A wargamer’s journal….
Miscellaneous
RFC from (fellow) Geeks….
Jun 25th
I have been using Word Press for several months now and enjoy using it. There are, however, a couple of aspects I don’t like. The main hangup I have with it is that I can’t get a functional history of posts put together on the website. What I want is the ability to have posts sorted by topic within each category so that navigation is easier. The closest thing I have found so far is here — Category/Topic Sorting. I can’t seem to get this one integrated into a single page within WordPress, however. I currently have a plugin that will sort posts alphabetically and another that will show posts by month. Neither is satisfactory. Joomla, on the other hand, will allow me to do sublevels and categories. I have added this capability to a development version of my wife’s site. If you look at the new category on the main menu, it will take you to a subcategory into which I can file stuff after it is no longer a newsflash.
I can’t find much info on importing Wordpress into Joomla, so that might be the biggest holdup, but I’d appreciate comments on this.
Confrontation miniature
Feb 19th
I recently was provided with a Confrontation miniature to paint for an auction supporting a tournament. It’s a limited edition figure made by Rackham as a giveaway for a convention. Don’t ask me what it’s supposed to be in game terms because I have no clue! Like all Rackham figures, this one has a lot of filigree, undercuts, and places that are just darned hard to paint! I used Reaper Masters Series paints on the model and I picked colors I have not used before as a challenge.
Originally I had in mind a scheme for the entire miniature that would look like the staff – dark colors fading up to light ones. Barf, was that a mistake! I tried again with a more limited pallette and used the ocean color triad. I think the results were much better.
The nice thing about fantasy miniatures is that there is no one correct way to paint them!
I left the staff the way it was, however, as the color shift was smooth and added character to the miniature. I painted the colors in first, then went back in and lined the filigree with brown and green liner so as to outline the gold filigree. The staff and hands came as a separate piece so I added them after I had painted the rest of the figure. I placed one end of the staff in a piece of blue-tac and painted and sealed the first part of it then just held on to the staff to finish painting it. The face was quite hard to paint as the details were tiny.
I washed the face with a black wash first, then used the Reaper light skin triad to highlight up to the lightest color. The right-most picture is not as good as I’d like it as there is a reflection that makes the horn look like the paint is not put on properly. Another new technique I tried here was shading metals in the same way as other colors. I outlined the ridges with brown liner mixed with a tad bit of black and then shaded from bronze to new gold (as the highlight). The figure was sealed with Reaper’s brush-on sealer.
Overall I am pleased with how it came out. We’ll see what the auction brings in!
Hambone’s soliloquy – with apologies to Shakespeare
Dec 29th
To base, or not to base — that is the question,
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged Old Schoolers
Or to break tradition to solve a sea of troubles and base for looks,
And by choosing, end the discussion. To decide, perhaps to magnetize,
And by magnetizing store them, on their sides
No more — and to magnetize, we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That miniature warriors are heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To paint, to continue,
To finish, to complete — perchance to rebase:
Ay, there’s the rub, for in the viewing of battles what thoughts may come,
What projects are left before we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. For there’s always a new one
That makes calamity of so short life
For who would bear the whips and scorns of significant others,
Th’ in-law’s laughter, the proud man’s scorn
The pangs of despised paint schemes, the opponent’s delays,
The insolence of rules writers, and the spurns
That historical gamers merit of th’ unworthy fictions,
When he himself might his own rules write while
Wearing an Old School Thong? Who would family bear,
That grunts and sweats as he modularizes terrain,
With the dread of something not to scale,
The undiscovered eras, from whose bourn
No gamer returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those systems we have
Than fly to others that we know not the rules of?
Thus conscience does make hoarders of us all,
And the hue of uniform colors
Is matted o’er with the pale cast of Dullcote,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With these miniatures allows plans to turn real
And share the realities of action. — Command you now,
Magnificient Soubise! — Graf von Grunt, in thy battles
Be all thy successes remembered.
