Woohoo our stuff arrived

Yes, after 3 months of living out of several suitcases our possessions have finally arrived in NZ. To say we're excited is an understatement, the boys have gone into overdrive and thrown toys all over the new house. We keep opening boxes and exclaiming "I'd forgotten we had that". It's hard not to start enjoying our stuff rather than actually finding a place for it. Otherwise we'll just end up surrounded by boxes.
So now we need to sort out some internet service and I can start blogging properly again, rather than writing gibberish on my phone!
Normal service shall resume shortly(ish).

I Got Older!

Apparently there’s this weird tradition of people celebrating the passage of time in relation to how long you’ve been alive. Now I’m not much for socialising or parties, especially if I’m the reason for the celebration however as I would be celebrating this rather significant birthday on the other side of the planet my relations decided to throw a bit of a going away / happy 40th party.

Now this was a month before the actual event and involved the usual cake, buffet food and gift giving which is all very nice and enjoyable. However then we had the adventure of getting to New Zealand, starting a new job and just generally restarting our lives so as you can probably appreciate I completely forgot about my impending 40th(ness).

However my wife being a kind and caring soul (unlike me!) arranged for a little birthday weekend for us all (all being the four of us), with a day out at the coast (Paraparaumu), cake, swimming and presents! Now she has known me for quite some time now so understands me better than I do myself most days, and accordingly got me two very nice presents, as shown below:

The WETA Collectibles Catalogue 2013.



No I don’t collect their range of statues/collectibles however there are some great pictures inside that are incredibly useful colour guides for painting models for LoTR/Hobbit SBG gaming. In fact I used their Boromir statues as a colour guide for painting Boromir from the Fellowship!

Also it isn’t solely restricted to WETA’s Lord of the Rings activity as they also show their range of Narnia (ugh), King Kong (average), Halo (interesting), District 9 (awesome!) and Dr. Grordborts Infallible Aether Oscillators (double awesome) collectibles.

Lord of the Rings Chainmail

Unfortunately our meagre budget couldn’t stretch to a full suit of chainmail however I am now the owner of a key ring holding several links of chainmail from the films. Obviously my key ring has chainmail cut directly from Aragorn’s armour during the Battle of Helms Deep and not some unknown extra who was on screen for 3 seconds at the Battle of Pelennor fields. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. Although that extra could have been one of the Perry’s, wouldn’t that be cool.

What a geek I am!

“A Dwarf a day keeps the doctor away”

3 months without access to any of my painting supplies or models and I was starting to go a little bit crazzzyyyyy. Trying to get any hobbying done with limited supplies, no working space, poor light or variety of models is pretty demoralising. You don’t realise how good you’ve got it till it’s gone!

Anyway whilst completing Borosean, erm I mean Beanomir I looked woefully at my model collection and thought “what shall I paint next? Is it Legolas or shall I do something completely erm, the same and paint Gandalf?” after all that’s pretty much all I brought with me. However whilst rummaging in my toiletry bag of Vallejo paints (yes that’s what I was keeping them in) I spotted something that had been staring at me for the last 7 years without really getting the attention it deserves. Bear with me as I elaborate.

Much like many people that work in an office environment you manage to collect all manner of knick knacks that sit on your computer monitor and personalise your space. I don’t recall why but I’ve had an old GW Troll Slayer staring aggressively from the top of my monitor for ages. In the mad scramble to pack everything up for our mammoth journey to NZ I completely forgot to empty my desk until my very last day at work. So shoving everything into a card board box, I said my tearful goodbyes (yeah right) and legged it out the door.

Obviously I had piles of crap that I’d probably never use or need again so prior to our flight I sat one evening and applied my very technical sorting methodology – Bin, Charity, Keep! Lots went in the bin, UK charities may have received something useful they could sell and a very select few made it to my keep pile, the Troll slayer being one of them. So not knowing what to do with him and running out of room in the caravan we were living in at the time I bunged him unceremoniously into my paint bag!

Fast forward three months and there I am running out of fun things to paint and needing a break from the Fellowship, and who decides to peer up from beneath the paint pile but none other than Snorri Guntharrsson, scourge of the two seas (he’s not that keen on ships so he’s only managed to see two seas so far).

Since Scott painted up the rather exciting pirate assassin Edward Kenway for his son Chris (http://scottswargaming.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/edward-kenway-pirate-assassin.html?m=1) I’ve had some rather annoying piratical urges. I thought it might not be prudent to conduct any actual piratical activity in Wellington as I’m sure the authorities would frown on such behaviour (and kick us out of the country), so I decided to sate my urges by painting some stripy pants! I know it’s not really up there with Pirates of the Caribbean but its scratched that itch for a while. I have a few more Dwarves of ill repute that can be co-opted into a pirate themed world so you may see some more gracing these pages before long

Now if I can just get my hands on Long Drong’s Slayers……..!

"I would have followed you, my Brother……my Captain……. my King….”

Upon first seeing who had been cast as Boromir for The Lord of The Rings movies I was a little dismayed to find out it was Sean Bean. That’s not to say that he isn’t a good actor it’s just that sometimes he struggles to completely eliminate his Yorkshire accent and this can get a little annoying, especially when you want to get immersed in a movie and then something profoundly real and normal jumps out at you, like an accent from your home county, it can break the spell and pull you out of the story.

Anyway after seeing the films at the cinema I was ok with the casting, “he did a passable job I thought” but to my mind didn’t quite capture the full essence of the character of the book. It was only after rewatching the films a few times on the extended DVD did I start to like Sean’s portrayal. I especially like the scenes at the recapture of Osgiliath where it’s clear the unconditional love between Boromir and his brother Faramir along with how much the soldiery of Gondor idolise their brave captain! Here was a true hero, beloved of his people and worthy the accolades bestowed upon him and yet down to earth and able to mingle with the men under his command, but with a huge ego admittedly, earned through feats of bravery.

So when you read the book or see the film the first time it’s not immediately clear how much of a hero Boromir is, especially as the majority of the narrative only features him when he is exposed to the ring! Its only when Frodo slips away during their argument at Amon Hen that Boromir is exposed as a man, not some mythical hero to be enthroned as the perfect soldier but just a normal man with weaknesses as well as strengths. It’s at this point that his arrogance falls away and you see Boromir the man striving to correct his mistake, he finally understands that there are some things that are beyond him. And it’s this realisation that allows him to accept that Aragorn is to a degree greater than him and Boromir now has someone to look up to! Hence the quote as the title of the post.

So suffice it to say in the movies Boromir is introduced as a Hero, appears to become evil, is revealed to be just a man with the usual weaknesses and strengths, and finally becomes a Hero again!

Now on to the model, once again the sculpt is spot on for the movie character, I wasn’t sure that I’d enjoy painting this one however he practically painted his self.

I also have Boromir as Captain of the White Tower and I am now looking forward to painting that along with Faramir as a Ranger.

I must track down some Warriors of Gondor!

Oh and apologies for the poor pictures, I took them with my wife's iPad. I really need to work on my camera skills!

" All that is gold does not glitter...."

Following on from my completion of the Hobbits of the Fellowship and Gimli, I decided to tackle Aragorn from the Fellowship set. This is my favourite incarnation of Aragorn as it seems to have the right amount of “don’t mess with me I’m a descendant of Numenor” in the pose. I have seen lots of painted up versions and also have the Fellowship Journey book with the painting guide however I really don’t like the bright colours they suggest and have therefore gone with muted, dark colours.
Well I gave it a go in my muted style and I have to say I don't like him. I don't know why, I'm just not happy with the way he's turned out. Maybe it's because he was painted in two hemispheres! I guess that means I'll have to get another one!
Anyway next up is that stalwart of Sheffield, erm I mean Gondor - Beanomir, err I mean Borosean.....

Two weeks in and I'm Feeling Fine...........

The title alludes to a song lyric in case you're wondering. So we've made it two weeks without imploding, after our mental flight we're finally starting to relax and catch up on sleep. The kids have adjusted instantly as to them it's just one big holiday, having mummy and daddy to themselves for the last few weeks has probably helped.

Anyway the first week involved getting oriented and familiar with the surroundings and neighbourhoods, we spent quite a lot of time going to the public playgrounds and the beach. However three days in and the hire car got broken into, glass all over the kids car seats. What makes it worse is that we're in a really nice neighbourhood, we left nothing in the car to steal and it's one of those fancy ones that has a key less ignition so you can't even hot wire the damn thing. Oh and we hadn't sorted out our mobiles so we had no phone to call the hire company. In the end I had to drive it across Wellington, wind and rain blowing in the window, all the way to the airport to swap it for one that wasn't smashed up. Now I just have to wait for the hire company to charge us a stupid amount of money to replace a smashed quarterlight!

We did manage to fit in a little visit to the Weta Cave while we were getting oriented. To be honest I didn't even plan it, we just happened to be in Miramar and took a wrong turn and the kids shouted 'Trolls' (they've never even seen any of the films, it must be in the genes), so obviously we had to call in! We didn't watch the free documentary or pay for the guided tour however we know where it is now so when the kids are old enough we'll make it a family outing!

The second week started off pretty good with me settling in to the new job and finding my feet. I've managed to trade up on the view from the office window - from disused Thatcher era concrete hospital ward full of rotting windows and rogue pigeons to a 9th floor view across Wellington bay to the hills above Eastbourne. Even on a bad day it's one hell of a view!

Unfortunately no hobby time yet, not much motivation to be honest and priorities have dictated my activities (make sure the kids are ok, wife's ok and job's ok). However the lure of my limited stock of paints, brushes and LoTR mini's is calling, I've still to finish Boromir, Gandalf and Legolas before the ship arrives with my lead/plastic mountain and I'm hoping to hook up with blog follower Ashley and the Wellington Warlords soon. Not to mention meeting the author of the excellent scottswargaming.blogspot.com - Scott and hopefully see some of his awesome gaming boards in the flesh (so to speak).

Oh I did manage to read something a little bit war gaming related in the last two weeks - Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield (I think). I loaded it onto my kindle before we left on the recommendation of the WWPD podcast and I have to say it was an excellent read. Although I'm focusing on LoTR at the moment I am also heavily obsessed with WW2 and in particular all activity in North Africa. The book is a fictional factual book (that is to say it's written almost as a biography however the main character/author doesn't exist and some of the action never happened). It focuses on the actions of the LRDG and their exploits during Monty's counter push after El Alamein.

So it seems I'm missing my WW2 figs however I don't have to wait too much longer as our stuff should arrive in Wellington on the 22nd (all being well). I did have a nightmare moment when, upon logging in to the shippers website and seeing where our ship was it said that it was about to dock in Busan Newport (South Korea) which is definitely not on the way to NZ. A few panicked emails later and it turns out that they simply didn't up date the info online as our container changed ship at Singapore.

So hopefully the next post should be back on track with hobby related content as we're finally getting settled and I can start thinking about stuff again.

Laters

Ste

The Flight to the End of the World

Wow what a mental week or so it's been. As you may have guessed from my blogging absence I've been busy ferrying my family the 12000(ish) miles to our new home at the end of the world (or New Zealand for all you normal people).

Our journey began on Wednesday 20th with an early start in the caravan in Harden, West Yorks to make sure we'd packed everything and get down into Bingley to meet up with the local garage, we were selling the car too. Then it was off to the playgym in Keighley to try and entertain/exhaust the boys, while I hightailed it over to the rental car company to pick up the car we would be driving down to Heathrow (200 miles ish!).

Then without any ceremony I filled the car with our luggage and we were off! Our household possessions had already been floating for a week and were somewhere in the Mediterranean so we would be living out of this luggage until they arrived in NZ (about 8 weeks hopefully). The next bit passed uneventfully with a boring drive down the M1, overnight stay at a Holiday Inn near Northampton and then a quick scoot round the M25 (designed by the devil if you believe Terry Pratchett) and straight into Heathrow!

Once we'd handed over our luggage to the lovely people at Qantas we went through security we were hit with our first snag - 3 hour delay on the flight. Qantas being Qantas they quickly handed out meal vouchers worth £12 per person (£48 for us then!) which we struggled to even spend one of (picky little kids and a nervous flyer who wasn't hungry).

Anyway once we'd whiled away the time watching planes take off and land we'd trundled onto the plane and took our seats, plugged the kids into the inflight entertainment and we were off. I have to say the Airbus A380 is a lovely plane, very quiet and Qantas have a great inflight entertainment system (iPads in the headrest of every seat). 6 hours later we land in Dubai, airport staff were great, it's 1.30am local time so 10.30pm in our heads and the kids haven't even slept yet but mummy and daddy are bushed. Quick turnaround and we're back in the same seats on the same plane and plugged in to the movies again, however this time we made the kids get some sleep.

12 hours later we land in Melbourne!

So now it's something like 1pm in our heads but 11pm in Melbourne and I've managed to grab about an hours sleep in the last 31 hours. We've got 10 hours till our next flight so we go through customs, grab our luggage and check in to the Holiday Inn to squeeze in a little sleep. This turned out to be a good choice as it's 400m from the airport, comfy and quiet and even better has a great shuttle and lovely staff. After feeling a bit refreshed after our 6 hour snooze we get back to the airport and join the queue for check in. The queue was boring but over quickly however watching the irate Aussie bloke try and brake the ATM in the doorway with a bollard and then get manhandled by the enormous Copper certainly livened things up.

Once through security, customs and bio security checks we finally get to the tiny little Airbus we'll be on to Wellington, my wife gets worried again (nervous flyer, remember) but once on board we're settled in and off. We have pretty much the pick of the seats as the flight isn't full and Qantas are up to their usual standards. 3 hours 15 minutes later we land in cloudy and wet Wellington, it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Through the usual bio and customs checks at which point the lovely Kiwi immigration officer points out that two of our passports are incorrect, something to do with a checksum that their software calculates from the bar code thingy on the passport, and if we want to travel on it again we need to sort it out with the UK consulate - great!

Pick up the hire car, once again pile all our luggage in and drive over to our temp accommodation, purely by memory as the dumb ass driver ( that's me by the way) forgot to print out a map. Weirdly it's not far from where we stayed the last time we were here so it's easy to find, and Wellington isn't that big really.

So we collapse into the villa we've rented in Wadestown, Jeremy the owner already has the fire lit and has got in a few essentials (eggs, bread and milk etc) so we can just unpack and get the boys some tea and ready for bed like normal.

Total journey time door to door 64 hours