Dethtron of ‘Dick Move’ would like to say a few words…

In celebration of the When Cannons Fade two year anniversary extravaganza, I’m getting to write an article for Hoagy. I’ve been keeping up with this blog since its inception, so I’m excited to take part in the celebration and contribute a little something of my own. This is only fitting since Hoagy has often declared me as responsible for getting him hooked on gaming again. While this bears a modicum of truth, (only a modicum? – Ed) I don’t feel like an apology is necessary since he’s clearly been enjoying getting back into painting and gaming. (yup, you got me there! – Ed)

With this spirit in mind, I’ve decided to write a bit about why I like to play and what gets me pumped for a game. If I’m being perfectly honest, which I usually am, playing a game of 40k or WFB is just a form of escapism and a way to get my competitive juices flowing. Being surrounded by good friends a few libations and a good pizza has never hurt things either, though.

Like reading a good book, playing a good video game, or watching a great movie, playing a game lets me escape from the demands and drudgery of every day life. As with all of those other things, a good game let’s me forget about my troubles for a while and get absorbed into the action as I identify with various characters or game pieces. More than any of those other media, though, gaming gives me complete control over what’s going on. I think a lot of us gamers tend to be managerial, leader type personalities. Controlling your game pieces gives you a situation that, unlike real life, you are faced with a situation where you are clearly in the drivers seat at all times. If that’s not a good time, I don’t know what is.

Being neither a WAAC or FAAC gamer, I enjoy all aspects of the game from painting to playing.  Since we’re talking about playing here today, though, I have to admit that I’m a pretty competitive person.  I took the ‘Strengths Finder 2.0 Gallup’ test years ago and came up with “achiever” as one of my talent themes.  This came as no surprise to me, as I love crushing the competition and achieving any goals that I set for myself.  This isn’t to say that I’m a sore loser at all. I’m mature enough to know that if I lost, there is a reason that I need to find- mistakes I made that I can learn from. Gaming really gives me a chance to let my competitive nature out of the cage, but in a nice relaxing way. A game of toy soldiers isn’t exactly high stakes most of the time, so it’s nice to be engaged in a competition that won’t have any repercussions in real life.

This brings us to the last reason I play wargames- camaraderie. For years I have kept my gaming in the basement. (With some lotion and a basket? – Ed) While I occasionally shop at the FLGS, I just can’t bring myself to go in and find a pickup game.  Possibly I’m a little shy, but I really I think this stems back to some bad experiences playing MtG and video games with total strangers who turned out to be complete dicks.  Take playing Counterstrike, for example.  I’m not very good at it.  So, back in the day when I tried to get in a pickup game online, things typically wouldn’t go very well for me. Most of the time I’d be dead within seconds and didn’t have the opportunity to get better.  Just try asking a hard-core counterstrike player to let up for a second so you can get used to the game play or level layout some time and see how well that works out.  Much like this, I’ve found experiences in gaming in the past where, the community isn’t willing to help a new player- they’re more interested in seal clubbing.  I’m starting to change my tune on this a bit lately, as I’ve found a lot of really cool people in the community online, but I’ve still not had the opportunity to start going to tourneys yet, but it’ll be happening soon, I promise- especially now that I feel I’ve got my game up to a pretty high level.  I guess I don’t have to worry about getting my ass kicked by 14 year olds too much anymore.

There is one thing the FLGS and tourney scene typically can’t offer, though- pizza and beer.  While I can admit that there are decent people to play with out there, no game outside of my basement can recreate the experiences of good friends getting together over a close game, sharing some drinks, and grabbing some food.  Now that’s something to get excited about.

*************

And there you have it. I asked (read: pestered) Dethy to write up a little something for WCF as part of the 2 year celebration. So, I would like to say a big THANK YOU! to him for squeezing this in between School, writing for Dick Move, House of Paincakes and all the other stuff too. Not only is he the master of large batch painting, he’s also the master of the cowbell:

Cheers for now!

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Some WIP updates – multi-tasking aint so bad.

Throwing caution to the wind, I have actually been working on several projects at once. I’ve actually found it somewhat liberating, as I can see progression on a number of different things at once, instead of painting one mini/unit and then thinking ‘wow, I still have a shit load of stuff to do’.

Did some more work on Evan’s Nurgle Rhino. I figured I should as I was running out of excuses lol! Weathered it a little, using the same technique I had used on my Chimera a little while back:

Next i’ll be adding the rusted metal colors on there, and figuring out what color to do all the gross bits. Painting this up prompted me to start another side project, which happened frighteningly quick, but I won’t go into detail here, as i’m writing a separate article about it. I’ll show you a teaser though:

I also started on a Wolf Guard Terminator as well. He’s painted using the recipe I used on the other shap I showed  y’all recently.  I’ll be redoing the flesh though, as I wasn’t happy with the way it turned out with this formula:

Arse shot!

There are some spots that need tidying up, but I want to add some weathering too, so I’ll wait till i’ve done that. I also have a Black Templar Rhino sitting on my worktop that keeps honking it’s horn impatiently at me. I suspect that little bugger will get worked on over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Thats it for today! i’ll be back shortly, enjoy!

Paul

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When Cannons Fade – 2 years old!

Time for cake! When Cannons Fade is 2 years old! it doesn’t seem like that long ago when I thought I would casually write a blog about the aspects of the gaming hobby that interest me. Primarily the building and painting and also touching on the gaming side of it also.

I’m actually quite suprised at how involved it has all become with posting updates, work in progress and all that has all become a part of the hobby as a whole for me. One of my favorite things, though, is the connections that this has bought me. I’ve made new friends all over the world and it really feels good to be a part of the international gaming community.

Self indulgent trip down memory lane.

So, what was WCF doing 2 years ago this month? lets have a look:

I opened the doors to the blog with lyrics to a song I wrote many years ago, which will end up on a Crusader album at some point. The song is called ‘War-Torn and Bleeding’ and I think set the tone for what was to come:
http://whencannonsfade.com/2008/11/07/war-torn-and-bleeding/

To start getting some filler material (as I wasn’t too sure what the hell i’d be putting on here at that point) I posted up some of the WIP pictures of my then recently accquired Dreadnaught from the Assault on Black Reach box set:
http://whencannonsfade.com/2008/11/10/wip-aobr-dreadnaught/

Eventually the bad boy was finished, and here he is in all his Black Templified glory:

A solemn note to November brings us to Remembrance Day, and WCF put up the poem ‘For The Fallen’ written by Laurence Binyon in remembrance of the men and women whose lives were lost in the First World War. This is applicable to all conflicts though, I think. It also linked in well with the namesake of this blog, Bolt Thrower, who used a verse from this poem in the track ‘For Victory’:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

While looking through old photographs, I happened upon some pictures of the old Forge World Nurgle Dreadnaught which I had painted many moons ago. My good friend Matt now has this although in light of recent events here at WCF HQ, I may need to get another (more on that soon!).
http://whencannonsfade.com/2008/11/14/from-the-vaults-forge-world-nurgle-dreadnought/

Another dig around the vaults unearthed some pictures of my Forward Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff that I had painted shortly after getting back into the hobby (thanks Colin…). Warmachine was what hooked me into gaming again, which of course was my gateway drug back to the dealer that is Games Workshop.
http://whencannonsfade.com/2008/11/14/from-the-vaults-forward-kommander-sorscha-kratikoff/

Strangely enough, I still haven’t even taken my Epic Sorscha out of the packet. I’ll get to her, one day!

Lastly I posted up a video clip of one of my many Bolt Thrower songs, which had been put to scenes of aerial combat, and looks great.
http://whencannonsfade.com/2008/11/21/new-page-added-the-work-of-matt-crump/

I also announced that I would be putting up a page for my mate Matt so I could put some of his miniatures in there, as I really like his work, and we have traded recipes, tips, tricks and techniques for about 9 years now. His work, including the drool-inducing Abbadon the Despoiler can be seen here: http://whencannonsfade.com/2008/11/21/new-page-added-the-work-of-matt-crump/

And that drew November to a close for WCF. A little wobbly, I agree, but I was totally winging it, and pretty much still am 🙂

 So thats it! my humble beginnings in Blogland! I like to think that it’s come pretty far since then, and I have conciously tried not to post too much WIP stuff up, as it started to look like I could never finish anything lol!

Plans are afoot!

I wasn’t too sure when to announce this, and I probably will do a ‘big deal’ post about it when its finalized, but I have been working behind the scenes on starting up WcF as an online business. Essentially my small acorn is selling gaming minis and supplies at a discounted rate. Initially I will be selling this stuff on Ebay, with updates and links through this site, including offering further discounts to regular readers of WcF. I’ve already sent in for various certificates, a ‘DBA’ certificate and all the other mind numbing stuff you need to run a home business. Essentially, as soon as all this comes back, then I’ll be opening the doors!

Thank you, dear readers, for sticking with me, not only through this wall of text, but since the beginning! I hope I will be adding many more candles to this cake!

Cheers!

Paul

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2nd anniversary is on the horizon!

Actually, it’s even closer than that, like, this Sunday! I can’t believe that 2 years ago, I thought ‘what the hey, i’ll give this blogging thing a go’ and here I am, still posting away, forging friendships and getting up to all sorts of general asshatery. I will be celebrating next week with some more articles, some interesting news, and maybe some pizza and beer, stay tuned!

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From the mighty halls of Asaheim

‘Come my brothers, come walk with me
to the new worlds across the Great Sea
In Asaheim our destinies lie
as warriors at The Emperors side…’

I decided to take a step out of my current projects and do something completely different. I have some odds and sods that I picked up off Ebay, like Deamonettes, Chaos Warriors and whatnot, just odd minis, not whole units, so I could change things up once in a while. I Also thought it would be a good way to push myself in terms of techniques and strive to get me up to a higher standard. So, reaching into my drawers (hehe) I pulled out this chap and set to work.

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Space Wolves, being a frustrated viking myself, so I was pretty intrigued as to how he was going to turn out. I debated at first whether or not to go with dark grey armor, or the lighter ice blue/grey armor. I settled on the latter, as so much of my other stuff is supergrimdark so the change of pace was quite satisfying.

I spent 10 hours (roughly) on this chap, but I’m very pleased with the results. I have to pick up some of this adhesive stuff to apply the decal to the shoulder pad. I’d forgotten how much I hated water slide decals, especially for shoulder pads. Trying to apply a flat surface to a rounded one will ineveitably lead to frustrating creases. I remember Dethtron telling me about this stuff you paint over the decal which basically fuses the membrane to the surface of the mini.

This was the recipe I used for my Space Wolf:

Armor:

Basecoat with a 1:2:1 mix of Space Wolf Grey, Shadow Grey and Codex Grey. Wash with Devlan Mud in the armor recesses. Don’t worry about being tidy! The add progressivley more Space Wolf Grey to the base mix and paint the armor plates, concentrating more on the outer edges to get that defined edging.

Bones: 

Base coat of snakebite leather. Devlan mud wash over the basecoat. Re-apply snakebite leather on the higher parts to begin your highlights. Add bleached bone to this for your highlights. Take this all the way up to bleached bone, or even skull white, depending on how ‘bright’ you want it. 

Yellow areas: 

Base coat of Tausept Ochre, add some skull white to this and paint a layer on. Wash with devlan mud and gryphonne sepia (concentrate more on the edges). Add skull white for highlights. 

Eagle/helm trim: 

Base coat is a 1:1 mix of shining gold and scorched brown. Wash with devlan mud. Add layer of shining gold on the high points. Add mithril silver to this for highlights. 

Jewels: 

Scab red base coat, followed by blood red, add vomit brown to the blood red for highlights finished with a dot of skull white. 

Shoulder pad rims: 

Base coat of Bolt Gun Metal, washed with devlan mud. Mithril silver to give worn look to the very edges.

As always, comments and criticisms are always welcomed!

When Cannons Fade is rapidly approaching its 2nd birthday (seriously, where has the time gone?) and there may be a few changes going on around here. I’ll reveal more on or around November 7th, along with some self indulgent ‘looking back’ at WCF since it’s inception.

Cheers!

Paul

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APB – Big Jim’s Chaos Army stolen, please read!

As is the dread of any gamer who sinks a lot of love, time, effort and money into their hobby, the last thing you want to happen is that your shit gets stolen. Well, it’s happened to Big Jim, contributer to the House of Paincakes and his own blog ‘Galaxy in Flames’.

I’m pretty sure that his Chaos army will make its way to Ebay, or bartertown or one of the other trading/buying/selling webites very soon, so I implore you, dear readers, to have a bit of vigilance and keep your eyes open and let Jim know if you see his minis coming up for sale. Check out his blog to see the minis, they are beautifully painted and very unique. Lets see if we can get some back for him. Here are a couple of pictures of Jim’s Minis:

Click on both links in the first paragraph to read the full articles on both Jim’s blog and the HOP. There is also a drive in the community to dontate any chaos stuffs that you can to get him back up to speed.

Good luck! WCF will do its bit to help!

Paul

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Rally round the flag, boys, rally once again!

Last Sunday, in all its warm sunny glory, saw myself, my good lady Diana, my son and my future mother-in-law high-tailing it down I-80 to Minooka, Illinois to go to a pumpkin patch. We were to rendezvous with Colin (Dethtron) and his Dr. Girlfriend there shortly after noon. This place was pretty cool, it was relatively cheap and there was a lot of stuff going on, including, much to my excitement, an American Civil War battle re-enactment. Anyone who knows me well will know of my love for the ACW, and will know that I was once a ACW re-enactor myself in ol’ Blighty (yes, we really do have ACW re-enactments over there!). I was a private (later Corporal) in the 24th Michigan, part of the ‘Iron Brigade’.

It’s been a good 15 or so years since I took to the field amidst the rattle of musket fire and the earth-shaking boom from the artillery, and it was great to see the field pieces set up ready for action. We all walked around the living history camps before the battle started, in both US and CS areas. I was like a big kid and was loving every minute of it. I had to share my nerdy knowledge of the Civil War with the others as we wandered about. I remarked to Colin that this was ‘Wargaming on a larger scale’. It was great to hear the fife and drum music, to which I could sing the old marching song words to. Dr. Girlfriend found a new friend in one of the the Cavalry’s mounts, and apparently spent the rest of the afternoon mentioning about ‘getting another horse’. Good luck with that one Dethy. I’m sure you’re garden is big enough for it and Loki won’t mind 🙂

Cannons roared and muskets sung their battle hymns as the confederate forces tried to repel the armies of the North, and seemed to do well in the first instance, but then the line began to crumble and the Army of the Potomac gained more and more ground by the minute ending in a defeat and surrender for the Confederate forces.

After the display we hauled ass all the way back down the hill to the farm, where it dawned on me that I had caught the sun pretty well. Dammit! Dethy was asked (read: told) by the little fella to ‘pick me up’ and was consequently carried back down the hill for the most part. I’m pretty sure that he was being taught how to spit as well. Thanks Uncle Dethron!

Probably up to no good...

Man, was I bitten by the bug again! I did mention that I would like to get back into re-enactment, but I got ‘the look’ from Diana, which told me ‘don’t you dare!’ So I guess I’ll have to assuage my hunger for this by attending other events and actually painting my 15mm ACW army and playing the rules system I have. Not suprisingly, a lot of the people on the ‘scene’ (back home, at least) who were re-enactors were/are also ardent wargamers…

So, we saw lots of pumpkins, a couple of tantrums (boy that was fun…) and ate way more unhealthy food that we probably should have: funnel cake, pizza, chocolate preztels, real lemonade etc etc.

On my signal... ...unleash hell!

 

In other news, played a game of 40K against my buddy Evan on Saturday. I fielded my holy Black Templars against his foul traitors of Chaos. Evan managed to squeak out a win, due mostly in part by a couple of stupid decisions on my part later in the game. The dice gods were certainly not with me that day either. I’m not a sore loser (for the most part, lol!) but I really did seem to be making constant lousy rolls throughout the game, so, after we finished, I filed them in the garbage can… So, I need to get some new ones. I’d actually heard about the GW dice cube die having air bubbles and whatnot in them (not that I’m using this for an excuse) but I thought I should just try some new ones anyway.

I’ll be starting on a Black Templar Rhino this week, and I’ll be posting a tutorial on that as well, so stay tuned!

Cheers!

Paul.

1

Kuma’s Corner. Bastard size hamburgers.

I know I know, its a hobby blog related with wargaming. Well, it’s my blog, and this warrants an entry. Or maybe requires a warrant for entry.

Anyone who lives in, or visited Chicago should (if you don’t already) know about Kuma’s Corner. A burger joint thats about the size of a shoebox with loud and very heavy music playing. The place has been in in the national press numerous times, and also on local TV networks.  It’s famous for having incredible hamburgers all with names of heavy metal bands.

I went there with the Boss Lady and some friends on Saturday night. The place is also renowned for its waiting times to get seated, and we waited an hour and a half(ish) before we sat at our table. Who cares? its KUMAS! The food is totally worth the wait. I ordered myself the ‘Plaguebringer’ while the Boss Lady ordered the ‘Iron Maiden’. Food = good, beer = great. Good times had by all.

So, if you’re in Chicago, do yourself a favor, and go to Kuma’s, order a burger served up with a side of heavy metal.

When Cannons Fade approved!

1

For those about to rock – Take a leadership test or suffer a ‘perils of the warp’ attack.

Since time immemorial metal (as in HEAVY metal) has been synonymous with dragons, warriors, warlocks, and general fantasy or sci-fi themes. On the one side you’ll have bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Bathory, Black Sabbath etc, and then you’ll get bands like Thor and Manowar on the other.

Leaving furry codpieces and fluffy boots aside one only has to browse the metal section of any music store (if there are any left) to see images of desperate warriors cleaving through ranks of the enemy, or maybe some lone figure on a quest or calling upon the arcane magick of the underworld (you get the idea).

 Games such as Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 are a veritable smorgasbord of inspiration and lyrical subjects, and the imagery certainly helps to inspire. Look, for example, at bands like the mighty Bolt Thrower and also Sabbat, both having released songs or whole albums that are firmly rooted in the universes created by Games Workshop.

 Anyone who has seen my lyrics will probably know straight away where I get about 50% of my inspiration from… and I quote:

‘Sons turned against their father,
And the Imperium of Man,
Siding with the Chaos Gods
The lost and the damned.
The clash of mighty beings
Is written upon the stars,
As he hammers forth his justice
In the bloodiest of wars…’

Taken from ‘Thunderkill’.

All it really boils down to is that we are able to take our nerdism to the next level 🙂

 This weekend saw me and my buddy Dethtron and our band ‘Crusader’ head into Bombshelter Recording Studio to begin the arduous task of recording our EP ‘Rise of the Templars’. We spent 3 days working closely with Dan ‘The Man Who Can’ Precision, who was the founding member of ‘Rise Against’ and also has ties with ‘88 Fingers Louie’ and ‘Ryans Hope’.

It was a blast going through the process and although some of it was repetitive and boring, we found ways to amuse ourselves and pass the time. I have still yet to lay my vocal tracks down, as some gremlins in the machine put us back a little on Sunday morning.

The EP will be a 4 song affair, and I have to say, I’m very excited about it. We’ve put our 110% heart and soul into this and I think it’s really showing. Dethtron has gone that extra mile to add some synth effects into a couple of the tracks to add another shovelful of epic awesomeness onto the mix. You can hear some rough stuff at this site, which Dethy graciously uploaded the WIP tracks to.

While we were there, I spied a copy of the old Talisman game by GW. Turns out that Dan was a bit of a gamer himself a while back… Me and Dethy popped the boxes open to find them full of old Squat minis, and some Chaos Renegades and a ton of old skool plastic Space Marines!

I’ll bring you more info as developments unfold. Including our first shirt design 🙂 All of this stuff will be available to buy through When Cannons Fade as soon as its ready to go.

Throw the horns!

Paul.

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