New Personnel for the TRO:3063

Hey there,

The art at the top of the page is going to be a little less exciting now that the new artists are done with their labors. Nevertheless, here you are and here I am. Let’s get on with the news…

Okay. First, I am on the final group of vehicles (Periphery) for editing. This is the data entry part, mind you, not where I actually did the reading and correcting. That was last week. Anyway, there were a few pieces I had to massage further even as I entered the corrections. Now they flow easier. Some passages were awkward even after the changes, so I had to thrash them a bit more. Like my cat, you have to beat them down once in a while or they get uppity.

The art. Oh, well, there’s a piece Ian Stead is doing for me (the Merkava MkVII) that should be finished by the end of the week. Lee Madison is still working on sprucing up some computer work. I have retrieved the models he wanted from the attic (including some ones he did not request but will probably like) and will ship them soon.

As for the rest of the art, I have to continue cleaning several pieces up, one panel at a time, with the software I have right here. It is slow but at least I can do it. And this is necessary – you all have seen the clean and dirty images of the Hammerhead II that I posted a while back. This portion of the work should be done about the time the last fresh art rolls in – say, Wednesday of next week.

So that is, what, first week of February? Not bad considering the amount of money I still owe and the tremendous amount of labor this represents. However, I am still unsure that the interior art I commissioned is appropriate for a TRO. At least two of the pieces are not what you would find in an ‘official’ Readout. They are very, very good and entertaining as hell, but ‘Action ‘Mech Kill Squad’ pictures they are not.

Guess I will find out.

And now for some late-breaking news. Up until about three months ago, I was in contact with my layout man James Devlin on a regular basis. We got some prototypes nailed down and I was going through and editing what I wanted to see based on color printouts of sample pages. That’s about the time I first lost contact with James.

You can imagine my increasingly frantic attempts to get hold of him as time raced by. Better yet, don’t try. It was a sad sight. I finally got him to respond via my friend Vlad, who’d done much of the original art and had worked with James in the past. James had been sick. I lost contact with him again as he picked up the pieces at his job and soldiered on. Got contact with him again, only to be met with silence – again – as I re-sent the corrections on the layout.

Well, three times is a charm, as they say. Or in this case, a wake-up call for ol’ Steve.

I began looking for a new layout man who was capable of this type of work, familiar with the subject, experienced with producing just these kinds of fan-projects, interested in doing it and with the time available. Yes, folks, such qualifications are a very tall order. I am happy to announce that Joshua ‘Knightmare’ Kessler is now our layout man, courtesy of the folks over at:

http://www.shatteredcore.net/

As of last night we are going over what must be done to create layouts similar to the ones James made. All I have are the sample PDFs to go on, so that will have to do.

If anyone is wondering what kind of message I sent James, save your thoughts. I have not been graced with a response from him in nearly three weeks, so I sent what I’d been getting – that is, nothing. James Devlin is a wonderfully talented man but he has more pressing things which require his full attention and thus he has been relieved. The project carries on.

I have received quite a few donations via the PayPal button. Several were in the thirty dollar range and I have saved those emails in order to properly reserve copies of the print run. Thank you all for donating your hard-earned cash. I blush at this expression of trust in me, and will do my darndest to make sure your faith is vindicated.

AIRSOFTING!

We took the guns out for another run this last Saturday. The afternoon weather was all we could hope for, bright and sunny, although the wooded area we played in was still damp. A deep ravine with trails surrounding it, the playfield was a challenge as most of us had never used it before. I bagged two Franzes and a Bill, not bad for an afternoon of scrambling up hills and through water. You would not believe how slow you have to go through woods to avoid stepping on branches. I was shot numerous times – certainly not the last guy left standing in any of the four matches (but almost!).

Bill and I swapped off with the M-14, and I lost a part from the outside (along with my favorite knife) but it is indeed a very nice long-range weapon with just the iron sights. I dropped from .30 pellets to .28, mostly due to the cost of the pellets. My gun does not fire at the same insane rate as my son’s Barrett M-4 (especially with his new 9.6 volt battery!) and so I do not need Perfect BBs to do my dirty work.

Tonight I ordered an AEG pistol, a nice little number that will come in handy with the dense woods. It chronos at about 220 fps, with a firing rate of 10-15 bps on full auto. With a clip holding only 30 pellets, I will have to keep it on semi-auto until I can get some additional clips. The effective range is fifty feet, which suits me fine, as I will not be attempting long range shots with it in any case.

I will hold off on purchasing the G36K, as three guns is a bit much for how much we’re actually playing and I want to hold the money for final art payments and publishing the print version of the TRO. Bill, however, has already ordered his G36K. He was an instant convert from the SIG 550 when I demonstrated the G36K’s folding stock. He also ordered a 9.6 volt battery stick and a 40mm red dot scope. Should be interesting to see if I can nail him again like I did on Saturday. That combo will be a monster!

On the other hand, one of our players (Nate) was using a pump shotgun and he did just swell with it. He bagged four people - me, Bill, Spencer and my son in separate games, confirming what I had already suspected - that stealth and patience are just as big a part of the game as raw firepower.

Thanks for stopping by.

Steve