Everything old is New Again!

Everything Old is New Again…

 Hi guys… long time no see! Well after the 2 years of wasted time that is/was living in North Carolina the Jade Lantern crew (myself Nate “Jade Lantern” Lee and Traci “girlfriend of a gamer” Lee are back where we belong in good’ole Richmond Va! We are both excited to be back home and just loving being around our friends, being able to game regularly again, and just the good vibes from being home!

I want to jump back into my blog again because I wasn't really able to play much when I was down in NC and I almost feel like i’m starting over in a lot of ways. I never got to play any 40k while I was down there so I haven’t played 40k since I got back here and got a pickup game in with a friend, and it’s been almost 2 years since i’ve played Warhammer fantasy and it looks like GW is trying to kill that off or turn it into something else so who knows if i’ll ever even get to play that again.

Right now (until the new Eldar Codex Hits) my main focus is on Hordes/Warmachine and trying to become a force there. For my first blog back I want to speak about the faction I played that really got me into Warmachine and maybe next time ill start speaking about what im doing now and my idea’s and early rumblings with Legion of Everblight.

I played Convergence of Cyriss for a while and I still really love them but they are going to need time to grow and need some new models to hit so they can be a more complete faction. I am NOT saying you can’t win with them because I did win games and was able to put together some good reliable lists that had my opponent running away from me.

 I was never able to play with them the way I wanted an although they do have a LOT of really nice combinations, some great things they can do with their casters and their Mech’s but in my opinion the faction has some GLARING issues that need to be addressed so that Convergence can be a “consistent” major player.

For instance the army is SLOOOOOW so something that would be a good fit for them would be a fast moving shock troop or maybe even just fast cav because fast cav for them would cover 2 facets that need to be addressed for the army. Also some way to increase the RAT for their servitor would REALLY help that army.

Servitors are really a nice addition and for pickup games you can have some fun with them but in serious competitive play they are much too random to rely on and you need to either have units you know can either get you out of a bad situation or that can soften the enemy up so the situation won’t be so bad.

There’s lots more but I think ill stop there, this is the most ive thought about Cyriss in months and I had a lot of fun with them but for right now they are going to go into the think tank and once the army has a few more strong additions ill start putting them back on the table but that won’t be anytime soon.

JL

I'm a High Elf Player!

That's right, boys and girls. After over 2 years of asking, I finally consented to play my first fantasy game. And I really enjoyed it - enough to begin building a High Elf army. I'm not sure if you are aware how shocking this news is. I swore I had no interest in ever playing any tabletop game. Ever. But Nate played the patience card, and got me hooked, little by little.


Now, I know I've been MIA for awhile, so I have some stuff to catch you guys up on. Like, you know, how I won my first game. :-D And, of course, how this miracle even came to be.

Nate actually convinced me to try the game out, by playing one of his Dark Elf units in one of his Sunday games, a few weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I made my debut by playing his crossbowmen (and sometimes his shades). The whole group was awesome, and understanding about my learning curve (thanks guys!). I was totally intimidated at first, and had no clue what was going on. But playing the crossbowmen was easy, in that I didn't have to worry about movement or anything. I sat on a hill and shot at Lizardmen. And as I watched everyone playing around me (there were 2, 2v2, 2000 point games going on), I really began understanding some of the basic rules. I could even answer some seriously basic questions when Nate wasn't paying attention!

That night, I agreed to start playing. I don't know who was more excited, me or Nate. After much discussion, we decided I should play High Elves. Seriously, there really was a lot of thought put into this decision. And several times Nate has questioned it. I was willing to pretty much start playing anything, but Nate said I should play an army that I really like the fluff (backstory) about. And I love the High Elves! I could go on about tons of characters, and the books I've read recently, but I'll save that for another day. So in the end, it wasn't so much about which army was the toughest or strongest, but which ones I genuinely like.

Setting the game up

All of this leads up to my first full game. Nate and I broke out the tables in the apartment this week and played a 1000 point game. My High Elves (represented by his Dark Elves, as I haven't built my army yet) against his Chaos Warriors. And yes, I won. Completely. As in I wiped all of his units off the table, minus his lord. He killed 4-5 of my guys. However, I can't really take the credit. He was teaching me, and so he was advising me of the best moves to make, and why.

Maya was learning too. Though I think she was waiting for her chance to steal something.

So yes, it is time for me to eat crow. Not only did I make the jump to the fantasy world (used to be I was only interested in 40k fluff), I actually became a player. I play tabletop games. Well, I play fantasy. I'm not making any promises about anything else yet. Let me learn this game first, guys!

Right before my guys run down those Chaos guys and wipe them out.

So what happens now? Well, Nate and I have another game planned for tomorrow. And then I am playing Sunday! Thank goodness the group is prepared for my total n00bness. Because I have a feeling I'm going to forget everything I learned. Ahh!

Do you remember your first game? Tell me about it! I love to hear your comments!




Happy New Year from Girlfriend

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Santa brought me a bunch of knitting and sewing supplies (shameless plug, I have an online shop here ), along with some great new 40k and fantasy books. I'm reading Fear to Tread now. I'm a huge Sanguinius fan, so I'm really enjoying it. It makes me so sad that he dies eventually. Or as Nate puts it, he is totally annihilated. Ah well.

So last Friday night, Nate and I were at our local gaming store, checking out Infinity stuff, and I had a scary moment. Nate was talking to a friend about the game, and I was basically zoning out, picking out which figures were the cutest. I'm a girl. It's what I do. When suddenly, Nate's friend says, "Next we will get you playing." I quickly look around to see who he's talking about. Ahh! It was me! Making some face that looked like a deer caught in headlights, I made some non-committal sound. Hah. I have said, for over 2 years now, that I have no interest in playing any tabletop game. I'm immersed in the world (reading, painting, resin casting, all that jazz) but I just can't make that step to actually playing. The reasons have changed over time. And Nate has tried just about every trick in the book. I even accused him of trying my own advice (from Girlfriend of a Gamer ) to try to get me to play. Well, I think he has finally won.

Yes, I'm ready to try out a fantasy game. Not a full game mind you. Nate has offered to let me pick out my own troop, and to have full command of that troop, in one of his games. He's been playing Dark Elves, which I wouldn't play on my own, but I know enough about their fluff to be able to pick something out. Really, it was a genius argument that he made. And it worked. I don't have to worry about remembering all the rules and abilities, or playing some stranger that keeps looking at my boobs (well, that might happen, but Nate will be right beside me). I haven't decided what I want to control yet, but it probably will involve female figures. Because, well, I'm a girl.

So all of this got me thinking about my list of ways to get your girl to play games. And I realized I left out 2 important items of persuasion. Bribes and guilt. But, beware, both can come back to bite you in the ass.

Bribes are great for many things. Women like bribes. Hell, everyone likes bribes. But, you have to be careful. First, we aren't stupid. We know you are bribing us to do what you want. We may play along. Or we may get mad that you would think we can be bought. It depends on both what the bribe is, and what your girl is in at the time. Also, your girl may get to where she will ONLY do things for bribes. Not a good situation.

Guilt is even more dangerous. Women are masters of using this weapon, and we will not hesitate to turn it back on you. But, it is a great motivator. We don't want to seem like hypocrites, so if you mention how you did something WE wanted to do, we will probably go along with what you want to do. But we will not let you forget it, either. This tactic may haunt you forever. Think this through before using.

You can combine the two tactics. Take her to a movie she wants to see, then remind her of it when you want her to go with you to the next tournament. But, results can be varied, even with the same woman. My best advice? Know your girl, and ask her at the right time. Timing is everything.

Good luck! Hopefully the next time I sit at the table, I will see a few more women around me. And wish me luck on my first game! I think I'm excited...

Model Stripping, Part 2

Ok, my friends, prepare yourselves. This one is going to be long. But I've had so many great suggetions and questions about Model Stripping, that I went to work and did some serious research. And boy, have I got the pictures to prove it.

Simple Green seems to be the go-to favorite for removing paint in the tabletop world. So after striking out several times, I finally was able to snag some at my local Ace Hardware. My first thought is, ounce for ounce, this stuff is way more expensive than nail polish remover. But, maybe it is awesome and worth it. So I gathered my tools.

I had questions about what type of wire brush I use. I have to admit, this is just one that was lying around in a tool kit. No exciting hunt for the perfect tool. I found that my old electric toothbrush, which has been recommissioned for cleaning, just wasn't doing the job scraping off the soft paint. So I dug out this brush.

The first test I did was to comletely submerge a figure in each liquid for 2 minutes. ***Note: All tests were done using plastic models with acrylic paint.***

The white figure was soaked in Simple Green, the yellow in nail polish remover.

After 2 minutes, each was removed.

 

 

 

 Here are the results, after a little work with the wire brush, with no additional soaking.

 

 

 

And after adding some more polish remover and Simple Green, respectively, using Q-tips.

 

 

Now I could have removed more paint, but they are going to be repainted, and I was just plain getting tired, and didn't want to use anymore elbow grease. Details are a bit more difficult to get into. This is when I use the fine-point tweezers. They are great at digging out paint from small creases. Notice, the model soaked in the Simple Green had a bit of an issue with glue coming off.

 

Next test: longer soaking in a sealed container. Now, I had only planned on doing this test with the Simple Green. I know that there is a point that polish remover will melt the plastic, and I don't suggest soaking plastic models in it for more than a few minutes. But Nate encouraged me to try it, and even picked out a model to sacrifice, errr, test.

 

 

 

 

I sealed this guy up for 2 hours.

 

 

And this is how he looked, after a little work with the wire brush. He went back in the bath for another 2 hours.

 

 

 

Next, I sealed up this guy in nail polish remover for 2 hours.

 

 

And here he is, after a little time with the wire brush. While he had no issues with melting, I still don't suggest soaking plastic guys in polish remover. It is all great and dandy, until you find your rare model has turned into a pile of goo.

 

 

Finally, here is our Simple Green guy, after soaking for 4 hours. Now keep in mind, at this point it was 11 P.M. and I was tired. I could have gotten more paint off, but again, I didn't feel like killing my hands, scraping paint with a pair of tweezers. The paint that is left is mostly in creases that are hard to reach with anything bigger than a toothpick.

 

 

So my conclusion? Both the Simple Green and the nail polish remover pretty much did the same job. Neither melted or softened the plastic. I used the wire brush on every single figure tested, and had no issues with scratching. The paint came off just as easily with both. I did have 2 guys lose some glued parts with the Simple Green. This didn't happen with the nail polish remover with this test, but it has happened to me before. My only complaint was the Simple Green was harder to find and waaaay more expensive. But which ever way you decide to go, you will be able to fix those horrible painted figures you bought from that guy who was selling his old Eldar army...

 

I hope I answered some of your questions! I love comments, so let me know what you think.



 

 



My Love/Hate Relationship with Black Library...

...and, by extension, Games Workshop. Now, I had planned to write Model Stripping, Part 2 today, but I had more difficulty finding Simple Green than I had planned on. Don't worry, I have models in my kitchen melting, I mean soaking, as we speak. That post will be up in the next day or two.

Anyway, back to Black Library. I have said before that I am an avid reader. Now that The Sundering is under my belt, I have easily read 50 or more Black Library books, both 40k and fantasy. And while I won't stop reading their books anytime soon, they do a few things that irk me.

Fluff Changes
Now Games Workshop has been known to cause an uproar by changing fluff. Sometimes this is a good thing. Look at the Necrons. Sometimes it creates an all out uprising. All I need to say is Tau. (Just google "Tau fluff change." You don't even need to click on a link, just read the results.) Well, these fluff changes affect the books as well. Suddenly, the Dark Eldar are helping the Tau defeat Tyranids. Wait, what? It isn't like Black Library can go back and change all the books they published before the fluff change. So things get confusing.

Author Changes
Black Library is famous for handing well-loved characters over to new authors. It doesn't make sense. If William King is too busy writing some new book, so you have to hand Gotrek and Felix over to Nathan Long, why couldn't Nathan Long just write the new book? Leave our favorite characters with their creators! Dan Abnett, William King, and Graham McNeill aren't going to rise up against you, Black Library. You aren't giving them too much power if you let them keep their babies. No matter how great the new writer is, the books just aren't the same. Every time a series changes writers, a High Elf mage dies. Stop killing the mages, Black Library!

New Readers, Beware
These books are not friendly to people new to Warhammer. Eisenhorn was the first Black Library book I ever read. I think I stopped to ask Nate what a word meant at least every page. I had NO CLUE what happened in the first 50 pages. If I hadn't had him pushing me on to keep reading, I would have never read beyond that first page. And that is a shame. Because I know people who would LOVE these stories, if they could get past the jargon. But they will never read a Black Library book, because they just can't understand it.

Authors, Please Read
So many times I have read a book, only to be confused, because the timeline totally contradicts that of a previous book. This is related to both fluff changes and author changes. But if Black Library comes to me, and asks me to write the next book in the Horus Heresy series on the Dark Angels, I'm going to read those that came previously. Luther may be awesome, and even given some pretty awesome power by Chaos, but he can't be in two places at once. So please, authors, do your homework first.

These are my main gripes with Black Library. But, on the pro-side, they have a huge selection of books with incredibly engrossing storylines. So the next time a Grey Knight starts fighting in the name of Khorne, I'll just turn a blind eye and keep reading.

Let me know if you have a bone to pick with Black Library! Or share your favorite books. I just finished The Sundering, so I need something new to read!

The Sundering is Killing My Hands

I have been reading The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe, for over a month and a half. It groups the books Malekith, Shadow King, and Caledor into one book, along with 2 short stories. It is a monster at over 1000 pages.

I've been wanting to write a post on it. And even though I'm not finished yet, I'm 900 pages in. I feel like I've got a handle on the story and writing style.

First, it never takes me this long to read a book. I am a quick reader. In middle school, when the other kids were complaining about reading 3 books over the summer, I was reading 150. I can plow through a Gotrek & Felix Omnibus in a little over a week. This book has taken FOREVER to get through. And I haven't been putting it aside to read anything else either.

Yea, this book is large at 1000 pages. But I've read other books about that long. The Sundering is enormous! It makes regular books look like cardboard readers for infants. And it's size alone has made it difficult for me to read. I have rheumatoid arthritis, which makes my hands a bit weak and sore. I actually have to wear compression gloves just to hold this book up. It looks like I picked up a dictionary and decided to start reading. So, I go days without reading, because it just simply hurts too much.

This book dwarfs "normal" books

Just in case you weren't aware, Black Library has created the Time of Legends series. It mirrors the Horus Heresy 40k series, in that it deals with world changing events that happened centuries before "current" time in the fantasy world. The Sundering tells how the Dark Elves came to be from mainly 3 points of view; Malekith, Alith Anar - a Naggarothi who fights with the other kingdoms of Ulthuan, and Imrik, who takes the name Caledor when he becomes Phoenix King of the High Elves. The problem is, each book repeats the events from the previous book, just from a new point of view. It bogs the story down. Just as I get excited and can't wait to turn the page, a scene from the previous book appears, and I'm forced to read pages of THE EXACT SAME WORDS again.

This book confirmed for me that I am not a fan of Gav Thorpe. The only previous work of his I had read was Deliverance Lost, from the Horus Heresy series. It, too, was a slow read. He gets so concerned with setting up events, that once something finally happens, you just don't care anymore. Even his intro to The Sundering was boring. He basically tells us that he wrote a totally different book as the first in the triology, then had to quickly changed it when Black Library told him they wanted to name it Malekith. Yea, the first book was originally all about this elf named Carathril. Call me crazy, but if I was told I was going to write a book about how the Dark Elves came to be, the first guy I would think to write about would be Malekith. He is kind of a big deal.

Ok, so I've been bashing this book. But it isn't all bad. I love the character of Alith Anar. And being new to the Warhammer fantasy world, I've learned a ton about the elves in general. There are parts that are real page turners, and I've found myself up past 1 in the morning, because I have to find out what happens. It is definitely a must read if you are a fan of either the Dark Elves or the High Elves. There is a lot of history explained here. But I know that if I ever happen across a book written by Gav Thorpe, I won't pick it up to see how it is. (I do this with Dan Abnett. He could write about paint drying and I would read it.)

Have you read The Sundering, or other Time of Legends books? Let me know what you thought! I'm really looking forward to picking up both the Sigmar and the Rise of Nagash collections.



Seriously, it is like a phone book

Model Stripping

Girlfriend here. And while the title might sound naughty, I'll just be talking about stripping paint. Sorry.

So what I am about to say may be a little controversial. When I have talked about using nail polish remover WITH Acetone to remove paint before, I got all kinds of negative feedback. It melts plastic!! But trust me. I'm a girl. I've been painting my nails, including the fake, plastic kind, since I was capable of holding the brush. (I also painted my first vanity with nail polish - my parents weren't thrilled.) And my nails have never fallen off, the plastic ones have never melted. I have removed color from the carpet before. Again, my parents weren't thrilled.

That being said, there are some high-content Acetone nail polish removers out there. I do recommend using nail polish remover with it, but do a test first. Just throw a little paint on some sprue and see how it reacts.



I like the cheap kind

Supplies you will need:

• nail polish remover
• a cup you will never use again
• q-tips
• wire brush

I have also used pointed-tip tweezers to get the paint in tight areas. Please ask your girl before using hers. She may be upset if her skin burns the next time she goes to pluck her eyebrows.

If you are trying to remove paint from a metal model, great! Just soak that bad boy in a cup full of remover. It doesn't take more than a few minutes for the paint to soften, but if you forget about it, nothing will be hurt. It will likely remove the glue, however! I've found this is much more common with metal models than plastic.

Just a few minutes in the polish remover

If you are trying to remove the paint from a plastic model, I do recommend doing a test (see above). I have not had an issue with the remover softening the plastic to the point that it was an issue using a wire brush. I HAVE had a piece melt some after SOMEONE put it in the polish remover without letting me know first. I won't mention any names.... but it only affected the shoulderpads a little. It is a good idea to do this near a sink, so you can rinse the polish off quickly if needed. While I have soaked plastic models, I don't suggest it. Q-tips come in very handy here. You can also dip the model, use the wire brush, then rinse, and repeat. This way the model isn't affected by the remover for long.

I have not tested a resin model with the remover. I don't know if it is affected by the remover any differently than the plastic. Feel free to comment below if you have tried it! I will update you when I get a chance to try it myself.

I do reuse the remover I soak the models in. Just pour it back in the bottle, and save it for next time!

OTHER USES FOR NAIL POLISH REMOVER:

It is great for cleaning synthetic brushes! Just make sure to rinse them after and let them dry flat, so the bristles can return to their normal position and don't fray.

It is wonderful for cleaning airbrushes! I have unclogged Nate's airbrush more times than I can count. Just don't spray it through - remover is flammable, and not great to breathe in. Just like the metal models, take it apart, soak in the polish remover, and use q-tips or pipe cleaners as needed.


***I always forget to take "before" pictures of the models I strip. Next time I do it, I will add some before and after pictures!***