World of Warcraft

It was bound to come up.

Yes, I do play World of Warcraft (WoW).

Bloodscalp Server (PvP) - Horde - Level 70 Troll Hunter named Quetzalcoatl.
Engineer - Mining

There are several things I could say about this game. I've never played any other multiplayer online game like this (multiplayer first person shooters but this is a 'role playing game'). WoW is a lot of fun when you have goals. When you stop having goals the game stops being fun. For example, I hit level 70, bought my flying mount and then really did not know what to do with myself. My guild is a great bunch of people but most of them are really getting burnt out over the game. There is an expansion on the horizon that may break several players of the game.

I'll rant about expansions later.

Recently I discovered (well I finally looked into after much prodding) Daily Quests. You can perform these everyday for money and reputation with certain factions. Up until now I had a difficult time getting money. With these quests I have no problem at all. As my guildmates aren't on in force right now I realized that my gear was going to have to come from somewhere other than dungeons. So I sat down with some data bases and plotted out the items that I needed. This means I will need lots of money, which should not be a problem because of the daily quests. So I'll have moderately good equipment. I guess I could PvP in the Arena but I would more than likely get rolled over because of how far I've fallen off the PvP horse.

All-in-all I have to: level up my engineering, fishing, cooking, get 5000 gold for my epic flying skill, decide if I want a Netherdrake or a personally built gnomish flying machine for an epic flying mount, get all of my equipment, enchant all of my equipment and then start to stock-pile equipment for when the next expansion hits, if I want to play it...

Now expansions... World of Warcraft costs about $50 to buy the game. Then you have to pay $13-15/month to play. On top of that now are the expansion content. To play 'the Burning Crusade' (expansion 1) you need another $40-50. Well 'Wrath of the Lich King' (expansion 2) is coming out soon. A lot of my friends are debating on continuing to play or just calling it quits. I really don't know if I want to keep playing but at the same time, after taking a break from the game, I really get back into it. The other problem is this: when I bought the burning crusade I never played it when it first started. So I missed out on all of the fun and all of my guild was already far along though the game. Now if I play the next expansion when it comes out I might have a better chance of actually getting into the game.

Well, we'll see. In the meantime I also have my Warhammer/Privateer Press/Wargaming Miniature hobby too. Additionally Valve is coming out with 'Left 4 Dead,' you play as one of the 4 survivors against a zombie horde in a city. It should be fun... if I can get a computer that can run it.

Photoshoping Fun!

At the moment I am in the 'pre-contemplative' stage of painting. Meaning that I have a rough idea of what I want but no idea how to go about it.

My current idea is the phoenix. The High Elves are led by the 'Phoenix King' and the 'Everqueen.' Their banners typically show a phoenix rising from the ashes. Their homeland Ulthuan is metaphorically a phoenix. One of their new special hero units is a fiery 'Dragonmage.' They have a special unit called 'Phoenix Guard.'

With all of this fire you would think the High Elf world would be very red, orange and yellow. No, people keep painting them green and blue because they are on the ocean all the time. Well I want a red army (Ulthuan is more akin to Atlantis than Russia in terms of location and presentation, so not a pinko commie army).

So I took a picture of one of the basic high elf warriors: a spearman, unpainted, unprimed. I used photoshop to select the details and then painted them. I'll be honest it is not very detailed but it gives me a better idea of what I want.


Original A B C D

The problem here is that... I like the green one better. What the hell? That was not what I wanted to happen. Now I do like the B, however I wonder if the gold/bronze would be too much? This is the basic unit, maybe I should use C to make them a little more bland and not detract too much from the main army? Also if I painted my whole army with gold/bronze armour then it would look rather bland. I want each unit to have a distinct feel.

Now here is the other problem: I am a 'beginner' painter. I am thinking: 'Should I go for the unified look and just paint every model the same in one unit or should I give each one a little variability?'

Perhaps, for now, I'll stick to the unified feel and then add in details as I get better. That way I can develop my skills between units and get the basics down before I attempt something too outrageous.

I think C for the spearmen/archers and B for the Phoenix Guard. I'll have to decide on my cavalry and White Lions later.

Introduction

Hello,

This is going to be the site where I will post progress on my miniature painting. At the moment I am in the early phases of merely getting the figures together.

For now I am collecting from Games Workshop but will be adding to this as we go along.

Currently working on: Color Scheme.

Army: High Elves.

I took a picture of a basic High Elf Warrior with a spear and then edited it using photoshop. My idea is that I can group certain parts of the warrior and color it in photoshop so I can select a color scheme before I start painting. At the very least I will have some ideas of how I want to paint the figures.

Additionally this is giving me some other ideas: should I paint the basic soldiers in a more simple color scheme so the special troops stand out more?

What is the basic unifying color of the army?

I am also wondering how I should go about making the banners. I could pain a unit banner for each unit but attach the banner itself via magnets. I could them make the magic banners for each banner in the Armoury and then swap them out as I need them.

That might be a project for a later date.

Next post: Color Schemes.