Well They Were Cheap

So it's New year's Eve. I don't imagine I will be doing too much drinking but a nice meal and some time spent in front of the TV will be fine with me.

I am not GWs biggest fan but at the same time, sometimes they do some nice figures. The nicest figures they d at the moment are for the Hobbit/LOTR. I got these on eBay relatively cheaply. They are repaints which means that they were never going to end up looking perfect.  I've looked at them online at the GW store and nearly choked when I saw how much they cost to buy new. On the down side, one does have a rather bendy sword.

I am not a big fan of painting figures in black. It is never much fun. I think I did okay with these. Not my best work but not too bad. They are not quite the true Viking Dark Age vibe but they are close enough to do what I need them to do.

I was tempted to paint one up as a more traditional ghost as I don't really have anything I could use as  ghost but I have a few wraith like figures already. I will have to figure a way to make them translate into Savage Worlds.

Winter Is Coming

I say the phrase Christmas is coming in much the same way Ned Stark used to say "winter is coming." The fear is almost real but one less thing to worry about for another year. Things are a little tight here at Jackson's Folly so Christmas has been on the cheap this year. Now that the snow has finally arrived I don't want to go anywhere other than my painting desk. Before things became really dark, this is my one hundredth post of the year and my blog, at least, is ticking over nicely and the snow is nearly gone.

I managed a trip to the Recon show in Leeds a couple of weeks ago and came back with some Reaper Bones minis. More of that in another post but that has been about it for spending lately. I have done some painting which is always a bonus. The number of painted figures on my paint desk now outnumbers the number of part painted figure, so I have been busy. Most still need to be based and sprayed.

These are some ex-Grenadier current Mirliton hobgoblins. I got these (and a huge number of others) at a bring and buy earlier this year. I think I paid £40 for them and I guess their current retail value is around £120 so substantially less than a pound a figure. They have been bought as army sized units. I have no real use for that number of figures, so I guess I will sell some of them on or find another use for them. Maybe I could used them for a fantasy SAGA army.

I have some orc figures but you can always use some non human humanoid figures. So I thought I would break with tradition and give them a red skin tone. Other than that, they are a pretty standard paint job. Whilst they are not really dark age, they have a few elements that make me thing they will do. I see (well maybe only when I squint) a certain amount of sub-Roman British in there.

I have started painting some up with a more human skin tone. I was working on the principle that they could be used as half-orcs in a fantasy game, if I ever get to playing a game with half-orcs in it. Maybe they could even be barbarians. I was planning on painting up some more hobgoblins. I figure this is not enough to keep the party occupied and I have some archers I haven't touched yet. I was thinking another eight figures would be about right. Sadly my thinking for this is that they will fill two foam tray strips which is a little on the OCD side for my thinking.

Still, moving on. I figured out how to not need the lamp stand for the magnifying lamp just before finding the lamp stand. That was the highlight of my week last week. So I can work on the details a bit more.

There is a load of stuff on the way. I have been doing a fair amount of gaming, so I will hopefully post about that as well as some board gaming and of course painting. I am hoping that Christmas will give me a but more of a chance to do some typing and maybe a few more posts over the Christmas period.

2015 The Plan

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions but I do believe in having a plan. Both carry the same amount of weight really it's just when you say you have a plan it sounds better. A nice idea in principle. I will be moving house in the new year (January or February) which is going to have a big knock on effect on my gaming time. My mum and dad will be moving back to the UK, at least for a bit, so I am hoping that will work out for me and them. This might also have a knock on effect. I also seem to be spending some time with old friends which I would obviously like to do a bit more of.

Obviously, the first step is to clean up the painting desk. I have a load of fantasy/dark age minis that are part way through. Then there are a load of odds and sods figures. These are some modern street gangster minis that I have been fiddling about with. I also have some modernish soldiers. The general plan was that I have some ideas to do an very American civil war game set in the near future. They may also be of some use for a post apocalyptic game.

I got hold of a big box full of ECW plastics. I have started painting them but have gone of the boil with them. I run hot and cold with the ECW period. Some of the first wargame figure I got were ECW and there is some big nostalgia stuff going on with me. That said, I have about 200 plastic figures to paint which would give me an army to play with. The idea is just a bit daunting. In 2016 I don't expect to buy anymore and I expect to paint a few units, or maybe about fifty to sixty figures some of which I have already started. Maybe I could use some of them for Witchfinder which is another game I am thinking about.

I have some figures for X-Com now and this would not be a major project to get off the ground although there would be a fair amount of effort to get it to where I would like it to be. In my mind I have always got all the figures before the game begins when really I don't need every figure, just enough for season one. This has more to do with the free form way that I play than the actual need to own figures, The hard thinking for this has been done now. Some figure painting and some digital map drawing are all that is required now. I expect to get about forty figures painted this year and maybe order another forty or so with the remainder being finished in 2016. I also expect to make up a little scenery for this game during 2015 should the right bits and pieces appear.

The Scavenge Skirmish Survive figures are now available again, I just have no free cash at the moment as the plan is still that I will be moving in the new year which continues to break the bank before I have even moved. So I think if one of the other projects doesn't get in the way, this will be the focus over the summer months. I expect to buy about sixty figures and get them all painted by the end of 2015.

Fallout would be nice to run again but some of the players are not currently available so may have to put that on hold for a while. I am toying with the idea of the idea of getting this off the ground in 28mm. It would be a smaller scale game but I think I have a lot of figures that could be re-purposed. I may buy some monster figures but think I can repurpose some of what I already have. I could see me buying some vault dweller figures. The plan may currently involve changing the plot and maybe even the vault but keep a lot of the ideas in place. Any figure buying is likely to be done on impulse. I can see me buying about twenty to forty figure and painting hardly any of them.

I have put a lot of effort into the Viking game so would like to go back to that. My main painting focus still seems to be on the Viking/Fantasy figures so this is likely to continue. Most of my purchases for 2014 and nearly all of my painting has been for this game and I still have a stack of lead so I guess this is still going to be showing up on the blog. I am looking a lot more at bad guys and monsters for this at the moment and these may well take centre stage for a while. I can see me buying another forty or so figures and maybe some more monsters. I suspect that I will find the time to paint most of these and a lot of what I already have. So the plan involves painting another sixty figures for the Viking game before the end of 2015.

I have a very British Civil War itch that has been going on for some time. I am plotting two forces at the moment. The first would be Greenshirts. It was a powerful and almost forgotten British political movement that was one of the reasons that uniformed para-military groups were banned in the UK. I am not sure that throwing a green brick through the chancellors front window helped them much either. I am also thinking in terms of a very middle class battalion. Gentlemen, their servants, the local Hunt, Grenadier Guards and the like. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, VBCW seems to be a game about losing gracefully and I wouldn't mind losing with these guys. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the ire that these guys would generate amongst my fellow gamers would amuse me greatly. I can see me making a series of purchases this year and maybe as many as a hundred figures. The aim is to paint a platoons worth and if I really get giddy with it maybe an opposing forces.

Speaking of itches that need scratching, I have a number of super hero minis to paint and I am planning on buying maybe a couple of dozen more heroes as well as minions (probably another forty or so of these). Again I have a plan for these. My big problems is that I have no experience of playing in, let alone running, a super hero game. I am unlikely to run this game in 2015 but I would hope I have the figures painting so that I can run the game in 2016. Forward planning or what. SO I expect to buy about fifty and paint sixty figures.

I have got some WW2 figures to do some WWW2 . So far this means I have some half painted British Paras. The plan is to get some more. I may even cross this with the VBCW timeline. I have a whole line up of ideas for this game. In fact it is the game I have the most clear ideas for. It's just not lighting my fire right this minute. I can see this running from about 1936 till Korea and maybe even later with the main action taking place around 1941. This is not currently at the top of the list so I have no plans. If I do decide to d this it could be a big game.

Merry Christmas Everybody

Merry Christmas to you all. I hope it's a good one and I hope all your toys are nice and shiny, unless you want socks, in which case I hope you get loads of them instead.

I hope it snows so maybe we could make another snow dog.

The portents seems good and Christmas should be a good time this year. Neither me or my other half have got presents for each other yet as the run up to Christmas has been chaos and neither of us really knows what we want. The food is ready to go in the fridge and the decorations are up. My mum and dad are already here. So an early start and a lot of driving around not to mention walking the dog should build up a nice appetite by around two o'clock.