1. Video: September Favorites & More

    October 3, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Nerd Topics, YouTube videos by Kristina Horner

    It’s time for this week’s video roundup! I know I post a lot of videos, and YouTube has been making it increasingly more difficult to find the videos you want to watch… so here’s a quick post updating you on everything I put online this week.

    We are well into October now, but I think there’s definitely still time to talk about the list of things I discovered last month! My September favorites video went live yesterday, and it’s absolutely bursting with all the fun new games I probably shouldn’t have gotten myself quite so addicted to.

     

    I also posted this month’s Loot Crate unboxing video recently, which featured a ton of fun items all related to animation and cartoons… which was totally right up my alley:

     

    And lastly, Team Hypercube put a quick pause on its regular scheduled programming to bring you another BOARD GAME WEEK! This time, we featured Jetpack Unicorn, the game that was created by none other than myself and Joe (in conjunction with Wyrd Miniatures). I’ll post Episode One below, but make sure to head over to the channel and subscribe if you want to find out who wins!

     

    Thanks for watching my videos, and more importantly, for reading my blog. You guys rock.

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  2. Team Hypercube Birthday!

    September 30, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Nerd Topics, YouTube videos by Kristina Horner

    I don’t know what the exact date is, but Justin informed me recently that we’re at approximately our one year Team Hypercube birthday. So… happy approximate birthday, gaming channel! I promise when I actually have kids someday, I will pay much more attention to these types of details.

    In the year that we’ve been posting to this channel, we’ve made 284 videos. 85 episodes of Dokapon Kingdom. We’ve played 23 games, gained over 6,000 followers and hosted multiple live shows. It’s been an awesome ride and I will be the first to say that I’m extremely excited to see where the next year takes us with this project.

    Here’s the the most recent Checkpoint Vlog we’ve posted on the channel:

     

    And here’s Episode ONE of Dokapon Kingdom, for those late to the party:

     

    Sometimes I find it crazy how much effort we’ve all put into this little project, how much it has taken off, and most importantly – how awesomely dedicated our fan base is. I adore this channel and I look forward to even more people joining in the fun in the future. Thanks for watching for the past year!

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  3. Miniature Painting – Supplies!

    September 20, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Journal, Nerd Topics by Kristina Horner

    I got quite a few questions about the various supplies needed for painting miniatures, so I figured I would share with you what I personally used. My personal collection is quite modest, but it’s definitely enough for a beginner!

    Step 1: Minis!

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    The Reaper Bones collection is my favorite for painting, since you don’t have to prime them and it makes it easier as a beginner. You can either buy these on their website, or at any number of local game shops that carry this brand. Call the stores around you to see if they have them!

    Step 2: Paint!

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    I bought an assortment of these nifty little paint bottles. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to how I picked colors – I started with a standard set of good colors for mixing (red, blue, green, yellow etc.), a good black and white, a few skin color options, and a wash in black and brown. I splurged a bit for gold and bronze and silver (I knew they’d be useful) and then at the last minute I threw in a pink and a purple. I ended up with about thirty paints, but you can absolutely get by with less than that. These paint bottles are about $3 each, which sounds cheap – but beware! That starts to add up.

    Step 3: Brushes!

    794511311I bought this set of brushes to get a variety of styles and sizes, and they worked out really well! There are definitely nicer brushes out there, but this set ran me about $20 and I was very pleased with how they ended up working out. You’ll also want a couple of “crappy” brushes to use for drybrushing (this process can ruin nicer brushes, so it’s actually better to just pick up some cheap-o ones) and a few bigger brushes for your base coat.

    Step 4: Lights!

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    First off, I bought some daylight balanced umbrella lights. As a YouTubers, I knew these would be multifaceted, so making the plunge was totally worth it. The lights were hugely useful, but not totally necessary. Any sort of daylight bulbs or natural life is great, as long as you have enough of it. For more detail work, I also got this magnifier+light combo for about $20:

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    Step 5: Display Case!

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    Again, this is totally not necessary, but I had so many people asking me about it that I figured I would share. This display case is meant for thimbles, but it’s also exactly the right size for standard miniatures. It comes in a few different colors (black and three various woodgrains) and I absolutely love it. I got it on Amazon for $80.

    There you have it! That’s what I have in my collection, and even though it’s a bit spendy to get started – once you have this stuff, you rarely have to buy anything else. I have such a painting bug right now, and I can’t wait to do it again. Also, there’s another set of Reaper Bones coming out soon, so I’ve been highly impatient waiting for the kickstarter. I’ll be sure to let you guys know when it launches.

    If you’ve ever painted minis before, or if you start, please send me pictures of what you make!

     Note: This post may contain affiliate or referral links.

       

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