miscellaneous: mysterious package

So I get home the other day and the wife informs me I received a package. I didn't think too much of it, as I've made a few test purchases for projects lately and I've got several Kickstarter projects that should be arriving any day now. However, when I looked at the return address, it didn't ring a bell. Sounded familiar, but I couldn't match it to anything I was expecting. And there was odd, Asian writing on the side of the box...

The hell is this?

Curiosity piqued, I sliced open the box to find another box covered in more Asian text. That's when I started laughing out loud.

I know what this is!

A few months ago, I won a forum contest by painting up an Ork toof lovingly crafted and cast by "MightyTim" for fellow forum members attending Adepticon. I did a bang-up job and beat out all the other contestants (there were none) to win a Lambda class shuttle for FFG's X-Wing Miniatures Game. The knock-off packaging was just for show.

Well played, MightyTim! Well played.

I look to have it blowing up rebel-scum soon.

paint: dreadball: da (new) albinorks

Back in 2010, with Australian Podcasters practically shouting sweet nothings into my ears, I got a hankering to play Games Workshop's (now defunct) fantasy sports game, Blood Bowl. The problem? Nobody around I knew played. The solution? Adepticon has a yearly Blood Bowl event known as The Stupor Bowl. I signed up at first opportunity and got to work assembling a team from various fantasy Orcs waiting in the wings for a (now defunct) Warhammer Fantasy Battles project. The result was a fun little team I affectionately named "Da Albinorks" that somehow managed to get the ball across the line on the last play of the last game of the day, saving me from being dead last in the tournament.

Da Albinorks: Blood Bowl

Three years later, I played in Adepticon's Dreadball tournament and had an absolute blast, wanting to sing Dreadball's praises to the masses. But for that, I'd need a second painted team to demo with. A team without a well researched, faux-background or elaborate team logo. A team that was already assembled, that could paint up quickly. A team like... the Marauders! But no matter what variation of armor and skin-tone I mapped out, I kept coming back to that Blood Bowl team from 2010. Partially because I had so much fun painting and playing with them. Mostly because I they sit on a shelf easily visible from my painting area, mocking me...

So I revisited the concept, making a few, notable changes to the scheme. I dropped most of the the blacks and greys, using multiple shades of green for variety. I also subdued the bronze and added in a couple shades of brown at the straps. I like to think of 'em as Da Albinorks after a slick marketing guy from the future decides that their skin doesn't have enough chlorophyll for instant brand recognition.

Albinorks: front

Albinorks: rear

Albinorks: Jack, outta the box

Albinorks: Guard your back

Yeah, I know. There are visible mold lines, the paint work is sloppy, and the pictures kinda suck. I'm okay with the two of those. This project was a quick-and-dirty way to get a second team on the table, painted, and it does that pretty well. It was never meant to win any awards. I've got other projects in the pipe-line for that...