Saturday 28 June 2014

Vampifan's Views 51 - Monthly Musings 31

Vampirella by Mike Mayhew
As we approach the half year point I have had a very busy and productive month. My painting mojo has kicked in with a vengeance and I have been painting loads of Zombicide survivors and zombivores (player character zombies) this month. Expect to see reviews of my newly painted Zombicide figures over the coming weeks. I have neglected them for far too long and with the imminent release of Zombicide Season 3 (I can't wait!) I knew I had to make inroads into my mountain of unpainted plastic figures. My unpainted plastics far outnumber my unpainted metal figures. Anyway, I am making excellent progress on them.
In addition to rediscovering my figure painting mojo, my card modelling enthusiasm is back and I have been making good progress on my Stoelzel's Structures Brummie's Burgers fast food restaurant model. The car park is completed, The inner and outer walls are all made. A lot of furniture and props have been made. So what's left to do? More furniture and props (litter bins, lots of chairs and toilet furniture) and of course, the roof, which I'm not looking forward to making due to its unusual shape. But I will complete it and hopefully soon. It is a very impressive looking model and I can't wait to feature it in a batrep.

My Google Nexus 10 Tablet
I have finally entered the 21st century and have just bought a Google Nexus 10 tablet. This is both a back up for my computer and my camera and best of all, will allow me access to the Internet if ever I am away from home for anything longer than a day. At the start of this month I had a short stay in hospital (nothing major I'm glad to say) but being away from home for just a few days made me realise how much I missed my computer. I am still figuring out how to use the tablet as I have never owned one before but fortunately my brother is a computer expert and he has helped me immensely and will continue to advise me. It is mainly thanks to him that I was able to get a connection to the Internet for my tablet. I know it will be a great boon to me once I figure out everything I can do with it. Fortunately, I'm a fast learner and I have a great teacher. My brother has a Google Nexus 7 but I preferred the larger screen of the Nexus 10, which is why I chose that device.

I'd like to mention a couple of projects run by two of my followers. First up is a charity event being  held next weekend. Full details can be found here at https://www.justgiving.com/Safehouse 
Safe House is an Edinburgh based 24 hour tabletop zombie wargames marathon, hosted by Simon Hunter from Project Zeke Miniatures and James Brown from Hive City Terrain, to raise money for The Sick Kids Friends Foundation. The event will run from the 5th to the 6th of July 2014, from midday to midday. I've already made my donation to what I consider a very worthy cause. I urge you to help Simon and James out as much as you can and leave a donation.
Secondly, my good friend Toni Morey has finally launched his figure company, Not Yet Dead Miniatures and you can find them here at http://www.nyd-miniatures.com/epages/64700104.sf/en_GB/?ViewObjectPath=%2FShops%2F64700104
Toni makes very detailed 1/35th scale zombie and survivor figures, as well as weapon packs. I wish his company every success in the future but I do feel he will sell a lot more figures if he also produces his figure range in 28mm scale. Still, I applaud him for trying something different.

This past month, I have been doing a lot of reading. I already mentioned and reviewed Juggernaut by Adam Baker in my last post. Other books I have read this month include GURPS:Zombies (review of that next time), Vampires: A Hunter's Guide (review coming soon), The Walking Dead graphic novel volume 20 and Zombie Tramp graphic novel volume 1. I really ought to do a review of my zombie and vampire graphic novels, as I own a great many of them. I am currently reading The Dummies Guide to Nexus Tablets. Well, you have to start somewhere, so don't judge me too harshly! I am also reading the novel V Wars by Jonathan Maberry and I have just started collecting the V Wars comics. Full marks to anyone who guessed that the "V" stands for "Vampire."

Watch out for a special announcement on my blog in just over a week's time, when I'll be announcing a prize draw competition for you to enter. This will tie in with this blog's 500th posting. See you soon and take care!

22 comments:

  1. Busy busy busy! You seem to have a lot going on. AS for the leap into the 21st Century I will wave as you speed of as I am strictly stuck in the 20th Centurry. Take care mate and glad the hospital trip was not a long one.

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    1. Thanks, Clint. My hospital stay was thankfully very short but it felt a lot longer! My god, I was so bored in there! Still, I'm feeling very healthy now. Long may it continue!

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  2. All good stuff Bryan, but too much Vampiric nonesense going on for my liking ! (only joking of course).
    Hope everything goes well with the coming hospital visits and they don't interfere too much with your gaming porjects.

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    1. I was half expecting a "why's Bryan posting on a Saturday?" comment from you, Joe. The truth is I got tomorrow's post all typed up today and I couldn't think of any good reason not to post it today.
      As you know, I have four hospital appointments in the first two weeks of July. They will, inevitably, have some impact on my hobby time but hopefully not too much.

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  3. Well, it's good to keep busy - and you seem to be very good!

    I need to regain my own enthusiasm for card modelling, which has been totally gone since about this time last year.

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    1. I can sympathise, Hugh. It took me a long time to get my card modelling mojo back, but now that I have it, I'm determined to make the most of it. I have way too many card modelling projects I want to do.

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  4. So productive, just finished my first game of Zombicide, epic stuff!

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    1. Zombicide is my favourite board game, Fran. It is epic!

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  5. What a bust bee! I just saw the release date for Zombicide 3 and thought of you. I'm glad the hospital visits are short.

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    1. Many thanks, Robert. I 'm getting very excted about Zombicide season 3.

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  6. It's good to hear your mojo is back! It's funny how it comes and goes as a tide. I am looking forward to seeing them!

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    1. Mathyoo, it is so easy to lose your mojo and so hard to get it back. Consequently, I am making the most of my new found enthusiasm and trying to get as much done as I can.

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  7. Bryan, busy, busy, busy :-) Doing a 25 hour day??

    Thank you very much for the company plug :-).

    The figs will be released in 28/30mm!! We are just revamping (sry for the name abuse) the sculpts for a release in september. I was planing a kickstarter to help with the costs -because setting NYD up was really expensive - but now Zombicide 3 is out, I will have to rethink that, cause it would be "oh god another bunch of 28mm survivors"!!!

    Take care, and just remember that you will be seeing alot of pretty nurses :-)

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    1. Toni, mate, as far as I'm concerned there simply aren't enough hours in the day!

      That's fantastic news about the 28mm scale figure launch. I know that a few of my followers have expressed an interest in your figures but only if you reduced their size.
      Zombicide season 3 will be over before the end of July so it shouldn't impact too much on your proposed release date.By the way, I see that Zombicide season 3 reached its $100,000 target goal in just a few minutes and is close to half a million dollars on day one of its launch! Incredible!

      Ooh, pretty nurses? Colour me excited!

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  8. I REALLY don't want to start a new scale for my zombies, but Toni's stuff is just sooooo nice!

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    1. I hope you read Toni's comment above, Adam. Great news for all 28mm scale fans!

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  9. Good to see you keeping busy and out of trouble, 21st century boy.
    Keep up the great work Dude.
    Nurses are hot, I think it's the uniforms.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Bob.
      Yes, nurses are hot. It's not just their uniforms, however. It's their friendly but authorative attitude as well.

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  10. Seem to have lost the post I just wrote ???

    Anyway, glad to see your keeping busy. Thought of you twice this week, once when I saw the season 3 announcement, and then just now when I got my "humble bundle" weekly advert as they have a number of Vamp comics this week.

    Hope the roof of the Brums- Burgers doesn't cause too much hassle, but it is admittingly harder than the easy variant. Hope if goes smoothly for you.

    -Carl

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    1. I was delighted to hear from you, Carl. getting back into card modelling again has been a real tonic for me. I'd forgotten just how enjoyable it can be. I really should take a WIP shot of the fast food restaurant as it is looking very impressive. That big curved window has come out a treat and wasn't nearly as difficult to make as I thought. I'll work out how to do the roof through my usual method - lot's of patience and dry runs before gluing anything.

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  11. Awesome I've been contemplating getting a tablet for a while still on the fence. I love my Kindle but would like to be able to read the tons of pdfs I own in all there glory on a full colour device. Perhaps If I come into some cash I may get one.

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    1. I like my new tablet, Simon. It cost me £240 from Amazon, which does sound expensive but bear in mind it was reduced from £400. I call that a damned good bargain!

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