My day started super-early at 5am. My wife and I got up and headed to the airport, picking up Sarah on the way. Once there, we checked in, had breakfast (oh and I had my fourth amendment rights violated-- being searched without probable cause issued by a judge on warrant specifically describing the items being searched for).
Our plane was about an hour late. We had some breakfast. I went to the bookstand and picked up a copy of the Economist. Since when did I become interested in that? I'm an old guy now apparently. I was in the crapper for round two when Tamie texted me saying we were boarding now, so that was a fun little vignette as I rushed out to make the plane.
We were seated in the very very back with babies in front and back of us. Oddly, that did not bother me hardly at all. After having four kids of my own I am more sympathetic. It was stifling hot on the descent, but who can complain about a 2.5 hour flight rather than a 22 hour drive.
The big changes to the vendor line-up are the addition of Coolminiornot and Forge World. I don't like Forge World to be here-- they suck up all the money, give no discount, and generally are not helpful. It doesn't affect us since we don't make money here, but I know it hurts other vendors. Coolmini's display is mind-numbingly cool with L8-9 work under the lights and amazing figures from all around the world in stock. It's drool city over there.
Sarah visited our room to watch Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but Tamie and I fell asleep so she headed out to her own room. We're going to try and finish that one today. I read and re-read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child and there's something really magic about seeing it on screen with such lavish effects.
As an added bonus, here Ron Paul makes some headway
Adepticon Day Zero
Ravens of the Void
I got to play a game today (no batrep sorry, just a summary) in which I fielded two Voidravens.
They are stupendous. With Flickerfield (5+ invulnerable) they have the survivability at least of an AV 12 vehicle (like a wave serpent). Night Shield is also a nasty trick which makes a shot or two fail.
But where the Voidraven is a terror (nevermind the two void lances, effectively two lascannons) are the four missile slots. I took Shatterfield missiles (48" S7 AP- assault large blast one shot) which re-roll to-wound rolls. A full salvo can kill off the better portion of a Seer council from just the number of hits. Against a horde I can only imagine.
All missiles are 48", Assault 1, one-shot and cost 10 pts (except implosion which are 40 pts each).
Monoscythe S6 AP5 large blast
Necrotoxin 2+ AP5 poison, pinning
Implosion AP 2 Pass Wounds test or instant death
The selling point here is that you can pack four missiles on, eight between two of them. Concentrated fire can see one unit of your choice simply vaporized. A salvo of implosion missiles will put the cramp on a lot of the uber-units floating around out there.
Side Notes
1) Blue Table is open for business Friday and Saturday. I am on TOP now which means that I am answering emails as they come in. We are ready whenever you are.
2) If you currently have a project, there may be some delays in assembly. I have already moved to solve this and we will be back on track in exactly eight days. I have extra hands on deck and all hands are being whipped extra hard. Sooo, if you have a deadline or you are getting antsy, please oh please let me know ahead of time.
3) The Creeping Death army will be up for sale as of Monday. $950 sight unseen if you pay me over the weekend. Otherwise probably right around $1250 with documentation (probably done on Tuesday).
4) I will have a total of three Dark Eldar armies coming on the block on Monday: Creeping Death, the Red ones and a third here
Silently Crawling
My voice completely went out a Valhalla last night. I think it will be good for me to listen for once.
I got the two-part batrep up last night. At the very end I express some of my thoughts on the Creeping Death list. I have to say in all I'm pleased. It doesn't take much finesse to play it, though against a skilled opponent, or someone who is prepared it might take some more thought. I mean other than rush forward like a giant meat-amoeba and consume all in your path.
I think it would be better to split the beastmaster unit into two smaller ones as the one large one was quite unwieldy. I am going to try that today. Also, didn't use the liquifier guns that much. Might be better on the Wracks to just drop them as the Wracks are a throwaway unit, or a screening unit typically.
Also, I found out Beastmaster units can't get pain tokens.
Did you know that Wracks have a Space Marine profile, except they are S3. But with Feel No Pain they have arguably the equivalent or close of power armor. They're tough to kill.
The Haemonculi are the wild card of the army, able to be equipped with all sorts of nasty wargear. I had a good time with Dark Gate, blowing up a Predator by surprise. But you won't always be able to get within 12".
This list does lack quite a bit in the anti-tank department and I am looking at cutting the Cronoses. I want to make some freakish meat and bone conversion for Voidravens, which I love. Or maybe using the Cronos models as Talos.
It's 1500 points for the round today.
Wall of Meat
Pic: Cronos conversion.
Ah. It's been too long. Got to play a game of 40K up at Valhalla, and see how the Creeping Death army worked out. It's 2000 pts and played just like it was supposed to-- tons of wounds with high defense moving inexorably like a blob of twisted flesh. Full Batrep forthcoming with my own comments a the end.
If you are a client (and I think all or most of my clients actually read this blog) then please check in with me about your project if you are curious about progress or status. If you are worried about anything, please let me know before it gnaws at you.
Creeping Death
This post to be updated later.
Here is the army I'm taking to Valhalla this round. I'm going to actually play some games. This is all painted up.
1x Urien Rakarth
3x Haemonculous
5x Beastmasters
12x Khymerae
3x Clawed Fiends
16x Grotesques
3x Cronos
40x Wracks
That's something like 2000 pts. Also got the Red Dark Eldar done and ready to go.
Voidraven or Razorwing
Now that we have done about six of these conversion, here is the price. Almost all of these are for sale by the way.
$80 unpainted
$120 painted
See more pics here
And here
Special for March 25-30:
3x Void Ravens OR Razorwings (any combination) for-
$210 unpainted
$315 painted
Child of the Galaxy
The other night I had a dream. I saw myself as a ten-year-old by, as I was after a summer in Alaska, toned by the wild and only a pair of cutoffs, sitting cross-legged on the outside wing of a starship. He is unafraid of the void or the heat of suns, the galaxy is his home, the place that he swims. Before him was a black hole, shrouded with contrails of blue light. He was anxious, for soon he would go through it, but excited for what was on the other side. And this was the music playing (Nature Boy).
Barometric Pressure
For those waiting for youtube updates you will need to be patient. It was a crazy Monday. Something is wrong. I can't quite place my finger on it. It was surreal. Tamie says that it is the change in the pressure for change in seasons. Is that a real thing.
I hope a good night's sleep will put the world to right again.
Valhalla is imminent, still not too late to attend. I plan on actually playing this time. I will be using the studio Dark Red Eldar as well as the Creeping Death Haemonculous army which is nearly painted.
Again apologies for the thin updates. I should be back in form tomorrow.
Three Days in the Rehabilitation Cube
So, what's going on in this little ant brain of mine?
First off, I've been watching Hyperdrive on Netflix. It's a british space comedy from 2007. Unbelievable that there's only two seasons. It's absolutely brilliant.
BTP is expanding. When a business expands you can either cash out or plow it under. I've been plowing it under which means long hours to get the new system all up and running. There's a time investment to getting the human part set up (ie training people). Plus we're moving to a new studio which in this case involves some money and time to get it prepared. The good news is that it's laying the foundation solidly for many years to come. The new studio is four times the square footage of the current one. As usual, always some risk involved. If we pull it off in the next six weeks it will mean a forward leap of about four years.
As usual my top business priority is tending to clients; setting up new projects and tending to current ones.
I'm back to working late. It's rough on the family and requires a lot of effort to keep both worlds humming. I'm getting home around 8pm. I'm absolutely wiped out by that time. I grab some dinner, head to the bedroom, put on Blues Clues and fall asleep with my sweet Willow in the crook of my arm. It's sort of our ritual.
I had a talk with Tamie on Saturday where I'll be going home at the normal time two pre-set days of the week.
So, that's why no Batreps. Just bear with me. We'll be back to equilibrium in May. I want to play a game of 40K so bad. And War Machine. Speaking of Warhammer Fantasy, the next studio army is likely to be jungle-themed Orcs what with the new plastics for Savage Orks. I've also thought of buying six of those spider kits to glob off the forest goblins and put them on foot for the goblin mobs. The army is likely to look something like this:
4x various heroes/shamans
60x Savage Orcs
60x Forest Goblins (with spider fillers!)
40x Spider Riders
20x Savage Orc Boar Boyz
2x Arachnarok Spiders
I think I just made that like 2500 pts. Good grief.
In other news, I am missing all 120x glade guard archers from the Rainforest Elves army. They are apparently just not in the studio anymore. I am sure they will turn up.
Quick prediction: by dominating the market GW is making itself a generic system and in the coming years, side companies will get stronger making non-system-specific models. There will be no way to clamp down on this through copyright law as people will just be using them in the privacy of their own homes. GW will try and regain control of formal play in order to get the "GW-models-only" mindset going again, but it will be too late. They will still do quite well for themselves, though. As these side companies grow, now producing comparable plastics (because let's be honest right now they are pretty sloppy), GW will crush them by lowering prices substantially for a short period of time to drive them out of business. However, none of this will matter as a second company will emerge (maybe more!) and capture the imagination of the fans. This will be possible because a foundation has already been laid-- a network of blogs, groups and tournament scenes. It's going to be a wild ride. I give it five years. Just a prediction-- just throwing it out there.
I've also been puttering around on Sundays making a card-based fast-playing fantasy RPG system. This will solve the problem with running an RPG at all: the time involved. With fourth edition D&D, which is a pretty fast system, it still takes like an hour to run a combat. I'm trying to get that down to like ten minutes, something we can play on a lunch break. I need to scratch that itch something fierce.
.
More to come.
Radio Silence
I will be incommunicado until 1:30pm on Friday. I am answering emails. I'm falling behind and I need to get back on top of the log.
Inquiries and new projects welcome as usual. We're ready whenever you are.
I just got new pricing up for Orcs and Goblins (the new models included). I'm ready to set up whenever you are.
I am currently doing a lot on Facebook. For the time being I am slowing on blog posts, well that's at least what's likely to happen. Temporarily.
Note: I will not friend people with no picture, no comment/explanation in the friend request or only very few friends. Sounds sad, I know.
Valhalla is March 24-27.
Adepticon is March 31 to April 3.
So, we are quite busy until early April. Don't let that slow the inquiries though as I am working super-hard to keep up on that and we certainly need the funds.
Making a FW order soon
Want to commission something from Forge World? I am making an order soon, you will pay no shipping (from FW to studio). Want a quote? Send to my email bluetablepainting@gmail.com
Complete Works of Francis Bacon
With a name like Bacon it's got to be good!
I've been doing a lot on Facebook these days. Be my friend!
I think it's kind of lame that I'm losing on SEO to these asian companies.
Today was pretty shabby; one complaint, one stress and one crisis after another. A few rays of sunshine: a really good client dropped by and I also got to just sit and chat with Sarah for like an hour near the end of the workday, feet kicked up. We've been so busy with various projects that it's been rush-rush from one thing to the next.
At the studio I am caught up, at least mostly. We have everything cranked up white hot. I still have a mountain of Dark Eldar stuff that we didn't end up needing for Valhalla. Still a few slots open for that if you can make it up next Thursday.
So, sorry for the lack of content, we are looking good for Wednesday, though.
Ready to Ride
Just got in the studio.
I am now updating Facebook and using that as a base of operations.
I'm ready to set up orders, answer questions.
Got Skype going, too. ID = bluetablepainting Even got a webcam up.
I am currently "on top" which means that I am answering emails etc. as they come up. Took me all week!
Grey Knights are Back
As the bulk of humanity now knows the Grey Knights are coming out. They will be available in just a few weeks (pretty sure I will have them in hand by Friday April 8 or possibly the week before that). Time to set up your Grey Knights army.
BTP has the price sheet already out. Contact Shawn at bluetablepainting@gmail.com with any questions.
First three people who set up their army get the following Strike Force special (must ask for it by name!): we will have your army done by April 28 or you get $100 gift certificate.
UPDATE: one is taken, two left.
Cookies by Cookie
Just got this in my inbox.
Good Afternoon,
Just a quick email to announce our Cookie of the Month Club. This is could be great for yourself or some of your best clients as it offers a membership for 12, 6 or 3 months!
Here are a few options we offer;
3 month trial membership - $64.95
6 month membership - $129.90
12 month membership - $259.80
Each membership provides you or your client with a dozen cookies of a new flavor each month, our newsletter telling a little about the cookie and how it came about. The cookies come in the beautiful gold scroll window box with a satin red ribbon. Shipping is included in each membership, so you have the extra bonus of no hidden costs.
This months cookie is The Nutty Hawaiian! This fabulous cookie is an amazing blend of pineapple, mandarin oranges, cinnamon, banana, macadamia nuts and coconut.
Let me know which membership fits your desire and we will be happy to accommodate your needs to the best of our ability. We will be happy to include some of your business cards or broshures in the each package if you would like.
We had hoped to have our credit card accepting capabilities up and running full swing however it is taking a little longer than we had anticipated so we would appreciate a check mailed directly to the address below. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly via email or phone.
Warmest Regards,
Jenna Cook
Director of Sales and Marketing
Cookies By Cookie
131 Salt Lick Rd.
Front Royal, Va. 22630
(703) 434 - 9206
CookiesByCookieOnline.com
cookiesbycookie@hotmail.com
Airport for Valhalla
Airport for Valhalla is Salt Lake City (SLC).
In most cases we can pick you up if you want it.
Shawn
Ron Paul Extended
Here's a very interesting interview with Ron Paul. The interviewer (a Statist) tries to know Ron off the balance beam. Dr. Paul has become much more adept at handling himself in an interview the last three years.
.
Accessorize
Ive spotted while browsing online this UK Company that specializes in bases.
http://www.modelbunker.com/
Thought you might like some of them to help out a bit as they have a large variety and you can get some ideas from them.
Spotted these as well.
http://www.modelbunker.com/
Is a high quality Space Marine Commander that you guys can use for orders that are high quality ect.
http://www.modelbunker.com/
Can work for Space Marine Banners that are quite high quality.
http://www.shop.
Which you can use for a Skitarii army or techpriests taken over imperial guard.
The model sizes should all be WH40k size and they have had good reviews/
http://www.modelbunker.com/
Yay ork with captain hats? :D
http://www.modelbunker.com/
You can use these for Dark Angels Shields for Storm Shields for Deathwing armies. I havn't been able to find any other type of shield around that matches Dark Angels.
Ill be commissioning a Dark Angel Army soon so watch out for it!
http://www.modelbunker.com/
And some universal shields. These ones say 28mm so should work for Terminators ect. But im not sure if the Angel Shields are the same size...
Just thought i'd point some of these out to you Shawn!
Have a great day!
Full Gallop
By the way, I've been at the studio since around 6am cracking the whip on myself.
I'm available by phone, email, gmail chat or skype. Ready to set up new orders.
I need to make a Forge World order. My standard deal there is if you make it on my behalf I will credit you 1.5x the actual cost to you in USD. ie make my order for $300 USD and get a $450 credit.
Achieve Dream Control
The soundtrack for this blog post is "Silent Lucidity".
Sometimes I stop and look around. I don't think I'm really here. I'm asleep on Kolob. All time is crushed down to a single point. I never left home.
When reading this, remember that these are only musings. I make no pretense at virtue or intelligence. I am only opening the window.
Now that I think I'm going to live for a notable time more on this Earth I've been thinking of goals.
Family seems to perfect right now. With a goodly wife en-crowned at home and running the operation it all seems so easy. But I would like to see my children prepared to lead their own lives. I have no hopes that they will do any particular thing, though if one of them took over the company business that would be particularly satisfying. I want to be able to support them in training for a trade. No way I'm sending them to traditional four-year college [spits]. I suppose if they became entrepreneurs that would be swell. But again, raising them and getting them set for life is a gift from their parents, they can do whatever they want.
I must admit that professional goals are the foremost in my mind. Here are a few:
- Blue Table Painting is going to be run by me for 15-25 years more. It will grow into other operations and types of things, as you've seen the last few months.
- Originally, my goal was just to pay off my house and live simply until the day I die. That is still the general idea, but heading up the canyon into territory unknown, and thence to Valhalla has opened my mind to the possibilities. People with resources can more positively affect the human landscape.
- Own the land underneath BTP's private compound.
- Own and administrate Valhalla. Do absolutely insane stuff with miniatures and terrain, things that haven't been conceived of yet.
- Be a pillar of the community. Give generously. Train and mentor other small business-people. Start two charities. One will help people get out of debt and understand how to manage money common-man-common-sense style.
- Start our own miniatures battles game. This is the ultimate. I think I need 10-20 million to make a real run using plastics. Even one million would be a good start. Now where can I get that kind of money above-board and in-the-clear? (remember I started with zero and in my garage).
- I will never be in debt again as long as I live.
- I will be involved in politics, not as a candidate but as a pundit. I will have influence but not a vote. I will work for the de-centralization of power. I will have an internet radio show on the side. So, more of an activist for individual human rights. I will not be a shill.
- In my lifetime I'd like to see the demise of the banks. I'd like them (the current form) to be ridden out of town on a rail. Out of Spanish Fork. Out of the State.
- 90% reduction for a bloated Federal Government. Pruned to appropriate size. Functions returned to states, counties, cities, townships and individuals.
- Communication among humans will become more and more open and hive-like. This will promote uniqueness, but will also make it nearly impossible to keep secrets. The entire earth will be re-drawn.
- Social programs in the US will be re-routed out of Washington and back into local organizations.
- Flash mobs of 10,000 or more will not be uncommon. It will be the age of the individual.
- Power will be de-centralized down to the individual and like-minded individuals.
- Organizations will become as powerful as countries. Companies like eBay will have enormous power and income, but there will be a lot of such organizations, and they will be checked by their own members.
- The Earth will successively become more like heaven as the decades progress. I am extremely optimistic about the future.
- Panspermia will overtake evolution as the humanist world view on the origin of life on Earth.
Farther out
This millennium will be about the human soul. The human soul has the computing power of 45,000 high-powered computers. Trillions of terabytes of processing power, probably more. It's enough to create a complete unique planet with every form of life and every possibility for ten billion years.
- It will be about perception. A million people thinking about the same thing with their whole being at the exact same moment can actually bend reality. Nevermind actually doing something about it.
- We will find out that the universe is full. It's more like an ocean than a void. This layer of reality is less than 1% of the net "things going on".
Sweet Spot
One available: ONE 2011 Valhalla Season Pass. Come to any number of events during this year. We will put you into the best available room (sort of like a standby ticket), but will make room for you no matter what with a four week heads up.
Someone is bound to be insane enough to do this.
Cost: $4200
Subject to the normal rules for Valhalla
I would like to thank everyone reading this for being so supportive. I appreciate all the kind words that come in day after day. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's been quite an adventure.
Voidraven Conversion
$110 unpainted
$170 painted
See more pics here
Special for March 5-15:
3x Void Ravens for-
$270 unpainted
$450 painted
PS- Champion of Liberty Mike Lee talks a lick of sense
Cryx Trade
Got in some Cryx models on trade:
Warcasters
· Iron Lich Asphyxious (original)
· Warwitch Deneghra (original)
· Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker (original)
Warjacks
· Classic Slayer
· Classic Deathripper x2
· Classic Defiler x3
Units
· Mechanithralls x8
· Bane Thralls x6
· Satyxis Raiders x6
Solos
· Scrap Thralls x3
· Skarlock
You can buy just the models for $150 or have them commissioned. For a commission you can pick and choose and also add other items if you want.
Dream of the Flooded City.
I dreamed that I was on a high mesa overlooking a secluded desert city somewhere in the middle east. A river that ran by it* overflooded its banks and wiped the city out. As the city was rebuilt the property lines were re-drawn.
The Spirit Guide explained something to me. At first man is governed by himself, alone, his own resources to benefit himself. Then in the second stage man forms voluntary associations where he gives of his resources for the benefit of the group voluntarily. This is the best situation. Then a third where a government is formed that forces individuals to contribute to the group at the end of a gun.
_____
As usual, I claim no sort of inspiration. This is just a dream I had. I'm sure a zillion people have thought of the governance thing already. Or it's just a surfacing object from the giant garbage pile that is my subconscious.
*(on the southwest, there are mesa-like hills to the northeast and southwest. The river runs from the southeast to the northwest and out into a larger plain)
_____
From reader:
"Your dreams are telling you it's been too long since you read Mill's Second Treatise on Government if you didn't recognize the source."
Marbles
We LOvE War Machine. Bring it on.
I've been watching Futurama season 5 which just came out on Netflix. Pretty sweet.
At this moment I am sitting in my room watching TV with Willow, her little body nestled up against mine. When I'm around she doesn't want anyone else to pour her milk/juice.
Last night I conked out around 10pm, ever so tired, and I got up at around 6:30am just naturally. No waking up in the middle of the night. Willow is sleeping through the night more consistently, too.
We are working on a Voidraven conversion for Dark Eldar, pics of that are coming in the studio update tomorrow. Not what you would expect but I love it, totally love it. I am expecting in an absolute mountain of Dark Eldar tomorrow. This is for the next Valhalla, exactly a mere three weeks away. There are still tickets available. Time to quit dreaming and make it happen. We need your support; your wargaming body and your money!
We plan on making 20-30 flyers for the event. You don't even need to bring an army. You can play one of the three or four Dark Eldar armies we are going to make.
I went down to the assembly room to find them playing Munchkin without me. They weren't even apologetic. So I went to the ice cream shop and picked up ice cream cupcakes and ate them* in front of everybody. That'll teach 'em.
Then off to scouts with my wife. The boys learned how to play marbles.
I am now finishing up some client business then a short nap then an evening shift. I'm available if you need anything.
*Well, at least one.
Adepticon
Well, in spite of all the stuff we have going on (moving to a new studio, Valhalla) we are indeed attending Adepticon. I'm coming out with Sarah, and my lovely Wife, Tamara. And that's all we could afford this time. Oh, and Janene will be driving out, too.
