May 20, 2013

BeerThralls Podcast now live!

Hey all! Our first podcast is now up and ready to be heard! http://beerthralls.blogspot.com/2013/05/beerthralls-podcast-episode-1-now-up.html

May 1, 2013

New blog: The Beer Thralls

I joined a local group of Warmachine/Hordes players calling themselves Beer Thralls. We are posting about gaming, beer, and the Privateer Press world in general.

Come follow us over at http://beerthralls.blogspot.com/

Apr 30, 2013

Have I hit my limit?

Hello faithful readers. Back from Adepticon and kind of bummed. I failed to win anything this year. I got really good feedback and the entries that did win are beautiful. I can't argue the results.

What has me questioning is have I found my limit? Am I as good as I am going to be at painting?

Roman from Massive Voodoo said something on his blog that makes me wonder. Basically, he thought there was a lot of high end tabletop pieces and not a lot of display pieces. What I thought was a great display piece was a good table top mini.

Is this a problem with the rules? I mean CMON says that you can't go over a 50mm volume for the mini. Is it feedback? We don't even know if we made it past the first cut.

But, what about me? Have I reached my potential? How do I get to that next level?

Apr 17, 2013

Soon. Adepticon!

Packed and tried to get some sleep before the 12 hour drive.... yeah that failed. Like telling a kid to go to sleep the night before Christmas.

Apr 1, 2013

April Update

Too many projects? What is this too many projects you speak of?


Mar 10, 2013

How do you compete?

Someone asked me "How do you compete with people like Massive Voodoo and all these other famous painters in competitions?"

My answer: I don't.

Compared to some of these guys/girls, my stuff looks like MS Paint to Picasso. It should never stop your though. If you win everything, how do you grow? How do you push yourself if you have no one to look up to? Every time I paint I push myself to be as good if not better than the people I admire.

So, never stop painting. Never get discouraged. Keep questing for greatness. Achieve progress.

Feb 8, 2013

Update to GW's Trademark complaint

Looks like Amazon has folded to the prevailing geek community by restoring the book back to being purchasable. You can find it here.

I would like to point out Harvard Law School's page on Trademark law:

"The standard is "likelihood of confusion." To be more specific, the use of a trademark in connection with the sale of a good constitutes infringement if it is likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source of those goods or as to the sponsorship or approval of such goods. In deciding whether consumers are likely to be confused, the courts will typically look to a number of factors, including: (1) the strength of the mark; (2) the proximity of the goods; (3) the similarity of the marks; (4) evidence of actual confusion; (5) the similarity of marketing channels used; (6) the degree of caution exercised by the typical purchaser; (7) the defendant's intent."

1) Yes, as a geek we know what Space Marine means and looks like. We are not likely to be confused to think Spot is some renegade God-Emperor hating demon.

2) Amazon has both items for Warhammer 40K and this book but not on the same page

3) Can you confuse this with anything GW?

 



















































Picture linked from Amazon's site. Not mine

4) Did someone complain that they thought this book was directly related to Space Marines? Now, I do admit, I am sure that this book would be more balanced than anything GW put out, but come on...

5) GW recently discovered the Internet to which they are both now selling on books on.

6) Well you got me there... a typical purchaser of GW stuff would buy anything with the name Space Marine on it.

7) I doubt that the "daughter of two Cuban political exiles" had any intent to try to rip off GW.

There you have it folks. GW believed that this novel was such a threat to their copyright because the name Space Marine appeared on the cover that they fought to have it removed.

By the way, have you seen the stuff that Privateer Press is putting out. I suggest you throw money their way because they make a better game, just announced a new global tournament arena which they are supporting, releasing cheap plastic models, and a year long campaign which you get prizes for participating in honor of their new faction coming out.