Feast of Blades: Here I come! Lock and load baby.

It's official! I booked my ticket today. Feast of Blades Here I come!

What is Feast of Blades? In case you didn't know, it is shaping up to be one of the biggest events in the country!  In a nuttshell, it is a sort of national championship event.  The way it works is that states from all over the country have regional qualifiers, and eventually produce a single "State Champion".  That Champion then goes on to Feast of Blades to represent his state in the FoB invitational.  But there is also an open GT for those that wish. (I will probably be playing in that one.) What is at stake?  Bragging rights and banners.  You get the honor of carrying the Feast of Blades banner, (painted by yours truly) back to your home store where it will be proudly displayed until next year.  Your name is added to the honorific slots on the banner itself, and you get to call your self Champion.

But that is honestly not what I am about. I am going out to FOB to see the likes of Goatboy, Darkwyn and Brent from BOLS!  As my 40k career, if you can call it that, has evolved, I have started to realize that GTs are more about the friendships than the winning.  So yes, I go to compete on the tables, and for painting honors, but more importantly, I go to enjoy frothy beverages with good people.  And Brent.

So there you have it folks!  Jawaballs will be traveling to Denver for Feast of Blades, October 19-21, 2012.

You west coasters, this is your chance to come slap me around on the tables, then have a beer!

With the unfortunate date selections for Wargamescon and Nova prohibiting me from attending either, FoB is going to be my one big trip of the year.  I plan on making it count.  I don't know if there is a teams event on Friday or not, but this is my official notice, Jawaballs is looking for a partner! (Unless one of my east coast buddies decides to go with me. :)

What will I be playing?  Unknown.  I am now working on a Grey Knight army, but with FoB so far away, I might have time to paint an entirely new Blood Angels army just for the event.  This time I definitely wont be making the mistake of painting an unbalanced noncompetitive army! My current 2k BA army is a 50/50 army at best.  Some times I destroy, some times I am tabled.

I can't wait!

Jawaballs

Jawa Grey: Grey Knight Terminator

Yes, it still needs some work. But here is a mostly finished terminator done in my new Jawa Grey style. I decided to jump to the actual models rather than paint the dread knight, since that particular model will never see a table.  Sadly, the picture does not do it justice. It is much nicer in person. I still need to clean up some of the mess from the washing of the browns and clean up some of the highlights, but I'm mostly happy with the finish!  Also, I am working on some light up LED bases!

So yes, Jawaballs is doing Grey Knights, but at least I am doing them in style. :)

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead Season two Ep 13

So as to avoid blog roll spoilers, I opened up with this pic of Shane at Rick's side in the hospital.  

But really, this is the pic I wanted to start with!  Sadly, my favorite character in the show has finally met his end.  It was certainly a good one!

So lets start here!

I love how the show is blurring the line between the living and the dead.  Is there any real difference between the Shane in the above picture and the one in this one?

Just a few minutes before this scene he was staring blankly into space, grunting and growling. The Shane that smashed his face against a tree in order to break his own nose was much more zombie than human.

But lets back track a bit.

I loved this episode.  Firstly, on the tails of killing off a major character, the last thing you expected them to do was kill off another!  Especially Shane. We all knew it was coming.  After all, Rick is the protagonist. Shane is secondary.  The two could not exist together.  One had to go.  I knew something was about to happen though when Shane tried to give Carl back the gun.  For the second time, the show made a point to have Shane offer Carl a weapon. Both times Carl was wearing the Sheriff cap.  The first time though, he was still an innocent. His mother was protecting him.  The second time, Carl was becoming a man. He was coming face to face with the reality that there would be no childhood, and his own failings. (He failed to kill the zombie.)  This time though it was Carl who tried to hold on to his childhood.

The third time he was handed a gun, it was by Rick.  The circle was complete and Carl stepped over the threshold. At this point I knew Shane was bait.  The whole gun thing symbolized Shane trying to take Rick's place as father, and failing. And Carl finally accepting the gun from Rick showed who was  going to win the conflict.  Rick was indeed the kid's father and protector.

Shane's fate was not sealed though until Lori stuck her meddling nose into things. The guy was working by himself, building a lookout roost in the windmill.  Then Lori had to come over and basically tell him that had Rick not come back, they would have been together.  You could see the straw breaking the proverbial camels's back.  Then Shane descends into madness.  The scene that started when he shaved his head, was completed when he was in the barn with the kid trying to decide what to do.  You saw the last of his humanity slip away as he made the decision to both kill the kid, and Rick.

The actual scene itself was a bit clunky.  Of course the situation would be clumsy and akward, but it felt like some of the dialogue was forced and silly.  Clearly none of them trusted Shane at this point. And definitely the best way to find him quickly would have been to track him. How far could a hobbled weak kid get in the few minutes Shane said elapsed.  Daryl would have found him in no time.  Instead Rick agrees that they should split up and look blindly.

Did Rick already know Shane was going to try to kill him? Probably.  The best part about Rick is what he does not say.  Maybe it was the look in Crazy Shane's eye.  At any rate, Rick had to be sure. So I guess he played along.

Then after some shambling about in the woods, it all comes crashing down.  Daryl and Glen find the truth. The bloody tree and the dead kid.  Rick and Shane also find the truth. Rick actually is willing to make the hard call.  Carl find the truth too.  For some reason he slipped away from his mother and followed them.  Where the hell is she by the way? For a woman so protective of her 12 year old kid, he manages to not be with her at the darndest times. Any way, The confrontation finally happens.

Rick was now sure that he was going to have to end Shane.  And this was not about right or wrong, or protecting the group, or who is the boss. This was personal. Rick decided Shane was going to die because it was time.  The man screwed his wife and tried to take his kid.  Enough.  Hell Shane even started to lower his gun. Rick put his knife through his heart.

His wail after was about him realizing that he was losing his own humanity.

Then comes Carl.  I was sad to see that I was mistaken about Carl being the one to end Shane. At first I thought it would be Glen. Then when I saw the foreshadowing, thought Carl would be the one. Then after what I spoke about earlier was sure that Carl was going to be the trigger man.  So when Rick stuck him, I figured I was not as smart as I thought!  But Carl saved the day and popped a cap in Zombie Shane.

I loved the scene over all, the moon and the confrontation.. it was all well done.  My only beef was that after all of the skulking through the woods, and all of Shane's plotting to get Rick away and execute him, they ended up in a field just a couple hundred yards away from the house.  So much for the secrecy!  Every one at the house would have a front row seat.

This was a great episode that brought a lot of things full circle.  Now it is just time for the zombie carnage.

I hope that they jump the plot ahead some time so they can keep Carl in the show.  I think that there can be a lot of great drama as they follow this kid coming of age. But the only way it will work is if they advance the time line to keep it realistic as the actor who plays Carl his puberty.  As I mentioned last time, only a few weeks have passed in the show, but three years have passed in reality.

It was good to see Tdog finally get some screen time. I think he had more lines this episode than he had all season.  I think that his character adds more to the show than a lot of the others.  Or could at least.  I want to see them develop that.

I enjoyed the brute squad opening of the show. Daryl, Tdog, Blondie and Shane had the most potential to be the ass kickers. It was good to see them get medieval on some zombie hide.  I loved the pitch fork kill that blondie laid on the zombie.  Good stuff.  Too bad Shane is gone now. I would like to have seen regular forays into town by these four. Kicking ass and taking names.


It will be interesting to see how they resolve what the Dr. whispered into Rick's ear. And then there is the issue of people who were not bitten turning into zombies. Is every one infected?

What's next?  Well the zombies are going to over run the group.  More dieing will happen.  Probably the rest of Hershel's family and Hershel himself.  But that is a bit too predictable.   I hate to say it, but I think Maggie is going to bite it.  They need to add another twist to Glenn's character and that will do it.  So I see Daryl, Rick, Lori, Carl, Tdog, Glen and Andrea getting off the farm.  Oh and Carol. I guess the survivors of the group as of now.  Will any more regular characters die next week?  Who would be likely candidates?  I doubt Carol because they have spent too much time insinuating some plot with Daryl, and of course not Daryl as he is the most dynamic character in the show.  I wouldn't be surprised if Glen goes.  Or if he is replaced by Maggie.  They both can serve the same purpose.

At any rate it is rumored that two new characters will join the regular cast.  Look for some one who will replace Shane in the ass kicking department, and some one to add more mystery and secrets.  With Dale gone and Rick having his own internal struggles, the groups moral compass is in trouble, so maybe we will see some one to replace that. Perhaps some one more lawful evil? Some one who insists upon following a code of ethics like Dale, but not holding onto old world ideals. That would be cool.  Some one playing the role of both Shane and Dale! The group would definitely take a turn for the macabre.  With Shane gone, the major source of drama is dead. So I can't wait to see who they use to replace it!

I would also not be surprised to see some more concrete outside opponents.  The last six episodes were about "the other group" and their fears about what might happen.  Once they escape the farm they are going to have to hole up some where and I think the producers will keep the whole double jeopardy thing, dangerous humies/zombies thing going.

But for the love of god they need to go grab some decent weapons, and lose the 30 year old camper.  They are in Georgia for christ sake. There has to be an RV park or dealer every 5 miles.  A tough new RV with some armor plates welded on, and a couple of Hummers with .50 caliber machine guns mounted on top would be sweet.

Well here is to next week's carnage then six months of waiting.

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead Season Two Part Two, Episode 4.

Whoops accidentally posted this on BOLS! Sorry larry.


I am trying to get these out faster than right before the next episode!

So this week's episode ran right up on us and punched us in the face.  Frankly it was a good thing. For the love of god I was sick of hearing Dale whine about morality.  They need to accept two realities.  The world is overrun with zombies, and people are bad.

The world is overrun by zombies! Gone are the days when a boy can walk through his back yard and the worst thing he could run across was a foraging skunk.  Now he has to worry about zombies stuck in marshes, eating cows and doing all sorts of nasty things.

One question... Why has Rick not instituted a mandatory buddy system?  The farm is far from secure. Cows smashed through the gate. There was a walker in the well.  When I take my students on a field trip, I institute a mandatory and strict buddy system. And there are not 30 million zombies walking around! Well, dead ones at least..

Rick is logical, and being a cop would recognize the need for safety, thus requiring that EVERY one has a buddy and every one go on walkabouts with said buddy. Period.  But in this episode we see Carl and Dale both walking off alone, and both running in to trouble.  Previously it was Carol and Daryl.  Uhoh... do we see a coincidence?  Carl/Carol... Daryl/Dale?  Is Carol going to do something that causes harm to Daryl accidentally? Hmmm...

Any way, back to my point.  Granted, in both instances Carl and Dale were frustrated and annoyed and wandered off alone to do alone guy things and probably would have done so whether or not there was a buddy rule.  But still.

So Carl is a kid, and kids do stupid things.  I will take his zombie encounter at face value. The question is.. did Carl get scratched?  Do we see potential future plot twists?

But Dale?  He approached a writhing cow in the middle of a mostly open field on a clear moon light night. He looked at the cow for about 10 seconds... then turned around and BLAU.... BOOOYA... a zombie is standing there. How did he get there?  Was he sneaking up on Dale like Scooby Doo trying to get away from a mummy?  If you have ever been out in an open field on a night like that, you would know, there aint no way a Zombie would be able to sneak up on him.  This zombie was feeding on a cow, (it's still alive) and must have heard Dale approaching... then it ran off to take cover behind a tree or boulder, then as Dale was busy examining it's handy work, snuck up behind him like a ninja.

This harkens back to the opening of season 2.  When a horde of zombies shambled up on them while they were stuck in the traffic snarl, FROM THE DIRECTION THEY CAME!  God there are so many good things about this show, I hate it when they throw out logic and character for plot twists.  Dale was the most cautious member of the group.  He was preoccupied with his thoughts and feelings about the execution... but so much that he missed the zombie in the open?

Well, we all learned a valuable tip. If you ever encounter an eviscerated steer in the middle of the field at night, don't look behind you, sprint straight forward.  It is your only hope.

People are bad!

Bad at what?  Well Tdog is bad at getting screen time.  This time he was on screen for about 27 seconds. Did he even have a line?  The woman that plays Carol is bad at making us understand that she is upset.  Carl said the most hurtful line yet to appear in the show to her, and she reported it matter of factly to Rick and Lori, as if she was repeating some ones fast food order. She delivered the lines so blandly that Lori's next lines, when she tells her to "calm down" were absurd. The woman was not upset! She was barely even speaking.  (More bad writing by the way, I don't think Lori would have told her to "calm down".)

The prisoner is bad. Or is he? We can't tell!  (Good writing and acting.)  He is so believable when speaking to Rick that you want them to give him a chance. Yet, when he tries to manipulate Carl, and when he killed the female zombie, you see a little bit of his bad side.  My instinct? he is bad.  He probably hit on Maggie at some point and she blew him off in typical hot girl pre ZA fashion.  He no doubt harbors ill feelings and they will come back to haunt her!

Merl badly needs to come back. It will be cool if he is part of the bad guys. As some one mentioned before, I doubt he will be the leader though. I think the guy from Philly was... Merl is definitely not a leader. He is a bully, and there is no way a large group of armed dudes would follow him, especially ones of unscrupulous intent.

It was a great episode.  The kid is responsible for Dale's death. That is gona cause problems. Hopefully they will kill him off. Besides, the writers have to get rid of him sooner or later.  Two years will have passed during the production of the show, spanning the start of Seasons 1 and 3.  That 12 year old kid will be 14... and no doubt hit a growth spurt and pimples.  The show itself will only span about 2 months.  Such is the problem with having kids in shows!  We can expect him to no last any longer than season 3.

Dale bought it.  Good, I was getting sick of his continually shocked face and preaching rhetoric.  The world is now a bad place and there is no room for morality.  You think about yourself, and the guy who helps you stay alive.  Any one else is in the way, and subject to execution. Especially if they shoot at you.

Tdog also has to go.  They have way too many unimportant characters. Like Dale, they are zombie bate, which really is their only purpose.  Tdog, little sister, Otis' wife, all will hopefully be gone, and hopefully by the end of season 2.

We see some cool flashes of action in the previews! Zombies breaking through a fence... blondie running with the gun bag, the kid ripping the skin off his hands to escape... The last 2 episodes of this season promise to end with a bang!

Jawaballs

Next Banner WIP!

What is my next banner?

Word Bearers! A soon to be opened gaming store has commissioned a group of banners from me which I consider a great honor. The first was a sort of personal one based on a WFB Empire banner.  The second was a Raven Guard banner which I ended up selling to 19th Company due to a miscom with Dropzone, and will redo for them.  The third? Here you go.  :)

This one is based on a thumbnail of a pre heresy Word Bearers banner.  I know nothing about them in particular, but I like the imagery.  I have to say though, that this particular banner is proving to be the absolute hardest I have ever done. 

Why?  Well the background of the banner is covered with a small "texture" of crosses, repeating the main cross design.  These crosses are arranged in rigid lines though, and there are roughly 200 of them on the banner!  After struggling with how to do this by hand for weeks, I have finally arrived at my answer. 

On the second and third pics you can see a piece of cardboard. I have measured and drawn out 9 crosses on the strip, and will make a stencil out of it.  Using acrylic spray I will create the cross texture.  If I am careful, I should be able to create a nice pattern of rows all the way down the banner.

The second and third pictures show the book mostly complete while the first shows just the base colors.  I added a bit of parchment color to the flame too as a final highlight, and to bring the two together. (Flame and book)  I will go back in with the yellow and blend the white highlight into the flame. I have to wait til it dries though because I don't want them to mix and become too pastel.  I am fairly proud of the turning pages!

So today I am going to pick up the completed banners for my next four jobs from my seamstress, and while I'm out there I will grab a piece of mat board that I will use for the stencil.  I first put this on corrugated cardboard, but I fear it will not be adequate enough for the stencil.  So I will redraw it on mat before I cut the holes and spray.

Next challenge is the copy. The guys from Dropzone have sent me a huge amount of copy they would like written on the pages of the book.  I am many things, but a calligrapher is not one of them!  I have my own little alphabet I use for these sort of things that resembles the standard GW alphabet that shows up on all their banners.  The challenge will be getting it all to fit perfectly on the pages of this book on the first try.  It took a lot of time to paint the pages!  If I screw up the words, I have to redo. :(

The rest of the banner will have a box around the main image, some scrolls down the middle to the bottom of the middle flange, a couple of burning cauldrons flanking that scroll, and a couple of Imperial Aquillas on the side flanges.  I am hoping to be done with this on on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead Season Two, Part Two, Episode 3

Holy cost cutting batman!  I'm starting to notice that the more zombies that show up in TWD, the less cast members we see.  This week we had some great action involving Rick and Shayne, and we had some boring dialogue between Lori, Becky and Blondie.  And thats about it!  The kid with Rick and Shane and the blonde with the ladies serve as plot devices more than characters.  They both are the reasons for why the main characters are in conflict.  Every one else was busy off camera.

What irked me was that they tried to work in explanations for their absences. I get it that the series has to save money. By not having Glen, Hershel, Tdog, Dale, Daryl, Wife of Otis, Billy, Carol and Carl appear in the episode they must have saved hundreds of thousands.  Plus none of them were really needed for the little conflict stories that played out. There is no need to then throw in little bits of dialogue to explain where they are.

"Where's Glenn?"

"I saw him walking with Becky."

"Well find him."

Blah blah.

But there are questions that have to be asked!  Why was Hershel not sitting with his freaking daughter? How did Hershel not know she attempted suicide, and how did he not hear the argument? The man spent the first half of the season whining about his loved ones, to be MIA while his daughter is committing suicide? Oh wait... the girls explained away his absence with some expository.  My bad.

I get it that Glenn was upset from last episode, but he is a kid, and kids are horny. He would have gotten over his issues by now and the itch would have returned and he would have been right up Beckies ass again.  But when she needed him most, he was letting her deal with her sister's suicide watch alone.

Minor issues yes, but if you are going to have three quarters of your cast disappear for an episode, make some effort to provide a LOGICAL explanation.

Now on with the GREAT episode!

As I said before, we had two character conflicts playing out.  The Rick and Shane conflict, and Lori and Blondie. Both groups were fighting over something immediate, the dude who shot at Rick I think his name was Randy, and Hershel's daughter... we will call her Dud.  But the fights were much deeper than what to do about Randy and Dud.  All four of them were putting dirty laundry out to dry.

Rick and Shane:

I have been talking about the coming conflict between the two for months. And this was round one.  But it is not over yet as evidenced by Shane's brooding in the car at the end.

Rick confronted Shane about Lori and laid it on the line.  Hands off, get in line, or get lost.  But then they get down to the dirty.  Their confrontation was only partly about Lori and the group. It was about the two of them and their inner battles. First, Rick was battling against his hold on reality slipping away.  Shane speaks the truth and Rick knows it. It is Rick's fight to stop himself from believing it.  Shane is fighting against his loss of control.  Rick symbolizes every thing that held him down before the ZA.  He happily enjoyed a period of release from the restraints of society where he was free to set the rules, and be the hero.  Rick's return changed that.

So while Lori and the baby and the kid priosoner may have been the spark, the flames of this fight were smoldering deep below the surface.

When it came down to it, neither of them were willing to take the necessary steps to finish the fight. Shane through the wrench through the window, and Rick came back while Shane was as good as dead.  So in effect, nothing changed. They are both right where they were when it started.  Shane is brooding, Rick is questioning his decisions.

Then we have Blondie and Lori.  This conflict started up at the beginning of season 2.  You could sorta see it in season one, but at the point the characters were not defined enough to give them any thing good to fight about.  Their argument started over the girl attempting suicide, but turned into a more practical issue.  And frankly, I think Lori is flat wrong.  Lori is attacking her for not doing dishes.  Blondie is defending herself for allowing the girl to kill herself.  But really, she is defending herself for simply being the person that she has become post ZA.  And Lori, like Rick, is holding onto who she was before.

This is what makes Lori and Rick weaker than Shane and Blondie and creates the dramatic power struggle that the show is marching towards.

The rest of the episode was just plot twist filler. With no other characters appearing to actually do any thing, there was little else going on!

So on with Episode 4.  The previews promise some juicy drama created by the dilema with the prisoner.  Knowing TWD, it is too hard to guess what may happen.  I think that in typical AMC style, something different will happen, like the kid walking in and executing him, or Hershel.

Any way, enjoy!

Jawaballs

19 Legion Raven Guard Chapter Banner!

So the guys over at 19th Legion ended up buying this Raven Guard chapter banner. It was a perfect fit for them!  At their request, I added a couple of extra elements. I added the roman numeral 19 at the top left, and the name of their blog at the top center. I think these were the last things this banner needed to look great!  I suggest that the guys go out to Macey's or some other place that sells gaudy bathroom decoration and grab one of those golden looking ropes that are sometimes used for curtains and such and drape them across above the roman numerals.  It would give a nice finished touch.

Thanks to the 19th Legion for their support!

If you would like a full sized banner for your club or organization, or your personal man cave, hit me up!

Up next, Pre Heresy Word Bearers Chapter Banner!

Jawaballs

Jawaballs needs models!

Ok folks it is trading time.

I am looking for some loot.

Old style "Bulky" IG storm troopers.
Hell Gun x5
Meltagun x3 Does one exist with a mask?
Sgt that can be converted into a standard bearer.

The thing is, I only want guys with masks, and I only want unpainted.

What else?

Unpainted IG Chimera on sprue is fine, hell, even WELL assembled is ok.

Coteaz, unpainted.


You know what kills me is that I owned all these models at some point but sold them off in one of my purges. Damn me.

What do I have? Cash of course, but also trade.

NISB Necron Ghost Ark
NISB Land Raider Crusader
NISB Sang Guard x4
NISB Flesh Hounds of Khorne box set
NISB Zombie Regiment
About 100 assembled zombies, not painted.
Open but untouched Lizardman Stegadon

Jawa Bases and Painting Tutorials

I could just buy every thing but the Stormtroopers but I figured I would try to turn some of this stuff rotting on my shelf into something useful.  Plus I need to get a grip on my spending. Lets keep this to just guys in the states. I don't feel like filling out customs forms.  I really only care about the troops for now, so if you have em but don't want my stuff throw a price at me!

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead: Season 2, Part 2, Episode 2

Well it took me almost a week to sit down and write about last week's episode. Mostly because I was on vacation!  But also, the episode left me feeling a little flat.

Why?

Well it continues to be characters with well defined "character" defying that character in order to create plot/drama.  They avoided this pitfall in the first season, which was a character defining season. In the first half of this season, they allowed those characters to do their thing when faced with certain situations. Now that they have used up the situation, they are left with forcing the characters to do things OOC or Out Of Character.

Now, this is not to say that characters don't evolve.  A great example of evolution of character is Rick/Hershel.  Last episode you saw them both transform right before your eyes. Rick became the leader/decision maker, (In his own head) and Hershel popped a cap in a dude.  Both of those things were month in the works.  And especially in Hershel's sense, were major direction changes for character.

But that is not what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about stupid Lori getting into her car and not only leaving her son alone, but not even telling him she was going, and driving out after Rick, only to get herself in a wreck, which would force Shane to have to come get her, then lie to her, and create more drama.

What happened in this episode? Well, Rick insisting on saving the dudes life.  Why was this out of character? Well the guy has a pretty well defined sense of wright and wrong. He has rigid morals. Black and White.  2 minutes before the guy's legs were impaled on the fence, he was shooting a high caliber rifle at Rick and narrowly missing him.  That makes him the bad guy.  Rick is a COP.  I won't pretend to be able to speak for all cops, but most cops I know would pretty much be ok with letting that dude die to zombies. He played a round of poker with the devil, and lost.  He fired on Rick!  Rick not only risked his own life to save the dude, but risked Glen and Hershel.  Bull.

Sure we can say that this was Rick's predetermined morals taking control. He could not leave a guy to "Bleed Out" as he put it.  (Not that he would have had time to bleed out any way, those Z were like 30 feet away.)  But just five minutes earlier he executed two bad guys for just thinking about shooting at him.  Now he was going to risk death by making Hershel amputate a leg with a pocket knife while Z are coming down the alley.

Then he just says screw it and pops the guys leg off the spike any way.

So who else is behaving oddly?

Glen.

The dude was a pizza delivery boy. He is probably 20 years old. In the old world, there is NO WAY he would have scored a honey as fine as Farmer Becky.  It took a Z apocalypse to get a babe like that. And what does he do? He pushes her away because he is afraid to hurt her by getting himself killed?  Whatever. It's silly and bad writing.  You take any kid who has spent the last 300 Friday Nights jerking into a sock, give him a sweet babe like that, and I refuse to believe that he is going to do any thing but stare all doe eyed into her glory. That whole bit of drama is just contrived.

Daryl.

Well he played right into his character. I guess because he is the only character in the show without an entire series of novellas to define him. The writers are free to do what they want with him.  So he goes all red neck ghetto on a woman who just watched her Z daughter get blown away. The acting is fantastic. I love how he gets so enraged that he can barely spit out his lines. I know rednecks just like this, that start shouting things while angry and don't even finish their statements.  The show needs much more Daryl. Eventually Rick and Shane are not going to be able to coincide and they are going to have to do away with Shane. So Daryl is going to have to pick it up as a main character.

Tdog, Dale, Carol, comatose blonde, etc etc.  I don't think most of these characters even did a thing other than stare at the protagonists.

Over all the episode did very little. It revealed that Hershel can actually kick ass when he quits whining. It continued to muttle up Rick's character. It further reinforced that Shane is a liar and will do what it takes to further his own agenda. (He wanted Rick to die and had no intention of going looking for him but he had to have Lori back.)  Daryl and Carol have a weird relationship.  (The one thing she is good at is getting yelled at, she barely even flinched when Daryl was unloading.)  Are they gona do it?  The blonde continues to be useless. Tdog had less lines than Arnold in Conan the Barbarian.

What actually happened? The 3 muskateers escaped the bar, saved a plot point, and came home.  Oh and Lori started working her weird woman ways on Rick, while he stared right at the camera with a look of disbelief on his face.

I suppose I could talk about that for a bit. What was that look? Was it Rick realizing that he was going to have to cross a line from which he knew he would never return? All he had done up to that point was for naught... all of his attempts to maintain the law were wasted because he realized he was going to have to kill Shane.  We shall see?

The previews for tonight's episode look to be pretty good.  Finally, after most of a season, some real action.

Lets see!

Jawaballs

Raven Guard banner for sale!

Hey folks, it turns out that due to a miscom, this banner is now available for sale!

I have a video coming up in a few, but it is the same quality and size as all of my other award winning banners! Perfect for the Raven Guard player in you.

The price is 300.00. The banner alone costs me 100 to have made and I have at least 15 hours into it.  I am also open to trades.

Let me know if you are interested!

Jawaballs

Jawa Grey part Two Pic heavy

Here we go!  Fortress grey.  Repeat the same process as before, but only a bit less with Fortress Grey. Notice how I keep the point of the brush pointing at the edge of the armor, I found that it helps the paint collect in the proper spot. You want it thicker at the edge.

Here is that shoulder after I apply the paint.

And again.

Repeat the process to taste.  

Then again, drag the paint towards the center, pressing the brush on the armor

so that it feathers out like this.  Use a circular motion to help spread the paint, and don't try to go to fast

More thin layers are better than less thick layers.

The grey smooths out.

Fortress Grey done!

Now its time for Astronomicon Grey. This is just a tad lighter than Fortress grey.  

On this one I start to focus on edging too. Using the side of the tip of the brush, I drag it up some of the hard edges. I did Fortress and Codex here too, but it is now that the edges start to look crisp and tight.

Yes, I paint straight from the pot.  Naughty...

Less is more! Use the tiniest bit of paint on your brush that you can get. Basic painting 101!

In between the greys I touch some spots with my asurman blue mix to taste. I want to reinforce the dark blues and their relationship to the greys, and the blending in between.  

And just in case you thought I had forgotten about my Eldar army...

Here is the Forgeworld Wraithseer. I am using him as a normal Wraithlord.  The only real differences are the weapons, a special runic chest piece, hands, feet and fins.  The head has some special runes as well.  The base is simply a Black Reach dread cut up to look destroyed and partially buried. There is also some rock there and sand.  I cut the right leg at the knee to bend it so he is stepping up on the dread victoriously, and need to fill the whole with puddy.

The lance he came with was warped and would not straighten, so I cut the blade off and will replace it with a copper rod.

Ok so much to do!

Jawaballs

Some inspiration? Weight loss!

Ok folks,

I know some of you look to me for inspiration. Well, let me share this with you.  Like a lot of us, I am very much over weight.  According to the BMI, I am over 100 pounds over weight. That is a load of crap. I think my ideal weight is 220 pounds.  But sadly I am still 77 pounds over that.

But I am not here to talk about it, I am going to do something.  So as not to bore you guys here with the updates, I started a new blog about my journey from a fat Jawa to a skinny one.  HERE IT IS.  Feel free to watch and follow along, and if you feel inspired, join me!  Maybe I can help start a revolution of healthier nerds.

:)

Jawaballs

Grey Knight Blue Steel Grey Technique part two

Ok Folks, Time for an update on my Grey technique!  Here are some pictures of the model in progress. I decided to paint this half of him to a near state of completion before moving on with the tutorial.  Needless to say, this is challenging.  My model is ending up more blue than grey, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  

In these first two pictures I compare the Dreadknight to my terminator I first painted with this technique. Obviously, the terminator was smaller with easier to paint armor plates. The smaller they are, the less I have to feather/blend the greys.  That is, the less I have to drag out the blend.  On the big plates I found myself creating new light sources so as to have new areas of blended grey.  

In this closeup, you see the difference. The terminator legs pose a different challenge than the dread knight ones.  To create the grey I start with Codex, then go to Fortress, Astronomicon, then white along with a couple applications of Asurmen Blue.  

I tried to make the final white highlight as crisp and edged as possible. While I am not trying to recreate chrome with nonmetallic colors, I am using it as a reference, and when I looked at some bike handlebars for example, there were usually a bunch of dark shades, with one extreme line of white down the middle or on an edge.  

A big problem I am having here is that the original model was sprayed black, then hand painted with Adeptus Battlegrey. This one was sprayed with Uniform Grey from army painter instead.  The shade of grey is much lighter, and more easier over powered by the Asurman Blue wash.  The Battlegrey held up to the blue wash, keeping the darks more grey than blue.  However, I don't think the effect is bad on this. I kind of like the cold blue shade.  

Now that I have a decent idea of how I am going to paint this guy, I can proceed with the tutorial. Next time, Fortress Grey and how it interacts with the Codex grey.  As I paint the other side, I am going to push the relationship between the blue and the grey.  I think I will water down the blue a bit more and try to get a smoother blend with the greys.  Here's to learning!

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead Season Two Part Two: :)

The first half of season two: Lets sit around this damn farm and look for a kid we all know is dead.

The second half of season two: Game on!

So the second part of the season launches. We all know what is going on, but this episode leaves us reaching, and lurchinig, and wanting for more! And there is more going on than we may think.

First of all, they (The writers) have to resolve the mess created by Shane in the last episode.  The barn is revealed and Sophia is blown away.  This leads us to minor confrontations between Glen and Hottie, and Rick and Shane. But more importantly, this brings Hershel's world crashing down.  Up until this point, he and all of his cult, had hope.  Well, Shane shot hope through the heart like 9 times then blew her head off.

This episode served two major purposes. It sets the stage for the rest of the season, and most importantly, brings forth Rick as the leader he needs to be.

One: Rick has arrived.

Up until this point, Rick has been the placating leader. Trying to please every one, and playing it safe.  He has been treading water in unknown oceans and barely keeping his head up.  But the scene in the bar was great for many reasons. First of all, he did most of the talking. You could almost see him evolve on the spot. His reasoning went from pleading, to ordering. And you could see Hershel come around as he spoke. As Rick spoke to Hershel though, it was not so much for Scowl's benefit, but more for his own.  As he spoke he became more sure of things himself.  You could see Rick go through a metamorphose as the scene went on.

It was satisfying to see Hershel come around at the end. Hershel had given up, but Rick knows he is going to need a doctor in about 9 months, so he had to do his best to keep the guy working, and succeeded. Then came the knock at the door, and that's when it all came together. Those boys had pretty piss poor timing, unfortunately for them. Had they arrived 10 minutes earlier they would have found whimpering and pleading Rick, and probably pulled one over on him.  Instead they found a Rick who was revived and ready. And even more unfortunately they presented Rick with something he knew how to deal with.

Cop Rick was on the job.  His training took over. While Glen and Hershel were open and willing to share info at first, Rick had the smarts to keep his mouth shut and not give them too much info.  And when it came time for killing, Rick performed it without hesitation. He knew just what to do. He had seen their kind before and I think he was actually happy to plug some bad guys. It was a reach back to what he was missing. A world in order, where there are laws and right and wrong. He is on the side of good and those guys definitely had ill intentions.

 It is interesting to see how quickly and precisely he executes humans, but struggles over killing zombies. You have to wonder if Merl had encountered this Rick instead of the one he met in Season One would he have been killed on sight?. What ever happened to "Humans don't kill humans."? There were plenty of times when Rick could have gotten the drop on them and simply drew his gun. Glen had a gun in his hands already, and Rick is good at drawing his weapon from his holster. The bad guys either had their guns over their backs, or sitting on the table! Rick definitely had a chance to resolve it peacefully if he wanted. He chose to end the bull shit.

Even more interesting was how he almost went for the final killing head shot on the fat dude, as if he was a zombie.  I think Rick is having his own sort of moral blurring of the lines like Shane.  The two of them are much more alike than one would be lead to believe.

In fact, they almost switched positions.  You saw Shane showing compassion and empathy by helping out Sophia's mom. In an almost voyeur, fetish kind of way he was helping clean her up.  What was with the cameras focus on him washing her hand.  Was it a symbolic washing of the hands? Shane washing away his wrong? She had a weird look on her face. Was he baptizing her? Seducing her? He already has blondie on his side and on her back, did he just recruit another? Do we see the group dividing into camps?

Good side:
Rick, Glen, Lori, Kid

Bad side:
Shane, Blondie

Ambiguous side:
Dale, Dog, Daryl, Sophia's mom

Now I can see Sophia's mom aligning with Shane, she has nothing left to live for plus she still harbors anger towards Rick for getting Sophia killed.  Daryl's anger is also bubbling and the guy's upbringing is getting the best of him. He tried the noble thing, but years of living will take over every time he has a set back. I see it all the time in school when the bad kids try to do better. They sincerely try, but a little set back drops them right back into the gutter. Dale and Tdog are sill just side characters used to further plots.  Dale especially. He effects no action, only provokes it.  That is called a plot device.  He exists to make Shane get out of his car and offer expository as to what he is thinking for example.  That's the whole reason Dale was sitting there by the way, when Shane got into the truck.  It would have looked weird if Shane just started talking to himself but it was important to the series that Shane said those words.

It was important to the show that Shane had a shift back towards the neutral point, at the same time, so did Rick.  Both were becoming polarized in their own directions. This episode served to sort of break up those hard lines they were following away from each other, thus leading them back towards a hard intersection, and the drama that comes with it.

What the hell is with Lori by the way. Her actions make no sense at all.  Just stupid.  Like Blondie shooting Daryl.  Stupid decisions. What did she think she was going to do driving into town alone to look for Rick. What help did she think she was going to give, and why did she leave her son?

There are no answers for either, other than to put another character into danger. Whenever you see a character do something completely out of the ordinary or character for lack of a better word, it is a sign of writers forcing plot. Staying on the farm is easy. They eliminated any problem by clearing out the barn, so there was no danger.Without danger there is no drama. SO, lets have Lori defy any character traits she has shown so far, leave her son unattended, show that she does not trust her husband one of the most capable guys in the party, and get her into a car and drive her out alone and get into a car accident.  Stupid chick, weak writing. AMC is good, but not perfect. Speaking of weak writing, how bout the kid blonde going into the classic catatonic state? Nothing like instant home grown crisis to force characters out of their comfort zone. I have come to expect more from TWD.

Now we are going to have to deal with a bunch of "where's Lori?" bullshit. Then come the search parties. Plus we are going to have to deal with the zombies trying to get her out of the car. She had no reason to leave the farm.  Period.

No front plates in Georgia? 

Lastly, it irks me how they so easily dismissed Fort Benning.  Unless of course Rick chooses not to believe the guy when he said the grunt reported that it was over run. I just don't see how the fort could be over run.  They have tanks, and ammo and guns capable of cutting zombies in half and half again.  Of course there is the problem of guys deserting, but even if half of them ran, there should still be enough guys to pull triggers and explode zombies. I can understand isolated places like the CDC getting overrun.  But I don't buy a major base.  Once the military realized they had lost control, they would have ordered a total regroup at the most strategic place possible. That place would be the place with the tanks, guns and ammo.  I would love to see that scene though.

The fall of Fort Benning! That could be it's own Walking Dead spinoff.

Any way, based on the preview for next week we are going to see some Jericho type man on man action as the bad guys have Rick and co. pinned in the bar. That will be fun to watch, but the more juicy stuff is going to be what happens back on the farm.  Daryl continues to be a mystery and Sophia's mom is going to go all sorts of Road Warrior apocalypse crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts painting her face and wearing ears around her neck. Lori is going to spend an episode stuck in her wrecked car screaming at zombies and Shane is going to have a heart to heart with another of the undecided. Probably Tdog.

One last point, why the hell were the bad guys so focused on finding Rick's farm?  They are in Georgia. They came from Philly, an hour removed from Amish country.  The point is that they left PA, a place loaded with farms and space devoid of people, to go to Georgia, a state full of farms and space devoid of people.  They must have passed hundreds of farms coming down 95 and the side roads.  Any one of them would have served as a place to hole up, get live stock and survive. Pig farms, chicken farms, you name it.  There was no point in the guys becoming fixated on wanting the farm that Rick and co. were living on.  In fact the whole scene of them being unscrupulous and aggressive didn't make sense.  I get that human nature left unchecked would result in people doing bad things, but with the exception of a few chaotic evil dudes like Merl, most "bad" guys would be smart enough to cooperate with new people over killing them and probably put aside any unscrupulous intentions completely for the sake of mutual survival.

Those two guys seemed at least smart enough to understand that.  Especially if you stop to think about the fact that the world is now a ripe oyster waiting to be shucked. The zombie fall could only have spanned a couple months and things probably spiraled faster and faster as things played out.  Which means people had time to stock pile, but no time to use the stuff! Odds are there are going to be stock piles of supplies every where just waiting to be taken.  There will have to be entire towns, empty. They can leisurely go house to house and clean them out.  I just looked in my cabinet and there are a bunch of cans of corn, tuna and other stuff that has been there forever, forgotten.  Those are not the things that people packing in a rush to escape a zombie apocalypse bring along. So I have to imagine that there would be bits and pieces of food and supplies in every house in every town.  Georgia must be spotted with little towns like this. Isolated and ready for the pickings.

All they have to do is find a relatively empty town, quietly cave in the heads of any zombies that are lurking about, and eat.  Trying to steal from living thinking humans is counter productive and dangerous.

Here is to next week, and some action, something that came sparingly at best in the first half of the season.

Jawaballs

Quick banner update

Here is the Raven Guard chapter banner I am doing for Dropzone Games!  It is mostly done. I have to further define the squares on the checker grids, and carry the scroll ends down in front of them. Then I need to push some of the details further and do the lettering.  I will probably add a little inner frame to tie all the elements together and a few tidbits on the bottom tabs.  Then we have the Word Bearers!

After I am done with the Dropzone Games banners, they will have three more coming, but before those I have to do a Space Wolves and a couple of custom ones.  One custom Night Lords banner, and another one for a more home grown marine chapter based on the Crimson Fist banner.  If you would like one for your club or man cave get hold of me, the queue is starting to grow!

Jawaballs

Jawa Grey Part One

Ok folks you asked for it!

WARNING: This is an advanced tutorial which requires practice.  Allow yourself the patience to learn it and perfect it!

Due to popular demand, I am doing a step by step tutorial for my Jawa Grey. This is the NonMetallic Metal style way that I painted my weapons on my Double Gank Mephiston/Sanguinor Assault Blood Angels army.  I used it to paint this model which won Best Sci-Fi model in the Crystal Brush competition sponsored by Cool Mini or Not at Templecon in Rhode Island last weekend.

First of all, this is NOT Non Metallic metal. This is based on the techniques used to achieve it.  I am not trying to recreate a chrome/silver metallic effect using greys and blues, directly. Sure the effect simulates metallic silver armor, but I am more interested in the shading and value of greys that I get than reproducing chrome.

Value is the lightness and darkness of color. It describes the transition from light to dark. A good area on the above picture that describes a nice value is the left breast part of the armor. There is a nice smooth transition from bright grey at the top, to dark cool grey at the bottom of the chest piece. This effect serves two purposes.

First, it looks great on the table. A big problem with some master painted models is that you spend 10 hours painting them, and the colors really are perfect when the model is 6 inches from your eyes, but when you put it on the table, it loses it's beauty.  This style of painting produces a model that looks great from 3 feet away. You can put it on the table, and observe it from standing distance, and the models will "Pop" on the table.

But also, and this is important when being judged for "Best Painted", the models have to stand up to close scrutiny.  This painting technique will look great from up close too.  The best of both worlds!

Ok enough intro. Let me get to painting.

For this model, I assembled and primed it with Army Painter Uniform Grey. Then I gave it a liberal wash with a 40/60 mix of water to Asurmen Blue. (I just used an almost half empty pot of AB wash and filled it with water.)  The ratio should be around 50/50.

Once the wash is dry, I get right to it with Codex Grey.  I start by edging the grey using the side of the brush on the edges of the armor. 

I use a TINY TINY amount of grey on the brush at any given time. This is a Reaper Kolinsky 10-0 fine detail brush.  I dip the brush into the codex grey, this particular grey is straight from the pot, no mixing.  Then I drag it down the edge of the armor, from top right of the image to lower left, with the side of the bristles resting against the edge.

Then I drag the brush towards the meat of the armor like this.  You can see how little paint is on the tip of the brush, that is very important.  Drag the bristles into the armor, then rub the brush up and down the edge. In this picture, the direction would be North East to South West.

Here is the result.  You can start to see the grey change in value, from light at the edges to darker as it wraps around the armor plate.

To improve the effect, do it several more times. Each time, drag the brush more into the meat of the armor, and allow it to "feather" out like so.  At this point, a nice circular motion works well. You will see the grey collecting at the edge and fading at the center. Allow it!

Here is the armor plate with the front part finished with Codex Grey.  In this style, I try to allow the edges of the armor to be light. This might not make perfect sense since you would think that light would be shining off the rounded part of the armor, but who cares about logic.

This is the first of 3 shades of grey you are going to paint, so don't worry about getting it perfect right now. You will also reapply the blue wash a few times.

And yes, I am aware that I failed to properly shave off the sprue flash point.  Sometimes they don't really show up until you start painting.  At some point I will shave it with a blade and touch it up.

That's it for now!  Much more to come.

Jawaballs

Whats next?

Ok guys, I have a long post about my last two GT experiences coming up soon. But in the meantime I wanted to give you something short and sweet!

I finished the first banner for Dropzone Games and am now working on their 2nd of 3 commissions. Ravenguard!

The guys at Dropzone Games sent me a sample image they wanted their banner based on.

I drew the image in pencil on the black banner and am now laying color. First is dark brown for the scroll and skull.

Then I used a series of greys to do the "Raven". At the top I laid in some masking

tape to help make straight lines for the Ravenguard Checker pattern.

Using yellow oxide I painted in the Halo. I am taking some liberties with the design.

The scroll was not in the design they sent me,  but I feel that it is not a 40k banner 

without the big bold letters!  Also I enlarged the halo. In the original image there is a 

white/silver background behind the raven with a series of cross designs. I am not a fan. I filled the space with 

the halo instead and will do a more subdued square outline in the background to tie in all the elements. Jawa knows best!

What else?  

Templecon!  I am doing a big writeup of the fantastic event, but I just wanted to share a little stuff with you for now.

I entered this Grey Knight I painted for the Templecon 40k Charity into

the Crystal Brush competition sponsored by Cool Mini or Not. 

Oh and that is a Jawa Forge resin base. :)

The grey knight went for 110.00 in the auction.

The accolades went to Jawaballs!  I won 1st place in the Sci-Fi category.

I also entered my Sanguinor that won Best Single Mini at Nova, but he failed to place. He was at least top three in Sci-Fi.  

Not sure what happened there as he is a better painted model by far. Perhaps the CMoN guys can shed some light!  It was too busy to ply them for feedback at the event.  Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I was using him in the tournament and did not enter him in the judging until the evening of Saturday, and took him out for a bit to display him with my army for Players Choice voting.  I think he just got missed... :(  

And yes, the elusive Players Choice.  I won my first by a VERY slim margin, 1 vote!  Hans from Team Bastard with his Dark Eldar was 2nd, and would have probably won had he finished his army and done a nice display.  I thank every one that voted for my army. It is much appreciated. :)

Not a bad send off for my current Blood Angels army. I painted it last summer with the intention of competing for painting honors through Templecon. It is NOT a GT competitive list.  But it is pretty!  It is now retired from GT service as I begin work on my next two armies.

Here are it's final results:

Nova Open: 1 of 5 finalists of over 250 entries for Best Army.  Winner of Best Single Mini, The Sanguinor

Battle For Salvation: Winner Best Painted Army, Finalist for Best Conversion: Mephiston and Best Painted single mini, The Sanguinor

Mechanicon: I had to leave early, but my friend Ted Nagle won Best Painted in my absence. I will let him make the call if I would have won. :)

The Conflict GT: Winner Best Painted Army

Templecon: Winner Player's Choice. (There was no Best Painted judging.) 

I'm proud to say the least, and thankful to all who voted/judged in my favor.

This only drives me to push even harder for the future.

And just because this army is retired from GT play, it does not mean you won't see it again. I may play it in various RTTs in the area, and I intend on entering it into Armies on Parade at Gamesday! That would involve a new display board, and a trip down to New York City to the GW store to enter it into the judging.

So on with the new!

The sad news that  the rumored Eldar codex release was just rumor really hurt. I was excited about my Eldar army, but cannot allow myself to invest so much time in a noncompetitive list again.  I need to give myself a chance to win the GTs I enter.  I am still going forward with my Eldar, but in the meantime, I have decided to actually finish the GK army I have sitting in boxes on the shelf.  I have over 60 knights, 20 terminators, 3 Dread Knights, 5 razorbacks, some Forgeworld stuff and other goodies just sitting around my mancave.

Painting that standard bearer really got my juices flowing for GKs, and now I am just looking for a primer that I can use to quickly do them.  Painting Adeptus Battle Grey by hand on each model was going to wear me thin.  I had to find a suitable spray in order to make the army a realistic idea.

As for my list, it is time for Jawa to put his own flavor of uber knights on the table and thump some skulls. No they won't be Blood Angels with jury rigged halbreds, or Space Wolves with counts as storm bolters.  They will be painted to my ever exceedingly high expectations, and yes, they will be cheezy.

The Walking Dead starts again this weekend!

Jawaballs