20 hours ago
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Killa Kans
The Kans are done. These are truely amazing models! I had a blast building them and I got in the first game over the weekend with them. They did pretty well. These will get lots of table time in the Ork army.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Ork Buggies
More additions to my 40K Ork army. Here are a couple of Buggies. The first one is just the stock model that has been around for years. I got this one already assembled from a local gamer and just gave it a quick paint job. This model is a little dated.
Next is a custom built Skorcha Buggy. This started life as an old trukk model. The trukk was already assembed as was part of the same deal that got me the buggy. I decided I wanted it to be a Skorcha buggy so it was time for some conversion work. I won't give you details as the model speaks for itself. It was a lot of fun to build and did well in its first game
Next is a custom built Skorcha Buggy. This started life as an old trukk model. The trukk was already assembed as was part of the same deal that got me the buggy. I decided I wanted it to be a Skorcha buggy so it was time for some conversion work. I won't give you details as the model speaks for itself. It was a lot of fun to build and did well in its first game
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Matildas
Here is the first unit of I-tanks for my 8th army infantry company. Now those German and Italian tanks have something to worry about...and those 88's have something to shoot at.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Video Blog Posts
I don't like video blog posts. These are becoming more and more common. I can see that from the perspective of the blogger it seems to be an easier way to communicate a complicated or complex idea, and this is true to a point. I have a few reason why I don't like this approach to blogging, some of these are just my preference and others are more practical.
The first issue that comes to mind is the overall poor production values of these posts. Many of these posts lack a coherent script. They suffer from poor lighting and filming techniques. It seems to be thought that you can just turn on a camera and that is all there is to making a useful and interesting video. It is just plain laziness on the part of the blogger. If you are going to make a useful video you need to write a script just as if you were writing a blog post. You should also give real thought to the visual production...it is a video after all. Don't just ramble on in the dark with a shaky picture.
The next issue has to do with how I, personally, consume information. I tend to switch back and fourth from a linear style of reading to a more random access style. I will generally skim an article or blog post for things of interest and if something grabs my attention I will go back and read the entire post. I am not a quick reader so I like to know that my time investment will be worth it. Video blog posts are only a linear form of communication. You really can't scroll and skip around like you can with text. This means that you must devote your time to watching the video before you can decide if it is worth your time - a catch-22. Related to this is the fact that even though I am not a quick reader I am a quicker reader than most people can speak so what may take 3 min of video might only take 30 seconds to read.
Another problem is that of bandwidth and location. I like to check in on my favorite blogs at various times and places. Some of these access location are not conducive to audio or to high bandwidth traffic. This means that at times I just cannot access the info even if I think it is worthy. With the amount of new info out there I might not get back to these posts once I do get to a better access location.
Something that seems to be lost on the typical video blogger is the fact that information within the video, such as the dialog, are not available to Internet search engines which means that are harder to find. The author of the post must rely entirely on the name of the post/video as well as the keywords added to the post to drive search traffic. This is a very limiting approach. A text post with well named images will be found much more often and easier to search engines.
I know why these posts are popular with bloggers - they are easy. You just turn on the camera and start talking. Writing a blog post takes time and thought to make any sense, and even if you take the time it might still turn out to be a rambling mess (as evidenced by this very post). I am a slow typist and I also have a bit of a spelling issue, which is a bad combination. I understand how much work and rework goes into blogging. There is an appeal to anything that makes this easier. I feel that the video post ultimately does a disservice to your blog. I really hope this fad dies out.
Enough of this complaining, as you were.
The first issue that comes to mind is the overall poor production values of these posts. Many of these posts lack a coherent script. They suffer from poor lighting and filming techniques. It seems to be thought that you can just turn on a camera and that is all there is to making a useful and interesting video. It is just plain laziness on the part of the blogger. If you are going to make a useful video you need to write a script just as if you were writing a blog post. You should also give real thought to the visual production...it is a video after all. Don't just ramble on in the dark with a shaky picture.
The next issue has to do with how I, personally, consume information. I tend to switch back and fourth from a linear style of reading to a more random access style. I will generally skim an article or blog post for things of interest and if something grabs my attention I will go back and read the entire post. I am not a quick reader so I like to know that my time investment will be worth it. Video blog posts are only a linear form of communication. You really can't scroll and skip around like you can with text. This means that you must devote your time to watching the video before you can decide if it is worth your time - a catch-22. Related to this is the fact that even though I am not a quick reader I am a quicker reader than most people can speak so what may take 3 min of video might only take 30 seconds to read.
Another problem is that of bandwidth and location. I like to check in on my favorite blogs at various times and places. Some of these access location are not conducive to audio or to high bandwidth traffic. This means that at times I just cannot access the info even if I think it is worthy. With the amount of new info out there I might not get back to these posts once I do get to a better access location.
Something that seems to be lost on the typical video blogger is the fact that information within the video, such as the dialog, are not available to Internet search engines which means that are harder to find. The author of the post must rely entirely on the name of the post/video as well as the keywords added to the post to drive search traffic. This is a very limiting approach. A text post with well named images will be found much more often and easier to search engines.
I know why these posts are popular with bloggers - they are easy. You just turn on the camera and start talking. Writing a blog post takes time and thought to make any sense, and even if you take the time it might still turn out to be a rambling mess (as evidenced by this very post). I am a slow typist and I also have a bit of a spelling issue, which is a bad combination. I understand how much work and rework goes into blogging. There is an appeal to anything that makes this easier. I feel that the video post ultimately does a disservice to your blog. I really hope this fad dies out.
Enough of this complaining, as you were.
Friday, May 7, 2010
1940 French Command and Support Weapons
After playing a couple of games of Rules of Engagement I decided it was time to paint some more 28mm WW2 figures. These are 1940 French. This is an army that gets no love from history or from gamers but the Crusader figures are very nice. These can be used for the France 1940 campaign (obviously) but also for Norway 1940. They would even work as functional stand ins for Operation Torch, fighting the landings of US and British forces in North Africa.
First we have a couple of officers. I could not find a good reference for how to paint the officers so I sort of winged it. I think they look cool.
Next is an 81mm mortar team.
Below are a couple of HMG teams. A must have!
I have painted up a bunch more riflemen and will have some pictures soon. I still need to paint the rifle grenadiers as well as the 25mm anti-tank gun team. I will also post some pictures of my S35's. This army is nearly done.
First we have a couple of officers. I could not find a good reference for how to paint the officers so I sort of winged it. I think they look cool.
Next is an 81mm mortar team.
Below are a couple of HMG teams. A must have!
I have painted up a bunch more riflemen and will have some pictures soon. I still need to paint the rifle grenadiers as well as the 25mm anti-tank gun team. I will also post some pictures of my S35's. This army is nearly done.
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