Liebster award

This little blog of mine recently received a Liebster award nomination from Simon Bradley of Stone Cold Lead so here it goes.

The idea of this award is to promote other blogs and get to know the people behind them. The exact rules seem to be changing constantly so this is the rules set I got from Simon's post.

11 Truths

First off is a list of eleven truths about myself. Let's see...

1. I find spelling and grammar errors horribly annoying. Even as a non-native English speaker I hate it when people don't get they're shit together.
2. I am a rabid collector. When I get to know something new that I really like, then I have this urge for completeness. E.g. I always check for special and limited editions before buying CDs.
3. I am a huge fan of the art of Carl Barks and Don Rosa. Consequently, a childhood dream come true was acquiring the complete Carl Barks Library.
4. In 6th grade I used to sell felt pen drawings of the Disney ducks for about 1 DM a piece (ca. 0.50 EUR nowadays). 
5. As a child when asked about my favourite colour I would say "colourful".
6. The only two alternatives to studying computer science that I could imagine were art and psychology.
7. My mother forced me to get my first computer as a Christmas present when I was 13 years old. I didn't want it but she said I would need to learn using one. I demanded I at least got a cool game along with it and chose Atlantis: The Lost Tales.
8. I am a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock's films and have 41 of his 53 films on DVD. Did I mention I am a rabid collector?
9. I don't have a Facebook account but I enjoy keeping up to date via Twitter.
10. My favourite author is Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
11. Game of Thrones seems to be all the craze but I gave up during episode 2 because I find the entire cast totally dislikable.

11 Answers to 11 Questions

These following questions were asked by Simon as part of the nomination.

Q: Do you have a model or group of models that hold a particular sentimental value to you, and if so why is that?
I started the hobby with a Beastman army when the Warhammer Chaos army was first separated into three individual army lists for Daemons, Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen back in 1997. When a friend showed me the advertisements in White Dwarf I immediately fell in love with the style, character and colours of the Gors and Minotaurs. Because of that Beastmen still have a special place in my nerd heart and if I ever where to return to Warhammer it would be as a Gor chieftain.

Ghortor leading my Beastmen army into battle

Q: If you could have your likeness sculpted in miniature what type of model would you choose?
I would definately choose a pirate outfit with tricorne and a bunch of braces of pistols. Sculpted by Tom Meier if I get to choose that also - his Captain Tom sculpt is amazing!

Captain Tom, painted by Thomas List

Q: What video game would you most like to see a range of miniatures based upon?
Very recently I completed Thief 4 on the Playstation. The architecture of the city is a beautiful mix of medieval and victorian style with a bit of steam punk. The pipes aside it is how I would love my Gierburg table to look like. The characters also fit nicely into my setting so I would love to see a range of Thief miniatures. I have actually thought about sculpting a similar thief model myself.

Garret, the master thief

Q: Would you like to see Games Workshop go under and disappear from the industry completely?
Absolutely not! What I would want Games Workshop to do is produce games and miniatures that appeal to me. Since I am not the army type but the skirmish type this means they had to resurrect Mordheim in some way. But that is just my personal wish and I understand that this is not profitable. I have long learned to enjoy other companies' products or just do my own stuff. I think what a lot of people have to accept is that Games Workshop is a big company nowadays and it is the responsibility of its managers to make that company earn money. Yeah, I know that they are also failing on that front these days. But why should we even care really? The people who complain about GW usually have already turned to other companies and games anyways. To me it often seems like they are bitter boys who cannot accept that their first love is now happy with another guy. Just get over it and move on. Maybe in a few years you can be friends again.

Q: Do you have a guilty pleasure when it comes to miniatures? A particular model or range that kind of sucks but you love it anyway.
I really can't think of anything. I mean, we're talking wargaming miniatures here. I know a lot of people who would say this all sucks if I asked them. So I don't.

Q: Slotta bases, love 'em or hate 'em?
I think the concept of slotta bases is awesome. For years my miniatures are based on resin bases by Fenris Games, which requires pinning the figures on the bases. This is easy with figures that come ready for slotta. What I hate are integral bases! Removing them from the feet is a lot of boring work - depending on how solid the metal is. Removing integral bases from resin figures is even worse because the legs/feet easily break off.

I know many people prefer thin bases: Pennies or thin plywood discs so that the bases better integrate with the gaming board. For those bases and if you only have simple earth/mud on your bases then integral is the better choice, of course.

Highwaymen painted by Simon Bradley. The figures from Outpost Wargames originally came with
integral bases and Simon had to remove them so they could be placed on the resin cobblestone bases.

Q: What was the most disappointing miniature or game you've ever purchased?
I don't quite remember the company or range but I remember buying figures that I thought looked cool and would fit nicely but then found out they were some weird 35mm scale or something. That was the first experience that made me aware of the differences in scale in the world of 25mm to, let's say, 32mm, where - in a perfect world - everything should be compatible instead of everybody doing whatever they feel like or just to stand out (pun intended).

Q: Have you ever seriously considered selling off all your models and games and just packing the whole hobby in?
No and yes. First, I cannot imagine selling all of my models, ever. I have a lot of great memories associated to most of them. I don't think I would make enough money to outweigh the loss. Considering how painting a single building can easily take up to 40 hours and more, there is just no way that selling it for under 100 EUR (because no one would pay what it is "worth") would make any sense to me.
Second, I have already often silently "quit" the hobby. I have a few hobbies that keep asking for time and attention and it is usually in phases that I tend to them. These phases can be weeks, months or even years. But ultimately I return to them sooner or later. I have been enjoying tabletop wargaming - the collecting, building & painting and gaming aspects - for long enough by now to be sure that I will be enjoying it for many years to come. No matter what breaks there may be in between.

Q: Will zombies ever lose their appeal amongst painters and gamers?
Of course not! Who would want to miss zombies? Granted, I don't think I need to see another zombie survival kickstarter within the next ten years. But zombies are cool. They make for great troops in Fantasy armies and for perfect enemies to kill in the dozens in modern settings. As a painter it is satisfying to paint zombies because you can get away with a lot. As a gamer it is satisfying to have your hero plow through hordes of zombies.
With that being said, I have to admit that I am not an overly huge zombie enthusiast. I think they make for great and cool quick game concepts but are not particularly useful for deeper concepts. As a skirmish gamer I appreciate them as a good NPC choice to pose a danger to the relevant characters. It is the fate of the zombie to be the nameless bad guy. But sometimes that is just what it takes to entertain us.

Q: What's the best bargain you've got off Ebay (miniatures/gaming related)?
I have never bought many miniatures from Ebay. I usually shop directly at the manufacturers - thanks to PayPal and the EU for making this very easy.
I think the best gaming related deal I made was years ago: a set of four Tarmogoyf cards for Magic: The Gathering directly after the card was released. The set was 8 EUR and soon after the card went up to 30 EUR each.
Not neccessarily a bargain but I bought the first building I ever got and painted via Ebay: The Coaching Inn, sculpted by DIMA and never really on sale somewhere I could have bought it. So I appreciate Ebay not as a source for bargains but as a source for rare items.

Q: Gem or opaque dice?
Gem dice are for girls. Everybody knows that.

11 Blogs

I suggest the following eleven blogs for a Liebster Award. I think they didn't get one before - or at least don't have an according post - and they have less than 200 followers from what I could see.

1. A Fistful of Minis
2. Miniature Warfare
3. Liber Malefic
4. The Nuton Cave
5. Fantasy-Gelände-Modelle
6. Diorama de Trafalgar
7. Fist Full of Seamen
8. Tabletop-Fantasywelten
9. Back of Beyond
10. From the Knife's Edge
11. Zaboobadidoo

11 Questions

Finally, these are the questions I would like to see the nominees answer.

1. What was your first miniature and when did you get it?
2. Fantasy or Science Fiction (or something else)?
3. A battle of armies or a skirmish with warbands?
4. One-off games or campaigns?
5. As a gamer, do you spend more money on figures or on terrain? Why?
6. What was your greatest annoyance in the context of the hobby? A beautiful figure that got ruined when varnishing it? A fellow gamer that always cheated? Figures that were stolen?
7. If you had to give away all of your miniatures, terrain, rules, etc. except for one single game including its ascociated figures, what would that be?
8. What is your favourite non-miniature game (board game, video/computer game, etc.)?
9. What is your favourite film/director/genre?
10. What is your favourite book/author/genre?
11. What is the miniatures project of your dream that you may tackle some day?