A lot of my modelling stuff

This isn't the only place that I choose to share my thoughts - one that I've been updating quite a bit more than here the last year is my Mantic blog - Puggimer's Pathfinder Progress - it started as a place to share pictures of my Mantic Kings of War Abyssal Dwarf army, but has expanded a little to include all the stuff I'm doing as a Mantic Pathfinder.

Most recently talking about the new DeadZone miniatures that I've received to do demos with over a month before the game will arrive.

Some sample pictures:

Check it out

TONS OF FREE STUFF!

Ok, so the Mars Attacks kickstarter was floundering this week. So what did Mantic decide to do - step it up and add a lot more free stuff!

They got it to rebound and these last two days are going to be really exciting. What kind of free stuff? How about free giant Bugs! How about a free Big Stompy Robot with shrink ray, and 5 free shrunken marines! How about a free Supreme Regeant to lead your Martian forces! How about a free Martian army standard bearer! How about a free hardback of all the rules (both the base game and escalation and all the scenarios)!

By my estimate that is over $100 of more free stuff added to the $300 pledges - which were already a great value. Check it out here : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game/posts/655831

 And who knows how much more will get added (piles of dead bodies, zombies, more heroes!) before it is done Sunday at 6:59! Don't get left behind!

 (and after that - I promise to quit posting about this kickstarter!)

THE WHOLE FREAKIN' THING!

As a Mantic Pathfinder, it is my job to promote their games - thus the blog posts on the ongoing Kickstarter for Mars Attacks.

Go here : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game , and pledge your support.  Don't worry, I'll be here waiting until you get back.

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no hurry, take your time

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don't forget to add in an extra Big Stompy Robot, or a set of 3 Giant Bugs (because we all need more robots and giant bugs).

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Ok, so you're back.  Now comes the wating.  The horrendous, slow waiting while they actually turn our dreams of martian destruction and valiant human heroes into shiny toy soldiers.  In a mere 9 months (August of 2014) it will begin making it's way into your grubby little hands.

Wait, you didn't pledge?  You only have until 6:59 EST (yes, daylight savings is over, so we are spending the daylight quite liberally now) on Sunday, November 10th.

I've already written why I like this game, but maybe it is miniature games in general?  The miniature wargaming hobby is, admittedly, an expensive hobby.  If you go for any of the Games Workshop games, then it is a VERY expensive hobby.  But even with the Mantic games, it costs quite a bit more than a copy of Monopoly.  So why should you do this?

Well, first because Monopoly sucks.  How many times have you endured that wretched excuse for a game only to have it end in a fight.  So maybe a game that isn't designed to take hours to tear you down completely would be better.  The game play is sure to be fast and streamlined - a game should take no more than an hour I would expect.  I've found that miniature games have been a great way to bond with my sons.

But not only is it sure to be a great game, but it is a hobby as well.  Sure you can play it straight out of the box, but you can also take some time to paint all your models, making them not just pieces in a game, but your martians and your heroes.  I've found many more hours of enjoyment painting and modelling miniatures than I ever get out of actually playing the games.  I can paint and model alone, or with friends at a game store.

So pledge your support, either to crush the puny humans beneath the glorious forces of Mars, or to drive back the dastardly invaders that have dared to attack our home world!

Bugs!

Bugs! Little, annoying, sqishy pests. Until the martians came and inverted their shrink rays on them turning them into giant killing machines. No more would they be crushed under the unthinking heel of the humans - the bugs are attacking.

C'mon - who hasn't loved such sci-fi classics like Them or the campy Starship Troopers. They have become a common scifi gaming trope - from 40K Tyranids to Dreadball Zzors. But still, it is the humans against giant insects that we all remember from comics and movies of our youth.

Now you can recreate these. The Mars Attacks Kickstarter only has 4 days left, and the next major stretch goal (at $500K) are giant bugs! Plus they already have beat the goal to add a character riding a giant flea - how cool is that.

And if you don't want the whole thing, just pledge at the $1 level and once they hit this stretch you can buy a giant bug for only $10 - or $20 for 3. They are also adding one in on the $150 1-click pledges and 3 for $300 1-click pledges.

If you ask me, the cool things about this kickstarter aren't the martians or the people, it is the martian death machines and giant bugs.  Flying saucers, Giant Stompy Robots - and the next stretch goal ($500K) is Giant Bugs.  They already have a hero riding a giant flea - but the new big gribblies are right out of a 1950's matinee.  Not quite the ants from Them, they are still big, creepy monsters.

I'd like to just do scenarios from those 1950's movies - just army guys versus huge insects, with civilians running around getting eaten.

Check it out - you know you need your dose of atomic horror, with a side of martians for fun http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game/posts/652632

Painted Armies

When playing miniature games, the is nothing like having two well painted armies facing each other over cool terrain.  The Mars attacks kickstarter has added some Army Painter paint sets are reward levels to help people get their martians and heroes painted.  They did have a few pledges to get fully painted sets, but right now those are all gone.

So if you haven't painted minis before check out the paint set rewards - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game

BoardGameGeek Mars Attacks competition!

Don't say I didn't warn you - once again the obligatory add.

However this is kind of cool - answer a few questions about the game (with the answers somewhere on the kickstarter page) and you can get entries to win a copy of the game.  The grand prize is "The Invaders Arrive" pledge on kickstarter - which is the game + and $125 worth of add on's.  There are also three second prizes of just the game.

Go here to enter : http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1062895/mantic-games-mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game-cont

Mars Attacks

Disclaimer - I am a Mantic Pathfinder, and have been asked to post about the Kickstarter.

First off - to get the requirements out of the way - go and pledge for the Mars Attacks Kickstarter before it ends Nov 10, 2013 at 6:59 EST.  It looks to be a fun, light hearted game, and a great transition from traditional board games to miniature games.

Ok - now for something real.

I first heard about Mars Attacks back in 1978.  I was a whopping 13 the summer that Star Wars had just come out, and I couldn't get enough of it.  So much so that when I found a magazine (you remember what those were) call "Space Wars" I had to have it.  Looking back realistically, it was a quick and dirty rag put out to capitalize on Star Wars without actually having to pay any royalties or anything.  I ate it up, and bought several issues.  Living in a small town that was the biggest within 2 hour drive - and still did not even have a McDonalds until I was in high school, this was great.  In the third issue was an article by James Trever and Len Brown, about these Topps trading cards issued in 1962 - Mars Attacks.

To my 13 year old brain these were some of the coolest things ever - and to make them even better, they were completely unobtainable!  "Although unintentional, that article saw the price of 1962 MA cards go from $1 to $10 almost over night!".  And this was way before the internet - it just wasn't going to happen.  But those cool cards - from the #1 The Invasion Begins to such classics like #36 Destroying a Dog I was hooked.

I know they reprinted and reissued the cards later, but I had grown older and wasn't into it anymore.  I did greatly enjoy the 1996 movie - as campy as the cards - but being an adult now it wasn't like I was going to collect it or anything.

I then became a Matic Pathfinder, responsible for demoing their games and bascially being a cheerleader for the company, in exchange for some a bit of free product and maybe some sneak peaks.  And what does Mantic go and do but make a licensing agreement with Topps to make hybrid board/miniature game out of Mars Attacks, and put up a Kickstarter for it.

Yes, my 13 year old inner child freaked.  Martians.  Death Rays.  Flying Saucers.  Giant Robots.  Giant Bugs.  This must be mine - and I have to have it to demo anyway, right?  Yeah, like I needed that excuse.

I did the first Mantic Kickstarter for Kings of War, and wish I had been able to do DreadBall and Dead Zone if for no other reason than the fantastic deal on the games and miniatures.  Now my wife questions how many more I need, not realizing that if I ever get all my miniatures painted then I'll die - so I have to keep buying more as I paint more. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it).

This isn't intended to be a "hard core" game - it is more a beer and pretzels version.  I don't see where they will have multiple factions to collect, and all the miniatures in the base game are colored plastic and pre-assembled (except for the clear martial helmets) so it can be played right out of the box.    It is using the latest Topps IP (intellectual property) for this, so has figures from the recent comics and the new cards that just came out for the 50th anniversary.

I'm not that excited about the martian or the human models - I don't really like painting humans (and the martians are pretty much humans) as I find them boring.  Giant stompy robot - that is cool.  Giant Bugs - they currently only have one funded (in the Attack from Space! expansion) but have another one as a future stretch goal (based on the silhouette in the Martian Attack Force expansion).  Flying saucers are also cool.  And they even have some other awesome stuff - such as models for flaming cows from the original #22 Burning Cattle card (now an event that happens in the game).

The $475 stretch goal is for team and solo play rules - so that you can do games with (instead of against) your friends, or even when you are by yourself (and now that I'm an empty nester, that is more often than not).

Even if I wasn't a pathfinder, I would want this game, because it takes me back to when I was a 13 year old boy, and the summer was filled with Star Wars and martian Death Rays.

New Direction (and not that boy band)

Ok, where do I start?  At one point several years ago I was updating this semi-regularly (did 99 posts back in 2007) but that hasn't been happening - what 2 posts last year, and this is the first for this year.  So much for my dozens of readers (yes, I did have one entry with a whopping 31 views.  Have to be careful I don't get a big head on that one).

I think that this was an outlet for my frustrations, anger and bad feelings - mostly from work.  Well for a little over 4 1/2 years (4 years, 7 months, 1 week to be exact) my work stress has been pretty much gone.  That is what comes from working for a great company.  How great you say?  We have been awarded "Best Place to Work" from the Dayton Business Journal for the last two years, as well as winning it for the Dayton Daily News this past year and a similar (ok, now I'm being lazy) award for Greene county.  A healthy, growing company.  Respect for everyone the company and the work they do.  Not perfect, but I have no desire to even look anywhere else.

Better than working with a bunch of monkeys trying to f**k a basketball (and I still don't know where I heard that term).  But much less need to share it and get it out of my system.

But I do need to update this more - I feel guilty when I don't because I know both of my remaining readers are hanging on every word.  I won't write about work - I don't have any coworkers that I can complain about, and as for what I do - I like and want to keep my job, so I don't need to be publicly blasting it on the interwebs.

So if not work, then fun?  What do I do for fun.  Beer.  And Games.  More games than beer, but I do a little home brewing.  I tried to start a blog on that - did a whopping 2 entries there.  I don't know enough, and with my job going well I don't drink enough to be able to really talk about beer.

That leaves games.  Not those new fangled flashy video games (get off my lawn!) but real board and miniature games.  Games that (usually) require a flesh and blood person to play with.  And not Monopoly (what may be the WORST board game ever made).  Games like Settlers of Catan, Pandemic, Flashpoint.  Board games that you might see on Table Top (I have all but 2 of the games they did on their first season).

I also love miniature games.  I've been playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles for over 12 years now, and have created several fun, themed armies, including The United Greenskin Postal Service, The Grateful Undead, Da Beach Boyz, The Drunk Dwarves and The Fire Eaters Ogre Tribe.  When it still existed, I also played Confrontation (with Wolfen and Ophidians ).  I have started playing Mantic's Kings of War, fielding Abyssal Dwarfs, and started demoing this game at Origins and GenCon this past summer, which has led me to become a Mantic Pathfinder (basically a volunteer who does demos of their games).

I've actually won a few awards; mostly "favorite army/general's choice" (voted on by all the players in a tournament for any reason they like), a few "best painted" and even fewer (I think 3) overall winner awards. (One was for a Confrontation tournament - where the award was a Scourge Bearer statue that I painted up and use as my avatar EVERYWHERE).

So games mostly, but not restricted to, miniatures will be my main focus for this blog.  It will probably still include the annual Christmas letter and anything else I thik of - but you have seen how much I do other stuff lately.

I'll try to keep it funny and interesting (yes, I missed both those goals with this post, didn't I?), but I will warn both of my readers (boy, that is making a big assumption that two people will still be able to find this at all) that there will be some 'advertising' as part of me being a pathfinder.

Christmas Letter 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all our family, friends, loved ones, acquaintances, and those people who just seem to creep back into our address book year after year that we still don’t know who they are (I thought that was your cousin twice removed on your mother’s side?);

Thanksgiving sure seemed to come early this year, and with it the Christmas rush.  Diane asked me if I had the letter done already – but I still have three weeks before Christmas?  Three weeks – I had better hurry!  The branch of the Ohio Carter clan is still doing well out here in the wilds – though it didn’t feel so out of the way with all the politicians (from the Latin poli : many and tics : blood sucking insects)  that swarmed the state just a month ago.  But enough of those depressing thoughts, time to talk about something (anything!) else.

2012 was a busy year.  Probably the biggest highlights had to do with my parents and the kids.  The whole clan gathered in Philadelphia in July for Dad’s 80^th birthday, and a good time was had by all (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!)  At least none of my kids caused any drama, which was amazing in and of itself.  And then the most amazing part, in September Diane and I officially became “Empty Nesters” as the last of the kids moved out. 

For me, not much has changed this past year.  Same great job (The Design Knowledge Company), which continues to grow and expand (I did get a private office (with a window no less!)), and the growth does not look like it will let up.  I continue to brew beer, once again bringing three kegs to the Christmas party this coming week.  I still play with toy soldiers as well, winning a team tournament in June.  What I am not doing any longer is being the treasurer for the band boosters – I handed this over at the end of my term in May and have not looked back.  So still being the uber geek as much as ever.

Diane has been very busy with the real estate business starting (knock on wood) to pick up a bit – she actually sold some ‘real’ houses this year.  She is still heavily involved with the Women’s Council of Realtors as the Vice-President of Membership again this year, becoming the president elect for 2013 (so she will be president in 2014), attending many meetings and conventions.  At least that is what she said the trip to Florida in November was for – however seeing the pictures of margaritas and the beach make me wonder how much work actually went on.   She also became a consultant for Tastefully Simple this year – because I can always support her by eating!

Becky still lives on Minnesota, and loves Interpreting for the Deaf – even the overnight sessions on video-relay.  While she and Burr-d have parted ways (along with her owner Lou), she seems to have successfully navigated the storms and swirls of the dating pool and has a new Beau, Eric.  (Yeah, that doesn’t cause any confusion in conversations between Diane and me).  She also adopted a rescue boxer named Harlow (who is sweet, even if she is a bully to Scout).

Jon moved back down here this past summer, and found a house to rent with three of his friends from high school (and college as well).  He struggled for a time finding a job, and is currently selling Kirby Vacuums door-to-door.   It is very hard work, and long hours.  He isn’t sure he wants to do this  long term, but for now it is a job.

Katlyn met a nice young man on the internet who draws a web comic when not working at his day job, and he invited her to come up and attend Emerald City ComicCon with him back in March.  She had such a great time in Seattle with Sam Boyd that she never went back to Albuquerque, moving in with him in the small town of Lebanon, Oregon.  She brought Sam with her to Grandpa Carter’s 80^th birthday to meet the entire family, and he somehow managed to survive that with his sanity intact.  She has a part time job as a file clerk currently.

Erik started off the year as an Intern at Regal Beloit in Tipp City, and really enjoyed working for a living (for a few months at least), even if it meant moving back home for a few months to save money.  Then in the summer it was back to school to make up for the time as an intern.  He is still studying Computer Engineering at UD, and is also heavily involved in several groups on campus (including FASFAC and the Freethinkers).  He is getting ready for his second round of intern life come January.

Matthew had his big event in May as he graduated from West Carrollton High School, and then started all over again as a freshman at Miami University of Ohio.  He has switched to a mechanical engineering major as it looked like architecture was much more fine art than he expected.  School is going well for him, and he has a campus job to keep him from having too much free time at school.

Scout is the only one of us actually starting to show his age (ahem).  While he is still on track to sleep his life away, he has started to slow down a bit, and is occasionally missing when he tries to jump up onto the couch or bed.  However if any varmit dares to step foot on his porch (when he actually has his eyes open) then we will definitely hear about it.

2012 was a good year, and with any luck this will reach all our friends before the Mayans end the world in eight days.   Assuming that the world does not end, we wish for all of you a safe, happy and wonderful holiday season and new year.

May the blessing of the rain be on you— the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air. May the blessing of the great rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.

Empty Nest

Yes, as of September 1st, 2012, Diane and I are officially Empty Nesters.  It has been on my mind a lot, and I'm still trying to process it.

The house is quiet.  Jon has said he will come back and finish cleaning the basement that was overflowing with his stuff for the month he stayed with us between houses.  My guess is, like a lot of their projects, I'll have to finish it.

The dog is now sleeping in our room, and our queen bed (small for our fat butts) isn't quite big enough for all of us - so there is a bit of sneakiness as he moves from the floor to the bed when we are asleep and can't kick him off.

I've noticed Diane is spending a lot less time upstairs in the bedroom - maybe because it is so quiet, or just that she actually has a chance at the downstairs tv.  She wanted to start planning for our free time several months ago - but I put it off wanting to have the free time first.

Do we have free time?  I finished my stint on the band boosters as of May 31, so you think it would free me up.  But instead I've started more miniature projects (technically 4 if I were to actually work on all of them - but two are way on the back burner).  So I have more than enough to keep me occupied, if I want to.

I have always found it a bit difficult to process change, and especially endings.  And this is a big ending for me - I was an active father for the 24 years, 4 months and 12 days - more than half my life.  Now, while I'm still a father, it is one to three adults (ok, step-father to one of these), an two college students.  Not nearly as much in the active category, and finding that I have to hold myself back a bit as well - because it is their lives to live, not mine.  I did the best I could to raise them - and we have kicked them out of the nest, to fall or fly, on their own.

Even the college students are getting so they won't be back.  Erik is hoping his friends plans for a house will work out - which would mean no more having to move somewhere for the summer.  Matt is in a dorm this year, so will be home for vacations.  But even that gets different.

So I'm still trying to process this, as I think Diane is.  Cooking for only the two of us.  Not being able to yell at one of the boys to empty the dishwasher.  I'll have to go out and pick up dog poop myself - haven't done that in ages!

One thing I'm not feeling yet is a beginning - it just feels like an ending.  It doesn't yet feel like I have started on a new phase of life yet - just like a lot is over.