Model Railroad Slums puts the HO back into train sets, if you know what I mean.

OMG, I can’t believe I just made a model train scale joke. Get me my medicine!

Seriously though, props to this guy. Inventive converted and scratch built cityscape scenery that puts a fantastic twist on the standard model train layout.

…but I’m getting better. The last game was a draw!

These Microfluorescent T4 Low-Profile Ultra-Slim Linkable Light Fixtures (T4, T5… whatever it takes) look perfect for lighting my work desk in the living room.

At “only 0.75in wide by 1-3/8in high” and with bulbs that will illuminate my workspace with 6400k light, they are perfect for adding more light to my painting area.

Am I a commercial yet?

On the scratch building tip, Andrea Press puts out a book called Conversion and scratch building of model figures E that looks pretty good.

Reaper makes these cool Starter Level Sculpting Armatures for sculpting your own figures with green stuff.

Neat. Makes me wish I could do that.

From Design at the Necromundicon:

GW’s models are about 30 millimeters in height for the average man- and bases only make them look taller. The figures are not proportional though- everything’s much chunkier, especially weapons. If you plan to use real models for anything (particularly military models), be aware that although 1/48 scale is most accurate, it is extremely hard to find- you’re better off starting with 1/35 scale and selecting smaller vehicles (World War I and II tanks are smaller than modern tanks, for example). Ideally, an unarmored figure(Imperial Guard or Necromunda) should look good in one of the doors or hatches of a vehicle. You may have to replace the existing doors or hatches with your own (the hatch on the Vehicle Accessory Sprue is great for this job!). You will almost always want to replace personal weapons with 40K bolters, etc, and bulk up vehicle weapons with larger tubes to make them look right. For accessories like gas cans and oil drums, 1/35 is slightly oversized, but it looks great (and provides more cover!).

Necromundicon is awesome, but you might not see why at first. Beyond a nice collection of Terrain How-To Pages, there’s also a lot of great inspiration to be found on the Gothic scenery (don’t miss the effects page) and Industrial scenery pages.

Tehnolog is a Russian gaming company (cue Yakov: “In Russia, wargames play you!” ) that makes games that are warhammer like I think), but they also make really cheap terrain sets for wargames. Nice bits. They’re available at the The War Store for pretty cheap (small boxes US$10).

Bunch of terrain and wargaming stuff I don’t want to lose. Anyone smell some burnt geek?

Hovels is a really nice collection of resin buildings (supplied unpainted, of course). The main downside of the collection seems to be their pricing scheme of HH and D (with the chart telling you that HH = US$30.99 & D = US$3.19 on another page). 25mm scale sets include Various European, American Civil War, Middle Eastern, “Oriental,” and more.

The Miniature Building Authority seems like a similar deal. The buildings are a bit more expensive, but they have a lot of pictures. I’m not sure if they come unpainted or not. The Town Church would be a nice model for my Witch hunter army, once I crazy inquisitionized it up a bit.

DigitalDioramas.com is a (perhaps/unfortunately) dead web magazine about military modeling and making dioramas of battles, etc. Lots of relevant stuff there for terrain makers.

It is so simple, I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me. You can use greenstuff to make molds for shaping greenstuff.

GREEN STUFF CASTING, SECRET OF THE PROS

Ahhh, Drunk Dwarves are funny.

Saint Demiana, the chaste and fighter virgin. If that doesn’t qualify as a Sister of Battle inspiration link, then I don’t know what.

God, I’m such a geek.

Mayne Thiele, a professional miniature painter (it’s amazing to me that this exists, but cool) has a nice tips & tricks page on his website.

Games Workshop has a really nice Working With Green Stuff tutorial.

Green stuff, by the way, is actually Kneadatite, which is also known as Sculptors Epoxy Putty. It’s the standard material for doing “conversions” of miniatures. Which is cool. I think my favorite tip in the GW tutorial is the making purity seals page.

For my Warhammer Army, total fluff. Utterly geeky. Move along, lest ye be blinded by my proclivities.

From: Carl Schmitt, the Inquisition, and Totalitarianism

“This he compares to the Latin motto noted by Goethe in Dichtung und Wahrheit, “nemo contra deum nisi deus ipse”—only a god can oppose a god.”

Tertullian: De praescriptione haereticorum (On the prescription of heretics).

Heresy has the following characteristics:

* Heresy, he proclaimed, like persecution, tests men’s faith.(2.8,3.6,4.5)
* It was predicted by Christ, and condemned by Paul, who uttered a warning against philosophy and vain deceits.(4.1ff, 6.1ff)
* It is caused by boundless and unfettered curiosity.(8.1ff)
* The heretic, therefore, can be easily discovered: since he seeks endlessly without ever finding, he must always try to doubt the ‘regula fidei’ which genuine Christians believe without question.(12.5f)

Tertullian’s argument relies on two texts and a definition: ’seek and you will find’ (Mt. 7.7), ‘Your faith has saved you’ (Lk. 18.42) and that ‘faith’ by definition means ‘faith in something’, and hence involves assent to a credal formula. Since the heretic still seeks, he cannot have found; since he has not found, he cannot believe; and if he does not believe, he is no Christian.(14.10)

From Latin Quotes, Latin Phrases, Latin Mottos and Latin Quotations at Yuni.com:

Auribus teneo lupum - I hold a wolf by the ears. (I am in a dangerous situation and dare not let go.) (Terence)

Aut vincere aut mori - Either conquer or die
(more…)

Dragon Forge Design has a decent tutorial called Welcome to Base Work 101 which explains how to make high quality figure bases

Brushthralls.com has a proverbial boatload of miniature gaming tutorials, from using basic tools and techniques (like priming, pinning, glazes, washes, etc.), in depth specific tutorials (e.g. how to shade a cape, or paint realistic metals), to modeling tips and very in-depth articles on how to paint specific miniatures (geared towards Warmachine, I think).

Tons of photos, very clear explanations. Fantastic. They use Vallejo paints tho, so… well, I don’t really know what difference that makes anyway.

stephane.info’s Wargaming section has a number of articles about the Warhammer hobby that seem to be pretty fair (but critical) looks at games workshop.

I post some geeky things, but OMFG this one’s gonna be geeky fer real. I’m playing around with painting my little figures again, so I’ve been looking at websites devoted to the hobby. Here’s the good one’s I’ve found:

TerraGenesis. Awesome terrain site, they have a forum now, which seems kind of dead. Maybe it’s just the summer.

Doctor Faust’s Painting Clinic. “For miniatures painters, by miniatures painters.” It has a lot of nice tutorials. Hasn’t been updated due to a World of Warcraft addiction. I know what he means.

Chest of Colors seems like an interesting place. Nice gallery, some ho-to’s.

Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture Inc. - “Build your own castles easily.” Sells molds for casting your own bricks for building castles and the like. Crazy insane or insane crazy? It actually looks like fun, but knowing me I’d have to get some help actually casting the bricks. They also maintain a very nice Tips & Tricks Page for assembling & painting things with their blocks.

Orcsdrift makes nice looking castles and stuff.

The Foundry maintains the The Foundry Library, with many pages discussing how to paint their miniatures. Apparently there is a “style” of painting called “Foundry Style” based on how they paint, but I can’t figure out how it’s different.

Wet Palette:

Apparently, painting is easier using something called a wet palette. Fair enough, I think I have all the stuff I need to make this at home.

Electric Ocean has an illustrated guide: Electric Ocean > Mini Pics > Mini Painting Tools” href=”http://electricocean.com/67/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=14&page=1&sort=ta”>Electric Ocean > Electric Ocean > Mini Pics > Mini Painting Tools

You were warned.