Mike Reid 1940-2007

We at Legal Alien wish to pay our respects to a great man, Mike Reid who died at the age of 67.

Whilst Mr Reid will probably be most remembered for his work on the BBC soap East Enders, my fondest memories of him will always be his unbelievably hilarious stand-up shows. Reid had an impeccable sense of timing, a tremendous stage presence, and an uncanny ability to tell an old joke like it was the funniest thing on Earth. Whilst his shows were invariably adult-oriented, he never descended into the realms of crude obscenity that marked so many of his contemporaries.

He will be sadly missed, and those who were and are fans of his comedy will always wonder just what exactly a "dry slap" is.

'Ave some of tha-at.

Rest in peace, old friend. You've earned it.

Friday Rodent Blogging

Selene, looking cuter than a cute steak marinated in cute sauce with extra cute on the side, poses for her weekly column.

Paint Day 26/07/07

An unexpected, but welcome paint day today allowed me to do some magic with my airbrush.

First, I added a very light dusting of tan to the objective marker, which makes the sand look so much more realistic, and gives the hatch a nice weathered look:


Next, I experimented with a camouflage scheme for my sentinel:




And the same on my chimera:


Annoyingly, they both look way better up close than the photos would lead you to believe. Still, they are WIP shots, and they'll look better with details added.

Paint Day 24/07/07

Paint Day was, frankly, a bit slow. I made some progress on my Royal Marine sharpshooters, I managed to get my airbrush working, so some progress was made on my sentinel, but the only thing that was finished was one of my objective markers, the hatch marker:

Paint Day Again

Tuesday is Paint Day again, so in preparation I have been making objective markers.

The first uses the wounded Praetorian figure from the old boxed set, and represents a fallen comrade awaiting rescue:


The second uses a rhino hatch, and represents the entrance to an underground complex, storeroom, or maybe the exit from a bolt-hole that the army must secure:


Painting will commence Tuesday morning.

Friday Rodent Blogging

Some fool is setting off fireworks at 11:30 on a Friday night here in Lexington. Which, needless to say, woke Her Majesty up, who promptly shot out of her house and demanded to know what the heck was going on.

And Again...

Once again, my homeland informs the god squad that they have to obey the law just like everyone else.

I'm trying not to gloat, here, but it is nice to see England keeping up with the ancient tradition of "believing in the invisible man in the sky does not entitle one to any special privileges, no matter how much one might wish it".

You Know You're Getting Old When...

...Auntie Beeb lists the twelve finalists for the 2007 Mercury Music Prize, and you haven't heard of a single one.

Don't Leave Home Without It

Something every Imperial Guard player needs, a die specifically for rolling those saving throws:


Yes, it's real. Yes, I own it. No, I don't think it'll be used in games...

Dr Who

Sci-Fi has just started showing the new season of the ancient and beloved BBC gemstone, Dr Who. David Tennant is just, again, brilliant as the Doctor.

So far Sci-Fi has shown three episodes (Runaway Bride, Smith And Jones, and The Shakespeare Code), of which my DVR managed to record the first two. So, I'm already an episode behind.

Friday Rodent Blogging

WHAT?!

Sniper Gets Another Buddy

The third in my trio of Praetorian Royal Marine snipers has emerged:


And here is a side view showing the rifle:


And the three together:

Sniper Gets Buddy 2

Here's another WIP shot of my latest sniper. I've snipped off the bayonet lug (because a sniper rifle doesn't need a bayonet) and turned the scope into something more like a - well - scope.

Nighstalkers

I thought it was time to haul out my Nightstalkers Chapter (what little of it there is) and take some pics.

First, here is Captain Stone:


Rear view:

And the side:

Stone was originally conceived as the lead character for a story about a Space Marine chapter who were sent to guard an Adeptus Mechanicus base. In the course of the story, Stone was fitted for an experimental backpack mounted cannon, linked through the black carapace so it tracks and fires by mind impulse. I thought the idea was so cool I just had to make the model. In game terms he just has a storm bolter and a power sword, the backpack gun is just decoration.

Friday Rodent Blogging

Selene, apparently, is not taking callers today.

Sorry.

Sniper Gets Buddy

I spent some time today assembling this, my second Praetorian Royal Marine sharpshooter. I decided to try something different with the scope, mainly because I don't have another of the previous type in my bits box. I've also left off the bipod, because I'm out of space marine knives, too..

One more sniper (and I know which model is getting the treatment) and three lasgun armed troopers and my marine sharpshooter squad will be ready.

4th July

Tomorrow (well, actually, today) is the 4th of July with all the fun that that date entails. Independence Day! Fireworks! Revelry! Parties! Patriotism!

A day off!

Cool.

Happy 4th everyone, whether you're American or not.

Praetorian pics

Firstly, something I haven't done in a while, here is the 22nd on parade:


Here is my now completed lascannon squad:


And here is the (near) completed rhino that carries Colonel Ironfist and his retinue around:


Side view:


Again, if you don't know why it's a rhino, you haven't been playing long enough.

In game terms it simply counts as a chimera with a turret-mounted heavy bolter and a hull-mounted heavy bolter.

I've also created a photobucket album. You can see it here.