It Came from the Lightbox: Leviathan Tyranids

In honor of European Orcas taking direct action, I’m naming my Tyranids “Hive Fleet Porphyrios.” This is just the Combat Patrol: I’ve got a few more models in the Leviathan box to paint up, but this is a milestone, at least.

Dumb Project: Tyranid CP

… unsuccessful!

I was really on things for the first two days, and was able to get most of the Terms and both of the Rippers fully done. Subsequently, I managed to piss away the next couple of days chorin’ and doing errands and made very little progress.

Then, I was lucky enough to be able to spend most of the weekend gaming, not painting. That’s objectively great but it didn’t help with the silly goal.

I was able to play some Alpha Strike on Saturday:

and Warhammer 10E Boarding Action on Sunday:

Monday and today were spend on the Tyranid grind… but I could tell I wasn’t going to get things completed before I went back to work on Wednesday.

That’s OK: if I’d been a bit more focused on Thursday or Friday, I think I might have managed it, but it wasn’t mean to be.

Dumb Project: Tyranid CP

I’ve got a week plus off, and obviously I need to spend that time poorly. So: I’ve built the Tyranid CP out of Leviathan and I’m gonna see if I can get it painted before I go back to work.

It Came from the Lightbox: Demonship

I preordered Demonship from Black Site Studios about a month or so ago, and was pretty happy to pop it into the printer once the STLs were available. It looked like a fun little game and a very nice little hobby project, and the ability to get it digital only sealed the deal for me.

Only five models: the Survivor, and a couple of demons. I’d been pretty excited to grab a Doomguy/Doomslayer STL and print it, but the official model nailed the vibe pretty well, so I ended up sticking with him.

Forgot to grab one of these in the lightbox but: I decided to use fluorescent paints on these guys where I could. I didn’t have flou blue, which would have made these a lot more dramatic, but it’s a fun little thing.

I’m fairly satisfied with the terrain, which took a bit longer to paint than I’d hoped. Some things didn’t work (using texture for the grime), some things did (more fluorescent paints, more blood splatter).

Had a lot of fun with the monitors on the 2″x1″ wall. Wish I’d thought to put a pentagram in the screen of the actual Console piece.

The MDF kit actually turns the play area into a box. That’s a great idea, so I had to make a new play area (the STLs come with 3″x3″ tiles you print 4 of, instead of a 6″x6″ tile) and a box everything to go into.

Things I Enjoyed: May 2023

May was kind of a lost month for me: a lot of waiting for the end of the month to just get here already.

The Fisherman, John Langan

As I spent most of the month worrying about the mortality of my spouse, I gotta say: The Fisherman, which has men becoming widowers as as much of a recurring theme as it does angling, is probably the first time I’d have welcomed a Content Warning. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, the novel was a surprise and a delight. Spooky, evocative, creepy. Everything I could have hoped for it.

I’m a big sucker for when a nested story nests a story and so forth, and Langan gave me something nested five, six levels deep? It’s goofy, and I’m here for it.

Strongly, strongly recommended.

Perry Mason, S2

I just read that Perry Mason wasn’t picked up for a third season, which is a goddamned shame.

It’s truly one of the bleakest shows I’ve watched in recent memory. I think when we think of “Perry Mason” we’re supposed to think of the triumph of justice, but that’s not what this century’s adaptation gives us. It gives us abject poverty, corruption, and lawlessness. This season made Los Angeles feel like the only thing that distinguished LA from the Deadwood of the 2004 Deadwood show (one of my all time favorites) is that LA deludes itself that it’s something other than camp set up on someone else’s home, full of predators abusing everyone they can, including each other.

It’s excellent: even if this is all we get, it’s great.

Boltgun

Boltgun came out at the end of the month, and I haven’t had the chance to really wallow in it too much yet but boy does it feel perfect.

The gameplay is fast and fluid. The tone is flawless. The classic Doom vibe is so on-point.

I had high expectations for it and when, early in the game, you just drop several stories to land on a cultist, exploding him into cloud pixelated gore… I knew it was everything it could be.

It Came from the Lightbox: Minotaurs Intercession Squad

I magnetized the Sergeant for obvious reasons.

Because I had so many arms, I decided to make a little tree to hang them off of. I had a basic little shape but immediately decided to overcomplicate it. (The skull and base aren’t mine but the rest is.). I’m not competent enough for cables, but that’s what green stuff is for.