Ground Zero Games 30th Birthday and Burning a Joker

Ah, GZG. Been a fan ever since starting my on and off 15mm sci-fi love affair and painting my first not-Wall-E. Remember him? >> Wall-E!

Well, turns out they turn 30 this year. And they decided to give gifts :)

 GZG: 30th BIRTHDAY OFFER!
As some of you may have realised (I know that a few of you have been with us since the start!), GZG is officially 30 YEARS OLD this year!
The very first products I made and sold under the GZG name were produced in 1985, when people had to find out about my products from small ads in the back of White Dwarf (still an independant gaming mag in those days!) and Military Modelling, and then had to send orders by post with cheques or postal orders - yes, kids, there really WAS gaming around before the Internet….

I can't recall exactly what date in 1985 I actually began selling stuff - so July, being the middle of the year, seems as good a time as any - plus my own birthday is also in July, making it a good month to celebrate this milestone (sadly my own is considerably more than GZG's 30 years….).

I was planning to run an offer just for the month of July - but as the Armed Forces Day falls just at the end of June, I decided that I may as well start the Birthday Offer today, a few days early, so that those of you who wish to order this weekend can take advantage of the offer as well as contributing towards my AFD charity donation as detailed above.

So, even though it is GZG's and my birthday, I'm giving YOU the gifts! As it's GZG's 30th, every order totalling £30 or more* which I receive between now and midnight on Friday 31st July will have a generous GZG 30th BIRTHDAY GIFT PACKET of free extras included with the ordered goods! This will be along the same lines as my regular pre-Christmas special promotion - a "goodie bag" of free minis picked by me, that are relevant to the sort of items you have actually ordered - so if you order FT ships, you'll get extra free ship minis, if you order 15mm then you'll get 15mm freebies, and of course mixed orders will get mixed freebie bags! Just like the Christmas offer of course, the bigger your order the more freebies you'll get.....  ;-)
Please don't be cheeky and ask for specific items - it's a gift, after all - but those of you who have received our Christmas goodie bags will know that I do my best to supply interesting things that are actually useful in your games - those of you who have had the Christmas offers will also know that you will get much more value in your freebies bag than you would if I simply offered a % discount - plus you'll have the fun of the surprise!
* I'm keeping the qualifying value extra-simple for this time - if the final total of your order, the amount you actually pay INCLUDING postage and VAT where applicable, is £30 or over - then it qualifies for the 30th Birthday Freebies offer!  :-)
There you go - help to celebrate 30 YEARS of GZG products, and get some great FREE stuff - what could be better?

Thanks for reading,
Jon (GZG), 26/6/15.

On top of that, for this weekend only, they donate 20% off the order value to charity

ARMED FORCES DAY CHARITY DONATION:
This weekend (27th/28th June) GZG are once again supporting the UK ARMED FORCES DAY (www.armedforcesday.org.uk) - as I have done for the last two years, I will be donating 20% of the value of all orders received through the webstore during this weekend (from midnight on Friday 26th to midnight on Sunday 28th) to be divided between a selection of UK military charities - last year I split the donation between Help For Heroes (www.helpforheroes.org.uk), the Combat Stress Appeal (http://www.combatstress.org.uk/) and a much smaller charity but a particular favourite of mine, Hounds For Heroes (https://houndsforheroes.com/) which trains and provides assistance dogs for injured personnel in both the Armed Forces and the Emergency Services.
So, if you've been thinking about ordering something - do it THIS WEEKEND and help to contribute to some really worthwhile charities!

Though not our Armed Forces, we are allies in NATO and I commend anyone who donates to charity supporting soldiers as I feel they are not appreciated enough by most for the difficult task they do.

So....I burned a Joker. Decided this was a good a time as any to get more droids for my 20mm table while doing the right thing, and having spent nothing for the last 2 months (and being proud of that might I add) but with all of the stress lately i kinda feel like I deserve something. Maybe not the right attitude, but I did it anyway.

What I ordered:

GMM-CYB4 x2 (Germy's 2mm range - the land train front. This will be turned into a large single tracked droid with hoses coming out the back....though it depends a bit on how big (or small!) it actually is! Like a portable AC system, on tracks.

GMM-34 x1 (Another from Germy, Quad Transport Walkers, which I turned into walking power generators before here .... which I will do again but now with hoses attached)

RB-01 x1 (25mm robots - ordered them blind, knowing old style 25mm blends in with 20mm usually without any problems....really curious what these look like!)

MEC-02B x1 (15mm large cargo lifter, as a companion for my smaller lifter from Kurhasan)

 SG15-V13 x3 (GZG's 3 robot pack with a not-Walle-E, a not-R2-D2 and another robot containing doubles of each.....meaning I just expanded my collection with 6 more of each...I'm looking forward to making a few derelict Wall-E's :) )

Getting my mind off things - so why not plan a bit?

With Kim back in the hospital :( and the kids with various family members I'm trying to get my mind off things, and what better way for me then to plan my hobby out.


As things are progressing on my village/city, I think it is time to look ahead for a moment, what I have and want and plan a purchase/trade of miniatures to populate it.


Somalia/AK-47
Since the chopper hunt is in full swing, I'll cast my gaze on troops. Delta's, Rangers and Somali's. aka small (20-25 troops), medium (30-40 troops) and large (50+ troops). For Delta's it will most likely be Liberation, Rangers could be Elhiem and/or Liberation and the Somali's can be from various companies. I'd like to do the D's this year, Rangers and Somalis can come in next year. That is if I find any that is. Vehicle wise I'll focus on Technicals and a crashed Black Hawk. Little Birds would be nice for air support but they are pricey. Kits for the helos and Hobby Den for the vehicles. Since my AK-47 nation will be based on Somalia and Nigeria this gives me another reason to work on it.


Afghanistan
I've got a bag of Liberation Taliban ready, I'm just lacking in civillians (but SandS does great ones). I will not be doing any coalition troops, I'll focus completely on the Taliban/Northern Alliance for the Soviet occupation and up to the current day. Since I have so much ready on hand for this, it should be my nr. 1 priority really. But somehow it isn't. It is not like Taliban are hard to paint or something.


Lebanon
I've collected plenty of books with tons of pictures, and I'm stoked to do this. I'm finding the Hobby Den to be a perfect supplier of suitable vehicles for this one. Will be mostly ones and two's as I don't have any collection of miniatures yet, but love to convert Technicals :)


Iraq
1990's up to now (I will not get back again into the Iran-Iraq war other then air war gaming) and purely aimed at scenery. atm I have no interest in painting miniatures for it.


Sci-Fi
Anything goes. Plenty of bits to make add on parts with, and quite a few near modern troops are suitable for it. No rush though, more a in between bits project due to the lack of real 20mm sci-fi Infantry and armour other then conversions.


Pulp
Fortunately, for Pulp, you don't need many figs, so I'll be picking stuff from the sparesbin mostly. More for fun then anything else, though playing Pulp Alley would be nice with them. And I think I need a few mummies :)


WW2
No plans yet. That might change when the Battlegroup book is released though. Scenic wise can be combined with Pulp. Edging towards the Germans again but I might just do 2 300 point forces once I get back in the painting saddle. Long term.


Most of these projects will be because I'd like to have them, finding opponents for them is unlikely for most other then Afghanistan.

Kindness of a stranger and fury of a woman

Last friday, before heading out to the club in Tilburg, I made a detour to Wouter, one of my readers in Belgium, just across the border. He had a few boxes of stuff for me, free if I wanted them. After a good hard look at his display case, in which there was anything from 6mm right up to 15mm, he showed me a stack of boxes and said, that is it. Stacked on top of each other the pile would have been more then half my height! He hadn't toutched the stuff in ages.

After managing to load everything in my car, I was again told I was free to do with it as I pleased, and we exhchanged emailadresses, and his reply is already in so Wouter, I will send you a reply asap after finishing my Blogpost for the day. :)

After a considerable detour (at one part going through a forest on a dirt road, just following locals who seemed to know where to go even if the detour signs in Belgium seem to lack anything usefull like information which way to go! I made it to Tilburg.

It was already past 8, so I could not do too much greenstuff work on the drone, but I managed to make both fanhousings look more organic, for the lack of a better word. A few nice chats and a first hand view at Mark's excellent conversion of a Bloodthirster (I hope I'm getting that right), plus me gazing at the new Mechanicus robots and their engineer, and the soon to be released Techpriest, all brilliant models for Inquisitor.

Came home, told the wife what I had in the car and was met with the foulest look in weeks. She was most definately not pleased! Well, it was (quite) a bit more then what I had expected myself, but our rules are clear, only free stuff can enter the house and anything unwanted must be sold.

Saturday was spent cleaning out the backyard and piling stones, so nothing got done that day, I didn't even manage to unload the car. Sunday my wife needed the car to go over to a friend (she won't be back till monday evening) so it had to be unloaded. I got that foul look again when I carried everything into the house.....

After she left, and I had put the kids to bed I spent a good 4 hours sorting stuff from all of those boxes. I managed to collect a big box of Chaos Space Marines, a big box of Dark Eldar and a box filled with various sprues. Also a box full of Epic Building sprues. All of that will need to go, as I have no need for those armies (having said that, I set all of the Plague Marine bits aside to keep, a good strip and they can be painted to join my Plague Marines) I then sorted all of the metals and painted stuff, again more Dark Eldar, lots of Chaos Space Marines and Terminators, a small painted Tau Force and then 2 big boxes of various stuff, 1 to keep, 1 to sell or trade. A full set of Warhammer Quest heroes inthere as well, plus some enemies, I think I will strip them and use them for painting practice. Also included were a Chaos Predator and a Eldar Fire Prism (with the metal bits), in open but complete boxes. The Predator can stay, the Prism will need to get a new owner.

4 hours well spent, I will need to get the unwanted stuff listed fast cause I'm really running out of room now, so I'm thinking of selling the boxes of Chaos Space Marines plastics, and the Dark Eldar plastics and metals as 2 big lots at a low price locally with free shipping to make room fast.

What a weekend. Thx Wouter :)

Conquering the Lead Mountain

I can always use more incentive to stay on target, and Wouter pointed out to me that there was a initiative to help me with that. It's the:

Conquering The Lead Mountain FB page and historyspiderweb article

The rules are simple enough:

1. No purchasing of new miniatures, EXCEPT if you use a joker.  You get three jokers to use on a figure purchase.  Could be a blister pack, an ebay bundle, or a single figure...you can't splurge. The only exception to this rule is if you need bitz or A FIGURE (Singular) to complete a unit/warband etc.

1.1 - There is an opportunity to "earn" additional jokers.  If you complete an entire project (whole unit/army/warband etc.) with pictures of starting, WIP, and completion, you earn yourself a Joker. 

2.  Gifts do not count against you. Holidays, birthdays etc. Also, if you're given gift cards by your hobby illiterate family or friends, you can without penalty use them on anything you want miniatures wise.

3.  Paints, terrain (or materials), and other hobby supplies do not apply to the no purchasing rule.

4.  At least one hobby related blog post and/or Instagram update a week.  If you instagram, be sure to hashtag your pic with #6MMRPC

5.  Zombtober will be part of the 6 month challenge so, Zombie related stuff during October is ENCOURAGED. Other theme suggestions are welcomed.

6.  Anyone that wants to submit a before and after picture of a miniature that they are proud of completing during the course of the challenge to dmcffd@gmail.com will be entered into the running for a gift certificate to a online wargaming store of their choice.  Judging will be by an un-biased person.  Amount on the gift certificate will be dictated by winners nationality but should work out to about $30 U.S. I (Spiderweb of History) will not be eligible to win. 

It starts  June 1, 2015 thru November 30, 2015 so I'm just in time. Of course I will try to get in the plus by selling more figures as well, but I want to paint too, dammit.

Oh, and the chest I tried to cast last night? 95% ok, so more then passable for a tabletop piece.

Last of the many and a tough choice

Today I received all of the bits needed for the Nurgle Drones (not the baby Drones) plus a large lot from a Belgian collector full of RT era stuff and other bits, many that will be sold off to pay for that and make a profit to go straight into the bank account.

I have 2 more payments to do for a total of 35 euros that had been accepted auctions from 2 weeks ago that I can't back out of.

Which leaves me a deal worth 55 Pounds for a AK-47 army that I agreed to buy as soon as I had the money for it, and for which I have bought quite the collection of aircraft. I've never backed out of a deal before, my word is worth gold to me, but in this case I have to be tough with myself and say no. I've always had nagging doubts about doing AK-47 in 15mm when everything I do, have and love is 20mm, and buying models in 20mm is just as expensive and even cheaper then 15mm. But 2 of my mates liked the idea so much I was drawn into it anyway, happy to have found likeminded individuals that don't live halfway across the globe. I really don't like to disappointing people, but in this case I have to be tough and choose me, myself and I.

And it sucks :( I've been looking forward to it so much. Picked up stuff and traded items for it. And now it has been all for naught. I'm going to return the bits I traded with my friends, sell of the rest and call it quits. The idea will remain in my head though, waiting for better times in the future.

Right, next up, make a blogpost about something nice.

I ain't no Scrooge McDuck

On a more serious note.

After my wifes incident (for lack of a better word) a lot of help has arrived for her and for us. One of them dropped in today to look at our financial planning (to prevent somebody asking for welfare, they send these guys over to make families financially healthy and steer them in the right direction....if possible, before they request welfare). My wife passed the test with flying colours, our mutual account just passed it but I failed it miserably. :(

As of today, my hobby budget is 0. Anything I sell will go into the bank account. I will not spend any money on the hobby for the next 2 months for starters, I'm not even allowed to trade bits (cause that would cost postage). I've already started a online cash registry to see what comes in and what comes out, and I've been shocked to see what I have been spending on the hobby for the last 6 months alone. The gentleman told me I have all of the characteristics of an addict as I refuse any help with clearing out my storage unit and downplay my expenses. On the other side he did praise me for being open about it and wanting change and told my wife to stop pushing me so much to sell, sell, sell as this clearly is a major issue between us.

In short:

• Don't buy anything like miniatures, snacks or other crap (would make me healthier too)
• Don't swap, only sell, ask full postage, no more discounts
• Clean out the storage unit. Visit it weekly, sell what you can, throw out low value stuff and stop paying rent for it as soon as possible.
• Clean out the attic. Visit it weekly, sell what you can, throw out low value stuff and sell all of those fancy high end storage containers you have that are surplus (around 40 of em eventually)

I've asked my mates to check on me, to see that I don't spend any money, and to keep enquiring about running projects so I keep at it. I got two thumbs up on that one, so I want to keep making drones for the next 2 months :)

I'm also told to have fun. Don't be selling all week, do that 2 nights a week and continue the hobby for the other 3. Go out to the club, after you drop by the storage unit. They are not teling me to quit the hobby, but to be more financially responsible with it.

And I agree completely.

Being in debt and buying models has caused stress and grief with my wife that we both can do without. If I keep at it till the end of the year and keep selling stuff I should be able to be debt free to the bank, but I know it will cost me considerable effort to keep my focus (again, that's where my mates come in) but if the end result is a happier wife, I'm all for it.

On a funnier note, the man handling the finances knew exactly what my hobby was about as he has had more clients with the same hobby, and the same problem! I feel I am in good hands, and he's coming over in the evening next week to further discuss steps that need to be taken, so I don't have to use holiday time to leave work earlier to get help. Cause right now, every single euro is needed.

And I'm sure I'll manage just fine.

Nurgle Warband plans

In case you are wondering, I'm building opposition for my Inquisitor(s) first. Nurgle is the first of my Opfors, and I'm feeling really creative for them. My Nurgle won't be full of boils, tears and holes in them, I prefer them much more muted, worn and used, pale and sickly with just the occasional boil. Lot's of rusted and worn equipment.

I intend to build the following:

• Leader, ogre sized
• 2nd in Command
• Priest
• Cultists
• Fast Assault aka Nurgle drones x3
• Heavy Support aka Doomwheels x4
• Real size Nurgle Space Marines 1-2x
• Servoskulls aka mini Blight Drones x5

And just cause we like visuals, for the leader something like this:

2nd in command must be this:

...but with a Chaos plasma pistol instead of a mace.

Priest....undecided. I have a not Chaos Dwarf one that I really like from a company who's name I forgot that is slated for a Mordheim Chaos Warband, but could be drafted in here. Also very nice would be this guy:

(the chap on the left)...and a tad more expensive!

Cultists will be the standard plastic Chaos cultists with a suitable paintjob. Cannonfodder anyway. And I have 60 of them spare from a previous buy.

Drones and Doomwheels you know, for real size Marines just google the term. I've got loads of marine parts in trades so I can build a few for fun, though I will just do 1 or 2 as they will be quite overpowered and only for special occasions :) Mini Blight Drones are also mentioned in the previous posts.

Oh, and chainswords/chainaxes/chainfists will future heavily....for some reason I feel this is a perfect Nurgle weapon, ripping and rending foes apart, creating nasty if not deadly wounds. You can see the theme in the model selection :)

I'll get more ideas as this goes along, but these are the bits I want to be working on for the next few months.