Hello one and all and welcome to this special New Years Eve-Eve-Eve post on The Art of Caesura! Regulars 'round these parts know that I save all the schmultzy New Yearsy stuff for the blog's birthday in a few weeks' time, so today we get to revel in hobby past, present and future.  Airbrush Last year at this time I had just got an air compressor for my crappy "Wish" airbrush. I threatened, at that point, to get a 'proper' airbrush later in the year, and two weeks ago I did!  I will devote a whole post to talking about this bad boy ( Harder and Steenbeck's new Ultra 2024 ) once I've had a bit more experience with it but so far I'm in love! I have always said that I don't adore the look of overly airbrushed minis (when they're too smooth and lacking any texture) so don't worry, that's not in my future. I am happy to use it to quickly apply smooth and interesting basecoat blends, as well as some special effects (Object Source Lig

Ho ho ho! Welcome back to The Art of Caesura! It's that time of year again! Time to don our Santa hats and see who comes out of the woodwork (like a spirit of Christmas past) to wish us a Merry Christmas.  To keep you merry and bright, you can also check out my Christmas Quiz that I prepared last year.  "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches" I hope you're not on the naughty list! What's black and white and red all over? This guy! Red hat, white beard, twinkle in his eye - must be Santa! "There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found..." "...Ere the world from chaos rose..." Well! That was bumper Christmas post this year! Do check out last year's  Christmas Quiz if you're looking for a fun family activity, and I'll see you next week to ring in the New Year! Watching: Leave the World Behind (2023) - Netflix Reading: Priests of Mars - Graham McNeill Next Week: 2024!

‘Tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon. – William Shakespeare, As You Like It , Act 5, Scene 2.   Welcome back to another Friday on The Art of Caesura! My goodness, we're getting close to the end of the year, but we still have a couple of juicy posts before we bid farewell to 2023.  While today's post (the Friday before Christmas) would typically be my Christmas post, I'm actually going to schedule that post to come out on Christmas Day so that you'll have a little bit of The Art of Caesura in your life while comatose on turkey and merging with the couch.  Today is the second parter to last week's post. We're looking at the first minis that I have painted from Descent: Legends of the Dark : Wolves! I went through my whole painting process in last week's post . I explained how I am trying to use the airbrush more and I even used oils for the first time!  With their large, exaggerated details, these wolves not only painted up quickly, but were

Always be yourself, unless you can be a wolf, then be a wolf. - Unknown Good day fellow Caesurians! Last week we started diving into Descent: Legends of the Dark, a beautiful game from a couple of years ago from Fantasy Flight Games. You can check out that post for my overview of the game and some thoughts about the minis and app.  Today, we're looking at the first of the denizens of Terrinoth that you fight in this game: Wolves! I spoke last week about how incredible the quality of the miniatures that come with this game are. They are equal in quality to the HIPs plastic used by GW and their posing is dynamic and characterful. While aesthetic preferences will vary, these are undoubtedly the highest quality board game miniatures that I have come across.  While my preferences typically tend towards the grittier (Oathsworn, Reichbusters, etc) these Descent minis are really appealing to me. They look straight out of Disney's Hercules (a film I loved as a kid) - they can go the di

Across the gripping quests of an unfolding campaign,  you and your fellow heroes will venture across the realm,  battling terrifying monsters, unlocking new skills,  and exploring a wondrous fantasy world.  - Fantasy Flight Games Hello one and all! Welcome to The Art of Caesura! Today marks something of an excursion. I painted a miniature (or three) from a game that I've never done before and haven't really mentioned on the blog before either. Now, this in itself is nothing too out of the ordinary (as long-time followers of my Kickstarter exploits will know). But what is different about the subject of today post is that it's an aesthetic that I shouldn't love, but I do.  Now, the game is Descent: Legends of the Dark - Act 1. A couple of months ago I saw Act 2 (The Betrayer's War) in a Friendly Local Gaming Store and remembered how excited I was about Act 1 when I got it a couple years ago - I had opened it, looked at all the minis, read all the rules, and then...kin

Knowing I lov'd my books,  he furnish'd me From mine own library  with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. The Tempest - William Shakespeare Welcome readers to the 5th annual Autumn Reading List on The Art of Caesura! I really enjoy these reading list posts. I think it's because I like to talk about books (probably a carry over from (or inital impetus for) my undergrad in Literature). Also, likely becuase in my career, any reading I do is very technical so it's nice to abstract oneself from that. In preparation for this post, I was looking back at previous years' lists. Last year in particular I read a bunch of really stand-out books that made the list very difficult to compile. This year was a little easier for me to decide.  Fiction: The Midnight Library - Matt Haig (2020) I read the first two books on this list at a specific time of my life for a very specific reason. I read these books at a time (early this year) when I was making a big career decision. The