Cancon For Hippos: Bookings now open!

As mentioned previously, I will be running some master classes at Cancon 2015. Well, the Canberra Games Society have beaten their website into submission with a large whacky-stick, and the ability to book into these sessions now exists!
You can go and check out the sessions on offer here (towards the bottom of the page)
You can go an book sessions here.
Places in each masterclass are limited to ten rabid patrons (non-rabid patrons may be turned away), and you can sign up on the day, although that costs more, and there may not be enough materials, depending on how much I can cram into Greg's car, while still leaving room for the Cookie Monster and Pete, and (more importantly) a change of clothes.

For those who cannot be bothered clicking links, these are the sessions that will be running:

Saturday Morning: Concrete Bunkers
Saturday Arvo: Corrugated iron slum shacks
Sunday Morning: Timbered cottages
Sunday Early Arvo: Topiary
Sunday Late Arvo: Creepy trees

UPDATE:

The Victorian school year starts unusually late in 2015, which means I can run sessions on Monday.
Monday Morning: Fantasy Watchtower
Monday Arvo: Steampunk Factory

Thanks to Pete the Scatterlaser for wrangling accomodation and allowing this!
Rousing cheers all round.

2014 Critmoose Special: Critmoose Treeses

Hail oh Hippo Fans! Have you been thinking of buying a christmas tree only to realise they cost more than the gross national product of a small European nation? Do you wish you could put your terrain building skills to decorative use? Are you seeking a way to introduce the little hippos to terrain making? Behold! Grot in a santa suit with the solution!

And there you have it Hippo fans! Sorry about the image quality, I was experimenting with taking the photos on my phone, which struggles with taking pics of my cat for some reason...

Gippsland Geekfest 2015

I am now basically beholden to mention

mostly because it explains what I have been doing lately, but ALSO because you should go. Oh yes you should. Even if you are not from Gippsland. Or Australia. Or Earth.
Okay, maybe if you are not from Earth you can give it a miss.

Gippsland Geekfest 2015 is something I agreed to help organise after I got fed up with the literary festival. I mean, a literary festival does not give one enough opportuntity to throw things at other things and build scale replicas of things which do not exist.
Geekfest does give one many opportuntities to do these things. Behold the immortal words of our mission statement-ish thing!

 For countless eons of time the geekly population of Gippsland was without form and purpose, without organization and without a single, unifying event to bring them together to glorify and praise all forms of geek culture. And then into this darkness strode a shining colossus of colossal shininess, and looked upon this dreary situation and declared ‘Let There Be Geekfest’ in words which bore almost no resemblance to thunder.            And there was.            And it was good.            And Geekfest was dedicated to the glory of all things geek in Gippsland. A place where learned and scholarly debate on which doctor is best, which captain is supreme and which fantasy is worthy of being considered final could happen. A place where men and women of all ages could dress as fictional men and women of all ages and be greeted not with cries of derision, but with rousing applause. A place where a man could wield 40,000 Warhammers. A place to debate the merits of different spandex-clad heroes. A place where the Lion-o could lie down with the LAN. A place for all punks, be they cyber, steam, diesel or atom. A place of geek pride.            And thus it shall be on Saturday 17^th of January, 2015, when Coal Creek Community Park and Museum hurls open it’s portals and extends it’s welcoming arms to the massed hordes of Geekdom, and the inaugural Geekfest commences. Events of great moment and magnitude shall occur; demonstrations of Wargaming prowess; participation role-playing sessions, displays of cosplaying excellence, steampunk sartoriallity, and medieval mayhem. And they shall occur in an atmosphere of supportive and all-embracing tolerance. And they shall be family friendly and shall inspire coming generations and grizzled elders alike to take up that greatest of mantles which is the title; Geek.

Enough beholding! Go check out the website!

Oh yes - I said this explained what I've been doing lately instead of posting ishoos...

Well, apart from the recent comissions, I have also been working on making a 2 foot square full modeled up terrain board replica of part of Coal Creek. Which you will have to attend Geekfest to see.

Or wait for me to post photos online. 

Which I will not do till AFTER Geekfest.

So I guess you're back to going to Geekfest again.

Terrain For Canconists: TFH masterclasses at Cancon 2015

Those notorious tournament-y convention-y thing running men, the Canberra Games Society have asked me to come and run some masterclass-y workshop-y things at Cancon 2015! We still finagling details with powerful finagling sticks, but so far, it looks like the following will be happening:

• Concrete Bunkers (with removable roofs and interior detail)
• 40K Orky ramshackle huts/slum huts
• Timber framed cottages
• Topiary
• Creepy Trees

Students (their term, not mine!) will need to provide some of the materials and tools used, since I will be traveling many hours to reach the workshops, and space in my luggage is limited. Places in each session are limited, and they also cost monies. A quantity of monies as yet undetermined. Who knows, actual meatspace Grot might even put in an appearance!

The Campaigner Issue Ten

Behold mere Earthlings, I have risen from my grave (ie: remembered about my blog) and bring news of the Tenth collection of the utterances of Mr. M. Lee esq. among other men of ill repute, published under the corrupting cognomen of 'The Campaigner'. Yes indeed, dear reader, once more can you read my words on the printed page and with far too many footnotes! Let the joy bells ring!

TFH Annual Terrain Compometition reminder

Egads! The Compometition Deadline looms! It's been a while since I had any progress to report (I've had a lot of commissions this year which have gotten in the way of my own projects), so I'd clean forgotten about the September 30th Deadline. I think I might actually extend it to October 5th so the whole thing ends conveniently on a weekend, allowing more time for last minute entries.
And here, to remind you, are the rules once more!

Gippsland Gamers announce September/October School Holiday Program

Oh yes indeed they do!
And you can check out the full details here.

As part of Coal Creek's Pirates Day program, there will be games of Pirate's Treassure run every hour from 11-3 on Sunday 28th September. $5 per session and the chance to win chocolate! Arr!

PegFlight: The Great War - build and lead a squadron of WW1 Biplanes to victory in the clear blue skies over the floor. $10 per player, Thursday 25th, 1-3.30pm. Huzzah!

The Great Battles of Napolarbear: Winterloo - take part in the last great battle of the Peninsular War, twixt the blue-coated legions of Napolarbear and his arch rival, the red coated soldiers of The Duke of Walrusington. $10 per session, October 2nd, 1-2pm and 2.30-3.30pm. Woot!

Also, remember to enter the Annual Terrain Compometition before the end of September! Remember - the rewards of awesome are shiny and potentially cake-based.

A Tale of Duelling Gamers: July

Here we are at the end of July, and the beginning of the Tzeentch contingent. I went into this month with $24 accumulated fro prior installments, and no really strong urge to paint Slaanesh stuff (plus I have not quite figured out how to convert the things I want to do just yet!) For reasons of cheapness and wanting a more 'templar' looking Tzeentch force, I've chosen Mantic Basileans for the basis of these guys. The paladins and paladin knights have excellent cultish robes which makes them look like an order of warrior mages, and the sisterhood make excellent female marauder cultists. Therefore, this month's work has been as follows:

1 Avatars of War lord of Torment (Sorcerer Lord)

12 Mantic Basilean Paladins (Chaos Warriors)

5 Mantic Basilean Panther Lancers (Marauder Horse)

Behold the fearsome might of their purple cats - because if you are Tzeentch you don't have to use normal coloured cats.

And another angle. I have not made a command group in this batch, but since the Mantic boxes have ten figures, I'm thinking of doing it for the second half.

Behold the sorcerer lord and warriors.

Minor free hand work on the banner. This is actually the first sculpted banner I've free handed. Previously, I've only free handed shields and banners made from metal foil.

The lord's staff broke during painting. It was VERY thin, and bent very easily... it came off and I don't have a drill bit small enough to fix it - need to borrow one from El Presidente Gregor.

Yup. They look like blue and yellow dudes from this angle also. Note the Greek Hoplite helmet I fitted to the champion, cut from a figure I bought years back at Eureka Minis.

Well, that's about it for july, except the budget report:

Well, the column headings are missing... so that's GW Price, what I paid, a blank space, total remaining budget, savings over GW, and monthly savings.

Ishoo Ninty-Free: Bamboo groves

Welcome back to the third post today! This time, we're looking at how to make Bamboo groves, like the ones featured in the Toadburg set I made for the Woolongronks.

Bamboo groves are very handy for any game set in Asia, or just about any jungle-esque environment. Fortunately, they are fairly easy to make. How easy? 

Hippo easy.

The thin PVA will soak into the folliage thanks to the dish washing liquid. Make sure it's VERY wet. It will take forever to dry, so you should either stick things out in the sun (if it's warm weather) or in front of a heater. The wetness will tend to re-liquify the PVA used to glue the foliage on in the first place, so watch out for bits falling off.

Well, there you have it Hippo fans! Next ishoo we'll be looking at something I've been getting excited about for about a fortnight now, but always had to postpone thanks to Gronkly commissions... steam punk paddle steamers!
And remember, you have always dreamed of entering the annual terrain compometition. This is the year to make your dreams come true.

Ishoo Ninty-Too: Micro Generators

At last it's here! Long have I awaited it's completion (mostly cause I've already completed the next ishoo, but have to post this one first...) Yes, Micro Generators are here at last!

This is an experiment in 'instant terrain'. Not instant in that you snap your fingers or wave a tentacle and it's there, instant in that you don't need to cut anything. In fact, every component of this project (bar two small plastic rods) is an item available from Bunnings, a $2 shop or a supermarket.
How will this all combine? Let's summon forth the hippo and find out!

Note: this was spray undercoated first with a special paint designed to bond with smooth plastics, available from Rust-Oleum.

And there you have it hippo fans! Quick and easy to build, and featuring the characteristic-shapes beloved of the players of certain futuristic games. These boxes are also available in larger sized from Office Works (although they're transparent). And here are the printable graphics:

Don't forget to enter the annual Terrain Compometition, and keep a weather eye out for Ishoo ninty-free, which should be online tonight. And don't you dare forget to enter the annual terrain compometition!