Regularly Scheduled Programming

Due to computer issues, I will be on hiatus for the time being. Thanks for visiting!

400th Post: Retconning is a virtue

I'm a day tardy getting this post up, but i'm not opposed to post-dating! :P This an important milestone to recognize... 400 posts!!! What an achievement!

These last 8 years have been a journey. Real Life™ has kicked my butt a number of times over the last 14 years and I have had to back burner this blog. At the pace I try to maintain, I would have hit 400 posts in only 4 years. That said, I am very proud of this accomplishment. Heck, averaging 50 posts a year ain't bad.

But wait, there's more! I have a small showcase to share--A group of  WHFB Wood Elves Glade Guard Winged Fey Forest Creatures, given to me by Lord Grimskull. Whew, what a mouthful.

I don't have a WHFB/AoS Wood Elves army but I figured they could see the battlefield as Dark Heresy alien creatures, Necromunda mutated animals, or even as a stand-in for a small flying creature in D&D. With that in mind, I chose blue-green colors on the figure and a complimentary neutral base color. The figures are based on 20mm MDF round bases.

Thanks for the journey. Hope to see you in 400 more posts!

222

2 Years, 2 Months and 2 Days (there is a song lyric in there somewhere I think). That is how long it has been since my last post. What an arduous and life changing time it has been for my family. Things have stabilized and I am hoping they continue to get better.

I am starting back up this blog as a barometer of things to come. Hopefully I can once again share my hobbies with the interwebs on a regular basis, even if it is only a self gratifying activity.

What better way to usher in the revival of my blog than a showcase of my Dark Heresy character Nicodemus. When last you saw him he had recently acquired a fancy bright red bird familiar called a blaze wing. In this post I had started the process of magnetizing the familiar to Nicodemus' base. Flash forward 2 years, the blaze wing is painted, and my character has a new friend... a Grynix. Both the Blaze Wing, Mortimer and the Grynix, Randolph are magnetized and can either be attached to individual bases, or to Nicodemus' base.

Now on with the pictures...

Thanks for stopping by. Come by again soon.

Going on Hiatus

Due to RL medical issues with my family, I am forced to go on an indefinite hiatus. I hope to be back to modeling, gaming, and blogging very soon.

Happy New Year

Hoping you and yours have a great 2015!

"Let us resolve to do the best we can with what we've got"
-William Feather

Looking back, 2014 was another challenging year for the Zorcon household: Surgery, months in the hospital, police at the house, medical retirement, and a missing person, just to name a few. But we survived!

On the hobby front, while I fell a little short of my post count goal, all things considered, I am happy with my achievements.

Here's to 2015, and a chance to start over!

Happy New Year!

New Job, New Gear...

... New Journey!

Finally got my new workstation 100% up and running (had issues with procuring the correct adapter cable for the Wacom tablet).

I began working for a good friend of 20 years last week. It will be about 90% at-home, so my 12-year old computer needed to be retired! My employer had a custom rig built to my specs--The highlights are:

• Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz Processor
• 32GB DDR3 SDRAM
• ASUS GeForce GTX TITAN 6GB Video Card
• Samsung 512GB SSD
• Liquid CPU Fan

The Wacom Cintiq was also provided by my employer, and the TV was an Xmas '13 gift from my best friend, now connected to the new computer. The monitors, keyboard and mouse are from the old computer (about 5 years old).

We are starting out slowly in the new job for a number of reasons. Firstly so that I can transfer the day-to-day care of my mother-in-law to Mrs Zorcon. Secondly because my wife is having major surgery in 2 days. Thirdly, the holidays. And lastly, to allow me the time to get back into the swing of things. 

While caring for my mother-in-law 24-7 for the last three years has been the most difficult 'job' I have ever had, it is not the same as being productive at a desk for 8 hours! 

I am really looking forward to this new adventure and the opportunities it will bring!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Happy Holidays!

I hope you and yours have a safe and wonderful day today!

Talisman Island Blog Mention

Just a short announcement today. I was mentioned in a recent blog post over at Talisman Island!


About a month ago, in this post, I shared the first batch of the images I sent to Talisman Island of a selection of my painted Talisman figures.

Keep an eye out for the second group of images (sneak peek below). Recently, as mentioned in this article, Talisman, Citadel Miniatures and Blogging, they will be posted in the near future! Suh-weet!

IFTTT Test

I just created my first recipe on If This Then That!

This is a test to see if my recipe will forward a post to Facebook.

Test Post

This is a test post to confirm my new IFTTT.com recipe ports a Blogger post to Facebook.

My son Deathbot's 1750 point army from our last battle.

My Son's Invented Soldiers

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Today is my son's 11 birthday. In honor of this momentous occasion, here is a post for him.

My son asked if he could design his own soldier. After some rummaging around my bitz boxes and a few veto's, here is the mock up he came up with.

The body is from an old set of multi-part Space Marines. The arms are Space Orcs, and the head is from the old FB Skeleton regiment box. Very simple, but I think he will look really cool! If I have the time and the gumption I will add a few tattered bitz and baubles.

Deathbot describes him as an undead mutated Imperial Guardsman in power armor. He wanders the galaxy searching for his homeworld. Once he gets back with his people he will be their eternal defender.

How Deathbot explains the Space Marine armor is telling of his gaming pedigree--the armor "leveled up"!

100k Mark!! and an Update

Well, it took almost 5 years, but I finally reached 100k pageviews! Not a speedy achievement by anyone's standards, but I am proud none the less! Thank you to all of you actual readers and internet bots for elevating me to this level!

I had been watching the views slowly click upwards and wanted to post about it immediately after it occurred,. Unfortunately RL has impacted my hobby and blogging time as it often does for the last 2 months or so.

Another small milestone has passed in my absence. A new post cracked my top 5! Bygone: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Character Sheet v2.3 has squeaked passed Tau versus Necron Redux by 11 pageviews! The latter post was authored by Laertes, so now I am the sole author of all the top 5 posts.

Even with my recent hiatus, I still aim to average 10 posts a month this year-- I want to hit 120+ posts! Stay tuned to a flurry of posts this month.

During the last 2 months I have managed to work on a few projects--Mostly rules indexes, glossaries, and rules variants. Here is a rundown:

• Kilty by Association Song Book
• Munchkin Rules Index/Glossary
• Munchkin Swag Random Generator
• Small World Rules Index/Glossary
• Zombies!!! Omega
• Monopoly Omega
• Risk Omega
• Kilty by Association Poster Art

There are a number of projects that I was unable to work on. I am anxious to get back to work on them. Here is a short list:

• WH40K: Tau Army
• Dark Heresy PCs
• WH40K: Tau Objective Markers
• WH40K: Space Marines Army
• Star Wars Monopoly Figures
• WH40K Buildings/Terrain

Lastly, I want to wish everyone a belated Happy Easter, May the 4th be With You, and Cinco de Mayo!! My family celebrated these events each in its own special way.

On Easter, my wife, son and myself went across town to have dinner at my folks place. My aunt, uncle, and their daughter came too. This was an especially special day as that day was also my Anniversary and my aunt's birthday. We ended the night with a game of Cards Against Humanity.

May the 4th be With You was Star Wars all day long! We watched episodes IV, V, and VI while we played Star Wars Monopoly.

We had a friend over on Cinco de Mayo. I had pork roast in a crock pot for 8 hours and we had shredded port tacos in the traditional style--Soft corn shell, meat, cilantro, and a little lemon juice.

Time to wrap this post up. Thanks again!

Happy 18th Anniversary!!

Celebrating after my band's Tartan Day gig!

My lovely wife and I have been married for 18 years today. We got married on the 8th anniversary of our first date. We like to count those years too, so as far as we are concerned its our 26th anniversary!!

I love my wife. The last 10 years (especially the last 4) have been a drain on our finances, our sanity, our health, and our spirit. But today we will toast to all the good times!

We are off to my parent to celebrate Easter, our anniversary and my Aunt's Birthday (also today).

I wish you all a Happy Easter and hope that you find some hoppy... er, I mean hobby and/or gaming time soon.

2014 Tartan Day

My band, Kilty by Association will be playing at Paddy's Bar and Grill in downtown Portland, Saturday, April 5th!

Here is the poster for our next gig. I simply made a few changes to last years poster. Looking forward to going back to Paddy's. They are always an excellent host.

Designed by John Hanan III

Our St Patrick's Day gigs turned out great! At one show, we were asked to play a second set and wound up playing a 4-hour show that day! Good times were had and good drinks were consumed!

If you want to know more about my band, you can check out our Facebook page.

The Game of Life

My wife just spent a week in the hospital. She has been struggling quite awhile before hand and it is not over yet--Out patient treatment for the next 3-4 weeks and another 2-3 weeks at home before going back to work.

Taken from the interwebs without permission

This impacts us financially as the up-to-2-months she will be off work will be unpaid. We do not have disability insurance. We do not have any other significant form of income (I stay home to care for our son and my mother-in-law). Nor do we have access to assistance programs.

We also have no savings. My wife has been sick off and on for various reasons over the last 10 years. She underwent 13 surgeries (including breast cancer and foot surgery) plus my 2 month hospital stint (brain tumor). This has drained us, an inheritance, and we still owe money.

I have painted a grim picture. What is my point? My wife and I keep forging ahead. People often say to us "It will get better". Well, I can say after hearing that for over 10 years, sometimes it doesn't--Sometimes it gets worse. But that does not mean we are giving up in any way... Its just reality.

---

Spending time with my friends through games (as a true hobby) has been a pastime of mine since 1980. It is who I am, how I express myself, and an important part of my life. Its NOT just because I like games...

Created by Zorcon as a fan wallpaper for the video game
"Bikini Karate Babes"

I am socially awkward, even with close friends at times. Games put me on an equal playing field and I am more comfortable. But most importantly, games are a way for me to escape from the stresses of life and actually cope with it better.

Without games, I do not know how I would have made it this far.

---

I have been keeping an eye on my post count. In 22 more posts, I will have posted in 2013 the same number of posts as the previous 4 years combined! With everything going on, it will be a big challenge, but I am up for it! 

Loot!

After selling some MtG cards, completing a design job, and a bit of birthday money, I funded a major shopping shopping spree...

Taken from internets without permission.

FLGS

• Tau Riptide
• Tau Xv8 Commander 
• Tau Commander Shadowsun
• Tau Pathfinders
• Tau Darkstrider
• Tau Cadre Fireblade
• 6 Valejo Paints

Taken from internets without permission.

The War Store

• DreamForge Games: Eisenkern Stormtrooper Rifle Squad
• Munchkin 7: Cheat With Both Hands
• Munchkin Level Playing Field
• Munchkin Boxes of Holding Set 2
• Munchkin Duck of Doom Plush
• Munchkin Duck of Gloom Plush
• Munchkin Tricky Treats Booster Pack

Taken from internets without permission.

Paulsons Games

• Mech Soldier Head  (3)
• Mecha Commander Head (3)

Taken from internets without permission.

Victoria Miniatures

• 12 Shoulder Boards
• 5 Victorian Torsos
• 5 Camo Cloaks
• 5 Dress Uniform Torsos
• 10 Slouch Hat Heads
• 10 Plinth Helmets

Taken from internets without permission.

Goodwill

• Yahtzee World Series (for the cool dice)
• Star Wars Monopoly Classic Trilogy

Taken from internets without permission.

eBay

• 5 Stalwart Class Escort Ships (Space Fleet)
• 4 Thunderbolt Class Cruisers (Space Fleet)
• 8 Cobra Class Destroyers (Space Fleet)
• 2 sets Dark Vengeance + 40 Cultists + Limited Chaplain (figures only)
• Star Wars Monopoly Original Trilogy (figures only)
• Star Wars Monopoly Limited Collector's Edition (figures and coins only)

Introducing Deathbot

Deathbot self-portrait

My son asked if he could post to my blog. He chose the moniker Deathbot and will be writing about his interests (with his own pics and videos). Until recently that fell squarely on Lego, but he recently started creating stop motion animation with my 40k figures and terrain.

What he is working on now is a story with still pictures and another one that is a stop motion story. Both using my 40k stuff. He previously started a couple project with his Lego collection, but never finished them... wonder where he got that from.

Reflection

Image taken from interwebs
without permission

My family has had to contend with a serious health challenge in the last few weeks. Very scary in fact. It is not over, but treatment is progressing and there is a good outlook.

I have been preoccupied dealing with the repercussions of this recent challenge. As a father, husband, and caregiver my health (mental and physical) is of utmost importance. What I forgot is that my hobby time is my primary form therapy. Actually, it has been for decades. Last week, I fell into an old habit of feeling sorry for myself (and my situation)--When I did have some time to spare, I did nothing but mope.

The last 10 years have been full of turmoil. Between my wife, my son, and myself we have endured: Breast Cancer, ADHD, unemployment, hallucinations, Dyspraxia, Alzheimer's, Brain Tumor, foreclosure, severe Depression, Bi-Polar, Structured Learning, Epilepsy, and 16 surgeries. OK, I cheated a little by adding Alzhiemer's to the list. I did that because it directly impacts my family. We moved my mother-in-law in with us about 2 years ago and I am her primary caregiver.

Throughout all of these challenges, the thing that has kept me going is gaming. It has been the catalyst to spend time with my friends. Gaming has also brought serenity when sitting at my workbench painting away. Most importantly it has been my source of feeling, forgive the cliche, "Everything will be OK".

Enough of the life lessons already!! Back to the regularly scheduled topic! I missed posting some topics that weren't yet scheduled because of details missing. Rather than post-date them, or dump them all on one day, I will be making a post every day through the end of the month. Here are the highlights:

• Jass Two Plus One:  A recent design project I completed for a 20's and 30's style Jazz band.
• Token Risk: I began printing out tokens for my Risk Omega rules.
• 40K BatRep - Tau vs Space Marines: A long delayed picture bat-rep of a game I played with my son (his first official full-rules game).
• Eberron Vehicles: 2 different Eberron vehicles I scratch built for my old D&D campaign.
• Jade's Furry: The blue prints to a large vessel I drew up that my Eberron players captured at the end (?) of our campaign.
• Risking the Map: A test map has been printed for Risk Omega.
• Dark Heresy Character Showcase - Guardsman: The guardsman (mk 2) in our Dark Heresy campaign.
• Dark Heresy Character Showcase - Psyker: The psyker (mk 3) in our Dark Heresy campaign.
• Dark Heresy Character WIP - Scum (part 2): In-progress shots of the scum (mk 2) in our Dark Heresy campaign.
• Fungus Among Us: Painting up some resin terrain pieces.

What's Ahead

Here is a look at what's to come...

Currently, I have 45 posts drafted in different stages--Some have been scheduled, some have outlines, some have opening statements, some have pictures, and other have a title only. This list is not exhaustive either! There are many more topics in the works.

A moment of reflection...
A look back at one of my favorite cats, Patches (93-08)

I plan to continue to publish at least every three days, if not sooner. It amazes me how perfect this pace is for me. I have been easily able to keep up with the schedule. The only snafu was when I didn't get the posts scheduled during a very busy 2 weeks. 

Even if posts are done and ready to go, I tend not to schedule more than 2-3 at a time. This allows me to add in a new topic, or jockey the order to suit what is going on at that time.

As you may have already seen in recent posts (and from the post titles below) I am adding food and beverage topics in the mix. As a stay at home dad and caregiver I make most of the meals at home. A large portion of the way I cook bounces between "semi-home made", "pantry surprise", and the favorite around here "leftover hash". I enjoy the creative outlet from cooking and I have developed some of my own recipes (or kit bashed an existing one).

Here is a teaser of future posts (not in any particular order):

• Rogue Trader Character Sheet
• Grey Knight Character Sheet
• Only War Character Sheet
• Black Crusade Character Sheet
• Deathwatch Squad/Solo-Mode Sheet
• Daemon Record Sheet
• Restructuring and Rebuilding the Aquamarines (long and pic heavy)
• Introducing Deathbot
• Room Deroration
• Dungeon Dressing part 1
• Quick Pickled Pepers
• Quick Cobbler
• Salsa
• African Smoke
• Have Horse, Will Travel part 2
• Have Horse, Will Travel part 1
• Giants Among Us
• Constructing Elementals part 2
• Constructing Elementals part 1
• Wagons Ho!
• Industrial Building II (AKA Necromunda Terrain)
• Industrial Building I (AKA Necromunda Terrain)
• Battle Boards
• WH40K RPG Character Showcase III
• WH40K RPG Character Showcase II
• Arvus Lighter Showcase
• WH40K RPG Character Showcase I
• Arbites (counts-as) Rhino Showcase
• Modern/Sci-Fi Vehicles Showcase III
• Shipping Containers
• My Son's Invented Soldiers
• Modern/Sci-Fi Vehicles Showcase II
• My Deathwatch Kill Team
• Crate 'n Barrel
• Large Gothic Church Ruin
• Resin Vehicles Project pt1
• Storage Solutions Part 2
• Beer Brewing 2013
• Deathwatch Character Showcase - Salamander Apothecary
• Deathwatch Character Showcase - White Scars Tactical Marine
• Deathwatch Character Showcase - Space Wolf Tactical Marine
• Brewing Soda - Cherry Vanilla Cola
• Deathwatch Character Showcase - Storm Wardens Librarian
• 40K BatRep - Tau vs Space Marines
• Cherry Pie Moonshine

As my fingers march towards my 200th post, I am happy with the journey taken. I look forward to developing my writing skills (and thoughts) to continually improve the experience of this site.

Thanks for following!

A Century!

90th BD party!!

My grandmother turns 100 today!! What an awesome achievement that can not go unnoticed! Today is a very special day for my family.