The night that was TNG...

TNG being Thursday night gaming!

Well, it was a good turn out, many games were played, and more drinks were consumed. Everyone had a great time, and I hope to see them more at the next meeting!

A difficult question needing discussion...

The night kicked off with a group playing the great game LOGO. I heard lots of laughing and joking just from this group, and they played the game about 4 times I think. Just goes to show how a game so simple can be so social. Moving around the room we had a mahjong game going on, with a brand new player and a experienced player showing them the ropes. I did have to jump in and help the new player (even though I missed the most obvious move..oops!)

MageStones, a game that I highly rate and love, got a good airing, with two players having a good few games of it. A simple game like naughts and crosses with a twist, I can see this being a great hit with everyone.

Take that lowly monk!

Talisman was next, and although only two players, quite a few were involved, laughing at the undeafeatable monk, and a dragon slaying bard (!). That game ended messy, with a unanimous win for the monk, again. It seems like you draw him you win....

Around the room there was a game of Monopoly going on, with a improvised rule I overheard “its only cheating if you are caught”, which I like the sound of.

....But all in good jest

The point someone cheated....

And finally we had a game on Warhammer 40k 6^th 

Edition. I think the new rules shine much better than previous, and a testament that the players had almost no experience of the game, it went smooth with a somewhat predictable Space Marine win (best moment, a dreadnaught assaulting a 10 man group of Ork boys...)

All in all it was a great night. There was plenty of space left, so we want more people to come! Bring your own games, or come and see what we have there ourselves. There will be something for everyone, and I can nearly guarantee that there will be a game there that you will not have played, so come on down and let us show you what you are missing!

Thursday Night Gaming will be every on Thursday night at the Thimblemill Pub, Smethwick, from 730 pm till late. Entry is £2, and there will be at least 10 games supplied by Farlands Games every week, ranging from Scrabble all the way up to Warhammer 40000. Come on down and say hello, we welcome everyone and there will always be something to play!

Painting a Ork Dakkajet

So I painted a Ork Dakkajet this weekend. I have wanted to paint one of these since GW released the model, so decided what the hell, lets do it. And was I glad that I did, this was a fun model to paint!

So from the beginning, here is how it comes out of the box:

Only three sprue’s, but these are packed with fun little bits of detail and items on them. All was cast well, no problems there.

Putting it together was a breeze, but watch those wing supports! I put them on upside down to begin with, which gave me a headscratch moment when I tried to connect the exhausts.

As I have found with most GW instructions for models, its best to use these as a example of how to put these models together, not the be all and end all. A little experimentation can yield some simple yet nice conversions straight out of the box.

It took about 45 minutes to put it together to this stage.

Note the pilot and weapons are not built at the moment, this allows for easier painting of the main aircraft.

I under-coated it with Tamiya Grey Primer, then put a base coat of Humbrol Crimson down over the top.

After that, I just had fun with this model. I used a variety of different techniques to get the battle damage in place, and played around for around 3 hours until I liked it. (One note, Humbrol crimson spray is a pain to paint over. It has a very gloss finish, and shows up every brush stroke on top of it. Lesson learnt, next test will be with a coat of matt varnish over the top before painting.)

Like I said, I had some real fun painting this, and it is going into the commissions folder to show people what I can do. For now, this is on ebay. Go and check it out if you want, maybe you might even want it, I don't know. More of these can be painted, so if you want a squadron painting, head over to facebook.com/farlandsgames and drop me a message!

Warhammer 40000 6th Edition – First Impression

I just received my copy of the new rulebook (I know, a bit late, but there were some supply issues) and have decided to share my initial response.

The book itself is gorgeous, big and heavy. The paper is thick, and the printing is impeccable. And this is only the normal version, I would love to get my hands on a collectors edition.

As with most of the GW rulebooks, the rules come first in the book, followed by 300+ pages of background, missions, hobby related items and reference tables. I have yet to read through the 130 pages of rules yet, but a few new rules such as mystery terrain and artifacts really stood out on a quick flick through.

There are a lot of pictures of beautiful boards and army’s in this book. I think maybe to many. I do believe there should be two versions you can buy, this version and an version with just the rules. Yes there will be a A5 rulebook in the new box set most likely, but the option to get it on its own would be nice, and most gamers would have both anyway.

Overall, I was very impressed with the presentation of this book. I cant comment on the rules, there will be another post soon dicussing them, and only time will tell if they stand up. If you have a spare £45 knocking around I would recommend getting this if not for just the pictures and story alone.

First impression presentation: 9.5

Series 7? Why not!

I have been on a quest for a long time to find a superior paintbrush for my miniature painting. I have used Italeri, Citadel and Vallejo brushes prior to getting the Winsor and Newtons.

Out of them three, Citadel brushes were the best of the lot, but still something was lacking. I don't know if I had bad luck, but I could never keep a point on a Citadel brush. I look after my equipment, but after about 6 hours, the point was gone, usually split, which made almost anything really difficult to achieve.

I had wanted some series 7's for a long time, but could not justify the money to buy them, as they are really quite expensive for a paintbrush. But when I decided to try and take my painting full time, I thought it about time to get some. And boy was I glad I did.

Forget the cost. That is irrelevant. These brushes will not make you paint better, but they will allow you to paint better.

Note the italics there. With a brush of this standard, you never battle the brush. It always does what you want, and will always come back to a point, even after splaying the bristles on a down stroke, it always comes to a point. This means you can now concentrate harder on getting the paint exactly where you want it to be every time. Which is what will make you paint better.

I think the confidence boost of holding a £10+ paintbrush also has something to do with it, and they also look awesome. Buy some brush soap, look after them, and they will look after you for a long time to come.

These have been the biggest leap in my painting since I learnt how to thin my paints properly.

Remember, these brushes will not make you paint better, but they will allow you to paint better.

Buy some. You will not regret it.