Goodbye 2022

 

Greetings all.  Its been quite a while.  Life and a lack of motivation has kept me from writing. 2022 has been quite a year.  I have started to play a few different games and a couple have gone by the wayside.  I am getting my gaming mojo back.  I have been hobbying a lot more and I have even started painting again.  The burnout I experienced doing stuff for Spartan Games and the pandemic had lasting effects that are finally going away.  I picked up A billion Suns to satisfy my need for spaceships and I have started playing 30k since the release of the new edition.  In fact we are running A Billion Suns tournament at Adeption this coming March.  I just wanted to pop in and say that I am going to make an effort to write even if nobody is reading it.  Just to talk about the hobby and games to kinda work things out for myself.

Happy New Year.  may the coming year be good.  Adeption Registration is January 8th! 

Road to Adepticon: Project Francis

Greetings all! The rumor mill has the crystal brush parting ways with Adepticon for 2020. Hopefully this means a new in house run painting competition that we mere mortals have a chance against the pro painters. In that spirit I am throwing my hat in next year. I have never entered a painting competition and I want to challenge myself this year.  So I introduce Project Francis.

Get Painting!: The Adepticon Paint Rubric!

Greetings all.  SeerK here with an update on The Schaumburg Prime Offensive and The Schaumburg Beachhead.  Tim Toolen of the Minature Tim Blog has signed on as a Sponsor of our endeavors at Adepticon 2016. He is hard at work on this years missions patch!  Tim is also coming back as the Painting judge this year.  He will be the man in charge of determining who has the best painted fleet and army for both Tournaments.

To prepare everybody for what to expect and what he will be looking for, Tim has sent me the rubric for the painting portion of the tournaments.  Painting is required by Adepticon rules.  Painting is not part of your overall score though for The Schaumburg Prime Offensive or The Schaumburg Beachhead.  The painting prize is a separate prize that all Players are eligible for.  So without further Adieu here is the Rubric for this year.


1. Is the Force Painted? Y/ N If the force is not painted to a standard minimum, it is not eligible for a painting prize. 2. Fleet Coherency: 0-3 Does the force on the table look like a fleet? Are there cohesive color choices or effects which tie the models together as a force? 3. Shading: 0-3 1 pt - "Paint by number" flat colors 2 pts - Some work done on shading. Basic dry brushing, washes etc to add some depth 3 pts - Great depth of color and/or shading effects used. 4. Details: 0-3 1 pt - A basic attempt was made to bring out detailed portions of the models. 2 pts - Further work done on detals. Shading on rivets, unit/fleet markings, perhaps further details added that weren't sculpted on the model. 3 pts - The detailed parts of the models are very well done and catch the eye. A lot of attention was paid to bringing out every major/minor detail and further added details really stand out. 5. Standout Pieces: 0-3 Do any key pieces of the army stand out on the table? 6. Subjective Points: 0-3 Was there something not covered above that impresses you about this fleet? Are there incredible details or fantastic shading? Does this force just demand to be seen from across the room? Award points for that here.


 So there you have it.  Get painting!  We are only about 70 days away from the big show!  I am hoping to have Primer Missions for The Schaumburg Beachhead up by the end of the month or beginning of February.  We are working with Spartan on this one so we want to make sure everything is done right.

That is all for now.  Stay tuned for more information!  You may have noticed a new contributor on the Admirals list.  Telarion joins the fray officially.  The Shoal Commander will be posting soon talking about Aquans.  He was the #1 Aquan Admiral on the Spartan Games Community Warlog this past year.  So stay Tuned!


Until next time crush the Alliance and as always


REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!

Teach A Man To FIsh.....Building A Better Game Community

I have had a lot on my mind as of late.  I started a new job at a growing game store in Battle Creek Michigan.  One of the main things that I was hired for was to help build the war games community at the store and in the area in general.  I started doing what I normally do and started talking to all the players that played regularly in the store.  I wanted to gauge where the community stood at that particular moment in time.  As I talked to people, I started to really think about how I would build the community.  I looked at the thriving community that had built up in Lansing and tried to break down exactly what things were in place that made the community grow to the level that it was at.  To build a good community you need time and patience and there are a few other key things you need to make it happen.

The Road To Adepticon Is Paved With Space Tables

SeerK here.  With UCON done our next big event is going down in March at Adepticon.  Overall our event at UCON went well and the missions were well received by the players.  There are some slight tweaks that need to be done, but nothing drastic.  Registration for Adepticon starts at 8 P.M. Central time this coming Monday the 24th.  The Schaumburg Prime Offensive is on Saturday the 21st of March.  We are limited to 20 slots so register early to reserve your spot.


To prepare for Adepticon, UCON as well, we had to get playing surfaces made to play on.  We could have just used cloth and done something simple.  Spellduckwrong, Dreadbeard and I really wanted an eye catching and robust playing surface for you, the players, to play on though.  I know I am never happy with how my dice rebound on cloth surfaces and I am not totally sold on Fatmats yet due to the cost involved.  So we made up space boards like the ones we play on at our FLGS, Evolution Games.

I like playing on hard boards.  You don't usually find hard board playing surfaces at tournaments.  We want nothing but the best for our players though.  If you played at the UCON tournament or have been to Evolution games you have seen the great looking space boards our group plays on.  These same boards are what we are using at the Schaumburg Prime Offensive.  I thought I would give you a peek at the boards and the process we used in making them.

We use MDF board for our boards.  Its about a Quarter inch thick and is a six foot by four foot board.  So standard war game table size.  We like to do these outside and were lucky enough for the weather to be good when we did the final 4 boards.  You need a pretty decent amount of space to paint these.  If you are doing them indoors I really recommend putting down some drop cloths  as the paint will get on the floor.  We had to prop the boards up with chairs as we had no saw horses to use.

It is important to note that these particular boards have a smooth side and a rough side.  We paint on the smooth side.  This gives a more even surface.  Painting the other side seemed to require more coats and had a texture to it we did not like.

We are using a flat black house paint for the base coat.  This is durable and is a great base for a space board.  I would not buy more than a gallon of paint, as ten boards did not even require the full gallon.  We used rollers to apply two coats of paint to the boards.  The dry time on this particular kind of paint is pretty quick.  We were able to paint the base coat on the four tables we were working on in about an hour and a half.

You want to make sure the paint fairly dry before moving on to the next step.  We generally wait until the paint is not tacky.  You don't want to leave finger prints or smear the paint.

The next step is to get a good star field applied to the table.  We use a good stiff bristle tooth brush.  The application method we have found that works best is to hold the brush as shown and run your finger length wise down the brush.  this flicks the paint in small droplets onto the board.  The application goes a lot more quickly if you have two people doing it.

The real trick to this is to no glob the paint onto the board.  You do not want to put a lot of paint on the brush.  The kind of paint you use makes a big difference too.  On these four boards we used a craft paint that did not work so well.  We had to re apply the star fields on two of the boards because the paint seemed to be to thin and the stars were to small.

Our next step once the stars were dry was to add the nebula's and gas clouds.  These are just for looks and do not affect game play as we have dedicated terrain pieces for gas clouds and other in game terrain features.  We have several different colors of Krylon Fusion spray paints.  These are what we use to paint the nebula's.  It requires a light touch and Spellduckwrong holds the can about a foot and a half above the board and moves it in single passes over the board so the paint is very light and wispy looking on the board.  Multiple passes darkens the colors.  We usually use two colors that are complementary to add some depth to the clouds appearance.

This is basically done to taste.  Spellduckwrong is our Nebula master as he has the technique down for making these look really nice.

This is our finished product.  The board in the foreground was a mix of pastel green and a baby blue.  The table in the background was a mix of three colors red, yellow and orange.  We painted it a little heavier than we normally do.

So we have ten of these boards ready to roll for Adepticon in March.  We will be touching them up and working on some terrain between now and then.  We look forward to seeing you guys at Adepticon.  I am going to be in the Chicago area next week for Thanksgiving so I was thinking about scouting out the new location.  I will snap some pictures and post them next weekend for your viewing pleasure.

Stay tuned for more posts about Adepticon.  We are set on the path and are really looking forward to the destination.



Until next time crush the Alliance and as always.......



REMEMBER DRAMOS!

Hobby Time! Or Adventures With Airbrushing!

Hi all, SeerK here with a little blurb about some stuff I am working on.  This past April while at the hallowed now former site of Adepticon, I got a smoking deal on a brand new Airbrush.
 Badger Airbrushes is pretty much a fixture at Adepticon.  They make a very nice high quality product.  I picked up a Badger Krome airbrush and a complete set of their awesome airbrush paints.

Our local Kedorian Overlord Tony supplied me with an air compressor.  Now I was nervous at first.  I actually did not pop the cherry on my airbrush until this month.  That's right, I had a very nice airbrushing rig all ready to go and it took me almost 6 months to pick it up and start experimenting with it.  I will never paint in the same way again.


So what have I been working on?  Well I finished painting my RSN fleet a few weeks ago.  They have a pretty basic paint scheme and besides being able to paint ships quickly by hand, it looks decent on the table top.  A gunmetal base with a very dark red secondary color.  I finally decided to try my air brush out on my Dindrenzi Patrol fleet from the Battle for Valhalla box.  I based the ships in black and then used the Airbrush to hit the ships with a couple layers of Badger Dark Green..  I then did a light dry brush of Iosan Green from Privater Presses P3 paint line.  I taped off the nose and hit the exposed areas with Badger Scorching Red.  I did the vents in Whatever GW calls their base red now.   All in all they ships turned out nice and I was happy with the results.

The DNS Ignatius Rex

I wanted to get my Works Raptor and Ba'Kash Ships painted, especially since there is a Ba'Kash patrol fleet box in my future.  I am picking up the new ships along with some Kedorians as long as its in the budget.  I wanted the Works Raptor ships to look evil.  I wanted there to be no doubt these guys were bad news and the stuff of nightmares.  So I took a page from my days of playing Dark Eldar and decided to go with dark Purples.

I based the ships black and then did about 3 light coats of Badger Ecchymose.  I wanted to darken it up a bit so I did a liberal coat of Secret Weapons Soft Body Black Wash.  I love this wash so much.  If you were to ask what I recommend for washes, Secret Weapons line of washes is second to none.  They are awesome.  You have good control over them and the wash stays put.  I wanted to darken them up a bit more though, without the base color getting lost in the mix.  This is when I decided to be brave and break out the Ghost tints.


Now Dreadbeard and I had done a brief experiment with Ghost tints a few months ago.  He too had picked up a case of Badgers Airbrush Paints and he was using them with gusto.  The Ghost tints were the ones he had not tried.  Les Burley of Awesome Paint Job is one of the best painters I have ever met.  He has some good tutorials on how to use the Ghost tints On the Badger website and on Awesome Paint Job.  I decided to use the Purple Ghost tint over the layers I ave already done on the works Raptor Ships.

I did a couple light coats and man did they turn out nice and dark and purple.  It was the exact look I was going for.  It also gave them the customary shine people are used to at the shop.  I am known for my "Shiny pointy eared bastards".  After the Works Raptor ships turned out better than expected I used a Ghost tint on the Ba'Kash ships.  You have to let the Ghost tints dry for 24 hours so I moved on to working with the Ba'Kash.

I based the Ba'Kash Sharnak cruisers with Badger Scorching Red and then did a wash of the Soft Body Black.  After the wash dried I used the Badge Crimson Ghost Tint.  Man this is a nice tint.  The ships turned out blood red and look great.  Sadly the pictures do not do the ships justice.  I only have my Iphone and poor lighting to get the pictures at the moment.  Granted they are works in process, but so far things are looking good and I am very happy with how things are turning out.  I am still trying to decide what colors I am going to highlight with and do the detail work though. I may have to make a trip to the store in the near future and get some more paints.

I have an idea of what I am going to do for the Kedorian ships when I pick them up.  I am also more than likely going to pick up Directorate and Relthoza Patrol Fleets so I can field pretty much anything in the Zenian League as a combined force.  I swear this spaceship habit is starting to get bad.


Well that is all for now.  I will be doing some major convention related announcements in the coming weeks.  Spellduckwrong and I are both now Officially Spartan Vanguards.  Dreadbeard is our behind the scenes go to guy when it comes to events.  We three have been brewing up some big things over the past month and we have started to see results.  We are excited and I want to spill the beans, but not until we have some stuff set.

Until then crush the Alliance and as always.....



REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tutorial: Making a Gaming Board for Spaceships!

Example of a pretty NASA photo and kind of what
we are going for with these boards.

Making a new board to play your war game of choice on is usually a fun experience. It gets a bit tricky in the planning stages when you attempt a completely new style or genre though. I'm no stranger to making grassy fields, hills, ruins, etc. However, when it came time to make a board that looked like "space", some Internet research needed to be done as I had no experience in the matter. Firestorm Armada was taking off in popularity at the store, and it was time to upgrade from black fabric and make some legitimate boards to play on.

After reading a number of articles, tutorials, and examples of what had been done before, I was a little disappointed. I was really looking for an "easy button" step-by-step that was both cheap and looked good. Thankfully, nearly all the places I researched had a gem or two of information, and when combined, actually had all the parts we needed to get this project done. So far, we have made six of these boards for our FLGS, Evolution Games, and they are all a bit different and universally well received. The following is a run down of how to make one.

The Adepticon 2014 Aftermath

SeerK here wiith a very delayed report on Adepticon 2014.  I Actually managed to make it to Adepticon despite my 70 hour work week and jam packed schedule.  12 hour days and a 2 hour round trip drive everyday has killed my hobbying time and as you can see my writing time.  I am going to really start making an effort though to try and write about something every Sunday from here on in.  My trip to Adepticon this year was very abbreviated compared to the 3 previous years.  The group was there for one solid day.

We arrived late Friday night.  Kudos to the volunteers manning the registration table.  I was able to get my badge and swag bag at 9 p.m.  As is customary we partied our first night there.  Saturday was kind of a whirlwind.  we saw all the displays, toured the dealer room and got to visit with friends that we only get to see at Adepticon.  Of course Miniature Tim was in this group.  I have to say I find myself looking forward to the cookies his wife bakes for Adepticon.  It was also nice seeing you man.  We also got to meet up with one of our former local gamers who has moved out west.  Ryan braved the GT this year and did not have a bad record for his first go at it.  It was also very nice seeing you sir.

I of course have to give a shout out and congrats to Lansing gamer and all around good guy, Mr. Bill Kim for winning Best Overall in the GT Thursday.  I have played Bill at local tournaments on a few occasions and was firmly stomped I am sad to say.  He is a great opponent though.

I did have the chance to meet Teri Litorco on Saturday and chat for a minute.  For those of you not familiar with her, you should check out her hobby based YouTube channel. Teri is a Hobby Vloger and one hell of a painter.  It is a favorite of mine and is actually one of the few series on YouTube I actually watch every episode of. SO go check it out on YouTube


All in all it was a fun trip.  I can't wait for next year.  I will actually have vacation time and will be able to go for the full convention.  In fact we may be running some events next year.  More on that later though.

I want to talk about the status of the blog in closing.  As you may have noticed there has not been a lot of posting the past couple months.  Well we are in a state of change.  New jobs and less playing and hobby time is a big factor. The main thing though is the Craftworld has kind of lost its way so to speak.  I started this as a blog dedicated to 40K.  I do still play 40K, but it has taken a back burner to other games and life in general.  That said, Spellduckwrong, Dreadbeard and I have been talking about doing a major revamp on the Craftworld.  We have some ideas in development and in the coming month there will be some major changes.  Including the name.  So as April come to a close and Spring has finally sprung, the next chapter of Craftworld Lansing will be starting in May.


Until next time.........


Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!


and as always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!

Path of the Bonesinger: Farseers on Jetbikes Conversion WIP

Last night I took a pile of bits and started bashing together a pair of Farseers on Jetbikes for my new Jetbike list. They are looking pretty rough right now, as I still have some Green Stuff work to do on them, but overall I'm pleased. The two Howling Banshee bodies I had lying around collecting dust finally found a purpose as well as the incomplete old style Reaver Jetbikes I had in my bits box.
My Farseer on foot was named Elros Mithrandir because that is what came out of the Elven name generator I found online when I inputted "Chuck Norris". I'll have to put in Sigourney Weaver and Kate Beckinsale to get these girls' new Farseer names.

Resurgence of Hobby

With my newfound hobby motivation, I decided to do something that had been passively keeping me away from working on my army. My work area was just trashed. The remnants of several projects had been just pushed over to one side of my table, intermingled with each other and then layers of junk were placed on top. Finding implements could result in several minutes hunting through the heaps.
I cleaned everything off, separated goodies from just worthless odds and ends, as well as organized my tools so I could actually grab the one I wanted. In addition to actually having a workspace that I am not frustrated by anymore, I found tons of bits and little things I had totally forgotten about. This is a great way to begin this new adventure in the hobby side of things.

How do you tend to keep your hobby space? Chaotic, hyper-organized, an ebb and flow of messiness to cleanliness, something else?