TREES! AKA- The Way Of The Bear

So after much taunting of @DocBungle on Twitter for the mess he made of his house with model  trees and the grief he got for it from Mrs Bear (Alex to her friends, Mrs Bear to you lot :P) I've decided to have a go.

As I was Wickes earlier buying some of that elusive pink foam  (Space Board Eco being it's real name, apparently) I decided to pick up what I thought I needed.

Proof that it does exist outside of the wilds of Nottingham!

Anyway, I grabbed the wire, some spray adhesive (Protip- Use outdoors, make sure anything you value is covered up) steel wool and some cork tiles, because, hey why not.

I had a go, my first attempt (before painting, because it's well established that I don't know one end of a paintbrush from the other) looks...well... put it this way, I should finally be able to get those really tough tea stains out from my mug.

Yeah, it's not exactly genius. I finally found this tutorial, which just showed me how off base I was, for starters, I need different wire entirely. Oh well, that's next on the shopping list!

I haven't forgotten the promised reviews, they are coming! Hell, it's not like I've got any followers left anyway, lol.

Marc

Holy Shit...

Has it really been 3 ish years since I bothered to update this?
Wow, that's just...lame. :D

Anyway, here's an update.

Salute 2014 has just been and gone. It was awesome, no Bring And Buy this year though. No idea why.

We're getting ready to record episode 15 of the Flock And Awe podcast tomorrow, can't believe it myself. How we're still going is anybodies guess.

Since my last blog I have turned into a real maliwhore ™  especially with the new plastics, which are awesome. If you haven't seen them already head on over to just about any LGS or just google Malifaux or M2E.

My desk has undergone yet moor evolutions, as it is want to do over time. I've replaced a lot of the hardware that held my paints, changing back to paintiers for the most part. As is the norm, that's not to say that things will stay that way, but... it will do for now.

O.k. So more news on the podcast.  You can check us out here   flockandawepodcast.wordpress.com or go looking for us on itunes.  We've got some great guests lined up for the coming months,  it's going to be a blast, so please tune in and enjoy.

Also, there will be some reviews coming. I don't get a lot of painting done, but I do like to buy shinies, so expect reviews to become a common thing :D

That's all for now folks!

Marc

Skyping and painting..

As anyone that does it knosw, painting can end up being a very isolated hobby. You spend hours on your own, concentrating on little toy soldiers that in spite of your dreams( or possibly your nightmares) will never tell you how they feel about  your work on their paint job.

              So the other day I saw a random tweet that was a brilliant idea. Being on skype, while you paint with others that are doing the same thing.  You've got a headset, so your hands are free, you're talking to other people that are doing the same thing. If you have a problem or a genius idea, you can share it straight away.

It's genius, and it's so simple.

Wish I'd thought of it.

If anyone wants to try it, drop me a msg.

Marc

Well hello there... long time no see..

O.k, I admit it. Just lately I have been utterly crap at making blog posts.

I could make a long lists of all the things that have gotten in the way of me making posts, but the bottom line is that I've just been procrastinating left right and centre.

That being said, I would like to speak about something I think is vital for any business.

Customer Service.


We all know what customer service is, what's good customer service, what's bad customer service, what's outstanding customer service. 


There are some companies out there that have a record for outstanding customer service, I personally would count Privateer Press among them.


There are some companies that are notoriously bad, who I won't name here, because I'm not going to turn this into a poo flinging contest.  You know who they are, they know who they are, no sense in giving them free publicity.


O.k, now to the meat of this post. 

Sometimes I see a product online that I just have to give a try,  sometimes this involves ordering from a company I haven't ordered from before.
In this case it was Warlord Games. They have a rather nice new paint rack solution that I wanted to try out.

It looks pretty good to me,with a good price. I chose two for large pots and one for small pots. 

So I happily placed my order and started to wait, thinking" Well, If I'm really lucky, I'll see it on saturday morning, or tuesday morning if I'm not" So cut to Wednesday and still no arrival. "Hmm," Say I. "Surely something has gone amiss? 

So I grab the phone and place a call to a rather charming fellow by the name of Steve at Warlord. 

I explain the problem and he promises to look into it and call me back. Which he promptly did less then  five minutes later. 

Apparently they were out of stock of one of the trays.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind waiting for stuff, if it's out of stock it's out of stock.

However,  if  you are out of stock and it is causing orders to be backlogged, then it would be really nice to let the customers know in some way, shape or form. a note on the website, an e-mail, a quick phone call, hell, I'd accept a carrier pigeon.

Needless to say, I was a bit non-plussed to find out that it would be friday to monday before I received my order, but that was mostly because I hadn't been notified. I'm still holding faith with Warlord for now,  but it was hardly a glowing start.

If you want to chance your own arm and buy a rack like this yourself, you can get them here.

Until then, keep them brush's flailing!

Marc 

Cardstock and scalpels

 Hello again, presuming you've been here before, if not, hello and welcome to the blog!
                                                    I've spent today building tiles and things for Worldworks Games latest product, the Oubliette of Peril. 
                          Like all of worldwork's products, it's well thought out and produced, excellently done at a great price, however, the economy of price comes with a cost that while not hidden, you might not think of immediately. 
  While you're building this you're going to need a lot of cardstock at a specific weight, you're also going to hammer the ink on your printer and go through a LOT of scalpel blades, the last isn't really a problem, as I buy them by the box anyway :)
  Oh, you're also going to need a fair amount of adhesive and foam board. 

So while it can be great, and once you've made a lot of bits up, all very labour intensive, I might add, then you can build some very nice, very adaptable gaming boards that you can configure to just about any gaming purpose you wish.

 For me, I'm now looking towards one of the automated cutters that they do, shame it's £240 after VAT, but hey, talk about time saving :D

That's all for now folks, tomorrow I might actually show you some minis, go figure :D

Rabbit Holes..

      Well, after my statement of being an antisocial bastard the other day, I decided to head into town and check out a couple of things, so among my wanderings through the spaghetti map that is the london undergrounn, across the river Thames and it's surrounds I managed to make my way to Dark Sphere Games.
  The first thing I noticed is the fact that this shop, despite being there for at least 12 months, has got no large sign on the top. That's it, no banner, nothing. If you weren't keeping a sharp eye, it's easy to miss.
 Fortunately, if you're looking, the posters and such like can be most helpful in finding it, although the large amount of Magic: The Gathering  posters was off putting. (Personal grudge, I don't like CCG's)
  Anyway, once you find it and get in there, forget your normal browsing patterns, there are no visible prices, anywhere on anything other then the P3 paints. Oh, and it's less browsing, more like an archeological dig,  it's roughly the size of a  shoebox and the walls are covered, absolutely covered with stock, and stock stacked on top of stock . It's a massive selection of stuff, a really great selection, IF you can find what you want. Don't be afraid to ask, you will need to ask regardless because nothing is stickered with prices, oh wait, I already mentioned that, can you guess how annoyed I was by that?
     Oh, and diminishing the space even more, I chose the day when they had just had a delivery.

 On a totally different note, I had my first experience with a wet shave when someone else is holding the blade.
  While the pampering was nice, the hot towels, the slap,  certain other of the services were a little odd. The hand and arm massage for example, what on earth was that about? And the ear singeing? Really, really strange.
 Sadly, for all that, it was a lousy shave, as a blonde I usually only need to shave every 2-3 days,  I'm currently sporting evening stubble. Well, that was 15 quid  that would have been better spent on paint.

Right, I'm hoping to get back on the brush tomorrow, I've got a group of 5  Reservoir Dogs-esque figures I've been slapping around with the brushes.

Laters,
 Marc

Books Books Books!

              Some of you may be aware, but I'm a compulsive reader, it's one of the reasons I have problems  getting stuff done,  but I just found out about a really great contest for some signed books that I want to win on a friends blog, heres the link.

   I've been meaning to read this series for a while now, but I just haven't got around to it, so fingers crossed  for me on this!

Marc