Lack of hobbying leads to random posts

Search "things to do that aren't painting" and you get this.

Another odds and ends post as hockey progress has slowed to a crawl.  EV was stuck in schoolworkland on Thursday, which is our kinda usual unofficial gaming day.  I intended to get in some painting during the time I'd normally be slinging dice.  Instead I finished off Oryx and Crake, a book I first encountered on a list of works that influenced 40k.   How a book that's eight years old influenced a game that's better than thirty years old is beyond me.  There are some parallels in genetic manipulation and dehumanizing a population, but overall I don't really see the resemblance.  Great book though.



On the painting front, the Paint the Target deadline for this month is the 28th.  That's a week and a half to get Harkevich done.  This is plenty of time assuming I actually get to work.  My inner painting hummingbird is clawing to the surface though.  Plans for a Space Marine diorama are still fluid and still demanding attention.  I've been wanting to paint the Doom Reavers for a while, but I've been having a hard time keeping them out of lists long enough to get them painted.  Empire troops are still calling, there's poor Sir Ekkrion waiting patiently for some love now that he's primed, plus the siren song of random Marines.

To complicate matters, I'm gearing up to put in an order for the new Warmachine starter box and some Bombardiers.  This will dump a big chunk of models on the to-do list which is already far too long.  Plus hockey season is starting, which will hoover up free time.  Meanwhile I'm dithering about with random books (hello The Year of the Flood) and other things that aren't painting.  Harkevich is getting done at the very least and hopefully I can cross some other things off the list as well.

An odd bit of trivia: this blog has gotten 4 hits from a Wii.  Who knew that you could even surf the net on a Wii?

Finally a Space Marine update.  I finished the campaign this week and found it rather entertaining.  The feel of Space Marines as the Emperor's scalpel is there as your "squad" of three Marines is all over the place, wherever the fighting is thickest.  The power armor wasn't quite as protective as I thought it should be, especially when faced with a horde of Orks as is often the case, but the game has a great healing system.  It encourages you to rush into melee and dispatch foes in cinematic, and bloody, finishing moves that refill your health bar.  A few small quibbles.  The storyline is very predictable, though in keeping with the universe.  If I didn't have the extensive knowledge of the setting that I do this might not have been an issue, I'll have to ask NGF when he finishes the game.  (He's been reading Marine codices recently with minimal prodding.  I think I may bring a box of Assault Marines over this week and see how that goes.)  More troubling is this somewhat spoilery one:  the final battle is a Quicktime "mash the button that flashes on the screen" affair.  I was looking forward to fighting a Terminator, but he ascends to Daemon Prince status just before you fight.  There are no other Quicktime events in the game, so this one sticks out like a sore thumb.  Cinematic fight though.

Next time should see some painting progress.  For now, back to reading and perhaps some multiplayer goodness.