New Kroot Gladiator

With all the Tau rumors flying around and the imminent new Tau Codex due to be born any minute now (it's like news of a new baby whenever GW insiders whisper anything around here--I wonder if it'll pop in the taxi on the way to the hospital?) I figured it was about time I finished painting this model.  I traded Viking Born J for some termie bases and got this kroot model for use with my Black Phoenix Dark Eldar Beastmaster.  (Using teams of gladiator slaves to stand in for bases full of razorbeaks.)

I wanted to go with blue-grey hide on this kroot ("shadow grey", to be exact, one of my favorite paint colors) and with him being mostly naked it didn't take too terribly long to finish him.  I was sitting outside on a mildly warm day here in Texas, meaning it was pleasant unless you were in direct sunlight.  The sun dried my paints quickly though, especially those I was trying to mix in a tray, and made the whole process kind of difficult.

I like painting outside (1) just because I prefer being outside when it's nice out, and (2) because you can see really well in the natural light.  But that's a double-edged sword -- sometimes the contrast between sun and shade is so strong it messes with your judgment.  Even in these pics you can kind of see the extremes of sun and shadow.  It's especially hard to judge your photographs this way.  (I just shot a million of them and weeded out the bad ones once I got on the computer.)

This last one looks to me like he's exiting a cave on a frozen world.  Let's call it, "Tundra Hunter".  
  

Getting Signed Copies...

In preparation for the next big thing (the Kickstarter for my fantasy novel Tarnish, which should be taking off in the next week or two) I have made some adjustments on two of my chapbooks (smallish books) already published.  The price of my first story Dreams of Flying has gone down to zero.  This means that Amazon will no longer be carrying it (cuz they want money and their cut of zero is, well, zero).  The regular price on A Long Walk Down a Dark Alley has conversely gone up by a mere 50 cents.  Believe it or not, raising the overall price with online retailers on this book by just that small amount boosts my share of the take significantly (it breaks a percentage threshold).  It's actually kind of sad how little the author gets as opposed to the retailer who pretty much has no costs whatsoever--all they have to do is sit back and let me write it, format it, get the cover made, and e-publish it, and then collect on my work.

As such, if you're interested in a paperback of A Long Walk I would suggest these two routes:

(1) Order it via my Createspace store because I get a bigger slice of it that way than if you order straight off of Amazon (the price is the same for you, I just get more of the payment for my own work).  If you are ordering other books via Amazon at the same time, then I'm pretty sure mine goes into the same shipping and handling and thus the total shipping is cheaper for you.

(2) OR, if you'd like a signed paperback copy, you can order it directly from me.  There is a higher cost for this ($10) but this is because I must also cover the printing of the book, getting it shipped to me to sign, and then packaging and shipping it back out to you (all included for the 10 bucks).  To do this, email me at jdbrink888 (at) gmail (dot) com.  Preferred payment is via Paypal but can also be check (once the check has cleared--not to be suspicious but, you know...).  Once I receive your email I'll ask for your mailing address, who you'd like the book signed to, and payment before I proceed.  (And in case you were wondering, if you were just ordering a copy off Amazon not signed and paying the normal $4 shipping through them, the cost would come out about the same.)

And c'mon, I'm planning on being semi-somewhat famous someday so a signed copy might just be worth bragging about in the near future...

Thanks for everything and stay tuned for more on the upcoming Kickstarter launch!

Fist Shaking: New Chaos Codexes (Codices?)

All this talk about the new Daemons codex and not long ago the new Chaos Marines codex has got me wanting to play them, damn it!  And I already have all the models I'd need, enough to make several combinations of Chaos Marine and Chaos Daemon ally contingents that could fit together in various evil legions.  However, in order for me to do that, I'd have to spend ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS MORE (plus tax) to play.

That's right.  I have all the models and then some (though wouldn't mind buying a mess of new cultists to join in the fun).  But I don't have either of the new $50 codices.  Just a few short months ago I was playing both armies.  Now I need to drop a C-note in order to play them.  [Insert fist shaking here.]

I have actually sold about $150 worth of miniatures in the last couple months but that money has already been allocated toward another more important creative project.  I'm sure the new books are really cool and look great and the rules are probably groovy and everything, but I don't play enough--much less play that one army enough--to drop 100 bones on buying TWO damn books.  Damn you, GW!!!  [More fist shaking.]

(And I'll join in with Old Man Stewart in shaking my fist at Twitter too...)

Altered Reality #3

In the midst of all kinds of real life and other-than-hobby stuff going on (including a major possible career change), I don't really have much time for 40K at the moment, but I didn't want too much time to pass between blog entries, so...  Here's another "altered reality" bit in which I show off some of my model pics screened through photo-editing software.  Nothing mindblowing or anything, just some fun 40K imagery.  Enjoy.