20 Questions With… The Overlords!!!

Every fortnight I will be contacting a member of the 40K community and ask them to be subjected to my 20 nail bitting, edge of your seat questions. Some of the answers I get probe the deep dark recesses of the human condition whilst others will astonish you in their wisdom or lack thereof…

Jason Mullins

So it’s time for celebrities!!! I contacted the guys from the world famous The Overlords podcast (you can find it here or on ITunes, I recommend it highly) to get in on the act of my now growing “20 Questions With…” series. Who did I way lay you ask? Well none other than Jason Mullins and Stephen Burley (better known as Inquisitor Steve). So grab yourself a cup’a tea and delve into the world of the The Overlords.

Inquisitor Steve

1. What got you into the hobby?

Jason Mullins: My mom took me to a game store called Games and things when I was a kid. I saw the miniatures for 40k and fell in love. I actually stopped for years and picked up Fantasy in my teens, stopped again and picked up 40k after college. I have been going strong since.

Inquisitor Steve: Was a massive role playing and board game fan and regularly bought white dwarf. Not being able to afford a fantasy army 40k appealed to us all. Simple really, GWs advertising. 

2. Favourite army of all time? Do you currently pay it? If not why Not?

JM: Space Marines are my favourite and I like them in many different flavours. They are super epic and cool. I have to say as a kid I loved the Blood Angels but as I have gotten older I love the space wolves the most.

IS: Codex Inquisition. 25 years ago I used to fantasise about the cast of bay watch dropping by for a group bath, this bought back the same tingly feelings.  this coupled with 6th allows me to play the game exactly how I want and still be within the rules for those that don't feel comfortable going outside official GW stuff. 

3. Favourite 40k fluff and why?

JM: It would have to be the Horus Heresy. Its just too epic. I love Space Marines as I said and there are hundreds of thousands of them slugging it out.

IS: The inquisition. My podcast name is a bit of a giveaway. Above anything else they embody the dark grim Imperium of man.

4. Favourite 40K quote?

JM: OK listen up you primitive screw heads this is my boomstick .... or was that something else ?

IS: We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night.....mostly. 

5. If you could invite any character from 40K fluff to dinner who would it be? And what would you serve him/her for dinner?

JM: It would have to be Russ and you would have to serve him Mjod and some sort of roasted on the bone meat. I mean, he’s Russ.

IS: Gregor Eisenhorn - diner would be a slow roasted witch

6. Favourite film?

JM: Big trouble in little china or The Thing it’s a tossup.

IS: Aliens

7. Favourite TV series?

JM: This one is a bit harder, I would have to say Red Dwarf and that is in contention. I just watched that more times than anything else.

IS: I agree with Jason that this is a toughie but I'd say Apparitions, seeing Martin Shaw still cool after the professionals casting out daemons rather satisfying.  Or Twin Peaks for the depth of character or Firefly for being an awesome original TV show. It's a dead tie.

8. If your life was a movie, who'd play you?

JM: Corry Feldman

IS: John Candy

9. Favourite comic book superhero?

JM: I might have to be the old Blue Beetle Ted Kord.

IS: I don't read those sort of comics so could I say Allanon from the Shannara novels?

10. If you could live in any period of human history when would it be and why?

JM: I would be partial to living in Medieval times, then I realize that its cold, there is no medicine and no flushing toilets and I am glad I live now.

IS: Exactly 7 months in the future from whenever I am now as I always tell myself that is how much painting I have left to do.

11. If you could use any 40k Universal Special Rules or Codex Special Rule in day to day life what would it be? Why?

JM: I want hammer of wrath so each time I arrive something explodes to announce me.

IS: Living in London it has to be ATSKNF [And They Shall Know No Fear], that way the maniacs on the roads would never be able to run me down. 

12. Biggest 40K regret?

JM: That I never started that Eldar army

IS: Selling anything I've painted. 

13. Strangest “food” you’ve eaten?

JM: Crickets

IS: I only partake in normal cuisine.

14. Fantasy job for a day?

JM: Billionaire

IS: Matt Ward. Then I could put right all his fuck ups......

15. Top 5 favourite songs?

JM:

Shadowplay – Joydivision

Sound system – Operation IV

Jawbreaker – Jinx Removing 

Suspect Device – Stiff Little fingers

Dark Entries – Bauhaus

IS:

Cross Road Blues: three versions Robert Johnson, Roy coder and Eric Clapton. (All awesome in their own way)

The night comes down – Queen

I'm That Guy – Def Lepper

Liar – Queen

The Beast in Me – Nick Lowe version

16. If $1million mysteriously turned up in your bank account, what would you spend it on?

JM: I think I could start a new GW army with that!

IS: Stick it to the man of course. I would start a trade account with GW and stock pile stuff and then sell exclusively to Australians for 1% below the minimum discount allowed.

17. If you were offered a place amongst the 1st humans to colonize Mars, would you accept it?

JM: As long as we could bring our armies and we had some 6X4 tables bring it on!

IS: I would as long as Jason was there too and they had 6x4 tables. 

18. If you could, what would be the one thing in the hobby you would get rid of?

JM: Paying for it :p

IS: Spam

19. Most Epic 40k moment?

JM: Mepheston and The Deceiver fighting it out over two scouts the last turn of the game which ended in a BA win!

IS: Back in rogue trader days I has a terminator cyclone charged by an Eldar with a power fist. Against all odds my mate got 5 wounds on me. With my 6+ invul I rolled the dice and got a Yahtzee. He ruled for the rest of the game. Funny story that night. We rolled a dice that landed and balanced on its side and when we flipped for first turn the coin landed on its edge. It was a weird, weird evening.

20. If you could “Grudge Match” anyone on the planet to a game of 40K who would it be and why?

JM: George Lucas, So I could beat his ass for what he did to Starwars!

IS: Fox - for messing with Firefly

So there you have it, Jason and Steve from The Overlords stripped bare (so to speak)! If you would like to answer my twenty questions or have questions of your own leave a comment or email me personally at impguard2012@gmail.com. I'll bring you another victim next fortnight.

20 Questions With… Felix Isatia

Every fortnight I will be contacting a member of the 40K community and ask them to be subjected to my 20 nail biting, edge of your seat questions. Some of the answers I get probe the deep dark recesses of the human condition whilst others will astonish you in their wisdom or lack thereof… 

So there is this crazy nut on the internet and he sent me the questions filled out. I’m obliged to post them on my blog as per my implied gentleman’s agreement… I’ve read his answers and now I think he’s kind of cool… He especially won me over with his love of the Dr Who Theme song!

He also writes: 

“I've been a tournament regular in the GC and Brisbane scene for about 2 years now though I have a bit of a reputation for having to pull out at the last minute and earning wooden spoons.

Most people in the scene would probably recognize me and I've been mentioned on Forging the Narrative Podcast two or three times (Once in recognition of my Tau Barracuda, another time because they forgot my name while doing the team shirts for our titans team and just called me Captain Steve.)

Aside from that there's not much more to know aside from the fact I have dozens of hobby projects on the go at once and I've played at least one game with all the "bigger" names at least once.

I'm sort of the resident average gamer in the tournament scene. Haha."

So here we have, 20 Questions With: Felix Isatia

1. What got you into the hobby?

Walking past the Games Workshop Battle Bunker in Parramatta, waaaaay back when it was still in the Westfield there.

My Grandmother eventually took me in there to cheer me up after getting some bad news when I was about nine. $400 later and I had the start of my first marine army.

2. Favourite army of all time? Do you currently pay it? If not why Not?

Tau. They came out after I originally started in the hobby and when they did, they hit me in all the right places.

I was still too young to buy enough models for an army at the time, so I used to beg the GW employees to use their store's Tau army every time I went in.

To this day, they are still my main army, though I have yet to get the army fully painted, I run them exclusively at tournaments.

3. Favourite 40k fluff and why?

Honestly, the part that intrigues me most is the hints of stuff that hasn't come to pass yet.

I love reading about the theories as to the final days to come and the return of the Emperor and his Primarchs.

4. Favourite 40K quote?

"The one constant in the universe is change. The wise adapt."

5. If you could invite any character from 40K fluff to dinner who would it be? And what would you serve him/her for dinner?

Farsight. I'd serve him Katsu Don [A popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and condiments].

6. Favourite film?

Tough one, probably Blade Runner.

7. Favourite TV series?

BSG and/or Steins;Gate

8. If your life was a movie, who'd play you?

Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs The World is essentially my teenage years as a film.)

9. Favourite comic book superhero?

Claudio Kilgannon (Amory Wars)

10. If you could live in any period of human history when would it be and why?

Definitely the future. Something like later era Star Trek would be perfect.

11. If you could use any 40k Universal Special Rules or Codex Special Rule in day to day life what would it be? Why?

It Will Not Die... :P

12. Biggest 40K regret?

Not spending more time years and years ago actually developing hobby skills and good habits.

Too many unpainted and mould line riddled models in my collection.

13. Strangest “food” you’ve eaten?

Can't remember the name, but it was a Vegan dish. It scared me when I liked it.

14. Fantasy job for a day?

Air Combat Officer

15. Top 5 favourite songs?

Sentry the Defiant and all of Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV (Coheed and Cambria). Before my Body is Dry, D.O.A and the Doctor Who theme.

16. If $1million mysteriously turned up in your bank account, what would you spend it on?

Investment Properties. Gotta’ get some of those assets!

17. If you were offered a place amongst the 1st humans to colonize Mars, would you accept it?

Yes!!

18. If you could, what would be the one thing in the hobby you would get rid of?

The constant moaning.

19. Most Epic 40k moment?

A single Shas'ui winning combat against Genestealers three turns in a row, only to be crushed under a mawlock in retaliation..

20. If you could “Grudge Match” anyone on the planet to a game of 40K who would it be and why? 

Matt Ward. I want to see if he really is the hobby Satan everyone says he is.

So there you have it, Felix Isatia in a nut shell! If you would like to answer my twenty questions or have questions of your own leave a comment or email me personally at impguard2012@gmail.com. I'll bring you another victim next fortnight.

The pursuit of individuality…

I’m always on the lookout for the non-conventional. It’s the same when it comes to the hobby. So one evening when I was perusing the Book of Faces I came across images of beautiful hot rods and other custom cars. Several of these bespoke vehicles had, what I’ve always called them, chameleon paint jobs, basically two tone colour shift pearlescence to their paint job (if that mouth full can be called basic). And I said to myself; “Self, I would love to paint my Stormraven like that!” so began (and continues) my search of individuality.

So far here is what I’ve found (purely research online and at craft shops):

Iridescent/Pearlescent mediums: This does not give me the “colour shift” effect that I’m looking for, but it is an acceptable compromise. As it’s slightly whitish I feel it would alter/tint the colour of the paint that it is added to. I will need to get some and experiment with it to see how much it would alter the colours, but unfortunately I have only seen this brand in my local craft shop and it’s not cheap. A cheaper alternative is pearlescent white acrylic paint, it’s about a quarter of the price but the added white pigment will definitely tint my colours.

Auto Paint: I’ve ruled this one out as too expensive and possibly not conducive to retaining detail on 28mm models. Also I can imagine that it would eat plastic.

Pearlescent Pigment: I’ve only seen these on the internet and they range from Pigments for cake decorating and figure nail art to automotive paint and plastic moulding colorants. Traditionally they are a dry powder that is added to a substrate or medium. I think these would have the best chance of working for me, but would definitely need to be applied with an air brush. This is definitely an avenue I will be perusing in the near future when other items have been cleared of my hobby table.

So in short this in not a new idea, but it is an uncommon one. I definitely will be looking at painting my Stormraven in some form of pearlescence but I will need to delve deeper into my research and conduct a few experiments before I settle on an approach that I’m confident will give me the best results. morsla from WargamerAU suggested this blog by Meg Maples that concerns this very same topic and it looks rather interesting!

Until next time if anyone has any ideas on achieving this look, please let me know so I can try it out!

20 Questions with... Loopy

Every fortnight I will be contacting a member of the 40K community and ask them to be subjected to my 20 nail bitting, edge of your seat questions. Some of the answers I get probe the deep dark recesses of the human condition whilst others will astonish you in their wisdom or lack thereof…

During the week I contacted Adam Fasoldt, better known by Loopy on the IndependentCharacters forums to see if he was interested in being subjected to my '20 Questions with...' series. But first up I should introduced Adam a little. Adam is an interesting character who's vigorous hobbying has inspired me during the 2013 & 2014 Hobby Progress Challenges run by the Independent Characters podcast. Currently Adam is the poor sod who's looking after this year's challenge on the forums, and there is no better person to do it. He also runs a blog himself over at waaghdrillteef.blogspot.com so check it out and you can also follow his progress during the 2014 Independent Characters' Hobby Progress Challenge here where he is painting up some beautiful Orange Sisters.

So without further ado here is a window into Loopy, aka Adam's mind:

1. What got you into the hobby?

I've always been a gamer. I started playing D&D when I was 13 and had a Storyteller series phase, an Amber diceless phase, a Palladium phase, two Battletech phases, and three Magic: the Gathering phases. As far as 40k goes, my friends and I had always been interested in it, but the cost was prohibitive. It wasn't until we were in our early 30s that we all realized that we had real jobs and could afford whatever game we wanted. One of my buddies suggested we start 40k and we've never forgiven him since.

2. Favourite army of all time? Do you currently pay it? If not why Not?

Orks, of course. Fun to collect. Fun and easy to convert. Anything goes as far as paint is concerned. They also have a very strong tactical depth which I appreciate. One of the most important things is that the army's mirth in carnage flies in the face of grimdark.

3. Favourite 40k fluff and why?

The story of Tuska from the Ork 4th edition codex. He is awesome. I want to make a Tuska Daemon army, but I'm too chicken right now.

4. Favourite 40K quote?

"Half-glimpsed shadows? Orks wearing camouflage? Do you take us for imbeciles? Orks are barbaric and entirely single-minded. Army dogma, which has served us well for ten thousand years, teaches us this. Greenskins come on in a great horde, they do not slink and sneak in the shade.

Guards! Take the prisoner to the holding cells to await execution for cowardice and incompetence."

- ProvostMajor Kyae, at the court-martial of Lt.Gordo

5. If you could invite any character from 40K fluff to dinner who would it be?

The Emperor.

And what would you serve him/her for dinner?

Kaldor Draigo

6. Favourite film?

Groundhog Day

7. Favourite TV series?

Doctor Who

8. If your life was a movie, who'd play you?

Jonah Hill

9. Favourite comic book superhero?

Deadpool

10. If you could live in any period of human history when would it be and why?

Interstellar colonization period. Because I can't imagine answering any other way.

11. If you could use any 40k Universal Special Rules or Codex Special Rule in day to day life what would it be? Why?

Feel No Pain. For doing really dumb stuff.

12. Biggest 40K regret?

Selling my Deathwing which were all old metal models with banners painted in a Dark Tower theme. A man in Canada has them. I plan on buying them back someday.

13. Strangest “food” you’ve eaten?

I'm a boring American; I don't eat strange food. I guess the weirdest thing was a whole lobster because I felt like I was really pulling apart an animal.

14. Fantasy job for a day?

The leader of an enhanced interrogation of Jervis Johnson.

15. Top 5 favourite songs?

Not in this order. Instead of being my current top 5, these have all been, at one stage in my life, my favourite song.

Foreigner - I've Been Waiting for a Girl Like You

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Nature Trail to Hell

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Jane's Addiction - Three Days

Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon

16. If $1million mysteriously turned up in your bank account, what would you spend it on?

A new house and probably adopting a few kids.

17. If you were offered a place amongst the 1st humans to colonize Mars, would you accept it?

Without the slightest hesitation, though not without my wife.

18. If you could, what would be the one thing in the hobby you would improve upon?

A more concise and regular FAQ cycle.

I hope that's not a disappointment. I know a popular answer will be "negative jerks" or whatever, but I can deal with people. I consider myself good at working with people who are challenging to deal with on a social level.

19. Most Epic 40k moment?

It's hard to choose. I get very excited about every play. LOL. The most epic one of recent memory was when two squads of 10 Gretchin killed two Lictors in close combat and Deathleaper in Overwatch, all in the same game. They were invincible!

20. If you could “Grudge Match” anyone on the planet to a game of 40K who would it be and why?

A friendly and competitive game vs. Alex Fennel running a balanced list. Great attitude. Great competitor. Hilarious and irreverent paint jobs on his armies. Overall, this would be a great game. Though I'm not sure I'd call it a "Grudge" match.

If we were talking a true grudge match, I'd say Jervis Johnson. I'd love to break his spirit with some horrible monstrosity of a list to teach him a lesson about why FAQs are important.

So there you have it, Loopy in a nut shell! If you would like to answer my twenty questions or have questions of your own leave a comment or email me personally at impguard2012@gmail.com. I'll bring you another victim next fortnight.

20 Questions With... Adam Nordberg

Every fortnight I will be showcasing a member of the global 40K community and ask them to be victim of my nail biting, edge of your seat “20 Questions With…” series. Some of the answers I get probe the deep dark recesses of the human condition whilst others will astonish you in their wisdom or lack thereof… So sit back and prepare to be enthralled.

And first up we have operator and co-owner of Alpha Hobbies, Adam Nordberg. Adam has been in the industry for many years. He was also the TO of the very first Tournament that I attended, being Winter Warfest in 2013. Since then I've attended a number of his events including Orktoberfest 2013 and the start of the Force Z tournaments in 2014.I would highly recommend attending any tournament run by Adam especially Force Z, also check out his online store, Alpha Hobbies, for some quality products.

And we cut to the main event:

1. What got you into the hobby?

The little grey and green army men at the age of about 6. First introduced to GW gaming by my younger brother in the mid 90s

2. Favourite army of all time? Do you currently pay it? If not why Not?

Space Wolves. Still play from time to time but it does lack some punch compared to newer codexes

3. Favourite 40k fluff and why?

Horus Heresy first 4 books. Classic stories of heroes and standing up for your principles, Loken and Garro.

4.Favourite 40K quote?

"We are mighty because we are right, Garviel. We are not right because we are mighty. Vile the hour when that reversal becomes our credo"

5. If you could invite any character from 40K fluff to dinner who would it be? And what would you serve him/her for dinner?

Loken, Cheeseburger

6. Favourite film?

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

7. Favourite TV series?

Probably Andromeda or BSG

8. If your life was a movie, who'd play you?

Tom Cruise

9. Favourite comic book superhero?

Sheldon

10. If you could live in any period of human history when would it be and why?

STNG era, a more enlightened age of humanity

11. If you could use any 40k Universal Special Rules or Codex Special Rule in day to day life what would it be? Why?

Feel No Pain, I'm sure it would help with my running

12. Biggest 40K regret?

Selling my metal Necrons

13. Strangest “food” you’ve eaten?

Some scary sushi crap

14. Fantasy job for a day?

Naval Aviator ;)

15. Top 5 favourite songs?

Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames, Vulkan Lives, Unremembered Empire :P

16. If $1million mysteriously turned up in your bank account, what would you spend it on?

Shares

17. If you were offered a place amongst the 1st humans to colonize Mars, would you accept it?

Yes

18. If you could, what would be the one thing in the hobby you would get rid of?

WAAC gamers

19. Most Epic 40k moment?

One of my gretchin taking out a terminator in CC in the heady days of 2nd edition.

20. If you could “Grudge Match” anyone on the planet to a game of 40K who would it be and why?

Jervis Johnson, would be interesting to play against one of the originals

So there you have it, Adam in a nut shell! If you would like to answer my twenty questions or have questions of your own leave a comment or email me personally at impguard2012@gmail.com. I'll bring you another victim next fortnight.