007 – Special Weapon reinforcements

Meet the latest recruits to the ranks of the Praetorian guard.

3 more Melta-guns and 4 more Grenade Launchers should give me more punch in the shooting phase and more versatility in how I kit out my squads. I’ve also completed the first test case Plasma Gun guy and I think he came out ok. Loosely based on the conversion by Col. Gravis, he makes a good case for the theory that it’s possible to make up for a lack of any modelling skill whatsoever by applying plenty of Green Stuff, painting it silver, and retiring to a safe distance.

I’ll post a step-by-step of how I got this guy out of a regular lasgunner at some point, when I get round to throwing together a few more.

Mike

PS. Did you notice the better quality photos this time around? I have no fancy kit as yet, but a sheet of paper made a decent background and I’m happy with the results, even if the flash did cause a few shadows.

006 – November Hobby Update

Here we are only 1 month after starting the much needed “hobby neutrality” system and I’m already re-writing the rulebook! Actually I’d feel better if we agreed to just call it… massaging the rules, aka changing the rules slightly to make me feel less guilty for overspending.

It’s all the fault of Arabianknight over at The Year of Frugal Gaming, who posted some time ago about buying the card and plastic buildings from the old board game Dark World at a games convention for some cheap scenery. Fond memories of childhood afternoons spent playing this very game and others were stirred up, which led me to eBay where I ended up buying, of all things, my very own copy of that timeless classic HeroQuest.

Not content with one unplanned purchase, a few days later I noticed another HeroQuest auction which had not only the main game, but also the first 2 expansion sets, Kellars Keep and Return of the Witch Lord, and as a bonus the auction wasn’t so badly described that it wasn’t clear that the expansions were included without closely studying the photo. Smelling a better bargain, I foolishly bid on this one too, the end result being that I now have 2 copies of the same game.  My thinking was that I will be able to paint one of the basic sets to a good standard and then re-sell it for profit (I didn’t see anyone offering pro-painted sets on eBay, but I reckon there may be demand for one), and I think that will happen, but now I have the problem of fitting in the painting of a bunch more models when I should really be focussing on Guard.

Income

Carryover from last Month – £31.40

Total £31.40

Outgo

Heroquest boxed game- £30.07

Heroquest boxed game + expansions – £37.98

Total – £68.05

This means my net cashflow is loss of £36.65. I’m sure to recoup this in the new year once I re-sell one of the boxed games, and I have a few other bits ready to go on eBay after Christmas, so regaining neutrality again shouldn’t be too difficult.

I’m now officially banning myself from eBay though, for the rest of December at least. That place is unsafe!

Mike