Liebster, Von Trapp and the Volksmarinedivision

Two months ago I got nominated for the Liebster Award by Phreedh. A great honour indeed. 
Usually I ignore chainletters/mails/whatsapps, which I think is why it took me two months to do something with it...

As it appears, accepting the Liebster Award means to tell eleven truths about oneself.

Truth n° 1: I'm not a gamer. I've been collecting miniatures for many years now, with a hiatus every now and then.
I'm a bit of a misanthrope and prefer drinking company, I never met gamers with the same interests as myself in real life, while my mates don't give a toss about my toy soldiers. And solo gaming makes you blind.
The internets fortunately is full Us.

Truth n° 2: this never stopped me from getting army books and designing armies. Designing armies is a great means to plan acquisitions and avoid getting carried away. Besides it's like a game in itself. Much more entertaining than Sudoku anyway.


Truth n° 3: I like drawing and printing and this is what I do:
http://ferenczk.tumblr.com/
Collecting miniatures and frothing on the internet is a total killer though, if you want to be productive. Since my kids were born I have very little free time but I did become much more productive and efficient.

Truth n° 4: I've got a soft spot for failed revolutions and popular revolts of the first three decades of the last century.. One of my long going projects miniatures wise are the German Revolution, the Maknovicina of the Ukraine and the Durutti Column. I've got most of what I need but never come to painting.

Truth n° 5: Bicycle punks are go! I love inner city urban cycling. Kind of risky at times but the adrenalin is good. A while ago I got a skate-board. I always wanted a skateboard but I couldn't afford one as a kid. My daughters are learning to use their roller-skates and I'm on my board. Looks great, doing the whole "almost 40 midlife crisis look I don't care about you squares" thing.

Truth n° 6: I'm Dutch but I live in southern Italy. I like beer, but the people here don't understand that if I order a beer I want it now and not after ten minutes. If they served the beers as fast as their espresso's I'd be very happy indeed.

Truth n° 7: I've always wanted to do graffitti. I only did a little bit of stencil art in my early twenties. The local graffitti guys I had met were all pretentious wankers and I don't care about painting words. Still a shame that I didn't went on with it.


Truth n° 8: I'm obsessed with having to know which Citadel, Grenadier or Foundry sculptor did what for which company. Like a connoisseur. I usually am right guessing the sculptor of random miniatures.


Truth n° 9: Space Orks were my first love Waaaagh, 'Ere We Go, Freebooterz. Endless frothing over catalogue pages.


Truth n° 10: I'm a Mark Copplestone fanboy. I love that way he sculpts; the hands, the feet, the faces. Most of my mini's are Copplestone's.


Truth n° 11: I got hooked again on Miniatures because I got online somewhere in 2001 looking for Copplestone figs. Wargames Foundry did a sales campaign in Europe so local shops started selling them. I recognised Copplestone's style and searched on Altavista or Yahoo Search to find out more and discovered Em4 and shortly after Mark started Copplestone Castings.


Phreedh's questions:


1. Which currently unfinished piece (model or terrain) in your collection have remained a work in progress the longest?
-I suppose that is my Mordheim city project.The buildings were finished another three are still there. falling apart after twelve years. I think last year i finally painted some of the wallpaper for the streets.

2. What’s your biggest, most guilty of musical pleasures?
-Lately I've been much into the Beastie Boys. I love some good Garage Punk, Surf, Doo Wop, old Hardcore. The pleasure comes from playing the most obscure shit loudly in my car with the windows wide open.

3. What do you cook for a friend or date in an effort to really wow them?
-I hardly cook really. I used to make marvellous veggie pizzas from turkish bread, with amazing toppings. Marinated tofu or seitan maybe.
Coming back to the Netherlands I wouls cook a bit Italian, which isn't hard at all if you know how.

4. Presented with the choice of three large cookies or five small cookies, what would be your choice and why? The total mass of cookie is identical, as are the cookies.
 -If it were the cookies of my choice it had to be the big ones as they are nicer. Offered home made cookies, I would choose the small ones to be polite.

5. If you were allowed to use only one web-forum for the rest of your life, which forum would that be and why?

-Probably Lead Adventure. Polite and supportive people.

6. Do you really expect to be able to paint all that stuff in your lifetime?
-No Way.

7. What’s your favourite go-to board game for a spot of recreational gaming fun with non-gamer friends?

-I wouldn't know. i payed the Labyrinth with my daughters.

8. Do you have an irreplaceable pot of paint that you dread the day it runs out?
-Billious Green, Titilating Pink...

9. Pets?
-I don't like pets, because I think it's not right. Nevertheless we have a cat and two turtles at home.

10. In 10 years time, what do you expect or hope being up to hobby-wise?
- What I did for the last ten years: switching from Post-Apocalypse, Dark Age Fantasy, Near Future in Yucatan, Freikorps vs Spartakists, RCW.

11. Which currently available miniatures range is your favourite?
-All Things Copplestone.But lately I've been obsessing by small companies who did goblins by Kevin Adams

I ought to nominate 11 other blogs now. I'm not going to do that. Most of them got Liebstered already anyway!!

Mega tank

Some years ago I found this G.I Joe Armadillo Tank in a sale. A remake of the eighties toy released with the cinematic release. I bought it with the idea to eventually convert it.
I stripped all the extra parts and the turret, and glued various bits of ancient plastic fake lego.

A year ago I found a scanned picture on a blog of the very same tank featured in a Rogue Trader era White Dwarf. The other day I discovered that the same fake lego brick I used as the missile launcher battery was used with the original Whirlwind Rhino tank conversions of the late eighties!

The side sponsons look a bit shit as I had the bright idea to use uniposcas to paint the missiles which turned out a mess.

I saved the pic but forgot the blog I got the picture from:

another Grav Tank

A fast and furious little grav tank. I made this as a gift to somebody. [edited]I've been trying out uni-posca pens for the markings.

Dervishes of Tishtrya IV (painted)

The first painted experiment of my Afghan Sufi Dervishes I wrote aboute last month. Foundry Baluchis, a Grenadier Powered armour suit and an Artizan Moor in flak armour with an old Lascannon.
I imagine the dervishes have a forcefield device somewhere hidden in their robes, allowing them to use traditional close combat weapons without being mowed down by miniguns and lasers.

The desert planet they are operating from is Tishtrya IV (being Sirius in old Persian).
I'm trying to avoid Dune derived crypto islamism, although of course Dune is a huge influence. My knowledge about sufism and islamic tradition though, is less than superficial at the moment and I'm aware this whole project is borderline orientalism. But now I'm obsessed by this idea and its about time far future space opera gets beyond white anglo saxon grim-dark or Atreides savior of the natives. But Abdul Goldberg might show up.