"Surgery Prepped and Ready..."

"Surgery prepped and ready..."

" ...sir."

Slaughter Brute for the Tim That Can

Short post; here's the Slaughter Brute I painted for the Tim That Can.

Speaking of, he just got back from Houston, all victorious from participating in the local scene.  Good on him!  I think it really raised the confidence he has in his game, so next week's tournament ought to be interesting.

Light and Dark Characters... So to Speak

I've been working on an army - finally!  It's been way too much fiddling with one-off miniatures, but I've broken through the block and taken the plunge.

But that's later.  Here's my version of Dante and Saint Celestine.

New Marine Pics... I Don't Get It. Seriously.

Okay, first up...

Ugh.  Maybe with their hats off..?

Auto Response: Critic X, Insert Y

I haven't been in the mood to post, lately, but I'm seasoned enough at this blogging thing not to sweat it too much.  You've all seen the, "Sorry I've been away," blog posts - heck, I've written more than a few over the years - but it occurred to me this morning...

...I ain't all that sorry!  Hugs and gropings all around, though.

It's not that I don't love this medium; I do.  But sometimes real life takes a toll on hobby time.  When my hobby time gets thin, I can either cut writing or cut painting or cut playing.  With blogging, I can cut  one of the latter two - painting or playing - and still have something to write about.

But not both.  When I have to choose one outlet, the last I'll give up is playing.  

Interestingly, as I wrote that I realized I almost typed 'painting.'  I had to reconsider.  While I spend vastly more time painting than either of the other two Activities of Daily Hobbying, or ADH's, playing is the most important.  It's where I socialize with my friends and hang out at a place that's neither work nor home.  There's something about the store that relaxes me.

And my job is very, very stressful!  I'm sure you all feel that way, but Brent's job has got to be up there.  Still, the acute unit of a psyche ward has taught him a thing or two about dealing with Un-Fans and other critics, so there you go.

Jawaballs!  Where was I?  Never mind.  

Lately I've just worried about getting in the weekly Bell of Lost Souls articles.  My last one was interesting, but there was a comment by a reader that I responded to.  At first, I thought he was a bit Trollish, but then he used the word 'cogent' so he automatically doesn't qualify.  Trolls, oh Faithful Reader, are concerned with many things, but brevity and concise thought aren't among their qualities.  

Nor mine, really.  Here was my response, but it could be the auto response for any article.

So don't read them.
I'm not being hateful; I couldn't be more serious. I get that some people don't like my style - that's okay. But I write about a wide range of hobby related topics and, like it or not, the numbers don't lie. And frankly, I draw numbers.
I love comments, and they can really drive a thread count if there is good debate. But the real figure we all look at is page views and time spent per page. Meaning the number of people who read an article versus the number of people who comment is staggering.
On Bell, we write with an eye to both audiences, but there are well known blogs that have removed comments completely, for a variety of good reasons I won't go into here. Blood of Kittens comes to mind.
Which isn't to say I haven't written crap articles! After 129 on Bell alone, it happens. You go through slumps, or get scattered approaching a deadline - that kind of thing. This article, however, isn't one of those. It's fine. The point isn't even cleverly concealed! Still, I get if you don't like it, that's okay. Regardless, I appreciate comments, I always read them, and they do influence what and how I write!

What's really left to say?

The Brain That Changed the World!

Okay, this is something a bit different.  It's an old documentary on the history of computers done (it looks like to me) back in the 80's.  The perspective - knowing what we know now - made it fascinating to watch.

Also, it hits the fun points like ENIGMA and the Turing Test, so Sci-Fi staples, here we come!

Here's the rest of the series... and yeah, I know it was The Machine That Changed the World, but I took artistic license.

http://www.viddler.com/channel/waxpancake

Holy Cupcakes! Apocalypse Necron Super Monolith

Are those Spyders or Wraiths?

I don't normally post (anything popular) but this is just too cool.

Brent

Congrats Nick and Chapterhouse Studios!

(I stole borrowed this article in whole from Apocalypse 40K; full credit there.  Anyway, Nick predicted this outcome for years and was always very confident he understood his business model better than kibitzers on websites... such as my home away from home, Bell of Lost Souls.  Good on you, Nick!  Gratz!)

 

A press release from Chapterhouse Studios' Law Firm tells the tale pretty well.   Games Workshop got spanked for its overreach.  Chapterhouse has done the after market parts business a huge favor.

Winston & Strawn Defeats Hundreds of Trademark and Copyright Infringement Claims on Behalf of Pro Bono Client

Cutting-Edge Decision Protects Industries from Litigation Blocking Add-On Products

CHICAGO, IL – In a classic David-versus-Goliath battle, Winston & Strawn LLP represented Chapterhouse Studios LLC on a pro bono basis in a cutting-edge federal trademark and copyright dispute in the Northern District of Illinois (Games Workshop Limited v. Chapterhouse Studios LLC 1:10-cv-8103). The verdict of this jury trial, held in June 2013 before Judge Matthew Kennelly, confirms that copyright and trademark law should not be used to block add-on products. Winston & Strawn has litigated the case since 2010, and co-counsel law firm Marshall Gerstein joined the matter in 2012.

“This was a classic case of trademark and copyright bullying by a much bigger Plaintiff,” said Jennifer Golinveaux, partner in Winston & Strawn’s San Francisco office. “I am proud of the investment made by the firm, and the many attorneys who devoted themselves to making sure the intellectual property laws were not misused to squash a much smaller player.”

Games Workshop manufactures Warhammer 40,000, a tabletop battle game that works with armies of miniature figures and vehicles, while Chapterhouse sells customized add-on parts for the figures and vehicles used in the game. The United Kingdom-based Games Workshop, a company with $200 million per year in revenues, alleged more than 200 claims of copyright and trademark infringement against Chapterhouse, a small business run out of an individual’s garage in Texas. Games Workshop argued that it was seeking a complete shutdown of Chapterhouse’s entire business and although Games Workshop initially sought over $400,000 in damages, by the end of the two-week jury trial, the plaintiff dropped its damages demand to only $25,000.

The jury deliberated for more than two days and found that Chapterhouse could continue to make and sell over a hundred products without fear of copyright infringement. The jury also confirmed that Chapterhouse could continue to use most of Games Workshop’s asserted trademarks when selling compatible parts, including all nine of Games Workshop’s registered trademarks. Together with the summary judgment wins, the jury’s verdict confirmed Chapterhouse can continue to make and sell 111 products that Games Workshop hoped to block using copyright laws, and can continue to use 104 words and phrases that Games Workshop said were trademarked.

Imron Aly, lead trial attorney and partner in Winston & Strawn’s Chicago office added, “It was a pleasure to represent a small entrepreneur like Nicholas Villacci of Chapterhouse, who has a passion for his work and wanted to see his business survive.”

I for one am so happy that Chapterhouse did well in this case.  Games Workshop is a bully and deserved to get slapped.  

Not that I expect them to change their behavior.  At least now it is pretty clear that the bitz business is legal and some guidelines are there to help.

Loken

(Told you I stole it all - even Loken's signature!)

WarGames Con, Day1

So I'm here in Austin, ready to take on the world... Or however many gamers show up.

Here's my super-hard, super-tough tournament list...

My new dice tin is meant here as irony.

...

Yeah, I'm not sure where the words went, either.

Forge World Greater Daemon of Nurgle

This Helldrake is a first for me... can you guess it's secret?

Not trying to be cryptic here, but this is a pretty interesting milestone for me.  Anyway, this model isn't 'done' per se, because I have some detailing work yet to do.  But as it is currently, it meets the three color minimum guidelines used by most events where painting counts - and I think it looks pretty cool already.

How many of you can guess what happened here?

(No sarcastic as hell, "You put glue and paint in a bag and shook it," answers, Master Manipulator!)  

Okay, maybe this game isn't fun - I'm just curious if it's obvious or not.  More later.

Warhammer 40K: 8000 per side...

This past weekend I joined the Mighty Mighty Carlos, the Hoff, and Doug in an underground bunker (no kidding) to play a massive Chaos Vs Imperial 16K slugfest.  It was glorious.

There was no rhyme or reason, it wasn't a tournament or any sort of tournament preparation, it wasn't competitive and it took all freakin' day... but the day passed quickly in a whirlwind of models, dice, and beer.  It was fun for fun's sake, and it restored some flagging passion for the hobby.  I highly recommend it.

What follows is a general pictorial.  I've enlarged the pictures you may be interested in taking a closer look at, or you can roll through them quickly and breeze off to another part of the Blogosphere.

The Imperial line with four fortifications.  The Mighty Mighty Carlos played an entire battle company of Dark Angels, and Doug played Guard with Allied Blood Angels.

The Hoff and I were tripping over ourselves in the deployment zone.  It's fair to say a goodly chunk of the army remained in reserves.  We have very little shooting to speak of, having both opted (independently) to unleash close combat hell on the Imperials.

I took four Greater Daemons and five Daemon Princes.  I couldn't start the game Zooming, so I hid on the left flank.    My army was intended to be entirely Khorne, but after discussion we wanted to make sure all four powers were represented.  My army was mostly Khorne, with a few heavy Tzeentch and Slaanesh heavy hitters thrown in, but the Hoff absolutely flooded the field with Zombies.  Typhus hung out with his retinue of Plague Marines.  His Daemons mostly represented Slaanesh.

The extreme left flank.  There's a building in the Imperial deployment zone I intend to use as cover to avoid getting shot out of the air.

The game is well advanced.  This mass of white marines is Doug's Death Company.  Read that again.

The housekeeping was pretty ridiculous.  Psychic powers...

This is the bottom of two.

The Bloodthirster versus Mephiston!  I thought the Collar of Khorne would defend me from his Force Weapon, but after reading the rules it looked like these two would kill each other on Initiative 10.  Then Mephiston rolled 11 to activate his Force Weapon, and only the 'Thirster was left standing...

Yeah.

At this point, Chaos has stormed the board, but casualties on both sides were fairly ridiculous.

The Hoff took Warp Talons.  As he kept reminding us.  I guess it was his nod to fair play or something!

The right flank was firmly in our evil grasp...

At this point, Daemons have swarmed the fortifications - I don't think we actually took a swing at the building, though I intended to try Smashing it.

This is what the Imperials were faced with.  Chaos numbers were telling.  There was I think 140 Zombies alone.

And that's that.  It only went to Turn 4, but by that point it was fairly obvious Chaos had won the day... and everyone was ready to call it a day.  Good fun.