The Smartest Belt Buckle In The World

It's so smart it even has it's own brain! But serious, I was very impressed when I happened across this Krang belt buckle sold by Christopher Genovese on Etsy. I figured it would be a perfect gift for a friend of mine. And hey, it should be easy enough to paint; I'm a decent miniature painter after all right?

The seller's amazing paintjob really sells the piece!

Yes, it is a functional belt! Practical? No, but functional? Yes!

Well, it wasn't quite that easy. First of all I was using mostly colours that I don't have as much experience with, that caused me a few issues. Then I discovered that my techniques for shading and highlighting don't quite work as well on this scale as the do on the smaller scales that I am used to. It didn't help that some of my less used paints had dried out due to neglect.

The biggest issue that I had was the yellow. I've never painted such a large area in yellow before, and I knew that yellow had poor coverage, so I decided to airbrush it over a white primer. I got some Vallejo Game Air Moon Yellow and ran it through a makeup airbrush that was... not completely suitable for the task. Anyway, I got a nice bright yellow basecoat and was happy with that.

Until I came back to try to clean up my mistakes that is. I hadn't much experience with Vallejo airbrush paints, so I didn't realise that their coverage is very poor when applied with a brush. I had to order some Vallejo Game Color Gold and Moon Yellow to try to touch things up. They also had poor coverage (as most yellow acrylics do), but they were at least usable. Except, as I discovered, by the time you build up Moon Yellow to a solid colour it's actually darker and slightly more reddish than the colour I had built up with a few light passes with the airbrush earlier. I managed to reduce the colour difference by mixing in some white, and luckily the trouble spots are subtle.

By the way, I had a hell of a time trying to mix a dark yellow for the background. There aren't really many "dark yellow" paints; most yellow "lines" darken into orange, but I wanted, well, dark yellow, not orange. I tried various mixes of GW foundation Iyanden Darksun with browns like GW Snakebite Leather, along with various attempts at glazes to darken without introducing too much red. By the end I had put down so much paint that I couldn't even get a smooth surface anymore. I don't even really remember what the colour was that I ended up settling on; it might have been or included Vallejo Kakhi Brown, but I don't remember for certain.

Close-up to show off some of the details.

I mixed P3 Morrow White into the Moon Yellow for the frame highlights. I believe I used Army Painter Red Tone Wash (which is only reddish and not actually red) to shade the yellow. The skin was GW Fulgrim Pink, washed with I believe GW Baal Red, and mixed with white for highlights and GW Blue Horror for the veins. The mouth was done with mixes of the pink with Vallejo Scarlett Blood. Krang's control sticks were Vallejo Neutral Grey highlighted with Sky Grey and washed with Arm Painter Dark Tone Wash. I used GW Liche Purple and Dechala Lilac for the eyes, with Vallejo Black for the pupils. Some of the paints used:

Initially I had the buckle mounted to a piece of cardboard, but I later designed and 3D printed a "handle" that I mounted the piece to, to make it easier to... um... handle.

After applying a couple of VERY heavy layers of varnish and attaching the metal bits to the back I managed to get it all ready JUST in time for my friend's birthday... only to not be able to give it to him that day for various reasons. Well, it was a few days late, but at least it was a surprise!

2018 End Of Year Report

Sigh.

Old Resolutions
Forget making progress, I think I actually regressed.

1. Develop a good routine
Haha, nope.

2. Keep my cool
I might be doing a bit better lately I suppose.

3. Read more useful stuff
I bought some books but didn't read them. Bleh.


New Resolutions
Let's try something a little different. I think I've narrowed down a lot of my problems lately to not focusing fully on the task at hand, and on... well, procrastinating I suppose. I seem to have fallen into a mindset that makes it very difficult to start big jobs, so instead I just kill time reading webcomics or playing Overwatch (usually spending more time on them than the job would have taken itself). A contributing factor is probably lack of energy, which I attribute to poor physical fitness.

1. Remember to break problems down
I think I've been having issues because problems and tasks are starting to feel "too big". So I really need to consciously focus on breaking them down to small chunks and only worry about one chunk at a time.

2. Center myself regularly
I've been thinking about trying to apply a "scrum method" my everyday life: that is, every morning I should take a few minutes to clear my mind and decide what my priorities are for the day, and similarly when I first get to work I should clear my head and decide on what the main one or two tasks for the day are. I shouldn't worry about too many things at once, and only start thinking about other jobs when the first ones are done. Similarly, when a job is done I should sit and clear my head then think about the next one. Basically I need to regularly center myself and regain my focus.


3. Exercise more
Need to work it in to daily life somehow.

4. Eat better
I've been slacking off when it comes to making sure my diet is healthy.


Well, obviously there's far more that I think I need to do, but let's keep things simple and avoid getting overwhelmed for now. Maybe this year I'll actually get somewhere.

Chrome Test

After seeing Tesoe's shiny chrome stuff, I wanted to try it for myself. So I ordered some Molotow Liquid Chrome markers. Early experiments showed that the chrome they put down was shiny but delicate and did not take varnish well. However, again Tesoe pointed me in the right direction: Alclad Aqua Gloss varnish. So I ordered some and waited...

... for something like two months, at which point I gave up and ordered some more. Eventually it arrived, and I tried airbrushing it on. Thing is, airbrushing is new to me, so I wasn't very confident. Well, point it is took AGES, but I finally got a couple of models chromed and varnished.

The photos don't look like much, and in real life the chrome is not really super smooth and reflective, but the models certainly look brighter and shinier than any other metallic models I've ever done, and I think that's coming through in the photos.

The models were painted as normal (metal paints and black wash) then I went over the raised areas with the chrome pens. This way I maintained the dark shading, but next time I might try applying the varnish directly onto a glossy black primer, I'm hoping that way it will come out a bit smoother as the chrome is a bit rough on these two (although that might be the varnish...). After leaving the chrome to dry for several days (or months in the case of the second guy... I got a little busy...) I airbrushed the varnish on.

The bases aren't great; I was going for a standard tarmac road sort of thing, but I don't think it came through all that well. Also the eye glow looks very poor; the chrome is so bright that it was hard to make the eyes look bright. Well, these were just quick test models anyway so I didn't put too much effort into it, I'll try harder with the next ones.

The models themselves are Terminator Genisys miniatures from River Horse. I reposed them slightly by simply bending the plastic; I turned the standing model's head to the side a bit, while the crawler had his head bent to look up and to the side (and I think his arms and spine were bent a bit to make him look like he was trying to lift himself up a bit).

The Aqua Gloss varnish is... pretty much completely invisible when you airbrush it on, so it's pretty much impossible to tell how much you've put (unless you put too much...), and it's pretty much completely invisible when dry (it doesn't seem to change the finish at all really, so glossy surfaces stay glossy and matt stay matt); seeing as this was literally my first attempt at using an airbrush, I was getting no feedback and had no idea how much I was putting on (or even how much I needed to put on for a good protective coat). I mean, the chrome looks OK, but maybe it could have looked better? Plus the bases look a bit funny in the photos and I'm not sure if that's the varnish or not. Well, I guess there's a learning curve for anything new after all.

The Man Who Would Be King

Ages ago I picked up the Leto and Vinter IKRPG miniatures just because I liked them. So when PP made them playable in Warmahordes, I was interested. Vinter's rules are... very strange. While he's very survivable and pretty good beatstick, he does so little for his army - he even starts with no warjack points! Still, one advantage of that is that you don't actually need any Cygnar jacks, or indeed any other Cygnar models at all, to play a "Cygnar" list. So that's what I decided to do.
Vinter -1
Journeyman Warcaster
- Sentinel
Nyss Hunters
Alexia & the Risen
Lanyssa
Falk

The idea here was to make the most of Vinter's own combat prowess. Lanyssa buffs his threat range, Falk buffs his damage, the Journeyman casts Arcane Shield on him and then hangs well back. The Sentinal runs alongside Vinter to be a sac-pawn target. Alexia and the Nyss basically just body-block as needed. Alexia herself can also benefit from Falk's buff to do some work.

Blondie was back to Stryker 2:
Stryker 2
- Old Rowdy
- Ironclad
Sword Knights
Gunmages
GMCA x2


Pre-Game:
We picked a 2017 scenario with two zones and two flags. Blondie won the roll and chose to go second.


Deployment:
For some reason that I no longer fully remember I focussed my forces on the zone on my left. I think I didn't want to have to deal with the forest on my right since only the Nyss Hunters had Pathfinder, and I wanted them on the left to shoot stuff hiding behind the wall.

Blondie spread out his forces, with his infantry to my left and his jacks a little to my right.

Round 1:
I ran everything up. Alexia and Cylena sat on the hill for a defensive bonus. I didn't know what to do with Falk so I just ran him to the trench; I think I was considering putting him in the forest to benefit from Prowl.

Blondie advanced and shot down a some of my infantry.

Round 2:
Vinter killed a bunch of Sword Knights, with the Sentinel running between him and Rowdy. Nyss Hunters killed some Gunmages. Alexia crafted a Thrall who charged the Ironclad in the right zone, but Rowdy counter-charged and killed it. I ran Falk to toe the right zone while hiding in the forest.

Blondie pulled back his GMCAs a bit, while his remaining infantry took out a few more Nyss Hunters and Risen. The Hunter walked to within 5" of Falk and gunned him down. The Ironclad ran toward my flag. Stryker ran into the right zone and based Rowdy, allowing him to score a point this turn. I don't remember how, but my Sentinel's gun arm was crippled this turn (probably from the GMCAs).


Round 3:
Vinter danced around murdering infantry; by the time he was done there was only a gunmage or two left in range for the Nyss Hunters to kill. The Journeyman took a boosted shot at the Ironclad, doing respectable damage. Lanyssa then hit it with Ice Bolt, doing nothing. Finally Alexia charged in and burned all her Risen, leaving the Ironclad on about 3 boxes (his right arm and cortex were fine). I believe we both scored a point this turn.

The Ironclad killed Alexia. Rowdy positioned up aggressively. I think the Hunter crippled the Sentinel's cortex. Stryker cast Deceleration. Again we both scored; I think it was 3-2 to Blondie.

Round 4:
My Journeyman Warcaster took another boosted shot at the Ironclad, doing exactly the three damage needed to destroy it... or so we thought at the time. We remembered later that Deceleration was up and so he should only have done one point of damage. Well, it didn't really matter. Anyway, Lanyssa cast Hunter's Mark on Rowdy, allowing the Sentinel to charge him for no effect. Vinter then charged in and did some damage, but not enough to cripple anything - ARM 23 is a thing after all. On his final hit he slammed Rowdy away and walked back behind the Sentinel. Lanyssa scored the flag and Stryker scored the zone, bringing us to 4-3 to Blondie.

The Hunter killed my Journeyman, taking Arcane Shield off Vinter. Rowdy scrapped the Sentinel, leaving Vinter vulnerable to shooting. The first GMCA, who I had carelessly left in Vinter's back arc, landed a Flare shot. This freed up the second to roll hot on a Brutal Damage shot:

By the time Blondie's Journeyman had landed his shot, Vinter was left with only four boxes. Finally Stryker Overloaded for two dice, rolling a 10, and charged up to casually slice Vinter in half with a single P+S 25 swing.

Post-Mortem:
This was a very fun game. Perhaps it's because everything was dying so quickly? Sometimes games can drag on a bit. Whether it's because our lists where both a bit fragile or because we where both playing a bit less cagey than usual, stuff died quickly this game. Which it turns out is fun I guess.

The scenario never felt like a realistic win condition during this game. I wonder if that has something to do with us playing at a lower points level? Or maybe neither of us was aggressive enough in contesting?

I did enjoy running up ahead of my army and basically just killing all of Blondie's infantry with Vinter, but I don't think he's really a very competitive caster. He can be very survivable as long as you spend resources on it (targets for sac pawn etc), but he's extremely strapped for resources due to his lack of WJPs. He does very little for your army and doesn't even have a feat. While I built my list around him to a certain extent (Junior and Sentinel for Arcane Shield and a sac-pawn, Falk, Lanyssa) I still couldn't fit in everything I wanted (I had to choose between Lanyssa and Piper for Pathfinder), and I didn't even have a good target for Desperate Pace (which seems a little hard to use since it's an action so Vinter himself is not doing anything if you use it). Losing Falk hurt since I wasn't going to be able to break through Arcane Shield without that damage buff, but I didn't have much else to contest with. In retrospect I should have swapped his place with Lanyssa (or just not tried to contest that zone at all, or done so with a unit...). Speaking of, I found positioning both of them to be difficult since they are both short-ranged yet need to target the enemy to do their job meaning they need to quite close to the front lines (and both were important for my strategy of "kill everything with Vinter").

I would like to upgrade the Sentinel to a tough heavy, but points are so tight in this list. Perhaps if I swap Alexia and the Nyss for, say, Gallant and some Cygnar infantry. Sword Knights for cheap bodies, or Precursors (Vinter can actually buff them a little after all) for extra focus on Gallant.

I realised days later that I forgot to make a Tough roll with Vinter...

Crudely Consolidating CNC Components

For a while now I've been running my CNC machine off a very messy setup, with spread out components and nasty wiring. I've been working on pulling everything together into a single control box; not only would that be neater and more convenient, it would also increase my machine's capabilities by allowing me to wire in some additional components. Well, due to various problems it ended up taking a very long time, but it's finally done... mostly.

It was designed to contain a BeagleBone Black wireless, but I've been having a rough time getting that set up, so I haven't actually put that in yet; for now it has to be wired directly to a computer. But the idea is that the monitor on the front runs off the BeagleBone, which connects to the USB port (mainly for loading memory sticks as I planned to run it off bluetooth peripherals).

On the front, there's a bunch of air holes; these have air filter foam pressed on from behind by 3D printed grills, so the inside of the machine should stay relatively dust free. The left red switch is for the spindle, which runs off a 48V power supply and is controlled by PWM speed controller, and a second is for a similar setup (24V power supply and speed controller) that I wanted to use to power a fan motor. The spindle controller is wired into the TinyG, so using the selector I can switch between manual and software control. I don't think the TinyG can control two PWM boards, so the fan is currently manual control only. The E-Stop button isn't wired up yet as I haven't decided on the best way to do it.

Around back we have the power switch to the whole shebang. Underneath it is an HDMI port and mini USB port for the BeagleBone, and a printer port for the TinyG. Above the extractor fan vents are a couple of holes I'm planning on using to attach a small square of cloth that will hang over the vents to prevent dust from getting in while the fan is off. On the other side of the fan are four ports for the four stepper motor controllers on the TinyG, two ports for the spindle and fan, and then four smaller ports, currently unused, which I am hoping to use someday for wiring up limit switches. Someday.

As I'm sure is obvious by now, it's not actually done yet. The whole thing is only screwed together and not glued though, so I can take it apart to make changes, additions or replacements. It already works better than my old setup ever did though; in fact I already used it to cut out something new. A mounting plate for the articulated hose that I wanted to run off the 24V fan:

I 3D printed the mounting bracket and screwed the whole thing in place, and so far it's looking good:

I'm really happy that the whole thing has finally come together. Yes, there's more work to do, but it can wait; I want to actually work on some projects right now that aren't just more add-ons for the machine itself. What a novelty that would be!

He'll Slit Your Throat From 'Ear To 'Ear...

For my second game with Andrei "MacGruber" Malakov I made only very minor alterations to my list:
Andy 2
- Beast 09
- Destroyer
- Sylyss
Alexia & the Risen
- Valachev
Cylena & the Nyss Hunters
Kayazy Eliminators
Widowmaker Marksman

Blondie had decided to revisit the original Stryker:
Stryker 1
- Old Rowdy
- Avenger
- Lancer
- Squire
Sword Knights x2
Archduke Alain Runewood


Pre-Game:
We went back to the rulebook for a basic two-zone "first to five points" scenario. I won the roll and chose the side with the forests.


Deployment:
Blondie deployed his two units of Sword Knights in waves, interspersed with his battlegroup. His forces were a little more concentrated on my right.

I decided to focus my forces on the right zone, so I deployed my infantry on my right. Andrei was pretty much in the center with his jacks to his left. The Eliminators faced the left zone, with the Marksman joining them in Advanced Deployment.

Round 1:
Blondie ran around the watery terrain to converge on the right zone. The front unit of Sword Knights got Blur and Rowdy got Arcane Shield. He originally intended to put Snipe on the Avenger but mixed up his activations and couldn't get it out.

My infantry spread out. Andrei cast Escort and advanced onto the hill. The Marksman got Reposition; coupled with Swift Hunter it allowed him to still move five inches into the rear of the left zone after popping a Sword Knight. Beast 09 ran in front of Andrei. The Destroyer took a shot at something and missed, scattering harmlessly. Alexia sent a Thrall running to engage the Lancer, to try to complicate his activations.

Round 2:
Blondie killed the Thrall and pushed his Sword Knights into the zone, then ran Rowdy right up to my lines, and feated. He also arced an Earthquake onto a Risen, knocking down Andy, Beast, Alexia, and some Risen.

An ARM 28 Rowdy right in front of my lines is a scary thing. I needed to create some space. So pretty much the first thing that I did was to slam Rowdy back with the Destroyer. He landed on top of four Sword Knights, displacing them out of base contact, which meant they could be knocked down. Two died to collateral damage. Beast 09 shook and ran into the left zone. The Marksman took three boxes off the Avenger and headed towards the far left of the left zone. The Eliminator flanked around the zone, heading to wards Blondie's back line. Andrei sacrificed his action, walked over to the left, feated, and dropped a Veil just touching Beast 09. The Nyss Hunters took two big CRAs: one killed a Sword Knight, the second - taken off  Cyelena - whiffed hard on damage and failed to kill a second Knight. Once again the Nyss Miss disappoints me! Risen just jammed forwards. Alexia sacrificed movement to kill a knocked down Sword Knight with her handcannon. I think I dropped Reposition this turn.

Round 3:
My (rather obvious) plan had been to bait the Avenger into swinging on Beast 09 so I could walk closer to Stryker, but of course that didn't work because the Avenger's sword causes warjacks to go Stationary. For some reason I was mis-remembering it as causing Distruption. Anyway, the Avenger crippled Beast 09's axe and left him on a handful of boxes.

Old Rowdy rolled snake-eyes on his charge attack on the Destroyer. He took ten boxes total by the end; I didn't advance away because he would get to counter-charge, instead I walked around him to try to get into his back arc while engaging him. Turns out 4 inches of movement isn't enough to do that though.

The Sword Knights and Lancer cleared the right zone, allowing Blondie to score a point. Blondie dropped Blur this turn, apparently figuring that he wouldn't need it now that the lines had met.

Andrei put Fighting Dirty on Alexia, charged and killed a Sword Knight in the left zone, then cast Reposition on himself and walked futher into the left zone. Sylyss chased after him to body-block. Beast 09 flailed helplessly at the the Avenger; I rolled very low and did pretty much nothing despite having a full focus load.

Alexia walked up to Old Rowdy and boosted the attack roll to be sure of knocking him down. Valachev himself walked up and took a long spray across Blondie's lines, killing something like four Sword Knights. Nyss shooting killed a few more.

This meant that the Destroyer would not take a free strike or be counter-charged when he walked up to attack the Avenger. Looking at the photos now I suspect that I might have forgotten that with Escort gone he could only walk 4 inches. Oh well, I think things would have turned out exactly the same if he had charged instead.

Out of four attacks, my Destroyer rolled crits on two! On the first crit he rolled a ten, for eight damage... which exactly took out columns six and one, so the crit was useless...

And on the second he rolled snake eyes... at dice minus two, meaning he didn't mark any damage on any columns, meaning the crit did nothing...

It's kind of amazing really. I don't believe I've EVER gotten any use out of a Destroyer's crit! Anyway, the Eliminators finished the Avenger off and the Marksman got started on Rowdy's cortex column. With the left zone cleared I scored a point.

Round 4:
With his forces suddenly depleted, things weren't looking too good for Blondie. He sent Old Rowdy into the Destroyer, scrapping it, and even taking out an Eliminator while he was at it. Blondie made sure to have Rowdy toe the zone so I couldn't score. Meanwhile Runewood, the Lancer, and the rest of his Sword Knights tried to take out Alexia and Valachev, but thanks to a succession of poor dice rolls they both survived with minimal damage!

I had an opportunity here: in order to both take out the Destroyer and contest the zone, Rowdy had turned his back to me. This gave me an idea. Andrei put Throat Cutter on the Eliminator before charging Runewood and a Sword Knight who were engaging Alexia. It took four focus, but eventually he killed them. I used his remaining focus to cast Open Fire on Beast, swinging with his axe (I believe he was too far away to use his fist). I needed a 2 on one die and rolled a 1. Sigh. Finally Andrei repositioned slightly to be a bit safer.

Beast 09 then activated and used a one-handed throw to chuck Rowdy out of the zone. This made it easy for the Marksman to put another shot into his column four. Finally the Eliminator charged Rowdy in the back, delivering a four-dice Combo Smite and cranking the damage roll to do a full ten damage:

As fun as that was, it still didn't cripple any systems. Oh well, at this point one more Widowmaker shot would be enough to cripple his cortex. But more importantly, this turn Alexia had been able to return seven Risen to the table. After the Nyss Hunters cleared the way and took out the last of the Sword Knights, Alexia was able to walk into the Lancer's back arc and start swinging away. By the time I was down to two Risen left, the Lancer was on his last box. For some stupid reason I left the last two Risen and instead took a swing with Valachev. Luckily he landed the hit and cranked the damage roll, taking out the Lancer and triggering Battle Wizard. This allowed me to Zephyr into a more defensive position. At the end of the turn I scored both zones, bringing me to three points.

Round 5:
Stryker killed the front Risen with an Arcane Blast, then charged in and killed Alexia and Valachev himself. Oldy Rowdy and the Squire ran up to cover him. Since my Nyss Hunters had been hanging back all game I didn't have anything else contesting and Blondie scored a point, bringing him to two. Meanwhile I scored a point for the left zone, bringing me to four.

I simply ended my turn to win the game 5-3.


Post-Mortem:
Honestly, if Blondie hadn't dropped Blur it would have been a different game, seeing as I killed most of his Sword Knights using ranged and magic attacks. Plus the dice really went my way on the last couple of turns, with Alexia surviving a ton of attacks and rolling consistently average-to-high against the Lancer.

We both had a lot of trouble with facing this game. I guess that's because of the way that the lines met and merged, with models getting into each other's back arcs and so on.

Discussing things afterwards, Blondie was saying that he should have split his Sword Knights into left and right groups and sent one to each zone rather than having two lines that headed to the same zone. He's probably right; they didn't get to do too much work, at least partly because they were jamming each other up. We also figured that two units were too much in a 50 point game; Sword Knights take buffs well, but you can only really buff one unit at a time. Plus I reckon at the end of the day they are mostly just there to keep your opponent busy while the rest of your army does the real work.

I think Blondie made better use of Stryker in some ways this game than before; the way he used his feat was good, and might even have been better if he jammed me clean out of the zone (he didn't advance as far as he could have because he was worried about moving Stryker too far forwards; probably a legacy of playing against Strakhov so much). Plus engaging Nyss Hunters would have put them at a big disadvantage due to Sword Knights good DEF when in melee under Defensive Line, and of course their MAT is higher under Runewood than the Nyss Hunters'.

Blondie was experimenting with Arcing spells this game, but unfortunately he was also trying to use his Lancer to support his Sword Knights by giving them Flank. Which means getting his Lancer engaged. Which prevents it from Arcing...

I always have trouble dealing with Rowdy with Arcane Shield. This game I focused on controlling him with knockdown, slams and throws - I didn't really know what else to do. In retrospect I've realised that I could have put Alexia with Throat Cutter into Rowdy instead of the Lancer. That probably would have let me finished him, though it would have been at the cost of me scoring in the other zone. Alternately I could have just charged Andrei himself into Rowdy and Repo'ed away afterwards even if I didn't finish him since I was in his back arc anyway (and Beast could have still thrown him afterwards). Ah well, I didn't think of it at the time and things worked out in the end; hindsight and all that.

I do feel like Throat Cutter is an important piece of kit of Andy, but it's not at all easy to use. Alexia with Valachev might be one of the best units for leveraging it though: Zephyr makes it easier for her to get into back arcs than it is for most models, she can stack it with boosted attack rolls even without charging, she can place Risen directly into back arcs (possibly even far enough to charge in for boosted damage as well). Plus of course cheap Sucker! targets.


Anyway, it was a fun and educational game for us both. I'm enjoying Andrei, but he is a bit of strange caster by Khador standards, not bringing much in the way of straight stat buffs. I like that he has abilities that benefit both jacks and infantry, and his own survivability is actually pretty good if you make an effort to keep him safe, I just feel like I can't quite figure out how to make the most out of his abilities. Perhaps running more jacks to leverage Escort and the Feat would work better, or maybe I should take multi-wound infantry (which I don't really have) to get more benefit from his feat?