Unwrapping the Cygnar Heavy 'Jack

I am a little behind the times but my budget just allowed me to get the Cygnar Heavy 'Jack.  I like the options of the different arms.  I have several Ironclads but I like the option of an extra Defender, along with the nifty new Cyclone.  Tilaurin on Lost Hemisphere gives a great how to and I will be referencing that post as I get this guy together!

A Touch of Green

FA's Teddy Bear Tan and Holly Leaf Green punch up the terrain pieces. I still can not get some of the crevices to fill with paint. I even tried mixing in glue. I am done messing with it. When I'm done painting, I will just glue down some static grass or something!

Game Night

Last night was an impromptu board game night.  We had lots to choose from but the one that got the most laughs was Quelf.  It is a great party game for friends who have few inhibitions.  At various times in the night, I was singing an operatic improv, using made-up words in sentences, and silently pointing at the ceiling (as my friends tried to figure out why and make me laugh).  Another girl danced the hula, and someone else ended up with a glove made of tinfoil.  And there was a sock-puppet named Threadgill...  The rules are simple.  Roll the d6, land on a colored square, draw the same colored card, and do what the card tells you to do.  If you won't or can't, you go back a certain number of squares. Here are just a few sample cards-

We rounded out the night with a little Apples to Apples.  All in all, a great night!

Progress Bars

I recently had a question as to how I get the progress bars in my widgets to the right. 



Cyclone Heavy Warjack

3 Bodgers

Eiryss Mage Hunter

Squire



Simple answer, I cut and pasted them from another site.   I tried to paste mine here but the blog kept executing the commands, rather than showing them.  Any way, Matthew Harvey wrote the code and his site is here.  Follow the directions for the "New Blogger Installation Instructions".  Then customize as you see fit.  You can change the color of the bars if you know the hex color code.  I go by the following list for my percentages:

Percentages
0% = in the box,
20% = full assembled,
25% = based,
30% = primed,
40% = base drybrushed
50% = blocked colors,
50-90% = layers and details,
95% = clear coated
100% = static grass

I also make the bar a darker blue as I get closer to completion.

Colors
0-39% = '#99CCFF'
40-80% = '#4682B4'
81-100% = '#00008B'

Hope this helps.

HUD - Because the Cool Kids Have One

HUD: Projects 2012

1. Spring Garden
2. DnD Tiefling
3. DnD Fighter with Flame Sword
4. Three Cygnar Bodgers
5. Ten Cygnar Long Gunners
6. Fifteen Cygnar Trenchers
7. Eiryss Mage Hunter
8. Cygnar Firefly Light Warjack
9. Cygnar Cyclone Heavy Warjack
10. Cygnar Squire 

Mik told me all the cool kids have a HUD.  Check the Status Bars to the right for my progress.

Painting terrain

Stone gets over brush of Folk Art Medium Gray. The grassy parts get over brushed with FA Burnt Umber. Unfortunately, there are still a few white specks in the crater. I think next time I will soak the pieces in soapy water.

Spray Painting

I spray painted the new terrain yesterday, then touched it up with black. I am glad I washed it in soapy water first as the residual mold release agent was still in a few crevices. Still, they look good.

I also tried spray painting a test patch of the roll up mat. It looks good but there are micro cracks when I roll it up. Glad I did it on the back.

What I got for Christmas

I know, I'm a little late but I wanted show off what the wife got me ;)

We have played Yahtzee once but the goblet and dice are now regulars at game night.

These came from Zuzzy Miniatures. 

This is a large flat hill.

And this is the rest of the assortment I received!

The pieces are very nice and the edges are crisp.  I only found a few places to trim up with my hobby knife and that was more a preference than a necessity.

The order was a little late due to Christmas so they included a free Mat sample to go with...

The 4'x4' Terrain Mat I got!

Here is a close up of the mat with all the lovely texture.  It feels a lot like the thin rubber masks at Halloween.

Next up, lots of soapy water and some base coating.

Garden Preperations from 2011

Last year, in 2011, we bought our first home.  I wanted a garden, especially after living in apartments for several years and I had read up on Square Foot Gardening.  I was going to review it this year and discovered I had never posted the pics!  Oh well, this is what I built.

I built 2 boxes, covering the bottom in weed-cloth.

Supplies, including weed-cloth and ceder.

Stapling in the weed-cloth

Thankfully, the screws did not require pre-drilling.

Finished box

Two finished boxes.

Unfortunately, you might notice that I did not clear the grass underneath the boxes.  I layered three layers of weed-cloth in the bottom of each box and I thought that would be enough.  Wrong!

I also mixed my own soil from these ingredients.

Different bags, different colors

Spread them on a tarp and fold them together

Perfect dirt!

Water it in and add pepper plants!

Drag it over and fill the boxes

We got bunches of peppers off of these two plants.  They grew to about waist high and produced lots of peppers, especially in the fall, when the temp's were not so high.  They also grew grass like crazy.  It was very disappointing and very frustrating. 

ONE YEAR LATER

I pulled the pepper plants from the box in the right. The left box grew grass.  However, this January, the seeds I planted for lettuce and spinach finally sprouted.  Along with more grass.

Garden for 2012

Reused plastic bins, weed cloth, & new premixed  soil.

Drilling out drainage with wood brace to prevent cracking.

I stacked them on top of cinder blocks.

Duct tape the weed cloth inside tub.

Lettuce Sprouts!

Spinach Sprouts

I have not had any weeds yet and I can use the full strength fire-ant killer on the ground below the containers.

A new Strawberry plant and the ever faithful, ever returning chives.

Hopefully, the growing season will be better for veggies and the grass will stay where it is supposed to.  We will see how it goes!