Did ya miss me? (I warn for games mentions)

After almost two years of writing on here, I still think Blog sounds gross. “Sorry guys, just out doing a blog.”

Nothing much has been happening in the home of Medway. One roommate disappeared for a month to have and recover from surgery for her sinuses and her tonsils, while the other actually made his presence felt by being home for the better part of the week.

Otherwise, it's been playing Final Fantasy IX (cos it's my favourite and I haven't touched it in so long), complaining that I can't play my PS2 or PSP games on my PS3, randomly thinking up game alternatives for other franchises (Such as a single player WoW game), and naturally keeping in touch with Jenny.

Oh and work. Kinda goes without saying.

Though a couple of weeks ago I got sick, fevers in already gross weather, along with a wicked cough that had me keeling over, vomiting a couple of times (one time it tasted like Kirks Lemonade? Hadn't touched the stuff in months), and generally not eating because either it was too painful to swallow or I was afraid I would bring it back up. It wasn't pleasant and I lost a few kilos that I needed to keep my jeans up. Very inconvenient. And almost terrifying.

Mum has bummed a few things off my way the other day, giving me her old printer since she got herself a new one, so she gave me her old printer (since I don't have one at my place), my old scanner which I got years ago, and the monitor for her computer since she isn't using her desktop.

So now I have two monitors. The only problem is finding another DVI cord for the second monitor, as I discovered that I need to use the video card for both monitors instead of one from the Card and one from the Motherboard. In the mean time though, i'm going to use it with my Netbook. It's kinda fun.

I also had a go at the experiment for my PS2. I wanted to try and get my PS2 to play on a monitor, so I bought myself a Component to VGA cable thinking it would work, but either the PS2 doesn't want to work with it or the cable I bought is dodgy. Chances are I got ripped.

I think my glasses are causing a skin reaction, which should make Michelle a bit happy because that means I'm wearing my glasses as little as possible and she thinks I look better without them. I think the plastic that sits on my nose is reacting badly with my skin because it's getting dry and scaley and red, so it looks like I've got Psorisis or something on my face.

Uhh, I cleaned my room too. Dee told us we have an inspection on tuesday so after talking to Jenny for a while, I got into cleaning my room. Did a good job. Got all the clean clothes that I don't really wear into a corner of the cupboard which can be easily covered up; got plenty of boxes stacked up next to that with stuff I actually use placed on top; put most of my D&D and Warmachine books back onto the little shelf that I nabbed from Richard and Mel; cleared up the cables that weren't being used under my desk; put my computer back up on my desk after it's long period of time being downstairs; put away my load of figures into the top shelf of the cupboard because I don't have anywhere else to put them; and put my dirty clothes into the wash basket.

Speaking of models, I had an idea. I have an Extreme Juggernaut from Warmachine. What makes it extreme is that it's twice the size of the classic Juggernaut model (and the weapon is the same height as the old model). But I had it in a static stance where it's just standing there staring ahead and waiting to be actually used, like a tank screaming to fire it's cannon.

The model isn't necessarily designed for play, but it is well designed for modelling enthusists. It comes in a large set of pieces and you can create a very dynamic design for the figure. So I thought what kind of dynamic design do I want to form this guy into?

Well, two things came to me. The first was that I've been wanting to do a Diorama, a display piece using models and some home made terrain ingenuity. I've got a few simple ideas running circles with the other random thoughts I have, but this one I can partly do right now. So why not.

The second thing came when I was thinking of pictures of the unstoppable Khadoran Warjack. The Juggernaut is a poster child of Khador and has been featured in many an Illustration. Some simple, some dynamic. And the most dynamic I could think of was the cover of Warmachine Prime where he stands over a couple of destroyed Cryx Bonejacks, and a Slayer Helljack jumps up from behind to give him “The Ol' One-Two”. It's a great example of how flexible the Extreme Juggernaut is.

Now all I need is a Plastic Cryx Kit and I can see what I can do with the plastic Slayer.

On top of that, I want to paint it up like the Juggernaut from the chapter cover of Warmachine Escalation. Cos it's a nice picture, and a very nice design. Luck to me.

Sorry to those who are interested but are having mind blanks, I can only give a photo of the Prime Remix cover and not the other illustration. Though I do have a photo of some of my progress! I hit a couple of snags, so I had to improvise, but overall I think I did a good job.





While we're on the subject, there was a Warmachine tournament a few saturdays ago, a charity event for the Floods. It was a really fun day, with interesting tables and everyone cheating everywhere. That was the design of the day that is, you spend money and you get tokens to spend on certain things in the game that you normally wouldn't.

My favourite part was a leaping Juggernaut. To put in perspective, the Juggernaut above is meant to be a 12 tonne Robot. Now make it jump over everything in it's way for about... oh I dunno... 10 metres? Yeah, the image in my head is hilarious.

But otherwise, there were the multiplayer tables which could never stop if the players wanted. Which we did for the better part of an afternoon. You got four players to start, and the idea was to get the coin in the middle and take it back to your deployment zone. Problem is, when a desployment zone is clear you can add in another player. It was pretty funny.

In the end, Allan (who ran the event) raised $1330. So it was a very VERY awesome day.

I think that's it.

Warmachine Diorama

So I sat and stared at my Extreme Juggernaut the other day and thought to myself "He's pretty dull right there". He's copping a squat, fists out in front, holding his Fk-off axe and just staring right ahead. Theres nothing special about him except that he's ridiculously larger than life.

It's slightly disappointing that I've put him in such a static pose, because the model itself is able to be posed into almost any sort of position conceivable for the Juggernaut Warjack, which is a lot of positions.

So it popped into my head what I should do with him. I could use him for a Diorama that would show off his posing capabilities. The position would have him kneeling and pushing himself back up with one hand and lifting the Ice Axe with the other. On top of that, he'd be looking back at the Slayer Warjack that would be climb/jumping over him. A lot like the Prime Remix cover.

Put it on a 120mm base, why not, and Bam: Awesome diorama. It doesn't have to be a 120mm base, but frankly it's a small diorama, tall even, so going up to the 12x12" base that is the maximum of the diorama size is probably going a little too far.

You know what? I could get a Cryx Battlebox and just use that with the bonejacks as destroyed terrain pieces. I don't know what I'd do with Deneghra, I don't want her on the diorama itself.

Note: Hey, what do you know? there's a bonejack in the Remix Picture. Game on!

Battle Mechanik Officer

If there's one thing I like, it's Khadoran Man-o-War. They're big, their armoured, they're tough, and they're expanding more and more. First it started with the Shocktrooper Unit. Then the Kovnik Solo. Then came the much more devastating unit of Demolition Corps, followed by the very popular Drakhun. Lastly came the elusive Bombardiers, a unit I had to convert so I could actually have them until the proper unit is released.

Next on the Man-o-war Lineup is the Battle Mechanik Officer. This guy is a Unit Attachment for Battle Mechaniks, not a Man-o-War unit. Now I'm going to have to pick up a couple of the Battle mechaniks units just so I can expand on my Man-o-War army.

I'm not sure how he's going to work, but what I see is a better repair stat, more benefits to Jack Marshalling (such as a drive ability), and then added benefits to other Battle Mechaniks considering the emphasis on "all the gear he's carrying".

Otherwise he has a big fuck-off Wrench. That's reach + more power than the battle mechaniks right there, though it's not often that a battle mechanik gets into melee. Apparently it's every friggin time. The officer hasn't got the same training as other Man-o-War, which means he doesn't have MAT 7, but being an officer it'll be higher than a standard Leader and Grunt, leaving it at MAT 6. For P+S I'm gonna bet 13, cos it's not a small wrench, and standard Man-o-War strength is 9. I'm also going to bet there's some reach in there too.

Other stats would be the same as a non shocktrooper Man-o-War, so SPD 4, DEF 11, ARM 16, HP 8. If he gets Iron Sentinel too, then he'll get ARM 18 while in Base to Base. It's like a Kovnik without the melee ability. For points, I'm going to bet 2 points. That simply doubles the cost of the unit, while justifying the benefits of being a Man-o-War.

I'm getting a little excited. Now to spend money.