Crusade... and the last, of course, hooked me in a big way.  That said, games are never more than an excuse to hang out with people.

It's why I'll always prefer social games to computer games - playing with yourself isn't the same experience, is it?

Yea, I went there.

Point is, people are what's important.  We will always define ourselves through our ties with others, because man is a social creature.

It's why a hermit is strange.

I hope your friendships are grounded on something important.

Brotherhood Update: Bjorn the Fell-Claw

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of the old stuff - it doesn't hold a candle to the new but it has tons of character.  This is the old Chaos Dreadnought, RTB-1 era.

Naturally it was purchased and set aside for my Brotherhood project!  I'm going to use it as a Counts-As Bjorn, complete with Plasma Cannon and a bad attitude.

Warmachine!

I've recently started playing Warmachine, a game I hated in Mark I and am loving in Mark II.  I'm collecting Menoth; here's what I've painted so far.

Daemons Vs Imperial Guard... Again!

So, we're down to the final game in the Comics Asylum tournament that was held a few weeks back.  My opponent is a well-traveled tournament player, whom I met first at Wargames Con.  Let me say up front that he is truly one of the nicest players I've run across, very friendly and outgoing.  I don't want to mention his name, since he was very careful not to appear in pictures (though all three of my opponents gave me permission to take and use the game pics) so I've got to assume he wants to remain private.

I got my preferred wave, and Fiends set up across the board in charge positions for Turn 2.  One unit drifted too far left, but it is what it is.

Daemons Vs Imperial Guard

So, Game 2 was Daemons Vs Mech Guard.  I've stated on a number of occasions that my army does well against Mech Guard, but I'll have to admit this army had me worried.  It had two Hydras, Russ Executioners, and Vendettas, as well as the standard Melta-Vet Chimeras.  To top it off, it made use of two Auto Cannon Heavy Weapons Teams and...

...and Inquisitor with Mystics!  Every Deep Strike was an additional challenge!

Da Boyz Winning List, Footdar!

I was going over some Google Analytics reports and noticed that in the month of November I got a huge influx of traffic looking for the words 'Footdar' 'Da Boyz GT' and 'winning Footdar.'

Obviously there is some interest in seeing Greg Sparks winning army, so here's a pic.

The battle report is already done, scheduled for my regular article slot of midnight Tuesday, on Bell of Lost Souls.

I've uploaded the pics I took from the event; here's the album link.

Da Boyz 2010

A Bit of Nothing Funny

I got a huge kick out of this.  I've recently upgraded my Google Storage so I can continue to bring you fine folks pictures you'll only look at once.  I've gone from 1 gig to 20, so I've started uploading some old tournament photos to create an archive.

One of the things I discovered is iPhoto won't batch upload to the Google picture service, Picasso.  I like iPhoto quite well, but I'm not uploading thousands of pics 1 by 1.  I was quick to download Picasso for Mac.

Anyway, it has a face recognition software which kicked in automatically... and lo and behold!  Slaaneshi-themed Eldar/Daemonettes made the grade!

Genius.  Just genius.

Tips And Tricks: Extra Material

I wrote an article on Bell of Lost Souls today, collecting the Top Tips I've written in 2010... for a followup, here's a few more tips and tricks.

Pictures, Blogger, and Memory

I've been held up this past week by lack of storage space, since I've used up the gig Blogger gives you free of charge.  A gig is a bunch of pics but Strictly Average has always been a media-heavy blog.

There's a tip for you budding Bloggers out there: give your audience something to look at!  As time has gone on, I've moved from free-hand Cybershot pictures to using a light studio setup.

I've struggled over what to do.  After all, if I delete pictures from the Picasso web albums, where all Blogger pictures are stored, it affects old posts.  If I'm being honest, nobody looks over those old posts - meaning it isn't an immediate problem.  Still, I intend to archive the better stuff at some point in the future  and I don't want to make it harder on myself when the time comes.

Comic Asylum Tournament, Game 1

Game 1: Daemons Vs. Eldar

Left Flank.  Dawn of War, 4 Objectives.  He set up his Pathfinders and brought the rest of his army on Turn 1, except his outflanking War Walkers.

Recap: Competitive Daemons

I'm struggling to fix the storage issue for pictures here on Strictly Average.  As most of you know, I'm a big believer in always giving the audience something to look at, so practically all of my almost 400 posts have had pics.

Big pics.  I also like giving you the option of clicking on them and zooming in!

Anyway, this post will take advantage of pics I already have on the server, plus I was inspired to write after reading GMort's comments on Yes, The Truth Hurts.

Here are the links in question:

GMort's Blog - it's in the links, of course.
Yes The Truth Hurts - was in the links; I had to update it.
The Daemons Forum at YTTH

Milestones

Strictly Average just hit 200 Followers; this is the 397th post.  I don't like sharing Google Analytic numbers, since RSS Readers are so prevalent now, but I'll go ahead and tell you, just this once...

...there was *SELF-EDIT* unique readers yesterday.

Not bad, right?

Okay, I'll admit the reason I've never used a counter is because I'm an obsessive personality.  I can't make it about artificial measures of success, because truth is I've never thought it was that important.  I've got folks who dig my stuff.

That's plenty.

Thanks to all of you - I'll see you at the next milestone.  No, not the 400th post!

Sincerely, 

Brent

PS: I've got an important job interview next week, working in the trenches of mental health.  Wish me luck!

PPS: I've had issues with uploading pictures.  I've used up my 1Gig Blogger limit, so I'm working on the Strictly Average website, turning it into an FTP resource for this site.  I beg your patience!

Top Tip, Blogging Edition: Page Break

This post won't be that useful to you hobbyists out there, but it may help a fellow Blogger or two.  I usually won't use the page-break on a new article, preferring to leave the whole thing on the front page to make for an easy read.  The problem with that is long articles clogging up the page-space.

My solution is a bit of housecleaning every few days.

Sneek Peek! Chapterhouse Studios Doom of Malantai

I talked to Nick from Chapterhouse Studios at the Comic Asylum on Saturday; we played in the same tournament.  While I didn't have the opportunity to play him and revenge my loss from two years back, I did manage to snag his Doom of Malantai miniature and snap a few pics.  The upgrade pieces should be available soon, so keep an eye out for it!

Tournament Day Trip (Plus: Call Ahead!)

Big Whit and I traveled to the DFW metroplex yesterday to participate in a 3-round tournament at the Comic Asylum.

Here's the link... and I'd like to thank the owner's for a well-run, glorious little day's entertainment!  It's fair to say they didn't expect the turnout, and while they originally capped the event at 16 people, due to space, they put their heads together and figured out how to add 4 more spots.  I think that says a lot, since I've been to places where the proprietors wouldn't have bothered, despite some folks not only calling ahead up traveling quite a ways to attend.

My winnings plus a few extra bucks earned me three Raiders, the first of numerous purchases to come.

One Box Shopping

Today is a bit of a nothing post.  As I write this, I'm sitting in my Neuropharmacology class, 2.25 hours away from home, dreading the upcoming hour since I only really showed up for the test. Which is over.

This is a special kind of torment.

EDIT:  Okay, obviously I didn't finish this post, which I started on Tuesday evening.  I can't afford to miss anything from that class, which is particularly information-dense.  Moving on, here's the pictures - more talkie-talk at the end.

The Old Space Marine Painting Guide

Here's a picture of the old Space Marine Painting Guide, which I acquired at some point in the early 90's.  It is, without doubt, the most inspiring and thumbed-through Games Workshop supplement I've ever owned.  I love this thing.

It featured the old RTB1, Beakie-Marines, which feature in my Homage army...

...speaking of, it's currently being reworked, thanks in part to some additions from BSMoove of A Gentleman's Ones!  Keep an eye out in the future.

And yes, it does mean I'm working on 3 Marine variants at once.  I'll narrow it down as time goes on and end up finishing one before the others.

But I digress.  Point is I've read this book cover to cover thousands of times and it's high time I pay it its due.  My faux Storm Wardens - and what the heck should I call them? - will be painted with heraldry and such from this guide.