Note from 40K Nation Sam about Valhalla Interviews

All on frontpage Here: http://40kNation.com

These where put up on the 40k Nation youtube channel but it will also be put on my personal youtube channel which has more subscribers.

Valhalla: Pt1 BTP Brett Prusso

Valhalla: Pt1 BTP Shawn Gately

Valhalla: Pt2 BTP Shawn Gately

Valhalla: Pt3 BTP Shawn Gately

part 4 will appear the 29th. And there is a ton more but i try to release 1 video a day

Week in Pictures

Absolutely crazy week.  I should write every day like I used to.

We signed for the studio building this week.  It's now in our name.  How exciting is that.

The whole wargaming world is holding its breath for sixth edition which is not good for BTP.  So I can't wait.  Studio Necrons are well underway and we got in a ridiculously huge Ork army.

Valhalla was hugely successful, even more than any one we have ever done.  I played three games, all Warhammer Fantasy with my Chaos Dwarfs, but the staff schedule for playing other games was precision smooth, so we got in plenty, plenty of 40K as well as our planned demos of DUST and Operation Squad and Mordheim.  Also, got 40K nation out and it was great to meet them.  My whole "meeting of the minds"
has plenty of potential.  I'm currently making a comprehensive list of everyone and every company in the wargaming industry.  Then pick some of them as top choices for inviting out to Valhalla.

And we've got other plans, too.

What else?  I missed my kids.  I got home Saturday night and it was a delight to see them again.  The boys and I stayed up late and watched Thor on Netflix.  Tamie stayed up at Valhalla to help with cleanup.  So, I got the kids to church (super-late) this morning.  Always good, but kind of a pain to round up the church clothes since I don't know where anything is without my wife.

And now the pics:

 A ridiculously awesome omelet that my wife whipped up for me one morning.  Super healthy, too.
 Some staffers and I went out to McD's for a Sundae.
 Shannon gave me a world-class haircut on Wednesday morning.
Thomas was one of our guests for Valhalla.  He's from Sweden.  He's all right.

Monday is going to be a big day.  I got Robbie D. coming in and we're going to get Valhalla tickets up on the webstore and about a zillion more listings.

We're number one with Andy2d6

Some very kind words from a fan.

Waaagh! to end all Waaaaghs!

All right folks, I got an Ork army coming in.  It's a ridiculous size.


Purchasing Info here.


4 Stompas
1 Uber Tank (the massive one from Valhalla a few years back)

5 Battlewagons including one lifta

10 Nob Bikers

5 smaller vehicles

Grot mega tank plus 7 grot tanks

35 Grots
6 field pcs

120 Boyz sluggas and shootas

20 Nobz

15 Kommandos (FW)

10 Burnaz

25 Lootas

5 DeffKoptas

3 Deff Dreads

6 Killa Kans

10 Storm boyz

5 Meganobz

10 Assorted Characters

Forgeworld Hvy Truck Gun

Three Trucks including a scratch built big gun. 

2x Meka Dreds

Contents may vary, I have not received the army to inventory it.








Emperor's Tables

A fan had this done for us.  Thanks Adam!

Rewiring

What's really going on with Shawn?



[And I still had time to make a jerk out of myself up on stage.  They never should have left that sword untended.  Hold on a sec...]

This last weekend, starting Thursday evening, I went to a marriage-oriented seminar-thing.  Because I love my wife so much I put on a good face, determined to learn something new and not be a butthead about it.  My wife usually has as much cooperation for this sort of thing as you might putting a sweater and a leash on a cat and taking it for a walk.

Besides, I have work to do!  I don't like being away from the fields for too long.

And off we went on Thursday night, just to stay up in Sandy at a mid-range hotel.  I sleep horribly on a hard hotel bed and I got about two hours of sleep the first night and woke up in considerable physical discomfort.  When I walked into the conference room and saw the title was "Royalty and Romance" I about shed tears of blood.  By the time Friday's eight hours of sitting in a hard chair listening to marriage stuff, visualization and what-not I was in a pretty foul mood, and just in time to get another horrible night's sleep.

Oh, I tried.  I really tried to keep a good face on.

Notwithstanding all that, I did take notes, and I have to admit that as I gleaned some insights (expecting only to hear a few new things) I had accumulated quite a list of new ideas.  Just one new concept after another.  I have to admit I was learning something new about reprogramming my own brain.  I didn't like what I was hearing, but it certainly was a new way of looking at things.

Friday night was even worse.  When I took a shower late at night I felt nauseous.  I put both hands on the wall and my whole body was wracked with convulsions.  I was trying to puke but nothing came out.  I believe now that I was "mind-puking".  All my wretched programming and bad stuff was trying to crawl out of my brainpan.

By Saturday morning I said "take me home I've had it" and that's when we had a break-through.  We started working on some of the workbooks.  I have to admit that my lunchtime I had quite a stack of notes.  Mind you, I have a solid marriage, we've always gotten along famously, and we only went to this thing to improve, and in fact I didn't think it could get much better.  That said, I must say I learned a ton.


Won't go into detail here, but I'm definitely on the other side of a new door in my life.  And I do highly recommend.  Family life is notably better now.  I'd go into specifics, but it's too personal for this format.

After this (and I was exhausted after two days of solid meetings and three hours of sleep per night), we went to my nephew's pre-mission endowment at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  It was really magical.  A ton of Tamie's family was there.  But I had to take a piss something fierce through the whole thing and I have to say that the bathroom there was pretty fantastic.  Then off to eat pie at a local eatery.  Then the long drive home around midnight.

Oh, another magic moment: as we were leaving the temple I came across my twelve-year old daughter in the foyer (for she had come up to meet us), and I snapped this pic; serene as an angel.  I am ever so proud of my family and I just can't get enough of them.  I shuttle between twin paradises of work and home.  I often marvel at the goodness of my own life.  I don't feel deserving of all this, but I am willing to accept God's good grace, his un-merited good will.  Or if you prefer, an outstanding life-long run of apparent good fortune.

So, Sunday I was completely exhausted and I basically just sat around waiting for Monday and to hit the ground running.

I can't believe tomorrow is Thursday.   The week has flown by.  I've got some sweet Batreps lined up.  Oh, and only six days until Valhalla!

Ogres vs Lizardmen
Operation Squad
And we're going to squeak in War Machine

Blue Table Painting Fantasy Camp

Summary: You stay six days (Monday to Saturday).  You live in the BTP house with BTP staff, and come to work every day except that you are there to assemble, paint, and get lessons from staff on how to convert and paint your models.

We don't provide models for you.  You can bring your own or have us supply them at a cost.  Basically, you are a part of what we're doing.  The skill is what you'll get mostly, training.  You also go out to eat with the boss at least once.  We provide basic transportation

Cost $1500.

We can also pro-rate for a shorter three day visit = $750.

If interested, I will give you more details.  Right now there is one and only one golden ticket.  You can bring a friend if you want.  You share the room.  Cost is +$400.

We accommodate your schedule.  We're ready to move on it right away.  When is the soonest you can get here.
 _______________________

Had a fan contact me with questions here's my email back

Sure thing.  We are still firming up details ourselves.

You arrive at the airport or station and we pick you up.  You go out to get settled at the BTP house, a master bedroom with private bath, just average middle class US, nothing fancy.  Three other staffers live in the house and my understanding is they play quite a bit of Mordheim.  They are not loud, drinker, smokers nor slobs.  Just nice folk such as we like to hire.  They are not paid, though, to necessarily socialize.

You'll come to the studio to do your work, paint or assemble your own figures, basically just be here.  The big part is that you will get training from staff just as if you were a new painter here.  Professionals and seasoned veterans will teach you.   I would imagine at least 12-18 hours of direct instruction.  I imagine that you will get a super-concentrated dose.

We can provide materials but that is extra.

Other than that you can expect the same sort of experience and socialization that you see on our vids.  You're like our honored guest.  At least one batrep if you're game, and I'd like to take you out to dinner.

We do want to meet/interview (?) people before they are accepted out, just like a regular college.  I like Skype but phone works, too.

Shawn

GW Order Deal

Do you like this alternate BTP logo?

Make a GW order for us.  Here's how it works.  You make the order and have it sent directly to the studio.  You get a credit equal to the retail value of the figures plus 10%.

We need a retail value of about $2000.  But if you can do it, only less than that, just get in touch.

I'm sure I don't need to do the math for you on that.  The leverage here is that you are likely to find a discounted rate, and with the Retail Plus 10% as a credit... well you can do the math.

The credit can only be used for Assembly and Painting service.  However, you can use it for an existing project.

When the models arrive in the studio, we do the calculation and you get confirmed for your credit.

As a side note we also need a Privateer Press order as well.  And some misc. stuff.  You may or may not be able to do it depending on your sourcing.

____________________________________________________________
PS- your Ron Paul fix.  Current item that talks about Unions



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Stable Platform

Warhammer 8th Edition is at its zenith.  There are five published books out of fifteen.  There are at least two or three more good years of this rules set.  People know what to expect.

In my dream world here are the armies I would create and own:

Chaos Dwarfs
Already got this one and underway, need to make 4x Bull Centaurs, 1x Hellcannon, and 1x Homebrew K'Daii Destroyers.  When it's done it will top 4000 pts.

Beastmen
Mostly like the one I sold.  Need 80x Gors to form the core.  3000 pts.

Empire
Thinking Nuln like this one  at about 3000 pts.
6x heroes on foot
1x War Altar
80x various infantry
3x Demigryph Knights
1x Luminark
1x Hurricanum
1x Steam Tank
4x various War Machine

Lizardmen
Skaven
Wood Elves
Tomb Kings

Yup that's my wish list.  Those are the armies I'd like to play.  Just seven I guess!

New Trade Needed

A BTP Youtube vid gets around 4000 hits, while a Blogpost only gets like 300.  All these years I thought it was much more than that, like maybe 1200.  But anyway, I do the blog as much as a journal as anything.  I like to imagine that the people that read the blog are the die hards.

I've been putting some serious hours into the Trade Stock program.  There were bins upon bins on the floor, in rows.  It seemed like it would never end.  Thanks to Mike D. we will be completely sewed up Friday.  It was bone-crushing exertion.  But by the end of tomorrow every last item will be neatly stored and numbered, about 300 new lots.  We've sold maybe forty now.  It runs the gamut from slag to highly converted and BTP-painted whole armies.

My immediate goal is to get it to 600 lots.  I would consider 1300 listings as sufficiently stocked.  So, naturally I'm eager to get new trade-ins whatever they may be.  We normally credit 20-40% of retail.  Higher end of that spectrum for things from the list below.  For well-painted it goes higher.  Anything is awesome.  But there are some armies in particular I'd love to see:

War Machine, Hordes, Infinity, Malifaux  We have hardly anything for those games.  I would just adore some huge lots there.
For 40K I'd love to see more Grey Knights, yeah I know they're hot right now. 
For Warhammer Fantasy: Beastmen, Ogres, Lizardmen, Tomb Kings and Empire.  In fact I really need Empire and fast.



That doesn't mean that we're not looking at everything.  We even absorb equipment, paints, terrain (pre-moulded plastics etc.), and miniatures from other lines.

The trade-off is right.  You get something huge when you use our program: choice.  You get to pick what you want us to order for you while I am swung in the opposite direction-- I don't get to pick.  I will absorb whatever you have.  I also absorb all the labor and all the risk.  I do all the footwork and also if your models don't sell, or take a very long time, then that's too bad for me.  You get immediate gratification. 


I think of myself as qualified to evaluate models so you can expect the right spot on the scale for what you have.  I would just love to start dealing in more well-painted models and also in more whole armies.  For notable lots I'd be willing to work with a commission structure.  That means you say "I need to get $400 out of this army" and BTP keeps the remainder when it sells.  Note that you still need to expect a lower number than if you went to the secondary market yourself.  I could also just buy your army for the set amount if I wanted to.  I do the footwork and pay you when it sells.  That is a workable solution for higher-ticket things.


Systems


The last few weeks I've been playing D&D with my sons, about three times a week as I mentioned  in my last post.  We have converted a room in the house into our D&D room.  We've become a lot closer and I've learned a lot about them.  Jonah is more methodical and open to new ideas, but by the same token more likely to follow along.  Griffin is more outspoken, a man of action, and also a keen tactical mind.  They are both very mathematical and have no trouble doing the calculations needed right in their head.  I am so proud of them.

The pic above is older, when we were playing at the studio.

At the studio I am downstairs in a provisional office setting up the Trade Stock program.  For ten days I have been in the groove and I love it.  I get in this mode where eating and even sleeping are a burden.  When the hunger pangs start to really gnaw I run up and grab a sandwich, eat it with one hand while continuing to work with the other.  Workaholic?  I would take a bow for that.  My true expertise is setting up systems; organizing human and material resources.

I have currently set up the new webstore, created a system to put up new listings as well as safely store the models.   I cleared the main Inbox of the studio.  I put up over a hundred listings.  I think that at least 200 more are coming this week.  The plan is to funnel all items for sale into one location.  That means the Master Lot List is going away after this week.  Mike D. is coming in for the next two weeks and we are going to solidify the program on all levels and begin training someone to run it.  I will still stay on to supervise probably through the end of the year.

I am creating a system there where there may be as many as 50,000 listings.  I believe that GW price increases are going to spur on the secondary market and I want a part of that.  I find it quite stimulating and our main business (assembly/painting on commission) compliments that perfectly.  It allows me to refurbish select models/armies on the spot.  Next year I predict there will be a team of 3-4 people and soon thereafter full-time artists just for refurbishment.

Also this week we set up a business relationship with Secret Weapon Miniatures.  I like that company and the owner, Justin McCoy, is a delight.  Oh, and I also learned how to use the HD camera and software so that's coming.

I've also been watching Stargate Atlantis.  The production value on that show is tremendous.

My lovely wife picked up Indian food last night, quite a splurge but it really really hit the spot.  A little chicken vindaloo set the whole week right.  I heard about that dish from Red Dwarf, which incidentally I watched all eight seasons through the last week.  Now I just need someone to send me some Topic bars!  I do ever so love my family.  Being with them is a delight.  I just can't get enough.

Willow is at the magic age of imaginary pets.  She went around a whole day with her finger pointing out because there was an invisible bird on there.  As we were leaving an ice cream shop she gave a startled "whope" and ran back in because she left her (intangible) bird on the counter.  She gives here imaginary dog a bath when she takes one.


 

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