Slow going

Work and home have taken up a lot of my time lately. A sudden parental visit coinciding with a week-off and some urgent tasks at work have led to not much time to game. A few things I'm desultorily working on:

I do witter on a lot about books on this blog, but I discovered something useful today. The popular ebook app Libby (until recently known as Overdrive) has free access to two well-known wargaming magazines:

Screenshot from my library's catalog.

Miniature Wargames and Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy are two journals I haven't seen much of because, unlike the other big sellers of the industry White Dwarf and Wargames Illustrated, they haven't much web presence. A few issues are available on the semi-legal Scribd, a handy place for finding some out-of-print stuff like Airfix magazines. My library (or perhaps the app) are limited to about a year's back issues, but that'll take me a while to get through and enjoy, and they can be checked out for three weeks. Hey, they're worth the few pennies of my local tax dollars that paid for them!

The other gaming thing I've done is start in to painting the classic 3rd Edition Warhammer 40K ruin I bought at Recon:

Thus far, I've undercoated it in Chaos Black and based it in Army Painter Castle Grey, damaging a large basecoating brush in the process while trying to get inside all the windows. I may do another thinner coat; then I intend to shade it with Agrax Earthshade and highlight with Ash Grey for an aged, stony look. I'm undecided whether to layer, edge or drybrush the highlight, though; any suggestions? Maybe layer, then edge with an even lighter color. I've also just noticed that there are wooden slats at the edge of the broken floor, which should probably be in some sort of brown... I've been watching too many Youtube painting videos.

Finally, I reread Return of the Twelves. I never get tired of that one.