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Really enjoyed getting my campaign underway last night guys, I think this is going to be really fun! Thought I'd do a little write up of my first few games as the Flying Dutchmen in Orange! First up was a baptism of fire against the mighty Scotland (well, they're not really mighty, it's just that @Macca89 was controlling them 😆) Within the first 20 minutes I can see why Macca is so awesome at this game! He even threw his star player (and LEFT BACK!) Andy Robertson up front for good measure. The Oranje managed to stand firm for about 20 mins but then the Scots broke through with a lovely goal where McTominay (his only other good player!) flicked one up over Van Dijks head and volleyed it in. Then a second goal followed shortly after, some more lovely build up produced a chance just inside the box which was buried although I was a bit disappointed in my keeper. 2-0 at half time and Scotland probably had 70-30 possession (I warn anyone playing against Macca..... prepare to defend folks he has the ball a lot!!) In the second half Holland started to come back into the game a bit, probably because Scotland's 72 rated centre halves with 58 stamina were getting knackered by then! A rare chance was taken after Depay found some space down the left and cut in to make it 2-1. Then in the 90th, a Rodman like header from De Ligt from a near post corner clutched a point out of nowhere. (Macca probably had an 8 game accumulator riding on it staying 2-1, but it inevitably got let down 🤣). FT 2-2 Then for my second game the Netherlands met the not-so-long-ago formidable Spain, and my best bud @GazzaGarratt. For me this brought back memories of 1998 (some of you probably were in nappies or not even born 😩) when Lee and I were just 14 years old playing International Superstar Soccer on the PS1 every weekend, where we both really wanted to beat each other but we would never once let it wreck our great friendship ❤️ The game was a very cagey affair, lots of good defending going on and not too many clear cut chances. Lee had Thiago (who he claims is shite but was pulling some strings!) dictating the midfield but Spain lacked much threat up front with Morata their main striker(remember him Chelsea fans? No thought not) It remained 0-0 till mid way through the second half when Rodrigo (who apparently in the previous game was as weak as piss and couldn't out muscle anyone) ran on to a threw ball and brushed off Van Dijk like he was a rag doll to bury it and give Spain the lead. And that's how it finished, and the memories of 14 year old Martin running off home crying into his pillow saying "that fucking prick beat me again mum argghhh!" all came flooding back. FT 0-1 Then in my third game I played against the absolute beasts that are France, and serial penalty conceeder @Antpool84 😉 For god knows what reason, maybe I'd had 2 games with Holland now and I was a bit more used to their play style, I managed to race into a 4-0 lead by half time (no penalties though!), although this was a bit unfair and not a true reflection of the game. I managed to score a couple of nice goals, a cheeky chip over their weakest link Hugo Lloris being my favourite. In the second half, Ant came out all guns blazing and used his blistering pace of Mbappe, Coman and Griezmann against my cart horse centre back De Ligt! France will cause anyone problems with that pace I am sure. Ant then scored the goal of the game with Pogba, a powerful drive into the bottom corner from about 25 yards out. Another goal followed shortly after to make it 4-2 and it was really game on! With about 10 mins to go, after getting in behind with the pace yet again, a bit of shit housery was necessary from De Ligt who hacked the striker down right on the edge of the box and got a deserved red card. However the resulting free kick came to nothing. FT 4-2, a good entertaining game. It was then round 2 against Maccas Scotland, where I was hoping the home advantage of the Johan Cryuff arena might help me, but nope! To say I got bum raped in the first 20 mins of the return leg would be an understatement, just ask Lee he was watching on screen share! The Netherlands couldn't even get out of their own third with Scotland pressing really high up the pitch (I shouldn't have taken short goal kicks really 😬) and after some heavy pressure the keeper made a mistake and cleared the ball straight into a Scotland strikers path and he put it into the empty net for 1-0. It could have been 2 or 3 by half time but I managed to hang in there. The start of the 2nd half was a similar story with Ryan Fraser (their secret weapon, Macca says he's shite but don't believe him!) having a couple of chances but Netherlands still managed to stay in it. Just like in the first game, the stamina of the Wijnaldums and Bergwijns of this world started to show against the Scottish pub league defenders mid way through the second half, and Netherlands came back into the game. With a bit more time on the ball they played some better football and had a bit of possession, and an equaliser came. Netherlands then brought on their own secret weapon (thanks to the old R2 auto sub) and on came 6 foot 3 Luke De Jong to try and exploit the tiring Scotland defence. Lo and behold in the 88th minute a lofted cross into the box saw the super sub power in a header against the League 1 - 73 rated Wigan GK (I think?) David Marshall. Unbelievably the Netherlands held out to clutch the win and inflict the first defeat on pre tourney favorites Scotland. FT 2-1 Finally, before bed time, it was time for Spain VS Netherlands again (or as I am calling it "Lee VS Mart Round 2 this time it's personal"). Just like our infamous battles on championship manager 98/99 season, it was a highly intense affair! Similar to the first game really there weren't too many chances, but it was end to end and more like a basketball game! 0-0 at half time. but early in the second half Spain broke the deadlock after a lovely 40 yard driven through ball from the LB found that fast prick Rodrigo again who banged it into the top corner. Netherlands were shitting themselves at this point (I couldn't lose AGAIN to my great mate he beats me at everything except Mario Kart on SNES!), and lets be totally honest I had to rely on what seemed like a bit of FIFA script to get back into the game. Depay tried a little dribble on the edge of the box to make space for a shot but Ramos did a perfectly timed standing tackle.......however the ball bounced back off a couple of shins and fell perfectly into the strikers path and he finished it to make it 1-1. It looked like that was going to be that, but then with 10 mins to go Spain were really unlucky when a shot twatted back off the inside of post and fell to the defender. For the final 10 mins once again some dodgy FIFA momentum seemed to be sucking the ball towards De Geas goal, and the winner came when a shot was saved and the ball popped up to Wijnaldum who headed it home (you know one of them shitty rebound goals where you wanna throw your controller out the window, but I know Lee wouldn't do that cuz like our said we have a great friendship 🥰) FT 2-1 Look forward to playing some more games soon guys.

@RenFengge and I had some yummy pizza and a metric fuckton of zeppolis!!! This thread will blow up as we love, love, love, food. We cook a bunch too!

If I may offer a challenge...1955 Merc 300SL Gullwing. Seeing that one last night with the doors open in the show room makes the bits tingly. I think it would be a good challenge to model it with the doors open and give a go to the partial interior as well!!! Mercedes Silver on red leather or no dice...love the work here, great job.

So how's it's going @LordBaguette ?

Ok so I'm back. La ( @RenFengge ) and I started walking around during her off workout days. This evening we wanted to enjoy the nice 65 degree (18.33 cubits or whatever) weather and decided to visit our neighboring town Greenwich. Now this is not the English version but it is the OG one here in the US. Like bought from natives (Siwanoy) for "25 English coats", (no shit, that's real) in 1640 with old, white, fuck you money types. To illustrate, on the way to park we passed not one but two Bentley Speed GT Verts, and not those poor people used ones, we are talking factory fresh, 15 cow interior brandy new ones. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Bentley man myself and I would 100% flash that big dick energy money if I had it. But alas I don't so we parked...next to a brand new BRG Bentayga...it's a neato way to buy a 250K VW Touareg... Anyway, our few mile walk produced some fun shots. I'm getting reacquainted with Lightroom and I'm enjoying the results. This little camera is a powerhouse, and I like shooting in 35mm equivalent prime with no chimping as the XPro-3's rear screen is a fold down which makes it harder. It's a real hard habit to break but needed. This makes you feel the shots more and when I get home to process, I get to see what I got. Harkens back to the film era and I like that. Since I can only upload one it seems, I made it this tasty E Type...in the mix we have a '55 Merc 300SL Gullwing, a Rolls, and a few other goodies. Click the link below to the full set of tonight's shots. Greenwich '21

There's not too much out this year and many big names have been delayed until next year but there's still a few that are worth checking out. I'm planning on getting soon:- Total War Rome Remastered [PC] Resident Evil Village [PS5) Deathloop [PS5] Summer looks a bit barren and many release dates are still yet to be confirmed with just prospective a 2021 set but Final Fantasty 7 Integrade [PS5] may keep me going for a bit and I didn't bother picking up the original remake. The second half and towards the end of the year there is:- God of War Regnarok [PS5] Far Cry 6 [PC] Diablo 2 Resurrected [PC] Battlefield 6 [PC] PES 2022 [PS5] There's still plenty of others to consider like Horizon Forbidden West and iffy releases such as Halo Infinite but there's probably just enough to keep me going without savaging the wallet too much. Definitely no Call of Duty for me this year so I'll be able to put my money for that towards a more deserving title.

Here is a very important video of Corona everyone needs to see

Mini's are always good...I recommend Binky!!!!

Not a mini? 🤯 😆 I’m working on a McLaren Artura at the moment. All the models posted above are done from blueprints so fancied a challenge of doing a new car without blueprints. The 300SL is a classic though so could give it a go next. Interiors are a bit of a pain but I’ve not done a doors open model so that would be a new challenge. I’ll see how long it takes to finish the Macca as having to mode a lot of detail at the rear so it’s taking a while.

A really good start to this little league - 14 GAMES PLAYED yesterday already! I really want this to happen so thanks for everyone that had a cheeky game (or 7 like me 😄). I'll come back and write up about my own performance which in a nutshell was dreadful 🤣 but its all for the lolz. Remember, you only 10-15 mins free to grab a game and they don't need to be played in any order.

I will resurrect this thread today too!!! I'm getting back into photography and wanted to share some new shots with my newly acquired FujiFilm XPro-3. Here a few that I like, all 12 that I deemed postable are in this album '21 Norwalk CT

Thanks for the kind words 😊 It was a lot of work but I think worth it. Now time to work on the next one 😄

Another one of my models completed And of course it would be rude not to widen it a little Showing off the carbon and details And a shot of dat ass

So I finished this one a couple of weeks ago, just never posted it. So I present my complete Alfa Romeo 105 Giulia, I managed to model this one quicker than the Lancia above but I spent more time working out the specifics of rendering so this looks more "real". And of course, it's mandatory in these situations to add a massive widebody to any car modelled in 3d 😄 Somewhat inspired by the Zakspeed Capri and on Lancia Stratos wheels.

My latest thing is steak. Not cheapo shit steak but nice cuts. Granted they cost a bit more but are fucking lovely. The problem is that the cuts we buy are always too big to have one each, and too small to share, so tonight we're cooking just the one and will have some nice steak & cheese rolls 😎

So after quite some time out of this thread it's finally time for an update. So after a little over 3 weeks work, I present a Lancia Delta Integrale Evo modelled and rendered in Blender. Front: Back: Video: Video isn't the greatest quality as it's only 720p but that still took ~12.5 hours to render so no way was I going to make higher res.