Okay, so I've been away from this site a lot longer than I thought. Kinda a lot has happened.

In terms of the WH40k stuff, well, I kinda fell out of love with the game for a variety of reasons. I guess I'm kinda waiting for Sisters of Battle to get plastic models so I can make some Pounceys. I don't play the tabletop game anymore. I also got a lot of exposure to how the new breed of WH40k gamers treat furries and 40k being combined, and that's been a bit of a buzzkill. Basically after Halo and Call of Duty died off, their fans went to WH40k, and somehow they didn't quite understand that everyone in the WH40k universe is evil, so they've been seeing all the atrocities and stuff the Imperium does and thinking that they're paragons of virtue in the WH40k universe, which was extremely confusing for me. Also they don't seem to be able to tell the difference between fanfiction, speculation and canon, and I dunno what the hell that's about.

Also my mom got way, way better at WH40k than I am capable of. My problem is that I play WH40k in a very cinematic way, imagining cool battles with every decision I make. Whereas my mom plays WH40k as a tabletop game. She goes for effective units and loadouts. I go for cool units and loadouts. And I get my butt handed to me, every time. It kinda stopped being fun when I started to lose all the time.

Also been having some personal issues with a relapse of the schizophrenia. Thus far the hallucinations and delusions haven't been too bad and I seem to be keeping a grip on what is real and what is not. The negative symptoms, like lack of hygiene and social isolation are getting pretty rough. I also seem to have lost some of my emotional range - specifically I don't seem to be able to feel love or hate. Got an appointment with a psychiatrist coming up in October or November, hopefully I'll be okay until then.

To finish this journal off, probably you shouldn't expect many upcoming updates. I decided to check in with FA tonight because of unusual circumstances.

Take care, I suppose.

Just updated the Sisters of the Flame fluff with an addition is all.

Edit: Link here:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5978516/

Nothing major, just regarding the history of the planet prior to pretty much all of the fluff I'd written.

Also, I started up a Grey Knights army at 750 points. They'd basically be fluffed as a small branch of the Hellfire Marines who fulfill a similar role as the Grey Knights - i.e. hunting down the most terrifying things known to humankind - but would go about it far, FAR differently. Also, I gotta say, now that I have some more Grey Knights in my possession - I had one for quite a few years that I painted for fun, but I ended up destroying it in a fit of rage over the whole Bloodtide thing... which I've been deeply regretting. Few things about these Hellfire Knights, is that I don't have any Purifiers - instead they've got a Brother-Captain modeled after Kuri, a 10-strong Strike Squad, a 5-strong Terminator Squad, and a Dreadnought with autocannon and dreadnought CCW. The Dreadnought's already been painted - in Hellfire Astartes colors, of course.

Also, I have plans to start up a Space Wolves force, again at 750 points. Current plan is a Wolf Guard leader, a Dreadnought, 3 Wolf Guard - two of which will be modeled after Kuri and Pouncey - two large squads of Grey Hunters, and three Long Fangs. Not three squads, but rather one squad of three, armed with a missile launcher and a multi-melta. If I had the points to spare, I'd add one with a plasma cannon, but sadly I do not. They'll be proper Space Wolves, not Hellfire Astartes using the Space Wolves codex. I still have to name the Dreadnought, the packs, and the Long Fang Pack Leader. The Wolf Guard and Battle Leader have been named already.

I was unhappy with the photos that I took of the finished Pouncey, Synx, and Kurisu Marines, so I took new photos today and uploaded them.

The new ones have been modified in Photoshop, purely with a single use of the "Sharpen More" filter.

So my brother's watching TV in the living room, where I like to play videogames and post on forums and whatnot while listening to DVDs. And then, this commercial comes on, showing clips of real people trying to earn Darwin Awards. Turns about to be for a show called Tosh.0 or whatever.

And, um, I get a little upset internally when my Sisters of Battle start to get killed off in a tabletop game with static miniatures and dice. It was worse when I saw a fan video for Rogues Do It From Behind where a rogue went around killing helpless and beautiful female WoW characters in gruesome ways using machinima editing - I clicked off that video once I asked myself, "Why the feth am I watching this?"

But seriously... I'm glad I never watched the show before, and I tell ya what, I ain't got plans for watching it at any point in the future, either. Even my passing curiosity has been removed by the show's own commercial.

Dunno, maybe I'm overly sensitive to violence and gore. It really turns my stomach. Fantasy violence is fine, because it doesn't tend to be very gruesome - like in World of Warcraft, when my warrior starts slicing things up, there's no blood spatter or anything like that. And when things die, they just fall down, maybe with a stumbling animation, but the bodies remain intact and unbloodied.

Bullying is common. Most of us who are victims of it get through it okay, but many don't. According to the US Secret Service, extremely severe bullying was a common factor in the vast majority of school shooting incidents from 1945 up to the point the study was done. In such cases, it went beyond "simple" name-calling and into the realm where criminal charges would have been filed by the police, had it occurred in the workplace.

Bullying is ugly, in the truest sense of the word. There is no way to say otherwise and not be lying. No one deserves it.

When you call a person a mean name or make mean comments about them, you aren't being clever. You aren't "saying it how it is" or "keeping it real" or even "calling em how you see em." You are diminishing their sense of self-worth. And no, people do not "just need to grow a thicker skin," even when the person making fun of them is thousands of miles away.

When you call an overweight person, "fatty," it isn't funny, it hurts.

When you tell an overly thin person to, "eat some food, skinny," it's not humorous in the slightest.

When you tell a furry to, "Yiff in Hell," it's not something you need to, "get out of your system."

Bullying isn't funny. Cyberbullying isn't funny. People do get hurt, and not always just their feelings.


Treat people with the respect they deserve as living beings.

Alright, so I've learned a few things about using foamcore to make wargaming structures.

"What's first, Pouncey?"

The first thing I learned is that foamcore's thickness is large enough that it needs to be compensated for in the length of some -not all - of the pieces. Some pieces must be shortened or lengthened - corresponding to the thickness of the foamcore you're using.

"Foamcore comes in different thicknesses? What's a good one?"

3/16" / 5mm thick foamcore is a good thickness. I dunno why. A benefit is that it also seems to be common.

"Cool. Where can I get some?"

You can find it at least some art stores, with the painting hanging supplies - its intended use is to provide a firm backing for paintings. It's also available sometimes at dollar stores.

"That's neat! But I checked my store, and even though they had some, they had a lot of different types in different colors and sizes and stuff. What should I get?"

I personally use the plain white stuff, as it's fairly cheap - I paid less than 40 dollars CAD for 10 sheets of 20" x 30" of it today. I use smaller sheets, like what I got today, as the larger ones are much more unwieldy - when cutting things out and stuff, as well as transportation and storage. Acid-free stuff is mainly to avoid damaging delicate paintings, and it tends to be significantly more expensive, so I wouldn't recommend it.

"Cool. So what were you saying?"

Compensating for the thickness depends on what you're building and how you're building it. It requires spatial reasoning and a bit of geometrical math. Generally you'll want to work in a single dimension - length or width - where possible, for simplicity's sake. So shorten walls which go across the width of the structure, or pieces that go across the length of the structure.

If you're in doubt or lack those skills, draw the above-view of the building on a piece of paper in real-size, and draw in the cross-sections of your foamcore walls with their real thickness, then measure what lengths you'll need.

To keep things simple at first, you may want to build rectangular buildings, to keep a constant and single modifier to length which you can write down and keep track of. For 3/16" foamcore, this will be 3/8" - double the width of the 3/16" foamcore. Also, try to work in round measurements - full inches or centimeters for the length and width of your roof and walls - where possible

"Should I put my roof on top of the walls or inbetween them?"

There are advantages to both. Placing the roof on top of the walls will be more aesthetically pleasing and allow the roof to take more weight - but with the weights of most models and the size of most buildings, it won't be an issue. It can also be easier to assemble the pieces this way.

Placing the roof in between the walls allows for a simple way to sink the roof down lower than the tops of the walls during construction, which can be an interesting aesthetic choice, and is a legitimate design choice, which is even truer when your buildings are intended for models to stand on the roof. It also provides some protection from your beautiful models falling off the roof when the table is inevitably jostled, and possibly getting chips in their paint job, or worse, having parts break off.

It can have an effect on the design of your building, due to the thickness of foamcore. If you opt to place the roof on top of the walls, you will have to shorten the walls to make them fit. If you opt to place the roof in between the walls, you will have to make the walls wider to prevent unsightly gaps in the corners. Neither is a wrong way to go.

Note - If you choose to place the roof on top of the walls, and change your mind later and decide you want short walls around the perimeter of the building, you can build short walls - 3/4" tall is a good height for 25-28mm scale minis such as WH40k and Infinity, as it will allow human-sized models to see over the walls while being able to have some cover. Similarly, you should likely sink your roof down a similar distance for the same effect, while making your building a similar distance taller to compensate - unless you would like your miniatures' building's ceiling on the top floor being about 4 1/2 feet lower.

"You're a real talker, aren't you? Anyways, what should I use to put these things together?"

I like to use nice, cheap white glue these days. It gets the job done and is reasonably solid once it dries. I used to use carpenter's glue, but it was very thick, messy, and overkill.

"Cool. Can I just draw the outlines of the pieces on the foamcore?"

You can, yes, but these days I'm experimenting with putting an extra step in the process. Namely, I draw the outline on 1/4" graph paper - nice cheap stuff that I think I got 4 pads of 200 sheets for about 10 dollars - and then cut those out with scissors, then organize them on the foamcore to make optimum usage of the space - much like a sewing pattern, leave some space between the pieces. Once you're satisfied with the positions of everything, secure them to the foamcore. Once this is done, cut them out with a tough, sharp Stanley knife. Then, if you can, remove the graph paper templates, and you're ready to build.

Be sure to leave a bit of room between pieces - one or two squares is fine - when you're drawing pieces, and don't cut the pieces along the lines you've drawn, as this will make it more difficult while cutting out pieces of foamcore, since you will have inevitably wavered from the lines and removed sections of the lines altogether, making the lines harder to see - mostly white paper on white foamcore.

In bullet point form:

-draw outline of parts on 1/4" square graph paper
-cut out said outlines
-organize said outlines on your foamcore to use space well
-secure paper outlines to foamcore
-cut out foamcore
-remove graph paper if possible
-build!

I've been experimenting with this because 90 degree angles are much easier to draw accurately on graph paper in comparison to foamcore, due to the square grid on the paper. You remove the graph paper if possible because it would be preferable to adhere the foamcore pieces directly to each other, rather than adhering them to the graph paper - though it is not a terrible thing to do, depending on how you've secured the-

"Pouncey, how should I secure the graph paper to the foamcore? You kinda glanced over it there."

Yeah... I glanced over it because there are multiple methods. Glue is nice and easy. There are multiple types of glue. Tonight I used the white glue I put the buildings together with. I'm not sure it was such a good idea, as it wrinkled the paper and didn't provide great coverage. I may try a glue stick next. An alternative is double-sided tape, which is useful if you can find a removable variety - made for temporary sticking - as you can remove the graph paper before assembling it.

Note: If you end up being unable to remove the paper, don't fret. You can simply assemble the building so that the paper is on the inside, however on certain parts that are not symmetrical and as such cannot be flipped over, this may require some foresight. Such parts are generally found on more complicated buildings, so you will not run into this as long as you stick with rectangular wall sections - rectangles are symmetrical. Your roof may take on many different and even irregular shapes once you're comfortable with building buildings, so long as the walls are rectangular, and you will not run into such an issue - though your building will be built as a mirror image of your original design.

"I see. So what's the total of what I'll need?"

-3/16" / 5mm foamcore sheets
-white glue
-sharp utility knife
-metal ruler
-pen or pencil
-a wooden surface to cut things on that you absolutely will not care if it gets many many deep, ugly gouges in it - and no, cardboard will not do, as the knife will simply slice through the cardboard.
-glue stick or double-sided tape (only if you opt for the graph paper route, and even then, still optional but useful)
-graph paper (optional)
-clear plastic ruler (optional, but nice)

"That's all cool. How big should my building be?"

It really depends on what you want to build. Generally, 25mm or 1 inch on the model is about 6 feet in real life. A normal sized two story suburbs house is about 20 feet high, 54 feet long, and maybe that in width. A building like this would be 3 1/2" tall, 9" long, and 9" wide. In metric, this is about 83mm tall, and 225mm in length/width. Adjust to your liking.

A floor is about 10 feet tall in real life, for a home anyways. Office buildings are taller on each floor, but I'm unsure of the rough measurement. So a model home with a single floor would be approximately 1 3/4" tall - in reality a little less, but I'm a fan of easy, rough measurements.

Note: Figuring out those conversions in my head at this hour took about 5 minutes. Writing this whole journal took about 2-3 hours, and not due to slow typing.

There was other stuff I was going to talk about but I've honestly forgotten.

I'm mostly posting this for when  kurisu7885 chooses to start building buildings of his own, so he can refer to it. ^_^

Questions are welcomed. ^_^ Comments are welcomed. Corrections are especially welcomed.

Palatine Alexia backed away from the Astartes. Though she knew the Emperor favoured her, the elite Astartes would likely be more than a match for her and her Celestians. She grabbed the pack of a Celestian who had simply stood there, shooting at the heretics, and dragged her back. They would destroy the rogue Astartes soon enough, and she didn't want to tangle with them in melee combat before they'd been weakened, especially given that the closest ones were all equipped with power axes, swords, hammers, or claws.

Soon she heard her Sisters advancing close enough to support her. Large-bore bolter rounds from Retributors streaked over her head, striking the black-armored Astartes, but with little effect. She saw Dominions to her left and her right, and knew the time was right to press into the Astartes who would defy her. She gave the order, "Forward! Make these traitors know fear! Give them only the Emperor's fury!" and began to advance with her Celestians, firing her pistol and activating her massive Eviscerator in preparation.

The Astartes leader had backed off, trying to run from this fight. One of his bodyguard fell heavily to the ground as a round from a Retributor's heavy bolter pierced his armor. Another two fell from bolter fire and burning prometheum as the Dominions and her Celestians closed to within weapons range. Now was the time.

"CHARGE!" she yelled over the din of battle as she ran toward the Astartes' leader. Her Celestians followed her, closing with the Astartes' bodyguard. The traitors' leader met her in the melee. Her Rosarius protected her from the worst of his claw and pistol, and she dealt him a terrible wound with her Eviscerator.

She heard the sounds of fighting from her right, and turned to glance, seeing that the Seraphim had launched themselves over the black walls of the castle, and engaged an Assault Squad in melee combat. She saw a pair of them had already fallen, but the Assault Squad had taken severe casualties from the looks of things.

Taking advantage of her distractedness, the Astartes leader managed to pin her to the ground and disarm her, preventing her from striking at him as she lay face down in the dirt. He then produced something from a pouch and injected her with it in the side of her neck. As she began to hear her thoughts speaking of heretical nonsense, the outside world grew dimmer, and she found her struggles sluggish and weak. The last thing she saw before slipping into her dream world was Sister Julia suffering a similar fate herself, and Sister Celeste being done in by an Astartes Champion's massive thunder hammer.

Kurisu entered the comms room, being greeted with an android operator's voice, "Sir! We have an incoming convoy of Imperial vehicles." Kurisu nodded, "How far away are they?" he asked. "Approximately one and a half hours, Sir." Kurisu nodded, and gave the order to prepare for battle. Hopefully his order would be unnecessary, but it was better to be ready.

As the convoy finally arrived, he noted their pink and white armor and livery. He went out with his elite bodyguard, all chosen for their skills, not just in battle, but in diplomacy. Behind him, a small army waited patiently, each just a moment away from unleashing the full fury of their weapons.

A Sister of Battle, wearing a velvet cape that was furred around the shoulders, and flanked by what seemed to be her own bodyguard, approached him. The rest of her force seemed to be waiting patiently.

She and Kurisu met face-to-face, and he greeted her warmly, "Welcome to my home. What can I help you with?"

She looked at him oddly, before launching into a small speech, "Kurisu of Priscus three, you have been charged with heresy against the God-Emperor. You are hereby ordered to come with us, to face judgment."

Kurisu blinked, "Uhh..." he paused a moment, "I'm sorry, but I'm no heretic against your Emperor."

The Palatine kept her gaze fixed on him, "Nonetheless... You must come with us."

"I don't think so," said Kurisu, "I know how you treat prisoners."

One of the Celestians flanking the Palatine said, "Very well," and stepped forward, cuffing Kurisu. Before she could get the second manacle on his other wrist, one of Kurisu's bodyguard had shoved the Celestian backward, while another had drawn a syringe of nannites.

"No!" said Kurisu, more to his own bodyguard than anyone else, but his words were lost as the Celestians drew their weapons. Within seconds, bullets had started flying and both sides' waiting forces rushed into battle to protect their respective commanders.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


This battle is played much like the Slave Raid scenario on page 28 of the Battle Missions booklet, with the following exceptions:

The below Space Marine and Sisters of Battle units must be placed within 12" of the center of the table.

The restriction that models cannot be deployed within 9" of your own table edge is lifted.

The Space Marines must take a Chapter Master with Honor Guard.

The Sisters of Battle must take a Canoness and Celestians.

Neither side may use vehicles - they're too busy shooting at each other to deal with the infantry, and all infantry in transports have already dismounted.

The table halves are determined by a wall that divides the table in half. (see below)

The Sisters of Battle are the attacker, and deploy in the half with natural terrain features. (see below)

The Space Marines are the enemy, and deploy in the half with buildings. (see below)

Suggested Terrain:

Place a large castle wall - this may be plasteel, ceramite, stone, concrete, or whatever seems appropriate - so that it divides the table in half. Place two guard towers in this wall, and keep a significant gap - at least 12-18 inches - in the center of the table, between them. On one side of this wall, set up structures appropriate for a city. These may be ruins or undamaged buildings or a mix, as you prefer. On the opposite side, place more natural terrain features - water, woods, hills, etc.

Important Note - The walls have AV 12 on all facings, and the guard towers have AV 13 on all facings.

I'll be re-doing a lot of the Sisters fluff I've done.

This came about as I was talking with Kuri  kurisu7885 about some fluff I'd made for a game I was going to play, with Inquisitorial forces being raided by Hellfire Astartes to replenish their numbers through mind-altering technology. He corrected me, pointing out that he does not want to attack the Imperium in our little 40k world, and would happily leave all Imperial forces and citizens alone, and he just wants to be left alone. He also really dislikes the use of the nannites. This necessitates a major redo of the fluff I've written, because in it, there are widespread examples of Hellfire forces going out of their way to attack and turn Imperial forces. This got more and more true as I went forward with it. So I'll be reviewing the old stuff, and probably altering it.

In short, the fluff was getting out of hand and away from what it was supposed to be, so I'll be redoing at least some, if not a lot, of it.

In the meantime, I've started my second battle with the new Sisters of Battle White Dwarf Codex. I'd decided to make it a reenactment of the first meeting between loyalist Sisters of Battle and Hellfire forces. I wrote a little blurb about the pre-battle, which I'll post. I'm also writing fluff about the battle, half-turn by half-turn, from both sides' perspectives. So far I have the top half of turn 1 written up. Not very long of course, and it'll alter the fluff of that first meeting. It's nice when there's something at stake in a battle, and even better when it'll be good even if I lose the battle.



An update on my Slaaneshi Daemons project... I picked up two boxes of Daemonettes, and two boxes of Seekers, a few weeks ago. So far I've only built 5 Steeds of Slaanesh, and still haven't built their riders. The daemonettes have yet to be unboxed. I've decided to slowly grow my Chaos Daemons whenever I'm not working on my Sisters.

:: sigh :: Just a day after I was all gung-ho about my Chaos Daemons and ready to go and buy and paint like crazy, I get involved in a Sisters of Battle thread regarding the upcoming Codex - well, part 2 - in September.

And you know, it rekindled my love of my Battle Sisters, to the point I'm not sure I want to start Chaos Daemons anymore, and instead maybe go and work a bit more on my Sisters of Battle.

The annoying part is that in a couple of weeks, I'll probably be all like, "Yeah, Tau! Let's go and do them Tau!" and get really nuts about them.

I dunno, I just can't seem to stick to one or even two things, cause there was a 2-3 day period between my 4-5 month infatuation with Battle Sisters and my Chaos Daemons craze, where I was just thrilled about Orks, enough to go, get comments on an army list, modify it over a couple of days, get the minis out, build the ones yet to be built, spray them white, and paint mob colors on two mobs of Boyz.

I really need to sleep on this. And I can just imagine what my parents will say. Well, not really, but I imagine they'll have some constructive criticism like, "Oh, you need to learn to stick with things," even though they'd never really say that.

Why thank you, Pouncey. ^_^ :: snuggles Pouncey ::

:: Pouncey snuggles Pouncey back for birthday luffs ::

Okay, so I've decided to get at least one of my armies fully painted. And I've chosen Chaos Daemons, because my current selection is so small so it's not as daunting.

The way I'm going to do it is by throwing my purchasing plan to the winds of Chaos, and scrap the 2-weeks system in favour of a new one.

When I get my current Chaos Daemons minis fully painted - the 10 Daemonettes, 5 Seekers, and 1 Masque which I'm using as a Herald on Chariot by propping it up on the back of an Ork Trukk as a proxy - I'll go out and buy another boxed set or blister pack. I will then paint said boxed set or blister pack, and when I finish it, I will repeat the process. By abandoning the time system, I feel like painting rewards me with new miniatures.

This is because instead of going, "Yeah, I could paint, but I don't feel like it, and I'll just get more minis in a week or two anyways..." I'll be going, "Ahh, one model closer to a new set of Seekers, to replace some of those Ork Warbiker proxies I'm using!"

The feeling of progress is very important to my enjoyment of my hobbies. In World of Warcraft, I love getting a new toon to maximum level, because it means I can run heroics and probably get a piece of loot or two with great frequency. But as time goes on and I have more and more of that loot, my enjoyment decreases, because instead of just running random ones and not caring which I get, there are only a few bosses that would drop useful loot. And that's just no fun, well, for me anyways.

So yeah, I think it'll help. ^_^ I've switched to this plan just last night, and have painted more minis today alone than I have in the previous few weeks, at the least.


Running Tally

Miniatures I have:

Daemonettes: 10, inc 1 Icon Bearer
Seekers: 5, inc 1 Icon Bearer
Herald of Slaanesh on foot: 1

Miniatures I have painted:

Daemonettes: 3/10
Seekers: 1/5
Herald of Slaanesh on foot: 0/1

[Sorry bout the mispost... Hit enter while having the title bar selected.]

:: sigh :: I'm being all wishy-washy about my Daemons, in particular, what to use as Daemonettes. I wasn't so sold on the Isiri Warriors, especially after I saw the resin female demons from a smaller company that honestly makes really good stuff.

However, though smaller companies are great, I've heard very frequently about this company that it can take over a week after payment for the order to ship, and frequently it can take over a month for orders to arrive. I'm honestly not really patient enough to wait that long.

So I've gone back to a bigger company. I'd go with GW for my daemonettes, except that I don't particularly like the current plastic ones - personal preference is all - though they're looking better more recently... So I might actually go with theirs, since it'd be easier on the wallet if they invented a cure for anxiety and I felt the urge to go play at a GW store or anywhere instead of home...

There I go again. When I started typing this, I was thinking of talking about how I was wishy-washy between 3-4 different Reaper minis to use as my daemonettes. I'll admit I'm tempted to use GW minis for Seekers and daemonettes, if only to save money... However, 12 fiends would cost around 300 dollars before taxes. That's 2 1/2 months of my miniatures budget just on those. The inverse is that I could get all my daemonettes within the first month, and my Seekers in the next half-month. The net effect may actually be that I spend less money, since I already have 5 Seekers and 10 daemonettes from my short stint as Chaos Daemons last year - though I never got the Codex... Though I might consider going with a Sophie 72mm mini as a Keeper of Secrets, not to avoid costs, but just because I find the current Keeper of Secrets hideous...

Hell, the current GW daemonettes grow on me every so often. With the right paint job, they look great, and even sexy.

Alright, so I've decided once again to work on a Chaos Daemons army. Naturally, I'm gonna go with a Slaanesh army, for the boobs, with some Tzeentch at higher points values.

So I've basically figured out this purchasing schedule, which I'm posting here so I'll always have access to it as long as I have Internet.

Greater Daemonette of Slaanesh - http://www.reapermini.com/Miniature.....s/latest/01413

Need (total)
42x Daemonette
1x Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot
6x Fiendess of Slaanesh
24x Seeker of Slaanesh
1x Greater Daemonette of Slaanesh

I already have 10 Daemonettes and 5 Seekers, so that reduces my costs a little.

Segmented
1- 20x Daemonette
2- 20x Daemonette
3- 10x Seekers
4- 10x Seekers
5- Chariot of Slaanesh + Greater Daemonette from Reaper Minis
6- 2x Fiendess
7- 2x Fiendess
8- 2x Fiendess

I've tried to keep the segments roughly equal to each other. They would all be within my semi-monthly miniatures budget.

I'll post a new journal twice a month, every time after I place an order, so I can keep track of how it's going and not get discouraged when inevitably I get a new idea for an army I want to expand or start. I've barely gone a few months focusing exclusively on my Sisters of Battle, and a few days of focusing on my Orks.

I'll also start work on some custom fluff to make my daemonettes and such more happy and cheerful instead of grimdark. I find it helps my enjoyment of an army if I actually enjoy the fluff. But an army of nearly-naked women is something I cannot honestly pass up.

In the Sisters of the Flame fluff, the originals, and many of the others, were turned away from the Imperium by nannites in their brains invading their thoughts and breaking down their mental defences.

What I realized is that THAT, is not too far off from the control hallucinations some schizophrenics have.

Similarities:
-persistence [Both refuse to let up]
-commanding things [Both command the person to do something]
-inevitable giving in [Both are nearly impossible to resist, due to their persistence]

Differences
-timeframe [For the Sisters of the Flame it happens in minutes rather than days, weeks, months, or years for schizophrenics]
-technology vs biology [For the Sisters of the Flame it is technologically induced, for schizophrenics it is biologically induced]
-beliefs vs actions [The Sisters of the Flame were commanded to alter their beliefs and attitudes, schizophrenic command hallucinations tend to command an action]
-thoughts vs voice [The Sisters of the Flame had their internal thoughts turned against them, command hallucinations involve a command that is actually sensed, typically in the form of an auditory hallucination.]

Note, I'm not a doctor at all. Not a med student, not an intern, I have literally zero medical background.

Well, after having difficulty breathing for a few hours, I got the bright idea to paint a miniature.

It was good until I finished.

After I finished it, I had my frustration. It took me two hours and fifteen minutes to paint this one miniature, a Lizardmen Saurus Oldblood, to a standard that honestly feels terrible for the amount of time spent.

It's why I stopped painting as much as I used to. It takes me way too long for the results I get.

The epiphany I had was that my skill as a miniatures painter hasn't improved very much. My first fifteen minutes of painting was the equivalent of prettiness as the first miniatures I painted, which each took about fifteen minutes.

The only reason my miniatures' paintjobs look better now than they did before, is because I spend more time on them because I've picked up techniques like drybrushing and washing over the past couple of years. And to be honest, the miniature looked terrible before the final wash of Badab Black.

There's horn on the scales, scales on the metal, metal on the horn and scales, stone on the metal... It just felt like such a failure.

It's exactly what I feel like... a failure. Nearly ten years painting miniatures, and it takes me forever to do a single model which should take less than a quarter of the time.

How do I paint faster?

Tonight I experimented with a modular trench system made from 5mm foamcore for my Warhammer 40,000 games.

I had gone to Forge World looking for ideas, and noticed their intersections and their straight sections had a common size at the join. This seems obvious to me now when thinking about modular systems, but it hadn't occurred to me at the time since I wasn't only considering the corridor, but also the slope leading up to the trench. But it occurred to me that I could make the join at the slope a common size, angle, and shape as well.

What I came up with was a series of 6 inch by 6 inch square tiles. Trenches run through the middle of them, 2 inches wide so as to make plenty of room for Terminators, Meganobz, and Tyranid Warriors, and other 40mm base models. Course they have to go single file, but that's neither here nor there.

I jotted down some notes on the design and construction that I'm going to type up here.

6" x 6" square tiles
Corridor width 2"
Slope hypotenuse 2"
Trench wall height 3/4"

Mark the corridor or room pattern on the tile in pencil for easier assembly. Work in blocks of 2".

Remember that foamcore has thickness and as such, you may need to shorten or lengthen certain parts by the width of the foamcore.

Need far more straight, dead-end, or room tiles than intersections.

For inner corners, simply divide a 2" square in half diagonally. Dunno why it works but it does so reasonably well.

For outer corners ass 2" to the ground end of the slope and connect the outer dot to the inner dot. Likely similar to inner corners but uncertain and untested.

Use slope support struts, right angle triangles roughly 3/4" by 1 13/16" by 2". They make placing the slopes much easier. Cut the supports with scissors, the typical Stanley knife is too dangerous for things this small.


Use carpenter's glue to assemble the pieces.

For larger rooms like mortar pits or large gun emplacements, use multiples of 6" for the length and width of the floor tiles. Always make room for a 2" corridor leading up to the join.

Join the trench walls with the floor tile on the slope side of the corridor or room boundary marked on the tile. Doing otherwise will constrict your corridor or room by a significant amount - 40mm models would not fit easily in a corridor, for example.

Kurisu surveyed the situation, issuing orders into his helmet mic. The noise of his bike was dulled and muffled by the helmet, but he could feel the vibration through his suit of black artificer armor. He could see that the Ork Meganobz had already taken the damaged remains of the crashed lander.

The Land Raider Crusader to his right opened up, spilling the Chaplain and the Terminators out. They advanced steadily toward the Meganobz, firing as they went. Kurisu joined them, firing his plasma pistol. The Meganob he hit staggered but stayed on his feet.

The combined fire of the Terminator-armored Marines pinged off the armor of the Orks. The bolts that hit the Warboss made the Ork let out a loud roar of rage.

They closed with the Ork leaders, himself, the Chaplain, and the Terminator sergeant slaying two of the five Meganobz. The Ork retaliation was brutal, their power claws cutting through the armor of two of the veteran Marines.

They got their vengeance, though, their powerfists claiming the life of each and every meganob in reach. Kurisu smirked, then frowned as he remembered how Orks reproduced, how their deaths ensured the survival of their species.

Kurisu spun his bike to the left, continuing the assault into the deffgun-wielding "Lootas". Their weapons could be devastating, capable of punching through even a dreadnought's front armor. The Lootas were fortunately ignoring him, firing uselessly at the Land Raider behind him. He could hear the racks of bolters and the assault cannons firing, and the screams of Orks whose bodies were failing them.

The Lootas were slaughtered, standing no chance against the elite of the Hellfire chapter. Kurisu and his Terminators backed up, taking positions around the damaged lander wing. They focused on the Ork Boyz that were firing at them. The Flash Gitz seemed to have been annihilated by the Crusader's Hurricane Bolters and assault cannons. Only two remained, and they seemed to be running in terror.

Kurisu ordered his Terminators to ignore them and focus on the mob of Orks that seemed to be hanging back. There honestly wasn't much else to shoot at now. The Orks seemed to be either holding positions, dead, or in the case of the two remaining Killa Kans approaching the Space Marine lines, stunned.

The Orks in the woods to his right let out a loud roar, and the sergeant of the Tactical Squad was heard calling for assistance. Kurisu directed the Land Raider and remaining Scout snipers to focus on the Boyz advancing. Before the orders could even be issued, he saw the Orks overwhelm their position. Kurisu gave a grimace, but noted the Sergeant's heroism in taking down as many as they lost.

He turned his attention back to the Boyz in front of him, hearing the racks of bolters on the Land Raider, the snipers, and the remaining Marines claim most of the remaining Orks. The Land Raider crew sounded shaken up when they reported the Nob's attempt to destroy their vehicle in melee combat, but he heard the sound of twin assault cannons shredding Ork.

He looked around. The only remaining Orks reported in sight were an Ork Boy and a Killa Kan that was somehow managing to survive against an ancient Hellfire dreadnought. These were easily cleaned up.

I know you don't like Valentine's Day, but some thoughts entered my head that I'd like to share with ya and the rest of my friends. : 3

You sapped my heart, Kuri. <3

I was stunned when I first saw you. A big, strong fox, clad in leather bracers. I watched woozily as you moved around behind me, ready to strike at your newfound prey. I could have resisted; I could have called down a thunderstorm to push you away. But I didn't.

There was something about your eyes, even through your lovely goggles. I knew then that you were an engineer at heart; one who tinkers with that which he loves. A twinge of fear crept inside me as you made some strange gestures.

But still I didn't fight back. Something about you, the way you moved, the way you held that massive mace of yours, it calmed me. And I knew inside that you would never stab me in the kidneys, despite my mind's natural paranoia.

I pushed those thoughts inside as you put me on follow as the stun wore off; I didn't turn away or try to run. I knew then you weren't like other rogues; you were a special one who didn't want a meaningless gank and camp.

So I followed willingly, straying from time to time as I aggroed nearby demons and went for titanium nodes. You dodge-tanked the demons as we killed them together, and let me have as many mining breaks as I wanted.

I soon realized you weren't a Horde, as your name turned blue. You had taken the game and added a third playable faction, one I was eager to join with. Through good groups and bad, we were there to pull each other out of the fires when we got too focused on taking down the bosses.

Together we have defeated the worst enemies the Horde and Alliance have thrown at us. We recruited more people to your faction, people with which we shared our epic loot and who shared theirs with us.

As a guild leader, you are second to none. You're at the top of my friends list. When I feel like playing with you, you're always up for a good dungeon run. When I get mind-controlled, you simply bandage yourself up afterward.

You've never kicked me from the group, even when I stripped and pole-danced in the middle of that one boss fight. You understand when I get bloodthirsty in the middle of a dungeon run and I need to go calm myself and relax for a while away from the computer.

Kuri, you've been there for me through every boss fight, every time I aggro a demon, every node and vein I want to share with you, from copper to gold to titanium.

Well, for Christmas I got a few WH40k minis. I got a box of Ork Boyz which I assembled into a Nob with a Power Klaw and ten shoota boyz. I also received a box of Fire Dragons and an Avatar. I also got some gift certificates for Games Workshop, which I exchanged for a figure case. I also purchased the materials for a Space Marine Commander on a Bike, and had enough left over to make a Space Marine Commander on foot. : 3

This past Sunday, my mom and I started playing a game of WH40k between my Eldar and her Space Marines. Well, I guess they're my Space Marines, since the minis are mine and I wrote the army list... Anyways.


So by the end of turn 2, the Space Marine Commander - represented by the mini I made for Kurisu - had killed three Dire Avengers in melee combat, with the assault squad taking out the others in the squad, before taking two wounds from the Eldar Avatar. The Assault Squad was wiped out by the Howling Banshees before they could react, but Kurisu managed to flee.

The Space Marines had also inflicted severe casualties on both of my Guardian Squads, as well as killing four Swooping Hawks.

The Fire Dragons, a Guardian squad with a starcannon, and a Warwalker with twin Shuriken Cannons' combined firepower took down the enemy Terminators.

I dunno who's winning right now, but it's gonna be gooood.

So, I don't like talking about SOME OF the more negative stuff in my life. The stuff that doesn't really matter, like ganking, or crappy WH40k dice rolls, that stuff I'll talk about with no problems.

But the kind of stuff I mean is the kind of stuff that might get me shipped off to a psychiatric hospital for inpatient care at worst.

Last year, my meds were lowered, because I just couldn't stand the nausea that came from the hunger from the Risperdal. I also was placed on Celexa for anxiety.

At first it was pretty bad. The Celexa caused a LOT of nausea. But then that went away, and the edge was taken off of my anxiety, which was good. The nausea from the Risperdal went away.

But... I soon discovered things were not for the best. I began suffering what I believe were delusions. The first was the worst, because I wasn't ready for it at all. But after a couple of minutes, I realized what kind of thoughts I was having, as I recognized the feeling the thinking process gave as being delusional.

I then did the best thing to do. I told myself mentally that such things are not true, over and over. When my thoughts asked why they wouldn't be true, why reality doesn't work that way, I came up with reasons for it. Fortunately, this killed those thoughts.

I wrote the experience down in my journal, and showed those writings to my parents. We talked a bit after they read, and we agreed that since it was the first time, I could just have been having a bad day, and since I was going into the doctor's in a couple of months anyway, just wait till then.

So I waited, living my life as normal. Then another delusional process started, but this one I recognized very quickly and shut down. A few days later, another one. Every few days, I encountered another start to a delusion. Most of them were about different things, and all of them were shut down very quickly.

Eventually, I went to my dad in the middle of the night after I'd made a post about all that, and had him read the post on the forum. We agreed that I should get in to see the doctor as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the day after the following morning was the doctor's last day in the office until the next year. So an appointment was made for me for early January.

When I got in, I was feeling anxious, but the Celexa had since done more for me than simply take the edge off, it had brought down the level of anxiety a LOT, so it was bearable.

I got in, and showed the doctor my journal entry from the first experience, told her a bit about the other stuff that had happened since, and now my meds have been upped.

Hopefully we'll find a balance between too hungry and the symptoms. We're trying the mid-point now. : 3

Receiving...

Receiving...

Decrypting...

Translating...

Message Received from Canoness Christine.

Message Displayed:

Initial situation seemed overwhelming with estimates of roughly 50 Orks of various types advancing quickly in first wave, 60 in second wave alongside heavy and light vehicles.

First wave dealt with while sustaining minimal casualties. Second wave followed shortly after. Sustained fewer casualties from second wave so far then from first wave. Imperial Dragons casualties consist of heavy damage to the Predator tank.

Second wave failed to reach our lines, taken down by massed fire from us and our Brother Marines. Small enemy walkers dealt with successfully at range by missiles and contributing heavy weapons fire.

We have begun to advance now that the enemy infantry have been dealt with. I suspect the Ork vehicles will fall to friendly missiles and meltaguns in the near future; there are not many left.

Our casualties seem light at the moment. The Ork responsible for this assault is to be commended for sending his forces in in waves, as the break between waves has allowed us to deal with each successive attack with minimal casualties.

Emperor be praised that these Orks follow the leader they do. Will continue fighting and report back once we have broken their assault completely.

Personal note, these Orks seem to have gotten their vile hands on Imperial tanks to make their, 'Battlewagons.' Once these have been dealt with, will ensure that they are melted down into scrap and ejected into a nearby sun when possible.

Situation seems under control for now. Prepare the decontamination teams for deployment.

For the Emperor.

Transmission ended.

Insert excessive and gratuitous profanity of your choice throughout this post.

Right, so I decided to try out my Eldar army tonight. The Dice Gods must really hate me going back to my first army, because they really messed up my rolls tonight.

If I need 2s to hit, I roll 5s and 6s. This gives me a sense of optimism, so I roll to wound, needing 4s, and I get all 1s, 2s, and 3s. If I need to roll low, I instead roll high.

My bright lance Guardian crew got the most consistent results, though they were guided by a Farseer.

They shook up a Vindicator on the first or second turn, preventing it from blasting my Banshees for a turn.. They then did diddly-squat on the second turn, failing to hit the front of the Vindicator. They made up for this by destroying a Razorback on the next turn, sadly, the passengers were not inside. They'da blown up the Vindicator instead, but they didn't have lone of sight to it anymore.

The Banshees ran really slow tonight, rolling a 3 one turn for their Run roll, which put them about an inch from charging their target, which then retreated WAY outta range on the next turn. They then went after the enemy commander and his bike squadron, and rolled a 2 for their Run roll, putting them about 2 to 3 inches out of charging range.

The Dire Avengers have failed to do anything so far except for become the target of a drifting Demolisher Cannon shell from the Vindicator. Thankfully they took only one casualty.

The Farseer and his Warlock bodyguards have sat back and just guided that Guardian Squad with their Bright Lance for the whole game. I am glad though, that he hasn't gotten a Perils of the Warp attack yet, though I gave him the upgrade so he rolls 3d6 and takes the lowest two for psychic tests.

On the second turn, the Swooping Hawks deepstruck... right on top of the Vanguard Veterans. The Dice Gods took mercy on such beautiful models however, and let me roll a 5 on the mishap table, meaning they were delayed instead of taking casualties or, gods-forbid, getting wiped out altogether. They deepstruck again the next turn, scattering 8" but thankfully landing on safe terrain. They then opened fire on the bike squad on the third turn, and rolled good enough to hit with 10 of the 13 dice, but failed to wound even ONCE. Even if they all had the Exarch's weapon - a significantly higher strength version of the lasblaster the rest use that's also got a faster firing rate - they wouldn't have wounded. Woulda needed 4s in that hypothetical case - it's not actually possible to upgrade the squad like that - but all I got were 1s, 2s, and 3s.

Small blessings from the dice gods were that her Vindicator failed to hit the Banshee squad with its main gun. That woulda killed my ONLY close combat unit. Sad news there is that one Dire Avenger died from the scatter. Good news is that more weren't killed.

All in all, I've lost two Banshees, two or three Dire Avengers, and three or four Guardians.

The only lost models on her side are one Vanguard Veteran, and one Scout Sniper, and the Razorback.

Good news is that her Razorback with its heavy bolters fired on the Guardians, who can take the casualties, instead of more valuable targets like the Banshees or Avengers. Swooping Hawks arrived on the last turn that we played tonight.

Just... really bad rolls, that's all.

I was actually kinda surprised that the Vanguard Veterans didn't try to assault the Banshee squad. But it's probably for the best, considering they would have VICIOUSLY torn apart the Vanguard Veterans, barring horrific rolls on my part. Power weapons plus Initiative 5 plus Counter-Attack plus Initiative 10 on the first assault phase? Hells yeah! Strength 3 kinda sucks, but meh.

We all hear about it, those crazy psychotic killers who dismember their victims and eat their flesh. We hear about them in TV shows, movies, even on the nightly news. So how can we each protect ourselves from all the psychotic people in the world?

The answer is quite simple: we can't.

But oh my god, Andreyis, there can't be that many psychotics in the world! Surely we can identify them and lock them away forever so they don't kill anyone else!

No, we can't.

Not for any moral or ethical concern, it's physically impossible.

We are ALL psychotic. Each and every last one of us. Every man, every woman, every child, every kin.

But Andreyis, I'm not psychotic! I haven't killed anyone at all!

This. This is the kind of ignorance I'm talking about. Psychosis isn't about killing. It's not about violence, it's not about crime, it's not even about dark thoughts.

All that psychosis is, is a belief. A belief that is not false, not true, not accurate or inaccurate, not rational or irrational, all those are irrelevant. A psychosis is a belief that is not widely held by your socio-economical class. That's all it is. The belief doesn't have to be false. It doesn't have to be irrational. It doesn't have to make no sense. It doesn't have to be weird. It doesn't have to be dangerous. It doesn't have to be dark.

A common example of psychosis is a sports player's belief that one of their pieces of gear is lucky.

But Andreyis, you're wrong! If you were right, then the media would be wrong in calling all these crazy killers, "psychotic!"

That's right, the media is wrong. The media loves to fearmonger, because it keeps people watching their channel for the second-by-second updates. They are wrong not because the killers AREN'T psychotic - they are, just like you and me - but because you ONLY hear the word psychotic uttered by them when it's a story about a gruesome murder where the suspect is mentally ill.

Because of this awful depiction of the mentally ill in the media, there is widespread fear of those who are mentally ill. People believe that those who are mentally ill must be locked away for the rest of their lives before they kill someone. People believe that in order to be diagnosed with a mental illness, you MUST be violent. People fear the mentally ill. They don't understand. They aren't supportive. They don't WANT to understand. They are VEHEMENTLY opposed to helping mentally ill people, and FOCUS on locking everyone diagnosed with a mental illness into a prison-like facility.

Thankfully, we have grown away from prison-like psychiatric facilities. I've been to a psychiatric hospital many times as an out-patient. I went to school at one for a while. Those depictions you see in the movies and on TV shows, with the drab white walls, bars everywhere, no or heavily barred windows? False. Places like that are not good for the mentally ill. They're not comfortable, and they cause stress. A modern psychiatric hospital has furniture and decorations like you'd find in your own home. The doors are heavier, like you'd see on a storefront, and some of them are locked.

But Andreyis! I'm a whiny little bitch who doesn't get it and never will! Why should we make these murderers comfortable! They're there to suffer for what they did to society!

Statistically, YOU, as a non-mentally ill person, are MORE likely to kill someone than I, a diagnosed and medicated schizophrenic who is not on street drugs, am. So let's just lock you away so you can't hurt anyone with your bigotry, mkay? Mentally ill people are less dangerous as a whole than the rest of society is. We're also a LOT more likely to have violence done against us.

Unlike the medieval ages, we don't try to lock people who suffer from mental illness away or worse. Yes, some of us need to be institutionalized for a short or long while. Very few of us need to be institutionalized permanently, and NONE of us should suffer because our brains fucked up in a way that scientists have yet to figure out why.

That stereotypical image of the crazy homeless guy? There's a reason for that. Someone got ahold of the statistic that half, I'll say that again, HALF of ALL homeless people suffer from schizophrenia. That's about 5000% of what it should be if homelessness were completely random. We do not need to suffer more. A lot of us need help in some way. A lot of us end up dead - 10% of schizophrenics end up dead by ten years after diagnosis.

Nuh-uh, you're wrong! I read online that mentally ill people are all violent!

They're wrong.

Nuh-uh! I read it on this medical site!

They're wrong.

Nuh-uh!

Yuh-huh.

Nuh-uh!

Yuh-huh,

You're lying because you're mentally ill! I'll bet you killed lotsa people and are just trying to cover your tracks! Also, I'm a bigoted moron!

'nuff said.