My Pendraken mojo is going full blast. I've just finished my 1941 Russians (phase 1) and am sorting through the Italians. In the interim, I'm moving continents to a 1959/60 four way Anglo-French-American backed government-Soviet backed insurgent somewhere in the Middle East game - WITH CENTURIONS.
It struck me, as I dug out another mini superglue tube, that over the past 2 years (yes, it's only been two years) that my wargaming experience has changed so much, and I don't mean just the move to 10mm. In the last 2 years, I have:
- moved to acrylics
- started using "proper" bases
- flocking
- I've even experimented with static grasses
- bought an optivisor
- added the baking powder trick to my repertoire
- started using movement bases
The biggest change for me though is having this forum as a social and informative point of contact.
So how have you changed in the past few years? What innovation has changed your life?
A while ago, but the internet and credit card. Used to seek advertisements in badly-written magazines, and pay by expensive bank drafts.
1. The discovery of washes.
2. The internet - in terms of access to product and access to community.
3. Joining a club - access to communal resources i'd not otherwise have, access to tables, access to other players to play against.
4. Breaking free of GW early on - realising that i don't have to game 'the approved way'.
5. Being a gaming butterfly - playing lots of periods and lots of different games. It helps you figure out what you truely enjoy.
6. Marrying a gamer / geek - you play together you stay together.
:)
Separation and retirement :)
Joining the forum. :)
(I wasn't going to, as so many others I've looked at can get more than unpleasant.)
Cheers - Phil
I'm with you Techno.
The forum is a lifeline in such desolate wastelands as the back end of Wales ... and Runcorn.
For me, and not in any particular order, the following:
- Using an Optivisor
- Finding that Leon of Pendragen really is as helpful and open as stated so often on this forum
- This forum (unlike any other forum I know of) where members take for granted that part of the hobby is the fun of ribbing one another and new members are automatically made welcome as if they have been around for yonks
- Dedicated shed for grinding bases, any messy work
- Dedicated work room (well half a room) where everything can be left overnight without having to pack things away and continually moving things around
- My wife bringing in ideas we can use from her 'crafting' hobby
I guess there is still the one thing that I am really looking forward to obtaining, a good quality 3D. :D
The internet and all that it has opened up for us in the wargaming hobby. Looking back I joined this forum in March 2010 and since then the changes have been remarkable, so in no particular order:
- Forums such as this.
- Easy online ordering via PayPal.
- Most wargames companies now having good websites.
- The absolute ease of organising a game without repeated 'phone calls.
- Washes.
- The move from a variety of scales to 1/144th (10mm).
- Good Blogs to follow and be inspired by.
The only downside I would say is that:
- It is so, so easy getting distracted by a totally new period.
- Some manufacturers/retailers no longer attending shows, probably due to costs versus online retailing. QRF a recent example.
Good forums/internet research/manufacturer websites/PayPal - basically, the internet... For product, painting and paying!
Joining the club for getting a game in more than once a quarter, but the internet/email for keeping us all in touch for my "once a quarter" ex-Uni cabal :)
A dedicated work bench/desk where I can leave things to hand as I work on them (well, my computer/work office space all in one :D).
Discovering at 13 that I didn't have to give up playing soldiers.
Biggest revolution so far - acrylic paints. Enamels were a nightmare, so I went to artists' gouache. Much pleasanter, easy to use, but with some strange quirks and very fragile until properly varnished. Then acrylics - very easy to use, persistant and non-toxic. If they have a drawback it's that they're just a little too fast-drying - but I'll live with that. :)
- 10mm and multibasing.
- historical games
- A dedicated 20 m square room
- Sculpting
Erm...
How recent is the innovation meant to be?
For me, kickstarters, serious artists acrylics, Naval Thunder rules, erm...
Oh yeah:
The 1870s! ;D
Feeling better now.
Actually, yes - first major revolution was acrylic paint over enamels that was probably about 1986 and maybe a year into painting models so a loooong time back :D
Spray undercoat & varnish as well!
Acrylics over enamels, proper bases as opposed to corn flake packets, but for me the internet for buying and forums like this for all the great ideas, great advice and all round nice people that inhabit it :)
For me it was getting paypal, i was very limited in buying stuff before that. I depended on local shops and ebay, only being able to buy via bank transfers.
Not long after i got aypal, i discovered pendraken, and the rest is history!!
Good spot. Paypal has made buying thins SOOOO much easier!
Quote from: fsn on 12 April 2015, 05:55:13 PM
Good spot. Paypal has made buying thins SOOOO much easier!
And not buying things SOOOOOO much harder, for that matter ;D ;D
1. The Internet - not only for all those shiny, shiny figures in ads, but for the international community spirit it fosters.
2. Acrylic paints instead of smelly enamels
3. Reading glasses!
4. Washes
In the last two years...hmmm.
Pendraken Forum. Without it I'd still be in 10mm limbo. (The Mongol chaps are quite nice as well).
The Magic Wash method.
Using double sided tape for sticking down lines of figures to paint. Honestly, I've been wargaming since Noah was a lad and only just discovered that one.
My man cave/study/painting area/wargames room in the cellar. Small but perfectly formed for a 6 x 4 table.
Not sure if it should come under innovation but grey primer has been a god send to me
Internet for
- research
- inspiration
- forums
- contacting suppliers
1. computer / internet age, it kept boardgame production viable
2. Kallistra hard plastic hexes. everything I made prior to that looked naff.
3. broadband instead of 56k modem download, so I can see tons of nice wargaming set-ups with regular browsing, giving inspiration and having access to downloadable content.
4. Free blogging capability and cheap website hosting to give me a platform to write and share
5. Digital photography, making instant and easy to share imagery
6. E-books, I sit there on a Sunday afternoon and want to research the battle of Quatre Bras, 2 minutes later I have downloaded a book on the subject with maps and orders of battle.
In no particular order
1 The internet for ease of finding and paying for stuff
2. Acrylics - Did I realy use Humbrol enamels !!
3. Divorce - I now don't have to justify sitting and painting for an hour or two
4. Rulesets like Warmaster (all genres)BKC, Lion Rampant and Chain of Command
5. this forum - I never bothered with them before.
Has to be computers and the internet. I can now produce a decent looking set of my own rules and edit or update them easily and put photos in them. I can produce decent typed scenarios although I still hand draw maps, photo them and put them onto the sheet. As many other have said, I can browse and buy figures, books etc quickly and easily.
Consensus seems to be Thanks, internet.
1) 10mm.
2) Baking powder.
3) Washes.
4) Proper basing.
5) Grit / sand.
6) Daylight bulb.
7) Forum.
Daylight bulbs!
I use them ... but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Perhaps the daylight they produce are from a different sun? Maybe, on Procyon B, my painting is brilliant!
Quote from: fsn on 13 April 2015, 03:55:28 PM
Daylight bulbs!
I use them ... but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Perhaps the daylight they produce are from a different sun? Maybe, on Procyon B, my painting is brilliant!
Maybe they were manufactured during a night shift? :-\ :-\
The net - for research on subjects so obscure that maybe only five people worldwide are interested in , or know anything about, them, and suddenly you are on first name terms with all of them!
This forum, a fun asylum which (usually) knows how far it can go, and goes absolutely that far! But is also amazingly knowledgable.
10mm, which has allowed my megalomania to grow unchecked
Early retirement, which has allowed me to settle properly into my own house for the first time in twenty years, and build/convert the shed of my dreams.
Battlefield walking. Never was great at maps, walking the real fields has been an absolute revelation.
Mollinary
Quote from: mollinary on 13 April 2015, 06:58:57 PM
Early retirement, which has allowed me to settle properly into my own house for the first time in twenty years, and build/convert the shed of my dreams.
Battlefield walking. Never was great at maps, walking the real fields has been an absolute revelation.
Mollinary
And do you now, in fact,
have two sheds?
Interesting read on the politics of Runcorn (http://mreadz.com/new/index.php?id=87116&pages=105)
Quote from: Dunnadd on 14 April 2015, 02:14:41 AM
Interesting read on the politics of Runcorn (http://mreadz.com/new/index.php?id=87116&pages=105)
"then he would go down the velvet river..."
Euphemism? :-\
Ah, I see, I see...and you're thinking of getting this second shed for wargames?
Btw, I neglected to mention indelible marker pens. Wonderful for drawing on straps and belts, doing simplish tartans and shield designs, and giving green plastic aquarium trees more convincing and durable trunks.
I read that as inedible marker pens. I wondered just what the food situation was like over in Thailand!
Food, with a few exceptions, is one of the small number of things that we do well here.
I rather like Thai food. or at least what approaches being called Thai food in the UK which I suspect is not a patch on actual Thai food :D
I've eaten passable Thai in the UK. But when it's good here, it's very good, and of course the street food culture is one of the joys of SE Asia.
Quote from: toxicpixie on 14 April 2015, 08:19:54 AM
I rather like Thai food. or at least what approaches being called Thai food in the UK which I suspect is not a patch on actual Thai food :D
Agreed. "Thai" food is divine.
Salty, sour, sweet, hot, fragrant; what's not to like?
Quote from: getagrip on 14 April 2015, 10:52:29 AM
Salty, sour, sweet, hot, fragrant; what's not to like?
Is that FK or the food?!
Awww, you fellows are so sweet. :)
Quote from: toxicpixie on 14 April 2015, 10:54:02 AM
Is that FK or the food?!
;D ;D ;D
Fragrant definitely :D
Quote from: FierceKitty on 14 April 2015, 08:01:44 AM
Btw, I neglected to mention indelible marker pens. Wonderful for drawing on straps and belts, doing simplish tartans and .... more convincing and durable trunks.
Wouldn't you be better just wearing clothes? :-\
Nah, it's way to hot out there! Hence FK's fragrant agreement ;)
Computer moderated rules, without question. First with Follow the Eagle back in the early 1990s and now with Computer Strategies and Carnage and Glory.
The internet with all its opportunities.
Dedicated painting desk...bliss! :D
Definitely the internet. Prior to that your options, at least here in the states, were limited to whatever your FLGS carried or could order. It usually meant Minifigs and GHQ or if you were lucky, Stone Mountain Miniatures. Ordering from the UK was at best a hassle. I remember placing an order for some Foundry figures through the internet back in 1998 or so. Since then, 75% of what I buy both in terms of figures and rules are through the internet.
1) modern home computes (not Sinclairs etc) for
...a) The internet for buying and research
...b) Home publishing. Its so easy to make the forms/sheets you need (remember having to find somewhere to photocopy stat sheets?)
...c) Spread sheets, for points calculation as well as statistical analysis when writing rules
2) Games Workshop, for getting me into 10mm.
3) Pound shops
3) Really Useful Boxes
4) Acrylics.
Really Useful Boxes.
:-bd :-bd :-bd
Thirded! !!! (For really useful boxes......Perfect for sending the wee men up to Pendraken Towers.)
Cheers - Phil
Fourthed
And Tiger Cub deep file boxes!
Quote from: Techno on 24 April 2015, 07:31:54 AM
Thirded! !!! (For really useful boxes......Perfect for sending the wee men up to Pendraken Towers.)
Cheers - Phil
I hope you get them back again. :)
Leon's very good at returning them ! :)
There are some firms that never bother though, which is a bit irritating !
Mind you....A certain member of the forum has sent me a LOT of suitable little containers for the same purpose.
Thanks 'Mr X'. ;)
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: fsn on 24 April 2015, 07:27:54 AM
Really Useful Boxes.
:-bd :-bd :-bd
What ones are the most useful? (serious question). For 10mm armies, paints, etc. dimension wise.
Quote from: Westmarcher on 24 April 2015, 09:05:42 PM
What ones are the most useful? (serious question). For 10mm armies, paints, etc. dimension wise.
A fair old bit bigger than the ones I use to post stuff, I'd imagine.
I
can get
up to 30 'greens' in one of the (roughly) 3" x 2.5" x 1.5" boxes. (Using foam to pack them, so they don't rattle about.)
But they do
loads of different sizes, which ought to be suitable for paints etc.
Any recommendations team ?
Cheers - Phil
You want the Hobby Trays. These are 5x3 60mm compartments (This is part of the reason I use 20mm or 30mm bases!)(they reckon 65x68 - I don't believe them), and 35mm deep. They fit most 10mm. I've had to clip my ACW mounted standard bearers poles, and put them only in the top layer, because there is a gap for the top layer, but otherwise no problems
4 of these fit in a 9 litre box, 2 in a 2 litre box. All the boxes have handles that clip the lid securely. Also they are designed to stack - boxes of the same lid stack like Lego. They do lots of sizes, but I try to stick to the 4 and 9 litre ones because they stack on one another. Other boxes do stack - they are all the same design - but not always with each other
Get yourself down Hobbycraft to see how it all works
So, 4 x 30mm base per compartment, 15 compartments per tray, 4 trays in a box - that is 240 bases a box.
Yes, its going to cost you £12 or so. However you might have a couple of hundred quids worth of metal in one box. How many times have you seen people turn up with a weeks wages in a file box that is falling to pieces? These things are tough.
I also use them as a quick pack painting station.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/9607770767_5cc4f86356_z.jpg)
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5441/9611003996_96d156cee3_z.jpg)
That has the 'lipped stationary tray' (2nd picture, top left) - this hangs on the box, creating room for the tall paint pots to invade the '3rd layer'. Only thing is that the lipped trays stretch the handles and compact the lid's lugs, so you can't use those ones interchangably.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7391/9607770665_2ff91cb143_z.jpg)
Thanks for that, I forsee a trip to Hobbycraft and a good look!
They do work rather well don't they. :)
The RU boxes are more expensive than most but REALLY well made (get what you pay for and all that).
What are the square paints Hussar?
Revell, also from Hobbycraft. GW are good strong colours, Revell do the real world and military shades: so I use Poached Egg Yolk (or some such silly name) from GW - it really does look like yolk - for yellow, and 'Dunkelgelb' for sand. You need your strongest glasses for buying the Revell pots, the English colour is half the size of the German.
Like you say the RUBoxes are more expensive, but I try not to use anything else now- £12 is a long term investment, rather than 3 pints. I've never got on with magnabase - the stuff always seems to slip in the box anyway
Acrylics
Internet
PayPal
This forum
OpTivisor
10mm quality figures plus Pendraken willingness to allow members to have figures remodelled (thanks Phil)
Really useful boxes
Having figures painted - have at last found a Good UK painter
Still not mastered washes or dry brushing
Chad
Blimey.
I'd forgotten the Optivisor completely !
Would be lost without mine....and I'm always going on about those !! :-[
(No sweat Chad ! ) :)
Cheers - Phil
*ahem* ... and the Dremel?
Oh, all right.....AND the Dremmel.
Cheers - Phil
any particular attachment?
Grenade launcher?
DIY Stigmata attachment?
Well finally decided to retire the old illuminated magnifying glass and invest in an Optivisor.
What kind of idiot am I for not doing this sooner? X_X
Genius idea with the added advantage of sending Mrs V into giggles every time I put them on.
Quote from: Vamboozle on 26 April 2015, 09:24:48 AM
Well finally decided to retire the old illuminated magnifying glass and invest in an Optivisor.
What kind of idiot am I for not doing this sooner? X_X
Genius idea with the added advantage of sending Mrs V into giggles every time I put them on.
You are wearing it on your head, aren't you?
I'd let her wear it.
They were on my head though I was otherwise naked....
Pretty sure it was the Optivisor she was laughing at
Quote from: fsn on 26 April 2015, 09:28:37 AM
I'd let her wear it.
;D
.... Damn it, fsn! Beat me to it!
Optivisor. Guaranteed to make your jewels look bigger.