Liebster award

OK i've been putting this off for too long now...

Back in early april I was nominated for a Liebster award over here (thank you very much):
http://meanderingshade.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/i-was-given-liebster-award.html

And even more recently I have been nominated by Inso over here (again thank you very much):
http://insosworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/monday-procrastination.html

Two incredibly talented individuals nominating me for an award.... ok, well thank you for that.... i'm very honoured, a little bemused but honoured none the less :).

Much like Inso i'm going to take the route of just pointing you in the direction of info on the Liebster award rather than just try and explain it myself... you can find that info here.

OK so first off I have to state 11 truths about myself.... hmmm

1. I'm socially inept... probably not helped that I cannot stand the taste of alcohol..... I am rather shy / nervous around people I don't know and really bad at making conversation... lord knows how I managed to bag my better half ... lol.

2.  I'm dawning on the realisation that I don't think I've ever really been a wargamer.... I have played maybe 12 wargames in the last approximately 8 years, partly due to a lack of opponents, but mostly due to the fact that if there is a boardgame being played down the club then I'd really rather be taking part in that than actually putting miniatures on the table (with the exception of Mordheim if it ever gets played...)

3. I refuse to play any (war)games that force me to be human, and generally prefer shorter races (mostly dwarves) hands down, this rules out any games in earths history entirely.

4. I'm 6 foot tall.

5. I do not drink hot drinks.... yes not only am I almost completely T-total (the odd JD and coke once in a blue moon) I don't drink tea or coffee either... or soft drinks actually.....Tea is ok, I have a cup once a year or so if it takes my fancy, coffee literally makes me feel sick. I stick to fruit juice and water... I know boring right....

6. I am definitely a Sci-fi and Fantasy fan, but I don't get a lot of time to read so mainly limited to TV and Films, with Firefly and Farscape being my favourite Sci-Fi and Game of thrones scratching the fantasy itch.

7. Music wise i'm definitely on the heavy side of the scale, but not as far as metal....(though there are some tracks I do like, inc. some power metal... (Masterplan)) I generally do not like a "band" but rather some tracks from one or more albums, though there are exceptions e.g
-"Amaryllis" by Shinedown (great album)
-"Holding onto Strings better left to fray" by Seether.
My favourite track of all time is "Milkman's son" by Ugly kid Joe, and my track of the moment is "Ladies and gentlemen" by Saliva. 
I do still like some much lighter music now and then.

8. I am qualified in IT to HND level but I graduated in the downturn years and was never able to get a job in the industry, I sort of fell into the admin side of food industry (a bakery making for retail & coffee shop customers) and have been there ever since, though I get to dabble in the odd database and some SQL / VBA programming once in a while.

9. My favourite chocolate bar is a Boost bar. But I'm partial to a toblerone (though I am technically allergic to nuts... lol).

10. I hate jumpy films.... I have little problem with gore (though it is not my preference in a film) but I can't stand being made to jump, e.g. Aliens films, not bothered with the blood, hate it when an alien jumps out on someone.

11. My other half couldn't think up a new screen name for herself so she posts on various art and craft forums under the username "Maxxev".... so if you ever do a random google search for maxxev and come up with something "girly" it's (probably lol) not me.
Though to be fair she's done some really cool stuff too (e.g. Star trek, firefly, farscape, warmachine pumpkin carving).

And now onto the Questions:

First up from Meandering Shade:

1. How did you first get into your hobby?

My next-door neighbour had some 40k bits (mostly from Space crusade) and he used to beat me and his sister to a pulp with terminators (back when they had 3+ saves on 2D6)... for some reason even loosing every time I still didn't shake how cool the little figures were....

2. Who is your favourite artist/s or hobbyist/s and would you like to emulate their style/s? 

Ooooh that's a tough question. There is SOO much good stuff out there... obviously i'd kill to be able to paint like James Wappel, the imagination and creativity of Typhoid Gary, the sculpting skill of Tom Meir.... no there are just too many I couldn't possibly pick a favourite. 

3. What is the worst hobby related accident you have suffered? (this can be physical or bad paint-job etc)

 I think i've been pretty lucky, the worse so far is a pin vice drill into the finger, but it wasn't that deep really, nothing like some of the horror stories i've read.

4. What have you wanted to do in the hobby but have put off for a long time?

Steam punk world war Dwarves... not having the time space or game system to play them might have had a big part to do with putting it off lol.

 

5. Would you say you are more a hobbyist or gamer and why?

Definitely a hobbiest, I prefer the creative side of the hobby over rolling dice and trying to kill your opponents stuff, at the end of the day there are more fun games out there that don't involve some dodgy rules, or having to buy a ton of new stuff every once in a while, or trying to memorise everything your opponents stuff does (I have a pretty weak memory at the best of times!!)

6. Do you have a comfort zone in painting technique or colours that you tend to fall back on?

Yes, technique = Armypainter quickshade... after GW's now out of production inks (Devlin mud, badab black) this stuff has had the biggest impact on the quality of my painting over anything else. Particularly as I do not have a very steady hand at all. On colours, Grey, definitely grey, but I have been stepping out of my comfort zone quite a bit in the last colour of years (Privateer press Minions in particular) and quite enjoying it.

7. Do you like to have the right atmosphere when working on your hobby, music, movies, quiet?

I generally watch something that my OH doesn't like a great (something like Suits or Justified).... but end up actually watching it and not getting a lot of painting done....

8. What was the first miniature you ever bought/painted?

Space marine captain.... dark blue and silver painted with a silver marker pen... lol.

9. What one hobby item (miniature/game system) that's long out of production/rare, would you love to have?

Warhammer quest.

10. What else do you like to do to pass the time?

Play board games (E.g. Lords of waterdeep, Discworld AM, Eclipse, NOT Monopoly lol). Watch TV and films.... that's pretty much it.

11. When you finally shuffle off this mortal coil, what would you like to happen to your hobby collection?

Ideally by then my minion(s?) (Child(ren?)) will take over the collection, but if they are not interested, I guess sell the valuable stuff so the family gets the cash and donate the rest to the local gaming club.

And now Inso's Questions...

1.  Why did you decide that wargaming was for you?

Squats sold me I think, sci-fi and dwarves, perfect... but they were pulled before I was allowed to spend my own pocket money, so I took up imperial guard instead.

2.  If you had to team up with a super hero, who would it be and what powers would you have to compliment their abilities?

errr ok.... how about the hulk and something like Reed Richards power so I could turn into a bouncy ball and keep the hulk placated.... away from the general populace lol.

3.  What do you think is the cutest film creature (from a sci-fi/fantasy setting) and why?

Oh man I can't say i've ever paid a huge amount of attention er.... Nibbler I guess.

4.  If you were sentenced to death by firing squad, who would you want staked out next to you and why?

Someone I though deserved it but i'm going to stop there as I would end up going down the politics route and i'm trying to keep that off of the blog lol.

5.  Zombies? In one sentence, explain why a rotten, animated corpse seems to be the coolest thing on the wargaming scene since... ever.

hmmm, personally they don't do anything for me, I can see why they are liked from a commercial perspective (cheap to pull off and no acting skills required), why they are so popular... people like to fight against masses of weak enemies but still feel like there is a threat of being pulled down at any moment I guess...?

6.  If you had unlimited surplus cash and had to choose a single wargaming army, what would it be and for which rules/game?

I would commission one to be sculpted for me of my own design.... but if it was off the shelf then it would probably be either the new GW dwarves or the New style Morat for infinity. Though at the end of the day I don't think i'd ever use either, i'd rather just pick a large amount of kits I really liked the bits from and smash them all together the make something possibly unique, e.g. I had to fight myself not to build a whole army of terrortoise or Gnomes (now I don't have to worry about it as I don't have the time anyway lol).

7.  If you lost everything apart from the clothes you are standing in... what would be the very first thing (after food/drink) that you would choose to obtain and why?

i'm a bit of a hoarder so... without all my stuff... probably some prozac..... otherwise a sleeping bag.... lol

8.  What is your favourite pet?

Cat - but with the disclaimer that it had to be a softy / coward, I don't want to see the local wildlife suffer because I let a cat on the loose that happily slaughtered every bird in sight (a problem that my parents had before that even a bell on the collar couldn't fix), where as they used to have one that generally couldn't even catch a ball of paper on a sting.....

9.  You are standing next to the director of a film that you really didn't like and were able to replace him in the director's chair. Which film would you choose to improve?

Star wars 1-3, the last half hour of the third lord of the rings, last half of Daybreakers, 3rd Spiderman film, The end of the total recall remake, The first captain America, Die hard 4 and 5... way too many films I would want changed.

But the one film I was ridiculously unhappy with after going to see it in the cinema was "Wild Target".

10.  What do you think is the best wargaming genre and why?

 Eh, they all have thier advantages, I love to see cool alien races in Sci-fi, but with advanced weaponry fights are generally ranged and over quickly. Fantasy you can get more duelling and swordplay going on, plus cool races (and of course there are dwarves....). Steampunk is cool all the gadgets and gears (Brilliant PC game called Arcanum really had me engrossed for ages). Obviously though I don't really like historic gaming (just because you have to play as a human).

11.  Who would you choose to write your epitaph and why?

 Terry Pratchett, because he would be able to get a laugh out of anyone who turns up.

OK that's me done on the answers now I have to find some other people to award and write my questions... I think i'll put that in another post, this one is long enough...