++ Incoming! Holy Smokes Forge World Drops tha BOMB! ++

All I have to say is this:



OMFG! I think my wallet had an equally big heart-attack as my mind had a nerd-gasm...

Till next time keep it easy Buddys!

++ A Little Fun Dance... ++

... To make up for all the crazyness thats been going on lately. I live in Colorado so this whole Batman shooting thing is a bit vivd for me. Even though I was not in Aurora it's only like 30 mins from here, and my roommate's mom even called to make sure he didn't get shot, knowing that he was at a Batman somewhere in the state (which he was). Anyway my point is that just because some Fricking Psycho decided to shit the punch bowl (to put it lightly) and instead after realizing he was a hopeless loser and just offing himself (like a real warrior). He decided to attack a bunch of civilians who wanted to feast in the greatness that is one of the last communal events in our pop-culture-world-system, the opening night movie. So screw that guy, and I hope for only stiff punishment and relief for the victims of this tragedy...

To help lighten the mood I though t I would share this great vid of an Australian Hurdle jumper, it is frickin' sweet! Enjoy:

++ GW Dropped Teaser II for VI Ed. ++

Hey Buddys,

Looky here:



not that exciting but another Video showing the incoming release of VI Ed. It's only a matter of time now...

Cheers

++ Posible Sixth Ed Cover! ++

 Hey Buddys,

 Just a quickie to get through the weekend. Thanks to Faeit 212 for this awesome leaked shot of what sure looks like a hardback rulebook... 6th?!?!

The only other thought I could possibly have is that it is the new cover for the hardback DA codex... But with the tagline on the bottom (pretty Blurry but appears to say "in the Grim Dark...") it sure seems like a core rule-book. It is good to see the Dark Angels finally getting some front cover love, something they haven't had since Dark Millennium 2nd ed. expansion if I recall correctly...



 Hope everyone is well and Happy Father's day out there to all you breeders!

++ My Epic Score about to be someone else's! ++

So just wanted to drop a quick line to say my Epic War Hordes Enay auction is about to end... Just wanted to let everyone know becuase this is such a cool once in lifetime find, who ever wins thing it'll be like Christmas (or hannukah) circa '92... Anyways check it here: Smitty.720 Also just wanted to say thanks on this memroial day to all those who have fought, and died for our country... Without you guys I coud not be sitting in safety of my home writing this write now. I may not always agree with our policy or the direction our country goes, but the soldiers who risk it all for us cannot be thanked enough. So cheers to all the warriors out there and cheers to all the warriors that are not with us, I raise my Morning Pint of Beer to You All! Happy Memorial Day Buddys!

++ Robots & Girlys: Part 2 ++

Hello Every-buddy,

Another installment of Buddy Times, excellent!
Above as you can see I have begun putting together the Soda Pop Mini One Shot and Fritz into sub-assemblies for painting. This model for having so manu components and weird pieces actually went together really easily and cleaned up nice and quick.

I went all out on the bases for these guys because they are really more for looking at then for gaming. I always like big bases but I usually try to keep the debris inside the edge of the base...  Not with this chick, her base is B2tWallz!

Here's the little buddy Fritz, I really like this guy and he is tiny.

 Here's the overview of the various sub-assemblies:

the girl herself, one piece

the base

Fritz on his base

The Mecha: Legs, Arm, gun+arm, cockpit

Here's the overview of the dry fit. The long left arm is not attached but overall this is the finished product before paint.

Well overall I think this mini is sweet and a nice kit altogether, a bit pricey for its pettiteness but well worth it for uber-geeks who can appriciate awesome mini-art.

until next time, keep it mellow, buddys

++ New (ish) Forgeworld Video, and reminder to check my Ebay stuff ++

Hey Buddys,

Just a quickie today, was tooling around the forgeworld site when I noticed they put up a new video on thier visual feed site, check it

...and a little reminder to help a buddy out and shop on my ebay stuff... I posted my Space Hulk unoped copy as well as more and there is going ot be tons coming as well.

I am finially downsizing my colletion to a rasanble amount, and I am really broke at the moment so ya' know... check it:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/smitty.720/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3686

Cheers

++ Well, It's E-bay Time! ++

well Buddies,

The long overdue time has come for me to down-size my Warhammer collection... substantially. I will be posting stuff on there all week/month long so check back and I'll remind everyone here as well...

So check here for my ebay listings: http://www.ebay.com/sch/smitty.720/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3686

and help a Buddy out, I'm in a bit of a finacial bind right now and everything would help.

Cheers

++ Girls and Robots!!! the miniature variety ++

Hello Every-buddy, 

Long time no talk, eh? Well a lot has been on ol' Duder's mind lately (maybe more about that soon), and I thought maybe I'd share some hobby with you all... Actually these are pretty old pictures but I felt like I need to get them out. The subject today is Soda Pop miniatures.

this is one models worth of bits... This is not only a good looking kit but it is a highly complex one as well. There are a lot of little pieces and the completed project on the whole seems like it will be a bit fragile, but the sculpt is amazing.

Here's all the components in laid out in an orderly fashion, with a black reach SM for size comparison reasons. as you can see it is a hybrid metal and resin kit. Actually was surprised it was not all resin, not sure why but the thing dry fits together very nicely so it is not like the old GW plastic and metal hybrids that SUXXed.

 One thing I do have to say about this hobby is the ore expensive and specialized the model the gets the worse the presentation becomes, generally. I know Kingdom Death and a few other put packaging as a priority but think about ForgeWorld and other small scale resin companies, it's like getting a baggy full of tiny pieces... see above for Soda Pop's version of packaging, a couple baggies in a cardboard box with a sticker telling you what the models is.

And here is a final size comparison shot for all y'all.

Overall I have to say this kit was  abit pricey but it looks great and I think it will be  a blast to paint...

Until next time keep the buddy going!

Um So Yeah... Check This out! The Hobbit Smokes!

Ok, so here ya go Buddys... 

The Hobbit Trailer dropped and I had to post it here for all of yous out there. I dont have much else to say then Check it:

I'm actually away from the hobby dungeon at the moment and will be mostly for the next two weeks, I have a post in the wings but I am pretty cuaght up so if I can I will try and get that posted but you probably won't hear much from me in the next couple weeks... which now that I think about it isn't really abnormal based on my recent post schedule. Anyways hope all of you are well and enjoying the Solstice and we can look forward to some brighter days and shorter nights!

from wiki, the #1 source of all truthiness:

Winter solstice

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the astronomical and cultural event of winter solstice, also known as midwinter. For other uses, see Winter solstice (disambiguation), Midwinter (disambiguation) or also see Solstice.

UTC Date and Time of Solstice[1]
year	Solstice June		Solstice Dec
	day	time	day	time
2007	21	18:06	22	06:08
2008	20	23:59	21	12:04
2009	21	05:46	21	17:47
2010	21	11:28	21	23:38
2011	21	17:16	22	05:30
2012	20	23:09	21	11:12
2013	21	05:04	21	17:11
2014	21	10:51	21	23:03
2015	21	16:38	22	04:48

Winter solstice on northern hemisphere.

The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the starthat it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. More evidently from high latitudes, a hemisphere'swinter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest.^[2] Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter.

The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice usually occurs on December 21 to 23 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 to 23 in the Southern Hemisphere.^[3]

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.

SUPER! Dungeon Explore - Review, Part: the 2nd

Mini-boss and some minions size compared to ^

Hello Buddys,

Back again with some more Soda Pop goodness and the next installment of my

SUPER! Dungeon Explore - Review, 

Again let me apologize for how sub-par the pics are, they are from the same batch the last time a played, anyway onto the review-part the 2nd! Last time I mostly talked about how awesome the models are. This time I want to go over some of the game play, and components for the game.

The whole purpose of this game, much like many video games of yesteryear, is to kill the end boss. Pretty straight forward, and would seem repetitive but honestly how many hours have you logged on Zelda, or Gauntlet, and don't let me even start on Final Fantasy Tactics... (I still have the same file I have been working on for years! my main dood is like a master of half the job classes...) which all in all are all pretty repetitive games. 

Berserker Babe and Dwarf Fighter

For Super Dungeon the replay-ability comes i the form of the heroes and the power-ups. Without further expansion the Consul has a limited amount of variety.  In the rules it says choose a dungeon boss, well there is only one dungeon boss! So clearly they had expansions in mind when they were writing the main rule book, but at this point the consul is basically on auto pilot.

Hex-Sorceress, Man-form of Druid, and a Armored baddy

The heroes on the other hand have 9 race/classes to choice from, and 10 if you jumped on the limited edition Candy and Cola mini like I did. Each one has a few stats and a heart and potion maximum. Hearts are health (go figure) and potions are a unique power each hero gets that has a whole range of effects depending on which character fired up their magic brew. Each character's stats and powers and all of their special rules are included on their game card.

 Ok here is one of my gripes about the game: the cards are not made of the best materials, don't get me wrong I have heard other people bash the quality of these components (cards especially) and they aren't complete garbage but their importance to the game and the fact that many od the rules are not found anywhere outside the cards is a mistake IMHO. Once Soda Pop gets their website up and running maybe there could be downloads of the cards, but as of now half the rules to play the game are contained on cards that are of medicore quality.

Hero card

All of the random elements of the game are determined by stats ad color coded dice. No math, no charts, if your character has a two blue dice icon then you simply roll those dice against your opponents' roll and whomever gets more stars (pips) wins the roll off. There are blue, red, and green. Blues are the weakest but also have hearts, where reds are better but have potions, and green is the bestest best and has a heart and potion face. if you roll a heart then you get heal a heart on a hero, if you roll a potion a hero gets a potion... the consul treats hearts and potions as blanks though, he gets no potions or hearts :(

Anyway back to the gameplay. The heroes come out of a 'start' button they place near an entrance and the consul gets spawning points a la Gauntlet where he can pump out his minions from. Depending on the size of game the heroes get more and the monsters get more points to spawn, as well as there being more boards to expand the size of the dungeon. In fat the game seems to scale based on a formula: 1 board tile = 1 hero = 1 spawning point. an 8-bit game is two board tiles, 2 heroes and two spawn pints, a 16-bit game is 3,3 and 3. So the balance is nice and the differences between the heroes leads to alot of variety, and as expansions come out (hopefully!) the Consul should be able to mix up his forces enough to really keep the game fresh.

two different spawn points that come with the game

In closing, the game as a whole rocks, it is super fun-super explore! and the components are generally great... except the cards, they are not completely effed, but they are definitely not Fantasy Flight grade cards. The boards for the game are great the rulebook, although somewhat confusing to read, is very nice and shiny and the minis are excellent so the fact that cards fell a little flat is totally forgivable but if you do drop $90 on this bad boy make sure to grab around 100 card sleeves while you're at the store becuase you will want them. I have never used them before but after two gaes I went out to get them. Geekily enough I bought blue and red backed sleeves for the treasure and loot cards and clear ones for the heroes and monsters.

Anyway I digress, but you should definitely check this game out for a fun hobby project and a game that plays easy enough for a young child or non-gamer could easily get into, but with enough strategy, models, and hobby content to keep the hardcore gamer interested as well. Overall this a Buddy favorite and I have already put it into my list of favorite games and really look forward to seeing where this goes and where Soda Pop minis goes as a company.




ps... based on how much I enjoyed the models and this game I went ahead and ordered a Relic Knight Mecha pin-up girl thing and will be posting about that as well soon... Man Soda Pop really got its anime-inspired claws unexpectedly right into me!

++ Have you seen this?!? The Lord =][= ++

Ok Buddys,


So, I know I am a little late to the party on this one but really you gotta check this out.

This guy is making this thing in his FREE TIME! I barely have free time and when I do I do geeky stuff like blog about little toys I make in my basement... o.O  It sounds pretty bad when you put it like that.... Um I create miniature art in my studio when I am feeling creative... Yeah that's the ticket, yeah...

Anyway xhexk out the shinys:

You can get more info: http://www.thelordinquisitor.com/

I hope this guy gets to finish this thing because besides he voice acting this thing looks pretty frikking sweet, and GW would be silly to put the kibosh on it but sillier things have happened we shall see!

Cheers Buddys

+ WIP IT! Legio Custdes Terminator: Take 1 +

Hello Intertubez,

Alright so now internet back online (It was down for a couple of days and I realized I am totally addicted to the intertubez) and borrowed a friends camera to get some shots of a odel I just finished a couple nights ago. He's the test run for my Custodes Terminators and I think it turned out pretty good.

So I have yet to see a picture of a terminator with a guardian spear but since the Grey Knight book doesn't allow Terminators to rock power fists I though it would fit the theme of the army to give him a Guardian spear but I put a stormbolter at the tip instead of just the regular bolter on the Power Armoured guys.

The main themes I chose to emphasize are the shoulder pads, the Roman styled armour strips that hang from the shoulder pads and off the waist, the pointed collar and the head/helmet style.

Overall I think it works pretty well and I have to say that the new plastic Grey Knight Termies are a nice kit with tons of extra bits. If you like terminators or hand to hand combat arms fr terminators or are starrting a true scale army this box rox.

aAnyways hope to get some more regular posts up now that I have got all my ducks in a rowe as far as camera usage and internets functionality.

Again thanks for having some Buddy Times and C&C is always welcome.

Grey Knight FA-Q is Up and Rolling!

Already ladies and Gentlemen,

The GK FAQ is posted and out there check it here: Grey Knight FAQ

Enjoy and post any comments on what you think... No shunt during scout is a bit of a bummer ;)

+ Camera Malfunction and the Independent Character's Hobby Challenge ++

Hello Intertubez,

Hope everyone is well. I have been having some issues with my camera coupled with a lack of internet at the new man cave 3.0 'the Dungeon' makes having a photo driven hobby blog a bit difficult. I keep trying to think of clever insightful things to write that pertain to 4ok or the hobby in general, like some in-depth tactica, or an amaze-ballz insight into the downfall of GW based on their wicked and evil practices of being a for-profit business but I can never come up with such things that deserve anything more than the label of random 'thinking' rather than something to vomit forth unto the world...

Soon I will have a camera up and running (money permitting) or will be borrowing random cameras from friends until then and getting some updates on the Custodes as well. Finished a test model type guy and am going to start on Squads 1 & 2 soon. Sword and Hammer squad respectively. I also wanted to get some picks up of my new 3.o man-cave aka 'the Dungeon,' my finest-cast* man-cave thus far.

Anyway I digress thanks for coming by to share some buddy times and I wanted to let people know that I am also going to be joining the Independent Character's podcast's Hobby Challenge and the Custodes are going to be the doods of choice for my hobby goal. The goal is by next May I will have an 1850 completed (fully assembled and painted) and with my hobby ADHD I thought a little support like that would help me stay on target. Since I have a low model count that helps but since each model is so thoroughly converted that finishing the models alone is challenge and that is somewhat of a handicap. Overall I think it is going to be fun.

have a great day and keep the Buddy Times rolling.

*that's a joke... get it...

+ WIP It! Techmarine with Conversion Beamer +

Hello Everybody,

Thought I would do some more show and tell for everyone. Here is my Techmarine with conversion beamer. I will likely not be including this guy into my Custodes list but I have had the idea and bits laying around for awhile and while I was waiting to get the last boxes I need (final GK box as well as GK termies) I threw this guy together. The initial motivation was the face and the beamer. A hooded face with robot eye plus re-breather just screamed Mechanicus to me.

So here he is:

Why the conversion beamer, you may ask... Well it's pre-heresy and it can shoot across the board, something very little in the GK dex can. So in friendly games I may very well be throwing this guy in the mix, but I think he'll end up riding the pine in more competitive environments.

His Beamer is actually a super old-skool space marine scout heavy bolter with some bits removed and some other bits added. I think it looks suitably beamer-ish, even with the clip sticking out of the front.

I will likely add a third servo-type-arm that has a bladed end to count as his power weapon, but I wanted to leave his armour a little plain to distiguish him from the rest of the blinged out Custodes, and really this is a model that you could throw into any army that has a techmarine with beamer option. I had even thought about using this dood as a counts as =][= for a Mechanicum themed =][= warband or even whole army in the future...

And finally a little booty shot for all the fellas out there.

What does everyone think? Do Techmarines really blow? Are conversion beamers even remotely effective? Comments and critics always welcome.

Thanks for having some Buddy Times.

+ Custodes in Plastic: WIP It! Jetbikers!

Hello Tubes,

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I just wanted to drop a quick update on the Custodes. Here is the 'counts as' Interceptors squad. I feel like a 12in move and the ability to 'Shunt' once a game seemed to fit the rules for a jetbike, and since one of the three major aspects of the Custodes are the Jet-bikers. So this is my rendition of those. Some people like to make the Jet-bikes really big and bulky, which is cool, but I just wanted to make them based off of marine bikes (especially because I had half of a Ravenwing box laying around and I didn't plan on adding any more bikes to my mixed wing).

This is the team captain, that mace is likely to be a counts as hammer, but doesn't have to be. He was made using:

• a Chaos Warriors' head with added wingy bits
• Ravenwing biker legs
• and the torsoes from the high elfs box that the pointy heads came from

The bikes are:

• Space Marine bikes
• Ravenwing Land Speeder missile launcher thingys for the front and back 'jets'
• Chaos vehicle face-thingy as the intake for the 'jets'
• a standard bike front plate coupled with a Ravenwing front plate

In the art the Jet-bikers are armed with javelin spear deals but since I want to be essentially WYSIWYG and don't want to spend all the points on Halberds for everyone I am just giving them swords, except the captain who could have a 'hammer' if points allow.

Speaking of WYSIWYG seeing as how a bike base and a 25 mm are nowhere near the same size I decided to incorporate a 25mm base into my bike bases so there can be no calls of shenanigans, or that I am modeling for advantage. Clearly these models are way bigger then they are supposed to be but I feel like the base is the critical part so I really wanted to represent both the base size I think looks good on the model but also include the proper size base for gaming.

I also wanted to throw in one of my 'counts as' Psy-Cannons to give the squad some teeth.

Once again comments are always welcome and in case you missed my Squad Deux post because it kinda got bumped by my Macho man news flash have look and let me know what you guys think.

I also finished a test model (just a Tac Marine) I will try to get posted as a reference for how to do the gold painting and I think it turned out pretty good. If I don't get him posted it won't be long before I post the squad I am working on. So I hope alls is well out there in the big old real world and thanks for having some Buddy Times with me.