Avenger Strike Fighter & Other Hobby Stuff

Today I managed to finish off a commission piece that proved quite... interesting. I honestly thought the kit would be more fun to work on, but really the assembly was a nightmare and it is a delicate piece overall. However, painting it was pretty enjoyable and the decals worked on it rather well. I would have liked to had done the bottom in a white-gray look, but the client is king. I think it turned out relatively well and I am glad I had a chance to try out some rather new techniques on it (notably direction shading).

A caveat before you look - I am using my phone for pictures (Instagram, no less) and a homemade lightbox. So, forgive me if these are HD pics, but I am an amateur really and I do more of this for fun than as a business of any sort, so I hardly invest in that end of the spectrum. That being said, I think these pics are better now that I do have a new phone with a much better camera on it.

So, that was a fun project. I tried out some really new stuff on it and found I liked the outcome. Not that I use my client's models as guinea pigs, but I do like to push my limits and that is kinda similar. For this, I used plasticard to block off areas to push the contrast from front to back with the panels. I think it gave it a much more interesting look than just shading where the lines are (as I have done on Imperial Knights in the past).

One thing I enjoy doing now is airbrushing inks to get some really interesting metallic effects. I use an umber and a black to really give the metallic colors depth. I spray it in corners and recesses and it dries fast, but just slow enough I can wipe with a Q-tip to get away the surfaces. In the end it looks like the above pics, that being oily/dirty looking. |

Next up on the hobby end of things for me is to wash up and clean some resin Imperial Knights for my Horus Heresy House Taranis army. Really, really excited to get going with this project - it will be 3000pt with seven (SEVEN!) Knights. I am waiting on printer ink to arrive so I can print decals (Thanks Dave Taylor!). Concurrent to that, I am hoping to get a test model for my Ironskin Tribe Ogres done, to feel out where I want to be for them, as well as continuing the Carcharodons Astra slow-and-steady assembly.

House Taranis circa M32 decals

On a fitness note - I am down about 4lbs. That is for one week with MyFitnessPal. Talk about results! I did calorie cycle a bit high today (Sunday), but I am going to cycle low the next few days. In fact, I don't "eat into my calories", as in I don't eat extra food to compensate for calories burned at the gym, so I think that is really helping me shed that weight. With my warm-up, weights, and then cardio, my workout days have been pretty solid - and I think counting the calories and putting the weights before the serious fat burning cardio have been the biggest help.

Next week, I will hopefully continue to the downward trend in my weight. Be sure you look me up on MyFitnessPal and get your own rear in gear. If you aren't getting up and moving around yet, you should be! Inactivity can be deadly, so get out there and walk, jog, or run. Whatever you can do to move. If you work a job like mine, where I am behind a computer screen eight hours a day, this is more important than ever!

Weigh-ins, Setting Goals & Tracking Progress

Howdy folks! This weekend, I broke down and finally did a weigh-in. It has been many months since I did so, because I find that body weight can be utterly discouraging. And guess what! It was. I haven't budged in months - sitting at a large-and-in-charge 314 lbs. Yea, way too much, but thankfully a lot of muscle in there (somewhere) and that isn't a bull excuse. I am lifting more now than I ever have, which feels great and lets me know that while the weight may not be changing on the scale, my body is certainly changing.

On that, I am really looking a lot different. The overall muscle mass I am seeing is a hell of a lot better than my old flabby self from a year ago. Being committed to change and hitting the gym 4-5 days a week has paid off. But that isn't enough! Losing weight (in the form of body fat) starts in the kitchen and I tell you, that is where I am faltering.

A big guy like me needs a lot of calories, but I tell you, I am getting too many even with my gym calorie deficit. So, I finally got back onto an app that really did help me in the past. I dropped a rather solid 30 lbs back in 2012 when I was tracking my calories and doing just cardio. The app? MyFitnessPal. No doubt, some of you have heard of it or even use it already! If so, good on you. Keep at it.

Right now, I am looking at doing 2 lbs lost per week, so I need to get in 2030 calories at the most. I bet I was exceeding that, so time to get to the goal portion of this. I want to drop down to 265 lbs, which a few folks (mostly trainers) I have talked to all agree that sounds about as low as I can go and still be pretty jacked, though we will see. Goals can change as time goes on, because I do know I am far more concerned with a lower body fat percentage than a lower weight.

What does that mean? It means at 2 lbs per week, I have at least six months to go before I hit that goal and most likely far, far more than that with plateaus and whatnot. For those unaware, a plateau is when you simple stop seeing progress and often just need to switch things up. The 2 lbs a week goal is a healthy pace, too, so going for dramatic weight-loss really would hurt me in a few regards. Remember, I am trying to do fat loss with muscle gain, so that is a delicate balance and I don't want to see the scale go down, but my muscle mass diminish too.

So the time to start logging my calorie intake and workouts is upon me. Please, join me on MyFitnessPal, you can find me under OldHat02 (or check by my email Oldhat02@gmail.com). I would love to see you readers get on there and join me in getting in shape!

Knights, Workout, and FF7 RPG!

Pre-priming Cerastus-Knight Lancer base!

On this most illustrious gurpgork, I figured I would share the meager few shots of the Imperial Knight I had been working on recently, (briefly) talk about my new workout strategy, and touch on an RPG I have been GMing for, since why not talk about that too?

First up, I have a Horus Heresy army in the works - a Questoris Knight army! Currently, I have all my Knights purchased, but am slowly getting them all assembled and ready to paint in one big go. The only one I have ready to roll thus far was my first Forge World Knight - the Cerastus Knight-Lancer.

That thing is huge. I built mine with a magnetized torso and arms, so I can twist them a bit for slightly altered posing. Nothing crazy, but it was my first. I will try to make my others a bit more dynamic. I have an Acheron and a Castigator left to do for the Cerastus variety, two Styrix, a Paladin, and an Errant for the standard.

Now, I have experience painting the latter two. I have built two and painted three and because why not, here are some pictures - red Knight, blue Knight, and Obsidian Knight. They were all commission work, so I got some practice in before I had my own to work on. Truly, I fell in love with the models during those commissions and just had to make an army of them.

Cerastus Knight-Lancer (armor is just sticky-tacked into place)

The planned paintjob is going to be House Taranis (click to see Dave Taylor's amazing work of the same House!), because they are an Adeptus Mechanicus oriented army, meaning if I want to expand into that faction for the Heresy, I can to it a bit seamlessly. I mean, I don't need much of an excuse to pick up a Thanatar, now do I?

Workout Strategy Switch-Up
So, I have done a bit more reading and discovered some talk about the merits of weights-before-cardio. Apparently, this is better and I put it to the test tonight. No joke, I was wrecked afterward.

The entire dynamic was different and I am going to keep at it. I did a nice 5 minute warm-up jog on the treadmill, did my weight-lighting, then did 25 minutes on the stairmachine (set to intervals). Whew!  Usually, I did 30 minutes of cardio, then did my weights and was done. Well, that didn't leave me nearly so worn out (in a good way).

Also, today is my fifth straight day of taking Shred Jym. I do feel it has increased my energy, because I have certainly been going harder and not feeling drained like I had the week prior. In fact, by this time last week, I could barely get through my normal routine. Today, I powered through it and then some!

Lets talk RPGs! 

Who doesn't love this game? No one is the correct answer.

So, not only do I do the whole tabletop wargaming thing, which I love, but I am also a Game Master. Currently, I have a group of four close friends who are playing through a game I had been really wanting to run for years and years. The setting is the Final Fantasy 7 world just before the Mako Reactor mission in the game and set concurrent to the "alpha" team's story. They are basically a B-team and I am having a blast running it.

Though in hindsight, I wish I had gone for GURPS, I opted for Savage Worlds because I love the open nature of that system. It has really made things easy for everyone, I think.

Right now, we have a "Ronin" from Wutai who survived the war with ShinRa. We also have a sleezy, petite former-Chocobo rider who suffers delusions of grandeur. Then there is the Goblin who is heir-apparent to the throne of the Goblin Island and seeks to retake it from ShinRa (because in our story, that is a thing), and last but not least, we have a dangerously curious naive young materia-master from Cosmo Canyon. All told, they have been a damn fun group to work with and I am beyond content to be running this game, as FF7 has been a love of mine sine '97.

Anyhow, I think that will do it for today. I am going to get crackin' on the Avenger Strike Fighter for my client this weekend and plan to have it finished. If able, I will start working on those other Knights too and post some more this weekend.

1st Quarter Routine & Avenger underway!

Hello again readers! Let me start off this article with the following obvious statement: I am not educated in fitness or anything special. Nope, not at all. I do a lot of reading on the internet across a wide variety of sites. So, don't take anything I say as gospel, but instead find out what works for you and do your homework. Get active though! Move! That is what counts. For me, this is my plan and if you think it suits you, roll with it. The important part is to get off your butt and get working. 

That being said, I tried to find a way to keep my workout diverse and interesting, but not miss anything useful. For this quarter (Jan - March), I am using the following workout set-up. Each week, I print this off and on the corresponding lift days, I check off a variety of exercises each day. I work somewhat late (if you think 7pm is late, at least) and try to cram my aerobic exercise and lifting into a single 1:15min stretch, at the most. I know, that isn't enough - I am working on adding more time to it, but for now that is what I can handle with my schedule.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my pure-aerobic days - where I only do 30min on the stair machine (my favorite), treadmill, or the rowing machine. Those are my go-to until Spring/Summer gets here and I can get outside and do sprints - and honestly, by then I hope to be able to do sprints better than last summer.

Anyhow, here is 1st Quarter's exercise list (with links to how to do said exercises!) in generic categories. Keep on mind, most of these aren't isolation exercises, meaning they target far more muscles than this chart alludes to. Many of these work multiple groups of muscles because that is, from all I have gleaned, a much better way to go than isolating a single muscle at a time. Plus, it makes the workout go much faster.

1st Quarter 2014 Weekly Workout Sheet

ABS Landmine 180s / Spellcasters M W F Pulley Side Bends M W F FOREARMS Farmer's Walk M W F Wrist Curl M W F Wrist Rotations M W F CHEST Dumbbell Press (Incline) M W F Low Cable Crossover M W F Svend Press M W F Barbell Bench Press M W F Straight-arm Dumbbell Pullover M W F BICEPS Incline Hammer Curl M W F Barbell Curl (Standard / Reverse) M W F

LEGS Squats M W F TRAPS / SHOULDERS Smith Machine Shrug M W F Face Pull M W F Jammers M W F Standing Military Press (Barbell) M W F Standing Alt. Dumbbell Press M W F Side Lateral Raise M W F LATS Straight Arm Pulldowns (Rope) M W F Close Grip Lat Pulldown M W F BACK T-Bar Row M W F Deadlift M W F Renegade Row M W F

Given my office job, I usually grab three highlighters and mark each day in a different color. This Monday, for an example, I did:

3x8 Reverse Barbell Curl
3x10 Wrist Curls
3x10 Straight Arm Pulldowns
3x8 Incline Dumbbell Benchpress
3x10 Barbell Benchpress

3x8 Side Lateral Raises

I set up a nice little circuit in my local gym and just do three sets. Afterward, I did a "burnout" with push-ups. Wednesday, I will be picking from the list, but excluding the exercises I have already done (although I do work in bench all three days usually as a personal preference).

Nothing crazy or complicated! It keeps my life interesting and ensures I don't forget anything or fall into a routine of easy stuff. I force myself to do a lot of stuff on here I don't care for (looking at you, squats!). The burnout is just me doing push-ups until failure - which allegedly helps really engage your muscles and encourage growth.

That is all for today on the fitness end of things - not much, but I don't want to make these essays!

That being said, on the hobby side of things, I am working on my Questoris Knight army and a solution to my decal problem has come in the form of Dave Taylor (yes, that Dave Taylor!) coming to my rescue. He sent me the source images he used on his House Taranis forces for his own personal Heresy Era Knights. These are proving incredibly useful and now I can really make forward progress with that army.

Also, I have started working on an Adepta Sororitas Avenger Strike Fighter (see pic above) for a client. Right now, it is just primed up and in sub-assemblies. This weekend, I will be knocking it out, ideally.

Check back throughout the week as I get into the swing of adding posts and whatnot and if you have feedback, it would be appreciated! What do you want to see here? What input do you have about my workout? Any hobby questions?

Numero Dos: Hobby Talk!

Welcome to my second post! If you are reading this, I appreciate it. Time to delve into the hobby a bit, since I want to do equal time for both that and fitness. Currently, I have a whole slew of projects going. First up is my Ogre Kingdoms - specifically, the Ironskin Tribe. We will start with an 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles "build list". Later on in the week, I will post about my other ongoing projects, but the Ogres really are my primary focus currently.

This army was a dream army of mine for a long, long time and it has been a pleasure to bring it to life one Ogre at a time. Currently, I have spent months working on it, so this post will be a little bit of catch-up on all that. More like a highlight reel, really. If you want to see all the work, I do have posts of it on Dakka Dakka's P&M section and over on the Ogre Stronghold's Gnoblogs section.


So, that is a little highlight reel of the Ironskin Tribe to-date. As I go forward with this project, I will be sure to post pictures of the progress. I recently got myself some Battlefoam cases for them (and my Carcharodons Astra). That was a big barrier for me, because I didn't want to paint them without a safe place to store them after. Now that the holiday madness is over and I have a bit more flexibility in my weekend schedule, I am going to get to painting very soon.

Throughout this upcoming week, I will try to post a bit about the other projects I have going on, so stay tuned if you care to. Also, I am going to toss up my workout routine for this week tomorrow (Monday) once I get it hammered out.

Kicking it off with a long intro!

Me at nearly my heaviest in 2010

From a young age, I have been a few things and while I typically like to eschew labels, they will make this a bit easier. For one, I was an artist. It started when I was drawing dinosaurs and it evolved from there. Now, I do full-size paintings and miniature painting. On top of that, I have been a gamer since Middle School. First love? Battletech. Second? Magic: the Gathering. The former really, really impacted me and is still a game I love. The other thing? I have always been overweight.

Since youth, I have gone from chubby to chunky to just plain fat. Unpleasant as it is, it is still true. However, I have in the last few years made some attempts to reign it in - mostly with small progress and then hitting a plateau. However, last year I started going to a local gym and eating better and as of 2015, I am really putting the effort into it.

That brings us to the blog and why I am putting this out there - because I see just too many fellow gamers who have a similar issue. Now, I don't expect to be the paragon of health, but my hope with this blog is to bring my own experiences to the reader and hopefully inspire those who are in similar shoes.

Jokingly, I call it FLGS. No, not what you are thinking. In this case, it stands for "fat, lazy gamer syndrome" and I know that sounds harsh, but it was what I noticed in myself first and foremost. I am sure somewhere out there on the interest, someone is offended or hurt, but the fact of the matter is we can't make any progress if we deny we have a problem. We do and it is clear as crystal to anyone who attends events where gamers congregate. 

After some weight loss, 2012

I know more than a few overweight and unhealthy gamers and hopefully, including one who passed away due to complications from said lifestyle. However, I am not here to harp or nag or point fingers! No, no. I want to share!

That being said, let us just jump right in!

Right now, I am 315lbs or more. Thankfully, this is down from an unknown weight from 5+ years ago. I was up to a 48 pant size and really, really unhealthy. In 2012, I cut out sodas of all variety which really helped me trim up a bit. Now, I am at a size 42 and have dropped 10% body fat last year thanks to some hard work and a bit of self-control.

So, I go to the gym five days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do weight-training and fat-burning oriented aerobic exercise (I am loathe to say cardio, as that evokes the worst kind of treadmill grinds!). Tuesday and Thursdays, I just do the aerobic portion so my muscles can rest. Simple formula and convenient thanks to my M-F work schedule.

Furthermore, I have cut sugars out of my diet entirely excluding a single "cheat day" per month. I am a firm believer in these, because if I don't get at least one day of less-than-optimal eating, I will fall off the wagon a lot faster (based on experience!).

To add to this, I just got my hands on some new stuff to help my overall health! In the picture is some stuff I got from Bodybuilding.com, a place I go with regularity to look up workout info. They have some decent content and a store. Pictured are my MET-Rx Multivitamins (with minerals and Amino Acids, too!), a trio of Quest Bars to try out as pre-workout snacks, and JYM Shred to help boost my metabolism and help me burn off this spare tire of mine.

Now, I know that was a lot of health-related stuff and honestly, I haven't even scratched the surface of it! In future posts, I will include meals I am eating, workouts I am doing, and various other stuff health and fitness related.

But that's not all, folks!

Nope, because this wouldn't be a proper miniature gaming/painting, role-playing, and hobbyist blog, without showing off at least some of what I am doing, right? As of right now, I am in the build/paint stages and don't get in games (haven't played in years due to a hiatus).

Personal Projects on the workbench:
Carcharodons Astra Space Marine Army (Warhammer 40,000)

Cadian Astra Militarum Army (Warhammer 40,000)

Ironskin Tribe Ogre Kingdoms Army (Warhammer Fantasy)

Questoris Knight Army (Horus Heresy)
Skorne Army (Hordes)

Commission Work on the workbench:
Order of Our Martyred Lady Avenger Strike Fighter (Warhammer 40,000)

Now, I am not here to promote my commission work - I do it on the side to fund my hobby and don't take a lot of work, generally. However, you will see stuff crop up that is for others from time-to-time. In this case, I have an Avenger Strike Fighter from Forge World I am working on for a client. It is in the clean-up stages and I am hoping to get it assembled and primed up tomorrow.

My personal projects I will slowly delve into as the week goes forward so as not to bog down this already ludicrously long intro post any further.

Welcome and thank you for reading! I hope this blog offers at least something to the community to motivate them to get healthy while partaking in our awesome hobby.