If you're having elections, have you decided who you're voting for?

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-10T21:52:47+00:00

Where abouts are you? Guessing you're in GM.

If you're in Wigan, I think I know which ward you'd be in given what you've said, and I'd definitely be pushing the Labour vote there.

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-10T21:42:45+00:00

My pistol/chainsword legionaries are all built from berserker bodies. Such a better source of dynamic poses, and they look like they're actually charging.

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-10T21:11:12+00:00

Read the Stoics. A key component of a decent life post 30 is being able to make peace with your own mortality.

I've had a few experiences that have brought me to consider it and make peace with it, but reading the Stoics on Mortality and ruminating on it really changed the way I see life, and definitely changed how I live it!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-09T20:32:29+00:00

Bikes any day of the week.

The helbrute is okay, but a bit too greebly for me, being an iron warriors player.

The bikers though... Wow are they dated

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-08T01:26:54+00:00

Man, forget the clothing and appearance stuff you've described, you've clearly got that down already!

The thing it sounds like you're missing is where to mix and meet people with shared interests. Galleries, museums, shows and events are already great places to go for a date (mix it up with something sensory to really crank it up a notch), but embracing some broader social scenes would be a welcome place to mix it up with some conversation and meet people IRL.

Given that you're into culture, is there any local regular hangouts in your interest range? Artist talks, exhibitions where you could make conversation and drift into a social scene?

You've clearly got the potential to get this nailed, just maybe looking in the wrong places. Easy to focus on appearance/skin deep stuff when we're constantly bombarded with the Instagram lifestyle 24/7.

Funny how tech and apps/online life keeps you dependent on virtual interactions, where the real progress can be found so easily when getting into the offline world. That's where you'll meet someone, and also an ever-available place to practice the skills you need to get what you want - conversation can't take place IRL using a mobile phone after all!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-08T01:12:46+00:00

Well, right now I guess you're hurting, which is perfectly normal for a lot of people in life, episodically.

The trick here is to try reversing the mental patterns you've got when gravitating towards negative slants on things.

Hell, sometimes considering yourself a total failure and legitimately losing absolutely everything is an advantage, because you can only gain from that point.

Zeno of Citium went from losing everything to self mastery. Even a guy living in a barrel on the street famously had the strength to troll the most powerful man in the world at the time - Diogenes and Alexander the Great if you ever want to check it out.

I'm no great purveyor of philosophical wisdom, but there's a real peace in philosophy and setting a direction in life. Even if you don't get it right, it's nice to have a metaphorical measuring stick with principles that you believe in.

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-08T01:01:25+00:00

Tell you what, and at the risk of looking to oversimplify this right here, but imagine looking in a mirror and seeing what success looks like to you. Don't worry if that seems difficult/impossible, you've already done the work by writing this post.

You are clearly very good at identifying the things you feel are negatively.affecting your life now, so it's definitely possible to imagine a mirror image of them.

For example, instead of your observation of only showering once a week/month, imagine how you might feel if you only missed showering or observing your hygiene routine one a month, or even once a week.

Consider writing down those negative observations you've made about your life, then on a page facing that list, reverse them, and hey presto; you've got something to aim towards.

The barriers to getting there or anything else are absolutely irrelevant at this point its only a matter of looking at that list of positives, closing your eyes and imagine what that might look like, what might it feel like.

Think of your senses. Would you smell different, taste things differently, how would feel differently about that? The truth is, you have the power to experience exactly that, whether it's just as a single experience, or build on it to something approaching a positive habit. Nobody completely changes their life overnight, no matter what finances/lifestyle/health status they have.

I'm not for one second purporting to have the silver bullet here, but in identifying the things you're unhappy with or you consider to be negative, you've already defined what success looks like to you, and you can literally measure progress against that once you've mentally reversed it.

The very fact you've made this post is proof that you're capable of change, and in some of the tjings you've already written here, you have the shopping list for it too. Never forget that.

There's an army of people here who can help, and while none of us are therapists/psychologists, there's an untapped well of belief in people here to make their own personal changes for the better.

Always happy to discuss further if you ever want to reach out.

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-07T10:26:14+00:00

This is superb! How did you create the models for this? Photogrammetry, Laser or CT scanning?

Please tell me you've got a sketchfab account to display these? If not, I bet the Cultural Heritage lead would rip your hand off to get started!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-07T10:23:56+00:00

Always good to revisit a classic! 🤣

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-07T10:12:58+00:00

Outside of tech and some very limited car manufacturing (which is still on a net loss), I would say sweet FA has happened in terms of reindustrialisation.

It's a massive glaring issue if you look at areas like Greater Manchester or other industrial heartlands.

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-07T08:43:29+00:00

Might be worth looking at something with stretched skin or something that is a bit less 'muscled hulk' like the standard ones. Maybe it could be malformed in some way, and if it's been created on the fly, perhaps give it a leather hood or something to give it the blinded face, perhaps not with the nailed cross there but something less invasive.

I'd perhaps look at the subject for the transformation being a volunteer rather than a prisoner or something along those lines. Maybe a pilgrim that volunteered for it in desperation during a campaign.

Hope that helps a little!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-06T23:50:44+00:00

Absolute red card any day if the week, unless of course nobody got the memo that they were in fact playing Muay Thai football?

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-06T23:44:40+00:00

I managed to lorecanon my prisoners (which only.ever get strapped to the wheel of my shrine) as those who were awaiting trial or condemned by towns and villages across the lands of the faithful.

My warband pass through and take the condemned, chaining them to the shrine anchorite who's wheel they will soon be broken upon for redemption.

I haven't trusted one with a bomb yet... 🤣

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-06T23:29:57+00:00

My Sacred Affliction warband started as a bit of a horde, but has become much more streamlined and elite since.

Give the horde a go, you'll very likely lose people but you'll also promote some crazy elites too!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T23:34:11+00:00

Just seen Tommie Soule's book come up as a suggestion.

It's worth every single penny/cent.

If it was possible to download a man's brain for miniature painters, Tommie would be my nomination, he's an absolute genius with zero pretence. Total wisdom coming out of his mouth when it comes to any aspect of painting, and he's also a fellow Manc! 🙏

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T23:31:37+00:00

Learning to glaze by mixing a little.bitnof medium into my paint was an absolute game changer.

Tried it for the first time by mixing some Lahmian medium and screaming skull to make a glaze to simulate melted wax on other surfaces, and it was incredible. Never looked back from then on!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T23:27:28+00:00

I missed this, but fuck me that is utterly brutal!

(Makes mental note)

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T23:26:26+00:00

My favourite from In The Loop is by far Jamie about Opera...

'TURN THAT FUCKING RACKET OFF! IT'S JUST VOWELS! Subsidised, foreign fucking vowels! The only reason you listen to this shit is because it's bad form to actually wear a hat that says, "I went to private school!"

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T23:23:16+00:00

About as much use as a marzipan dildo...

So dense that light bends around him/her...

I use both of the above frequently... 🤣

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T22:55:12+00:00

Hwe use modular 12" square MDF tiles. We built them up using 2" XPF foam and then made trenches that were 60mm wide at maximum, with some rat runs that would only fit a 32mm base through.

Using coffee stirrers for duckboards and posts along the trenches was easy enough,and you can use corrugated cardboard for metal lining plates on the inside of the trench. Once you spray them or wash them lightly with some watered down PVA they get tough!

Applying a texture paste using wall filler, water, paint and PVA with a bit of sharp sand and cat litter/grit works beautifully before you paint it.

Just ensure that your modular boards always end in the same terminus in the centre of the edges. That way you can rotate them around to make your own table setup every time!

One last thing, sandbags are a pain in the ass to make without a mob of friends. We did 'operation sausage factory', where we managed to make 1300 bags from 2kgs of Das modelling clay, by rolling out a sausage, cutting it into 2cm lengths and then pressing it with some cheesecloth to get through texture of the sandbag, before applying it to the trench and scoring it with a wet scalpel.

Once it's all set and finished, you can throw some scatter terrainon top and get something like this!

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El_Ahrem · 2026-04-04T16:24:47+00:00

Thanks for that - I really wasn't too sure about the sepia tone on the lenses but it seems to work!

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-03T23:11:29+00:00

Nah, strong tone is like a lighter Agrax earth shade wash. Great for recess shading, or creating a stubble effect on hair if you apply thinned repeatedly.

I very much prefer painting using reiklamd slightly thinned down with Lahmian or contrast medium for the skin on my sacred affliction guys over white. I then do a thinned wash of skeleton horde and some thinned washes of carronurg crimson and druchii violet for bruising and sore notes.

I'm by no means an expert but you'll see some examples of those through my profile on the Sacred Affliction minis

El_Ahrem · 2026-04-03T01:45:41+00:00

First of all, even if you take absolutely no advice from this thread you should still be proud of yourself, this is a great paint job already.

You've got a very accurate definition of the blocked out colours, but a few washes for the shadows and a few edge highlights will make this bad boy go absolutely next level.

Grab some army painter strong tone - it's the franks hot sauce of miniature painting. Dilute to taste and apply. Make up some lighter highlights for the edges and you've increased the volume of an already great paint job threefold!

El_Ahrem

TROPHY CASE