Wargaming Tradecraft: April 2011




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AWOL - Help

This Easter weekend would have been better had I been a fish.
AKA - Our entire apartment ended up under a foot of water while we were away visiting family due to our landlord's sump pump dying.

Soooooooooo, I'm going to be gone for a while while sorting through sunken personal effects and fried electronics.(Including both our desktop PCs and most of their data)

Back to Basics: Then and Now [part 2]

This section of Back to Basics is completely driven by YOU.

I'd like to show new artists not to be discouraged when they see what masterclass artists are creating. We all start at a basic level and progress as we practice and learn, perhaps bringing something new to the hobby but at least painting from the heart.

You can contribute by visiting Wargaming Tradecraft to send an email to me. Include photos of a mini or two that you painted when you first started out and another that shows how you've improved; if you like, also share some words of wisdom. As a reward for baring all, I'll pimp your blog if you tell me where to point the link.

This series will continue as long as you keep sending me content - currently, I need more!

Ultimate Guide to RSS Feeds

aka Feed Burning
Previously, I talked about Following RSS Feeds... that was more an article for readers, before I got into this whole blog-fu thing. RSS is a way for people to get a feed of your blog that has only the articles and none of the extra content from your blog - backgrounds, colours, sidebars, etc.

Supporting RSS is an important aspect of your blog because a lot of people today choose to read using RSS Readers. (that link explains why) Now, most blogs already have RSS links and if you use a reader like Google Reader then it will track down the feed whether you link to it or not. (unless you specifically disable your RSS feed) The first reason to read this article is that there are RSS readers that won't automatically discover feeds. The second reason is that there are advanced features available for RSS feeds - both customizing them and tracking their use.

The basic setup is more in relation to Blogger, but probably has similarities with other platforms while the advanced setup can be used by anyone.

Tradecraft Forum / Chat?

I've been pondering something lately, but I don't want to go to the trouble if it's not going to be used. Therefor, I'm looking for honest feedback in the form of answering a poll on http://www.wargamingtradecraft.com/ and thoughts you might have in the comment section below.

Could you and would you use either a forum and/or a chatroom dedicated to hobbying - not gaming?

Weekly Update

Last Week at Wargaming Tradecraft


Here's a wrap up of a bunch of the charity projects going on in the community.

Most of my time has been taken up finishing my Postapocalyptibuggy - see the final photos or the work in progress. In blog-fu I talked about going low res.

You can now subscribe to have articles emailed to you. Represented by the RSS-eMail icon.

I've changed some of wargamingtradecraft.com's layout. Rather than eating up a bunch of the space on the right side of my site with larger spelled out links, I've created a bunch of icons to do the job. This also bridges the language barrier for foreign readers.
Thanks to Trevor from Facebook who also pointed out the difficulty of reading my links on the right hand bar - I've had the same layout for ages and never really considered that. So, I've added white backgrounds to most of the widgets to try and make things easier to read.

Last Week in the Community




Charity


Another group's risen up to help out and that's a Blood Ravens project: http://bloodravensbuild.blogspot.com/

Tutorials


Maximum Heresy has an excellent tutorial on pinning. swapable weapons without magnets http://maximumheresy.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-swappable-weapons-without.html

Lantz has a couple great tutorials on casting:
http://miniaturewargameconversions.blogspot.com/2011/04/lantzs-corner-casting-tutorial-part-1.html
http://miniaturewargameconversions.blogspot.com/2011/04/lantzs-corner-casting-tutorial-part-2.html

Darksol shows a simple gold tutorial http://masterdarksol.blogspot.com/2011/04/4-step-gold.html

Ron looks at highlighting http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2011/04/astorath-conversion-painted-librarian.html

Tips


Action poses really do make a difference http://tentakelgames.com/2011/04/13/conversion-week-wolf-priest/

Nyhil gives some good advice on respirators. http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2011/04/12/hobby-for-nothing-purchase-a-respirator/

Gallery


There's been some great and eldar art posted to Deviant Art over the last while, take a look:

hawt banshee http://yuliapw.deviantart.com/art/Banshee-portrait-colour-203579829
eldar prince type http://trejoeeee.deviantart.com/art/Eldar-swords-of-twilight-201295455
Harlequin joker http://igorvet.deviantart.com/art/The-Great-Fool-127160388
Wraithguard rock http://neisbeis.deviantart.com/art/warhammer-40000-Fight-for-your-169613450
eldar jungle battle http://demarchese.deviantart.com/art/Rogue-Trader-House-Crow-II-203605027

Keeper of Secrets.. http://corvenicenail.deviantart.com/art/Keeper-of-Secrets-203996549

chibi tau http://kain-moerder.deviantart.com/art/For-the-greater-kawaii-203997848
Firewarrior girl http://kain-moerder.deviantart.com/art/Fire-girl-wallpaper-203782312

OST Came across some great looking orks :http://darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com/2011/04/it-came-from-forums-kaptin-hortworks.html

Great looking DE Raider http://briancarlsonminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/04/completed-raider-wych.html

Musing


On Counts-As http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/2011/04/user-content-wednesday-being-gamist-how.html

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 24]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Final]

A final look of my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 23]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Hobby for Charity

image from davetaylorminiatures
An unfortunate truth of this world is that many people don't get to live lives as privileged as others. Then again, even those who do lead a "privileged" life can have unfortunate things befall them as well. I'm sure many of you have been touched by some form of tragedy at one point or another - even in our moderately sized wargaming community it seems like someone's life is negatively changed every month or two.

In those times, we tend to give them the space they need and there's always plenty of warm wishes passed on. There are plenty of organizations out there that are more active in life changing circumstances, doing whatever they can to ease the pain of those directly affected as well as friends and family. There's plenty you can give besides money, which not everyone has.. supplies and especially TIME can often make a big difference - if you're not sure what you can offer, then ASK. I've been involved with a number of local charities, donating money, yes, but also time - and if there's one thing that will show you the difference a charity can make, it's spending a moment of your life with both givers and receivers.

Low-Res your Blog

There are many people these days accessing the internet through various remote connections. In other words, while working on one computer, it appears like you're sitting at a different one, somewhere else in the world. (This is achieved with programs like Windows Remote Desktop, VNC, LogMeIn, RAdmin, etc) Why? Well, say you want to be able to access your data AND RUN YOUR PROGRAMS on your home computer while you're somewhere else like a friend's place, work, internet cafe, etc. That's a nice option, isn't it? You can buy computers now that are no more than a plug in a wall that creates a remote connection to a central server that everyone works from. Remote even works over dialup; if your home computer is on high speed, you can download files as normal in low speed areas. There are also remote clients for all smart phones. (Android, Blackberry, Windows, etc.. oh and iPhone, if you're into that sort of thing) It also means if you want to do banking, you can do it more securely - if you're at work, personal time (hopefully just on lunch and breaks, right?) can be somewhat anonymous - same if you're at a public hotspot at a coffee shop, where you can't even be sure if someone's hijacked your connection to watch what you're doing. (it's easy, and you'd never know)

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 22]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 21]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 20]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Weekly Update

Last Week at Wargaming Tradecraft


The Postapocalyptibuggy nears completion...

Now that Blood of Kittens showed the winners of their Adepticon coverage, I posted up my memes. In blog-fu I talked about feed footers.. and finally I began rebroadcasting your content in a B2B new Then and Now series.

I've also got some more sites up on the Network page - go check it out!

Last Week in the Community


Ron is back at it - From the Warp has been reborn!

Sons of Taurus talks about something special... closeted gamers... that's right... Smurfs.
http://sonsoftaurus.blogspot.com/2011/04/closeted-gamers.html
This one's for you buddy ;)

Charity


Last year, The Storm Wardens project raised over $16,000 for Doctors Without Borders. This year, they're getting together again on a new project to once again raise money for them... see all the details here: http://heroesofarmageddon.blogspot.com/

News


Craftworld Lansing has some great upcoming news about Eldar and Forgeworld. I'm excited, but I also can't help but think it's a bit of a cash grab against Eldar players behind the times and desperate for something new. Even from a background perspective, it sounds like Forgeworld is taking steps that Games Workshop should have years ago. (and have for, say, Space Marines.. through thick, multiple codexes and literally a library worth of novels)
http://craftworldlansing.blogspot.com/2011/04/let-there-be-light-ia-11.html

Tutorials


Magnetizing Space Marines http://paintyourtoys.blogspot.com/2011/04/magnetized-space-marines-pt1.html

Huh... using human hair.. http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-using-human-hair.html

The Dark Workshop talks about tools for beginners http://darkworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/10/tools-basics.html

Dethtron continues his awesome gaming on a budget series: http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/2011/04/gaming-on-budget-joy-of-wallpapering.html

Klaus has a great lookin fig coming along, and has even created some muzzle flash http://fischers-design-shop.blogspot.com/2011/04/kill-shot_08.html

Massive Voodoo talks about preparing resin models http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-how-to-prepare-resin-miniature.html

Tips


I like how this guy is coming along: http://pitoftheoni.blogspot.com/2011/04/dark-eldar-archon-reds.html

Lauby talks about saving money on brushes http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/2011/03/gaming-on-budget-spending-money-to-save.html

Nesbet has a chart for how much paint to use to create other GW colours: http://nesbetminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-getting-citadel-colours.html
(including the now gone tentacle pink)

He's also got paint equivalence charts to compare brands colours against eachother: http://nesbetminiatures.blogspot.com/2010/02/resource-paints-equivalence-charts.html
(Great for people like me who move to areas without stores that carry GW brand anything.. just keep in mind there will be differences - for example, I find that P3 paints aren't as vibrant as GW, meaning for certain colours I need to keep GW on hand if I want them bright)

Dave Taylor breaks down the colours he used to paint an amazing mini: http://davetaylorminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/04/heavy-is-head.html

Gallery


Les Bursley has finished his circle http://awesomepaintjob.blogspot.com/2011/04/circle-orboros-finished.html

Massive Voodoo continues to impress: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2011/04/ho-ho-ho-pirates-like-to-roll.html

Brent has some great army shots from Adepticon http://strictlyaverage.blogspot.com/2011/04/adepticon-armies.html

Musing


NockerGeek has great advice for new artists: http://www.nockergeek.net/2011/03/23/but-i-cant-paint-like-that/

Gaming


Loq's got a good article about list building for beginners http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/2011/04/new-kid-in-town-making-list.html

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 19]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 18]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 17]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Back to Basics: Then and Now [part 1]

This section of Back to Basics is completely driven by YOU.

I'd like to show new artists not to be discouraged when they see what masterclass artists are creating. We all start at a basic level and progress as we practice and learn, perhaps bringing something new to the hobby but at least painting from the heart.

You can contribute by visiting Wargaming Tradecraft to send an email to me. Include photos of a mini or two that you painted when you first started out and another that shows how you've improved; if you like, also share some words of wisdom. As a reward for baring all, I'll pimp your blog if you tell me where to point the link.

This series will continue as long as you keep sending me content - currently, I need more!

Add a Feed Footer


Did you know you can add a little bit of text (max 500 characters) to the end of your feed? That's not a lot of room, so it's not super useful, but it's one more feature you can add to spruce things up. Not just that, but it helps to remind RSS followers that you're a website too - I say this, because I sometimes forget that there's a website behind a feed.

We spruce our blogs up to look nice and add a few extra features, but these can be completely forgotten when we live in RSS. Other uses - maybe you have a contest going on, or some other information you want to ensure your readers know about; this is the perfect place for it to keep everyone informed about what's going on.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 16]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 15]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 14]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.

Warhammer 40,000 Memes

Blood of Kittens Adepticon display board.
As many of you are aware, Blood of Kittens had a contest a short time ago to have readers submit Warhammer 40k styled memes to end up on their poster board at Adepticon. For those interested, take  look at their Adepticon coverage.

I may not have any coverage, but the following are my entries to the meme contest and should provide some amusement for everyone. Feel free to link and share and spread the love all you want! (Just please remember a link back here :)

Weekly Update

Last Week at Wargaming Tradecraft


I showed off a number of tools this week. It started with Safety Goggles then continued with Tin Snips and Pipe Cutters. The work on my postapocalyptibuggy began air brushing. And, in blog-fu, I wrote a very detailed post on getting your own .com for your blog, as well as highlighted a new Views feature to Blogger.

Last Week in the Community


(I may have missed some as I didn't get as much time as I'd like to have to read blogs this weekend, but I was visiting family, so it's all good.)

Because these types of articles mean a lot of me, I'll going to bring light to it here. James over at Warp Signal talks about matters similar to my punk art series http://warpsignal.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/painting-outside-the-lines/


It takes a big man to admit defeat, especially in public. Larry over at Paint Your Toys is wondering what a gamer is to do when they don't win - lets give him some suggestions


News


Here is some of the Adepticon coverage. (You may need to scroll back in the blogs to see all the posts on it)
http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2011/04/03/adepticon-2011-40k-campionship-coverage/ (They've got a lot)
http://darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com/2011/04/six-of-my-favorite-models-from.html
http://briancarlsonminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/04/adepticon-day-2-recap-team-tournament.html
http://strictlyaverage.blogspot.com/2011/04/adepticon-road-trip.html

Tutorials


Lauby talks about using Gold Paint http://lauby.blogspot.com/2011/03/tyberos-red-wake-supplemental-2.html

An excellent showing of magnetizing http://excommunicatetratoris.blogspot.com/2011/03/valkyrievendetta-magnetisation.html

Weighing down and magnetizing bases from War Paint Guy http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/2011/03/user-content-wednesday-adding-bit-of.html

A very unique tutorial with lots of green stuffing to make a chicken rider http://losthemisphere.com/blog/?p=12780

Volomir has a good looking WIP of a Ork Warboss in progress http://volomir.blogspot.com/2011/03/wip-ork-chieftain-part-1.html

Tips


Vallejo is apparently releasing paint on primers of a polyurethane base http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/blog/2011/01/surface-primer/
I'm intrigued, but unsure.. urethane is usually a plastic or rubber base, which tends to be a pain to paint on.

Gallery


Raffa over at Massive Voodoo has created an incredible Grey Knight http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2011/04/joy-of-painting-x.html

Lauby's finished a grey termie http://lauby.blogspot.com/2011/04/tyberos-red-wake-final.html

Gimnir has a great looking Blood Angel coming along http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://gimnir.blogspot.com/2011/03/angel-sangriento.html

Old School has some great shots from Adepticon http://darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com/2011/04/adepticon-team-tourney-pics-pic-heavy.html

A freaking awesome custom Nurgle Demon Prince http://excommunicatetratoris.blogspot.com/2011/03/nurgle-daemon-prince-conversion-now.html

A game board coming together http://eyeoferror.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-game-board-in-progress.html

A great looking psyker battle squad http://excommunicatetratoris.blogspot.com/2011/03/psyker-battle-squad-conversions-built.html

MWC has a large plague tower in the works http://miniaturewargameconversions.blogspot.com/2011/03/few-shots-of-more-alternate-plague.html

Great looking orks http://warpaintguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/ork-nobz-finished-part-2.html

Musing


GMort talks about "counts as" armies http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/2011/03/fluff-counts-as-and-other-grey-areas.html


New Forgeworld Eldar Wraithseer Warlock Wraithlord

via Old School Terminator at Dark Future Games

Here's a shot from Adepticon taken by Old School. Looks like there's a Spiritseer styled Wraithlord in the works from Forgeworld. Looks pretty awesome. On that shoulder, is that, I think it is, a D-cannon? Also in the background are some of the new Shadow Spectres.


Pipe Cutter

A pipe cutter is, surprisingly, for cutting pipes - but not just cutting them... cutting them cleanly.

You can find these at hardware stores and some hobby shops. The hobby ones are usually a strong plastic while the hardware stores carry ones made out of metal and sometimes with two cutting wheels.

Hobby shops and light metal are pretty generic, but hardware stores will rate them for different sizes and thicknesses of pipes if you want to do heavier duty stuff.
Their use is actually quite simple. Just loosen the cutter until the pipe fits, then tighten it in - snugly, not too tight. Next, spin the cutter all the way around the pipe - you should see a faint line cut around it. Tighten a little more, and repeat until you cut all the way through.


Smaller pipes can be difficult to hold strong enough to spin the cutter around, so you may need to use tin snips instead.

When you're done, tighten it all the way. This prevents you or others from getting their finger stuck inside.

Adepticon Crusader

If you're going to be in the area of Adepticon this weekend, you can go see Crusader, a band that Dethtron and Hoagy are in. Wish I could make it guys.

Details here: http://bloodofkittens.com/dickmove/2011/04/01/its-a-christmas-miracle-crusader-show-for-adepticon-back-on/

GW website error shows off next codex

http://www.moddb.com/members/supahchikin
[update after April Fools] photo credit:
http://www.moddb.com/members/supahchikin
So, I'm poking around Games Workshop's site tonight, and I get a link to a page that shows this little number...  When I tried browsing though, the links went dead like they realized their mistake. There were updated models and everything, big detailed plastic range.

I was able to grab this from my cache however... Looks like squats aren't too far off.

Photo was located here:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armys/squats/


Postapocalyptibuggy [Part 13]

The ongoing chronicle and my first attempt at posting Work In Progress shots, this is my entry for the Massive Voodoo Mad Max Car Competition. I'll list them all on my Step by Step page, or you can view the current WIP series.