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We've been quiet on here for too long admittedly. The store focus has been on making sure we got your orders out and to you and to a lesser degree make some interesting content for the social media accounts. (links on the main page--check the bottom} I'm personally going to try to make regular posts with our honest thoughts on upcoming releases from GW, so if that's something you might be interested in reading about make sure you're registered to receive out newsletter and post updates. To start we're happy to formally announce the opening of the Noe's Attic Online Etsy Store!! in an effort to make our product easy to find and accessible we decided to have little tendrils of the store in just about every reputable online Marketplace. You can find us on eBay, Etsy, Mercari, and Poshmark to varying degrees. The emphasis will remain on eBay and will be expanding more into Esty as the community builds there. We're striving to maintain the same level of service across all those platforms. You will find the links to the major Store sites where we maintain an active presence in our links on the main page. The "shop now " button will also redirect you to the Etsy store as we aim to make it the main home of the store as time goes on. We haven't given up on the YouTube channel, we just need to find our niche and with a growing Warhammer Community we don't want to get lost in the shuffle with a channel that just duplicates what everyone else is doing. As we upload onto the social media we're zeroing in on what does well for us and what we can offer you. so if you want to have an influence of the direction of our YouTube so you can see something you like definitely leave us a comment or some input. We're here to build a community and share in our love of Warhammer in all its forms. Until Next time! {Insert witty catch phrase here) Noe

Well I definitely decided to go big or go home on this one. Much like when I was 15 and my first major convention was freaking anime expo, now that I'm in my early 30s and getting more into Warhammer, my first event was LVO. Only the biggest Warhammer event to exist. No big deal. Day 1 was mostly with the girls, I had to help the non players run messages because the event wanted 20 per day just to walk through the door - makes sense, conventions do that too, but for a tournament it felt funny for people who were just going to find their spouse since there’s no phone service. Eh, whatever. The scheduled events were super cool and the setup with streaming tables and repair stations were awesome. Vendor hall was small but of course I still spent on paint (funny story, I had no idea that my girl Meredith ran turbo dork!!!!) and a fun shirt that calls me out for the annoying NPC that I am. Actually, the shirt guy was really cool. He had a bunch of blank t-shirts and a bunch of colors and sizes and a heat transfer machine. You could pick your design from his t-shirt wall but then pick your blank shirt as well. It was such a good idea for having all sorts of variety and not having to bring boxes and boxes of stock on the off chance it would sell. I know that heat transfer machine couldn't have been cheap but I bet it paid for itself by saving on shipping for just one con. This night we also went as a group to the nomad library and had a really pretentious dinner but it was so good it was worth it. God, cons are my financial weakness I swear. Day 2 was Rogue day!! Before I changed, I FaceTimed with Noe and showed him everything in the game hall and exhibitor hall and we got some of the 40k exclusives for the store! It was interesting to me that they didn't have a per person maximum on the number of exclusives, but I didn't see anybody really take advantage of it. That was really nice to see. I'm sure that happens but not today, haha. I had SUCH a great time running around as Rogue, even tho ya girl has too much hair and wigs are tight now. But don't I say that with every con and every wig? Maybe I'll learn eventually. Got tons of compliments on my cosplay, Even from those who weren't playing marvel crisis protocol.. which was honestly the only reason I was able to justify wearing Rogue at a tabletop convention, in case you were wondering. Anyway, honestly 40k/tabletop is the most respectful fun community, not a single person being untoward or creepy, just genuine compliments and a few photos. I didn't see anyone else in costume other than my friend Clif was the eggplant king…..? I’m not one to talk lol. There were a small handful of other people in costume, but I only saw their pictures after the fact which was a little disappointing. Which actually leads me to my next point… I had the chance to talk with Kicker, the event director, about Frontline Gaming's desire to have a bigger cosplay presence at these shows! We’re in contact and I hope to work with them on building a costuming department for future events. We aren't talking specifics yet, but personally I'm thinking that the bay area event is looking promising . And of course I'm starting to build Alarielle from Sigmar…. Kicker gave me a great wet paint palette as a thanks for showing up and dressing for the occasion, which was very kind of him and that palette has honestly come in super useful as I start taking commission work. I was actually featured on the FLG stream on twitch as well! Between games they came up and asked me to show off my cosplay for the camera. It was a little awkward because like it's not like rogue has specific poses she's known for other than being an absolute badass, but I made it work. I was also super flattered because they said something about speaking of celebrities, Leah is here! AWWW. Found the clip, So I'm going to embed it here! Day 3 was infinitely more casual. A lot of my friends placed fairly high, but I think only one person actually ended up playing on day three. I ended up getting most of my pictures and videos on this day just because I felt a little more comfortable, even though it wasn't anywhere near the crowds that it was the day before. I ended up tapping out a little on the early side, and then that night we went to meow wolf which was such an amazing experience, and now I have a new goal of visiting every single meow wolf location before the end of the year. That's a post in and of itself though, so we'll save that for when I have pictures from all across the country. I'm really grateful that my first table top convention was such a good experience, but I went with people who really knew what they were doing and also had fun outside of just playing. I'm really excited for the years to come when I actually know how to play and bring my own army that I painted myself. Lofty goals, I know, but between Noe and I we can do it! Here is a photo dump of some of the amazing stuff and super nice people I saw over the weekend.

Nobody’s claimed that being a nerd is cheap. Warhammer is probably the biggest price offender just on retail price alone: Larger figures- obviously excluding the warlord titan - can hover around 400-600 dollars and a starter kit for a single army ballparks $200. So what gives? Why does everyone call it plastic crack, and know you can’t afford real drugs if you’re into 40k? There are stacks of reasons for this, but it not might be what you think, so let’s talk about why exactly we're all broke. Yeah, we’re just going to ignore you for this one my guy. Psychology of collecting Let’s start by talking about how capitalism takes advantage of our brains! Just kidding… kinda. Collection based games, be it minis, TCG, or anything where you gotta catch ‘em all tap into our human (or magpie, ooh shiny) nature to want to collect things and complete sets. Collecting provides pleasure and can communicate a sense of prestige and loyalty, or it can be just as simple as a habit. In the case of this game, collecting definitely imparts and exudes a sense of community between fellow gamers, those that play the same faction as you, and any other random connecting fact. You have a pink army, so do I! Of course, in Warhammer we also contend with the points system. Some amount of collecting is required, because three lone figures does not a playable army make. No :( Yes :) (https://www.facebook.com/paintstationminis/) It’s not Kirkland Signature The Warhammer brand is like that of Q-tip, in that someone might default to calling for the brand name when they might not mean it. However, like with the cursed ear cleaning sticks, there’s key differences that make you understand that you get what you pay for. Not the least of the differences is the quality of the minis themselves. You don’t have a game that dominates the industry like this without them knowing what they’re doing in production, and their huge scale use of injection mold printing sets them apart from other similar looking games. There’s also even metal figures which I’m personally terrified of based on price alone. Warhammer is, by no small margin, the most common minis game played in the world and, with few exceptions aside, you aren’t going to be able to swap in a proxy figure like you can with magic cards. Warhammer is also flexible in an official capacity as far as bits and bases and other forms of customization, which can lead to impressive armies with totally unique combinations and- oh no, here we are with more things to collect and work on. Sexy, sexy custom work (and lower image) by https://www.facebook.com/paintstationminis/ As dice breaker explains, First of all, all wargaming figures are expensive. It’s a pretty niche hobby. And while the cost of manufacturing a miniature is pretty low, the cost of designing one isn’t. With a small audience to absorb that cost, miniatures are considerably more expensive than they look. But many Warhammer miniatures are around twice as expensive as similar historical minis. This is because Warhammer bills itself as the premium brand. Warhammer miniatures, especially the newer ones, are considerably more detailed than most wargaming miniatures. They also frequently have either dynamic sculpts, or a sprue full of alternate head and weapons options. https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/games-workshop/opinion/warhammer-expensive-complicated-truth Another factor that leads to a higher cost is Warhammer's birthplace of England. Importing anything from anywhere isn’t exactly cost effective between shipping itself and taxes, plus the UK in general has higher wages and employee protections than America which feeds a small amount into product costs. God save Alarielle (too soon?) Time is money, baybee The last point we’ll touch on here isn’t even specific to Warhammer or Games Workshop itself, and that’s the time and skill involved in building and customization. Painting as a commissioner is a lucrative hustle, and looking at the details that are included there’s no question as to why that is. Larger pieces can run hundreds of dollars for a detailed paint job, and that cost isn’t nonexistent if you paint your own - it’s just spent in time instead. Probably around $500 including the cost of the mini itself. https://www.facebook.com/paintstationminis/ All this is not to say, however, that Warhammer is dollar to hour more expensive than so many of the other big “spendy” geek hobbies. As dice breaker says, every hobby has an on ramp (unless you’re into… like… barefoot running? That’s all I got.) and this hobby even offers the opportunity to make some money back via tournaments, contests, painting, etc. And of course there’s ways to minimize some costs, like secondhand sellers and small businesses that don’t always charge sticker price (wow that sounds like Noe’s Attic on Ebay what a good idea guys so glad you thought of it). So after your bills are paid, food on the table and lights are on, enjoy your game; happiness, community, creativity, and mental health are worth the money you can invest! -Leah As an aside, we'd like to take a second to send massive props to our friend Tim over at Paint Station Minis, who is an incredible custom painter and is cool enough to let me post his work as examples in this and future articles. Check him out on all your socials of choice https://www.facebook.com/paintstationminis/

Only a slightly dramatic title, I know. Late last month, Leah did a FOUR HOUR (!!!) livestream dedicated to making her very first minis! Here's a highlight reel of the chaos that ensued, and soon the full video will be up on Youtube so you can have a friend to paint with next time you have your own creative marathon. Please note that this language is definitely PG-13 (bordering on R, just because the f word is so multipurpose). What would you like to see in future videos? More insanity and more cat, or just more focus on the minis and painting itself? Let us know so we can make videos you want to see!

Arriving this week from GW is our shipment of the NEW Horus Heresy 2.0! Its going to be an amazing release weekend with our store flush to the gills with new amazing bits and products. Our aim is to have all the bits and parts for those who either can't get the new box or just don't need all the stuff in it or just need the main rulebook and or templates and dice. The kits will be all broken up similarly to our existing Mark 3 and Mark 4 kits so you can mix and match to your hearts content. We will also have the new Spartan Tank, Diemos Rhino and plastic Contemptor Dreadnought rife for conversion as these too will be broken down so that the Boys can do a proper looting job. We'll also have a limited quantity this week of the Special Weapons and Heavy Weapons for you to add to your existing armies or add to your brand new Heresy force. In a bit of a crazy move we'll also have the new Kratos Tank sorted out into its component parts for purchase. This promises to be a real interesting weekend and we hope you've all got your clippers and glue ready to build some toy soldiers. We'll be working through the weekend to make sure we get all the fun things in for you to add to your shopping carts. We'll also have a small restock early next week of some of the items we had limited quantities on this weekend so if you missed out on something be sure to add it to your watch lists and keep an eye out for restocks!! Also make sure to tag us on your socials so we can see what you get up to! we love seeing all the conversions and army projects from our community!! Sometimes we even share them if you're so inclined. Thanks for an Amazing Year so far!! Noe

Well, here we are. This was supposed to be a video, complete with peanut gallery commentary and a soundtrack, but then Covid got me. Alas. But that won't stop me from playing with my new toys! To be honest, it did for quite a while - you saw the unboxing video from over a week ago, it took me a while to be able to function enough mentally and physically to get this done. The fine motor skills that minis people have is just on another level. Here I present to you, in no way intended to be a how-to as much as a please laugh at my bumbling, my first foray into putting together a single mini. Okay, here we go. Starting simple. The giant ziplocks are a little intimidating, so maybe this awesome lady will be a little... not. I'm not gonna jinx it and ask "how bad can it be" though. Getting a little closer look at her. I want that staff in real life, holy crap. That statue she's standing on is a little creepy though, very lost continent of Atlantis vibes. And that crown doesn't seem too hydrodynamic, but who am I to judge. Okay, this is doable! One sheet of bits! I'm not scared! I've done enough Ikea and gunpla assembling to know skimming the directions is a good plan. You don't need to like peruse them by any means, but just to have an idea. Yup, still creepy lil face. MOVING ON! The first step is always the hardest. Just do it, already! I did have an issue trying to figure out exactly where this belt/scabbard was supposed to sit since there wasn't a direct pin or anything. By looking back and forth at the box art to see what the final product looked like, and shimmying it around until it seemed to nestle in to one spot, we got there. Narrowly avoiding gluing my fingers together on step one. I'm not sure if that would be a promising beginning or a curse. Missed documenting the other leg being attached, but it wasn't anything too special. I was worried about getting the angle right for the base later on, but turned out I didn't have much to worry about. These figures are actually a little more forgiving than you would think! Next up was Edna Mode's least favorite part- the cape. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize that the cape was actually the entire back portion of the mini's torso. I was trying to get it to sit on top of the shoulder, farther down, anything but just... there. See, so simple. But then I saw my next hurdle - I don't have a lot to go on as far as how the head sits. This isn't my favorite part of the mini. I just don't like how I got it to sit, maybe I needed to file down the neck a bit more? My god that sounds gross. But really, I couldn't seem to get the neck in the front flush if the back was securely fit. So poor girl is kind of living la vida Nearly Headless Nick from Harry Potter for right now. It's fine she's fine this is fine. Looking at this, I get it. I see, I understand, here are the arms, here's the stuff, easy. But that staff. The arm is connected to this lil turtle dude, and the staff connects to that him, but it's the same situation with the neck. Would you please just sit in your assigned seat?? Why yes, my fingers are SOLIDLY glued together, why do you ask? Look. it's as good as it's gonna get. Not flush, contains some of my skin, but it works . From this angle you can't tell it looks like she had a compound fracture that was set badly and allowed to heal. Again, fine totally fine everything is fine. CREEPY FACE TIME! When I tell you how much I struggled at figuring out how to get this base together. And when I tell you how hard I face palmed when I finally noticed the perfect little notch on the bottom to guide me. See, it doesn't really look like it's supposed to fit like that, like I'm missing something. But it worked perfectly where it counts. Also my glue drips are definitely intentional to add some uh... underwater character. Yup. Does this mean I'm done?? I'm done!!!! And this picture actually doesn't look half bad! This was such a fun little escape and introduction to minis! I'm really glad that I Was able to do this, and that it wasn't any more difficult, otherwise my dayquil addled brain might not have made it through. It was touch and go once or twice there. Next, we're gonna try to paint her! Wish me luck!

Last week, Noe sent me a box of all sorts of cool stuff! This is my first army and some basic supplies, so I can finally get down to learning how to paint these guys! I'm nothing if not on brand, so we went with the closet thing to mermaid that exists. The druid-ish set (see how good I am at this, using such official names) is a close second, so I'm already making a list for what I want to paint next. Soon, he'll be teaching me to play via Discord too! I'm SO PUMPED!!!!

Make sure to check out Jazza and his incredible talent here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUd51XmUj0o&t=48s

Aloha amigos! Thank you for letting me wax poetic on the last post about the frustrations I felt about cosplay and gatekeeping. Today I’d like to talk about the fun but stressful process of getting back into the wargaming community, after over a decade of having nothing to do with it! When I was in my hometown in Arizona, I managed a comic and gaming store for about three years and worked at another for about two. These shops were awesome places for me to really be able to surround myself and develop knowledge on all sorts of things nerd: learning how to play magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, destroying everyone at Pokémon, World of Darkness LARPing on Saturday nights, and reading thousands of comic books was formative in the best way possible. On Sundays, we had warhammer tournaments and I reserved special tables for the players and painters every day of the week. At the time, war gaming was definitely outside of my price point and I already had enough busywork to where I couldn’t add a new addiction on top of everything; But I always found the armies, designs, and especially the painting and customization aspects so fun and interesting. To be honest, I’ve never been the biggest fan of strategy games. I’m mostly blaming the ADHD for that. However, the creative aspect is something that I never lost interest in even though I never had the opportunity to really pick it up and get into it, not to mention learning the ins and outs of actually playing. I’m also now fully understanding the importance of who you play with when it comes to maintaining interest in a game so complex. When Noe and I decided to start working together, I was so grateful to have a supportive friend who was able to help me get reintroduced to what’s obviously such a fun, expressive, intense game in a way that I’ve never had a chance to before. I’m sure you can understand where I’m leading to with all of this. I would love to have you come along with me on this ridiculous journey, see how many figures I end up repainting 14 times because I’m not going to be happy with it, learning the game but if I actually end up playing it remains to be seen, and just otherwise finally giving wargaming, specifically Warhammer 40 K, the chance to hook me. If you haven’t really played before/are really only interested in the creative aspect, get your minis pre-painted so you can hurry up and smash your enemies, are completely new to all of it, or you’re a wargaming vet that just wants to laugh at my noob antics, I'm excited to see what you think. Please give me the crash course in the comments and in future installations, and hang out with us on Twitch so we can talk story while I paint! And yeah, I’ve fully come to terms with the fact that I’m probably going to end up making a sister of Battle cosplay or something. I accept my nature. In conclusion, please have some Warhammer painting memes that I’ve been collecting!

(Spoiler alert, mister: yeah, that totally makes her a cosplayer. Suck it.) Aloha amigos, welcome to the first of many posts by me, Leah! When I post, we’ll be having a more casual conversation about aspects of the gaming industry, figures, creative aspects of the fandom, and more. Once you finish reading today, I'd love if you dropped by the Noe's Attic socials and leave a note on any discussion topics you'd like to see! I was inspired to break something down recently, which I haven’t been in quite a while other than my personal journaling and ranting to my therapist, so I’m gonna roll with it while I can. So let’s just touch really briefly on cosplay, gatekeeping, character representation, and communicating expectations clearly. Hopefully, this helps alleviate some of the common fears and arguments I hear that stop people from trying out cosplay, including in the wargaming world. It’s such broken record energy to say cosplay is for everyone - of course it is, you know that, I know that, your mom knows it, Adam Savage knows it. These are fictional characters that we’re deciding to dress up as as an expression of fandom and appreciation, for creative outlet, and to commune with people with similar interests. We also know at this point that, and I have to impress this fact, the characters are fictional and nobody is going to look exactly like them. Even if they did, that’s not the point. People worth speaking to don’t gatekeep fandoms based on the appearance of the fan. See what happens when you do that? You look like idiots. Cause that’s what you are when we do that. Ahem. Moving past the most dead horse conversation of gatekeeping fandoms, one of the biggest points that I think isn’t brought up enough is the cause of this “cosplayers must look like the characters” opinion. And to be frank, the cause doesn’t matter. This is providing an explanation, not an excuse. I’m just the kind of person that attempts to see the logic in arguments even when there is none, so I can make sure my rebuttals are formed against the actual point. (note: somehow my ADHD brain took me on an hour long deep dive of Lynyrd Skynyrd here) This cause is conflation between CHARACTER PERFORMANCE and COSPLAY. And I can understand how easy it is to be confused if you aren’t a part of either community! Granted, those who are public with these trash takes are more outing themselves as not being cosplayers or fans of cosplay themselves so their opinion is pretty invalid, but we won’t dwell on that. A lot of these people simply don’t understand the point of cosplaying. Let’s break down some basic definitions - as defined by me, so obviously this isn’t all inclusive - for example, we aren’t going into the nuance of cosplay contests and the like, nor are we getting into the whole different ballgame that is trying to cosplay as a hustle and for social media recognition. Cosplay is what I said above: a creative outlet, showing appreciation for the character/media that they’re from, and a way to bond with other people with the same interests. The physical presentation of that fan, the source and quality of the costume, and all of these other face value characteristics can’t take away from the point and the expression. Character performance is what a lot of these people are conflating with cosplay. This is closer in spirit to what Disney princesses at the park are. You aren’t speaking to a cosplayer cosplaying as Rapunzel, you are speaking TO Rapunzel. These people, backgrounds and fandoms aside, are hired to portray the character as accurately as possible and remain in character. Some cosplayers like to roleplay the characters that they are dressed up as. This still doesn’t really count as character performance, but it does blur the line a little. And sometimes, a three year old runs up to you and while you know you’d never pass as Spiderman in real life, they think you're the real deal so you play along. Very cute blurred line there as well. And many characters/costumes don’t actually have a canon person or face behind it, like Warhammer factions - a Sister of Battle can look like whatever! About a decade ago, I remember doing an interview where I was asked for advice I would give newer cosplayers. Most of it was normal, start small to build your confidence, things like that; but I also remember saying if you’re afraid of public reaction to consider cosplaying a character that looks more like you. I hate that that was advice I gave, but I also hate that the logic about it was sound and remains to this day. It shouldn’t be! I would love for us to be at a point where exchanges like the one above I grabbed from twitter didn’t happen. Other people misunderstanding the intent and the point of cosplay is not your problem to consider, you’re just there to have a great time. A great therapy life lesson to take from this is that other people’s response is not your responsibility in situations like this. Anyone that thinks that you’re there solely to portray the character to THEIR standard? Fart on them. Yeah, you heard me. Make eye contact while you do it. For everyone else, I hope this offered some clarification about cosplaying vs presenting yourself AS the character, and you have more understanding of both of these awesome expressions of character love!

Apologies for the lack of updates on our part. We've been extraordinarily busy and these are unique times we are in at the moment, aaaanyway...on to the updates!! We're finally fully settled into our new location and business has been brisk and plentiful! New factions have been added slowly but surely as our business grows and expands and we'll be adding Age of Sigmar bits in the coming year. We still plan to start filming battle reports and do an invitation type format for when guests want to come in and play once the Studio is fully set up. We have brought on board the amazingly talented Leah Rose to help us out on the Social Media side. We talked about it in the last blog post but it cant be overstated how much she'll bring to the table to help our little bitz business grow. Starting in the new years we plan to have a Warhammer 40k Crusade Campaign with Myself and two other players battling it out for control of the Attic Wargaming System..not a great catchy name but we are open to suggestions. I'll be posting the updates for the campaign here on a monthly and the games will posted on the day of on our Attic Wargaming Instagram @atticwargaminghouston . Give us a follow to ..well ...follow along. it should be a fun tiime the campaign will run for an undecided(as of the writing of this post)length of time as schedules are a fickle thing right now. Possibly the next blog post will be done by the illustrious Leah Rose and we will also be expanding the blogs to include all manner of topics from Wargaming and Store updates to Pop Culture and Cosplay. I'll also be throwing my hat in to the Cosplay Arena by finishing a re-fit of a Space Marine suit in the coming year, hopefully in time for Comicpalooza next summer. With luck this next year will be less.....turbulent...yeah we'll go with that and look forward to more great things and prosperous times. Have a safe Holiday and Great New Year!! Check out our social Media for updooots!! Instagram @atticwargaminghouston @NoesAtiic Twitter @NoesAttic also Check out Leah's socials! All he links are on the landing page or look for her in everything under @leahroseFTW

We did it! We got the opportunity to move to a new space so we took it. the new space will be able to accommodate our shipping and receiving a bit of office space and have space for a small studio so i can start making plans to film content! Lots of exciting things are going to be coming down the pipe over the next few months so watch this space as I'll be updating here before I post to Facebook or Instagram! Short one this month but straight to the point. Also make sure you watch my Instagram for upcoming Twitch streams from our Media Partner Leah Rose!! Twitch.tv/leahroseftw