++ Renegade IG are back on the work-bench! ++

Hello Buddys!

Long time no talk, I know...

But I am back and am beginning new work on my renegade IG (now AM)...

The old concept of having a 'counts as' Straken who is depicted as a true-scale marine has now been supplanted by my new concept which is to ally in Cypher and his Chosen CSM formation, and model them all as true-scale marines. A little ambitious but his formation is only 1-3 units and of course making Cypher in true-scale form will be the crowning hobby achievement of the rest of the project.

But just to share with you all a couple new true-scale WIPs:










I will try and get some more/better pics up soon, but thanks for looking!

World War Z... More like World War Meh!

Hello Buddys,

It is with heavy heart that I write this review. I know it is a bit belated but I just really needed to digest the semi-mediocre meal that was Bead Pitt's newest film bonanza World War Z. Teh main problem is not this  film is not the film. Ufortunately it is how awesome the book is that plaguesmthe movie. 

Tis movie is a very straightforward A-list star has to save his family from a disaster, ala Independance Day, The Day After Tommorow, Deep Impact, and so on. The main complaint I have is they did not have to sully the awesomesauce that is World War Z with such a slocky and payed out film. It had the tential to be a very witty, clever, exciting, and at times funny socio-political commmentary (exactly what the book is). Instead the film makers went for a large scale disaster flick starring ant like mounds of Zombies (which is totally cool, just not as mentally intriguing as it could have been.

Overall this film is a fun watch and fairlymstraightforward with little to no suspense due to Brad's inherient awesomeness that is somewhat unexplained. The action is great, the super-large-scale-zombie attacks are great in 3-D and the scope is mind-boggling... Unfortunately the sheer scale of the film is only matched by the sheer scale of missed opportunities for what could have been a very different and interesting zombie experience.

++ Trailer Tuesday ++

Gotta say this looks way better then I thought it would when I heard about it... Actuallyy looking forward to this one. Cheers

++ Bike Blog 2: Stage One Complete ++

Hello Buddys,

So my Stage one conversion is complete! I just added this new air cleaner made by Arlen Ness. It's called the 'Big Sucker" and I know why, when you fire up the bike it is audible in its 'sucking' sound.

 It seems to have also increased the overall volume of the bike and the fact that is essentially an open air intake straight to the engine allows air to just suck freely through it and straight out the back of my un-muffled drag pipes. This makes Purple Rain Thunder like a Milwaukee rainstorm! They say Loud pipes, save lives and hopefully these will keep me alive longer, and make cagers see me when I am on the road!

It has increased performance by a noticeable margin and I think it looks way nicer then the stock sportster air cleaner. Overall I am diggin my new found Horse Power and loving the new look of my baby.

Till Next Time, Cheers

++ Of Books and Rules ++

Hello all the Buddys, 

Hope everyone's week is going well and all that good stuff. What I wanted to talk about today is the Dark Angels Codex. I think it is a very nice and high quality book. The thing I am amazed by is the fact that this $50 dollar book is a very nice piece of bookery but it isn't a great rules book. 

  

Nice new art

Not that the rules themselves are bad, its not that, in fact I think the army has gotten a nice boost and are in-line with other armies in this edition. The rules are, however, clumsy and filled with typos... Not what you want in a 'rules' book. At first I didn't notice them and then I started reading online and thought: "it cant be that bad" but what I now realize after GW dropped their FAQ that the book is riddled with mistakes. lots of small omissions and things that could screw you if you looked i the wrong place, or didn't check the FAQ.

Whoa! Fiction in the filler pages, what is this 3rd ed?!?

You don't have to believe me, just go to GW website (here) and see how sloppy their editors did on what is basically should be a luxury item. I am not all nerd ragey or anything I just feel like if GW is going to present themselves as the premiere game of gaming with toy army men then they need to take some time and get these books airtight before publishing and putting a $50 sticker on them. When I say airtight I don't even mean from a playtest perspective, because that train left the station awhile ago and might never come back, but just in the grammar and basic editing. With the wonders of computers and cut and paste technology the stat lines and wargear lists on one page should sure as hell match the stats on another page, and in this book sadly they don't.

Whats the solution?
Well apparently I now need to stick some crusty black and white pdf' into my new 'beautiful' book in order for it to be consistent and have the proper rules. This onveneintly adds three places for me to have to look up a rule... I know gw is making the digital codexs available. and updating those, but I already bought the hardback because I am a bibliophile, but this is not just a book (on the book level this book is a good one!) it is a rules-book and should have the rules, whether good or bad, be consistent and line up throughout the book. The half-assery and shabby nature of the rules differences from one part of the book to another is somewhat pathetic for any game company, much less the bestesettsest of the best as GW fancies itself.

Overall I really have been enjoying looking over the Codex and enjoying the nice art and even the fluff is slightly better written then previous incarnations  but it is not a sound rules book for the above mentioned things. If GW continues to put out sub-par books thinking they can just update them later I am bit disappointed.

One of my all time favorites... Now in colour!

Honestly, I am diggin the book, but this rules typo situation is a bit sub-par and not worthy of a $50 book... Now I am about to order the Horus Heresy Book from Forge Word and I am curious to see how far they outclass GW proper. More on that front in a future article, 

but until then take 'er easy Buddys!

++ Trailer Tuesday ++

Hello every-buddy,

Hope alls well and I thought I would share another trailer with you guys and gals out there.




Not Sci-Fi this week but I think it looks good and it has motorcycles and Ryan Gosling so dudes and chicks can both enjoy it!

++ Purple Rain: Bike Blog #1 ++

Hello Buddys,

As I have told you I got this sweet, sweet machine in the begining of the fall and thought I would share it's transformation with everyone as I build her to be the bike I have always wanted. 

This is my good Friend, the Rupakaya, helping me pull the old tailpipes off

So getting her up to Stage 1 was an important step. What that means is getting more air flowing out the back and more air sucking into the engine as well. By increasing the airflow through the engine, the horsepower is increased. This takes two steps, one is new pipes and/or baffles, and a new air cleaner. So I decided to go with some Paughco drag pipes, with the gooseneck at the ends. These bad boys are un-muffled and pretty loud.

Here she is without the pipes on her

In addition to taking the old pipes off and replacing them with the drag pipes I also decided to go for the fiberglass tape wrap over the pipes as well. This serves two functions of keeping myelf from burning my leg or my passenger's leg while riding as well increasing the heat inside the pipes which pulls more air through the engine (also increasing the horsepower).

Here she is next to her friends and sporting her newly wrapped Drag Pipes

So there she is, and I have also just recently replaced the air cleaner and that will be my next post about the bike, so stay tuned. To see what she looks like with the full Stage 1 treatment...

A little front shot so you can see how it looks 

Let me know if the bike s an interesting thing for anyone, I love it and am happy to share all of my hobbies here on the Buddy Times, especially if it is interesting to people. Till next time, Cheers