Last post wins

[Yrkul]

1 hour ago, DeMonkey said:

@Yrkul I meant to post awhile ago, but have you seen Oathsworn figures? Only miniature based game I've seen with detachable, replaceable limbs purely for customisation.

Yes! They do look very interesting. However, I've been looking through all my things this summer, and have thrown out or handed off about a quarter of everything I own. Books, magazines, tools, paints, miniatures, games... With my age, there's a limit to how much of this will be of use to me again. Held on to most if it out of nostalgia, investment bias, and the possibility of needing it far out in the future. Things like mortality and the prospect of moving in a few years had me look at things at a different angle, and shed the most obvious dead weight. Have 14,2kg in metal miniatures looking for new owners, so some of my painting/gaming friends are going to get a bit of a "blast from the past"...

I'll still work on the large amount of minis still in my collection, and retain plenty of books/articles for my research and study, but I'll have to dial down my addiction.

"Sigh!" Those are some nice miniatures, though...

[DeMonkey]

2 hours ago, Yrkul said:

Yes! They do look very interesting. However, I've been looking through all my things this summer, and have thrown out or handed off about a quarter of everything I own. Books, magazines, tools, paints, miniatures, games... With my age, there's a limit to how much of this will be of use to me again. Held on to most if it out of nostalgia, investment bias, and the possibility of needing it far out in the future. Things like mortality and the prospect of moving in a few years had me look at things at a different angle, and shed the most obvious dead weight. Have 14,2kg in metal miniatures looking for new owners, so some of my painting/gaming friends are going to get a bit of a "blast from the past"...

I'll still work on the large amount of minis still in my collection, and retain plenty of books/articles for my research and study, but I'll have to dial down my addiction.

"Sigh!" Those are some nice miniatures, though...

Couldn't dream of chucking my stuff out. I'm still young (on the inside) and have plenty of time ahead of me to enjoy what I own. Frankly I want more stuff, but lack the space to put anything. Should be looking to move next year, primarily because of the lack of space.

The minis are so good overall for that game. I shelled out for almost everything. Terrain and boss minis. Didn't realise the total weight of everything was over 20kg till after the purchase was made. Gameplay holds up as well.

[Yrkul]

31 minutes ago, DeMonkey said:

Couldn't dream of chucking my stuff out. I'm still young (on the inside) and have plenty of time ahead of me to enjoy what I own. Frankly I want more stuff, but lack the space to put anything. Should be looking to move next year, primarily because of the lack of space.

The minis are so good overall for that game. I shelled out for almost everything. Terrain and boss minis. Didn't realise the total weight of everything was over 20kg till after the purchase was made. Gameplay holds up as well.

A lot of the things I let go of were bought in my 20's and 30's. I worked at a game store for a number of years, and bought a lot of the minis and games at heavy discounts. A lot of impulse purchases, and a lot of minis showing their age quality-wise. As for books, a lot  the fiction I already read, and didn't plan on re-reading. A lot of manga in original or magazine format was re-purchased in collected formats years ago already, or don't have the same appeal as they did 35+ years ago. Non-fiction books I went through, evaluating overall quality of writing, author and possible use in my research. Certain books I had in several translations for comparative studies, and I also had a number of Statesman's Yearbooks I use for gamemastering contemporary campaigns, my own writing and quick references, of which I kept just 2.

A lot of things I simply held onto because of sentimental value, habit and hoarding mindset. However, I'm at a point, where cutting down a good bit will make things easier to move, if need be, and will focus my activities and interests more, as time becomes a bit more precious.

In any case, I'm glad to hear you got the game yourself, and hope you'll get great value out of it.

[Yrkul]

I'm often exposed to the laments of miniature painters using everything from rattlecans to polyeurethane primers to prime their models, so here's a little hack: Use a matt enamel paint thinned down slightly, to get a sturdy foundation, that doesn't reduce detail sharpness or end up a mess of gnarly surface textures. Use a soft organic hair brush, like boar's hair, flat or cat's tongue shape being optimal. Enamel paints flows extremely well and dries slowly, so you have plenty of time to work the paint into every fold and crevise, moving excess paint around easily before it starts drying. Just remember to air out your workplace during and after you're done. Use mineral spirits to thin paint and clean brushes, finishing off by cleaning brushes thoroughly with hand soap, then brush soap, to get the most out of a good quality brush.

I use different colours depending on the techniques and colours I use, black being my default foundation. Less frequent priming colours are: Red, mid grey, white, tan and burnt umber.

I get about as many miniatures primed out of a tiny pot, as if I used some expensive Games Workshop rattlecan, at a fraction of the cost.

[(XBOX)DragonMan 2700]

Ok, maybe I've watched to many Warframe streams but does the girl in this trailer look like DE Magen? Or am I nutz, just looking for second opinion.

Spoiler

 

 

[Mazifet]

Can someone confirm this doesn't work anymore? I used to be able to perform it every time and now it's impossible.

 

[MagPrime]

[Quest]

its been a while

[DeMonkey]

On 2024-08-16 at 4:19 PM, Yrkul said:

I'm often exposed to the laments of miniature painters using everything from rattlecans to polyeurethane primers to prime their models, so here's a little hack: Use a matt enamel paint thinned down slightly, to get a sturdy foundation, that doesn't reduce detail sharpness or end up a mess of gnarly surface textures. Use a soft organic hair brush, like boar's hair, flat or cat's tongue shape being optimal. Enamel paints flows extremely well and dries slowly, so you have plenty of time to work the paint into every fold and crevise, moving excess paint around easily before it starts drying. Just remember to air out your workplace during and after you're done. Use mineral spirits to thin paint and clean brushes, finishing off by cleaning brushes thoroughly with hand soap, then brush soap, to get the most out of a good quality brush.

I use different colours depending on the techniques and colours I use, black being my default foundation. Less frequent priming colours are: Red, mid grey, white, tan and burnt umber.

I get about as many miniatures primed out of a tiny pot, as if I used some expensive Games Workshop rattlecan, at a fraction of the cost.

Might look into this. Personally just find it easier to spray with stuff from the local warhammer shop, and I'm not sure if there are any local boars in the area for me to shave, but if it can save money who knows. Thankfully whilst I do enjoy board games that come with miniatures, I'm not heavily into tabletop gaming where I need more armies than sense.

I still have no sense though.

Edited September 2 by DeMonkey

[Yrkul]

2 hours ago, DeMonkey said:

Might look into this. Personally just find it easier to spray with stuff from the local warhammer shop, and I'm not sure if there are any local boars in the area for me to shave, but if it can save money who knows. Thankfully whilst I do enjoy board games that come with miniatures, I'm not heavily into tabletop gaming where I need more armies than sense.

I still have no sense though.

Ordered a pair of these, which should arrive tomorrow. The price of one, and a jar of Revell matte black costs about half of what you pay for a can of GW Chaos Black spray primer. And the brushes are Winsor & Newton, which is pretty decent quality. And once you got brushes and mineral spirit in the house, mileage ramps up, as you can buy 5-6 jars for the price of a rattlecan, depending on local pricing.

I also dug my old Grenadier dragon out of storage, and am now looking for a suitable base or plinth for it.

I plan on painting it red with a tan belly, and possibly burnt umber/black patterns on the wings and back. Might end up as a display piece rather than an actual playing piece, as the thing is solid pewter, and massive.

Sorting through my pile of shame uncovered a load of really nice artgrade minis from before Y2K, and while I handed a lot off to friends, I still have a lot I look forward to try my brush on.

[DeMonkey]

20 hours ago, Yrkul said:

I plan on painting it red with a tan belly, and possibly burnt umber/black patterns on the wings and back.

I don't do a lot of the painting though tbh. Ever since my Crisis Protocol Spider-Man was dubbed "Spider-Mong" due to an unfortunate bit of shading, I tend to put the models together more than I paint them. Will share embarrassing picture of him if requested.

[Yrkul]

57 minutes ago, DeMonkey said:

I don't do a lot of the painting though tbh. Ever since my Crisis Protocol Spider-Man was dubbed "Spider-Mong" due to an unfortunate bit of shading, I tend to put the models together more than I paint them. Will share embarrassing picture of him if requested.

No worries. I've derped my share of minis myself. The good thing is, I can paint over the most embarrassing mistakes, or I can strip the paint job by dropping it into a bin with oldfashioned brown soap and leave it there a few days, then remove everything with an old toothbrush. Even takes off the enamel primer. Nothing is permanent, if you know the tricks.

[DeMonkey]

22 minutes ago, Yrkul said:

No worries. I've derped my share of minis myself. The good thing is, I can paint over the most embarrassing mistakes, or I can strip the paint job by dropping it into a bin with oldfashioned brown soap and leave it there a few days, then remove everything with an old toothbrush. Even takes off the enamel primer. Nothing is permanent, if you know the tricks.

The fear that I will paint him worse is very real. I don't think he looks that bad, from one side.

[Yrkul]

51 minutes ago, DeMonkey said:

The fear that I will paint him worse is very real. I don't think he looks that bad, from one side.

[Mazifet]

27 minutes ago, Yrkul said:

-Muad'Dweeb

[Yrkul]

5 minutes ago, Mazifet said:

-Muad'Dweeb

 

[DeMonkey]

22 hours ago, Yrkul said:

I will fear, and focus on one side of his face. Far less time consuming. Haven't used him in an age anyway. Last time it was played it was for my birthday because I was gifted Malekith,

Spoiler

Unfortunately it was one of those presents someone buys you with the intent to use themselves and I haven't used him yet.

[Yrkul]

2 hours ago, DeMonkey said:

I will fear, and focus on one side of his face. Far less time consuming. Haven't used him in an age anyway. Last time it was played it was for my birthday because I was gifted Malekith,

  Hide contents

Unfortunately it was one of those presents someone buys you with the intent to use themselves and I haven't used him yet.

That IS a nice kitty, though. One could kitbash it into a chaos army centerpiece...

No! No! Stop that right now! You have plenty to paint already! Deep breaths... Deep breaths... There is no need for more minis, there is only the pile. I do not need more grey plastic crack, I have all I need for several armies. There is... "hyperventilates"

[(XBOX)Bloxanity2816]

Summer's ending...and well its going to be purely new, and I want to make a good first impression and look good.

Thing that's been bugging me right now is those damn dark circles under my eyes. They're pissing me off. I've been fixing my sleep schedule these past few days (sleeping at 11-12ish and waking up early in the morning) and applying ice, but it's no use. Any tips?

Btw, I'm almost sure its thinness. My whole face has this layer but there's a huge gap between my face and my under-eye in terms of thickness. 

Edited September 5 by (XBOX)Bloxanity2816

[Yrkul]

6 hours ago, (XBOX)Bloxanity2816 said:

Summer's ending...and well its going to be purely new, and I want to make a good first impression and look good.

Thing that's been bugging me right now is those damn dark circles under my eyes. They're pissing me off. I've been fixing my sleep schedule these past few days (sleeping at 11-12ish and waking up early in the morning) and applying ice, but it's no use. Any tips?

Btw, I'm almost sure its thinness. My whole face has this layer but there's a huge gap between my face and my under-eye in terms of thickness. 

Everything from diet and stress to illness and genetics can cause that.

Start with getting your micro & macronutrients in order, and get your thyroid checked. Get 8 hours of sleep. Cut tobacco and alcohol. Even if none of these are the cause, they're a step in the right direction, health-wise.

[MagPrime]

@Letter13 Weird story, someone posted in one of the Facebook Warframe groups because they found a Tenno's Switch.  Is there anything they can do to facilitate finding said player?  

[Yrkul]

Found a reference to a very interesting take on GRRM's problems finishing those bloody books. And no, it isn't fascism.

-------------------------------------------------------

Here's what Song of Ice and Fire actually wants to be, and why George can't finish it.

 

The Song of Ice and Fire isn't actually supposed to be dark, Machiavellian, hopeless, or a subversion of Tolkien at all.

 

It's just supposed to start that way.

 

The details may be complex, but the formula is simple. Low-fantasy version of the British Isles, torn apart by multi-sided Machiavellian power struggle, loosely based on the War of the Roses.

 

Things are bad because of Machiavellian power struggle.

 

In the background, subtle hints of external, magical, otherworldly threat. Warring factions scoff and ignore it as first. Enter the high-fantasy tropes; prophesied hero emerges to unite the morally-grey factions into an unambiguously-good pro-civilization force to confront and defeat the unambiguously-evil threat to all life.

 

Full transition, in the end, to epic Tolkienesque high fantasy, played straight rather than subverted.

 

Heroism triumphant, humanity triumphant, realm unified in peace and prosperity.

 

Roll credits.

 

Were the story to be completed thus, completed as it wants to be completed, as it yearns to be completed, every dark, gritty, Machiavellian moment would be fully justified.

 

Every chapter and scene filled with thugs and villains and no heroes at all would be fully justified.

 

Because they would merely serve to emphasize the rarity of heroes, and the need for them.

 

Because they would make the arrival of a true hero that much more satisfying when, late but not too late, he arrived.

 

ASOIAF doesn't really want to be a subversion of Tolkien at all. It wants to be a path out of darkness and into light. It wants to be a study in how Tolkien is deeply relevant, even to a gritty, morally grey world.

 

This is what George knows it needs to be.

 

But George cannot write it.

 

Why?

 

Because he's a socialist. And a boomer. Socialism's motivational core is envy, and its one underlying rule is "thou shalt not be better than me".

 

The boomer's single guiding principle is "whatever makes me feel pleasure right now is good, and whatever makes me feel bad right now is evil".

 

Take these together, and you get someone who has a real problem with heroes. Heroes are, by definition, the best of us, at least on some dimension, and if your underlying motivation is envy, standing next to one is gonna make you feel bad.

 

This means that socialists, boomers, and socialist boomers tend not to want to believe in heroes and heroism.

 

They want to convince themselves that anything which appears good is secretly evil, actually, and that anyone who makes them feel or look bad is obviously evil because reasons.

 

So when they see a hero, they tend to call him a fascist. (Of course, when they see a fascist, they also call him a fascist, but that's just coincidence, because they'll call anything fascist... random passers-by, buildings, rocks, trees, squirrels, anything.)

 

Because they want to feel morally superior to him.

 

The only way they can admit that someone has a moral compass at all is if they can feel superior to him in some other way, usually by portraying them as naive, and hence doomed to failure because he is not empowered by cynicism and selfishness, to pursue the most efficient path to... whatever.

 

So if ol'George thinks that everyone who appears good is either secretly evil, or openly stupid, then writing a character with heroic impulses is gonna be tough, and writing about how they succeed... impossible.

 

This is why George can write characters with noble motives (Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, etc), but he keeps making them fail.

 

You see, in George's world, heroism must be a sham or a weakness, because then George's own bad character is wisdom and enlightenment, instead of just lack of moral virtue.

 

If heroes are all frauds or suckers, then George is being smart, because he has seen through the whole heroism thing.

 

If heroes are real, and they do sometimes succeed, and they do make the world better for everyone, then George is just a fat, lazy, cynical old man who doesn't wanna finish his art for the sake of art or integrity, because he only ever wanted money, and now he has more than he knows what to do with.

 

In order to finish the story, George would need to have an awakening of virtue.

 

He would first have to develop a sense of integrity — a desire to fulfill his promises, even when no one can or will punish him for not doing so. He would then have to develop a sense of humility — because to write a better person than he is, he would have to admit to himself that there is such a thing, that people can be better, and that trying to be better is an actual worthy goal, not just the act of falling for a con game run to control you.

 

The longer someone goes without admitting to their faults, the harder those faults are to admit to, because they have been more deeply invested in.

And this means he would also have to develop the courage to admit to himself that he is, in fact, a fat lazy cynical old coward, and that Tolkien, whom he envies and despises, was the far better man all along.

--------------------------------------------------------------

What I find interesting is, that you can use this possible explanation to put the slew of failed media into perspective. A lot of them shie away from the heroic narrative, shoehorn moral ambiguity in, or keep the story in a nihilistic/dystopian arch, without resolutions or at least a hint of a better future. And when we see the state of some of the big franchises, going from the classic tools of creating engaging stories, to whatever churns out the latest... meh, we have some very good case studies at our disposal of what works and what doesn't.

Anyone else having thoughts on this?

[Quest]

[Sporthand]

RIP, my great legend and memory!

[Yrkul]

"Lance" is not a common name anymore, but in medieval times, people were called Lance a lot.