Author Archives: Gavin Syme

‘Robo Basho Arto Framo’

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Just another print on the wall…blame Pink Floyd

I actually carried out what this post is about a couple of weeks ago but work and other things have kept me from publishing this post…mainly as until this morning I thought I already had!

In a previous post I told you all about the artwork and article Sam Croes and I had created for Irregular Magazine.  Sam based the artwork on my description of the giant fighting machines of the 22nd century.  I thought the image was so awesome that I had it printed at a very high resolution and then framed by Green Jam here in Girvan.   Green Jam do an excellent job in framing, highly recommended.  Its an A2 sized print in top grade ink on a thick vellum like paper which is a little raised for a rich feel which was then fitted into a wooden frame with white border.  Normally I only place frame prints of my wargame titles on the walls (you can see DarkeStorme to the right of the Robo Basho picture) but I made an exception here.  Eventually wall space will run out but for now I am gold as they say.

Sam saw the print when he was here last week and he liked it a lot.  I offered to send him another A2 sized print if he desired it, perhaps he shall.

Anyway call it a sin of pride but I just wanted to show you all what I got!  🙂

GBS

The Thinker gets 10 Stars!

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What a magnetic kid!

Coming home from school today the oldest of my three sons, the Thinker, presented to me his beloved father the latest example of his achievement at school.  A metallic magnet plate telling him that he had reached the point of  having ten stars in his class.  Stars are given for good work, good behaviour, good time keeping and helping others.  I think of it more as ‘citizenship points’ than ones for education.  He does well every year in this and his teacher has told me that he looks out for others constantly…if only all human beings were this way.

Well done me laddo!

GBS

Doctor Who’s Dalek creator Ray Cusick dies aged 84

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Doctor Who’s Dalek creator Ray Cusick dies aged 84

I learned today that the man who created the iconic shape and form of motion of TV’s most vicious foe had died from heart failure.  Ray Cusick may not have been as famous as Terry Nation or as recognisable as Tom Baker when it comes to Doctor Who but his contribution to the series went a long way to making what it was and what it has become in recent years.In a 2008 episode of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC Three, Mr Cusick explained that inspiration for the Daleks’ design came from a lunch with special effects expert Bill Roberts, who was responsible for making the creatures.

“Mr Cusick picked up a pepper pot and moved it around the table before he said: “It’s going to move like that – no visible means.” Dr Who viewers were told on the show that the Daleks had been the creation of a scientist who believed they would help him survive a war on their home planet of Skaro. But the alien race was later responsible for his death. Mr Cusick, from Horsham in West Sussex, leaves two daughters and seven grandchildren.

It is the fiftieth anniversary of the series this year and while this event will not greatly impact on the events planned it will make them a little sadder.

GBS

Creative Staff Meet – February 2013

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Eve, GBS and Sam

Its been a hectic week for it was time for the ‘creative staff meet’ hosted this time by me here in Girvan in Scotland.  As you can see from the picture above myself (centre…ain’t I pretty!), Sam Croes on the right and the crypt keeper himself Eve Hallow on the left (yes, he does manage speak with that on!) had a jolly time of it.  Being face to face allows for a lot of conversation and ideas to flow quickly and they did.  It did mean that I have been out of the office all week but I do promise to catch up on, what I am told, is all of the fifty plus emails for me that are awaiting answers.

As well as work we did do some sight seeing too as it was Sam’s first time here in Ayrshire so I took him to see Alloway and the land of Burns along with some scenic sights.  This was made easier by four dry and sunny days in a row which for Scotland is a rare thing.  Eve did not come along…sunlight does not agree with him strangely…

Sam was kind enough to give me some pressies from his homeland of Belgium and I gave him some goodies from here as did Eve Hallow.  I have not pictured all of the presents as I drank some of them and ate others but I will review the excellent looking comic books and the music too.  Time should not be so pressed now for me.

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Gifts from the lands of Ghent!

Its rare to have so much talent in one room and it was a blast and I can’t wait until we all meet up again in London at Salute 2013 in April.  In a time of instant communication and ever faster computers sometimes you just can’t beat working shoulder to shoulder on exciting things for the future of miniature wargaming.  Eve say’s he might even turn up to Salute without the mask or his shovel for digging up corpses!

GBS

Fashion Show – February 2013

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No Battleaxe for the Warrior this evening!

Was it David Bowie who said ‘Fashion’ in his song and that its an important part of life?  Either way my youngest, the Warrior, was stage centre a couple of nights ago at a local branch of a high street clothes store modelling their wares for small boys.  He did a grand job and should be rightly proud of himself.  Being able to follow instructions and modelling tips  at the age of just four and a little bit is impressive.  Sadly I did not see him myself as I was embroiled in other things that evening but his achievement is worth announcement.    Well done lad.

He is available to hire if you have a catalogue shoot!  Reasonable Rates!  🙂

GBS

Terra Burning burns out…

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Sadly the joint post-apocalypse wargaming blog begun between myself and Maj Diz Aster called Terra Burning is no more.  In effect it was a still birth of a project for no sooner had the details been agreed and the blog begun the poor Maj had a series of incidents that led to him telling me he was quitting wargaming.  While I am happy to say that Maj has returned to wargaming now fired with new enthusiasm for different scales and genres other than 15mm science fiction the TB blog was doomed.  Without his assistance I was unwilling to take it on alone.  Indeed I seldom agree to joint projects like this one as my time is limited and I get rather a large number of offers each year.  I had hoped Terra Burning would be a hit but alas…twas’ not to be.  The blog has been removed from the sphere.

I may post some of the article I had spent hours drafting for Terra Burning over on my own TTWG blog if the mood takes me but for now it seems the rad ruins and the wasteland scarred precincts have fallen silent.  Sorry.

GBS

Happy Birthday Eve Hallow!

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Today is Eve Hallow’s birthday.  No one knows how old he is or even if he still lives at all.  For in the depths of Saturday night he did emerge from the Crypt to make deathly merriment upon the streets of old Girvan town.  Now I only managed to snap this quick photo of him (oddly I took several but the rest of the film was burred or over exposed) but merriment in great store he did indeed have.  I witnessed such sights as him raising the dead, placing curses upon cute kittens, eating the crushed road kill from the very gutters while at all times his bony feet at the end of his ever so long legs tapped to a fiendish and yet silent rhythm.   Those ladies of the night whose gaze fell upon his ghastly countenance were turned with immediate effect into aged hags as his cackling laugh echoed off the stone walls of the rain lashed streets.  I only barely escaped with my life intact by distracting the clickity clack spiderish man with a thrown handful of Flintloque miniatures in the opposite direction.

Praise be to the very elysian fields that it is only once a year that madness descends and the Eve Hallow creature is allowed upon the streets without it being the witching night of Halloween.

GBS

p.s. Happy Birthday Buddy!

A haul of DVD’s for GBS

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Today was a good day for shopping.  I don’t mean the kind of shopping where I trail about after my good lady uttering the mantras of ‘that looks good’ and ‘your bum ain’t fat in that’ I mean the kind of shopping where circumstances provide a golden chance to acquire something you want at a great price and without hassle.  Well this happened to me today in Ayr at the local branch of doomed HMV store and also in the mail this morning.  Below you can see a picture of the haul.  Sorry about the lens flare but shrink wrapping does that.  I have listed the titles under the image with links to their IMDB pages if you want to learn more about them.

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Anime, World Cinema and Bargain Bin gold!

This lot cost me just over thirty five pounds sterling including the postage on the Amazon order for Gazariki which was superb.  The others were discounted on the racks, discounted and binned and then with a 25% blue sticker sale on top it was like Christmas at two pounds a pop!

I hope to review each of these films and series in the next couple of months.  If anyone reading wants something put to the top of the que just email me or comment.

GBS

Brush your Teeth…it really does pay off!

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Its the one on the left…that on the right is typical size.

I wanted to share a little story with you all which has just been relayed to me by my Good Lady.  It concerns my eldest son The Thinker and his visit to the dentist today.  A visit to have a tooth removed…but before you begin to tut and chastise be aware that this tooth was being removed due to its desire to stay rooted into the mouth of a lad approaching eleven years old.  I shall inform further.

My children do not get to drink fizzy drinks of any kind.  Now I am not harsh but its for their own good for you see I am child of Glasgow in the early 1980’s where virtually all children had missing teeth due to such drinks.  Sadly this is still the case for many in Scotland despite the evidence of tooth decay these drinks cause.  So its a diet of milk, squash, water, fruit juice and the odd lemonade for a special treat..no caffeine either!   Here in Girvan like elsewhere I regularly see idiotic parents giving toddlers or older children bottles and cans of fizzy drinks which they tip into blackened mouths and then howl from the sugar and caffeine rushes.  None of that for my dearest three.  So the teeth in the heads of my three sons are white and bright just like they are.  This is literal proof for this science being correct.  Take it from me.

The dentist removed my son’s tooth because it was so healthy and well grown that it did not want to come out to make room for the adult tooth coming in behind it.  She remarked that not only was it one of the best mouths she had the pleasure to work on (mine is not too bad too, we all have the same excellent dentist) but also that the total lack of decay was astonishing.  But what was really remarkable was the super size and strength of the tooth, which you can see above, twice or so the length of average.  My lad did very well and not even a whimper when the pliers did their work.  When he becomes a man his mouth and his mind will thank his parents.

Brush your teeth..better to have healthy ones pulled than a mouth of rot!

GBS

A Day of Photography…painful on the eyes!

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Its not often that I spend an entire day on one central task but today was such a day.  Today, with the assistance of my good lady, I photographed all of the professionally painted releases for the next three months for 15mm.co.uk.  This came to more than three hundred images of roughly seventy unreleased miniatures from the HOF, HOT, SHM ranges crafted by six different designers.  We take photographs very seriously with the aim of showing the actual miniature in the best light and with no software trickery involved.  So many hours of thousands of watts of light and positioning figures resulted in some great shots but left me with eyes like a Blood Hound!

The vast majority of the new miniatures are in the HOF 15mm Science Fiction range and all but a handful were painted over several weeks by Eve Hallow.  He is an excellent miniature painter with an eye for colour.  Its also his birthday this weekend so I will be standing him a Lady Juniper or two at the local hostelry and giving him a wee gift but for the moment I will tell you of his first gift.  He is not only a miniature painter but an aspiring sculptor too and his first miniature will be hitting the SHM range this week… coincidence or what…on his birthday weekend.

I am not allowed to show you all the images I took (don’t even ask…you would burst with the thrill of it!) but I will sneak out a few in the coming weeks and for now I give you what is coming out this week.  The Jelly Cube by Eve Hallow, the Criat Mercenary by Will Grundy (another first!) and the icky Biomorph by the excellent Eli Arndt.  Enjoy!

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The Jelly Cube

Jellies Cubed!

Jellies Cubed!

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For Scale. He’s Jellified!

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Criat Mercenary…gurr!

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For Scale with Human Cultist

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Eli’s Biomorph from the front

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And the Rear…urgh!

GBS