Reaper Bones II Kickstarter unboxing

My Bones II kickstarter rewards arrived from Reaper Miniatures the week before I went on leave.  Here's the haul:

Laid out, there's the core set, the expansion set #2 and some of the extras.

 

The 'Dragons Don't Share' box is super-awesome.  Not just for the dragon and ruins, but the adventurers are sweet sculpts.

When we open one of the boxes, we find ... even more bags of minis! This is the core set contents.

In the background my daughter is assembling her myrmidons for her Warmachine army, the Retribution of Scyrah.

Opening one of the bags, there pile looks even more impressive:

That'll take some painting.  I love what they've been able to do with the lighter material.  The large dragons (I test fit all the larger minis to make sure everything was good) are impressive and have some super-dynamic poses, which would be difficult if not impossible with heavy metal parts.  As much as I love metal miniatures, the bonesium material from Reaper allows their sculptors to make some sweet models.   I'm very happy with the batch, and look forward to putting them under my paintbrush.

Next up: part one of my work to recondition some old wargaming terrain.

Battle in the Glimmerwood

A fine battle was had this past weekend between my stepson and I.  His forces from the Protectorate of Menoth thought they could move through the Glimmerwood unchallenged, but they did not account for the Druids of Orboros.

Here we see some calculations after much 'jack bowling' was done.  It's impressive what a light warjack can do to a host of warriors when thrown through them with the full strength of a Feral Warpwolf.

Despite being initially set back on my heels in the early game (and set on fire a lot), I managed to endure the flame and finally take down Feora for the caster kill and the win.  Overall, it was a battlebox size game (only 14 pts) that we thought was going to be a quickie, and leave time for another game.  Instead, it turned into a 7 round beatdown with no quarter asked or given.  

Well played, Erik, well played, but you'll have to bring more to challenge the Devourer Wurm next time.  It was a great game, with each turn of each round pushing the 'lead' back and forth.  Just what a good game of Warmachine/Hordes should be.

Here's some detail of the next to last round, right before Kaya moved up to a better position, was charged by Feora who couldn't quite take her out, and the Warpwolf came thundering in to finish her.

Writing Through

Just as I wrote before about outlining, now I’m thinking about the idea of ‘writing fearlessly.’  I can’t remember who I heard the term from, but after the last bout of writing, which felt like crap to start with but ended fairly decent (I think), I know what it means. 

It means to just write.  Put words down.  They may be/will be crap.  Or brilliant.  Or just more and more words.  Every time I’ve sat down and looked at a scene and said "how the hell am I going to sort that one out?" I’ve managed to just start writing.  Then, of course, I’d delete the sentence I just wrote and rewrite it.  Maybe I’d leave that one, then do (and re-do) the next.  The third one, maybe I’ll keep that.  The fourth isn’t bad either.  The fifth sentence; woah nelly where did that dialogue come from?   Ugh.  Let’s rewrite that, but the sixth is actually pretty good.  And so on.

Anything can be fixed.  That’s what I tell myself, and I’m quite confident it can be.  Maybe not enough on this piece of work, but on the next, and the next, and the next.  Practice and persistence.

Writing fearlessly means pushing through to the end and pushing aside those doubts and the need to constantly make it better.  Finish first, improve after.

At least with the outline, I know where I’m going, so I don’t have to think about what is going to happen in a scene.  I only need to fill it out and make the scene happen.

Fuegan, the Burning Lance

Another post with finished models.  While I didn't get much writing done in the last few days, I've been productive at the painting table.  Here's some shots of the Eldar Phoenix Lord I've been working on (by working on I mean that I did most of him a while ago, then finished the last few bits recently).

The photo setup isn't the greatest, but it seems to have worked with just a backdrop of white paper and the camera with flash.  I still need to trial some different methods of taking pictures of models, but for today it'll do as I've got a bunch of other things on my plate.

I'd say he looks pretty good.  For those who are interested, the main colour is P3 Khador Red Highlight.  The gun is P3 Blighted Gold (sweet colour for that ancient look) and the green trim is P3 Iosan Green.  It should be noted that the Space Marine helmet on the base is done in the colours of one of my most excellent foes, a Dark Angels successor chapter.  Fuegan has waded through many of those warriors, and it's a good way to 'poke' my friend, with whom I had a good narrative campaign going.  Also, the GW technical Blood Spatter paint makes for good blood dripping out of the helmet.

That's all for now.  More on the painting of a wizard character I have later.

Comic book shelves

One of the projects I was working on around the house before I was deployed was a set of shelves to hold my comic book collection.  Turns out the design I worked out fit in the basement pretty well.  Sadly I didn't take many in-progress shots, but I was more concerned with getting them done (and the basement was a mess as I had to build and sort/shelve as I went).

It was designed to hold the long comic boxes (roughly 30 inches long), three per shelf.  I tested the first shelf just on two beams with three boxes, and I couldn't detect any sagging or deflection, so I know these are sturdy.

As it turns out, they also hold an assortment of other things, including Sterilite brand bins we picked up at Wal-Mart.  With three of these we have lots more storage, rather than the disorganized mess of moving boxes and other stuff.  Much better.  If the ceiling were higher I could put another row on top, but c'est la vie.  I'll have to wait until the next house.

Photo Box

Back again.  What a year!

Since the last time I posted, I was posted to HMCS Regina as the Assistant Engineering Officer, and deployed for NATO Operation Active Endeavour.  That took from May to September.  As a short notice posting it totally threw the plan for the early part of the year.  Believe me, when I came back from four and half months of 24/7 work, I spend my post-deployment leave thoroughly enjoying myself.  Good intentions to post notwithstanding, I didn't even get in any gaming.  I just spent time with my family, worked around the house and generally chilled out.

As the days go on, I'll put up some of the more interesting photos from our various ports of call.

However, for this post I'll show you the photo box I've made.  The plan for it came from Privateer Press' magazine No Quarter issue #53, dedicated to all things PP (Warmachine, Hordes, et al.).  The concept is to have a box, with paper sides, that allows the light to be more evenly diffused so that photos of miniatures look more 'even' and hopefully aren't tinted as much by the bulb colour.  So, without further ado, here's the glorious box (and the two desk lights that will be the first light sources):

Here's a look at the two miniatures without the benefit of a photo box.  This is just with the desk lights, though I did try to angle them beneficially for the light.

Now we have the same photo, only with the two of them in the photo box.

This photo is a bit dim, though the light is diffused and there are no glares.  I moved the lower lights so that they were down at miniature level.

This gives the final results:

It's better, but still a bit dim.  I'll have to play a bit with the combinations to see what lights up the models well but without creating the glare from the first photo.  At least it's a start.  Maybe invest in a higher power lamp too, but we'll see.

The box itself is just a moving box (almost rid of those!), with the sides cut out and tracing paper put over the holes.  I used tracing paper rather than regular printer paper as advised in the NQ article as I found I would have to overlap the papers to cover the hole completely.  I was afraid of either darkening the light or creating a shadow line in the photo.  I also didn't feel like buying a whole ream of 11x17" paper, which I can't feed through my printer and wouldn't really use for much.  Tracing paper I already had on hand.

I may need a smaller box, as this one might be too wide, forcing me to keep the lights too distant to avoid shadows.  If the sides of the box were closer, I could have the lights closer, even if I have to back them away from the paper a bit.  More experimentation is needed.

The models are characters I painted for my daughters in the Pathfinder Roleplaying game campaign we play at home.  Since I hadn't really photographed them before, and they're some fine looking minis, I figured they'd be good test subjects.

Fore those who care, the models are: 03574 - Juliette, Wizard (as my daughter's character Ezreth) and 03566 - Valloa, Elf Thief (as my other daughter's character Merisiel), both in pewter from Reaper Miniatures .

Next up will be some larger models.  Maybe some warjacks will do better in the larger box.

After that, some photos and drawings of the comic box shelves I built over the last year.

Unboxing the War Chest

Posts have been scarce lately.  We've had our kitchen redone, an exchange student come to visit and all the ensuing cleanup, reorganization and other stuff.  Frankly, it's been crazy around here, but the good kind.

However, since I just got my Kickstarter backer reward from the Warmachine Tactics computer game, I thought I'd post up the unboxing.  Especially since the war chest is only now reaching backers.

It's a pretty beautiful piece of work, but let's get on with the photos, shall we?

First, the box.  Well, the mailing box.  And another box inside the box. (Rather well packaged, actually)

My Ironclad warjack wanted to check it out too.  Either that or he just wanted some attention and paint.

Next we open the box, and find, another box!  Only this one is wooden, with sexy sigils on the front.

Very nice.  The gold is thick too, not just a brief dusting across the top.  Ironclad approves!  Inside, there's a large foam sheet.  We pull it up and...

(he's very curious, that Ironclad)

Inside, that thick foam holds in place all the goodies.  There's a coin for each faction's journeyman warcaster, as well as one for Tactics and an additional one for the alternate Sturgis sculpt.  Each of the journeymen models (and the extra bits for evil Sturgis - those and the extra coin I added as additional rewards) are tucked into the cubbies in the lower foam.

Everything arrived super safe, and all the parts are there, which I checked shortly after the photo above. Ironclad can vouch for me, he was watching the whole time.  You can see the special edition dice (which has Cygnar on the six, of course, as that's the way it should be)

Also included were the patches for journeyman and mage, as well as a rather nice thank-you postcard.  All the cards necessary for the models are in there too, including duplicate Sturgis ones (Cygnar and Cryx).

The design of the whole box is pretty sweet.  The lower foam is the harder kind, and you could put your limited sculpt models in there with the coins.  I might want to add some softer foam if they were fully painted, but I doubt this set will see a lot of bumping and jostling, so not a big deal.  The circles for the coins look large enough to hold the coins even if you had them in those plastic coin protectors, so that's pretty cool.  

Here's a shot of the coins themselves.  They are probably the most beautiful part of the whole package.  I admit I just took the photos on my desk, so the quality may be lacking.  I also left the coins in the plastic for now, as I plan to get some protectors in the near future.

And finally, the models in all their glory (unassembled for now, will get on them when I get my gaming table back from the heaps of stuff on it at the moment).

Ironclad agrees; the War Chest is pretty awesome.  (Now paint me!)

I'm looking forward to getting the models together and giving them some paint.  Unfortunately, I'm posted to HMCS Regina in a few weeks, so will have to wait until I get back before I can really give them a go.

Until then, there's a brief preview of the Warmachine Tactics Kickstarter War Chest.  

Ads done right

Due to a lack of other content, I present an ad that totally gets it right.  I'm neither fan nor foe of Nissan in particular, but anytime you put zombie snowmen and a faux-Zimmer soundtrack, it's probably going to be pretty cool.

That's all for today, as it is the Monday of housework and other miscellaneous chores.

They Might Be Giants, 2014

Over at the Reaper message boards, there's an informal competition started for 2014.  Normally I'm not much concerned with competing, but a year long contest to paint a 'large' mini was too tempting.  It's also an informal event, so I'm using it as a chance to paint something I don't do very often.

Cue the Reaper Bones material.  I picked up a few giants to give me some choices (and free shipping, never say no to free shipping).  The cloud giant, frost giant and remorhaz are all interesting, as is the Belladonna figure I grabbed a while ago (L to R in the photo).  Far right is a lovely dram of Jura Superstition single malt scotch whisky, but that's for another post.

However, the one I picked is a fire giant (you can sort of see her in the upper left, above).  I like her stance, the facial expression, and that cloak. Wow. Intimidates me as much as makes me drool to paint it.  She'll need some straightening and other prep, plus some sort of scenic base.  I'm thinking lava flows but we'll see. 

Looking in the Pathfinder Bestiary, I see fire giants are lawful evil and highly regimented and militaristic.  Their hair also looks like flame.  Needless to say, this has my artistic gears churning.  A lava flow base, dark skin and flaming hair.  Something with colour but not too overwhelming for her cloak and some cool armour.  Hmmm, I could enjoy this.  

I check the Pathfinder books not to limit creativity (as I'll ignore what I don't like), but for both inspiration and the basic fact that I use these minis for gaming.  As much as they 're display pieces, I like having some pretty models for the game.  As a GM pre-painted plastics are fine for hordes, but when you've got a special villain, recurring character or something like that, being able to plonk down the exact mini is awesome.  (And if any of my players are reading this, beware! Unless I'm faking you out.  Or not.)

First, however, I have some Eldar models to finish up, but then this will be both a fun project and a palate (palette?) cleanser.  Something in between wargaming models.  

The Adventurers, Part 2

Here are the next two miniatures I painted over the holidays.  As before, my photo setup is rudimentary (actually, primitive would be a more fitting descriptor), so there's a bit of glare from the flash, and the lighting in the office isn't top notch).  First is Chalderos the wizard.

Chalderos was a lot of fun to paint. As with the others, I started with the player's favourite colour, which was red. The cloak was a joy to paint. I'm also in love with P3's Coal Black colour. It's a black with tones of blue-green and looks really good. For those keeping track, the cloak is Skorne Red.  I kept to more natural colours for the rest, so as not to overshadow the main colours. It was tough though. Wizards and other spellcasters can be a pain, due to all the pouches, scrolls, vials and other gear they carry.  I want to make it interesting, but too much variance and it becomes a clownish riot of colour.  I think it turned out well, mostly using bronze and leather colours.  The base is part metal, part sculpted.  Since I put the minis on spare Warhammer 40k bases, I usually have to build up the base with putty to finish it off.  In this case, I sculpted a continuation of the stonework that was the original base. Once painted, you can't tell the difference.  To top it off, the green gem on the staff finishes the mini, adding a complement to the red.

The next one is my daughter's mini, Kyra the cleric of Desna. For this one I used blue. Mainly as it is a traditional Desnan colour, but also because I used her favourite colour (purple) for a mini in another campaign.

The blue is Cygnar Blue from P3 again.  I love this colour. The character is mostly robe, so the blue dominates the miniature.  I went with more neutral colours for the rest of her clothes, even over my daughter's objections to the linen pants (told you it would look great!). The hair also worked well, the rich brown turned out just like I expected.  It's hard to see in the photos, but I did a stylized silver butterfly (one of Desna's symbols) on the robe.  Following the curve of the robe on curved wings ... ugh.  It came out pretty decent though, so I'm happy with it.

Needless to say, the kids were pleased, and we'll have plenty of games to come with them.

The Adventurers

Here's a few photos of two of the miniatures I painted over the holidays.  The first is for one of my daughter's friends, who plays the elven fighter Tiraimi in the Pathfinder RPG campaign I'm running for them (Serpent's Skull adventure path, for those keeping track).

(Note that I do not have a miniature photography studio, so the quality of the pics will not be great)

In this case, the armour, oh the armour.  This was the first time I used the Armour Wash from Privateer Press' P3 paint line.  Wow.  What a difference.  Outside of that, the teal colour is Meredius Blue (also P3) with a blue ink wash and arcane blue highlingt (also P3).  The most fun to paint was the armour.  The white, as usual, was a pain, but hey, it looks good.

The next one is Hubert the dwarven rogue.  For this one, I chose a more limited palette (mostly green, black and some brown leathers) as rogues aren't in the business of standing out.  The beard and face were a joy to paint, and I think the colour mix managed to be interesting yet blend well together too.  

As I said, the pics aren't the greatest.  I'm planning on cobbling together something better in the future.  Next, I'll show off the other two.  They make a pretty good looking adventuring party, if I do say so myself. 

Review of 2013

Not really a review of the year, but a review of the goals I set out.  They weren’t many, but I like to keep things simple.  Sadly, simple and easy don’t get along very well.

Two things came off the list, one was to finish my Phase VI and get promoted.  Done!  Life is good, though it did suck up almost every useful moment from January to the end of March.  Still, totally worth it, as my final board went really well.

The second was to have more miniatures painted than I had before.  Also a win, though barely as it was only a few Eldar as well as some RPG minis.  More on those later.  Still a win though.

As for finishing the first draft of Queen’s Legacy, well, no.  That didn’t happen.  So, it’s on me to get on that and put the effort in to get it done.  Some cases, I had good reason (see getting promoted, above), and in others, I just got lazy/procrastinated.  All it does is push back the eventual publish date (or that of the next, or the next).  On the plus side, I found new energy in the story, and later months were much better for getting writing done, especially once I decompressed from all the studying/working early in the year.

In the end, I have myself to blame for successes, lack of successes and outright failures.  In between goals, we had a lot of fun playing games as a family, I started a new Pathfinder campaign which now plays regularly and got some things sorted out around the house (yes, we’re still unpacking and organizing).  We also got out to Big White ski resort (more on that later too).

Overall, 2013 was pretty good.  Now going into 2014:

1. Finish Queen’s Legacy first draft
2. Begin the editing process on Queen’s Legacy
3. Begin planning the next writing project (during the necessary downtime after Queen’s Legacy first draft)
4. Paint some more models (finish a whole army would be nice)

That’s about it.  More time spent in the writing chair.  In between there’ll be games, some vacations and some sailing time.

Looking forward to it.

Order out of Chaos

This year also marks the final battle against Chaos in my basement.  After living here five years and making only small progress on the remaining basement areas to be cleaned up and organized, the time has come to finish the job.

That and a damned fool cat has made a mess of my tool area by knocking stuff down off the shelves.  On the plus side, I've gotten words in every day for the last few days (save this past weekend, in which we went to Vancouver for my daughter's synchronized swim meet).  On the down side, I just don't feel like wrestling the last bunch of boxes into some semblance of order.

That said, I will also be able to get my comic books sorted out and on some shelves (which will need to be built), so in the long run it will be good.

Maybe some pictures to follow.

Sleepy Hollow

Having seen the first episode of this new series, I was reasonably impressed.  It takes an old legend and puts a new spin on it.  However, the strength of the pilot was less in its concept (though well done), but in how they executed it.

* Possible spoilers ahead *  (I’ll try not to, but you’ve been warned)

The show itself is about the return of the Headless Horseman, though in truth he’s a warrior from the American war of independence (the British side).  The Horseman is slain in combat by Ichabod Crane, who also succumbs to his wounds. 

Flash forward several hundred years or so and Crane wakes up in a cave, supposedly preserved and confused.  The Horseman is also ‘awake’ and starts taking heads.  Enter the police, and one Lt. Abbie Mills (well played by Nicole Beharie).  Conflict ensues, and we are introduced to a demonic plot and at least two covens of spellcasters.  I’ll leave it at that for the plot, as you’re better off watching it for yourselves.

What the story does do very well, is avoid excess complexity.  Rather than infodumping the viewer with massive amounts of backstory, the show starts with the battle where the Horseman and Crane are wounded, then jumps forward to Crane waking up in the cave.  There’s enough to get a sense of what’s going on, but hey, there’s more story to tell so let’s get moving. 

As the story continues, each character is introduced with enough information to give them a place and role in the story, and they develop with the story.  Information is given in the right amount at the right time to both keep the story moving and give the view the information needed to stay involved.  I thought the handling of pacing was well done.

The conflict set up in the show was also clear, simple, and uncomplicated.  There's a situation, a bad guy, and the good guys, and they go after the bad guy because that's what you do.  This isn’t to say it wasn’t interesting.  Far from it.  However, rather than some convoluted plot that will stretch over three episodes, it set up a villain, the plot behind the villain, and allowed the characters to pursue the conflict to the conclusion, and wrapped up the story within the eipsode.  At the end, they introduced more plot hooks and subplots, including some cool surprises, that clearly will work to sustain the overall story arc for a few (hopefully) more seasons.

Finally, what impressed me was the way the characters adapted to the really weird stuff happening in the episode.  Granted, many wouldn’t believe the stories of the Horseman (you know, the whole headless part), as well as Crane’s time-suspending stasis, when the evidence comes in (and the Horseman is standing right there), the characters adapt and work with what’s in front of them.  This includes the police chief and an assortment of other characters.  A few jokes are made (Crane: “you’ve been emancipated then?”) and that’s it.  On with the story, because there’s now a headless whackjob out there murdering people, so we have stuff to do.  They ran the balance between disbelief and practicality, which was refreshing.  The writers stuck with the story, rather than get caught up in what would have been a tiresome gag.

Overall, a thumbs up for the first episode.  Episode 2 is on the PVR and ready for tonight’s viewing and I’m looking forward to where this show goes.  I see potential for some good things here.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

Hope ye've all been speaking as the sons of Davey Jones today.  Yarr, but if ye haven't, a taste 'o the last is all ye deserve!  Harrrr!

Northern Coastline

Here’s a photo I took from the bridge wing of HMCS Edmonton when I was on my MARS IV sea phase.  I can’t remember exactly where we were when I took this, but it was in the general area of the Queen Charlotte Islands and the ‘panhandle’ of Alaska where it comes down the BC coast.  Regardless, I snapped it with my point-and-shoot Nikon L18 camera, and it came out beautifully.

Photo: (c) Rowan Wilson

Just wanted to share that with everyone.  Maybe I’ll dig through the archives a bit more for some more interesting photos from my travels.

I do love going to sea.

Back from vacation

Whew.  Back from a trip back east to visit my parents.  The timing came up last minute, so we jumped on it, which is why posts have been sparse for the last two weeks.  The joys of mobilizing when your boss will be away and you have to get leave passes signed in a day, then make flights, then plan cat care, etc.

Anyway, much fun was had by all, especially the kids who haven't seen my parents' place in Quebec yet.  It's a house on the lake in the near north, and it's beautiful.  I'll get some pics up later.

Despite taking my computer, I must admit I did no writing.  I haven't seen my parents together in about five years.  While I love the west coast, it is far from them.  They've been out individually since then, once to look after the kids while we were in England, and my dad got to go on a tiger cruise aboard ship, but it was nice to have my side of the family all together.

Now it's back to the grindstone, both at the day job and writing.

Ass in Chair

Today’s post is about ass in chair time.  That and my masterful ability to procrastinate or otherwise put off the work.  If there’s anyone able to out-procrastinate me, they clearly haven’t gotten around to it yet.  I’m terrible for it.  I’ll grant myself some things.  Such as January, February and March of this year.  It was all about passing my phase VI board.  Gotta eat you know, and the day job keeps that happening. 

Elsewise, I can be severely undisciplined.  Either distracted by daily stuff, family events or other hobbies.  It’s not that I don’t want to, but some days I just get sandbagged.  Now that I have a lower tempo job, I’ve actually been back at the writing, and it feels good.

In the same vein as passing my board, the only secret I can see is getting my ass in my chair, and writing more and more words until the project is done.

Thus, I am re-committing to push through this book until it’s done, and do so in this year.  So far, I’ve actually kept my promise to myself.  

What has it got in it’s Pocketses?

Here’s a super-cool pocketwatch I bought from the  Steampunk Emporium.

Here's the face open (it has a glass cover):

And the back side, where you can see the various gears and bits:

It’s a wind-up one too.  No batteries.  Keeps excellent time too.  I bought it to go with my Navy Mess Kit (think formal) and it paid off in spades. 

To make the shipping worthwhile, I also bought some steampunk-ish goggles, and replacement lenses in blue (photos later).  This is for the Cygnaran look, and maybe to develop a new costume to go to cons in.  We’ll see.  For now, when I play Warmachine, I have the legit Cygnar look.  Now I just need a set of warcaster armour.  

Musical Accompaniment

I work with music.  Always.  Hell, whenever I’m home I’d have the CD player going with something.  Can’t stand radio, it has to be something I want.  As I draft this, I've got some Roxette playing in the background. The Tourism CD, I believe.

Reading: I pick something that will thematically go with the novel I’m reading.  Other things (game books, non-fiction) it can vary, depending on what I'm in the mood for.

Gaming: We use something appropriate for the game (i.e. fantasy for Pathfinder, Star Wars for Star Wars, etc), kept at a decent volume for playing.  In the past we’ve had ‘dire situation’ tapes made up for action scenes.

Wargaming: Same thing, usually more militaristic or modern soundtracks.

Painting: Depends on the mood.  Right now I have 25 CDs in on random, chosen from across my collection.

Housework: Crank the volume and the adrenalin.

Pretty much everything I do, I’d do it to music.  As I said, radio tends to have too much stuff I don’t care about, or they just talk inanely about something I don’t care about.  I’ll pick a CD to match a mood, or to accompany what I’m reading.  If it weren’t for the fact I’m up and out before my wife wakes up, I’d have the music on all morning too.

The same applies when I’m writing.  I know some authors have playlists (Carrie Vaughn puts it in the front pages of each of her Kitty novels) that are a bit more specific.  I made a playlist for Queen’s Legacy that, rather than the lyrics, works to evoke the mood I want to maintain for the main character.  In this case, there’s a lot of Rage Against the Machine, KMFDM, Evanescence and Nine Inch Nails.  My protagonist is angry, and she isn’t afraid to show it.  The whole playlist isn’t like that, but there’s a good dose of ass-kicking music. 

It also certainly helps that it’s a high-energy playlist that keeps the energy in my fingers as well.  I’ve avoided using any kind of franchise soundtrack, as they tend to evoke more the worlds they were written for, as opposed to my own feeling.  The exception would be the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks by Bear McCreary.  They have just the right sense of angst.

It also helps to have a fair selection of music.  I noticed last time I was at the music store I had each of a Saliva, Yanni and Sarah McLachlan album in my hands.  I am not limited to a single genre, artist or style.  And yes, I still buy CDs.  For film/TV scores in particular, I like having the full disc worth.  I could download, and eventually I’m sure I will, but for now I like having a collection of one artist’s songs on one item.  That and maybe I’m just old fashioned enough to hold to the concept of an ‘album.’  I rip them onto my device for portability anyway. 

Back to the topic at hand.  I’ve found that having music playing while working makes the work easier, smoother, and creates a better environment.  For me at least.  I know others who need total silence, but I find that a bit weird.  As they say, one’s mileage may vary.

Right now, it’s back to the mix of 25 CDs set on random while I do some squad organization and upkeep on my Eldar and Cygnar armies.