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.

play : adepticon 2013

In the weeks leading up to Adepticon 2013, I was debating whether this year would be my last. I've made the 15 hour drive five consecutive years now and, to be honest, I ended Adepticon 2012 on a particularly bad note (Through no-one's fault but my own). For that and other reasons, I've been eyeballing the potentially greener pastures of other conventions - GenCon, WargamesCon, DuelCon, etc. Now that Adepticon 2013 is over, I find myself reinvigorated - jazzed on mind-blowing displays of hobby, gaming and friendship. Sunday night, while chatting post-con with friends who came into this year's con with a similar mind-set, we resolved to once again make the pilgrimage to Chicago next April.

Highlights of the convention, and things that swayed me into coming back include, in rough chronological order...

• "Give me your muffin!" - Celso
• X-Wing Miniatures Game - Ran several folks through demoes of this one and most bought in by con's end. It really is a fantastic little game, even without the 2nd set of ships. I definitely learned the value of a Y-Wing equipped with an Ion Cannon! Depending on schedule conflicts, I could easily see playing in a tourney of this next year.
  
• The William Wallace Burger - a nice, thick hamburger with a sausage & beef patty, gently breaded and fried, topped with a fried egg. Serve it quartered, pulled to the edges of the plate with a heaping helping of beer-battered onion straws drizzled with ketchup and a side of blue-dyed ranch just big enough to dip half of each burger in. (Doesn't exist, but MightyTim and I think it should. Makes more sense than Tilted Kilt's "Braveheart Salad.")
• Cards Against Humanity - Yes, it often devolves into racist, sexist, sexual or grotesque humor... but I'm okay with that. I laugh too damn hard not to enjoy the game. I particularly liked when, "Life for the Native Americans was forever changed after the white man introduced them to scalping," and "White people like smallpox blankets." were played within cards of each other.
• Dreadball - Fast paced game with crazy simple mechanics. Played in the tournament on Friday and had an absolute blast. I plan to do a better write up of the tournament later this week, but the short of it is that I'm dying to get the local guys into it and start a league. Teams are cheap, and I think they'd love it if they gave it a try.
  
• "Slaanesh!" - Damon... at first. Then e'rybody.
• Display boards - Always inspired, often inspiring, these monuments to gaming and hobby never cease to be a highlight of Adepticon for me. One of these days, one of 'em will be mine.

  

  

  

• Roman - anyone looking to go from gamer or hobbyist to artist needs to watch this guy in action. His build process is downright Bob Ross-ian in it's flow - he's got a general idea of what he wants to do, but lets it come out organically, ebbing and flowing with each new addition to the base. His paint style isn't much different and provided my biggest "Holy crap! Mind = blown!" moment of the con. What he does is amazing. And it's art - not the rigid process that Games Workshop uses (for better and worse) to get people into the hobby. I'm already looking through models to see what inspires me to work in a similar fashion.

  

• The people - I got to catch up with old friends (Celso, Damon, Fish, Rich, Tim, etc.) and make new ones (Loopy, Starminer, Jen, et. al.). I got to hang out with folks whose work I've been wowed by for years and they got to be wowed by my "Rice Whiskey Treats with Bacon." No matter how much time I spend with these people, when Sunday rolls 'round I'm jonesing for the next year to get here so I can hang out with them again.
• Portillo's - Between the Italian Beef & Hot Pepper sammich literally dripping with au jus and the diabetic bliss of a Cake Shake, it's probably for the best that I don't live anywhere near one.

  

• BootaTown - MightyTim did a stellar job taking the abandoned reins of BootaTown and putting together a fun, laid back event for Sunday. Fun people, fun games, amazing swag. The fact that he's already soliciting advice for next year makes me confident that BootaTown is in fantastic hands for the foreseeable future.
• The atmosphere - The Adepticon council made several changes this year (separate vendor hall, changing order and length of some tournaments) that I think drastically improved the overall vibe and feel of the con. I've been coming for 5 years straight, and I don't think it's ever felt this relaxed and accessible. Big thumbs up to Hank, Greg, Matt, Jeff and the rest of the crew.

For the above reasons, and many more, I had an absolutely fantastic weekend. The doubt is gone. I'll be queuing up to register for Adepticon 2014. Can somebody save me a spot in the VIG line?

build: x-wing: "asternoids"

Been awhile since I've posted an update here, but I have been busy. I hope to spend the next few weeks trickling in pics of various projects and my thoughts on the games they're for.

First up, some terrain I slapped together for Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game. When I was working on them, my 3-year-old son would watch what I was doing and say, "Daddy, I love you asternoids." I've called the that ever since. Unfortunately, I don't have any WIP pics to show, but they're not too difficult to figure out.

SHOPPING LIST

• Lava rock (10 lb. bag in the gardening section of Home Depot)
• Bosch BlueGranite Turbo 1/8" drill bit (conveniently fits in a Dremel)
• 1/8" dowel rod
• Hex nuts and/or washers with 1/8" holes
• Wooden discs (wood isle at Hobby Lobby)

I dulled a couple drill bits on the first three rocks before I found the bit specified above. Once I got the Bosch, it went through the other 26 rocks I set aside with no sign of slowing down. Do yourself a favor and just start with that one. Grab it off Amazon if you have to.

If you look past the fighters, you can likely piece together the assembly instructions.

1. Drill into rock.
2. Drill into base.
3. Wood glue dowel into base.
4. Super-glue washer and/or hex nut to base.
5. Hot glue rock on top of dowel.

After that, it's a simple matter of painting them however you like. Personally, I primed them white, then split them into two batches. Half got a thorough coating of a deep reddish-brown followed by a heavy drybrush of a lighter brown. The other half got a thorough coating of a dark grey, followed by a heavy drybrush of a mid-grey. Then they all got a zenithal drybrush of a light blonde to tie them all together.

I think they came out pretty well for a weekend's work and look snazzy on the Gale Force 9 Space Game Mat.