Bitz Resources
http://www.apocabitznow.com/
http://www.thewarstore.com/battlewagonbits.html
http://www.bitkingdom.com/
Monday June 16 2008 Hunters of Blood
Picture: a giant Flesh Hound of Khorne. That’s a chariot base that thing is on. This was done with a marvelous substance called Apoxie Sculpt. You can get it on eBay pretty cheap.
See a video commentary on the Hounds of Khorne project.
It is now 4:30am. I had such a hard work day on Monday that I pretty much collapsed when I got home at 8pm last night. Here’s how it went.
I was ready and raring to go on Monday morning. I spent a few hours in the morning picking away at my Inbox. I took it from 87 emails on Friday, which I killed off by Friday evening, leaving only 4, hammered some on Saturday, but by Monday it was back up to 54. That’s what I call “substantive email count”. That means it doesn’t count emails that don’t require a reply. I only wrestled it down to 43 by Monday afternoon.
Isn’t that great? I’m living the dream man.
No, but seriously. I got to play a game with Renn around noon. I had a slice of pizza for lunch. As usual I lost hideously. I’m like the Washington Senators that way. Well, someday.
We played a homebrew scenario called “Let’s Just Play”. One player sets up beforehand and also gets the first turn. Then you play until one person cries Uncle. This can be all the way until one side is killed to a man. I managed to fight for three lousy rounds.
Oh, and it was my Tau vs. Renn’s Dark Angels. His army is shaped up. I think he has 2000 pts all painted up now. Very impressive.
We got in like eight packages this morning. Getting those set up was the bulk of my day. If one of those were yours, you should have got confirmation of receipt.
A bitz order went out today. This is usually what delays a project– acquisition of materials. Everything is underway now.
Everyone that came in saw the Boneyard Terrain set thought it was the best one yet. It is very evocative:
I plan on doing more terrain in the near future: expanding the mushroom forest (I had a great idea for stalks!), making another set of Moab (which sold already), expand the Swamp set to a full table, make a set of Necromancer doors (for the D&D terrain). And a client has requested some Tau terrain.
Which reminds me, I’m going to run a D&D game. Fourth edition of course. I love what I’m seeing. Of course, they’ve turned it into a sort of miniatures battles game now which is of special interest to me.
In the evening the kids got out of their baths, and they were wrapped in towels when my wife came down with a giant plate of cottage cheese and pear slices. We all ate from the same plate while watching an episode of Ben 10. That’s what it’s all about.
Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to eat some cereal, pop a few pain pills and get back to sleep…
PS- I’m currently booking projects for July! Get it set up now for a smooth finish.
Father’s Day
Picture: My hand with my young son’s newborn hand clasping it.
Happy Father’s Day! I love today because I get to do whatever I want and my wife waits on me hand and foot. No. Wait. I got that backwards. Pregnancy trumps Father’s Day! But seriously, It’s fun to do things for my pregnant little pork pie.
The rules of the blog are: mostly game-related stuff and studio business for six days a week, with some personal stuff for flavor.
On Sunday all bets are off. If you don’t want politics and religion then keep back!
Ron Paul Fix
When I saw my daughter, my firstborn, for the first time, surrounded by doctors (her skin was purple) my heart grew three sizes. On the tape I say “she’s so beautiful, she’s so beautiful”. This was from the man who four years earlier had characterized children as “the scourge of the earth”.
Boy have my views changed. Now I’d be glad to have as many kids as I could afford!
Twilight
A blog entry from Early June, 2008. I debated on whether to publish it, but here is is, on a whim perhaps:
Tonight, right around dusk, I went for a walk where the dim light of Provo lights fades to deep Sapphire, then the emerging stars and a crescent moon, like a lunar profile looking down over the Westward Mountains at the sullen glow of an obscured sun.
I can’t concentrate very long. It’s the prayer of the adult onset ADHD-er. “Father, forgive me for I can’t stop thinking about TV shows.”
But I stretched out my mind deeply as I could, making my soul rigid like a tuning fork, that perhaps I might hear a signal from deep space, something, anything.
I have important things to do. To raise my family. I have completed, or will complete soon my major task in this life—to purify a generation. My father before me was subjected to every vice of the world, and me to almost none (I found out in my last conversations with him the things that he shielded me from), and my children are in Primary learning hymns and having nightly scripture study.
I feel a deep and abiding sense like something is brewing with the Constitution. It is a spark given to man, like Prometheus’s fire, to deliver them from tyranny. That their freedoms CANNOT be taken away—they are given by almighty God. So, to get people to roll over on their rights, the first step is to get rid the Creator.
A hundred years of neglect has perhaps left it dimmed, perhaps. I am too feeble now to see things clearly. But surely it can be fanned into a blazing fire.
I don’t speak much of it, but I know for myself the nature and existence of God the Father, Christ, and the Devil. In the case of the former I thought it would make me a better man, but it didn’t. I still slacken my jaw at Victoria’s Secret ads, curse and whine at trivialities, sleep on the couch with the remote rather than in a bed with my wife, bark at my darling children over things that are not as bad as the very act of barking at them, eat twinkies instead of vegetables, and show up late to church and then only pay half-attention. Maybe that’s the point—I’m not supposed to be a good man of myself, but to acknowledge the goodness and greatness of God… and to recognize the farce that pretends to be god. I suspect that many other people have had the same experience, but don’t talk about it. In fact, I probably shouldn’t talk about it. This would explain (what appears to be) the baffling pig-headedness of “believers”. Oink.
I don’t pretend to know everything. Things unfold to me year after year. So, I make no pretensions (yes, my usual disclaimer) at being a good or righteous person. I am only a fellow-traveler.
I can say this for sure: everything ends well. If that’s what you want. What you really want. This life is the Test of the Soul. Not like a written exam type test, but an acid test. The Refiner’s Fire. One author I read from described it as a “voyage of self-discovery”.
Saturday June 14 2008
Right now this instant, I’m eating some delicious slow-cooked ribs slathered in BBQ sauce.
It was a long hard day in ninety degree weather making some primo terrain.
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Sarah was being schooled in the exquisite art of display boards, and Mike and I were working on the Boneyard, which is easily one of the best terrain sets to come out of this studio, standing tall at a beefy twenty-eight pieces. You’ll likely get to see it on Monday.
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Didn’t get as much done as I had hoped. I wanted to do some D&D terrain, expand the Mushroom Forest, and finish the Swamp set of terrain.
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We were going to do the display for Tyranids 01 FL but I decided to wait and see what the artist did with it.
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I got “The Revolution: a Manifesto” by Ron Paul as my Father’s Day gift. I am in seventh heaven. I was reading it, thinking of what might be a good set of quotes for the blog, but the whole book is a good quote. I plan on buying as many as I can and distributing them to good souls around the country. It is an insanely good read. I ever so highly recommend it.
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Other big news in Gately’s World: fourth edition of D&D. It’s looking pretty darn good so far. They muscled it up and got rid of a lot of wrinkles.
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Tonight, my heart is filled with gratitude for all the good people that are involved with Blue Table: artists, fans and clients. Thank you ever so much.
Here Comes the Sun
It’s Friday afternoon.
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Listen to this music while reading this post:
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My Inbox is completely clear. I’m completely ready for inquiries or anything else!
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My heart is full of optimism for the future. Life is just getting better and better.
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The world growing darker is an illusion. We are just looking closer at ever shrinking dark spots.
I’m going on a date with my wife tonight.
Thursday June 12 2008 Sugar Addict
Picture: Wood Elf battle standard bearer. See the tree kin.
It’s been another long day.
Last night, I decided to not eat any sugar for 24 hours. For breakfast I ate celery sticks and carrots and water. Around 4pm today I think I started getting what must be like “the shakes”. Is that normal? Do you get withdrawals from sugar?
Right around 7pm I would have ripped the head off a puppy for a king-sized Snickers.
But I held out until I finally had a cinammon bun at 10pm tonight.
Now, back to the regular day. The following projects are under the brush:
Witch Hunters 02 KO
Tzeentch 02 JS Harald done
Inquisition 01 RT
Khemru TP
Orks 02 RC “Matt”
Alpha Legion 01 TU
Tyranids 02 FL display board
Tyranids 01 FL
Vampire Counts 01 MS
Dark Angels 02 JM
Dwarfs 01 KF two weeks
Legion of the Damned 01 MN
There are a number of projects that are in Digital Photography. Those should be up by tomorrow.
The following projects are in Assembly:
Hounds of Khorne 01 CA
Dwarfs 01 KF
Black Templars 01 DG er
Marauder 01 GF Repairs
Chaos Daemons 01 TT
Bretonnians 01 BA
Ulthwe Skyhost 01 JB
Sa Cea Tau 01 PP
If you don’t see your project on there, by all means get in touch with me. There are three projects delayed right now for bitz (I think they are all Eldar related!). I am working on those and plan on getting them to the top of the list.
I have no armies that I’m working on. All I can do is think about running a D&D adventure. But I’m really having to learn a whole new game. Fourth Edition is written a lot like a Magic TG rulebook. I think it’s very, very positive in almost every way.
My wife is getting jealous. She caught me whispering sweet nothings to the PHB tonight.
If you don’t follow Youtube, you really should. I have something new up there almost every day.
I just can’t kill the beast! I’ve been working on my Inbox– please bear with me and re-send if it’s been a few days. Don’t think your item isn’t important, just be patient. And contacting me on Google chat is really really good.
Wednesday June 11 2008
Picture: Trollbloods, part of a larger force.
The day started at a chipper 6:30am and did not let up until 10:30 at night. Sweet. It feels good.
Can I have s’more sir?
I set up the Manufactorum terrain this morning but did not have time to shoot a video. It looks amazing!
I picked up the new D&D books today. That was blessed relief. It’s like a whole different game– looks good so far.
I know this post is pretty anemic. More to come tomorrow.
Tuesday June 10 2008 Hell on Earth
Picture: Tyranids pour forth from the Deep Desert.
See a video of the Sandstone Terrain set. This can be duplicated and shipped for $350.
I am training a few people to make high quality terrain. So, we will likely make terrain one or two times a month. This is a major deal. We will be making some display boards this weekend.
As of June 17 I will have two Assemblers (Renn and the new guy– who is INSANELY good at green stuff and conversion work) idle. So, I’m ready to make a deal. I have a whole bunch of materials at the studio that I would offer at 50% off if someone wanted to commission them sometime soon. Of the top of my head I’d say we have a Vampire Counts army, a Khorne Daemons Army (either system) and a 40K Ork army on hand. If you’re interested and have a decent budget, please let me know, I will get something very attractive worked up for you… as long as you can get some unassembled models to the Assembly room in about a week!
PS to that– we are VERY interested in doing more Tyranids and Vampire Counts and/or Daemons. Bring it on.
I also put up a lot of sets of terrain for sale. They are going fast. I expect to have at least half of them gone by the end of this week.
You’ll have to check www.youtube.com/bluetablepainting for that stuff. I will be putting two more sets on the block tomorrow.
What’s on my mind? Sustainability. When you use Blue Table Painting you get reasonable prices. They are fair to you, fair to the artist, and fair to the company. Those are the three people that all have to be happy for it to work long term. BTP is a real business. We are going on five years in business. I have clients doing part two of armies created in 2004.
Personal: the wife and kids have been away for a few days. I rented Hellboy, ordered combo/hawaiin pizza and slept on the couch. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m glad to have them back.
Tamie got back home late, all three snooches fast asleep in the car. There’s something magical about bringing the kids in and putting them to bed.