2016

Miniature Mondays: The Final Three (Completed)

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My Butchers are Complete

I finished painting the last three models in my Butcher team right before Otaku Recon. I should have taken a bit more time to practice blending techniques. I wanted a fully painted team for games and demos at Recon. Overall, I think they came out great. I will probably be painting more Warmachine miniatures in the coming months starting with the Testament of Menoth.

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Barbells and Boxcars: Episode 12

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Episode 12

Happy Thanksgiving! We’re back talking about CrossFit, table top games. We’ve been focusing on Warmachine recently after playing a lot of Guild Ball games at Recon. We discuss our last Warmachine game Reznik1 vs Kaelyssa1 which you can view on our Twitch channel. We will try and start updating our You Tube page.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email them barbellsandboxcars@gmail.com. Check out the Barbells and Boxcars Facebook Page as well as the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook Page. Also, Follow us on Twitch and watch us play some live table top games!

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BarbellsAndBoxcars

Link: Episode 12

The Bam! Box Unboxing: Adult Cartoon

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What is the Bam Box?

The Bam Box is monthly subscription box for collectors. Each month contains nerdy and geeky items as well as autographed collectibles. The Bam Box also has an auto upgrade and instant winner system. You could receive extra items or automatically receive an upgrade to an item in the box. Upgrade examples are variant pin, print and comic colors.

What’s in the Box?

The pin for this month is from South Park. You could have received Cartman or Kenny as well. I really like Chef from the earlier seasons of the show. He was one of  my favorite characters before Isaac Hayes went nuts.

The first item is a metal print of Homer Simpson. It’s a very interesting item and would look great on my wall. I love the Simpsons and have been a fan of it since I was younger. My grandparents didn’t like me watching it which only made it cooler!

The first autographed item is from Dynamite Comics. It’s signed by cover artist Ken Haesar. Not a big fan of Betty Boop and would have liked something different. The comic books in these boxes have been misses for me. I was hoping for something more mainstream like Marvel or DC.

The next autographed item is from cosplayer Kristen Lanae. While it’s a sexy picture, it’s not for me. I’m not a big fan of cosplay and this item is wasted on me. I will probably try and sell it on ebay.

The last autographed item is “Bevis and Butthead Attack Rick and Morty” by KC Day. This is my favorite item in this box since it’s a mash up of two great shows. I will definitely be putting this up on the wall soon.

Final Thoughts

While this was a great theme the people at Bam Box missed the mark. I was hoping for more mainstream adult cartoon items and something more than just prints. This was a make or break box and I’m sad to say I will not be renewing my subscription. I had high hopes for this service after seeing past boxes but the last two months have been disappointments. I’m sure other subscribers liked all the items this month but I’m not one of them. If the quality and variety of items change in the upcoming months, I may resubscribe.
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November 2016 Loot Crate Unboxing: Magical

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What is Loot Crate?

Taken from the Loot Crate site, “Each month, Loot Crate™ ships a themed mystery box of the best geek, gaming, and pop culture gear to a subscriber base of over 100,000 Looters. We emphasize phenomenal support and content, and include gear from some of the most respected entertainment and consumer product companies in the world.” Loot Crate sells for $13.95 a month plus $6.00 shipping and handling. You can save on the costs by subscribing for longer periods as well. If you like this theme check out the link at the bottom to subscribe.

What’s in the Box

 

The shirt this month is from Fantastic Beasts. I recently watched Fantastic Beasts and loved it. Even though it doesn’t show Harry and the gang, it’s a great  It has a lot of text but it’s simple. Last month’s Negan Sluggers shirt would have been better if it was just text. I really like the color as well.

 

The Doctor Strange item is an exclusive Q-Fig. I just watched the film and I thought it was great and now I can put Doctor Strange on display. I hope Loot Crate includes figures more often.
The Big Trouble in Little China item is a comic mashup with Escape from New York, another memorable Kurt Russell film.

 

 

 

The Game of Thrones item is a lined journal. The front and back cover shows Melisandre in both her forms with the line “The night is dark and full off terrors.” The inside of the journal is not bad, I might actually use this.

 

The pin is from The Elder Scrolls Online, a PC video game. I wanted to get the game for console but my friends were not interested in it. The pin lets you upgrade to the Imperial Edition from the standard edition but it’s only for PC. I need to build or buy a gaming rig since I’m missing out on so many games! If you want the code, leave a comment below. I’ll give it to the first person who asks.

Final Thoughts

This month was not bad. The shirt and figure made this months box. The comic was okay but I was hoping for something more from the Big Trouble in Little China. The journal is alright but I don’t know if I will use it. I would have preferred a house banner over an image of Melisandre.If you want to sign up use this LINK, also use the promo code BOX5 to save $5 off your first subscription. If that code doesn’t work you can use SAVE3 for $3 off any subscription. I also get credit towards more Loot Crates if you use the link.



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Euro Trip 2016: London Video

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London

My wife gave me a Feiyu Tech G4 gimbal as a gift for our trip. I love taking videos on our trips but the footage is shaky at times. Hopefully the gimbal fixes some of those issues. I used a GoPro Hero 3 for this trip but I may pick up a Hero 4. This was a personal video of our trip but I wanted to share it with everyone. I will also be making a video for the other cities we visited. If you have any questions, leave a comment at the bottom!
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Barbells and Boxcars: Episode 11

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Episode 11
After being on hiatus for three month’s, Rodel and I were able to record a new episode. In this episode we discuss my trip to Europe, our CrossFit injuries and pr’s and our experience at Otaku Recon 2016.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email them barbellsandboxcars@gmail.com. Also check out the Barbells and Boxcars Facebook Page as well as the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook Page.

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BarbellsAndBoxcars

Link: Episode 11

My Week As Rx (Probably Scaled): October 31 – November 6

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Wednesday

Partner WOD – For Time
50 pull ups
–then–
4 rounds of:
15 overhead squats (95 lb.)
9 burpees
6 toes to bar
–then–
Run (400 m)
–then–
4 rounds of:
15 overhead squats (95 lb.)
9 burpees
6 toes to bar
–then–
50 pull ups
This was a fun partner workout. Our goal for this workout was to finish under the time cap of 25 minutes. The movements that were going to be tough were the overhead squats and the pull ups. I was not concerned with the burpees or the toes to bar since the reps were low. We decided to split the reps as evenly each round. We were able to get through the pull ups fairly quickly. I was worried about the overhead squats but after a few reps, I was able to get into a rhythm. We flew through the burpees and toes to bar. We slowed a bit during the 400 m run but it wasn’t by much.I tore my hand on the toes to bar which screwed up the rest of the workout. I stripped the weight off the barbell and I did v-ups instead of toes to bar. I was a bit bummed during that second set since I knew I had it in me to finish all the movements. It was unfortunate that my hands tore but I wasn’t going to keep on doing those movements without scaling. It’s better to scale than to exacerbate the injury. We didn’t finish our last set of pull ups which I was okay with. We pushed ourselves pretty hard and we didn’t quit. I think we could have finished if my hand didn’t tear but we’ll never know. I’m happy with our performance.

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Limitless Fails Gaming Group: Otaku Recon 2016 Recap

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Otaku Recon 2016 Recap

I had a blast at Otaku Recon 2016 but it almost didn’t happen. A few months ago I contacted the people from Kai Productions but they were not giving out spots for exhibitors. The group was disappointed but we understood. Two weeks ago the organizers offered us a spot  the main hall! I’m not sure what happened but we were willing to fill the spot. The short notice was unfortunate. I wasn’t able to make a new diorama or display board but we did the best with what we had. I think we did a lot better this year since we had a wide variety of wargames.
We decided to do a display most of our Wargames: Warmachine, Guild Ball and Infinity. Last year we did demos of Warmachine, this year we were going to focus Guild Ball and maybe Infinity. Since they were skirmish games, the demo would be easy. We set up the demo table with Guild Ball and the other table with Warmachine and Infinity. On the second day we had a small Warhammer 40k Ork display and a Dust Tactics display.
We did a few demos of Guild Ball and Infinity. The new players really liked the games and will hopefully start playing with us. Instead of video, I was able to take a time lapse with my GoPro. I will upload the video soon. Check out the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook page for more info about meet ups.
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Miniature Mondays: The Final Three

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The Last Three Butchers

I’m almost done painting my last three minis from the Butchers Guild. With three down, I have three to go. I’m planning on painting these all together since most of the colors will be the same. I’m sticking with standard poses as well. My last three models are Shank, Boiler, and Brisket. These will be my last few Butchers models before I switch to painting more Protectorate minis.
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Boiler
 
Brisket

Shank
 

Miniature Mondays: Princess (Finished)

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Princess is Finished

After what feels like forever, I finally finished the Butcher mascot Princess. In my previous post, I wanted to paint Princess with a typical bull dog coat. I ran into a bunch of snags throughout the painting process. I realized I didn’t prep the model as well as i could. I didn’t cover the seams in the legs. It’s noticeable from the pictures. I also couldn’t get the white part of the coat to a color that I liked and I couldn’t get brown part to a decent shade. Rather than strip the model I decided to salvage it. It’s not my best work but I’ll use this as a learning experience. It’s good enough for table top. Check out the pictures below.
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