Monday, August 26, 2024

More Quar Fun (and Trench Table part 5)


Major Life Development:
HUGE
EPIC

I haven't changed a diaper in over a month.  That's right.  Some said it was never gonna happen, I might of said it was never gonna happen, but after ruling my life for the majority of the last decade, the tyranny of diapers is over.  

Though I still occasionally have to wipe pee off the floor as Son #3 improves his aim, but one can't have everything.  It's a new chapter in life. 

Oh.....you're probably more interested in in wargaming stuff than my MONUMENTAL life changes.
Very well.
Herein; the continuing saga of anteaters and the terrain they live in.  A tale as old time.



More Quar


Hey lookit, I painted some qaur.  Everyone adores pics of painted miniatures.  

tadaa!
Adequately painted miniatures.


I'm creating nicknames for all the color schemes for Quar skin.
Today's schemes are:
ladybug (red and black)
Orchid (purple and off white)
Jersey Cow (light yellow and brown)


This guy in the knit cap is supposed to be the NCO (called a Yawdryl in the Quar-verse).  All my other NCOs of this faction are waving about swords (like any good leader does).  To give this guy a sword I raided my Gripping Beast Dark Ages plastic bits and got him a sword from the Viking sprue.  I'm sure the Vikings won't mind, they are a generous and forgiving people.

 

Trench Board Progress


Sing it! 

"And I would glue 500 planks,
and I would glue 500 more,
Just to be the man who glued a thousand
planks onto this Quar trench board.
Da-da da da da (Da-da da da)..."

(If you got the tune, you are getting old like me.  That song was popular in the 90s.)


Basic construction on all 3 of the 2x4 boards is complete.  I applied some spackle / filler to plug any big gaps in the foam.  Below is a picture of the boards pushed together with the (hopefully) exciting upcoming features pointed out... 

Exciting features!

With all that out of the way, it was time to BRANCH out and start the wooden planks.  I'm excited about this part because I think it'll really SPRUCE up these boards.  I could do more wood puns but I know they are ACORN-y, and honestly I'm STUMPED for more.


In preparation of this stage, I've taken the time to precut planks into the desired length. 

This is what being prepared looks like. 

I originally started out with craft sticks.  However, these were hard to cut with my weak girly hands, and knowing that I would need thousands of planks I downgraded to coffee stirrers, which were thinner, cheaper, and easier to cut with clippers.    





There's not much to say about any technique with this.  I put some PVA glue in a bowl and used a brush to paint glue on the foam and/or on the wood and then put the wood where I wanted.














I tried to keep the sticks super close together but gaps are inevitable.  I hoping that small gaps will make no nevermind (that's an expression where I come from that means 'no one will notice') and any large gaps can be filled with ground texture or flock or excuses.  


Stone walls mark where bridges will be.


Afterwards, I went back and cut down any sticks that were really out of place for being too long.
I'm unsure about the look of the uneven planks but it can't really be helped, so no nevermind (it also means 'don't think twice about,' it's a very versatile expression).  


Convention  

But anymore plank laying will have to wait, as this weekend I'm off to Pacificon.  


So next post will probably be the inevitable convention recap.  

Thanks for reading.
Double Thanks for writing comment.
Till the next time.

37 comments:

  1. Handsome work on the latest Quar and your trenchworks are coming along nicely. Congratulations on finally throwing off the yoke of diaper tyranny! Enjoy your con.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. It's good to be free. The whole quar project is coming along nicely but slowly. 😁

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  2. Lovely work on the Quar and great progress on the terrain boards. I much prefer coffee stirrers to craft sticks for modelling

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    1. Thanks Neil. yes, coffee stirrers are much easier to cut. I went from balsa wood, to craft sticks, to coffee stirrers. 😁

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  3. An entertaining Blog as always Stew and great to see the end of nappy changing, which is looong ago for us now! Love the minatures and the trench network looks brilliant, so maybe you could BRANCH out and do some more planks...😉.

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    1. Thanks Steve. I did the Branch Out pun, so you get no points for that. Though the future will be more planking. 😁

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  4. Treemendous on both counts Stew! The arboreal pink panther agrees! I woodn't worry about the gaps - how good are bi-pedal ant eaters at digging trenches anyway? So don't be a sap and treet yourself to some good plane self reward (is that enough with the puns?)
    Enjoy Pacificon (the most unconfrontational name for a games convention - in the UK we once had one called Armageddon which generated anti-nuclear protesters!)
    Neil

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    1. Thanks Neil. Yes enough puns but good job, you earn extra points.
      Come to think of it, UK shows do have somewhat aggressive names while American cons don't. that's pretty funny. 😁

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  5. I wooden want to try and top anyone else's puns so I will just say the trenches look great.

    Lucky you getting over your changing diapers addiction. I gave up in 2002 and haven't regretted it. 😂😂 You will be mopping the floors for a few decades yet in my experience.

    Great idea for the Quar names for their skin colour. A good way to a balance between the variations and some consistency.

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    1. Thanks Ben. Wooden is a goodin. extra points for you.
      I've been kicking all my addictions lately. It's like a new lease on life. 😁

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  6. Good stuff Stew, an impressive terrain build indeed, I’ve done some stick glueing myself in the past and know how long it can take. The gaps won’t matter in my view 👍 the slug things are cute but not for me 👍

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    1. Thanks Matt, it does take awhile but I got two of the three board 'planked' which is a sizable dent. Slugs, cute or otherwise, are definitely not for everyone. I feel the same way about French Old Guard. 😁

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  7. It's good to see a blog announcing a life change that isn't about some awful downturn in health, so thanks for the news! Love the ladybug scheme, even if I can't "borrow" it for any of my stuff (nothing snouty enough in my collections). The trench boards and systems are very impressive: a few gaps and irregularities are actually fine and probably more realistic given the context (it's not like military engineering is concerned with "finish").

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    1. Thanks Ed. Coming out of the diaper phase of life precedes the health scare phase of life.
      anyway, I'm sure there's some unit somewhere in the 1800s from some random European minor nation that used the Ladybug scheme for their uniforms. 😁

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  8. Thanks Anton. I keep thinking I should have extra income, but it never seems to happen...

    Once again I am amazed on how fast you put together your big terrain projects, you must work on them nonstop. I did get two of the three boards 'planked' which is a good start but I'm thinking that the walls need some sort of horizontal brace and I'm tempted to plank the floor of the big trench as well... but that will be a lot of effort. 😁

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  9. I hate to be the one to tell you Stew, but that song was actually released in the 80s, which makes us even older. Lovely work on the Quar and I'm really enjoying watching the progress of the trench systems.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. I double checked, and that song wasn't popular in America till the 90s. Which fits my memory because I was in high school when the song was popular and I was in HS in the 90s. Which makes YOU older and me not as old... 😆😆

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  10. More royalist quar! They look great. The trench board is coming along nicely.

    My college roommate had a whole tape of that song. Whole tape. Played it frequently. So yes, I remember the song...

    Congrats on escaping diapers! Or is it time for Daughter #2? ;)

    Hope you have a great time at Pacificon, and take a ton of pictures.

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    1. Thanks David. now HUSH and be SILENT about having more children. I can barely stand the ones that I have.
      You guys had tapes in college? You must be a level older than me. makes sense, because you look it. that was mean. but I'm still shaken by the idea of more kids and I say mean things when I'm shaken. and hungry. 😁

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    2. Ha, surely you remember taping songs from the radio? Plus we were cheap, and did not buy CDs. (and I think you are a year or two older btw)

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    3. What?!! still I don't remember ever owning any tapes except as a young kid and never in college. Though for sure I've done more drugs than you and it's likely affected my brains...

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  11. Congrats on the end of nappies (diapers, however you came up with THAT one 😀) soon, it will be going out at 2am on Sat or Sun morning to pick them up in some inebriated state!
    The Quar look weird but cool, as always...I particularly like the basing, which really makes them pop!
    Glad you didn't go fir too many wood/tree puns, we would soon have got board with it and been pine-ing for you to get back to normal service.....love the Proclaimers reference...lots of great songs but Lawrence must be right about the 80's because I had their albums, including Sunshine on Leith, on cassette tapes....remember them??!

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    1. Thanks Kieth. as above with Lawrence. I double checked and that song was not big in America till the 90s. Which makes you older and me not as old. And of course I remember cassettes but I don't remember owning any.** I remember owning CDs. My first CD was by Poison. Though my kids don't even have CDs, and music now is all streaming.
      Hopefully it won't be too soon before going out and picking them up like that. my oldest is only 11....

      **The only cassettes that I remember having are the ones that my father made while he was in the navy when I was very young. While he was off on the ship across the world he would read a book while recording himself, commenting on the pictures and saying when to turn the page, and then mail the cassette home to us. We would play it at night in a big Fisher Price cassette player and it would be like he was reading a bedtime story to me and my brother.

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  12. Lovely bit of woodworking, I've been in the world of coffee stirrers myself and convinced myself that gaps were good, so that I can tell it's not just one mass of wood? I was convinced anyway, congratulations on getting out of nappies, you've just got teenage years and inappropriate partners and maybe drugs I guess as your a smoker? To look forward to? I remember the song , I think I've seen them play it live, I was definitely in a field in Oxfordshire but it was a festival with a 100' long real ale bar, so I might have been asleep!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. What is with all this negative foreshadowing? Hopefully I can cross Smoker off the list as I'm making a serious effort to not be one these days.
      We'll see how the gaps turn later, That's an issue for Future Stew. 😁

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  13. Loving the Quar, Stew. Is their colouration indicative of anything like tribal groupings? I’d offer you congrats on the nappy front, however you’ll be seeing them again before you know it…when your kids are putting them on you! lol.

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    1. Thanks Mark. Hopefully a long time before kids need to change my diapers.
      but Nah, Quar colors don't mean anything, I think the lore is designed that way as a way to avoid racial overtones and to make a clear excuse to paint them in any zany colors you like. The only think is that the older a quar becomes the more 'blotchy' the skin gets. Kinda like me and grey hair and you and wrinkles. 😆😁😁

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  14. The Quar look great Stewart, and you are certainly keeping up a good pace on getting these done. Great looking progress on the boards and all the planking adds another element of interest.
    Hope you have a great time at Pacificon, and congratulations on levelling up on the diaper front, although don't forget there is a bonus round when you get Grandchildren ! LOL Something to look forward to.

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    1. Thanks Dave. I'll have to take a picture of the table as it stands for the terrain challenge so I can get an honorable mention. 😁
      maybe by the time that i have grandchildren, technology will have immensely improved the experience.

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  15. Wow that's coming along nicely, the planks do a lot for the look. I also really like all your skin designs for the Quar, perfectly quirky for them.

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    1. Thanks SD. yeah the planks was the first step towards becoming actual terrain and away from just parts glued together. 😁

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  16. The board is definitely coming along now. Those trenches look worth fighting for! :) Personally, I like the freckles you put on your soldiers. We'll make a display painter out of you yet! I hope you enjoy the convention this weekend and I will look forward to some pictures and a write up of how it went.

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    1. Thanks Jeff. I hope the trenches will be worth fighting for... several times in fact. 😁

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  17. Ah man - no more nappies (as we call them in the UK) and ankle deep in the mud (so to speak) of a trench board and the Quar! Now this is living! I survived the daper/nappy stage some time ago but have still to indulge in the urge to do a trench board and populate iit with Quar - two things I've lomg hankered after but never got around to - In the meantime - hats off to you sir on all three accounts!

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    1. thanks Thant. Nice to hear from you again. yes, I am living the good life right now as I'm surrounded by quar and no diapers in sight. 😁

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