Making Assassins

This is going to be a short post, mainly just to keep myself on top of this project. so I've been talking about building an assassins cadre for a while, however, I really haven't got any where at the moment. I've got plenty of ideas, especially for the Vindicare assassin and I have plenty of parts for all of the assassins, thanks Toby bits box and the extras from the Dreamforge boxsets used for my MT's.

So, what's the plan? Not sure is the answer. This is mostly due to the fact that I don't have much in the way of bodies, apart from Catachans, which I have a lot of. Now, one way to do this would be to push the fluff away from the standard assassin stuff and in to the realm of a few chosen men, each skilled in a certain form of warfare. I'll come up with the rest of the fluff as I actually put the models together, as yet the fluff is still evolving.

So, what do I have.

Vindicare - I have several rifle options for this one. I've a marine scout sniper rifle but also some rifles from Dreamforge. I think I will be using quite a few Dreamforge bits to make the assassin a bit more unique.

Eversor - this one will be a little harder to achieve as the claw maybe difficult to replicate/imitate. The pistol on the other hand should be easier, using various bits in the bits box. I don't think the main build will be particularly hard for this one, some of the details will be harder to do, having said that, it should be pretty easy to rewrite the fluff to fit the build.

Callidus - while this one will be easier, using a modified plasma pistol and power sword, along with some bits to make up the various pouches. The assassin herself will look very different as I don't have any models that can really stand in, so I will either have to acquire a model or the fluff will be rewritten. If it is rewritten then there will be some major reworking of the fluff to get a burley Catachan to fit the role of a Callidus assassin!

Culexus - this is going to be the hardest assassin to model. As yet I have no idea how I'm going to model this up, there are so many different bits to do, especially around the head, that doubt I'll have the parts I need. This is probably the one build that I am not looking forward to trying to do, as such it will probably be put off until last and knowing me, thrown together in a bit of a hurry, just to get it done!

I hope to get at least some of the models built by the next time I write a to do list, which will be Christmas, so I've got a few months left.

2500 views, part 2

As promised, the audience data. This is the information that I always find interesting, as it shows just how widespread the hobby is. Granted I'm not sure how many of the hits from China and Russia are trying to find out about my latest hobby thoughts and exploits and how many are from other reasons, whatever they might be!

Anyway, the data and first up is countries; (500 views)

USA - 748 (284)
UK - 194 (64)
Ireland - 190 (30)
Russia - 185 (27)
Ukraine - 121 (22)
China - 114 (-)
France - 89 (15)
Germany - 71 (4)
Belgium - 40 (-)
Italy - 36 (-)

Other countries that are not on the list but have visited in the last few weeks are Canada, Australia, Poland, Latvia and Belarus. There are also just over 700 views that are not shown on the list above, where these are I have no idea, obviously the countries above will account for some of these.

So as usual the good old US of A leads the way, by quite some margin! With the UK a little behind, although how long it stays in second place on the list is anyone's guess! Both Ireland and Russia are close behind. The numbers are pretty stable in terms of whos on the list and where they are. The USA, UK, Ireland, Russia and Ukraine are all still in order at the top of the list, France and Germany have also been pretty permanent fixtures on the list. Most of these countries are western, if you include Russia in that, then its only China that is the odd one out, although I have seen Australia, New Zealand and a few from Indonesia. I'm sure that there are a few other Asian countries on the list.

The same can be said for the Operating Systems; (500 views)

Windows - 1654 (66%) - (265)
Mac and iStuff - 536 (19%) - (164)
Linux - 106 (4%) - (31)
Android - 103 (4%) - (30)
Compatible - 39 - (-)
UNIX - 37 - (10)
Windows NT 6.1 - 14 - (-)

Windows is very much at the top of the list, and is pretty much untouchable even with all the mac/istuff rolled in to one. I might have though that Android would be higher on the list? Not sure what Compatible means, maybe a foreign language thing, like Chinese or similar.  

The browser list is a little different though; (500 views)

Chrome - 965 (39%) - (234)
Firefox - 913 (36%) - (121)
Internet Explorer - 312 (12%) - (76)
Safari/Mobile Safari - 173 (6%) - (44)
Opera - 31 - (6)
Mobile - 30 - (-)
Samsung browser - 28 - (6)

While most people seem to be using Chrome, Firefox seems to be rising in popularity. Internet Explorer is still near the top ahead of Safari. I would have thought that with the Mac stuff being higher on the operation systems list would have meant that Safari would have been higher on the browser list, but I guess that not many people use Safari on there Macs, not sure what they do use though,i guess either Chrome or Firefox.

2500 views part 1

So, another little milestone has been reached, two and a half thousand views! Ok actually its 2496 but the next time I checked it was 2516, someone in Russia has be busy, 42 hits today, 63 over the last week! Granted 2500 isn't a spectacular number to have achieved in the 18 months or so that the blog has been running, but I'm happy with how things are progressing.

Ive noticed quite an increase in traffic since I started using google+ and ive been thinking about adding Reddit to that but as yet ive held off. Why? A lot if folk have said that although you'll get lots if views, you'll have little interaction. Now I don't do this for the numbers, although its nice to see them climb, so having lots of views isn't really that important to me. Afterall, I blog as a hobby outlet, not as a career.

So as usual, when I hit a mile stone I like to have a little look at the stats. This time I thought I'd look at a little more than just the numbers and take a look at all stats that are shown on blogger.

So to start traffic sources;

Referring URL's

Google.com - 23
256ibg.blogspot.com - 23
Google.com/ - 22 (not sure why this is different from the first entry)
Google.Co.UK - 16
265ibg.blogspot.com/?expref...... - 10
Play.google.com/store/apps..... - 10

There are a few others on the list but there the top 5 or so. In not really sure what this really means, but considering that there are now 2500 views and the top one here is showing 23,I  guess its not showing much!

Referring sites on the otherhand do make sense to me;

Blogger.com - 342
Google.com - 106
265ibg.blogspot.com - 39
Google.Co.UK - 36
Standwargameing.Co.UK - 17

These are the the top 5 entries, however there are more for google, with .Au, .ca, .it, .ie and several others showing up over time. The total google count must be a lot higher, maybe up close to bloggers total. The St Andrews wargaming site totals are also a lot higher as .com shows 11 entries and there have been a number from .it, .ie, .fr, .Au, .nz plus a few others I don't recall now. So I guess the total will be closer to 50 or even higher. Ok, so not a massive game changer but it does show what happens when someone kindly highlights your blog.

But what are people looking at? Well the top 5 posts are;

Xmas - Dec 15- 75
Chadian formation - Dec 15 - 58
Dark guardians - April 16 - 52
Betrayal of calth - march 16 - 42
FW militarium tempests-  nov 14 - 30

And pages wise;

About me - 19
Tactics - 15
Mt - 15
The rest are all between 10 and 14

It seems strange that the Xmas post is the most popular, it was only w short post but ithas proven popular! Of the others, the FW post sticks out, its one ofmy ode posts but it keeps popping up in the post list. Now I've often thought that the list of pages visited was quite low, Afterall I've had 2500 visitors but the top page only has 75 views? I think this is down to the fact that I display the whole post on the home page, so therefore people don't need to visit the individual posts to read all the content. Whether this is a good or a bad thing I don't really know and in some respects, it doesn't bother me. Maybe I'll try the otherway for a bit some time, see what happens.

Right, I'm going to end this post here and put the rest of the info, the audience data as it were in to another post, as this is getting long enough.

hobby space

Time for another little interval from the models I think, and seeing as there have been a few posts over the last couple of months on several blogs that I follow (and some I don't) mentioning about hobby spaces. Well, I thought I might mention something about mine, which to be honest is rubbish (don't worry, not looking for sympathy, just though I'd share) 

So here is the overview, a couple of shelves in the corner of the playroom, that's the kids playroom, not mine unfortunately! Lucky the shelves are high enough to keep everything away from the smallest one, but I recently found out its in reach of the bigger one when he stands on a chair! I found this out when I came on to the play room to find him playing with my SM/DA bikes on the window sill! He was having great fun, so I didn't mind but I was worried that they might end up down the back of the radiator!

The storage shelf, containing my big box of stuff. This contains most of my vehicles and armies that are not in current use or awaiting building. It also houses the flyers, in the black tool box.

This is the work shelf. The bits box is on the left at the back with all the various project bits in the front. In the centre is my KR Multi cases with my Hjaltland LI and Eagle Knights in and on the right is more bits and at the back, just visible, is my compressor.

This is a close up of the work area, the space on to of the multi cases. This is the only area of clear space on the shelves, which is taken up with my Guardians bikes while I was pondering options for my list. I find it helps when I can actually see what models I have and rearrange them to visualise my ideas. 

I would love to have a proper dedicated desk and as part of the long term house renovation plans I will have a desk, next to the wife's home office desk in the study, so that we can sit together of an evening while still working on our own stuff. This could be a while off though, as I have a front room and a bathroom to do first!

So that's my hobby space, not great but it works!

Regimental deployments.

A short post today to highlight a ppiston the Devos 4 blog, and the arrival of the 3422 army group. Some familiar regiments are deploying to assist in the struggle against the rebels.

ED Honour Guard, XV Company

Something a little different now, the Honour Guard. On the field, these guys will be accompanying either the Libby or Chaplin. Chances are it will be a Chaplin, using the Sternhammer formation. The models them selves are mostly DV figure, the Chaos Chosen, along with the Champion from the 7th edition version of the boxset.

as always, Group HUG!!!!!

The three axe murders

The next few shots are of some of the minor conversion work that was done, mostly the removal of spikes and symbols.

Removal of spikes, for a smoother look.

Some green stuffing and filling off of details in the legs, getting rid of the faces and such on the shins.

The Champion on the left originally had a different shoulder pad, with a tongue like thing sticking out of it. I cut that off and have given him a standard shoulder pad, and again, I removed the details and spikey bit on the shoulder pad of the other chosen.

This rounds off the Disciples for the moment, I'm hoping to get some paint on them at some point, not sure when though. I hope to have my Hjaltland LI finished soon, as I have been working on these in the back ground on the few opportunities I have had (aka the wife's away at conferences south). I'll post up the pictures when I've got them all finished and get the parade shots up here for all to see.

ED Devistator squad Kilo

Squad Kilo are a mixed role squad, comprised of 10 marines, with two Lascannons and 2 Plasma Cannons. In the field they will deploy as two separate units, each with their own mission.

The group shot as always.

The marines, with Sgt in the centre and 2nd on the right.

A close up of the Sgt (to the left) who will go with the Lascannon demi-squad and his 2nd (on the right) who leads the Plasma demi-squad.

Plasma Cannons, straight out of DV.

Lascannons, straight out of history.

Both these are metal incarnations of the lascannon. I'm not sure which is older, but I think its the shoulder mounted version on the right. Both are actually Chaos versions, and both were a pain to get to fit and look good, something I failed miserably at with the missile launchers!