The Weekly Top X - Some Kind of Duet.. or Something

Ok, ok. I have no idea how I got wrangled into this, but apparently Lauby has some amazing super-persuasion powers because I volunteered and don’t even feel dirty. (Maybe it’s just that I have no shame? I don’t know.) However, this week was full of a lot of really touching and personal stuff, with some great opportunities to enjoy more than just fluffy nonsense. 

Hey Everyone!  I'm back from vacation and properly back in the groove that is non-vacation life.  I've got Lo backin' me up this fine Friday and it should be a pretty great Weekly Top X.  Now, If I know anything about the differences between Brent and Lo, it's that the banter should be on topic today and I'll be responsible for ALL of the crudity.  Let's get started!

1) The Realm of Dungeons & Dragons - The Killing Joke
Lauby: I think we can all relate to this.  And not just in games either.  The sad fact of the matter is that while change is often good, it is also profitable.  In any case this is a great post on the subject that brings up a number of sad similarities with the TTG that most of you/us play.  Oh!  And be sure you click on the link that Doctor Warlock had in the post.  Some very good stuff in that as well.  2 for 1, baby!

Lo: Starting off on a serious tone, a pretty cool thought on the environment of games and gaming, from the RPG side of things rather than miniatures. I’ve got a major soft spot for discussing the way the landscape of gaming has changed over the years, and this post has a great perspective.

Gaming on a Budget: Aerials and Antennae for Your Minis

There's something happenin' here...

Hey everybody.  I'm going to be making a triumphant return from the land of terrain building in this week's article to discuss a snazzy way to zazz up your minis by adding some swanky ass new antennae and aerials to them for the low low cost of nothing.

I discovered this trick years ago in my never ending quest to save money in my gaming budget to put towards more minis and to make sure I don't waste anything.  Armed only with an old paintbrush, glue, and paint you will soon be able to add antennae to your tanks, vox casters, radio operators, etc etc- the list is endless.  This is a great way to spruce up command tanks, radio controlled tanks, other vehicles, and infantry models that will look fantastic in any scale up to about 28mm heroic.

40k Charity Auction - Painting With Purpose

Hey everyone, I'm back from vacation and in the process of catching up on pretty much everything.  While I wade through emails both professional and personal, I thought I'd ease back into the blogging routine with a nice little shout out.

That Guy James is got himself a charity fundraiser going on. I'll let him explain:

Hi there,


My name is James Arnold, and I am a miniature wargame painter with a mission.


I have just finished a new 2,000 point space marine army for Warhammer 40k, completed entirely for a charitable organization: Ohanamalu Tae Kwon Do. Operating out of Buffalo, New York, this amazing group is out making a difference in the community every week. They give disadvantaged youth a place where they can be respected and safe for a few hours during the day while keeping healthy and active with non-contact Tae Kwon Do.





I am writing to ask for your help to spread the word. Awareness is critical, and anything you can do to help would be fantastic.


The auction is live on Ebay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170675164071


Please feel free to contact me anytime with questions or requests.


Thank you so much for your time.

James Arnold

thatguyjames@gmail.com

thatguyjames.net

 

Best of luck to James and his mission.  You've got four days to get out there and help some kids via proxy!

SinSynn: Confused and Angry...sorta....

Hey, folks. SinSynn here.

You guys have had, like...bad weeks, right?
Prolly bad months, and years as well (much like me), but let's not go there, huh?

So, yeah....this post is prolly gonna be bitchy, cuz I'm having a bad week.

*Refuses to spell 'Probably' correctly. Grrrr.....*

So I thought I'd vent a bit about some things in our collective hobby that piss me off, bug me out, and otherwise vex me.
Pretty sure this will become a series of posts...but I'll tell you what:

I will do my best to balance things, cuz there's actually MORE stuff in this hobby that I think is awesome, as opposed to things that suck.

It's Not Always Easy Being a Winner...

There have been a great deal of articles written on the benefits of losing. People quote the inherent learning opportunities gained, the character building it encourages and any number of other entirely reasonable conclusions.

I don't enjoy losing.

At all.

I do however understand that it's going to happen some of the time and so I tend to react to these occasionally losses as an 'occupational hazard' of playing a game involving dice. There also have been quite a few articles published over the years about tournament* and gaming etiquette* but these tend to be biased towards being a good loser, not being a twat while playing and various other highly laudable points of courtesy...

* The best ones were obviously the ones I wrote but some of the others had merit as well ;-)

New Member Monday: dethtron's Odyssey

Greetings folks! We've got two more great blog added to the network this week, and we'll get to those in a second.

Lauby was in town for a few short days and in addition to playing some 40K and FoW with the local crew, we were able to decide on the finalists for the HoP Idol competition, so we'll be making an announcement about that and begin running the contest in earnest shortly.  We're really excited about it, becase, again, we seem to have attracted some of the best writing talent out there for this.

[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Talking As An Owner

As an individual and as a player, I have no real qualms talking about games in an open and honest way. I’ve always been able to express what I enjoy about a game pretty effectively, and I’m not too bad at sharing what I don’t like, either. I just sit down with my buds and chat away (sometimes to their chagrin) giving them the straight dope, no holds barred.