Hi Greg it's me again!

You may have noticed there are no ads on this site. Or you may not have, if you are using those newfangled adblocker thingies. The reason is that I am doing this purely for the fun of it. I pay for the hosting out of my own pocket and I'm lucky enough to be gainfully employed and able to afford this hobby.

Recently I ran into a rant from a journalist whose articles I have enjoyed. For clarity it should be mentioned that it was not Greg. He was bemoaning, and I think that word is appropriate given his general expletive-filled style, that people using adblockers are hurting his income.

I agree with this. He is free to pursue his chosen profession and to seek financial compensation for doing it. Even I don't do everything for free. It's just putting stuff on the net is a hobby for me while it's work for him. I enjoy his articles enough not to mind the generally reasonable amount of ads associated with them. That's the price of admission and I'm willing to pay it.

Blocking ads is like any other form of freeloading: It works as long as only a small group of people are doing it. They can feel smug about getting stuff for free while everyone else pays, but the system works as long as they are in the minority. When it becomes the norm, things will change on way or the other.

If commercial sites are reporting that nearly half of their readers are blocking ads, we are getting near that breakpoint. Things will change.

How? I don't know. Maybe commercial publishers will just throw in the towel. This is already pretty much the case with the encyclopedia business. Maybe publishers will move to paid subscription model. Maybe the ads in free content will become even more intrusive and harder to block, like being burned directly into the video feed. Most likely a combination of different things, at least at first before a new dominant model emerges.

But one thing I do know: Even if all the commercial publishers go the way of the dodo, there will still be content on the net.

Because of blockheads like me.

Whatever you think of my stuff, I think we can agree it wouldn't magically turn better if you had to pay for it.

Ok, enough about that. Here's a short recap of miniature related stuff:

Project H2:

I applied decals to all the Slammers vehicles. I got the official ones from Ainsty and even though they are pretty nice, there is something to be desired. I was supposed to get two tank sheets and two combat car sheets, but judging from the company letter codes, I think I got three tanks and just one car sheet. In addition, the tank names don't match the official list and the black text doesn't show that well on the color scheme anyway. My biggest concern now is that I need to get more of them but since they are sold as random collection, how can I guarantee getting numbers I don't already have?

I'm still waiting for the magnets for the Prosperity rebels, but I will start painting the tank hunters as soone as I have done a test piece with my new stencils. I've been looking into different tank camo options but I have a hard time making up my mind. There is always solid olive drab... but I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and try something.

Resolutions

The ferach cavalry is progressing. This is going to be a tough one. I've just about finished the horses but I still have all the riders to do. Napoleonic style horses are only slightly easier to do than the men, or elves in this case. And as I noted previously, since the figures are not historically correct it makes using real historical painting references a wee bit difficult at times. One must improvise when the fantasy uniform or equipment does not match its inspiration.

With other stuff piling up, I will be hard pressed to finish these in time. I should be able to do it barring very exceptional things, but I fear it will impact my general output, I won't have the time to do much else.

Quite frankly, this is not much fun anymore. Thankfully the remaining two batches are much more modest in size, even though they contain a bunch of character models to be painted individually.

Project H

I ran a couple of Heist training sessions, one of them for complete newbies. It was interesting to compare their approach to the game. Because Heist is a bit different game experienced players have to unlearn a few established habits. New players did not have this problem as they came into the game without preconceptions. I think this level of skirmish gaming is also probably they easiest to grasp -- you only have to imagine yourself on the battlefield and think what you'd like to do. That is usually at least a reasonable option.

Heist is also getting closer to actual publication. I looked into some publishing options and made a few changes to the layout to comply with publication requirements. Yes, Heist will be available on paper. You will be able to order a print-on-demand copy for the production costs. It's not that I'm particularly altruistic, it's just that I don't want to waste my time doing the tax paperwork so I need to keep it at zero profit level.

Not sure if I will go the same route with the supplements, preparing for print publication is quite a bit of extra work. Maybe they will be available as PDF downloads only. That's where I ran into a bit of problems. The well-known distribution sites don't want to be download hubs for free stuff, so you can't become a publisher with them unless you actually sell something which I don't want to do for the reasons stated above.

The Heist campaign is ready to start, and hopefully Mr. K and Mr. L will be finished in time for the first game. And then they get a change of clothes and I need to paint another set for the next game. Argh!

P.S. I really would have liked to link to Greg's site instead of the Wikipedia entry, but it doesn't seem to be up anymore. Make of that whatever you will.

maxxon