Dungeons & Wrestling or WWE & Dragons?

Before I was ever a fan of geekdom I was a wrestling fan. Yes, I know it is not real, but neither are most Porn Stars' tits and you like them just the same I imagine as the pile of used tissues on your floor would have me believe.  For more on this I urge you to watch this video on YouTube. I mean the discussion on wrestling, not Porn Star tits, I am sure who have better suggestions then I could offer. No seriously, if you do please email me....

Now you would think a game about magic and dragons would have nothing to do with everyone's favorite sport involving big sweaty men. That is where you would be wrong. Watching Wrestling can make you a better roleplayer, heck even a DM. In this two part series I am going to look at wrestling's effect on players and in my next article I will focus on the DM.

1. Backstory, perhaps this is due to my Adventure League/PFS experiences, but most characters are a bundle of mechanics and not much more. Heck, they might not even have a name. You would think wrestling is just Big Sweaty Man #1 vs. Shorter Wider Big Sweaty Man #2.  Currently in wrestling we have a Cult Leader who seems to obtain his powers from the remains of his dead sister, another wrestler who receives a burst of power becoming the actual King of Demons, oh and there are two guys, one of whom is a dancer that both work as detectives dealing with issues of fashion! That sure sounds a great deal more interesting then saying "I'm a fighter." Just the few examples mentioned above all apply to guys who kick, punch, and essentially deal melee damage.

You can figure out who is who right?

2 .Gimic, this could also fall under backstory, but wrestlers have something they are known for. Style of dress, mannerisms, names of their moves, and even catch phases. These are all ways to dress up your play. Instead of saying I swing with my sword and crit, instead you used your patented overhead twisting slash that you call your sliced bread #4 (no shit, is  the name of an actual finishing move). Instead of saying "I hold my attack to wait for him to turn around", you could say :I swing my torso in 180 degrees and fall to the floor punching the ground and wait to strike." Perhaps your male wizard is known for being flamboyant and wearing a feathered gown.

Casting a Fireball...woo!

3. Define your stats/stlye of play. Do you want to know what St 18, Dex 14, Con 10 and Cha 6 look like?

See that little bastard behind him? That is what happens when you have the backing of a CHA 18 bard.

There are some wrestlers who can't work a mic to save their lives and others who can make reading the phone book be one of the most exciting experiences ever. Consider this when roleplaying your character. The mannerisms of these athletes can really help flesh out what the numbers mean. Next time you tell your DM you want to make an acrobatics check to avoid hitting the ground, use this example. Shoot ever wonder how a pyrotechnic spell, Darkness, and a Bard can support an intimidation check. Look up the Undead Wizard known as Undertaker for inspiration (I shit you not, there is an undead Wizard in wrestling.)

4.Put Over your party. The ending to wrestling matches are pre scripted, however the two athletes work off of one another. The guy who wins does so because the other guy allowed him to (as opposed to a real fight where the toughest guy wins) and this in the business is known as "putting someone over." In your group you as the player should be willing to put over the other players. Give the other guys time to shine and encourage them to utilize the skills they excel at. Imagine you are in a bar and pick a fight with an Orc as the wizard this would be a good time to encourage the party's barbarian to solve the situation you just started because unlike yourself...they can take a punch.

A move like this requires cooperation from both parties

5. Don't be John Cena!

Seriously, I know he gets to make the sexy time with her, but just don't.

For the last 10 years Cena has been a main eventer in the WWE and holding the championship on too many occasions often at the expense of other better wrestlers. Chances are your table has had a Cena at one time or another, the type of player that always has to be the center of attention, They have all the skills, all their stats are high, and they have the best magic items.  These type of players are the worst and automatically suck the fun out of the game. Don't be them!

Been gone a long time...Real Life and Commissions

Wow, I have missed you guys, oh hell...guy. I doubt anyone even follows my Blog, this is mostly an ego project. That being said, I need to do a better job of keeping this blog updated. My biggest issue has always been want, and I never want to write. Finding ways to best construct words in my head and put them on the screen has always been a struggle, I need to get better.

For the past 6 weeks I have been working on this monstrosity for a client. I have stopped playing GW a long time ago, but recently I have gotten back into GW as they have better changed their business model and more importantly seem...FUN. A gentleman I painted for back in the day approached me to do armies for him. I have not been a fan of such large lots, but I have bills to pay...and the wife wanted a deck for the house.

The army is the Kharadon Dwarves for Ages of Sigmar. I was excited by these models when I first saw them. I love the aesthetic. But after the 10th box I was like....please, make it stop. This was the largest commission that I have undertaken and I suspect there will be more. This is what I have learned.

1. It is a marathon, not a race. At writing of this I am 5'5 250, so yes I am fat, meaning I know fuck all about running, but I have friends who do and I understand the principals. This army is not going to be done in a week or two. You have to pace yourself.

2. Assembly line painting is a thing. I have always done assembly line painting: The brown on the palette id used on model's A hair and then on model B's Boots. That is why if you ever look at my auction lots, you can see the same 30 colors used at various intervals. With an army like this, you might spend 2-3 hours just doing eye lenses, which I did.

3. Colored Spray is your friend. I am breaking down and buying an airbrush as it seems like I will be doing more army work like this in the future. Blocking out large surfaces at once is a time saver.

4. Assemble....everywhere. I was working on putting these models together during my prep period at my teaching job, during Friday Night Magic, and during my weekly  D&D game. Although I always work on models during D&D to help me focus. ADD sucks.

5.Take breaks. In the time I was working on these models I still knocked out a few small lots for other people, ebay, and my own gaming. Projects like that helped me keep my sanity, Painting something like a naked barbarian chick or SF model helped me keep my sanity.

6, Know when to stop, there comes a time at night where you need to shut your desk lamp off and walk away, which is what I ended up doing often.

7, Background distractions are important. During the time of working on these mdoels I polished off season 5 of House of cards, my usual shows on Netflix, and a ton of YouTube podcasts. Shout out to Word Funk.

I am sure there are people who can better eloquently explain the process, but as I said...EGO.

Let's Talk About Racks

Oh, sorry, not that kind. My "special file" must have gotten confused with the clip art I use for this blog. Sorry Marie Claude Bourbonnais.

Instead I want to talk about Paint Racks. I recently received a pretty cool laser cut MDF rack from NEWay Designs and I thought it would be a good time to talk about what and why I use what I use. Here is my current set up. As you can see I use various racks from different companies. There is a homemade wrack consisting of drilled 2x2 to accommodate dropper bottles, a Paintier 80 turning wrack, and an acrylic nail polish rack bought on Ebay from my wife. I told her I wanted either a 3 way with Amy Schumer, to be right for just one day, or the rack. Guess what I got?

The Paintier 80 has by far been my longest use storage device. I can easily move it via the handle on the top and I have owned it for about 20 years or so and it turns just as good the day I got it. It still bears the damage of paint strokes gone wrong and while it can hold dropper bottles they can easily get knocked over. It is more so meant for GW bottles hence the reason I bought it many years ago. The wood rack was made for me by a friend who shall we say has a problem when it comes to Woodworking...he must own all the tools. Based on his expertise and arsenal was able to knock out the thing in under an hour. It sat unused for a long time as I did not have the space for it. Now with my newer setup it holds all my metallic paints.  For the longest time I had a hogepodge of GW, alcohol metallics, and P3 that sat cramped on my Paintier 80 for the longest time I am now able to spread them out. Based on my set up I hope you can draw a few conclusions. I am a creature of  habit, I desire function over form, I am cheap, and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The NEWay tray I was fortunate to win via a Facebook contest. Which is great, because my luck is crap (you should see me roll dice). The rack holds 27 paints and is meant to be modular combining with elements from their other lines to create an entire paint station for your desk. The rack consist of 6 Laser Cut Plywood sheets that easily and snugly fit together.

I can hold it on its side and it will not slide apart. I imagine a good bead of wood glue would make thing super sturdy. It holds any normal 18ML dropper bottle, modeled here by Army Painter Reaper MS, and Vellejo. There is a decent amount of room on the top if you want to store your larger paints, glue, or current projects

The cost for this item on their website (link above) is 19.95.

Pros:
Made in the USA by gamers
Sturdy construction
Holds all major brands of dropper paint
Modular
Aesthetically pleasing (my opinion)

Cons:
Does not fill my needs (see below)
Cost (see below)

Final Thoughts.
Giving me this item is like giving me a new Lamborghini. I am going to be appreciative, but I might not be the right audience for it. As stated I like to be cheap, and I need things to have a purpose regardless of how they might look. I own simply too many paints and have a system in place for this item to be of use for me. To accommodate my current collection I would be dropping over a 140 bucks and still not have a place for my larger paints. I have been since been contacted by one of the owners who CAN CUT TRAYS TO GW AND OTHER NON DROPPER BOTTLES, my mistake.

However that being said I would totally recommend this rack to a more hobby based beginning painter with better self control. This rack can easily be filled with paints and left on a shelf until needed and 20 bucks is not bad if you plan to keep your collection small. Our hobby is a great deal smaller than you think and when you buy from an artist you are not just purchasing their knowledge and skill, but a small piece of their heart and soul. The fact this item is made by people who are part of OUR hobby, put their name out there and on this product should be final evidence as to the worth of this product.

Back in IL

Hi all, I have been busy as of late spending over a week on the west coast during "the election." Suffice it to say California wants to become their own separate country and they can in my opinion.

I have no real theme to this post I just wanted to show off some models. Keep in touch I have something special planned.

My thoughts on Pathfinder

Over the course of my blog I am going to start a new feature called "My thoughts about Pathfinder." I realize PF is a very popular system and millions of people are playing. Heck for a while it kicked the crap out of D&D in sales, but to me it was not my jam. This blog is my opinion, I know many of you are tied to the system and for someone to have an opinion that differs from yours is like calling your child ugly and tit punching your wife. Heck on a forum I had a guy threaten me, because I used the term "drinking the Pathfinder Koolaide."


Reason1

I NEVER PLAYED 3.0/3.5 s great deal.



When these editions were big I did not really have a game group. I played heavily 2nd ed, but when I got to college I was the target of heavy bulling and there was no one in my area who played any sort of role playing. For my own safety I stopped admitting I played RPGS and hid most of those years. I did play some 40k, but that was the only gaming I did. I was in College when 3.0 came out and focusing on my teaching degree. In that time I was deep into my schooling and what free time I had was spent working on painting and 40k. I then had a blow up with a store owner and the store I moved to only did war gamming.  I was not yet traveling to conventions and the notion of Organized play was lost on me. I just did not realize something like that existed. The internet was still in its infancy so finding other gamers was difficult. You don't want to know my attempts of dating at this time...they are hilarious. You kind of have to take my own mindset in this time, I was dealing with heavy social anxiety issues and finding friends was difficult. I did not travel, and going farther than an hour from my own home filled me with the notion of a Trump Presidency...DREAD.  The next 3-4 years were spent working on my Masters, working, and dealing with a sick father. 3.5 was released in that time and I purchased the PHB on clearance from a store going out of sale. It seemed fun, but there was no one to play with.

My good friend Duane who I met in Grad School and would one day be my best man, was in an RPG group and asked if I wanted to join him. He is my best bud, but an issue I had was the other people we gamed with. They were all members of the same Church, in fact our Bard was his Pastor. They were all great, but honestly it felt like I was gaming with Ned Flanders.

I love to swear and say inappropriate things, but I have enough social graces to know who I can and cannot say things around. I left eventually due to my next complaint....complexity.

My current auctions....live nude girls!

Well the topic is not a lie, there are indeed topless women and my auctions are live here. But with the new Magic set coming out I want to be able to draft and play in a ton of sealed events so I need to sell off some painted minis. Thought I would share and provide a link to my auctions here.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/chuck_the_painter/m.html?_trksid=p3692

My opinion of Heroforge...giving it both barrels

One of the many Facebook groups I belong to is a D&D page. One topic that constantly comes up other than people bitching about the ranger is where someone can get a figure for their D&D character. While I have already done posts talking about minis for your D&D game (see my Sept 2016 postst) I only briefly have mentioned a company called Heroforge https://www.heroforge.com/. This is a company that is brought up constantly and upon every mention I throw up in my mouth a little. In short I do not like the company.

Before I go into my dislikes of the company and club them like a baby seal or an NFL spouse, let me tell you a bit about them. They started as a kickstarter (what small company doesn't these days?) producing one of a kind 3d printed minis for your game. Need a wizards with a staff, they have you covered, need a fighter, boom figure.

Pros:

• They are constantly adding mini/item options daily
• I must admit their customization menu is fun as hell to play with
• They are also one of the few companies with tiefling and dragonborn options
•  Minis are produced in various materials from "strong plastic" to "bronze"(not sure if this is a pro however)

Dislikes:

• Price: Minis range from $14.99 to 99.99(American Dollar) for a 28-30mm figure. While I have paid around $20 for some figures, the minimum 15 is not worth it, as you will see.
• Durability: There are various materials that you can get a mini in, all have their drawbacks. Lets assume you are a painter (as I am) I will be looking at the ultra detail plastic. I dropped a mini off my desk from a height of about 3 feet onto a soft rug. The figure broke into 3 pieces!
• They also produce a strong plastic option, that has NO DETAIL.
• Detail, again using the "ultra detail" as my metric, I will prove my point with the following picture:

In the above picture there are 3 Ultra Detail Heroforge figures and two primed Star Wars pre-painted figures. Unless you knew what was what you would not be able to tell the difference. The three on the left are Heroforge. Even after having been washed and given an alcohol bath you can still see grit and an uneven surface.

Here is how the figures looked before the prime job. I can't even see any detail and these are suppose to be the good ones!

To further my point I want to link you a fellow mini painter and fellow Dwarf-kin Minigrinder Studios. He has painted a few Heroforge minis on his channel and take a moment to look at how you can still see the tool striations and bumpy texture.

While gathering my thoughts for this article I hit on the reason I so loath Heroforge as a company. Simply put they are not for me. There are a ton of companies out there (many of whom I have linked and commented about here on this blog) who produce tens to thousands of beautiful figurines for figure painters. There are wonderful sculptors like Patrick Keith, Bobby Jackson, Werner Klocke, and Kev White, to name a few who have produced awesome figures that each bare the mark of their creator in some way. Heroforge figures are static, the detail is generic,  and are boring to look at.  Simply put  Heroforge figures have no soul, and are not for Miniature Painters, they are for role-players who might not give two shits about the sculptor of a mini or care about blends, layers, and other painting techniques. They want a Halfling with a crossbow for their game and this is the only source they know because it is talked about so often. I think this is reason I also hate pre-paints for PC minis too. They are too Kardashian...no soul.

It is no secret I do commission work, and while I love that I can pay for my hobby with the funds that I make I would be a great deal happier having more painters out there attempting the craft. That takes knowledge that there is more out there which is one of the reasons I started this blog, to document my journey and inform you the reader. There are a ton of more options out there to help. Reaper Miniatures http://www.reapermini.com/FigureFinder has their own figure finder that you can search by race, weapon, clothing/armor. Likewise Dark Sword http://www.darkswordminiatures.com/shop/index.php/catalogsearch/advanced/ has their own finder too. Both of which are to help the consumer find the figure for them and fly in the face of another ignorant line of the Heroforge mission statement

            "Gone are the days of rooting through poorly stocked shelves or browsing low-rez image     galleries for something that vaguely resembles your hero: design your character from the ground up and see it in full 3D, and finally have a miniature that captures your vision."

I would very much like someone to explain to me how those sites are low-rez. A good majority of miniature sites are very much helpful to navigate and give bright bold image. This statement might have run true in the early days of the internet, but now is just false advertising.

Final Thoughts
I am an opinionated bastard and I pull no punches when it comes to telling you what I think. But having been married I am no stranger to apologizing and admitting I am wrong. They have recently released a beta grey plastic, that is suppose to be more durable and more detailed. It is also 25 bucks a figure. Assuming the first two statements are true, I would love to give this material a try, but there is no way I am doing this on my own dime. If anyone out there would love to give me the money to order my own I would gladly document my process here on the blog.

As always I am Chuck and I paint.