All Things Must Come to an End

From July 2004 to June 2007 I was deployed as a contractor in Bagram Afghanistan.
In January 2009 I deployed again, this time to Camp Phoenix in Kabul Afghanistan.

Before the end of July, 2013 my time here will be done.

Seven years of my life has been devoted to supporting the troops over here.  My small part was to give the ones on my base a venue to play wargames.  Over the last 4 years I've had over 30 gamers come through our little group and I've enjoyed knowing each and every one of them.

What does this mean for the blog?

I'll be honest, for the next several months I'll be extremely busy.  There is the small matter of our being homeless and having no cars (3 Harleys but no cars) so I'll be busy getting all that set up.  I'll also be learning the ropes in my newest job endeavor.  For the last several years I've dreamed of opening a game store.  With the economy and the way the manufacturers are treating the mom and pop shops, this doesn't seem like a good time.  Plus, I have a family business that needs help so I'll be stepping into that.

All that said, other than a short burst here and there, this humble blog will likely not be updated much for the next several months.  Once I'm back expect massive amounts of hobby related posting.

See you all soon

~Syko

I'm Baaaaack... for now

Hey, hey wargamers!  I'm back!

Well, actually I've been back for about a week and a half but I'm back in the hobby.  I have a lot of exciting news this week and some great updates to share.

First, vacation was great!  I logged almost 4000 miles on the Harley over two weeks and got to spend some quality time with my daughter who graduated from high school while we were there.  I also got to go to Wargamescon and meet some great people from the community.  It looked like a great event but since I was just travelling around and didn't have time I just wandered around and got to talk to some cool people and see some amazing models.  All in all, very cool.

Secondly, my uber hawt wife and I have decided that we are calling it quits over here.  I've spent every morning for the last week packing and mailing boxes home.  We are planning to be back in the states again around the first of August.  This means I can probably make it to Duelcon this year (yay!) and actually play (double yay!).

The third thing is a bit of a downer for me but it's also positive overall.  It looks like the game store is in an indefinite holding pattern.  I was convinced that I needed to help my brother take care of the family's business.  My brother is 62 and his health isn't too great so he needs help and I'm the last member of the family that can take over.  The money is potentially very good and this is my future inheritance so I better take care of it.

On to the hobby.

I have shelved the World Eaters for now and will get back to them when I am back in the states and have access to everything I need to make them work for me.

I decided to start painting my Dropzone Commander Shaltari models this week.  I started priming them white but then realized that white primer on white resin/plastic doesn't show up.  Instead of setting up the airbrush I busted out my green Army Painter spray primer that I smuggled a few years ago.  Once they were primed green I airbrushed them yellow using Minitaire Irradiated Yellow.  I should be done with base coating by Monday.

Next up I took a small commission right before I left and had to buy the model while I was home.  This week I assembled it and magnetized it and got it all ready for paint.  I give you, the Tau Riptide!

Last but most certainly not least, while I was home GW released what is, in my opinion, the sexiest plastic model kit they have ever produced.  I had to have one just to paint and happily dropped the $115 for it.  I got the Eldar Wraith Knight assembled and magnetized over the last two nights and am really happy with it.  I hope to get it done before I leave.

As you can see, between getting everything boxed up and ready to leave the desert and my hobby projects... I'm a busy Syko.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Tonight my uber hawt wife and I will start our journey to the states and will be home for a month.  As a result I'll likely not be posting much during the next 30 days.

In hobby news, I worked on my World Eaters vehicles and Contemptor the other night but didn't get as much done as I would have liked.  I also ran into a major issue.  While I was doing the weathering on the Contemptor, the paint and primer in a few areas started coming off and I was left with bare resin in about three places that I could see.  I think I may strip the model when I come back and start over.  The Rhino and Predator didn't seem to have the same issue so they will get finished when I get back.

While I'm home I'm going to try to get some games in at my FLGS and go see many friends around the country.  I'm also going to be spending a few hours at Wargames Con in Austin and hope to meet a bunch of new people while I'm there.

See you in a month.

~Syko

More Dreadball!

I finally got off my butt and knocked out two more teams for Dreadball.  The were quick and dirty jobs but I'm pretty happy with them.

The New Asgard Giants

The Dalcorp Cowboys

Yes, I know they have very similar color schemes but they are based on the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys who have almost identical uniforms.

Now if Season 2 would hurry up and arrive...

~Syko

40K Project #2 - Heresy Era World Eaters Part 6

Got some work done on the Rhino, Predator and Contemptor tonight as well as knocking out two Dreadball teams which I will show in the next post.

Shot the blue on the shoulders of the Contemptor.  I need to go back with a brush and clean it up.

I had to spend a long time thinking about how I would do the blue on the vehicles.  After many failed attempts with tape I finally picked an easy pattern and free handed it.  I've gone back with a brush and cleaned it up some but still need to do the same with white.

Sorry for the haze in the pics... not sure what's going on with my iPad camera.
Next step is to clean up the blue and white then start the weathering.  Not sure if I'll get it all done by Tuesday and if not, they go in storage until I get back from vacation.

~Syko

40K Project #2 - Heresy Era World Eaters Part 5

So close to being finished with the next batch of my World Eaters.  What's taking so long?  Well, I broke down the other night and made some adjustments to the models I had already finished.  I think they look much better now.  I weathered the Cataphractii Terminators a bit and replaced the decals on the shoulder pads of the Tactical Marines and Heavy Weapon Marines.  I'm much happier with them now and am in general happy with the guys I've been working on.  Minor details and water effects on the bases and they are done.  I also need to finish the back banners and helmet crests on the sergeants.

Here are the guys I've been working on.

Here are the ten man squads as they will be run.

Heavy Weapons squad as they will be run for now.

And here are the reworked Cataphractii Terminators in five man squads.

I'm pretty happy with this sergeant and his power weapon.

That's all for now.  Next update should have work in progress of a Dreadball team.

~Syko

You Light Up My Life

Kickstarter alert!

Powered Play, a company that makes easy to use plug and play lighting sets has been featured on a lot of podcasts lately.  I had heard about them a few weeks ago and looked into their kickstarter but in the end, it just didn't appeal to me.

I heard the other day that they had pulled their kickstarter because it wasn't going well and they will be relaunching it on Monday.  I'm looking forward to it this time because even though I don't care so much about adding lights to my models, I am really interested in lighting up my buildings and terrain features.

Burn in Designs recently posted up some photos on their facebook page of one of their building kits with a Powered Play light kit added and it really got my interest going.  So this time, they will have my backing.

I strongly encourage you to look into them when they launch again on Monday.  Even if you don't want to use the light kits on your gaming models they can be used in so many cool ways.

I'm glad to say that they have a bright future.

Speaking of future... here is a little about the future for me.

I am going on vacation in less than 2 weeks and will be gone for about a month.  I'll try to post a few updates while I'm gone but it will be even more sporadic than my normal schedule.

When I'm back in "The Stan" I am going to be forcing the hobby to take a back seat to some other things I need to focus on.  I'm about to turn 42 years old and am noticing that I look more and more like my dad every day.  I'm overweight and have little energy and I'm pretty sure I'm a heart attack waiting to happen so I am going to force myself to spend an hour in the gym at least three times a week and am going to start walking/running every day.  I know I can do it, it's just a matter of making myself do it and not let myself put painting on front of this more important goal.  I will weigh in when I get back and will try to lose at least 15 pounds before I go to Hawaii in October.

Also I am going to start focusing more on learning about the retail business.  I've been reading a lot and listening to a lot of audio books and self help books trying to learn all I can in preparation for opening a game store in the near future.  I need to get more serious about this and stop procrastinating.

So, in the coming months I will be limiting myself to three hobby nights each week and the rest of the time will be spent reading and studying.  I want to get my mind and body in much better shape so they will help me in the years to come.

I will also put the blog on a regular schedule and will update three times each week.

Oh... and I am almost finished with the World Eaters Tac Marines.  Pics will hopefully be posted tomorrow.

Ciao

~Syko