Weekly Top X: Lo and SinSynn Do It (Again)

Last week, Lauby was left to clean up the mess of Lo & SinSynn's debauchery. They basked in the afterglow a little and then realized that Lauby doesn't have the same... proclivities and decided to throw their own party. And promised to clean up...

Lo: Whao. Look at that mess. Even my teenage kids don't make that kinda shit. SinSynn, you did a number...

SinSynn: LIES! Obviously, you used some sorta...Mind Control device on me! I've heard rumors from the Males of your species that Terran Females possess terrifying powers....I'm starting to believe they're true. I am updating my memory units and elevating the 'threat rating' of your ENTIRE GENDER at this very moment. Also, your primitive technology is to blame here. Your 'operating systems' and 'graphic user interfaces' are incapable of simple Direct Synapse Transfer....so I will TOTALLY use that as my excuse...

Lo: I don't REMEMBER doing that.. but we gotta get it cleaned up. Dethtron's already pissy because his dog ate his Neil Gaiman shit, we don't need Lauby on us too...This all your fault, SinSynn.

SinSynn: Firstly- I was forced to use my Disintegrator Gun on you to make good my escape! Fortunately for you it was set to 'Massage' (now how did THAT happen?)...but it probably caused your memory loss. Secondly- are you suggesting there's times when Dethtron ISN'T pissy? I refuse to believe that (nice try, Terran Female...I see through your deception). Thirdly (is that a word?)- This is a typical Imperial whitewash...Blame the Xenos for your own ineptitude! Standard Imperial Propoganda.....you 'people' Virus Bomb whole planets and blame US (which is kinda cool, actually).

Regardless, I am NOT accepting the blame on this one. Your Female wiles will not avail you HERE, Earthling... ..ok...maybe they will ;)

Lo: Oh, no. You're not getting away with that. And it was MY idea to apologize and make nice!

SinSynn: Heh, 'women'...so predictable....I feel obligated to remind you that it was ALSO your idea to 'couple' for last week's Top-X. Now two of my tentacles have broken tips, my secretion glands are dry, and I still haven't found my Skimmer Ignition Units....Uh, Terrans call them 'car keys.' How quaint.

Lo: Predictable? Huh. I'll show you... I can do spontaneous... instead of happy, pretty shit, or everyone being nice to each other posts like I always do, this week I am gonna pick a buncha posts about being competitive. I'll talk about NOVA. [muttering] predictable... meh. Men are such... MEN.

SinSynn: Your 'spontaneity' is what caused this, you menace! I'm reaching for my Disintegrator Gun....*sigh* For some reason however, my tentacles are compelling me to listen to you....Yes, folks...Men are suckers...all of us...my Xenos self included...but that's a good idea... my post this week was about Nova so I'm all up in that... ON that... Dammit no way to make that not sound dirty...

Lo: {mumbles} See?

SinSynn: I suspect trickery, Terran Female...and although my dangling appendages are broken and sore, I will agree to do this once again...Please be gentle this time....

HoP Idol: Week 2 Recap

Well hot damn, that was another fun week gone by already.

We've had lots of great hobby tutorials from our contestants this week along with the staunch defense of a favorite underdog army.  I can't wait to see who will be moving on to the next round of the competition.

Don't forget that one of our intrepid contestants will actually be getting immunity this week, but we're not going to reveal who that is just yet.

HoP Idol: Tyranids

Putting a bookend on this week's HoP Idol Competition let's have a look at "the other guy" and his Tyranid paint scheme.  Having painted my fair share of the current line of 'nids, I've got to say that they're a joy to paint up, even if the army sucks donkey cock on the table :(   I'd also like to let the record show that after reading this, I'm suddenly stricken with a mighty thirst for some Red Stripe.... Hooray Beer!

It’s “The Other Guy”, Your HoP Idol.

Today I’m talking about inspiration, painting and theme.

First things first – How I got called “The Other Guy”. At a fancy dress party, my GF of the time was talking to a friend. She was describing her new BF (me) and said “oh..he has just come in” (because me and my friend Dave had just walked in)

At which point her friend goes  (a bit too loudly) “oh, Mr Muscles. Well Done!”

“No…” says my GF, sheepishly “…the other guy”

Right, Inspiration. When it came to painting my Tyranids, I had one inspiration.

HoP Idol: Sorylian Fleet

Today we've got Frontline Gamer sharing a painting tutorial on another fringe game:  Firestorm Armada.  Being a lover of big ass space ships myself, I've looked at this game a few times- this might push me over the edge into "buy me now" territory.

 

Painting Guide: Sorylian Fleet

Right I need to get this out of the way fairly rapidly before anyone gets a snide dig in and says I'm shit at painting and shouldn't be doing any painting guides... I know I'm no where near as good as many of the painting bloggers out there. I never will be so I'm not going to pretend I am. However I do have a few tricks up my sleeves and various people have asked if I'd consider doing some painting guides, but I'm doing this for the HoP Idol contest. So against my better judgement here's my first full on painting guide, and to ease myself into this its an easy one, I'm just painting my Sorylians from Firestorm Armada. Given though that people have asked me to be specific about what I do to the mini's I'm putting a lot of detail into this painting guide and as such it's a damn hefty beast.

Hop Idol: The Blagger's Guide to Painting

And now here is nonother than Von bringing you a nice painting tutorial and creating editing headaches abound for yours truly.

The Blagger's Guide To Painting

I'm not a man given to writing hobby tutorials. See, my hobby is in essence utilitarian; a practice concerned primarily with getting models built, painted and on the board, looking suitably colourful and personal but not by any stretch of the imagination being works of art. I don't tend to read tutorials because they're either overly simplistic exercises in particular techniques or overly technical pieces on how to use an airbrush to perfectly highlight red in seventeen layers, and I'm not married to the idea of buying an airbrush. What I always look for is the tutorial that's pitched somewhere in between, toward the ordinary geezer who just wants something that looks decent and doesn't take forever to do. As the erotic roleplayers on my WoW server always say, don't wait for things to come to you – bring your things to them. With that in mind, here's some advice on blagging it like a good 'un.

HoP Idol: Iron Father Conversion

Next up in the HoP Idol Competition we've got Lantz bringing us a killer conversion chocked full of more pictures than you can shake an SD card at.

Iron Father Conversion Tutorial

Oh snapcycles, look who made it to the next round? Was it because someone had to drop out? Was it because you people voted for me (suckers)? I like to think it’s the latter. Anywho, this week I’ve got a tutorial for you all that I thoroughly enjoyed. If you check out the main blog I write for, www.twin-linked-awesome.blogspot.com you’ll notice I’m an avid tutorial-writer, so this was right up my ally. For this article, I’ve got an Iron Father conversion I ran through a few weeks ago for a new unit in the upcoming 3^rd version release of my AdMech fandex.

SinSynn...talkin' NOVA and stuffs...

Hey folks, SinSynn here.

So, I guess a lotta folks watched the Nova coverage, huh?

Uh...yeah....Not sure WHAT I was doing, Internet-wise, during Nova...

*Probably downloading...'educational videos'...or something*

Oh, c'mon...you knew that joke was coming :P

Now shhhh! Lie still, this'll all be over soon....
Or not.
;)

Seriously, though, I wish I had the time, and the attention span, to watch the proceedings.

I'm like a cracked-out, overly-caffeinated hummingbird at the best of times, honestly.
I'm the guy that has 12 browser tabs open, cuz I can't wait the single second it takes a page to load.

HoP Idol: Display Boards 101

Now here is a tutorial that all of you tournament goers will love.  Inquisitor_Dunn is about to drop some science on you and show you how he made his most recent display board for the 40K tourney scene.

Display Boards 101

  by Inquisitor_Dunn

 

My first display board.



I don't consider myself the greatest modeler or the best painter out there. Heck, my armies are all pretty much average. So when it came time for me to build a display board, I was pretty intimidated.

HoP Idol: Unlocking the Chaos Gene

Since HOT Panda came in last this past week, we're putting his article up first.  Some of our readers have claimed that earlier posts were favored over the later posts last week.  We'll see if that comes true as HOT Panda defends his beloved Codex:Chaos Space Marines.

Unlocking the Chaos Gene (Codex)

"There is no gene for faith.

When for one reason or another we attempted to change these hard times,

Our own genetic identity became our only true ally...

To finally survive." 

Telepopmusik  - Genetic World

HoP Idol Week 2

Hope you enjoyed yesterday's Quickfire Challenge entries.  I know I had a lot of fun reading them and I think the author's had a lot of fun putting them together.

Since everybody was really antsy about the Internet Famous guest judge for yesterday's challenge, I think I'll go ahead and announce that it is none other than Blackjack and Hookers' Chumbalaya.  He'll be dropping by Thursdayish with the Quickfire results, granting immunity to one of our contestants.

Now until then, we'll be dropping 2 of our regularly scheduled HoP Idol articles on you daily, ending in voting at the end of the day Thursday through Sunday night. 

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Bonus from Rob

Just before declaring his intentions to leave the competition due to his schedule, Rob sent in his Deathwatch list for the Quickfire Challenge.  While he isn't eligible for the competition any longer, we thought it'd be a shame if he went to the trouble to write this and didn't get it out there. 

Ok, so recently I’ve been looking at the Fantasy Flight Games roleplay books. Nobody in my (40k based) gaming group is interested in doing an RPG which is a bit of a shame, as I’m quite taken with the Deathwatch system. Based on that idea, the idea of running a deathwatch army on the table is amazing! Below is a quick 1750 list that I think would work well and would actually be quite fun to play with and against in a fairly competitive environment.

New Member Monday - Lauby Survived Hurricane Irene

Sorry for the late post today.  I wish I could blame Irene for it, but my Hurricane experience was much different than most people's.   Apparently the hills I live next to are just shy of being actual mountains and are excellent for protecting my apartment from the ill effects of severe weather.

HA!  You missed me!! But Seriously, hurricanes are bad news.

While other people lost power or got flooded (which totes sucks BTW), my biggest inconveniences were that nothing was open on Sunday and the War Store is having a shipping delay.  Which is great for me in the grand scheme of things, but unsuitable for use as an excuse for lateness.  In any case, the Quickfire challenge was all up ins today so an early morning NEw Member Monday would have gotten lost in the shuffle anyway.

Your welcome, New Blogs.

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Building an Infinity Army

Lastly today, we've got a real treat for you.  Last week's winner will not only building a list for, but will also be introducing you all to Infinity.  He went well over the space limit that was set for him, but he did such a good job describing the system that many of you might not know, so we decided to allow it.  And hell, he did win last week after all, so he should get something for it, right?

Building an Infinity army

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Boys and their Toys

Ready to see somebody finally take a crack at the new Sisters of Battle "Codex" for 40k?  Well Inquisitor_Dunn has the ....erm.... balls to do just that in his entry for the quickfire challenge. 

2000pt WD Sisters of Battle: "Boys and Toys" List

 

It has been finally completed. The master piece work of art that my fellow Sisters of Battle get stuck with for the foreseeable future. That's right, the White Dwarf codex is complete. After reading it, I can see it was not the fully operational death star we all hoped for. Heck it wasn't even better than the old codex in my opinion.

 

 

 

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Wizard War

Newcomer to the blogging scene, "the other guy," brings us a WFB Empire list with a name that will not only rock the table the next time you're busting out storm of magic, but may soon be topping the melodic power metal charts.

“Wizard War” Army from WFB Empire

Wizard Lord LV4 – Master of FIRE
(General)
 

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Kaptain Von's Kadaverous Kavalkade

Von is taking a risk today and deviating from the paradigm of 40k, WFB, and Warmahordes that we see so often on the net and dropping a Mordheim list on all of us.  Will his risk pay off or will our mystery celebrity judge be of a more risk averse breed?

Undead Warband
500 crowns spent
Warband rating 78

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Twin-linked Awesome

Next up, Lantz does some branding by naming a nice little Vulkan Salamanders list for 40K after his own blog.  Nice move Lantz.

Submitted by: Lantz of www.twin-linked-awesome.blogspot.com
List Name: Twin-Linked Awesome



HQ
x1 Forgefather Vulkan He’stan (190 pts)

HoP Idol Quickfire Challenge: Patient Hunter

First up today we've got HOT Panda's variation on some classic 40K Tau shenanigans.  

2000pts Ninja Tau List - Kauyon "Patient Hunter"

HQ

112 - Shas'el Xv8 - Plasma Rifle, Missile Pods, Multi-Tracker, Hardwired Drone Controller, Shield Drone x 1 & Gun Drone x 1.

107 - Shas'vre Xv8 - Plasma Rifle, Missile Pods, Target Array, Hardwired Multi-Tracker, Hardwired Drone Controller, Gun Drone x1 & Shield Drone x 1;

102 - Shas'vre Xv8 - Plasma Rifle, Missile Pods, Target Array, Hardwired Multi-Tracker, Hardwired Drone Controller & Gun Drone x2

*The three Crisis Suits are one HQ unit with body guard. They are kitted out uniquely to take advantage of wound allocation.  Guns Drones for extra wounds/fire power and shield drones for invulnerable saves

HoP Idol: Quickfire Challenge Week 2

This week we're trying something a little different, and certainly not stolen wholesale from ToP Chef.

The 6 remaining HoP Idol contestants have been given a prompt for a very brief article and were only given 2 days in which to complete it.  After all of the articles have been shown here, a special celebrity guest judge of Internet Fame will decide which article captured the spirit of the challenge best. 

Now here's the sexy part:  the winner of the challenge gains immunity for the week!  That's right, the winner can't be eliminated at all this week.  Pretty damn sexy indeed. 

For this first ever Quickfire Challenge, the contestants have been asked to write an army list, give it a clever name, and briefly explain anything they want to about it (the fluff, how it works on the table, etc).  They weren't given any directions about what points level or gaming system to work at.  They weren't even given a specific purpose like a tournament or friendly historical re-fight to build the list for.  This should allow each entrant to write to his strengths and create a pretty good variety for you readers. 

Stay tuned throughout today, we'll be posting one of the finalists lists every hour until they're all done.

HoP Idol Week 1 Results

If we were on TV this is where you would be hearing all sorts of dramatic, tension-building music while I meticulously alternate between praising and chewing out our contestants, but alas, we are on the internets and don't even have any sort of video feed,  I guess we'll just have to make due.

So, Frontline Gamer and HOT Panda, I'll need you to stay on the judges platform.  The rest of you are safe.


While you both made a good effort this week, it seems that the people have spoken and one of you will not continue on to week 2 of the HoP Idol competition.  And that person is.....

===Commercial Break to Heighten Suspense and Piss you off===

[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Community Relationships

I'm talking about community relations and what it means to our store today. I'm only talking about our store, because that's what I have experience with. I know other stores have other levels of involvement or activity, and different experiences due to that level of involvement.

When discussing community relations, it helps to address the question, "what is community?". 

This drawing is pretty close to how we feel about community. Replace "challenge" with "hobby" and you've pretty much got our outlook. Once we start interacting with these people, what we learn and share from and with them is pretty deep. We work hard to get past the surface and build deeper relationships.