Weekly Waffle #299
24th September 2022
I’m going to kick things off this week with a full on homage to the Waffle. I was watching Saturday Kitchen last week and they had Ricard Osmond on as the guest. He was talking about how he has stopped doing a lot of his presenting work to focus on his writing. One of the things he was saying to the Otho on the show was that if you were to dedicate an hour a day to writing then after a year you would be a writer. You may not be successful but you would be a writer. This approach obviously applies to anything we’re if you dedicate enough time you will become more successful. Now just to manage expectations here I’m not about to fit in an hour every day to improve a particular part of my hobby portfolio. But what I am going to try and do is do a bit of writing each day so that come Saturday I have an update ready for you. That was one of the reasons for changing my workflow to use Ulysses for writing the updates. I’m not sure how it will go but it’s what I’ve done for this update. Writing this opening paragraph on Sunday morning sat in the garden enjoying a nice cup of coffee. Although I have to say it is now chilly enough that I have jacket on to keep myself toasty.
This week, or more accurately last week after I had typed up the update so the release on pre-order of the new Leagues of Votann box set. I am really quite excited about this for a whole range of reasons. Although to be fair I haven’t ordered it yet, as I want to finish what I have in the pipeline first.
So first of all I have to say that I’m a big fan of vertically challenged in any setting be they Dwarfs or as in this case Squats. Because it doesn’t matter what GW have chosen to call them, and I suspect the name is just for copyright reasons, these guys are one hundred present Squats. I don’t know why the dropped them in the first place but it’s nice to see them making a return. From the material that has been released to date it looks like a lot of effort has gone into their background which is something I’m really keen to learn more about. The minis I’ve seen seen so far look really good to me and there isn’t anything I don’t like the look of. I will probably pick up the codex to get a better feel for the background before I order anything. I also want to have firm idea on a colour scheme before anything arrives so that I don’t end up with them sitting on a shelf whilst I decide what colours to use.
Taking a bit of a detour I like what GW are doing at the moment by moving the storyline on from a frozen moment in time. The story that supports the introduction of the Primarus marines and then the return of the Squats is a welcome one. I would like to see them bring out something new for the rest of the factions who must be feeling left out. As an Ork player even though we have had quite a few new units I feel left out so if you are a Dark Eldar player it must be even worse. The cost of producing a new unit from scratch must be astronomical but it feels like the balance could be a little bit better.
Another new release this week was the Goliath bikes for Necromunda and I have ordered some of these. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I’m not the only Ork player out there that has some kitbash ideas in mind for them. My initial idea, before getting a look at one in the flesh, is to replace the real track with a wheel. Upgrade the engine and put some new exhausts on there which should change them up enough. Adding some new weapons I think will finish things off. The only thing I don’t have a clear idea on is for the rider. I’m hoping that it may be possible to simply swap out the head and keep the Goliath but I will need to see how it actually compares to a good old boy when it arrives. I’m positive that whoever has designed this mini had this in mind when they were working on it. And I don’t think it’s that unrealistic a thought because I think they will sell more to 40K players for kitbashing than they will to Necromunda players.
I’m really looking forward to have a play with these bikes and it’s got me thinking about other things I’d like to have a dabble with. I think I may have to get my ideas note book out, which has been collecting dust on a shelf for to long. Just the act of jotting down ideas, that may never see the light of day, keeps the mojo flowing. Or at least it does for me. Keeping the mind engaged helps me to want to spend time on hobby projects.
Game night this week saw Tom Taking Anna through a game of Carnivale and a discussion about what looks like Vallejo’s answer to contrast paints. Then with the images coming out for the new Angron model we got to talking about which one of the Loyalist Primarchs would they bring back next. And the fate of all the Primarchs as we think we understand it at the moment.
On the hobby front my plan was to try and finish off a couple of the Dock Workers box set but I found myself on a bit of a roll. Granted when you compare it to others who are putting out entire armies when they are on a roll this is a very small roll which has seen me finish off all of the Dock Workers and the Gondoliers. So I know that is only eight models but they are all finished and table top ready. Although I did have something of a melt down when I couldn’t find my Micron pen for there eyes. It’s a cheat I’ve been using for years and just didn’t trust myself to do the eyes with a brush. So it was a quick order on Amazon to get a couple of replacements. Which means I’ll probably find the one I lost this weekend.
My approach with these had been to try and keep things simple by using contrast paints and then a few touch u ps. I was aiming for table top ready but right up until the last moment I really wasn’t feeling. Then things just seemed to drop into place and I think they look really good. You can see lots of flaws when you get close up but I’m still really happy with how they have turned out. I even added a tiny bit of purple wash to the faces, which doesn’t really show up on the pictures, but it does make a subtle difference. Certainly something I will be exploring in the future. So all in all I’m classing these guys as a success and I just need to get some games in with them. And I also need to carry on with the rest of my Guild models. Although I now have a bit more confidence that even though I’m not happy with them at the moment they will be ok in the end.
That’s it for this week. Steady progress on the model front, game night back in full flow and I’m making the time to write some content. So all in all things are going well. I hope you all have a good week and I hope to catch you all again, with brew in hand next weekend.
