A quarter of a century of me

It's my 25th birthday today (23rd of february) but you probably guessed as much.
Because 25 somehow sounds like a monumental crossingpoint I decided to get candles for my pie! *and because they're cool and all that*.



And I didn't really buy this for my birthday but because I wanted one for some time (but it was hard to find a cool one) and because I thought I deserved it after passing my drivingtest *see earlier*. We put it together on saturday and yesterday I filled it with all the warhammer 40K minatures that I had here. I still need to put the lamps in, but it's a cool sight already:


The picture also reveals what a junk my desk is at the moment..please ignore that.
I already had my party *involving too much beer of course* so today will be a bit boring I guess, some pie-eating and...ugh..work tonight!! Oh and spending some of the bookcoupons and money I got.

Yes-man!

I went to see this yesterday in the cinema with mixed feelings. I don't háte Jim Carrey, but most of his movies make me walk away half-way through. Sometimes he just gets too over the top annoying to a point where I can't take it anymore. But there's always a lot of laughing to be had. But Yes-man surprised me in a positive way. I really laughed a lot and Carrey seems to have found a middle way in doing some really crazy stuff without being over the top annoying.

There's the occasional pulling of strange faces and of making strange noises, but not too much, just right. Me and my brother walked out of the cinema with a feeling that we'll be yes-men, when we want to.
All in all a great movie!

*no trailer added because youtube decided to be down and out atm.

Rite of passage

A rite of passage, that sounds almost like something from the time of when we were running around after mammoths and cavebears to get some food and to earn a real name. But I think you could say that passing your driving test is a modern day rite of passage.

As you've already guessed, I passed it today!!
It took me quite a while but that was mainly because there were some big gaps in between my driving lessons (once I choose a new computer over paying for a new block of driving lessons and last summer I sprained my ankle so I couldn't drive).
Next to that it takes me a while to get good at these kind of things, I've learned to live with that and I'm not ashamed of it because passing it is what counts. And I've passed on the first try! And not that I have disdain for people who need more tries (far from that!), but while you're driving people ask '..so how many lessons have you already taken' and when you got your driving license that question just changes in '..so how many times did it take you to pass'.

So in the end, the only thing that matters for me is thát I passed, and that I needed only one try is just small talk.
Oh and I drove around in this Opel (or for the British..Vauxhall) Astra:


*does a happy dance*

Returning to Warpshadow

*just a short warning: 40K rambling, no pics ;)*

I think I've played around a game of 5-6 in 5th edition yet but with no tyranid players around to discuss what really changed..my list stayed fairly the same except for some minor changes which kept bugging me. It left me with a feeling that my list just wasn't right, some parts just being a random filler towards 1500pts.

With that in mind I thought..hey..why not return to the Warpshadow boards.
So I did, it turns out that I haven't been there for at léast 3 years. I kinda left because it took up too much of my time and of course there were always beautiful creations and tips & tricks..but it was one of many internet thingies.

But on friday night I decided to return and even found a small part of my gallery was still around (although being rightfully purged a bit). Warpshadow was still there and it's still great. I've been reading up on 5th ed tactics *and list building* and learned a lot. It feels kinda stupid I didn't think of some changes like the removal of victory points or the fact units can now score even if they're below half strength. Which basically means Without Number is AWESOME now. So I'll give that a shot at least. Next to that I finally got around to get magnets..I'm still waiting for the price info, but after that I'll definitely buy some and build my magnetofex which has been lying, waiting for me to buy magnets.

All in all: without number will be featured in my lists and so will a Devilfex, at least for extensive testing. How can there be anything wrong with a cheap 4 s6 shots.
I'll gonna have to start making my new armylist from scratch..without prejudice and without the thought of 'oh but I've used that unit like forever..I should still feature it'. I'm not for powergaming, but 5th ed forces me to change up my game if I want to keep up.

Boterkoek (buttercake..)

I've had this baking form since december but haven't used it till now.

Ingredients:
- 250 grams flour
- 225 grams margarine butter
- 150 grams brown sugar (basterd sugar..)
- a tip of salt
- 1 eating spoon of milk

Instructions:
1) Grease the form with butter. This special form has a part which you can rotate under the cake to loosen it in the end btw.

2) pre-heat the oven on 220C (on my gas oven that's a setting to #5)
3) Put all (except the milk!) of the ingredients in a bowl.


You cán use 'roomboter', but I prefer normal margarine (baking butter):


4) Take two knives and dual-wield cut the butter to pieces, just chop around.


It should end up looking a bit like this:

5) Wash your hands with cold water, this way the dough won't stick so much to your hands in the next step.

6) Make a ball of the ingredients
*didn't make a pic of this)

7) Press the ball into the form, equally dividing it.
8) Take a spoon of milk and flatten the dough so it extends to all the edges.
Like this:


9) Put the cake into the oven for 30 minutes
10) Take the cake out and flatten it again with a spoon (without milk this time) from the center outwards.


11) Let it cool down for a minute or 10
12) Slide the iron thingie around under the cake so it's loose

13) Here comes the irritating part, I didn't have good roster so I freestyled on this one.. Now that its loose get it out on a roster (with not too much space between the bars in the roster or it will sink through) and let it cool down further for at least a min or 15.

If you don't have a roster like me...use a flat plank and be sure to turn it upside down (be sure to don't just throw it out..support it with the plank or plate or whatever entirely) after 5-10 minutes so the bottom can dry a bit and flip it bottomside down again after that. Let it cool down a bit more.

Finally: NOM NOM NOM-> delicious. Cut it just like pie :)
I had some yesterday, writing this post makes me run for another piece!

Piotr's Witchhunters

Seeing the photo's I know I should have taken more time for them with proper lighting and some settings adjusted *like focus*. But even now you'll get a good idea of how awesome these Witchhunters are painted. Almost too cool to shoot or hack & slash in close combat.

The whole army:


The hq (had a 2+ save ..which could be made into a 2+ inv with a faithpoint)




A magnetized wing (custom made by a company in Poland)


Nasty critters, these ones:


1 of the 2 troops choices that were riding around in a rhino


The exorcist flanked by the 2 rhino's


We fought a Seize Ground mission with 1500pts each. I've never fought against Witchhunters before and so I was constantly asking what does that, how does that work etc. For Piotr it was his first battle since 3rd ed!! so he was asking his fair share of questions too :) It was a fierce battle and I constantly feared for my flying tyrant to be blasted in one turn of Exorcist rocket fire (d6x 48" s8 ap1!!) because that one's damn scary! On a good roll it would have no trouble whiping my tyrant off the battlefield, fortunately for me ..it didn't have many good rolls.
I won the battle after 7! turns with 2 objectives versus 1 contested *a Rhino drove into a ruin for this*.

Best Witchhunter unit: an inquisitor with his lackeys *3 heavybolters*, not because they killed so many, but because they repelled almost anything that came at them in close combat untill the hyve tyrant decided it was enough.

Tyranid's best unit: this is a hard one. The tyrant had an angel protecting him, he only got 1 wound from the exorcist no matter how many times it fired on him (or her whatever) and after some initial warming up he killed his fair share of units including the exorcist and the inquisitor and his buddies. But next to that I think my Raveners did a good job at wounding the hq badly and tying it up for longer than we both expected. The genestealers *with talons* wiped the seraphims and the hq in the end.

Things learned: I should rely more on the thick hide of my carnifex, it could have killed the heavy support heavybolter sisters far earlier on. Another thing, termagants might have been a good choice because at a couple of points in the game they would've been able *I had spinegaunts..so they weren't able* to destroy or at least hold up a rhino by shooting at it's back. They would also be good against landspeeders.