This Desk is not big enough

All of us Fathers whom are table top gamers and /or geeks as a whole know how it is. Kids are down for the night, the wife is busy watching or doing whatever, and here we are sitting at our desk with a plethora of models sitting before us screaming for attention.

So where do we start? Perhaps begin batch painting the 300 or so orks waiting to be Adepticon ready? Maybe the newly acquired Tomb kings army which looks incredibly epic simply it's its cast gray plastic.Even the long ignored new blog we (And by we i mean me) have been ignoring?

All of us as hobbyist know one thing which is almost as important as having a cash flow for our hobby to begin with. Time management is very important. Without it nothing would get done, and our desk would more then likely be covered with hundreds of bits, paints and half painted units.

So with this dilemma sitting before me I have made my choice. Recently at a friends house i have finally tried my hand at Fantasy and love it. My wife is actually the one whom has decided to get into the magic and sword side of Games workshop, and i am so very glad she did.So i had to sit and think, hmm now what. Do we continue to paint the massive amount of orky goodness, or do we pack it away and work on the new arrivals?

Then the idea hit me.Winter is coming soon. Long long nights of bitter cold and silence (only when the boys are sleeping) are waiting for me with the months to come. Now, what i took in effect for my idea was the ease of assembly and painting for each army. The orks have many many hours for even a single unit for each unit. Very time consuming indeed. However, these new Tomb Kings are easy to paint, already put together (Thank you Scott -Owner of The Vault - for trading me) and actually are WYSIWYG to how i wold like to play them.

I know already what your thinking. Wait one minute Mr. Blog man, these are for your wife. Why are you painting them? Well simple i asked her if i could and was praised with the answer i was begging for. So The orks have been put away, idea sketched down and lists placed on file(Yes i have ocd i organize my lists)The attempt to be the first in our group of friends with a Full and 100% painted Army for Fantasy is en route.

One thing i did not take into effect.40k models come as large as a unit of 30, and each model within that unit could and can be fairly different.Fantasy on the other hand though has massive blocks of anywhere between 10 to 100+ (if you were crazy enough) of individual models.And these models sit tightly packed in what are called blocks. On top of that, you need to take into consideration of how that block will sit together. Is Skeleton A spear to long and making Skeleton B sit crooked. Or Is Archer A bow aimed just enough to hit the back of Skeleton G head? So it takes a bit to lay everything out, Imagine how you would like the block to look, Then finally assemble.

Even with all of this, i do believe this army can be painted, based and ready for battle before the snow hits.Now, with all that being said, now i turn to my question for the readers(all two of you) How do you set your time up? Do you have dedicated days and days to geek out, or only a few hours each night? Would you be willing, or have you given up a game night here and or there so you could finish that "last" unit up?

On a side note... This is my first blog ever. I will be the first to admit my grammar and spelling need so much attention. However i have included my wonderful wife to be my "editor" and also enlisted the Help of my brother in Law to help out. So for now i thank you for putting up with my 5th grade English abilities and hope you all continue to read.

Angels of Death for the noob

    The light from the sun so high above the clouds just barely tickled against the thickness of the Chemical induced smog cloak hanging high within the sky.The thick hide of the bright green humanoid just softly touched by the pale light filtered down to it. It's companion bathed in the same light continued to toll along in their everyday grinding work.Ronx, the largest of the two paused, dropping the make shift shovel as a distant thunder trickled across his ears. His hand held out towards Jubbx, his companion in labor this day "Stop" his gurgled voice ordered out. Jubbx growing tired of continually bossed around and wishing to finish their squig feeding continued to grumble and dig more slop into piles. Another crack of thunder rips across the sky, followed by a third and forth clap of rumble.
    "Stop yaz noize makin " Roared Ronx as a thick meaty backhand collided with Jubbx's face. The struck orc grinding his gnarled mass of teeth, emitting a low growl in annoyance. Just then the sound had reached his ears turning towards the sky as he looked on in curiosity.
    At that moment, Bursting from the smog line,cutting through the thick layer like a rock bulldozing it's way through a slab of concrete burst four Dull green Shapes. They had a block like tear shape to them. Their speed was almost more then a normal eye could keep pace with. The two orks took a step back. Dropping their half made shovels, Ronx being the somewhat smarter of the two turning his head and roaring out a alarm.But this act was pointless. The green shapes had collided with the ground, massive explosions of rubble and ork structures sprayed from the impact site. Orks began to crawl from every area they could. Orders being barked from Nobs gathering what they could from the mess, and with a sudden hush. The air locks from the Shapes had let loose.
    A Hot blast of Pressurized air ripped from the Doors of the Drop pods. And within seconds all four doors had opened and a Opera of Death had ripped through the orks. Contained within the Fourth Drop pod was a massive beat of a machine. A Ironclad Dreadnought Stepped fourth from it's holding area, His right arm slung low and a half swooping turn as it's Promethium tanks unload into the Horde before him turning thier bodies into charred husks.The Salamanders had landed upon a ork world, and the last thing Ronx had heard before his body was ripped in half by bolter fire was "Cleanse and Burn" from a thick deep Metallic voice.

    This..is how i envisioned my Space Marine army to work. My idea was for a First wave of Ironclad dreadnoughts to drop in, and rip apart the biggest threats to my troops first, then my troops drop in and clean house. 85% of the time it worked, the other 15% it was messy. it took me a very long time to even come up with a Salamander drop pod list. I went through close to 50 different play styles and lists before i had found this so called "Hammer" list i enjoyed playing so much.
    I started with Space marines due to the simple fact of.. They are space marines. Not knowing anything about the game i went nuts with models, Buying 3 landraiders, 2 squads of Greyknights. Enough Scouts and assault marines to fill a shoe box.Eventually i began to calm down and read. I did my homework and actually began to understand how certain rules work, and to which units they could work best with.The first List put together was a landraider and greyknight(as allies) spam list. Lots of points which in turn ment a tiny army.This lasted close to a week. Next came a troop heavy with 1 landraider, I got picked apart as having nothing for support,and this lasted a week.next came my discovery of Dreadnoughts. I went nuts with them. Throwing in as many as i could in every list, which soon evolved into a foot slogging Salamander army. I started to win, but not enough to keep the list the same. So after much trading and dealing i acquired 6 drop pods. My List had now evolved into a Fast hitting metla heavy machine of death it was beautiful.
    So after many many wins with the "Hammer" list i still craved something. Something..not boring.I admit, it was a fun list, and people hated seeing 6 drop pods, let alone 3 Ironclad dreads(Armor 13 FTW) I was still yawning at the fact it was not fun anymore.I needed something more..but what? Then it hit me with such simplicity. It was hanging right in my face the whole time. Why not trade green for green? That's right folks The Salamandes have been parked in place for The Bad Moonz, but that is a story for another time. 
    So i ask you all, What army did you start with? Why did you choose the army you did? And what path lead you to choose a second or even a third army?

The first few days

    Let me start off by giving everyone a welcome to the First edition of SoH. My plans for this site are simple. A place to put all of my creative ideas, as well as friends ideas in one place.Throughout the life of this blog I will post random things here and there. Post ideas and wants for gaming boards or terrain.Placing the small comics my sons have inspired me to begin making, as well as a possible strip about our Local gaming group.So let me start off by introducing you all to myself.
    It all started way back in high school. I was a geek, and as most geeks back in the early 90's we were a shunned race. Long nights spent playing D-n-D, as well as our small group was busy slapping together home made comics and what not.Eventually all of that came to a halt as the United States Army came into my life (63Bravo was my mos) and everything from the time i stepped off the bus in N.C had changed.
    Coming back from basic training as well as AIT, i was not the same creative think tank i had once been. I found a job in road construction, then went to cooking (Which i love) worked my way up the chain of command in the restaurant industry and eventually went back to construction. After years of being a Pipe fitter (Thank you Kevin btw) thing began to unwind and dwindle in my life.And this is where the timid small geek inside me began to awaken once more.
    During this time, i had met my wonderful wife Stephanie. And where did we meet you ask? In a place no one would suspect me (if you knew me) to meet someone. Inside of a video game. That's right folks, i met my One and only within the World of warcraft(Thank you blizzard).And i can honestly say i am damn proud of the fact.
    So, now where do we stand? Well now we have 2 beautiful and headstrong boys. 4 and 1 (2 this Sept.) And now I am a stay at home parent.Well how does this all relate to gaming and mass geekdome you ask? Having free time to actually put my ideas and work into action. My wife said i should find a hobby since i was so used to working non stop. So Lo and behold Warhammer 40k Came into my life, and the rest of my life is yet to be written............
    So, now that is over with let us begin with a few things.What exactly is this blog going to contain and or be about? Well Symphony of Headaches is going to be a place to do exactly as i stated above.Somewhere to store all my ideas and thoughts on projects and or drawing ideas.I plan on making a few small comic strips whom will be updated monthly or so. I will be posting pictures of my 40k Models as well as drawings i have done in the past and will do. Also, i am hoping to eventually host interviews with friends and people within the 40k Community about simple things, How and why they got into 40k, how deep do they dwell within the world of Geekdome

I think for the first few Posted pics i am going to post some old drawings of mine. They can be found At Deviant art Under the name Shawnnyte.