Making Taking Care of My Body a Priority in the Craziness that is Grad School

This semester has been SO crazy. I am loving it, doing all the things I love most (reading, writing, reading about writing, writing about reading, you know the super fun stuff), but I am busier than I have ever been with Livy and Aaron and ATLOS to think of on top of school and work.

Somehow in all the insanity, my healthy habits have gone away. I am never home during the week, so I don't cook. Instead, I've been eating fast food in the car and bar food at school WAY too often.

Instead of my long walks of last semester, I have been sitting on my behind, writing and writing and writing. When I have a break, instead of getting outside, I find myself frantically checking things off my to-do list. I'm getting about the same amount of sunlight as Aaron, for god's sake, and he's a computer programmer.

I've gained weight, and I feel yucky. I am pushing myself harder than ever before, and I am not fueling my body properly or exercising to relieve stress or sleeping enough.

So, I am making a change. I am unable to make a big change because I have way too much to do. But I am making small changes to get back on a healthier track.

I started a yoga class, which is active and also gives me some much needed stress relief (thanks, Tori!). I've been going one day a week for 3 weeks and like it so much that I am thinking of adding an extra day a week. As soon as Aaron sets up the DVD player in the new introvert-proof living room, I will add some weekend yoga with Livy.

I am going to start taking some shorter walks during my school breaks. Walks that I can do in 30 minutes. Walks that I can do in nice slacks or a dress. I do not have to walk for hours to make it worthwhile to do it. The perfect is the enemy of the good when it comes to walks (as  in so much else).

I am going to start packing food for the day. Today I brought a cooler with lunch and dinner in it, simple stuff that doesn't require cooking. I may have to live with less variety if I am not willing to cook, but at least it will be healthy food that can fuel the pace of this semester. Today, I have ham, cheese, veggies and hummus, a frozen hamburger patty, and a salad. Not perfectly paleo, but a lot better than Taco Bell.

I am going to try to get more sleep by going to bed earlier on Mondays and Wednesdays (the days before my earliest days). It's hard to do that and still see Aaron much, but even an hour would help.

I'm trying not to focus on the weight I've gained or how I want to look or how I want my clothes to fit. Those things are fine, but not the most important. In a semester this busy, I only have time to think about the things that I value most and ruthlessly cut out the other. So body image issues have to go. Instead, my focus will be on giving my body the food, exercise, and sleep it needs to make me the brainiest, most energetic teacher and scholar that composition theory and writing center studies has ever seen.

Practicing the Positive Discipline Tool "Compliments"

I just read this awesome post from Jane Nelson's Positive Discipline blog, and it has inspired me to focus this week on complimenting people in my life.

I can be kind of a critical person. It's something I'm working very hard to change. I am learning to keep my temper in check and to say the negative things that need to be said in a kind way. But that's only one side of the problem. I want to work on focusing on the positive things about the people around me, not just on dealing with the negative things more calmly and rationally.

So, this week, I am going to compliment the people around me. I am going to tell Livy and Aaron the good things I love about them. I am going to point out to my students when they do well. I am going to say the nice things I think in my head about strangers out loud to them.

How is this different from praise? Its aim is not a change in someone's behavior; its aim is justice. If I told Aaron how helpful he was after doing the dishes in order to manipulate him into doing them more often, that would be praise. And, in my opinion, it would be kind of sneaky and unhealthy. But if I tell him how much I appreciate his help around the house because I do appreciate it and want him to feel appreciated, that's a compliment.

So, to start myself off, here are a few compliments I should hand out:

1. Aaron, you are so supportive of my goals. Even when you are not loving what you are doing, you support and cheer me on when I am loving what I am doing. I think that's a sign of real love.

2. Livy, you are getting so good at apologizing when you hurt my feelings. It's so mature, and I really love how it feels when we interact more as equals. It makes me think of how great it will be to hang out with you when you are all grown up.

3. Jenn, you are an amazing listener. You always remember what I have been up to and ask about it and then really listen to my answers. It makes me feel very important to you.

4. Brendan, I was super impressed with you calm and productiveness through all of last week's stress with the house.

5. Miranda, I love hanging out and talking with you so much. You are a really fun conversationalist, and I'm glad that we got to know each other and didn't let any age difference or anything like that stop us from being friends.

6. Anonymous student (whom I won't name here), your responsibility in working, going to school, and taking care of your mom blows me away.

7. Anonymous student (whom I won't name here),  I appreciate your diligence in my class. It's clear to me already that you are willing to do whatever it takes to work on your writing.

I'm going to be sure to say these kinds of things to the people around me, not only so that they can hear the truth, but so that I can practice focusing every day on the wonderful things about the people around me.

Shredders Revisited

This is the money shot.  Or angle, if you prefer.

Following an exchange with Cloudfang of Live to CRUSH in the comments across my last couple posts, I went back to the Shredders to tweak my scheme and see how it looks in person.  The tweaks were a pair: purple lining around the chitin and a bone/cream on the "under" chitin.  A couple caveats before getting into the comparison.  First, the work on the Shredders has been very quick and dirty.  Since this is a test run on a new scheme and not final work, I haven't been as attentive as I would normally be.  As such things like the purple lining are sloppier than they would otherwise be.  Second, the finished models are bound to be slightly different since the layers will accumulate in a different order, notably the purple would go down over either primer or the blue/white skin and not orange.  The "clean" Shredder is a better example of what things would look like in this case.  Finally, I primed these two white for no real good reason other than to mix things up by working over white for a change.  Considering the bulk of my Legion came primed black I'll probably go with that, and even my usual grey primer is dark enough to be similar to black.  In summation, final models are likely to be neater and darker than these two Shredders.  Now on to the fun.

The "clean" Shredder.

Lacking any purple paints, I did a 50/50 mix of Bloody Red and Electric Blue with an eye towards getting a bright purple.  Instead I got a slightly darker blue than the base Electric Blue, so I added more Bloody Red to end up with something like a 75/25 red to blue mix and a purple that was a darker than I wanted and far more paint than I needed, but was at least purple.  The purple was applied like a shade to the orange bits, and I put a little in the deepest creases by the mouth for good measure.  After the purple I got to the under-chitin, meaning the bottom plates on the tail and the raised foot of the "dirty" Shredder.  This was a pretty typical bone progression (all in Vallejo Game Color as usual): Leather Brown, Scrofulous Brown, 50/50 Scrofulous and Bonewhite, pure Bonewhite, 50/50 Bonewhite and Dead White. 

"Dirty" Shredder.

So how did it turn out?  The purple is a clear upgrade on the "dirty" Shredder, but I'm less sold on the "clean" one.  The transition from blue/white skin to orange chitin does seem a little smoother, but it's more shade than the bright, "glowy" purple I was going for.  It might pay dividends further down the road though, either as a color for clothes and armor or just by showing up better on a larger beast with more, and better defined, chitin.  The cream under-chitin worked out far better than I expected.  I was skeptical about adding another light color on top of the already light skin, but viewed through a lens of cold/warm instead of light/dark it makes much more sense.  Like the purple lining I think the full scope won't be apparent until I apply the scheme to larger beasts, and especially when doing a side-by-side comparison of a flyer (like the Seraph) and a groundpounder (Carnivean).

At the end of this little experiment, I'm on the fence.  The under-chitin is a winner, and regardless of whether I run with the purple or not I'll be filling that particular hole in my paint collection.  Perhaps a brighter purple will help it pop more as its own color instead of extra shading, albeit a more harmonious shading.  So what say you, peanut gallery?

Introvert-Proofing the House

At ATLOSCon 2011 (yes, all the way last year), Miranda gave a class about the concepts in The Not So Big House. Basically, the book says that you should set up your house for the way you actually use it and want to use it, not the way people set up houses traditionally. We brainstormed the way we used the rooms in our house, and I realized that the living room (the largest room in our tiny house) was hardly ever used.

This got me thinking about what kinds of things I would like to change about the way we use our house. See, Aaron uses his office A LOT. Basically, he is holed up in there a lot of the time doing mystical things with computers and routers and printers and black pop-up boxes on the computer screen.

Livy also uses her room A LOT. Basically, she is holed up in there a lot of the time watching TV, organizing her things, doing art, making projects, and playing with her toys.

It can be hard for a person like me, who is very extroverted, to live with these two extreme introverts, and I would love for them to come out of their rooms more often and do their introverty things next to me. I don't even want to bother them (well, I want to, but I can stop myself from doing it); I just want to have them in the room with me while I do school work, write on my blog, do household chores, etc.

So, since I am the kind of person who chooses not to manipulate the introverts in her life, I told them both about how I wanted us to parallel play more. They were both open to this idea, and we decided to rearrange the furniture to make that easier.

Last weekend, we finally got around to doing it. We moved the dining room table out into the living room and moved both the couch and the loveseat into the dining room. They are pretty squished in there, but we use them very rarely and almost always when hanging out drinking wine with Miranda. We don't mind squishing in with her.

We also set up a big sturdy folding table and new bookshelf in the living room to serve as a desk for me, and we set up a computer for Livy at one end of my desk. So, the plan is for her to play minecraft and do her computery things near me while I work on school stuff.

We also now have this great big table out in the room, where we can all do our projects. That part, at least, is already going according to plan. This afternoon, we all sat around the table--Aaron cleaning his guns, Livy cutting out and assembling zoo animals, and I reading aloud from an archaeology magazine. It was great fun, and not just for me! So the introverts like the set-up too!

We are also getting a TV for that room, so that I can do yoga videos in the new big open space and Livy can play Wii games (we'll all probably do that a little bit).

I'll let you know how the schoolwork/Minecraft part of the plan goes, but I wanted to let you all know that doing some strategic planning and rearranging of the house can help the isolated extroverts get the parallel play they want from the introverts in their lives. Miranda, your class changed our whole dynamic!

Shredders "finished," Kovnik Joe WIP #1

Finished?

A bit of housekeeping first.  For this post I've re-sized and cropped the pics in an effort to a) decrease upload size during this time of slow, slow internet b) make the page load faster for you, the reader, in said time of slow, slow internet c) cut out all the extraneous bits of the pictures d) save some storage space, not that it really matters but it never hurts to be frugal when you can.  If it's horrible or wonderful then let me know and I'll adjust (or not) accordingly.  This is also post # 2 of the new naming convention for painting update posts. 

This is the "dirty" one in my mind.

Today was more productive than I expected, though in retrospect I shouldn't be surprised.  As the title says, I finished up the Shredders today...at least for now.  Keeping with the spirit of experimentation I took two different routes to the same goal.  I started with the raised foot Shredder, who you might recall didn't get a basecoat on the chitin in the first session, and used a bit of the techniques for Live to CRUSH's Legion scheme (part two of the tutorial here) by basecoating in orange, and being less precise than usual while doing so.  The idea here is to leave some of the orange showing at the base of the chitin, between armor plates, in nooks and crannies, you get the idea.  From there painting followed the usual approach of layering, starting with a 50/50 VGC Scrofulous Brown (which is somewhat orange on its own) VGC Hot Orange, then another 50/50 of VGC Filthy Brown and VGC Firey Orange, then a final layer of Orange Fire.  There may have been another coat of 70/30 Orange Fire and Hot Orange in there as well.  The results weren't quite what I was hoping for as all the oranges blended together, visually at least, and just looked messy.  Thus the "dirty" label I attached to it.  To try and break up the orange hegemony I did a Devlan Mud wash on the orange areas which helped add a little separation and toned down the ORANGE effect, but I'm not 100% pleased with it.  The solution here may be to use a different color as the base, maybe a red or purple as suggested in the last post's comments, which would hopefully give some more definition between the various layers.

"Clean" Shredder.

The lowered foot Shredder finished the last session with a coat of VGC Leather Brown on the chitin.  With that as a base I applied the same steps as the "dirty" Shredder.  The results are much the same, though this Shredder (the "clean" one) is a bit oranger than the "dirty" one.  Then again, the "clean" one didn't get a Mud bath, so that could easily explain the difference.  Time is starting to run up on me here, and I still have another two pictures, so it's time to cut some of the chatter short.

See how the oranges run together on the left?

Overall I'm happy with how the Shredders turned out.  The blue skin/orange chitin combo looks good enough and was quick to paint, though that's probably due to only having two colors on the models (teeth and tongue excluded) and their simple design,  The brown base to orange highlight approach worked as I'd hoped it would with the end result being something that is obviously orange without slapping you in the face with a pumpkin.  The only big reservation I have is that the orange doesn't feel defined, especially on the "dirty" Shredder.  There isn't a neat progression of shading to highlighting, though I could probably push the highlights more to help with that.  The other problem it that I'm not sure how to approach applying this scheme to infantry.  Another color will have to go in to the mix.  Perhaps I can stick with a blue for the clothes/armor and just make it a very dark, almost black, sort of blue.  That's something I can ponder while bored at work tonight.

Got to get Tough?  Go Joe.

Speaking of work, I need to leave nowish, so no real explanation for Kovnik Joe here.  There isn't much to talk about though, just base colors and a wash, so it works out.

Yay Take Home Chef!

One of our lovely fans on The Normalizing Nursing in Public League (The NNIPL) reported casually seeing breastfeeding on TLC's show Take Home Chef. I rushed right to netflix to check it out. Thanks Shannon!

Season 1 Episode 43 - Eva.

I know, I think so too. :P

The show's premise is that the chef Curtis Stone surprises someone at the supermarket and comes home with them to cook a fabulous family meal. In this episode he finds babywearing* Eva at the market with two of her three children. On the way home the baby begins to cry, and while they make a pit stop off for Curtis to pick up more supplies Eva takes the opportunity to breastfeeding her baby in the parked car. They casually show it in the background as Curtis is getting out of the vehicle. It is subtle, and wonderfully normalizing. The show could have easily shot from a different angle or edited that little scene out - but the left it.

Hip hip hurray for the Take Home Chef! Thank you for having breastfeeding be a part of your show as it is a part of our daily lives and is nothing for the editing room floor.

This made me super happy to see, and just affirms even more one of the ways of exposing breastfeeding I'd like to see on Sesame Street. It doesn't need to be a segment dedicated to talking about breastfeeding, but throw us a bone here Sesame Street.... alternate in nursing and bottle feeding mothers into the backgrounds. Nearly 34,000 petitioners have signed saying they want breastfeeding included in the program, and that number grows daily. Sesame Streets only response is to say that it hasn't fit in with the natural storyline plot. Really... in 25 years there hasn't been one opportunity to showcase or even just having a nursing mother in the background? Pretty weak argument there folks.

P.S. Hey, have you signed the petition yet??

*Eva - please take a lesson in babywearing from  your brother-in-law... "crotch dangling" babywearing can be damaging to your baby's hips. Very easy mistake to make and one I definitely made myself.

Shredders WIP #1, Blood Angels list

It begins.

Despite not having a whole lot of time to work with yesterday I still got a decent bit done.  The most obvious part is that I got started on some Shredders to try out my Legion scheme ideas.  My plan is for a very light blue, so light it's almost white, skin with brown/orange spikes/chitin/armor and an accent color yet to be determined.  On this pair of Shredders I took two different approaches.  The one on the left, with the raised foot, got a coat of VMC Shadow Grey as a base, a color which is far more purple than I anticipated.  A 50/50 mix of Shadow Grey and VMC Wolf Grey was next, then straight Wolf Grey, then VMC Dead White as a rather broad highlight.  The one of the right, firmly planted on the ground, started with a coat of Wolf Grey which didn't look all that different from the white primer I was painting over.  Next was a heavily watered, perhaps 4:1 water to paint ratio, wash/glaze of Shadow Grey.  After that the steps were the same, though I may well have skipped the 50/50 step.  I got similar results from both approaches, but the one on the right painted up much easier.  Perhaps it's because of the pose, or because I did the first bit of actual painting (after the base coat and the wash/glaze) after I'd already done the first coat of actual painting on the other Shredder, thus giving me a little bit of experience with how Shredders are constructed.  I think the wash/glaze just did the job better, and quicker, than layering up from the bottom.  The results are more purple than blue so I'm considering doing an Asurmen Blue wash over them, or at least in the recesses, but I'm going to wait until I have the chitin done to see how they look as a whole.  The current plan for the orange is to start with brown and proceed through a lighter brown into orange, with the orange as the last two layers.  I have no idea how this will turn out, but I hope for the best considering I picked browns that look a little orange to use as the base.



In other news, the weather here in the DMV broke for a few hours yesterday.  The humidity dipped below 90% for the first time in forever, which allowed me to get some varnish on the Greylords.  I had hoped to snow the bases and get the full varnishing finished, all the way to the Dullcote, but humidity is back up to 80% now and if the cloudy skies are any sort of predictor there won't be any break for the rest of the day at the very least.

A roundabout introduction to 40k news.  My internet has been slow the past couple days, so slow that I've had to go back to pre-broadband surfing practices (loading one site while reading another, making a sandwich while a video buffers, you all remember the drill).  It looks like the problems are beyond my control, though I wonder why nothing is on fire if everyone's internet is this slow.  Regardless of any civil disobedience, or the lack thereof, instead of blogging last night I went in for some offline entertainment.  Part of that entertainment was finally getting around to making up some army lists.  With EV closing in on having his Dark Eldar on the table, it's well past time I get my own ducks in a row.  I started, or restarted to be more precise, my Orks with the intention of doing a slow grow, paint-as-you-go thing with EV about a year ago.  The wheels fell off that enterprise somehow and we ended up moving in opposite directions, culminating in our current positions where EV has a large chunk of DE painted (1000-1250 points is my guess), while I have a little less than 500 points of Orks painted.  EV may well have his army done in the next month or two, provided he keeps close to the pace he's been going for the last couple weeks.  I will be nowhere near completing the Orks any time soon, especially with the new seasonal Warmahordes campaign starting next week which appears to have a painting component to it.  (I also want to stick with the Khador until I can field a fully painted, and fully functional, list.  I'm real close to that goal and don't want to get distracted when I'm a handful of models away.)  My only other option is the boys in red, my beloved Blood Angels.

List building began with the core of the army: Librarian with Jump Pack, 3 Assault Squads with Jump Packs, 2 Devestators with Missle Launchers. 3 Sanguinary Priests of varying armament.  This group comes in at just under 1500 points which meant I had about 350 to play with since EV is building to 1850.  My first attempt produced a couple variations on Deep Striking Terminators.  The idea was appealing enough, but there was a small problem: I'd have to get two boxes of Terminators.  While not necessarily opposed to the idea, it did get me to wondering what else I could get for ~$100.  The options were soon narrowed to: a Battleforce, three boxes of Assault Marines/Death Company/Sanguinary Guard, three Razorbacks.  There are other options of course, and more spring to mind even now, but those were what I was looking at.  My attempts at making a fully mech list didn't get very far.  Since I have no Razorbacks I'd have to add any that go into a list, and since I'd be looking at 5-6 (plus more tanks besides) it wasn't feasible in the $100 bracket.  Next I went to a Descent of Angels list and was able to make it work within my parameters, but the results struck me as a very poor match-up with Dark Eldar, especially since they took out the most effective part of the army (missile launchers).  Finally I went back to the basic idea of the list, jumpers with missile support, and came up with something I think I like:

125 - Librarian w/ Jump Pack
155 - Reclusiarch w/ Jump Pack
225 - Honor Guard w/ 2 Plasmaguns, 2 Power Weapons
235 - 10 Assault Marines w/ Power Fist, 2 Meltaguns
230 - 10 Assault Marines w/ Power Fist, Meltagun, Flamer
230 - 10 Assault Marines w/ Power Fist, Meltagun, Flamer
210 - 10 Devastators w/ 4 Missile Launchers
210 - 10 Devastators w/ 4 Missile Launchers
230 - 2 Sanguinary Priests w/ Jump Pack & Power Weapon, 1 Sanguinary Priest
1850

I like this list for a couple reasons, foremost of which is that it requires only a single box of Death Company with which to make the Honor Guard.  Unlike the Terminators and mech options, an Honor Guard has been on my to-do list for a long while, so the addition would be a versatile one instead of an impulsive one.  This iteration also keeps with the basic theme of jumpers and missiles, adding a little extra close-in firepower with the Honor Guard as well as some extra melee punch with the Chaplain.  The Librarian goes with the Honor Guard, Chaplain with an Assault Squad, jumping Priests go with the remaining two Assault Squads, and the bare-bones Priest goes with the Devastators.  Astute readers will note the swap of a pair of Meltaguns for Flamers.  This is strictly a method of cutting points and any potential extra effectiveness of one over the other against Dark Eldar is a bonus.

Some tweaks are still in order like giving the Honor Guard Storm Shields, and the Chaplain might get the axe in favor of more shooting punch, but in general I think I'm on a good track.  Running a Descent of Angels list is intriguing, even if I'm not sure that it would do well at all against Dark Eldar, and a large part of a DoA list is (by my thinking) a shooty Honor Guard, so the current list will even build towards a future one.  Plus I have magnets now, even if I have yet to use them, so I can have a flexible Honor Guard with 5 bodies and interchangeable arms instead of 20 bodies with fixed arms.  One day I'll get around to the post about why I prefer the limited options in Warmahordes list building to the dazzling array of options in 40k.

Guest Blog: All Things Diapers

Liz Wickoren is a breastfeeding and cloth diapering mom of four who works at All Things Diapers in Blaine, Minnesota. Being at a store like this gives her a unique opportunity to observe things from the other side of the nursing world. She gets to experience and embrace all kinds of mamas that come through her store. What a treat! Thanks for sharing a peak of your world with us Liz! 

My most favorite part of working at a diaper store is being around all the moms and babies.  Sure we get some dads coming in and a grandma or auntie now and then, but the majority of our customers are moms, usually with little ones in tow.  So being at work ends up being strangely similar to being at home.  I chat about cloth diapers and baby carriers with fellow moms, kids run around and throw stuff on the floor, and poop happens.  It’s fun.  

There’s also lots of nursing going on.  You hang around babies long enough and they’re bound to get hungry, right?  I’m very proud to be working at a store that really embraces breastfeeding.  No one will be staging a nurse-in there, that’s for sure.  We have a section of breastfeeding supplies like reusable nursing pads, natural nipple balm, and nursing covers.  We’ve got a private nursing area with a comfy chair and a privacy curtain, and we’ve also got rocking chairs, an arm chair, and a couch out in the open in the store and adjoining classroom.  We’re ready to accommodate any kind of nursing mothers and we really do see it all.

Some moms are more private and quietly retire to the nursing area for some alone time with baby.  Others use the nursing area, but don’t seem to require as much privacy.  One mom in particular I remember had a very slow eater and so was nursing for quite a while.  She made good use of the time though.  She kept chatting with me through the curtain and I brought diapers over to her to look at.

Still others use nursing covers to get the privacy they need while out in the store.  Who knew they came in so many beautiful prints?  And of course there are those who just use baby’s blanket to cover up.

On the other end of the spectrum are the more casual moms.  They skip the covers and curtains and just take a load off in the rocking chair or on the bench to nurse their baby.  Some don’t even sit down but just latch baby on and walk around and keep shopping.  The most impressive though was the mom who latched baby on in her baby carrier and kept shopping hands free while baby ate!

I have been very surprised to see that there doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern or trend when it comes to how people nurse in our store.  I think the rocking chair sees just as much breastfeeding action as the nursing area does.  Lots of moms cover up and lots more don’t.  It’s very interesting.  

The big trend I do see though seems to be that most cloth diapering moms breastfeed their babies.  I often ask expectant moms, “Are you planning to breastfeed or use formula?”  No, I’m not being nosy, it makes a big difference when it comes to diapers.  Breastfed newborns have poop that is really easy to take care of.  It’s water soluble so it just dissolves in the washing machine - no diaper sprayer or liners required for a no-muss-no-fuss diaper change.  Sprayers and liners are great, but if you’re planning on breastfeeding, there’s no need to buy them for the first six months or more, not until you introduce solids or formula.  So when we’re talking about what accessories to buy or how to wash the diapers, I always ask - breastmilk or formula.  And I can’t remember the last time someone answered, “formula”.  I also don’t see moms pulling out bottles nearly as often as I see them sitting down to nurse.  

So something about cloth diapers and breastfeeding seem to go together.  I suppose it makes sense.  Cloth diapers are inexpensive and natural, just like breastmilk.

About the Author:  Liz Wickoren is a breastfeeding and cloth diapering mom of four who works at All Things Diapers in Blaine, MN.  Stop by the store to say “hi” and pick up some breastfeeding supplies, cloth diapers, baby carriers and more.

Capitals Fail Again*

(This post is a departure from my usual subject matter.  If you do not at least like hockey, the Washington Capitals, and/or the bloggosphere that surrounds said team, you may want to skip this post.  I won't blame you.  Much.  Regular content will return with the next post, which should be tomorrow.)

In my head he's "Uncle Ted."

I've been a Caps season ticket holder since they moved into DC itself, trading the old comfort of Maryland's USAir Arena (formerly Capital Centre, since demolished and rebuilt as a strip mall) for the new luster of the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center).  Many things come along with my tickets each year.  There's usually a "meet the team" party at some point during the season, often I'll get a team jacket/jersey, perhaps a print (framed or not), bobbleheads, signed stick or mini jersey, the list goes on and on.  A few years ago I started getting something new: Q & A sessions, referred to as "Chalk Talks," with people connected to the team.  Past chalk-talkers include the Caps General Manager George McPhee, current and former broadcasters, retired players, you get the idea.

Tonight's speaker was the Caps majority owner, Ted Leonsis.  I'll state here, up front, that I love Ted (in a manly way, the way a die-hard fan loves the owner of the team.)  It takes very little encouragement to get me to speak about him in glowing terms to anyone that will listen.  He is, in my experience, a warm and approachable person who has a genuine love for the teams he owns (at least the Caps, I can't really speak to the Bullets Wizards or Mystics,) who makes time to shake hands and talk with the fans who cheer his teams on.  I write all this at the beginning of the post for two reasons.  First, so you'll know that I have an admitted bias.  Second, so that you'll understand my motivations for writing this post.

At one point during the Chalk Talk, Ted said something along the lines of "I'm sure someone out there will blog about this with the title 'Capitals Fail Again.'"

Now, a little context.  Earlier in the session someone had a question, more of a comment really, about the shifting demographics of the crowd on any given night.  As the Caps have had more success on the ice, they've also had more success putting butts in seats.  I'll spare you all the joke told by many, many of the players and coaches, who were here any time from roughly 2002 to 2009, about how many people came to the games dressed as purple seats.  Less seats are visible now, ranging from some on weekday games against...unappealing opponents (looking at you, Columbus) to wall-to-wall red for the playoffs.  Fortunes have changed for the Caps, and with those changes come new fans.  Also, new "fans."  Some of these new attendees are business men, out to impress potential clients with the town's hot ticket, nice and close to the action, a few rows off the glass.

To put it mildly, these people are not there to watch hockey.  They're there to see who else is there, point to the celebrities in the crowd, yell into their cell phones, stand and wave at other people yelling into their cell phones on the other side of the arena.  While I think people who go to a game should actually watch said game, this is a free, Capitalistic country where you can do most anything you want with something that you buy, including tickets to a hockey game.  Recalling that there was a comment about these new additions to the game, the commenter said it would be great if the Caps would run the PSAs about how to behave while at a game more often.  Ted asked one of his helper-bees to do make it happen, that night, starting perhaps 45 minutes from that very moment.  How's that for customer service?  Do you see why I like this guy so much?

More seats out of frame.  It was standing room only by the end.

Unfortunately it was not to be.  Later in the session Ted told us that the video schedule was too tight, they couldn't get the PSAs in that night, but they'd be there for the next game.  Then he asked the crowd how many bloggers were present.  I was one of perhaps a half-dozen, a number much lower than I expected.  Ted talked for a minute about how quickly information travels these days, how our inter-connected world means he has to be careful about what he says wherever he is, even in informal settings like the Chalk Talks, because you never know who is listening for who.  Apparently there are certain bloggers out there who want to know what goes on at these sorts of gatherings, a sentiment echoed by the notoriously poker-faced McPhee at the Capitals Convention this year.  This is when Ted said he expected someone to make a "Caps Fail Again" post, relating the story about their failure to put in the PSAs that very night on a short turn-around.  It was an obvious joke, delivered and received as such, but it did get me wondering a bit.

The Caps have been an industry leader in bringing bloggers into the fold.  There are more Caps-centric blogs out there than I can count.  I keep one of my favorites on the side bar, just to the right of this very post, and took inspiration from another for the name of my own blog.  The press box at Verizon center is filled with bloggers on any given night, and those same bloggers have an amount of access to the team that makes me more than a little jealous.  Thus, when Ted took a small, tongue-in-cheek jab at the bloggers, I was a little surprised considering the organization's acceptance of those same bloggers.

The slinger of the "wicked pixels."

But there is one "blog" in particular that stands out here, that has been having an entertaining exchange of words over the last couple of weeks.  I don't really categorize it as a blog since it's part of the Washington Post.  I mean, of course, the DC Sports Bog (Bog and not Blog, this is not a typo.) by one Dan "Wicked Pixels" Steinberg.  I'll say here that I enjoy the Bog very much, especially since it has a tone that is similar to the one I employ myself on this blog.  The Bog is an irreverent look at DC sports, notably their mistakes, as well as reporting on the reporters who report on DC sports.  Steinberg has chronicled the Natinals (again, no typo), the McNabb fiasco, the Haynesworth Conditioning-test-gate debacle, and various fights across radio, TV, and the Internet.  He does, on occasion, write about actual news as well.

As you might imagine, given the Wizards...difficult start to the season, there's been a lot of content about the team you used to know as the Bullets.  As you might also imagine, this hasn't sat too well with Ted.  Thus a small verbal (textual) scuffle has been going for the last little while, which has entertained this author to no end.  This post is about picking up a ball that Ted threw earlier tonight and running with it in a (hopefully) unexpected direction, not about throwing fuel on any fires that may or may not be raging.  If I get to see some more fireworks, and perhaps a spike in traffic from new sources, then so much the better.  Mostly I'd like to see two of my favorite DC sports personalities bury the hatchet and play nice, and if I can help that process along by poking a bit of fun at those involved then I'll consider it a job well done.  Furthermore, if I can report on the reporter who reports on the reporters who report on the guys I watch on the ice/diamond/turf, then I'll have fulfilled my meta quotient for the rest of the year in one post.

Speaking of jobs well done, I'd love to do this as a living, or at least as a source of income.  If you're reading this Ted, and I hope you do, Vogel isn't getting any younger.  He has a lot on his plate between all the podcasts, videos, and assorted writings he does.  I can ease the load a bit.  I have a BA in English that I'd love to put to use.  If you're reading this Dan, I'm sure we can work something out.  Transcribing all those interviews has to be time consuming.  I already consume a lot of DC sports media, it'd be great if I could put that to a more lucrative end.

Kidding about Vogel, he does great.  Serious about working though.  Consider this my writing sample.

* - The Caps didn't fail at all tonight.  Despite being down three of their best players and facing one of, if not the, best teams in the league, they put forth one of their more inspiring performances tonight and got the win, 5-3, to retake the Southeast division lead and get a (slightly) firmer grip on a playoff spot.  Great effort tonight guys, keep it up and I'll be seeing hockey in DC after the first week in April.

STOP oversexualizing everything!

I made a status on The Good Letdown on facebook that said "There is nothing that Ella (15 months old) finds funnier then when I drink her milkies. I suck her "boobie" in my mouth and make a loud smacking noise and say "Nom nom, I'm drinking Ella's milkies!" she giggggggglessss her little butt off. The other day, I asked her if I could have some of Ella's milkies and she pulled her shirt down and leaned forward! It was HILARIOUS!"

Apparently, some moms took that to mean I was molesting my child's chest and giving her hickies all over her chest. Okay, they didn't say that precisely but someone commented about how "weird" it was that I was "sucking on my baby's chest"..and 8 people "liked" her comment. Then some other people started bringing out words like "molestation" and "inappropriate". Okay ladies. Really? REALLY? Because I used the word "sucked" and didn't specify that I wasn't actually sucking on it like a friggin' lollipop but just playfully doing it, you automatically turn it into something weird? It's like, if we use any word that can be used in a sexual manner, it automatically must be about sex.

This is the type of thinking that causes the oversexualization of breastfeeding in general. Because breasts are involved, it automatically MUST be sexual, right? Well because I used the word "sucking" and said I was "sucking on my baby's chest", it has to be weird and sexual. Did I truly need to sit there and explain precisely what I was doing in order to appease all of you people out there who are so desperate to jump on someone and point fingers? And do you not see the correlation between you sexualizing the playful interaction between myself and my 15 month old baby and the sexualization of us nursing our babies?

So ladies, let's lay down our swords. We're on the same team. Think about what you're actually saying. I know we all have brains and I know we're capable of using them. I know, on the internet it's fun to sit behind out computers and find people to attack but if you really feel like leaving ridiculous comments over something that is OBVIOUSLY completely innocent, please feel free to move on or go over to any of the breastfeeding articles in the mainstream media and use your venom there. Don't use it to attack the adorable little game my baby and I play.

In Which I Make It Clear That I Agree with RationalJenn About Baby Eating

Jenn, friend of my heart and partner in crime, being the kind person that she is, would never eat a baby. Just so you know. Here is her statement that the Atlanta Objectivist Society would also never condone the eating of babies.

To Whom It May Concern:

The principal members of the Atlanta Objectivist Society (ATLOS) would like you to be aware that we do not advocate the eating of babies, even deliciously adorable ones with smooth skin and squeezable cheeks and beautiful smiles.

We would also like to make it plain that we do not automatically sanction every utterance someone makes at any of our events. We expect those who hear something they do not like or disagree with to seek out the individual in question and gather more information as necessary and sufficient to support making an independent decision about that individual's claims or character. We especially expect people to do that because we pride ourselves on our crazy senses of humor and are as likely as not to make outrageous and inappropriate jokes on a regular basis. 

Sincerely, 

The Management


I would like to echo her sentiment that baby eating is definitely not something we advocate. We also do not advocate the following:

• selling children to the gypsies
• beating people to death with jars of peanut butter
• going to hell
• strangling your loved ones with pet anacondas
• pinching people's heads off
• keeping lions in closets in order to have people who contradict you eaten up

However, these are all things that I have said, right out loud. Since I must publicly disavow all crazy things that people may flippantly say, I thought I better tell you all that I do not actually advocate any of the above. In fact, I think that people who actually do them should either go to jail or return to the myths they came out of (yes, I'm talking to you, Orpheus!). 

For future reference, if I say anything really outlandish involving cartoon-like violence, especially if I do this funny guttural utterance from my diaphragm while saying them (known as a laugh to those of us who have a sense of humor - you can google it) or if I say them with a flourish and then leave the room in a huff, you can say in your head, "Wow, I think that's this thing I heard of called sarcasm or hyperbole or a joke. It's so cool to see an example in real life. I am going to notice them every time they happen, and one day, with much study, I will have a sense of humor like a real, grown-up boy!" 

Here is what I do advocate: Get a fucking life, people. And fast, before your seriousness, like natron on a mummy, sucks all the life juices out of you and dries you out like a humor-less, fun-less, wrinkled-up old prune.

A Bold New Direction

Ternion?  Done.

The (no longer) current batch of painting has been finished for approximately 32 hours (from when I started writing this post).  "What took so long?" I hear you thinking (because I'm telepathic, it's how I win at cards), "You're normally prompt with the postings."  First off, thanks for noticing.  I try to keep on top of things like that.  Second, I had a little adventure.

In making new pictures.

I see these fancy-dan photo collages around the internets, with their multiple angles and close-up shots of faces and details.  On occasion I think "I should give that a shot one day."  Turns out one day is today.  I'm baby-stepping though, so "multiple" means two, and close-ups are not yet implemented.  Despite those shortcomings, the future is now.

Escort?  Finished.

As you can see, I ended up going with the yellow fringes for the auxiliary cloaks.  I'm still not thrilled about introducing a new color, but as I (think I) said before these models are meant to stand out from the pack.  Because I was painting the bases as I finished up the models (to maximize drying time), I used the same yellow on the fringes that I use on the bases: Vallejo Model Color 913 Yellow Ochre.  My rationale for switching from Vallejo Model Colors to Vallejo Game Colors is pretty mundane, plus I've talked about it before, so no deep discussions here.  I use said Yellow Ochre on the bases mostly so the paint doesn't just collect dust, but there's nothing really wrong with it.  After a Gryphonne Sepia wash, which isn't nearly as effective on colors as I want it to be despite working just fine over white, I called it done.

Koldun Lord?  Completed.

iBodger says that with this latest batch I'm ~47% on my march towards having all my Khador painted, which makes me quite happy.  On a whim I tried putting together a list of fully painted models.  While possible, I was two models shy of a really viable list.  What models?  What list?  Perhaps they will appear in a future installment.  In the meantime I'm hoping the weather breaks a bit in the next few days so I can get the new additions sealed up.  We had our first noticeable snowfall in the DMV last night, pitiful as it was, so hopefully the inevitable warming and melting period that will occur soon won't flood the air with humidity.

Valachev?  Accomplished.

Paint the Target goal pending, the next batch looks to be a diverse bunch.  Along with the pair of mystery models, I want to get to work on Legion schemes.  I've admired an orange and grey/black scheme over at Live to CRUSH, where they recently posted the first part of a tutorial for said scheme, but considering my local PG is also eying the same scheme it's back to the drawing board. This is a blessing in disguise though beacuse I would have felt more than a little lazy just following a step-by-step guide, plus the scheme isn't quite exactly what I'm after.  In a way the Greylords were a test run for the forthcoming Legion as I want a (very) light blue skin with brown/orange chitin and armor.  The cloaks were the perfect opportunity to see how the new grey paints I got in looked and figure out which ones are blue and which are black.

As a parting teaser, I'm thinking about a new format for painting updates.

In Response ...

I have a few things to say about the words written in the comments of Mother Hen's blog a while back: I'll Show You Classy

No one is attacking anyone. We all respect those who choose not to nurse their babies in public, but those mothers have no place going around telling those who choose to fight for their LEGALLY PROTECTED RIGHT embarrassing. And no, we are peaceful bloggers, we did not send anyone to your blog, Nonnie, we would not ever do such a thing. We don't control the masses, we don't make foolish requests that our followers go spam anyone's wall or blog with hateful remarks.

Our purpose here is simply to inform, share OUR opinions (and yes, sometimes we review other blog posts in doing this, but not in a malicious manner), and engage in conjecture with our readers. We do not pass judgement on other bloggers or send our readers over to do so. In order to reference a post and discuss our opinion of it (be it positive or negative) we have to post a link though, and we cannot control what others do.

To the poster who said "maybe she wants others to cover to protect them from perverts," while I don't believe this is the case, it doesn't matter. If it WERE the case, it's up to each woman to choose to "protect" herself or not. The fact is, you can't even see a breast most of the time when a mother nurses in public, and who's to say some fetishist out there isn't still drooling and jerking off to the idea of a nursing mother?

Lest we not forget that women get harassed even when they are being discreet, when they are covered, and when they are not. Women get dirty looks and glares regardless. Our society is so sexually saturated that people cannot even handle the IDEA of a mother nursing her baby out in the open...covered or not.

Mother Hen did NOT attack the blog, she did not "vilify" another mother, she did not throw stones. She simply is speaking to a greater issue in our culture of shunning nursing mothers, and saying "funny" things at their expense when they go to fight for what is their right: To nurse their children. Regardless of whether or not YOU or any one else would choose to sit on a park bench, grocery store bench, restaurant chair, covered or not to nurse your baby is not the issue...it's a society that prevents mothers who DO nurse this way (discreetly) from doing so.

I am not Jewish, but I would support the fight against anti-semitism. I am not black, but I support the fight for equal treatment. I am not hispanic, but I support the fight for equal treatment. I am not muslim (though my husband is) and I support the fight for understanding of the culture and for equal treatment. I am not poor, but I support the fight against poverty.

SOME mothers do not nurse in public, and that's fine, but the least we can do is support each other as mothers, because that is what matters.

Internet, I am disappointed in you

Very soon...

Let's start with the happy.  Some good progress was made on the Greylords yesterday.  After some close inspection I decided that the browns looked good after just the wash, but needed some contrast where multiple brown areas butted up against each other, mostly on the axe hafts.  That got fixed up nice and quick which made way for the biggest waste of time on this batch.  I decided to do the fringes in grey, but a darker grey than the cloaks.  A layer of black went down for a fresh start, which took forever, then up through a couple of greys.  The final result?  I shouldn't have even bothered as it doesn't look much different than when I started.  Live and learn I guess.  Gold and (some) silver followed to end on a high note.  There are plenty of rivets left to pick out along with fringes on the double cloaks. finishing the eyes, whatever details I missed, and bases, which sounds like a lot but I don't think will take too long.  I also want to run the bright blue into the designs on the weapons for the extra icy look.  With any luck the group will be finished today.

On the less happy side, I found out that my reading comprehension is pretty horrible.  While at the FLGS last night I learned that eSkarre's feat is much nastier than I thought (makes friendly models immune to attack or makes enemy models unable to attack instead of making models immune and unable at the same time), and followed that up with a double revelation about Slipstream.  First the Slipstreamed model has to be placed completely within 2" (I'd been playing it as just within 2"), which is unfortunate but not earth-shaking.  Then I found out that the Slipstreamed model isn't placed completely within 2" of where the Slipstreaming model finishes its movement, but instead completely within 2" of where the Slipstreamed model was when the Slipstreaming model passed it by, which actually did shake the earth.  These two revelations combined mean that the extra movement gained from Slipstream goes from a potential 10" (2" behind a Seraph when it starts to 1.99999" in front of said Seraph when it's done moving) to a flat 2".  This is quite the difference and means that a) I've been hosing EV pretty hard over the last couple of games, b) Legion is actually nowhere near as mobile as I thought, and c) a second/third Seraph moves somewhat down the list (though I still think it's an amazing beast.)  In retrospect the way I was playing Slipstream was way overpowered, on par with (or better than) feats like Strakhov and pVlad, which is out of line with its low cost of a single Fury.  In my defense, the wording on Slipstream is obtuse at best.  Upon hearing I was doing it wrong, I reread it a couple times without seeing what it was I was missing before I finally caught the subtle nuances of the language.  PP is generally good about making things clear, but this time not so much.  The biggest disappointment has been you, Internet.  You've been good about pointing out where I've done things wrong in the past, and while I haven't put up a ton of Legion battle reports (yet) there's enough of them up that someone should have caught it by now.

Shame, Internet, feel shame.

(Pay no attention to the fact that I should have figured out how Slipstream worked myself.)

Greylords inching along

Soon...

Chipped away at the Greylords yesterday.  Greens and reds are done, leaving browns as the last big block of color remaining.  After that it's all little details.  That means I don't have much longer to waffle about how to do the fringes along the cloaks.  My usual approach to fur, the group I'd lump the fringes in with, is an almost-white grey.  Since the backs of the cloaks are that same grey, I'll need to do something else with them.  My palette is rather limited in terms of spot colors, meaning none, and I'm hesitant to introduce any new colors on models that are already going to stand apart from the rest of the army.  That said, the clubhouse leader is yellow, at least for the auxiliary cloaks that everyone except the grunts have.  I've thought about green for the fringes on the main cloaks but I don't think it'd look very good.  Then again said fringes do border the red interiors, so at least they'd be in familiar surroundings.  Something to ponder.  Speaking of red, the shoulder pads don't pop quite like I had expected.  It's no big deal, they don't disappear into the cloaks or anything, but it is a bit disappointing.  For today I hope to get the browns finished and perhaps do the bases (if not the arc markings), plus whatever details I can manage.  I don't think I'll get them finished today, but I'd like to get close.

Fight the good fight

 Despite this glorious blog you see around you, I am not particularly savvy when it comes to the HTMLs.  As such, I'm not sure I can put in special codes and not wreck the internet, so instead of doing the full-on strike thing I'm doing my particular, low-tech version of it.  Your familiar, beloved KMNB will return tomorrow.

What's this all about?  There are a pair of bills (acronymized as SOPA and PIPA) about to hit Congress that would deal a heavy blow to the glory that is a (mostly) free and unfettered internet through a series of draconian (super harsh for you non-English majors) penalties for any site that hosts pirated material, or any site with any connection to a site that hosts said material.  This means that someone could come into my particular corner of the internet here, drop a link to a site that might rhyme with "Birate Pay" in the comments, and I could then be fined and/or jailed as a result.  There's more to it of course, but that's the bit that has caught my eye as ridiculous.  Living in the black heart of the DMV, I try to stay away from politics as much as possible since a large part of the politicians in this country either reside or spend an awful lot of time here.  I figure they have all the politicking covered.  These bills threaten the internet as we all know and (presumably) love it though, and for that I'll dip my toe, ever so briefly, into the foetid waters of politics.  Call and/or write your congressmen, there are lots of sites out there to help you do so, and tell them these bills suck and should be burned and then have their ashes scattered.  Are you sick and tired of your so-called representatives not doing much of anything, much less anything that you'd like to see done?  Then do something now.  The above links make it real easy for your voice to be heard.

Family Feud: pThagrosh vs eSkarre

Show me "Playing like you've got a pair."

A couple battle reports ago, EV left a cryptic comment: "Next time I'll be bringing out the big guns again, so be warned."  Considering his preferences for casters and lists, I assumed this meant I'd be seeing eGaspy and his infantry swarm the next time we gamed (today[Tuesday]).  There was an outside chance of pDenny as well, or pGaspy, but I felt confident that I'd be facing eGaspy.  I didn't tailor my list to that match-up because I don't do that sort of meta-gaming (and if I do it's after a long stretch of crushing defeats).  Turns out my gaming integrity paid off today as I faced not Gaspy or Denny, but eSkarre.  Even more bizarre, eSkarre with two (2) heavy jacks and no (zero[0]) arc nodes.  After double checking that I was in the right place and facing the right opponent, we got down to business.  My list was the same as last time while EV's (obviously) changed.  He went with:



35+6 points, 31 models

Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast  +6 points
* Deathjack  12 points
* Seether  9 points

10 Bane Thralls  8 points
6 Bile Thralls  5 points
10 Mechanithralls  5 points
* 2 Brute Thralls  2 points

Still a solid core of infantry, but the usual magic support of Withershadow/Skarlock/arc nodes is notably absent.  I've seen what Bane Thralls can do with Black Spot, albeit from a distance while I was playing a game at the FLGS, so I was none too excited about facing them down.  eSkarre looks like quite the toolbox in general, and the Deathjack is no slouch (despite performances to the contrary), so I figure I'm in for a tough battle.  We roll up Mosh Pit for a scenario, further foreshadowing what is bound to be a real slobber-knocker.  Terrain is set up in the usual manner, then I take the unusual approach by deciding to go first when I win the roll that gives me that option.  This has the unfortunate side effect of negating my beloved refused flank deployment scheme, to say nothing of the scenario that demands models in the center of the table, so I dump my models in the middle.  The Swordsmen go on the side without the woods since they don't have Pathfinder and I have no way of giving it to them.  I plan to Slipstream Thagrosh to the front of the ruins in turn one.  Beyond that I have no real plan besides trying to win.  EV counters with his usual setup, though the Seether replaces the usual magical support in the middle.

Setup.

Turn 1

We all know how these go.  I put up Draconic Blessing on the Swordsmen, Fog of War, a smattering of Spiny Growths, and finish up by pulling some Fury with the Forsaken.  EV has the Deathjack cast Death Ward on itself, which I didn't realize it could do, and otherwise advances.

Turn one.

Turn 2

The real action starts with a whimper.  The unpainted Carnivean is well out of charge range, so I move it forward a bit and spray the Banes, barely clipping one.  I boost because why not, I've got the room for the Fury, and kill the one.  Then, Spiny Growth.  I also try to stay far enough back in the woods to nullify any charges from the Banes or the Seether.

Eyeless Sight + Sprays = Far Too Much Fun

On the left, I have decided to fling the painted Carnivean forward to do some murder.  As with all good things, this starts with a Slipstream.  That Slipstream is followed by a Strafe, which dings the Deathjack while also killing a MechThrall and a Brute Thrall.

Love that Seraph.

The subsequent Carnivean charge is less glorious than anticipated.  I do some damage to DJ, but nothing like what I had expected.  Even the Assault-fueled spray does little.  As a final cherry, I have forgotten to put up Spiny Growth and Thagrosh is well out of range to do so himself.  The Swordsmen move to the center to allow Thagrosh room to maneuver, the Forsaken on the right eats some more Fury, and that's about it.

Legion turn two.

EV begins his turn with the good (for him) stuff.  DJ eats the Carnivean without too much effort, which is a bit unsettling.  Granted DJ is a lock to show up on "top 3 jacks in the game" lists, often at the top, but the relative ease with which it dispatches my Carnivean (which admittedly does not have Spiny Growth up), which is not some paper tiger that folds under the first stiff breeze, makes me wonder how the rest of the game will go.  At least DJ doesn't get to heal since my Carnivean has no soul.

Unfortunate, but not unexpected.

The rest of his turn is uneventful.  Stuff moves forward, the Seether gets Admonition, and otherwise the second turn could have been a first turn.

Cryx turn two.

Turn 3

While EV was finishing his turn I was busy hatching a master plan to get revenge on the Deathjack.  It seemed more than a little foolhardy, but I thought it had a good chance to succeed.  Plus it would be entertaining.  It began, as all good things do, with a Slipstream, the Seraph carrying Thagrosh over some walls and into a charge lane.  Because Seraphs are awesome, I also go to shoot after Slipstreaming.  Even better, I got d3+1 shots from said Seraph (which is awesome), and ended up with the max.  A few die rolls later, four Bile Thralls went from undead to redead.

What else to say?  Awesome.

Sweet revenge is a thing to be savored, so I turned my attention to the center of the table.  I wanted to drop a Blight Bomb Shroud amongst the MechThralls to open up some charge lanes so I could send the Swordsmen into the Banes, or perhaps remove that one pesky Bane from in front of the Seether, but I couldn't figure a way to do either.  Instead I charged the Swordsmen into the MechThralls.  They chopped a few Thralls up and prepared to receive the inevitable counter-charge.

They kill stuff good.

Having gained a very little wiggle room for the Forsaken, I set off the Blight Bomb Shroud.  The blast took out three MechThralls and a pair of Banes, notably the one blocking the charge lane to the Seether.  Unfortunately said Seether was just out of range of the Blight Bomb Shroud, so I didn't get the tasty extra die of damage that the unspent Focus it had would have granted me.

Why can't this ability just be called Blight Bomb?

Continuing my campaign of shock and awe, I moved back to the left and the sweet, sweet revenge.  After declaring and making my charge move on the Deathjack with Thagrosh, I realized I wanted to put Draconic Blessing on him to help cut throught DJ's ARM 21.  Unfortunately I had to wait until my charge attack was resolved to do so.  It took almost all my Fury to do it, but in the end DJ was down and out.  To make matters even better, I popped Thagrosh's feat and brought the previously-dead Carnivean back, but I'll cover that in more detail in a bit.

Putting the death in Deathjack.

Back to the right (I do more jump cuts than a kung fu movie).  The Carnivean charged the Seether, Pathfinding like a boss the whole way, only to get roosterblocked by Admonition.  The cowardly Seether shuffled out of range and took my spray with it, turning what would have been a glorious Bane covering spray into a pitiful thing that just barely missed Skarre.  I was inclined to leave the Bane (played in the below shot by the red bear) alive to gum up the charge lane for the Seether, but EV pointed out that he had moved in a straight line with Admonition and was not impeded by the Bane and thus by the laws of logic would be able to charge back in along the same path whether the Bane was there or not.  As such, the Bane died (again) in a quick and chompy manner.  Spiny Growth happened.

Admonition is lame.  Unless/until I get to use it.

About the reappearing Carnivean: there were still two Bile Thralls floating around, and they were spaced in such a manner that I could (perhaps) engage them both with the Carnivean, but it seemed equally likely that by trying to do so I would end up engaging neither one, so I decided to definitely get one and leave the other relatively alone.  The Carni also put up Spiny Growth on itself and Thagrosh, who was camping a Fury in anticipation of the blow that was surely about to fall.  The rear-most Forsaken ate some Fury off the unpainted Carnivean, while being careful to not get too close to the fearful Shepherd, and my turn was done.

Legion turn three.

Cad that he is, EV charged the Seether straight into the unpainted Carnivean.  Since it is nigh-impossible to miss a DEF 11 beast, he got the chain attack off after doing a bit of damage and chucked the Carni into my line of infantry.  The Carni squished a Forsaken and a Swordsman, while also taking some damage, but in the end the throw saved the Carni from further jack-based attacks and was overall, I think, a Good Thing.

Ouch, but could have been worse.

Then the inevitable MechThrall charge.  They munched up a Swordsman and put a large dent in the Carnivean.

McCharge: I'm not lovin' it.

A bit of a head-scratcher followed.  EV moved the Bile Thralls, generating a pair of Free Strikes from the painted Carnivean in the process.  Unsurprisingly, both were slain.  I suppose the Biles wouldn't have stopped either the Carni or Thagrosh from moving through fear of Free Strikes, since they have no melee capability, but despite that EV threw them away for no apparent reason.  I was expecting a pair of Purges across some combination of Thagrosh, Carnivean, and/or Seraph.  Instead I got to eat two nasty, squishy Thralls.  I didn't understand it, but I'll not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Couldn't have happened to nicer models.

Returning to the center, the inevitable Bane charge.  This was much less spectacular than anticipated, due in large part to only a single model getting into melee range and (I imagine) the lack of Black Spot.  The lone Bane took another chunk out of the Carni, leaving it with three boxes and two crippled aspects, but still alive.  The rest of the unit just hung out in the woods, having a picnic or somesuch.

Close, but no cigar.

That was that for EV.  Skarre didn't do much of note other than put Admonition back on the Seether, denying my the glorious rear charge that the painted Carnivean was lined up for.  I had expected a brutal counter-punch here since I had strung my army out a bit in my half of the turn, and while the Carnivean took heavy damage and I lost some infantry, ultimately I didn't lose nearly as much as I had anticipated.  With all my beasts alive (thought just barely in one case) and all the Bile Thralls accounted for, I felt pretty good about my position.

Cryx turn three.

Turn 4

Know what the best way to tell that I'm fully engaged with a game is?  Complete lack of detail shots.  Kicking off my turn was the Shepherd who healed the Carni just enough to restore all its aspects.  Said Carni then shuffled up a bit and sprayed across a handful of Banes and Skarre.  The Banes died, and Skarre may have taken a point or two as well.  Spiny Growth before its activation was over.  The Swordsmen cleaned up the MechThralls.  I tried to bait EV into blowing Admonition by Slipstreaming the other Carnivean up, but he didn't take the bait.  Come to think of it, this probably happened before the spray.  Either way, the Seraph got in about 10 points of damage on Skarre with a nice Strafe.  The painted Carnivean probably sprayed Skarre as well, but again didn't do much notable damage if any at all.  I considered trying to get Thagrosh in amongst the Banes via Mutagenesis, but decided it would have left him far too exposed.  I thought my position was strong enough to wait another turn before trying for the assassination.  To that end, the remaining Forsaken filled up on Fury in anticipation of a Blight Bomb Shroud shot at Skarre, who I figured would be popping her feat in the coming turn.

Legion turn four.

EV maxed out his credit cards trying to kill the painted Carnivean with a Skarre charge, but came up a bit short.  In doing so, he also left Skarre on a single box.  He also popped her feat as anticipated, but that didn't worry me much.  I had been thinking of ways to damage models without targeting them since reading her card before the game started, so I had a couple ideas on how to finish her off.

Not even her Great Rack could seal the deal.

In other news, the Banes killed the Shepherd and a Swordsman.  The Seether also finished off the unpainted Carnivean.

Cryx turn four.

Turn 5

Getting straight to the point, I started with Thagrosh.  I wanted to lob an Obliteration at the Bane between Skarre and the Seether and almost fudged things up real good by not getting close enough to see through the Bane's Stealth, but I caught that in time to move Thagrosh up.  Despite boosting the attack roll. I missed with the spell.  (To be fair, the Bane was in melee and therefore DEF 16, but with Thagrosh being Fury 7 getting a 9 on three dice didn't seem like too much to ask for.)  As a pleasant side-effect of getting close enough to see the Bane, the Obliteration couldn't scatter far enough to miss Skarre.  The Bane died, the Seether and Carnivean didn't.  After a boosted damage roll, Skarre was finished.

Good morning, good afternoon, and good night Skarre.

After a string of less-than-satisfactory games, this one was a nice change of pace.  There was some good back and forth, and neither of us made any bone-headed mistakes that compromised the game.  Initial success aside, the Deathjack was again underwhelming.  Granted I pulled what was probably an unexpected maneuver when I Slipstreamed Thagrosh over to a charge lane, and the lack of a heal from killing the Carnivean didn't help either, but the anecdotal evidence is piling up that DJ isn't as tough a nut to crack as his reputation suggests.  The lack of Black Spot was surprising.  During and immediately after the game I figured that EV had just forgotten about it, but after checking Battle College I see that it's a debuff, not a buff like I had thought.  Given my near-total lack of units it's less surprising since it wouldn't generate extra attacks as well if used on a beast, but a DEF debuff is nice wherever it goes.  Of course if you're having a problem hitting a Carnivean at DEF 11 then you have larger issues, but the total absence of Black Spot is still a bit curious.


I know I've said this before, but I'm really liking how Legion plays.  Perhaps I should revise that to "I'm really enjoying how the Seraph plays."  I'd be happy with a simple Slipstream caddy, so getting the multiple shots with Strafe is a bonus.  It has a decent POW and range, plus the Seraph isn't so Fury hungry that I have to make a hard choice between boosting Strafe shots and doing other things.  The Carniveans make great payloads, but I think I could swap them out for Scytheans (one of them at least, want to have Spiny Growth around) without really losing much.  Of course I could also upgrade one to Typhon, but that will have to wait a little while.


Most of all, I like getting to play with a lot of heavies.  That sort of style just isn't viable in Warmachine, outside of a few jack-friendly casters, which is a real shame since it's the jacks/beasts that give the system its particular flavor.  Infantry is nice and all, but it should be support for the big boys, not the other way around.  The game is called Warmachine after all, not Warinfantry.  An unexpected bonus of being able to run beast-heavy is that I'm running less infantry, which means the Bile Thralls are less of a concern.  Since the Swordsmen (or Archers, depending on the list) are there as support and not as the heavy lifters, I can both run them at the back of my force and not be too worried if I lose them.  The beasts won't care much about a Purge, and it's an annoyance at best on a caster.  Without worrying about a Purge or two caving in the center of my army, Cryx infantry is less intimidating as a whole.  This is a very pleasant discovery indeed.  Will it cause a shift in our "meta?"  Perhaps, though I imagine it will be less of a move towards jacks/beasts than a move away from Bile Thralls.


I'm two for two on posting a battle report on the same day as the game now.  Might be a good idea to check Hell and see if it looks icy.