Monthly Round-up (July 2026)

OK then… that’s another month that seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye – and as I settle down to write this, I’m wondering if I actually got much done (hobby wise). However, one of the aims of these newsletter-style-roundup-things is to sit back and take stock of the previous month’s projects… as I usually end up being reasonably surprised with how much I actually got done – so we’ll see if that’s the case by the time I reach the end of this one!

NEW RELEASES

This year’s trend of getting one video out per month (usually around the middle of said month) seems to have continued with the release of my recent ‘cargo containers’ video:

Now, my own interests rarely align with whatever is currently a ‘hot topic’ within the wider community – but with the recent release of the new edition of 40k (and the hype and new/returning players that will likely accompany it) – I half expected this video to do reasonably well (along with the previous ‘barricades’ episode).

But, much like Jon Snow, I apparently know nothing – as both of these videos are sitting at the bottom of the list (with regard to how well they’ve done) when compared alongside the last ten video releases. Not that that’s a major concern or anything like that – it’s just an interesting stat that I thought I’d point out.

That being said, I still kinda like how they’ve turned out, and they’ll definitely be useful additions to my own table :)

* * *

Anyway, while I’m on the subject of videos, a couple of my older ones have been copyright claimed (again) – this time by a company called We Are Era Music BV.

Now, I had a similar problem a while back – but that was kinda understandable (though totally unjustified), as the creative commons intro beat I was using did have a slightly similar timing to an artist’s recent release (despite the song I was using predating that release by several years).

This time however, these jokers are actually trying to copyright claim the actual (correctly attributed) creative commons songs themselves – which just baffles me:

I mean, I know it’s all done by bots… but this company seems to be well known for this kind of behaviour, and yet YouTube continues to let them continue this practice without any repercussions at all (despite them saying they take misuse of the system very seriously).

Now, I’ve obviously disputed both claims… but that just throws the ball back into ‘We Are Era Music BV’s’ court – and now they have 30 days to decide whether they want to double down on their claims or not. If that doesn’t work, then I have to consider whether or not I want to escalate things my end… which does mean I risk the possibility of getting a ‘strike’ on the channel if I fail. And, if you get three of those – YouTube deletes your channel.

So yeah, that sounds totally reasonable… the (false) claimant(s) police themselves and don’t seem to be punished or restricted from continually abusing/misusing the system – whereas creators have the worry of losing videos (or their entire channel) for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong.

/sarcasm.

Going forward then, I’m seriously considering only using music and effects from YouTube’s own library (as, after checking it – it seems to have grown considerably since the last time I looked).

Now, that does also mean changing the intro music/beat that we’ve all grown accustomed to…

...but I think this new one still has a similar kinda vibe :)

ON THE WORKBENCH

OK, now that I’ve got that off my chest, if you are a paid Patreon Supporter or YouTube member, you will have been able to take part in last month’s poll (to help me decide what kind of thing I tackled next). And, here’s the results:

So, while the YouTube one was a 50/50 split… the Patreon poll delivered a clear winner.

Now, the idea I had in mind was some new buildings – but ones with an elvish theme… though I didn’t want to go into specifics in the poll itself, as I never really know if the idea will pan out until I actually try it.

As such, the first couple of prototypes went something like this…

...and while I like the look of the curved roof on the right, it would have made things more difficult when working out the additional curves/angles required for adding things like dormer windows.

Anyway, that’s developed into this kinda thing…

...with the possibility of a balcony area for some of the larger builds:

(note that all of these are just very basic line art shapes to test out how things might go together)

And, as you can hopefully see, the look I’m going for with these is more ‘high elf’ than ‘wood elf’ ...think something akin to Rivendell perhaps (though I’ve been purposely avoiding pictures of the latter so as to only be influenced by my memory and the feel of the place… rather than outright copying anything specific (be that the movie interpretation, the front cover of an old MERP module I have, and so on).

I’m also hoping that when I start adding some actual texture to them, that will help with the whole ‘elvish’ aesthetic – though, at the moment, I’ve not got much further than blocking out some shapes and the like...

...but I think it’s showing some promise.

(note that the blue lines show where windows could be stuck, and the red lines a door – as I’m planning on taking a similar approach to the doors and windows as I did with the recent sci-fi buildings).

ON THE PAINTING DESK

In the last newsletter I mentioned that I’d picked up a few models from Spellcrow – and there were a couple of reasons for this. The first is that I was painting up a bunch of my (GW) ork models, and I needed to add some duel wielding berserkers, and shotgun toting infiltrators to my OnePageRules armies… and secondly, I also wanted to feature some non-GW orks in some of my future videos.

And, as you can see in the above pic, I managed to get them done in time to appear in the latest video :)

In a similar vein, I’ve also picked up some elf models from the guys over at WarHost…

...and slapped some paint on most of those as well:

And, like I say, these can then be used in the ‘elven buildings’ video that I’m currently working on, and also as a small warband/patrol, or a bunch of NPCs, on the tabletop.

Now, here’s where a small problem arises (and please do tell me if you’re the same)…

...I’ve spent months making all this sci-fi terrain, and painting sci-fi mini’s – as the plan was to do some more sci-fi gaming (even if that only meant squeezing in a few solo games of Five Parsecs, or OnePageRules, or similar), and I was really eager to do just that.

However, now that I’ve started on this ‘elven project’ (and, I’ll admit, sometimes projects are prompted by the ‘need/want’ to make more videos)… all of the time I’ve been putting into it… that has got me excited to do something with this instead.

It’s kinda like I’m always prepping for games I want to play… but I don’t actually use this stuff nearly as often as I would like. It’s not like I get burned out or anything like that, it’s more a case of the ‘new shiny’ taking over… and now I’m prepping for something else instead.

It’s sort of like those folks that complain about being a ‘forever DM’ – but for me it’s more a case of being a ‘forever prepper’ ...I’m always preparing for that perfect game… one that will likely never happen… lol.

I’m not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, as I really do enjoy this side of the hobby – it just makes me chuckle to myself when I think of all the plans I’ve made… and then realising that the ratio of actually following through with them is not that great :)

Anyway, as a consequence of all this, interest in my (old) Age of Shadow campaign setting has been rekindled, and so I’ve been sorting out/assembling some models for that (from my expansive pile of shame).

So, we’ll see if I manage to get those painted up in time for next month’s update!

ON THE TABLETOP

Gaming wise, the only time I got to roll the dice in June was online.

Well, it’s a bit unfair to say ‘only’ (as that might sound like I judge it as a second best option) – but I really enjoy the time I spend with my online group – as they are a great bunch of people, they’re good players/GMs (as we take it in turns running things), and (these last couple of months) I’ve really missed the few hours a week I normally spend with them (due to some of the personal issues I’ve alluded to in previous posts).

Now though, I have to start prepping (there’s that word again) material so that I can continue my own ongoing campaign… and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what happens with that, and what the players do next.

* * *

In addition to that (and, as I mentioned above), I’m now thinking of replacing the (solo) 5 parsecs game that I mentioned last time, with something more ‘Age of Shadow’ themed instead (which is a Tolkienesque setting if you’re not familiar… as I’m a big Middle Earth fan, but I sometimes prefer to play in a world with a similar vibe, rather than in that world itself… just so that I can establish my own canon – if that makes sense).

However the (slightly madcap) idea is to perhaps use one of the OnePageRules systems for the rules/points/etc. ...but use something more akin to Rangers of Shadowdeep with regard to the missions themselves (with a card deck to generate random encounters/complications/boons) ...and the Bolt Action dice system for activations.

The plan would also include doing bat-rep style write-ups over on the blog (like I’ve done with some of my previous solo games) – as that really does help to keep track of things (so they’re more for my benefit than anything else ;) ).

So, we’ll see how that goes...

IN THE COMMUNITY

This month I’d like to showcase the work of Discord member banaanaap…

...who, as you can see, is working on a modular set of sci-fi tiles/boards.

There looks to have been some slight kit-bashing of the designs to get the desired effect, and the construction itself is super neat – so yeah, it’s shaping up really nice, and my hat goes off to you!

WRAPPING THINGS UP

With that, I think it’s time to draw this one to a close.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I didn’t think I’d managed to get much done this past month – but looking back, theres more there than I thought there would be – and so I think I can call it another hobbying success :)

So, I’ll leave you with a picture of something else that I’ve been working on (off and on) for a while now…

...which is a sci-fi backdrop that I hope to use in future videos.

I’ll also finish things off by saying thanks for all the support (as usual), and here’s hoping your own hobbying is going well (please do feel free to let me know what you are up to down in the comments).