Fantasy: A Green Dragon (Puff The Magic Dragon?)

The origin of this modelling project was a rather dodgy cheap fantasy ornament picked up in a nick-nack shop - but I saw the "potential" (see below, after an undercoat of Airfix Primer, then a Brown Vallejo Wash, then a colour undercoat of Vallejo Game Colour Dark Green to get to here - though it has to be said I did have a lot of trouble with this particular Valljo Game Colour paint as for some reason it starts to separate out in the bottle into a solid and liquid half more so than any other of the colours I use in the range!):

I added further layers of mixes Vallejo Game Colour Sick Green and Scorpion Green (I think, it was certainly a lighter green almost yellow) followed by a little Moon Yellow, with Off White added for final highlights. The "Glossy" look came from my experimentation with a Yellow Vallejo Yellow Ink glaze (see below, the Green Dragon's front with its lighter underneath is done): 

The scaly back was layered but kept to a Sick Green with touch of white highlight. Again I experimented with Vallejo Black Ink and Green Ink Glazes with a modicum of success (see below, a young fat Green Dragon about to fly off in search of food):

Nobody would want to mess with my Puff the Magic Dragon, surely? Please note, adventurers in my D&D Campaign have nothing to fear as this is purely a "painting challenge" with little or no relevance to the Lost Mine of Phalindar, despite the large picture of a Green Dragon on the front of the new 5th Edition D&D Starter Pack!

Classical Gas Acoustic Version

I was looking for a acoustic version of Classical Gas and found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHje3Fh4GJo

Please Keep Off the Grass

In the computer trade sometimes hype breaks common sense reasoning. Perhaps I too have been guilty of this. Drawn along by the Agile Manifesto I sounded out the mantra of "Move Fast and Break Things Quick". Perhaps I should also remember the simplest and most powerful of mathematical techniques - always view the validity of the inverse argument to see if it is more powerful! So from the lips of the Microsoft President:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-49768347/microsoft-president-don-t-move-fast-and-break-things

Maybe we all can be "Muppets"! Hey those are social media weapons of mass destruction.

Brad Smith's book - Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age

Modern Navy News

South China Seas Simulator Game:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/i-fought-battle-south-china-sea-us-navy-was-crushed-81721

The new HMS Prince of Wales:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-49727151

Nice to see she is not going straight into mothballs then!

Crazy Weeks of News Stories (and not just about Brexit) ...

Is it just me or has the "scary silly season" been in full flight in the national and international news? see below:

AI and Automatic Face Recognition:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49726101

AI and NHS Health Data:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49740095

Fire in a Russian Bio-Lab:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49727101

And there will be more ...

Aeronautica Imperialis - Orcs in Space?

OK so know it is not really anywhere near historical, I mean Orcs in Space, really .. but the game pays homage to the best WWI Aerial Combat Systems, GDW Blue Max and Canvas Eagles, I've played, so it hit me in a soft spot right between the eyes (and it was classed as a birthday present from my brother so I had an excuse). The models are also very, very cool in a Steam-Punk sort of way(see below - an un-boxing to follow methinks):

The models remind me of Warlord Games latest Mig Alley Korean War selection (see Renko's superb rendition of Soviet silver camouflage) and immediately after writing that I can see myself falling towards Blood Red Skies (BRS) and the Jet-Age expansion (see below - Note: I could do that because I am not committed to any "jet age scale", whereas BRS WWII has the 1/144 to 1/300 scale "Why am I doing this again in a different scale?" question bobbing around in my head!):

It is also a "game in a box so you don't have to expand out and besides it's "Fantasy-Science-Fiction" so anything goes you can bring your own stuff in. If you get a game from it then what's the problem, otherwise I will be forever the collector and never the player. Maybe I should do some 1/300 aircraft as after all I have always played with the kit Renko has "coerced" (like I needed much pushing) into getting!

Afterthought:
Besides it is another one of games that the father can be shot down by his son (or daughter, or wife) with no loss of prestige (that noted I still don't forgive that dodgy rule call in X-Wing called by my [so-called] friends that lined up my TIE Fighter in front of that Rookie Rebel, being the exception to the rule - Unforgiven)!

Ares (from the Mortal Gods Starter Set)... you SoaB

It is a beautiful figure and it comes in many finely sculpted, finely balanced, fiddly parts. Mix that in with weak runny superglue and one of those uncoordinated days when you are just fingers and thumbs; then you could easily end up hating the world (see below, a part assembled Ares style Hero figure from Mortal Gods that stayed part assembled on the painting/assembly tray for quiet a long time - which is in stark contrast to the 20mm WWII Dicker Max German Assault Gun/Tank Destroyer that came ready assembled for instant play):

Ares with a head (see below, his arms are coming together as well):

Excuse the fuzzy picture as I was in much haste before I knocked him over and he disassembled himself again (see below, a lovely fighting pose, even if it does mean he takes hs own temple around wherever he goes): 

OK I may be bitter and twisted after too much time peeling superglue off my fingers (and yes I did wash the figure in hot soapy water first) but I have not dared undercoat him yet. I fear he will not be used tabletop, the Wargames Foundry and Victrix plastic figures shall do all the grunt work!