The labyrinthine halls of a vast and ancient space station... - Games Workshop Hello gentle reader, welcome back to The Art of Caesura! I have a fun post today that is a successor to a post that I did almost exactly FIVE YEARS AGO !! Today we're looking at making bases for Blackstone Fortress! When big new boxed games come out, there's always discussion around how to base your miniatures. Some people are in the "I just base them like the rest of my armies" camp, others opt for clear acrylic bases so that you can see the board through the base (which then starts the whole sub-discussion about which glue to use to prevent frosting). Some people get very creative with Green Stuff rollers, and for Blackstone Fortress there were proponents for filing flat the base and painting the crystalline Blackstone floor on the base - this is how the studio did it, and I think there was even a White Dwarf article about it.  I like to opt for a different approach.  For me the merits of...

As vast and dark as a sunless void,  the Blackstone Fortress is a creation far beyond  the ken of any race in the galaxy.  In this age of darkness,  in a galaxy riven with strife and horror,  the desperate and intrepid alike  search this Fortress for long-lost technologies  that may be used to turn the tide of war. - Games Workshop Welcome everyone to The Art of Caesura! After spending the first part of the year covering Reichbusters: Projekt Vril, the past few weeks have been a bit of a palate-cleanser regarding a topic that I've wanted to write about for a while: reading.  Today we're forging ahead with the next big miniatures game that I've actually had ticking away in the background for about two years now: Blackstone Fortress. A quick disclaimer before we begin: none of this fantastically atmospheric artwork is mine, it all belongs to Games Workshop .  Rather than pretend to review a game that has already been out for about two years, I ...

Books are no more threatened by Kindle  than stairs by elevators. ― Stephen Fry Welcome back to The Art of Caesura! If you haven't had a chance to read last week's post yet, I would suggest that you check it out because it sets the scene for today's discussion.  Last week, we focused on the joy of physical reading - reading physical books / magazines / comics and the book shops and libraries that house them. Today we're looking at their digital vis-a-vis.  Reading has always been a big part of my life and remains so both professionally (academic journals) and personally (everything else).  I mentioned last week that, while I love the experience of reading physical media, I also love e-reading, so today we're going to focus on the latter.  I was a somewhat early adapter to e-readers. I bought the Kobo Aura when it first came out in 2013 and happily used it up until it died last year, when I replaced it with the Onyx Boox Poke 2 (I know...these names!)....

How well he's read, to reason against reading! - Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost , act1, sc.1, l.94. Hello one and all and welcome back to The Art of Caesura! Today we're focusing on a theme that is quite near and dear to this blog, even though it rarely reaches the limelight - instead being hidden down at the end of each blog post: reading! My undergraduate degree was in English Literature and at that time I would read at least two books per week. Now I'm lucky to finish a book every two months. I'm still always reading something - and usually a few somethings concurrently, as I often illustrate in the "reading" section at the end of most blog posts. I do have an annual post devoted to books in the form of my Autumn Reading List , but today's post it a little different.  This week I want to focus on the classic joy of reading physical paper books and ways to pursue that joy. I will quickly add that I do not have anything against e-reading; inde...

The two most important days of your life are the day you are born  and the day you find out why. - Mark Twain   Hello and welcome to another scintillating week of The Art of Caesura! Every so often I like to inject a bit of the "life" into my "Happy blog of Life and Hobbies in the South West of Ireland". Previously I would have used some of these non-miniature-based posts to talk about the various hikes we would be going on. But between constant lock-downs, not being able to travel beyond 5km from our homes for the past eternity, as well as having a young child, we haven't really been going on many hikes.  So I though I would take a moment just to give you a peek behind the curtain at what's going on in the Life of Caesura! If you can believe it, my daughter , Saoirse, is now 21 months old! My gorgeous wife is pregnant with our second child (and is already over half way through her pregnancy)!  In addition to my regular job, I have taken on a lecturing posit...

The Sarge has seen it all before, and killed most of it too. He's the definition of a grizzled veteran. Nothing surprises him, and everyone looks to him for support and leadership. If you need a Hero between you and trouble, Sarge is your man. - Mythic Games Welcome one and all to the wonderful world of The Art of Caesura! Today marks the 15th week of Reichbusters content here on the blog - almost a third of a year! Whenever I start in on a painting project I never really know how far it's going to carry me. Sometimes I get mega excited about something, and after painting a few models feel "okay, I've scratched that itch now" only to be distracted by something else. I never force myself to paint anything in particular (probably one of the only benefits of not having a regular gaming group - that I never feel pressured to paint any one thing). That means that I can paint something for as long (or short) as it holds my interest and I'm still excited about it, th...

'Cause I've done it before, And I can do it some more, I've got my eye on the score, I'm gonna cut through the floor, It's too late, It's too soon, Or is it Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...boom!  Tick Tick Boom - The Hives Welcome back to The Art of Caesura! My, oh, my we have had a lot of Reichbusters content this year. In fact, I'd say it might just be the game that has enjoyed the most consecutive weeks of content on the blog thus far! Zombicide: Green Horde would be close, but I'd say Reichbusters just ekes out a win! For those of you who prefer the variety that I usually bring to the blog, fear not. My hobby butterfly eye that I usually bring to these projects is already beginning to flit around and there are more exciting things coming soon (even though I still haven't painted the models required for the first mission of Reichbusters, and still haven't even played a game of it yet!) Anyway, without getting ahead of ourselves, let'...