July 2021 review

The move is over, the old apartment is empty and we can complete concentrate on our new home.

I brought the last boxes over last tuesday, simply putting them in my new office, so it took me a few days to get them properly stowed away. I'm already enjoying the new view and silence in the countryside.

It is very important for me to not simply stow away the old boxes again in the shelfs. And I want a cleaner look. So I put the boxes in the lower shelves, the NIB/original packaging and build, as well as painted miniatures in the upper shelves. With some of the projects, I want to see if I can do some smaller displays in there, as you can see a dry-run with the beastmen from last years summer project.

There's already an updated stock that needs to go, and will be used for the next sale, HANS! and / or probably some charity action to support the people at the Ahr.

Since 2013 I'm using a BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower, but it aged quite a bit and the "soft touch" surface got nasty, along with some of the USB ports not properly working anymore. So it was time to get a new case, and I had my eyes on a BeQuiet! case for a while, waiting for a proper offer as the old one did its job to just not make it more urgent to switch. Then I came across a deal for the be quiet! PURE BASE 500, and I have to say, I'm quite amazed by the production quality and cable management (most of the gear is hidden in individual compartments and partially encased by rubber bumpers). And it is really quiet. Strongly suggested, if you're looking for a new case.

My participation in this years summer challenge will have to be modified. I'll continue my work on Legio Astraman, still focusing to paint up a proper maniple within the 3 months, but I wasn't able to do it in the steps of 6 miniatures per months, especially in July. Mid of last week our eldest turned three years old, so our main focus was on achieving homeliness as quick as possible. That didn't leave much time for getting things painted, especially not if my study was used as a interim storage for everything not having proper place in the living room. Buuuut the baptism of fire for our living room showed that we have plenty of space to set up a table for 10-12 people, and still be able to move around it, have access to the kitchen and such. So if I should be in the situation of being a grass widower for a weekend, that surely would make it possible to host a decent gentlemens gaming event.

In the little spare time that I had, I was able to build 75257 Millenium Falcon and 75288 AT-AT, while watching some movies and tv-shows from my backlog. I'm currently waiting on an offer for the 75312 Slave 1 (I should have bought the 75243 when I had the chance...) and for 75292 Razorcrest to arrive.

Watching Black Widow was a bit of a waste of time, as it was less giving her a solo movie or building her backstory (they already did that in some of the Iron Man and regular Avenger movies) but bringing the other characters into position. So 5 out of 10.

On netflix How to become a Tyrant was quite entertaining, especially for a wargamer it gives additional insights on some more recent conflicts and crazy ideas for scenarios or your own Rumble in Zambwana. As well on started the reboot / next iteration of Master of the Universe with Revelation. Quite the cast for the voices, but with 5 episodes very short, far less He Man than I expected. The dialogues are trashy, but in a funny way, but it didn't really catch me. Felt forced, a bit like the Star Trek Discovery stuff.

On Amazon I was quite entertained, as El Cid Season 2 started, and it is well produced and entertaining, just 5 episodes but each of them an hour long, so that's that. And the latest installment on Grand Tour came with the Lochdown Scotland special. Had the classic Top Gear charme, the trio functions in an entertaining way, just the ending is rather weird. And it was a bit of miss, that they didn't cover the North Coast 500, as its scenic route would have made for a proper background for the trip.

Looking forward to the Marvel Studios What-If episodes on Disney+ next month, along with to get properly back to the work desk. For that reason I want to set up a jour fixe to get more painting done, like twice a week for about 1,5-2 hours.