Finally they are here!

I have finally launched my new set of painting tutorial DVDs called The Jawaballs Way: How to Paint Wargame Miniatures.

YOU CAN GET THEM HERE  It was PW protected. I removed that. Should be ready to go!

To go with my launch I created a brand new webstore which has been streamlined throgh Shopify. It accepts credit cards, paypal and even MONEY ORDER!  It is now easier than ever to get my DVDs.

And here they are:

Black and White:

Black and White. This DVD teaches you the ins and outs of two of the hardest colors to paint well, Black and White! First you will get a Masterclass demonstration of how to paint a Ravenwing Biker. Second comes another Masterclass on how to paint White armor, using a Blood Angels Death Company model. Third you will get the in between, a master class teaching you how to paint a blighted black Warmachine Cryx Warjack! This is a must have set for every painter!

Red and Yellow                         

This DVD teaches you how to paint Yellow and Red using models from Warhammer 40k and Warmachine. For yellow you will paint a Lamenters model and for red you will paint with two different techniques. First you will learn how to paint the Jawaballs' Warhammer 40k method of highlighting up from a dark base by painting a Blood Angels tactical marine. Then you will learn the Warmachine method of starting with a light base, and shading down.  You will learn advanced techniques of feathering, fading, shading and line highlights as well as get a good demonstration of "Jawa Grey" a Nonmetalic Silver technique developed by Jawaballs and used on his award winning models.

Bone and Grey:

This video set teaches you how to paint Bone and Grey using models from Warhammer 40k, and generic pewter skeletons. First you will learn how to paint Bone colored armor by painting a Deathwing Terminator. This is a master class level demonstration. Then you will learn how to paint an above tabletop Space Wolf. Third you will get a master class on "Jawa Grey" and learn how to paint a competition level Grey Knight in nonmetallic silver. Finally you will get a table top primer for painting hordes of skeletons fast!

And the rest!

 Basing and Display







Blue and Green

Hand Painting and Detailing

So there you have it! At long last the DVDs are available. They come in full color, shrink wrapped card board sleeves and feature full menus and music!  The DVDs play in US region DVD players and PCs.  You can get THE ULTIMATE PACKAGE HERE Which gets you a discount on the entire set of DVDs. You get a free title!  Full 720p HD digital Downloads will be available soon.  Stay tuned!

Jawaballs

Holy!

It might be a good summer.

If any thing might bring me out of my 40k malaise, this will. My Ulthwe will finally come off that very back burner!

Dammit GW you sucked be back in...

More to come

Jawaballs

Change of pace? Lets try Robotech!

I grew up on Robotech. I used to be up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning to watch it when I was in 5th grade.  I have always kept that fond love. SO, I was nothing less than pleased when I was shown this new KICKSTARTER!

Palladium Books has launched a Kickstarter for a new revision of their Robotech RPG and Tabletop Tactics game. They have SWEET models and new rules. It is looking like it will be a freeking awesome game.

So there you go.  You can check out the rest for yourself HERE. 

To summarize, they set their goal at 70k and have already hit half a million with over half of the KS time to go.  Now they are in stretch goal time, which only serves to make the rewards bigger, as the more people who back, and the more it makes, means the more they include with the reward tier.  Get behind this Kickstarter and I hope to see Robotech included at some of the major GT cons in the area soon to relieve some of the GW BS that is going on!

Here is an example of one of the bonus Stretch goals.

Who doesn't love Roy Fokker?

Jawaballs

So much to cover!

I've been out of it for a while, mostly due to the huge amount of work and time it took to produce my new set of DVDs, which I will be featuring in a post later this week to celebrate their launch!  But in that time, a lot has come up...

The Tau Codex.

I don't know what to really say. This has been a long time coming and I am sure there was much rejoicing when it was announced it was on the way.  But I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to spend 50.00 on another supplemental rule book that is not a special limited edition!  They got me on the Dark Angels because I had a gift card.  Even then, I wish I had not given in...  I just can't get behind them despite my love for the models.

Bitz Blocking?

Why?  Surely they have a reason, but I can't imagine that the bits sellers have reduced profits for GW. They can argue that people who want an apothecary would buy the command squad box set if they did not have the option to buy it from Spikey Bits, but in my opinion they simply won't buy it at all. I sure wont.  By the way, to go out with a bang, Rob Baer at Spikey Bits is offering a blow out special on his Fat Sack o Bits. He is clearing out stock and shutting up his bits business.  Go get em while you can!

Cease and Desist...

So a couple of high profile sites were shut down by Google, apparently because of a C&D order due to copyright infringement.  There are a couple issues here.

First, I support GW on this.  It is their privilege to be the first to present their content in their media. It is not the right of a third party website to obtain photographs of those published pages and post them online before the magazine is even released.  GW does need to protect their IP to some degree but I am no lawyer.

However, that is where my support stops.

 I have made this point before. GW owes a measure of thanks to the internet and sites like Bell of Lost Souls, Miniwargaming and myself for their huge growth in the last half decade. It is certainly NOT attributed to their pathetic website which used to at least have loads and loads of background info and images and now is just a hard to navigate catalogue.

If you are reading this, than it is possible that it is a site like mine that has initiated or rejuvenated your interest in 40k. That translates to numbers.  Through my site and my Youtube channel, and as evidenced by the literal thousands of testimonial emails I have received thanking me, I would lowball estimate that at least three thousand people are into 40k because of me.  Or at least got into it for a brief time.  (Yes, I have received thousands of emails and comments thanking me for the inspiration.) I think some where there is a numerical value per new customer... I would guess that is around 500.00.  So if I took my estimate of 3000 people, and multiplied that by 500, we are looking at 1.5 million!

Like it or not GW, the hundreds of blogs and sites dedicated to your merchandise are ADVERTISEMENT for you! You owe a portion of your success to us.  We feed the machine. I am not saying that GW needs to put up with copyright infringement, but they need to reconsider their approach to the online community. They did not create it, we did.  While they were ignoring us, BoLS was taking root and Fritz and I were launching a massive Youtube trend of tutorial videos and recorded batreps. Take away BoLS, From the Warp, Beast of War, Miniwargaming, Spikey Bits, and little guys like Myself and Fritz and where is GW?  I dare say they are not launching 50 dollar codex books.  Are we the cause of the current situation with our hobby?

Any way, it is my opinion that GW needs to embrace the internet and the fan sites.  Don't fight BOLS, work with them.  Get some progressive, internet savvy PR guy in place to work on reversing public relations and using the massive traffic that BoLS gets for the good of all!  Give BoLS some exclusive sneak peek "leak" images before a launch!  I am pretty sure that Larry would post them for free and GW will get the promotion they want.  Both parties win.  (This will also cut down on the piracy that they are trying so hard to banhammer.)

Those are the thoughts for the day!

Feel free to sound off.

Jawaballs

Something useful from Spikey Bits!

I know I have been quiet of late. I have been really busy with my Kickstarter, and also taking a hefty break to let my hand and arm recover. Tennis elbow and arthritis combine to make Jawa and unhappy boy. I have also been saddened by some of the decisions made by GW lately, and how they are hurting great guys like Miniwargaming. But I came across this article from Rob Baer that sorta helps.

Right on the heals of our bi-monthly "Miniature Market" videos that are a great way to pick-up some great deals on used miniatures, we have come up with yet another way for you to save even more on the hobbies you love' The Spikey Bits Trade-In Program!

The Happiest day of the year?

It is Easter Sunday, and I just bought my ticket for Mechanicon!

The Mechanicon is one of my first, and most beloved GTs. I love Tony Spino and the guys who run it, and I love the event. The tables are fantastic and the dude love is exquisite. :)  In other words, good games, good tables and good people makes for a good event.

Mechanicon is being held at The Warstore Weekend on November 1-3.  This is probably only one of two that I will make this year, the other being The Nova Open.  Mechanicon though is at a super sweet location in Northern NJ, convenient for every one from upper New England to Lower DC!

I will write more about it soon. But for now, don't wait, get your ticket! I just got mine.

Jawaballs

Miniwargaming Content!

Hey guys, post topics you want me to tackle on my live show here!

Jawaballs

The Kickstart ends in just 7 hours!

Get in on the fun while you can! Click the link at the top right. I included a few special rewards where you can grab sweet deals on some of my painted models too.  Don't miss out! CLICK HERE

Jawaballs

It's official!

With just over a week left my Kickstart promoting my new line of painting tutorial DVDs called The Jawaballs Way has reached it's mark!  Now it is time to push it with some new rewards. I will be posting up additional rewards today, offering great deals on stuff I happen to have around. So grab yourself some painting tutorials and some sweet swag!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the actual painted models for the tutorials. Check out MY KICKSTART and get in on the deal! You get two free DVDs through the promotional preorder price on the kickstarter. 

Cryx Warjack!

This model is part of the "Black and White" disc. I will

also be painting a White Assault Marine and Ravenwing biker.

I also teach how to make this base on the "Basing and Display" disc.

Khador Mechanik Officer!

I use mostly P3 paints on the Warmachine models and do my

own interpretation of the recipes straight from their army books.

Some Jawa Grey! I do a full tutorial on how to do it.

A humble Blood Angel tactical marine! Part of the

"Red and Yellow" disc

A Space Hulk Tyranid from the "Blue and Green" disc.

Not every model you paint needs to be epic!

Thanks to every one for their awesome support!

Jawaballs

The Jawaballs Way: Half way done, almost there!

My Kickstarter is half way over, and I have reached 83% of my goal. That is outstanding! Thanks go out to every one who has supported this project.

But it is not over yet! We have two more weeks to really push for the roof. I set the goal at 7k, but I would love to see it double that!

I have some sweet stretch goals planned where I will be offering up painted models at prices I have never offered before.  For example, one of the most famous Vindicators on the internet will be offered up as a stretch goal.  HERE IT IS in all it's old school Blood Angels glory, as featured as the main image on Miniwargaming.com.   This vindicator is significant not for it's outstanding paint job, frankly it doesn't hold up to my current tanks even though it still looks awesome. No, this was one of the first tanks I ever painted, a bit of Jawaballs history. Also it has some of my first handpainting.

Any way. I will be putting this up as a stretch goal once I hit my 7k goal along with lots of other great little bits from the Jawaballs closet. I will be clearing out old sprues, Eldar, Grey Knights, Vampire Counts, and who knows what else! All at prices I have never even considered previously. Currently I have my squad of painted Blood Knights up there for 250 bucks and it comes with your choice of a DVD.  They are gorgeous!  I also have a tabletop ready Dark Angels vindicator up there that I painted during my live Miniwargaming show.

The next couple weeks should be a pretty exciting stretch with lots of great deals on some beautifully painted stuff. Stay tuned because you can always upgrade your pledge! Bounce on over to my KICKSTARTER and get your pledge in and thank you for your fantastic support!

Jawaballs

Lots of marines?

If you have not noticed, marines in the Dark Angel codex are much less expensive than Blood Angels!

We have always wanted to play a full company in a game. You know what I mean... 100 marines, proud and strong.  But with points and such, this has not really been possible!

Well now it is with the Dark Angels codex.

I forget the points exactly, but for 2k you get the fourth company:

Azrael
Company Commander
x6 ten man tacticals with Plasma Cannon
x2 ten man Assault
x3 ten man Devastator. (Or was it two. I don't have my book in hand. Matters not, just look up the 4th company load out in the codex, whatever it says there, that is it!) I think I even squeezed in a couple rhinos.

Oh and each Dev squad has all plasma cannons, minus one or two to make the point cost.

The key is the cheaper units without vet sergeants. Azrael gives them army wide LD 10. So you don't need the vet!  With all of those Dark Vengeance tacticals floating around for cheap, now is the time to throw this army together. Bust out your book, point out the army, and ebay yourself some tacticals! Will the army win? Well, 6th Ed has become a game of attrition. 100 marines in cover are tough to kill in five rounds, and you have enough plasma to eat into the hoardiest of hoards. You are not going to beat some of the uber Sean Nayden Dark Eldar Beast Eldrad Combos from hell. Lots of Chaos dragons are probably going to burn your ass. But with some tactics you will have a chance to beat normal armies.

Have some fun!

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead returns!

But do we care?

Ouch.

I can't believe I typed that. But it is true! I find myself not really caring about TWD...

Of course I will watch it. But the last few episodes of the first half of season three left me with nothing to write about!  That makes me sad.

Why?  But this is the best season yet... right?

Sure, we have more Michael Bay like action... we also have an easily Michael Bay sort of easily identifiable Good and Bad. We have sides. We have a hero and an anti hero. We have a plot, and a conflict and something to fight against thus creating drama and something to be over come.

We have The Last Samurai! We have Armageddon. We have Independence Day.

All fun to watch movies, but are any of them great?

Season three has turned TWD into a hollywood sort of block bluster show by spelling it all out for us.

I lament the loss of the farm!  Season two caught a lot of flack for that stupid and simple setting. But I counter that the farm was the genius of season two!

It left the drama up to the actors. The villains were within. Every one had their demons. There were no heroes! That is what made the farm so good. It left us to wonder, and interpret what the characters were thinking. Now there is no need. Gone are the Lori head games. Shane freak outs. Rick disbelief. (Scratch that... he still has that down.) Dale whining and us rooting for Glen to bang the hottie.

We have this guy...

Fans of the comic might like this dude, but I just don't see it. This picture is it! This is all he brings to the character. They may as well have created a puppet out of clay on a stick that looks like this, and had Jim Henson dance him around the screen.  The 'love' scenes between him and Andrea are just awkward  Especially when compared to the raw animal passion between her and Shane in the car. He delivers his lines with no variety at all, and his best scenes are when he is not speaking at all, but instead glowering at a bunch of zombie heads in aquariums.

We went from watching Shane descend into madness, in a believable and realistic downward spiral...

To J.J. Abrams "Lost" sort of snippets, slowly leaking the fact that The Governor is crazy.

I find myself just not caring. Especially when a prosthetic zombie head floating in water is just as good at acting out an emotion as this dude. (Maybe this is a nod to the fact that we are all insane... all already dead... all zombies?) Is that grief? or constipation...

It is not all horrible. We have some of the most powerful moments of television ever...

You could feel every ounce of pain...

I wanted to charge into the TV myself and help her...

But overall, I have found season three lacking. I miss the farm.

So with sort of eager anticipation, I find myself sorta looking forward to Sunday at 9 EST.

Here is to a better second half!

Jawaballs

Jawaballs Live! On MWG Vault.

Here is the link for you to catch my live show on the Miniwargaming Vault! CLICK HERE.

You can access the live show for free, but must be a vault member to watch the recordings of mine and all of the other great MWG content.  My live show airs every Tuesday at 8pm EST. I do a variety of painting and hobby projects, whatever is on my desk at the time, and do a Q and A session, answering all questions in the chat.

Tonight I will be discussing my Kickstart, and working more on my Dark Vengeance Deathwing Terminators and Land Raider!

Here is your chance to connect live with Jawaballs!

More to come.

Jawaballs

Kickstart well under way! And the MWG Vault.

I launched my new Kickstarter  and in just a couple of days we have met over a third of my lofty goal!  That is outstanding!

What is a kickstarter? In case you missed it, HERE IT IS.

A kickstarter is an organization that helps dudes like me raise backing to launch new projects. In my case, it is my series of six new DVDs called The Jawaballs Way: How to Paint Wargame Miniatures.

What are you getting? Each disc tackles different models and colors from both Games Workshop and Privateer Press. I am still working out how chock each disk with as much as possible, but I estimate about four hours of instruction for each set!

Disc One: Yellow and Red.  I am painting a Lamenter, Blood Angel and Khador Mechanik.  The lamenter alone is about an hour and a half of footage!

Disc Two: Blue and Green. I am painting an Ultramarine, Cygnar Warcaster, Tyranid, Dark Angel and Librarian

Disc Three: Bone and Grey. I am painting a Deathwing Terminator, Cryx Jack, Space Wolf and Grey Knight nonmetallic metal!

Disc Four: Black and White: I am painting a Ravenwing Biker, Death Company, White Death Company and Menoth jack.

Disc Five: Detailing and Hand Painting. I will be doing all the details, from gemstones, to power swords. Eye lenses, scopes, purity seals. Also I will be doing hand painting, skulls, scrolls, numbers and letters!

Disc Six: Hobby and Tools. You will see the tools of my trade. My paint station, and brushes. But also you will see how I do my basing, and make my award winning displays!



So get in on the deal now by VISITING HERE. You can have all six DVDs for 80 bucks. I am also offering digital versions of the discs.

As far as HD, I am producing them with as high HD quality as I can, and still fit every thing I have planned on disc.  I wish I could offer them all in 1080p, but it is just not possible as the Lamenters footage alone consumes almost 18 gigs of space.

Thank you for all of your outstanding support!

Also, my Jawaballs Live show is back on the air as part of the Miniwargaming vault. Be sure to check it out every Tuesday at 8pm EST!

Jawaballs

The Jawaballs Way: A kickstarter is launched!

Hey Folks!

I started producing How to Paint tutorials about six years ago, and in that time, have received tens of thousands of comments and emails from dudes thanking me for helping them with their hobby.

Well, I figured it was time to revamp my products. And now is your chance to show your support for me!

My skills have improved, and new paints are available, so here you go!

The Jawaballs Way: How to Paint Wargame Miniatures!

I have started a Kickstarter to raise capital to get an entirely new line of DVDs produced.  I am making a series of six double length discs.

One. Yellow and Red:  I will paint a Lamenter, Blood Angel and Khador Battle Mechanik Officer in high definition.

Two. Blue and Green: I will paint a Cygnar Journeyman Warcaster, Ultramarine, Terminator Librarian, Dark Angel and Tyranid!  Phew that is going to be a huge set.

Three. Bone and Wolf Grey:  I will paint a Deathwing Terminator, Cryx Bone Jack, and Space Wolf.

Four. Black and White: The two hardest colors to paint!  I will paint a Ravenwing Biker, Menoth Warjack model, and White and Black Death Company models using the Jawaballs techniques.

Five. Detailing and Hand Painting: I will paint eye lenses, power weapons, lightning effects, scopes, banners, scrolls and hand painted insignia, numbers and skulls just to name a few!

Six. Hobby and tools: I will cover the tools of my trade and demonstrate in depth how to make several different bases and a competition level display board!

How is that for a comprehensive set???

Each DVD is going to be a full function DVD with menus and a full color printed disc in a compact, full color eco sleeve.  I estimate no less than four hours of instruction PER DISC!

What is a kickstarter?

This is a fund raising website to promote new business and projects. Essentially you pledge to preorder your discs. Once I have reached my goal, the order becomes reality and you are charged for the purchase. I then collect the cash and get the DVDs produced, then mailed out to you.  I set the goal of this kickstart at 7000 dollars. Each disc will cost about 1150 to have printed and mailed to me in bulk. I will then ship the discs to you, within the US, at no additional cost. Shipping world wide will cost a few extra bucks.  You will have a chance to pick your disc of choice.

The DVDs will be zoned for US, so you foreigners will have to adjust, though I am sure you are used to that.

So go ahead and check out my Kickstarter and get yourself some new painting DVDs and help me out at the same time! Also included in the top tiers of the kickstarter are chances to get yourself a custom painted HQ or Jawabanner at a nice discount.  You can't lose!

EDIT: I am working on a new way to reliably provide digital content, so I created digital options if you prefer that way. Stay tuned for details!

Jawaballs

Deathwing Terminator and my own Kickstart coming soon

Deathwing Terminator!

So I figured I would take a break from yellow and checks to work on some bone loving. This here is one of my Dark Vengeance terminators!  I decided to go with a very bright basing style for this army since the Deathwing and Ravenwing colors are so non colorful, but I tied in the colors of the terminator with the base, the bone skull, the nonmetallic gun and grill match the rock, the oranges/reds of the foliage are close to the gun.

The base by the way was done from a tutorial posted on Bell of Lost Souls.  My thanks go out to Lazuli Miniature Studios for posting that. I wanted a redish ground with grey rock and bright foliage, so it was timely that I found his tutorial on Bols.

As I do more bases, I will do my own step by step post.

Oh and the knee is not done yet, I am waiting to see how I intend to squad markings for the army before I finish it.

In the background you can see a Deathwing Land Raider. This thing has been painted a bunch of times. It started it's life as an Ultramarine Land Raider, then went Black Templars, then Blood Angels, then got used as an Airbrush tester model for all sorts of colors including my lamenters themes.  It makes me happy to say that the old venerable will finish it's life span as a Deathwing tank.

Thats it for now!  Be sure to check out my live shows on the Miniwargaming vault. I am doing my Jawaballs Live every Tuesday at 8pm EST.  Dave has opened it up for all to view for free! Tonight I will probably be doing cork bases and discussing tactics again!

Also I will be launching a Kickstarter soon for my own DVDs.  It is time for me to revamp my lineup and update my offerings to reflect my improved painting and the new colors available!  But I need some capital to get the DVDs made. I will be releasing a six disc set that covers all of the major colors, detailing and handpainting, and hobby tools and tricks including basing and display.  Each disc will be a full DVD, with menus and full color images on the disc, complete in a full color, shrinkwrapped sleeve! Painting the Jawa way!

If you love my stuff show your support by backing me in the kickstarter! Be looking for that announcement in a few days once I finish setting it up.

More to come.

Jawaballs

Poor decision?

GW got me. They got me to pay 50 bucks for a new Dark Angels codex.  It was not a difficult decision because I won a 50 dollar credit at a LGS for Best Painted at a tournament. So I just picked up the codex.

But here is the error of their ways.

In 2006 when I got into 40k, codex books were 20 bucks.  Actually I picked up the Blood Angels one for 15.00.

It was outdated and quickly replaced with a download/ White Dwarf PDF.

The first ones I bought were Demon Hunters Black Templars for 20 bucks each.

Shortly after they jumped to 22 or some such. I grumbled when the little store from which I was buying my stuff put new price sticker over the old one.  But I understand, inflation. Whatever.

20, 22 or 25 though, it didn't matter. I still bought the books.  All of them. I owned every codex from 4th edition which was the game I started playing. It changed about a year after I got into it. At the low to mid 20s, the books were affordable and allowed me to buy them all.

But then GW started creeping up.

The Space Marine codex turned into a huge all encompassing book. I didn't gripe though, it was a good book, about twice the size of it's predecessor. I don't remember it's cost. It didn't matter though because it was still a value for the price.

But the IG book was also bigger, better and more expensive. I didn't buy it. But Jwolf gave me a copy when I went to Bolscon!  

33.00

20.00

Then GW started getting froggy.

Codex Blood Angels came out and forgive me if I am wrong, was about 33 bucks.  Woah! A 33% increase? But I had to have it.  I snatched it off the shelf.

But wait. I just noticed. Another book is also 33 dollars.

Wait what?  How could the price of a book go from 20 dollars to 33 in just a couple years? The same book... That's not right!

Sadly, I could not afford to buy the other books any more.  I got the new Space Wolves book,

but for the cost of the SW and BA books, I should have been able to, and would have, bought the Tyranid and Ork books.

I didn't.

Nope

Nope

 (I know the release dates of these books are a big jumbled and the prices are approximates. I don't remember the order and exact prices. The point I am illustrating is that I bought the Eldar, Imperial Guard, Demon Hunters, Space Marine, Ork, Tyranid, Space Wolves and other books all for about 20 bucks a piece.)

You see GW, you got the same amount of money out of me. But I got less value. Does that work?

I can't imagine for long.

As prices started rising, I started having to pick and choose which ones I bought.

Welcome to 2012.  Six years later. We have seen a 150% increase in price.

The era of the 50 dollar codex has begun.

From 18, to 33, to 50!

I think I made my point.

I just paid 50 bucks for Codex: Dark Angels.

I will not be buying Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Or Codex: Chaos Demons or even The Tau. When if the books were 25 bucks a piece, or even 30, I would have.

I would have happily scooped up every book they released at a reasonable price. However now in the era of the 50.00 Codex, I have to pick and choose.

I bought Dark Angels, and will buy Eldar and Blood Angels. But that is it!

For 150 bucks, I should be able to buy most of them. GW, you would have gotten my money any way.

The worst part is my 50.00 book was already out of date the week it was released, forcing the use of a downloadable PDF to make it valid.

Don't even get me started on a 75.00 land speeder.  I defended them when they released a 65.00 Storm Raven, it was a huge and well done model. (Though it is now 82.50, a 33% price increase in the two years since it's release... )

That is like raising a pot of paint from 2.50 to 4.00.  Ridiculous... oh wait...

Jawaballs