Blog Babble - Interested in photography stuff?

Long time no see (again). But as usual I am drowning in work. My travel to Romania didn't help either and the loss of all my prepared post made it even worse. But hey, in Germany we have a saying "Unkraut vergeht nicht" ("A cat has nine lives"?). So Yes I am still here and No I haven't recovered from the loss of the articles yet.

But since I started hiking again and started experimenting with my DSLR (perhaps you remember my older article about it) I have a question to you all: Are you interested in a) Landscape pictures and more important b) Tutorials about using a DSLR and filters and maybe even picture composing/editing? If so, I will start with some articles to this topic.


So long,
Paradox0n

Why is the rum gone?

Last weekend started with a big WTF. When I checked my blog (and why the connection to the social media networks seemingly doesn't work) I saw that nothing was published to neither the blog nor the Twitter, FB or G+.
So with some big eyes I just saw that my pre-produced and scheduled articles are all gone. I have no clue what happened, but I had planned two articles to post the last 2 weeks. Everything gone... At least from Blogger, I can see that my pictures are still on Picasa.

So sorry for not posting anything for such a long time. I have lots to do atm and thus wanted to use the free time I had to pre-produce some stuff, which clearly didn't work out :(

 Since I will travel to Romania again next week, maybe I can use the spare time in the evenings (if we are not on the road) to produce something.


Have a good start into your week!


So long,
Paradox0n

Painted Abyssal Dwarf Mortars

There are really signs and wonders around. I finally painted up something! Seems like an eternity since I painted and thus it also feeled when I struggled with the paints and brushes again. One thing I recognized pretty fast: Next time I paint with a wet palette again. The whole time the paint just didn't feel right, especially since I paint now with longer bristle brushes (reason why, see here) which really struggle if the paint is too thick.
Nonetheless I painted and I will show you the results: An Abyssal Dwarf Angkor Heavy Mortar and an Abyssal Dwarf G’rog Light Mortar for my upcoming Kings of War army.

Nothing fancy or so, but since they got me back to painting I am really happy with them. The Heavy Mortar was quite a miscast sadly but I tried to do the best and cover that a bit with the paint. I think from a distance it is OK so far and that's what these two are about: Being painted for the battlefield :)


One thing I experienced through the process was that it seems that one of my Spray Primers got bad. It sprayed and everything but when it was dry, the paint didn't stick to it but dripped off of it. Like it had some strange Lotus Effect or something. Never had that before, but I was not happy with it before and now I think I just throw it away (12€ for the bin :( ).

Some more stuff is already on my table and I hope I find enough time and motivation to paint even more.


So long,
Paradox0n


P.S.: I think I will experience with showing WIP pictures and stuff also through Instagram and Twitter. Maybe that helps me to stay a bit more motivated. I hope that feedback turnaround is much faster there, because the comment section is mostly not used here :(

Short tip: Care for your brushes!

Damaged brushes

Since I am into painting stuff again (the temperature isn't something around 40°C anymore) I have a really important tip for you guys out there: Care for your brushes!
I could throw four brushes away because they didn't keep their tip anymore. The first picture here shows what can happen if you don't care or just throw your brushes around. OK ok, those here are more than 10 years old by now, but if you paint a lot, this could happen much, much faster.

So my tip is: Give your brushes from time to time some love. Rinse them in clean water, then soap with whatever you have in your reach e.g. shampoo and rinse them again. After that, form a nice tip again and let the bristles dry (best with the tip down so that the water doesn't collect in the ferrule and weakens the glue).

Brush soap

If you want to go a step further, use some special brush soap. They come from different manufacturers. Mine was part of my DaVinci brush set but there is also a special one from "The Masters" which was a long time not so easily to buy in Germany. Only know that from videos on Youtube and everyone seems quite happy with it.

But whatever you do: Curd Soap, Shampoo, special Brush Soap... Show your brushes from time to time some love and clean them :)


So long,
Paradox0n

Farming "wife points"

Perhaps you can remember my post about using a laptop cushion as mobile working station for preparing my minis? If not, I gladly provide you a dip into the past with a link back to the review.

As I get slowly back into the flow of doing hobby stuff again, the cushion now also gets into use and I can only say: Yes, it is working. At least for preparing the miniatures like clipping them from sprues or removing mold lines or gluing your stuff together.

That means I can also farm some "wife points" :) Its pretty cool, watching your favorite TV series together, while doing preparation works or sitting together while she is learning french and I scratch away mold lines. Nothing better to keep one going than sharing time instead of being separated in different rooms...

So today I was priming a whole lot of minis (and getting a strong dislike for my brown Army Painter Sprayprimer). I hope I can also paint some stuff up. Kings of War is calling!


So long,
Paradox0n

ReRoll-Weekend!

Today only a short promotional post :) On the first November weekend (All Hallows), the Tabletop Network does held a charity weekend: The ReRoll Weekend. The rules are pretty simple:

• In every game you play at this weekend, you can buy rerolls. 
• Every reroll costs 50ct 
• The reroll has to be accepted

The money you raise will be collected by the TTN and be donated to the Weisser Ring e.V.

So warm up your dices and play games at that weekend :)
More information about that charity event you can find on the delivered links. Warning: All in German :)

So long,

Paradox0n

P.S.:

And some shoutouts to new followers. Welcome to The Responsible One and Morikun. Take one of the free seats and enjoy the flight.

Review: WarMage MDF bases - Part I

Yesterday the postman brought me a small package which surprised me because I didn't expect one. As he gave me the package with the comment: "This is no package, this is a letter" i was really curious what is in there. But as soon as I opened it and smelled the odor of burnt wood, I did know immediately what awaited me there :)

So today I will show you the MDF leaflets from WarMage, a German company which somehow specialized in lasercut MDF pieces. I first saw the stuff on Brückenkopf and as it was not added to the shop after a week I got into contact with them. I got a very fast reply on my questions and Nils (the owner) seemed to be a nice guy. And since there was not only the small base version but also two other ones (as he told me, the salesman he seems to be), I opted for a bigger version, containing 3 leaflets and having place for roughly 31 pieces of  trees and rocks.

For me it is the first time that I have some lasercut stuff though I have already some experience with MDF pieces :) So I will describe my impressions I got from the product from here on.

The leaflets are bigger than a DIN A4 paper and the cuttings are very clean and as far as I have seen precise. There are no leftovers in the cuts, therefore the pieces are secured with crepe tape to hold everything in place.

The MDF is ~3mm thick and therefore sturdy enough for even the roughest gameplay. If you count in that the design is a layered one, where you have a base and glue on a second layer with the slots for your trees, that should be more than enough.

As you can see in the pictures, there are 3 types of bases and with my chosen package you can build: 

- 2 times a big 5 slot base with 40mm slots

- 3 times a small 3 slot base with 40mm slots

- 4 times a small 3 slot base with 2x40mm and 1x30mm slot

I primarily bought the stuff for creating some nicer and more flexible wood pieces, but it looks as if I can play around a bit and do also some rough terrain with rocks or something completely different (since I only have 9 ugly old trees).

But that will be something for another part :)

Hope you liked the first impression.

So long,

Paradox0n

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by WarMage in any kind, I bought the stuff myself, it was not given to me for a review.