Midnight Mini pr0n: Beautiful Warfare, Indeed

Howdy, folks! I've been recovering from GottaCon, and am finally going through pictures and such, fighting the dreaded Confluenza Convergiftung (in other words, con-crud). The first thing I wanted to do is a slightly past Midnight Mini pr0n featuring a young gentleman who is one of the most kick-ass miniature painters I've seen in quite a while.

Now, my pictures were taken with my Blackberry Playbook, which means they're not the greatest pics-- so I may be doing Kurt a disservice here. If so, I'm terribly sorry, man.

Anyhow, let's feast our eyes on what I'm sure is the first video I've posted on Diary of a Grognerd. And you know what? This is the only video I thought of to take at GottaCon. Funny that.

Hey, I'm a writer, not a videographer, okay?
(Update: I think that YouTube provides a better video thing than Blogspot... so I switched them oot.)

And here's a few pictures...

I sharpened it a little. Should be a bit less horrible a pic...

As you can see, these are Legion of the Damned space marines from Warhammer 40k. Probably my fave space marines. I mean, who can dislike evil looking rockabilly Adeptus Astartes who are like undead Angels of Death?

Those guys? Badasses painted by a badass.

I really wish I could catch the badassness better.

As you can no doubt tell, I took the pictures at the t-shirt booth I was working. Oh, the humanity.

In case you didn't pick it up from the video, Kurt and a buddy have started a mini-painting outfit called BEAUTIFUL WARFARE. If you live in or around the Vancouver, BC area, they would be happy to help you with your miniature painting needs. I believe Kurt told me they charge around $12 an hour. Trust me when I say it's worth every penny.

This brings me to: Should you get people to paint your dudes for you? Well, when I was waaay younger, I would let people pay me to paint their figs*. I was no where near the level of Kurt, but it did help me pay for more cultists, daemons and Imperial Guard. I personally encourage Wargamer Stategoi to paint their own troops, but sometimes you want to have an awesome looking squad or personality figure. And let's face it: Few of us are astounding painters like Archmagos deGraaf. There is absolutely no shame in paying someone skilled and talented to make your dudes look badass. It's your money and miniatures, after all.

(*Not a euphemism.)

If you are in need of the services of BEAUTIFUL WARFARE, I'm afraid you'll have to contact Kurt through Facebook for right now. It's a really good thing he has a distinct name, eh? I'll update this entry when he has a website to direct you to. Ah here we go. Information for contacting them is here.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed this installment of the pr0n! I should be slowly posting GottaCon posts starting tomorrow. I may even have a goal to put something in this blog at least once a day. We'll see how that goes.

--

Feel free to comment below! Or email me.

Midnight Mini pr0n: Metzner's Magnificent Madness

Okay, I'm going to be short, to the point, and assailing you with many pictures. See, GottaCon is going on right now, and I need to get up to work a booth and be on a panel concerning GMing in the morning. But I just HAD to post about what HAS to be my fave drool-worthy booth at the con-- and it concerns terrain.

I mean, I was so impressed that I'm putting off going to bed right now. In fact, this will be going up a bit after midnight because I'm working on this actual-time for a change.

Usually I'll tell fellow dork-nerds to get paper terrain, or make their own, because pre-made terrain for minis is usually very expensive. Especially if you want it to look good.

Well, look at this real quick:

It even comes with little spiders!

Neat, eh? How much do you think they would cost? They're decent size, keep in mind. Like the size of a large fist. Maybe bigger.

Yup.

In case you can't make that out, it says they're $7.50 a piece. Seven dollars and fifty cents. Holy. Shit.

Let's continue with more pictures and the information you'll need to order some after the jump, shall we?

Midnight Mini pr0n: Reaper 012312--GO!

Hello, you magnificent creatures of bastarddom--

Wait. Is there two d's in "bastarddom"? That's gonna bug me.

Welcome to another Midnight Mini pr0n! Tonight's pr0n features an old favourite of mine and many of yours': Reaper Minatures.

Reaper is one of those outfits who produce consistently awesome and affordable minis. They have an incredible selection to pick from and they even have very nice paints. Just go and poke around their site for a while. You'll spend hours there... and then? And then you'll want to order stuff.

And then?

And then you'll notice they give free shipping on orders of $25 or more for the USA... and CANADA! This means a lot to me, as I complain a lot about shipping from the US to here.

This Midnight, I invite you to take a look at what new treats Reaper has to offer today (or, technically, yesterday, but whatevs).

CLICK ON THIS LINK AND BEHOLD, SON (OR DAUGHTER).

Now I will show you what I love. Now, I'm no miniatures racist. I love them all... but there ARE ones I prefer more than others.

You know, kinda like how I am with my kids*.
(*Obvious joke is obvious. Right? Pleasedon'thurtme.)

"Damn your hammers of war! I said GO THAT WAY!!"

Looking above this text, you may instantly understand why the combination of Reaper Miniatures and designer Bobby Jackson are a match made in heaven. You can go directly to the listing for "Erik Proudfoot, Intergalactic Marine" here. You will also want to see more of Mr. Jackson's Intergalactic Marines-- and don't worry, I got yor back. Just GO HERE.

Moving right along, another standout new fig for me from Reaper is "Shadowguard, DkRch", also by-- wait for it... waaaait-- Bobby Jackson! Check it:

"Yep. I'm totally badass, yo."

But all minis can't be swaggering badass mofos created by Bobby Jackson (who, I bet, has laser shooting eyes and a chainsaw fist). This next one is nicely crafted by one Patrick Keith. It is very badass in its own subtle way.

"Bitch, where my shoes at?"

It's hard to find a great female miniature these days, you know? Well done, Mr. Keith. Quite elegant. The entry for "Trinia Sabor" is HERE.

While all the new minis Reaper are offering as of today [ed: yesterday-- okay, well technically technically, this week] are, in fact, freaking neat-o, these three really grabbed me.

My thanks to @minireaper, which is where you find Reaper Miniatures on ze Twitter. They are a most-follow for minis-fans, by the by, as they are incredibly helpful and communicative. I'm assuming they also must love tacos, too.

I hope you've enjoyed this latest dose of pr0n! I do have one question to leave you with:

Midnight Mini pr0n will always happen at Midnight when I post it-- but which timezone should I use for the posting time? Right now it's posted with my timezone, PST, in mind. Thoughts? Go ahead and sound off your vote in the comments. Or email me if yer shy.

Total Party Kill 1/20/12: Necromancing the Bones

Ahhh, the old banner. Thanks to Elliot (I think) for this one.

Happy Friday, you glorious band of brother, sister and brother/sister nerds.

Look, I have no idea if I will do this every Friday, but I did want to do two things concerning this blog:

1) Have an end-of-the-week roundup post, compiling my posts throughout the week, complete with short descriptors so you can peruse at your leisure.
2) Bring back Total Party Kill, an occasional column I did in the past some people seemed to dig.

So. Here I am, wondering what to do... Ah! I know: I'll make Total Party Kill (TPK) the roundup with some new material.

Genius.

Yup. GENIUS.

More after ze jump!! Comics, minis (well A mini), games and links, oh my! /takeivoice

Midnight Mini pr0n: Sexy Sexy Shock Troopers

OOooooYEAH! It's time to get down with another Mini pr0n-- at Midnight, even.         

Have a short one in store for you (again), but I'd like to keep these short, you know? Cuz... well, cuz I'm kinda busy and lazy and busy being lazy.

Wargames Factory stormed the market not all that long ago with very decently designed and affordable plastic kits. I've dug what they've thrown at us so far, but the one I really, REALLY geek out over is their Greatcoat Shock Troopers.

Bring on the SEXY.

Or Shock Troops. Or Greatcoat Troopers-- whatevs. It's from their Alien Suns line, which also has...

buh-LAM! Now THAT is Bitch Puddin'.

Anyways, let's keep this about the Greatcoats. Essentially "Ze Germans" of Spaaaaace... And it never gets old.

"Und keep zem up!"

No. I am not being sarcastic. Not being sarcastic there, either. I don't know about you, but I love this shit. And if you're not participating in any official "tourneys" or whatever, and you like like playing something that sounds akin to "Imperial Guard" or "Traitor Guardsmen", then these cheap and well-done plastic minis will do nicely.

"Und zen I shot Herr Gaunt in ze face."

Personally, I can find all kinds of uses for them. From Weird War type RPG stuff to Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader RPG goodness to Judge Dredd and Traveller and Gamma World. In fact-- well, in fact, I can't help but wonder what mixing up some of these plastic kits with other kits Wargames factory has to offer... Like this:

"Sssshocktrooper brainssss..."

Mixed up with a bit of this:

"Vendi, vidi, vici-- time to take Space France!"

All in all, a great selection of stuff. See for yourself!

And the best part? I'm in Canada and ordering one of these sets only costs me just over $25 when shipping is thrown in. Awesome!! I can see myself ordering lots of these in the future.

I mean, it's important that I construct my Undead Space Roman Shock Troops, right?

(Quick Update: All pictures pulled from the Wargames Factory's site!)

Midnight Mini pr0n: Crudely Cute Crooked Corn Dolls

Got a very short installment of The Mini pr0n for you...

Check these out:

"...and if we hear ANY more 'Thriller in Indiana' jokes..."

Brought to you by the fine, twisted minds of Crooked Dice Game Design Studio. They not only have minis, but they also do games, as well.

Read more about their amazing Corn Dolls, dammit.

You can see more more of what they have to offer, like A Clockwork Orange-ish minis, in their miniatures section here. Good prices and decent shipping rates, if you ask me. Hopefully I'll get around to ordering the Corn Dolls when I get a chance.

I can see a serious What the Fucking Fuck Moment occurring in a Dark Heresy game when I toss these guys at my players...

That's all the Midnight Mini pr0n you get for now. Sleep tight!

--

Questions? Suggestions? Adoring words of love and raccoons? Hit me as hard as you can in the comments or email me.

Midnight Mini pr0n: Back for the Space S****n Attack!

It's good to be back. And Happy Midnight, everyone in the Pacific Standard Time Zone! Chances are, though, that you're reading this the next morning because you don't live in the same time zone as me and other Awesome People. Chances are that I'm writing this much earlier, updating it piece by piece as I work on other stuff (like your mom--BAM) and then having the damned thing post at Midnight.

Really, it doesn't matter. I like using the name "Midnight Mini pr0n" and you will like it, too, like it or not.

Tonight I would like to geek out over discovering Mega Miniatures. Now, I may have discovered them before, but it's been a while, so give me a break, okay? Let's get to it!

Note: All pictures are pulled from the Mega Miniatures site and eBay store. If anyone over at Mega Miniatures has a problem with this, please contact me: synabetic (at) gmail (dot) com.
Part of me dreads saying this, but I hope this company doesn't get nailed by You-Know-Who... I mean-- dare I say it?-- they have Space Skaven-esque figures and Sci-Fi Beastmen available! I guess it should be stated right freaking now that this is my opinion and my opinion only. Period. I am certain Mega Miniatures had no intention of their miniatures looking like or reminding anyone of a particular miniatures line. Got that? Good.

First, I encourage every goddamned nerd reading this to look through their eBay store and PDF catalogs. There is some epic stuff to be had! I am going to document my wish list. Deep breath. Prepare the sacrificial altar with the requisite baby hearts. I'm gonna freak right the heck out.

(item listing can be found here)

Looksss, man-thing things! Space Skav-- er Ratmen! I've been kitbashing rodent-doods like this for years, but I was excessively pleased to see this selection. My Rogue Trader RPG players, on the other paw, will most probably be displeased. The sculpts appear decent and I was reading that these are tin minis, and while I used to be pretty resistant to the "tin movement", I'm sure these will be just fine. Oh, and the price. A great price, and they also offer affordable shipping rates. But wait-- there's more!

(item listing can be found here)

Man, those rat-dudes look badass! I foresee spending in my future... I'll report on what they're like in person when I finally get around to feeding my habit.

While you're here, reading, do know that individually these Space Ratmen are running $2.50 a piece for the average sized ones, $4.99 for the large ones and $1.50 for the smaller ones. To save space and time, I have not included the 15mm Ratguys, but you should totally check them out, yo.

Moving on...

This has to be shown Big Picture style.

(item listing can be found here)

Feast on the Motherfething Awesomeness. What I see here is a miniatures line that will appeal to fans of Undead, The Terminator, Necrons and Westworld. You could even do Galaxy Rangers meets Deadlands in Spaaaace, pardner.

In other words: I love them.

Yeah, sure, some of the sculpts look a little goofy, but overall they're magnificent and give me all kinds of gaming ideas. They also give me ideas on top of already formed Evil Ideas I have for my Rogue Trader RPG group (perhaps you're getting the impression that said group is going to hate-love me-- good).

There are many, many more minis to be had by the fine folks over at Mega Miniatures, including classic Grenadier models from Ye Olden Days of Yore. Yeah, a buddy and I nerded it up over them on Facebook last night.

My girlfriend probably thinks I'm pathetically weird.

I will show you some more things of beauty. Truth be told, I am a man who appreciates devices of execution. Don't judge my violent solutions to society's problems, you bigots. I'm perfectly normal having wanted gallows and headsman playsets since I was seven.

(item listing can be found here)

Nice. For those of you who don't have the same kind of gallows humour I do: Sorry.

The dropped shoe is a very, very neat touch, by the way.

(item listing can be found here)

I wouldn't recommend this as a way to get a head in life.

Speaking of heads, I think they have mounted ones available through their catalog. Really, this is one of the first places to-- wait for it-- head to when you want something other than paper scenery. By the way, WorldWorks produces some of the best paper terrain stuff on the market, as does Fat Dragon Games.

Anyone looking for good tips on some stocks?

(item listing can be found here)

Oh, I kill me. What's that? You want to do this to me, don't you:

(item listing can be found here)

Tempting to make a rack joke about the lady in the stocks, too...

Right, I understand. But when you're all done doing what you do, make sure you get the proper equipment to clean it up:

(item listing can be found here)

Hee hee hee...

I really need to get me these things. Be sure to check out the rest of Mega Miniature's scenery.

Oh! And for you child haters out there...

(item listing can be found here)

Yeah, yeah, cry me a river kid. That'll teach you to never steal another man's Veritech fighter again.

That's all for now, folks, I hope you dug this one. It's a bit long in the exacto-bladed tooth, but I figured I'd throw in a bunch of images. As for an image to leave you on, here's some Skeletons.

Everyone loves Skeletons.

(and, of course, item listing can be found here)

Thanks, Mega Miniatures, for producing some excellent things to choose from! I'll totally blame you when my girlfriend complains I haven't bought her flowers lately or haven't taken her out to the tapas bar in a long, long while.

Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Leave a comment damn it. Or if you're Intardnets shy, shoot me an email: synabetic(at)gmail(dot)com

And We're Back. Sort of.

So, there I was taking a break from reading this wonderful book I'm editing and I was thinking "I really should update my Depressalin blog". Yeah, that's a link. Go and check it out-- not for the faint of heart.

Anyways, lately I've been thinking about miniatures a lot. I also linked to this blog recently when talking to someone. And then, when I was thinking about that other, more personal blog I do, I thought about this one. It's been a long time since I updated it... But I should. I mean, where else would I freak out about miniatures and gaming? I could do it over at Depressalin, but then it becomes unfocused nonsense. And there's enough of that.

I also think I become more productive when I'm not smoking.

Anyways, again, I think I'll bring this blogthing back, if only for doing Midnight Mini Pr0n again. I really enjoyed wigging out about miniatures and such. I might even do Total Party Kill again... and you probably don't know what that is. I know what it is. I know.

I'll see about doing a miniatures post at midnight. Then again, I may forget. Anyways, again again, I hope to entertain at least two or three nerds out there.

Maybe four. Dream big, kids... dream big!

Midnight Mini pr0n - Empress Miniatures [Minis!]

You don't hear very often about women playing wargames and the like-- so I bet you thought you'd never EVER hear about two women deciding to design and manufacture their own minis lines! But that's exactly what happened in the case of Empress Miniatures...

So here, take a look at what they've done with their first line of 28mm miniatures, covering the 1879 Zulu Wars:





Be sure to click on the pictures if you want to see exactly where they came from!



And now that you've seen some Brits, here's some Zulus...






Very nice, eh? Be sure to spend some time at their site here.

They also provide some free rules to play by!


Right, I'm tired. Time for bed! See you soon for another Midnight Mini pr0n!

Midnight Mini pr0n - Reaper Madness [Minis!]

I'd like to debut Midnight Mini pr0n here on Diary of a Grognerd. I've been posting them in my Livejournal for a little while now, but I thought it was best over here (though I'll be sure to link from my LJ). Feel free to comment here or there! I'll try to post awesome miniatures here every night at midnight (or thereabouts-- hey, it's always midnight somewhere). Suggestions as to what to check out and post are ALWAYS welcome.

Be sure to click on the pics for more info, and to see the minis in their unpainted glory and from other angles!

Today's Mini pr0n is brought to you by the magnificent REAPER MINIATURES, a terrific company that can suit nearly all of your tabletop RPG needs!



That's a GNOME. Hell yeah!




HAWT.




And WOW, those Sea Elves are great!





I would like one of the above, please.




I have the above Blackguard. Um, he doesn't look that good, though.


And there are SO SO SO many more to be found at the Reaper Miniatures site.
GET SOME.


See you at the next... MIDNIGHT MINI PR0N!!