As some of you know, I am the father of an autistic child. I cannot properly express the pride I feel for my son on a daily basis. Brennen is one of the strongest individuals someone would have the opportunity to meet. His is strong willed and determined to make the most out of everyday. Some days are fantastic and filled with laughter and hugs and fun. And, of course, some days are filled with frustration and difficulties.
It is my intention to put together a tournament for the benefit of Autism research. Money raised will go to Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks is one of the most outspoken and well known advocates for the furthering research and raising awareness of this rapidly growing disorder that affects one in 110 children. More specifically, 1 in every 70 boys. As much as I would love to run this tournament on April 2nd, it is just too soon to really plan it properly.
Look for this to happen in September sometime and perhaps more details to follow for Gamers to walk at the Walk for Autism in early/mid-October. This year, it should not interfere with Warmachine Weekend. The Walk Now for Autism Speaks Event is on October 9th, 2010 and I would be honored if all of the GameStLouis.com members interested would join me and my family that day.
Tags: Autism, charity, Hordes, IABN, Tournament, Walk for Autism, Warmachine, Warmachine Weekend, World Autism Awareness
Just a quick note to say congratulations to Tim on his very first No Quarter article. It was a good read and really shows the knowledge anyone can experience from a St. Louis Riverdog.
Good job, Tim and I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
How could I have misjudged the difficulty of this model’s assembly, I will never really know. It has lived up the to Pain in the Ass title I gave it in the last entry. In the days that have past, I have attached the head and one arm. Day three, whenever that happens, will focus on attaching his tail and the other arm. While I don’t see any issues attaching the arm and the bit of green stuff that will be needed for the join to look good, the tail offers a whole bowl of issues that, quite frankly, suck. I have to align the tail, greenstuff in place, and be able to texture it without the structure falling apart or shifting to either side.
Assuming this goes off with little hitch, I can look forward to painting the nasty little bugger. This part has been the drive for me. I am quite sure I will enjoy the painting of the Gator Nation. My full unit of Gatormen arrived in the mail today. So, I decided to do my research on how to get them painted up and make them look right. Not just Snapjaw or Wrong Eye, but the entire Gator group as well as some Bog Trogs and even a unit of Swamp Gobbers that I think would fit in well. I don’t know if they will see much use with my Legion, but it is not completely out of the question that I would be willing to follow AK on a “-ish” style list for Circle, Skorne, or even *gasp* Troll bloods. Try not to mock me too much, faithful readers, as they are the last of my considerations.
But I digress. In an effort to make them look like they belong in a swamp, I have done a bit of research on the skin colors of aligators and crocodiles. I have seen a slight variation in the top of the beasts, but a much greater variety of colors on the underbelly. Ranging from a slightly lighter green with a just a hint of yellow to an very ochre color that seems to strike me as the best option. Check out these images I found as inspiration:
I think that is all for now. I will add more another night.
Tags: assembly, Gatormen, greenstuff, Hordes, IABN, Minions, swamp, Warmachine
I picked up Snapjaw and Wrong Eye as my prize for winning a Warmachine/Hordes (a different, upcoming blog entry). As a Khador player, I was very familiar with the “Khador Gap”, but I was a bit unprepared for the amount of greenstuff work that Snapjaw needs.
It will take me two days to get him assembled and add a bit more personality to the model. Last night, I took a bit of greenstuff and attached his legs to the body. It is a bit odd as the tail and the legs fit on the body around a hollow spot to lower the metal needed for the model and lower the overall cost. I had to let the legs dry overnight so that they are firmly in place before I can fit the tail on. Overall, the gaps are nothing compared to the Khador Gap but there was some finer modeling needed. With the Khador Gap it was a matter of filling the area and making smooth. With Snapjaw, there is attention needed to the scales and underbelly. This includes scarring, marring, and stretching.
I also greenstuffed the top and bottom parts of the head together. When it was dryfitted, it forced his lower jaw very cock-eyed. To fix it, I had to place the parts together. Again, it was necessary to model a semblance of scales and softer tissue around the hinge of the jaw. The chain around his neck no longer lines up properly after that, so I will ad some jewelry chain when I attach the head to the body. If I am lucky, I will have an extra skull laying about so that I can add a bit of bling to the model before it is all done.
Tags: assembly, Gatormen, greenstuff, Hordes, IABN, Minions, swamp, Warmachine
I had a great Father’s Day. I got to sleep in. Not too late, but later than usual. I taught two of my children how to make eggs sunny side up and had a nice simple breakfast. Normally I don’t eat breakfast, but I have started taking an anti-inflamatory again the tears my stomach up so I have to eat some thing with it.
My wife and the kids got me a tent for Father’s Day. It is frickin’ huge. 13′ x 10′. We set it up in the front yard and all goofed around in it for a while. We plan on taking it with us when we go to Arkansas to see my mom for the July 4th holiday weekend.
Now I know that some of this doesn’t mean a damn thing to any of you and you might even have wondered how in the hell you have even made it this far into the post. Well, there is a payday. I have been working on a few projects and I am happy to have had the help of my children and the time to actually work on them.
Project #1: A Pulp City table. The first in a series of tables, I am currently working on a cemetery that will have hills on each side of the 2′ x 3′ board. Centered in the board will be a mausoleum. Expect a tutorial with images soon.
Project #2: A new gaming area in my basement. I have been using two fold up tables to house a basic 4′ x 4′ Warmachine/Hordes table. I have taken an old (and free) 4′ x 8′ model train table and have planned to replace the legs with some legs that resemble I-beams made of 1×4′s. I created 6 of these legs at 35″ tall and will be attaching them to the table. The way the table was made, I have a 3.5″ deep area that will be below the play area for storage or, should I feel the urge, a way to do a 3D table for a great deal of depth and height for rivers and maybe even some bridges over lower passage ways. anything is possible. Expect images to be forth coming. I only got 3 of the legs’ pilot holes drilled, but I expect to be able to finish those tomorrow and maybe even attach the legs too.
Tags: Father's Day, game board, game table, Hordes, IABN, mausoleum, play area, projects, Pulp City, tent, tutorial, Uncharted Seas, Warmachine, weekend