Sort Of Confused And Not Sludgy Enough

So far this week I have made good progress. Although it's a busy weekend, I think I will hit and just possibly exceed my target. They are still at the bobby stage and although the paint is in the right place, they are still not shaping up. The work looks pretty like what I had planned. I'm just not liking it. At all. They are far too bright and not Sludgy enough.

It's crossed my mind to use them for something else. Turnip 28 maybe? But if they aren't Sludgy enough they are certainly not Turnipy enough. So I guess I will stick with the plan. The colours may tone down a bit and I am thinking about giving them something like medieval weapons. Maybe add swords or axes to their belt kit?

I am now sat in bed after a shower. It feels more like a Sunday than a Friday night. My life is totally rock and roll. I have stayed on plan all week, even if things have had me distracted. Still I have a fun couple of days coming up.

Start Of The Week - Decisions, Decisions

So cat brain aside, I dove into three projects last week. By dove, mean did some kitbashing and glueing some.bits together. This seems to take forever. Getting the arms to fit together is probably my idea of purgatory if not actual hell. Much better to buy something that someone else has put together, primed and then got bored of.

So Sludge got another look in. I acquired a couple of frames of ACW zouves. You have to ask what the Americans were thinking of. I intermittently think about the ACW but not in 28mm. That way madness lies. Unlike Sludge, which is perfectly normal.🧐

I was missing a few bits so had to fill in a few gai. So they will be painted as colonial troops with some regular army soldiers. These are really part of another army. Another project, mostly built around some Austrian minis I have. 

As it's another army, I thought it needed some leaders. So a mounted and.dismounted commanded up in the mix. As did another cannon and crew. I've only done the one artillery piece so far, so another one seems appropriate.

This was going to be my project for the week. My brain won't let me settle. So I prepped another three projects. So there is more Atomfallish stuff glued too. A whole load of BattleTech stuff. I've even put some more scatter terrain together.(Seriously, I think my car's suspension would have a problem if I put it on the back seat all at once).

Perhaps it's best to save this for another post. Or maybe I will have changed my mind by then. Mmhhhmnnnh. The jury is out.

End Of The Week - With Some Success (41)

This week I have had a bit more time for the hobby. In truth I am missing the things that the school holidays bring. No point regretting, so I'll fill the time as best as I can. My brain is in full cat mode, so the projects are all over the place. To illustrate, this is everything I have touched with a brush this week.

I am feeling that I have got my mojo back. The numbers are not as good as they might look as the Skaven have been on the bench for over a month. I have a definite feeling these were a project that was abandoned when I thought there good enough.

Whilst on the subject of Blood Bowl these are all work in progress for the Nurgle team. I'm happy to play about with the skin tone but want to look at some of my original team so I can properly colour match. I have some more players to put together yet, enough to round out the positionals along with a few more linemen.

The Moor Walkers from MEP Miniatures have turned out really nice. To be honest I loved these from the moment I saw them. I really had them planned for Atomfallish but will work for a few other apocalyptic ideas. On the plus side, which is all plus already, this was perhaps the easiest paint job ever. I suspect I might be spending some more money with them in the future.

This week's main project has been these Empire Free Company Militia. The real advantage of these is that they were almost free. I paint a lot of fantasy stuff and it's nearly all dark age themed, so this is out of my usually purview. I'm playing some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at them moment and these are just perfect. They seem ideal for The Witcher, the game more than the TV show. There are some other minis in the range look good but I really need smaller numbers of minis. I don't need 32 bowmen. But maybe a sprue or two. And flagalents, missile troops, greatswords, state troops, Sigmarite and knights. Practically an Empire Army. 🤔

I also went down a bit of a rabbit hole with some other stuff. Cat brain. Attention span of a.  So because I need more scatter terrain.

Making More Progress Than Recently

Summer holidays had proven to be a busy time. I haven't really been in the swing of things for weeks now. Distractiona and low energy levels are not helping. There is some progeess. And a bit of frivolous spending.

BattleTech is back on the agenda. I ordered some stuff, most of which didn't turn up and what did had problems. So I have another twenty mechs, based, primed and ready to go. There are a few mechs already in the queue that had fallen by the wayside. Mostly for aesthetic reasons.

I got some freebies recently. These are being prepped for multiple uses.  On the periphery if what I had been planning was Mordheim. I'm already playing in Warhammer FRPG once a fortnight. I can also see them as being useful for The Weald. It can also morph into Frostrgrave.

I picked up three thin women in tattered robes at the start of the year. I was figuring oin using them for post apocalyptic games and maybe The Weald. Lots of detail and easy to paint. What's not to love 

Finally it's more Blood Bowl stuff. I am getting close to finishing off the Skaven. G Dub minis seem to take a lot more effort. These have probably ruined my mojo. The there are some Nurgle big guys. These are at the early stages. The skin is done. I need to find some of my original team so I can figure out how I did the uniform. These seem likely not to get finished any time soon 

Start Of The Week - Change Of Tack

Start Of The Week - The Battle Battles Back

I thought life had been entertaining recently. The most recent highlight was getting stuck on a rollercoaster. Followed by a three hour road trip home (which should have been half that). As I am typing, I am reminded that I should have been painting now but I am really too tired to contemplate it. There is family stuff going on too. Not me directly but it's all hands on deck and I appear to be in possession of the only available hands 

Obviously there is some work in progress on the bench. I'm looking at the Skaven and rolling my eyes. There is some Nurgle stuff I want to do but I want to find the stuff I have already done so I can get a good colour match. It's probably time I should have a game.

The plan for the week involved some priming. There is some BattleTech ready to go. Not to mention the Empire Free Company I got the other week. I had some thoughts about what to do with them. Frostrgrave, Mordheim and The Weald were all ideas. They would work for Warhammer RPG or even better for The Witcher. These would work well for a quick win. I probably need to start thinking about priming in earnest before the bad weather kicks in.

It's also been a week where I have been thinking about my mum. The day that would have been her birthday has been and gone.

After the start of the week, the world returns to normal. From Thursday I should be back in the driving seat. All is good, but it was good anyway. 

Although it's early, I think it's time for bed.

End/Start Of The Week - Forgive Me Father (25)(+47)

It's been four weeks since I last did one of these. This is mostly because I haven't had anything to update.

I have made a number of purchases (Forgive me Father for I have sinned, again, willingly and with forethought). I has after some BattleTech minis and some Blood Bowl stuff. I have managed to complete six goblins for my orc team. Reasonably happy with that. There are some in progress Skaven. I am less happy about that. I do now own all the minis I want for my Nurgle team. Varag is back there somewhere. When I start typing Varag the spullchucker seems to want to autocorrect it to Nigel. I ask myself if this is irony in action.

BattleTech is proving to be a pain in the arse. Which hasn't stopped me acquiring another 15 mechs. At least in the UK. Getting hold of it is becoming a pain. There is plenty of stuff that is just not available. What is available appears in batches. Intermittently. I am hoping that BattleTech Gothic dies on the vine as maybe they will get some regular stuff on the shelf. There is some work in progress.

Blood Bowl is not much better. There is a load of stuff that is unavailable on what appears to be a permanent basis. Unlike BattleTech, there is a fairly brisk second hand market. Like a lot of G Dub stuff, one box is not enough and two is not enough.

Star Wars Legion is back on the bench again. I had an unpainted Snow troopers ready to go. There are already a few in the collection but I wanted to finish these off. It's another game with stock issues. I am still looking for some dismounted scouts at the right price. So I have seven of these done.

There was one unit left for Sludge left to paint. For some reason I wanted hussars on the table. I don't have much cavalry for the game. The plan still calls for some more units. Heavy cavalry being one of the most important. This means another twelve horses and their riders. If I really pushed it, I wanted two of these units. This seems like hard work. 

Given the complex nature of some of the figures and the mounted nature of others, my complex calculations call this twenty five complete. I am wondering what to do next.

Forgive Father, For I Have Failed To Post For Two Weeks

A few weeks ago I was talking about my struggles with Blogger. This seemed like a lot of noise at the time. I haven't had a period that busy for some time. School holidays and all. I was wrong. That wasn't busy. The last two weeks was.

So I have had all the school holiday stuff, fun, well a lot of fun, but not conducive to the painting of 28mm miniatures. Then family happened. I had two tyres that needed attention, then other people have required four trips to hospital, two interactions with the police, additional dog sitting, a broken laser cutter, A new bathroom door (see dog sitting), two airport runs are the edited highlights. Then I had new cable fitted so I could get wifi. This took about a day off moving, tidying, fitting, moving and tidying again.

But yesterday I got some time. I have been working on painting quietly in the background. Even short periods have been causing me health problems. But I have made progress. I think I am up to twenty five finished this week. This sounds like a lot, but I have been working on them for over a month. My target for a thousand in the year is still just feasible, but seems less than likely.

So here we are. The holidays are nearly over. There are two more weeks and then its back to the normal routine. So should be resuming normal service soon. Ish. Maybe. I have been thinking about doing some terrain but I don't want this to detract from the figure painting. I guess we will see.

Frostgrave or Mordheim?

I got a freebie on Wednesday. The plan was that what I was getting was just going to end up in the bots box. What I got was some GDub Empire Free Company minis. A few had a rather heavy black base coat but most were just unprimed and a bit bashed up. SO with a quick base change I now have about eighteen free company, a couple of smaller, but similarly dressed minis, and a couple of zombies.

I play in a Warhanner RPG, I like Frostgrave and I have a mate that likes the idea of Mordheim. So lacking a project in mind, this was an easy distraction. It has managed to get in the way today. I;ve also had some British Winter Infantry turn up. Then I may have already purchased some more BattleTech.

Over Packaged And Underdelivered

A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of a Blood Bowl binge (I didn't order that much) I won an auction for Borak the Despoiler. He arrived today in a huge box. Well huge for the size of the mini. It made me smile.

I have Borak now. I blogged about him some time ago, so I must have wanted him. He was one of my faves in the old game. So a wish complete.

The Death of The Blogosphere

I was just going through my blog. Tarting a few posts up here, a spelling correction there. But I came to the point where I started looking at other blogs. What I noticed most of all was the Blogs I Like bit of the screen. 

Not every blogger has such a page. Every man likes the smell of their own farts I guess. Most still have it though. What we haven't been doing is culling the blogs that are no longer getting the love from their owners. I looked at Vampifan's page. A much loved blogger, who sadly passed n. But most are still hanging in there because people just given up. 

I can't really complain. There have been years where my post rate has dropped. Real life gets in the way. A lot. Something has kept me going. It's not the money. There is no money in it. Its about the love of the game. I guess it gets harder over time. Maybe blogging has had its day. I usually think about how involved I am with the blog at the new year. The usual time for reflection.

From the point of time I started thinking about setting up a blog, to the actual point in time it began, it took about two or three years. It was about time. The blog began when I had a bit more time and it thrived when I was spending more time at home. Its getting busier again as I have more time. So maybe thats what its all about, time.

So maybe its a time for a cull?  Or call it quits? I'm not that far gone. For me, my blog has had a resurgence this year. There is no way I am going to quite just yet. I haven't got to a million hits yet. According o the stats, I am stilling getting plenty of hits. Which I am assuming are real. So I will keep it going. 

Paint Stopped Painting

So I had another opportunity to buy some paint. It's not like I eed any more. Even at the pace I had been going at, I couldn't imagine needing, and I mean needing not wanting, in about ten years.

I am a bit of a paint whore. I don't care which range I use and I don't care who knows it. On the cheap. I've put some away already so I don't know the exact number. But it will be little over a 100 pots. So about £350 to £400 at full retail. Which cost me £4. Some have been used a little but are pretty close to full. So give or take ten pence each. 

So I have been sorting them out as they arrived at mine in a bag. I now need some way to store them. So this probably means even more paint racks. In theory I would like to put them all in dropper bottles. Which would cost way more than the paint. That would be in the region of £40. So maybe, maybe not.

There were a few MIG paints in there along with over dozen Vallejo paints. The majority of the paint is from the Foundry Paint system. This basically a triad system. There are a few incomplete triads, which if I like the range, I might fill out. I like the idea for layering colour and I considered buying into it at the time. There is a deal on the complete range, which costs as much as my first two cars. So I didn't bother. 

Still will give them a trial. Seems like the right thing to do.

Beware Of Geeks Bearing Bargains

To further ass to the queue I have purchased the BattleTech Clan Invasion box set. From a good friend, at a bargain price. I did this last night. So the set is now based alongside the last one of my unpainted mechs. Just the ugly ones.

The Clan Invasion was something I was never going to buy into. Oh well.

End Of The Week - Start Of The Summer

Well some progress has been made. My heart isn't in stuff at the moment. So I guess any movement is better than no movement. It's more a case of being busy this week but there are plenty of distractions.

So the Goblins for Blood Bowl. Like most GDub stuff there is a lot of detail. Fortunately not as much as the Skaven. I've almost finished a base layer for Varag. Some I can't complain. Except I do. Frequently.

Speaking of Skaven, I have put some paint to plastic. Not much, just a couple of colours. But it is a start. There has been a little bit of progress on the snow troopers and Sludge hussars too.

Re-Start

I have been busy. Busier than usual. School holidays are almost here and I am excited about that (more excited than when I was a kid even). So the immediate future is a little unpredictable. In a very good way.

So having some time, and finding a chance in-between storms, I got some preemptive priming done. Kits have been put together. Texture has been applied to bases. Even some green stuff has been added. So real progress.

Despite having had enough of Skaven, there are more in the pipe. I was going to paint another five. I was missing a couple of gutter runners and you never have enough linerats. I had some leftover minis. Due to the figure mix in the boxes sets, if you buy one set you don't have enough and if you buy two you have too many.  So I have a couple of extra blitzers and throwers that probably don't have much resale value. I now have a blister and thrower with a mutated extra arm.

Then there are some referees. I'm not sure about these. I don't really do elves. Nasty. I have a dwarf team but need a lot more minis. I have an old death roller which might see some action.

Bilerot Vomitflesh is on the way. Just a question if colourscheme. It's going to be Nurgle. I like Nurgle. He is primed and ready to go.

Given that I have goblins on the go I might as well throw in Varag. He is a bit of a beast. I hadn't realised that he was that big. I have the Black Orcs to paint and it seems likely that I will paint them all in the same scheme. I have Lord Borak on the way and I have Glart Smashrp somewhere. So I. Fitting with the overall chaos vibe. Will Khorne appear on the bench some time soon?🤔

Then there are six more cavalry for Sludge. I think I had them planned as hussars/light cavalry. Not going a colour scheme yet but given that they are hussars, you can bet that they will be jaunty.

There are a few other bits and pieces. Just have to figure out where they fit in to the schedule.

Start Of The End Of Something

My heart hasn't been in the game over the last month and my head? well who knows where that is. Summer holidays are looming and I am not sure how that's going to work.

Things are progressing. I have more Blood Bowl Skaven to paint. If you had asked me last week if I fancied painting some more Skaven I probably would have gone looking for a chainsaw. I'm thinking I might as well get them done now so at least the colours will match. There are a few goblins still in the queue.

Then there is Bilerot Vomitflesh, for my second favourite team when I am feeling the urge to bash. So plenty more Blood Bowl. These all need priming and currently it is raining here for the first time in ages. Fate mocks me.

                                                            

I've also got some Imperial Snow Troopers for Star Wars Legion. Which will bring me up to four units. Another unit that has been sat around for two years. I just found them and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

End Of The Week (For The First Time In A While) (15)28)

It's been a busy few weeks. I haven't had much time to do much of anything. Life and stuff. Forgive father, it has been two weeks since my last post. It has been three weeks since I last finished painting a miniature. Or something like that. I'm still on track, but there has been a blip.

The wall I think involves the Skaven. Compared to most of the stuff I paint, there is three times as much work involved (but I am only counting it as two). What started off thinking I was almost done, I had to reconsider that point of view. Still I have "finished" a Blood Bowl team which was a goal for the year. Well I say finished.

A couple more space dwarves are done to. The Titansgrave project they were purchased for now seems long dad. But I still like the idea.

I'm pretty close with the rest of the stuff in the queue too.

End Of The Week - Serious Progress With Little In The Way Of Actual Results

My brain is trying to work out how long I have been awake. I think it's twenty hours. Insomnia week. Even though I have been awake since silly o'clock, my brain is not dealing with the day night cycle which usually helps me settle down to paint.

I think Games Workshop has got it wrong. If you want people to buy more minis, you don't want to make them bigger and more complicated to paint. It makes bad business sense. This pops to mind because I am trying to paint my skaven Blood Bowl team, a target for the year, and I had forgotten how much detail is involved. It's two and more like three times the detail  (and size) of a conventional 28mm mini. I might have to reconsider my count for this.

With the other minis I am making progress. The stuff for Sludge has a few details to finish on the heads. The three figures from last week are effectively done. I just wanted to add some details. 

Then there are six Blood Bowl goblins in there two. Looking at these I have hardly touched them. I keep seeing bits of flesh that I have missed off. The plan calls for these to be painted up to go with my orc Blood Bowl team. 

So as there is a huge amount of work in the Blood Bowl stuff, I think I have to reconsider the numbers. Especially as the next week is looking like a busy one and the week after isn't looking like it will slow down either

Start Of The Week - The Usual, Prevarication

Here I am again. I started with really good intentions. At midday I was even at the bench. Then I realised that I had absolutely no interest in painting the minis I had selected. Somewhere along the line I did some laser design stuff. Stacking trays. Gave me a serious migraine. 

I went through a period of buying stuff I really wanted, basing it, priming and then putting it away for later. I've bought some more stuff since then but of the three hundred or so I had I am down to less than fifty. Naturally these are the ones that are really not grabbing my attention. 

I've gone back through my plan for the year, and even previous years. Not really feeling this either. I think I have painted all the metal I have got this year (aside from one which is destined to become a statue).

So I am promoting the Blood Bowl Skaven to the front of the queue. 

There are a few goblins ready to go and I have Varag put together but in need of priming (little chance of this happening today due to the rain).

Varag is a brute so I'm calling him the equivalent of three figures. There are a couple of more Blood Bowl teams about to jump off the shelf.

I have some Sludge stuff primed and ready to go. These are some light infantry with crossbows. Only need six of them.

This guy is for my daughter. Sshh. He is top secret. Let's just say his number is taken.

Finally I have some stuff from last week to finish off. I've decided to put the Stargrave stuff into the background.

We are looking at around thirty five minis for the week. I will be happy with twenty five or so. I have an urge to do some terrain. So I might do a bit of trimming. For practical reasons, I count figures as complete when I finish painting the minis. So I am already a good way though with a lot of stuff this week. So it should be easy to get to twenty. Something tells me Varag might be the first casualty.

End Of The Week - Lucky (13)

As things go I haven't quite hit my target. Despite another late start in the week I have managed to get another thirteen minis done. This leaves me with another seven in part process. This is not a total success. I have met my minimum standards for the week but not my goal. That said I am still on target for a thousand figures for 2025.

What is finished is very genestealer. Ish. I quite like what I have done. If I was going to do Stargrave I think these guys would be an option. I am sure I have some more of these guys around somewhere. Maybe someday. Just in case I need a reminder, these were the paints you used.

I am looking at what I haven't finished and I'm not close to finishing and it's the Stargrave stuff. This is probably because I have the least interest in finishing them. This didn't seem to be a problem with the space gnolls I did the other week. My muse is a fickle mistress.

Subverting Tropes

I sat down with some minis that were inspired by the old genestealer crossbreeds. They came out not long before the genestealer cults got released.  I had a plan for them when I got them and that plan died due to lack of interest.

My plan called for them to be something different. For them to stand out in their own way. They aren't genestealer and I didn't want them to look like them. Yet here we are. Almost all purple and blue. So much for subverting the trope.

They are alongside some Stargrave minis. My plan now is that these might end up as a Stargrave crew as well as a potential enemy force. 

Right now there is still some work to do. For the most part they are only on the base layer of contrast paint. There is still some highlighting and pritification to be done. There is a good bet I won't finish them by tomorrow but I am thinking I will get there by Monday.

Start Of The Week. On A Thursday. Again

So I've gone to the queue. I'm finding it harder to pick out something I want to paint. At least paint right now. So as it's late in the week again and I plan to finish twenty figures this week. The plan calls for limited colour palettes to help speed things up.

A few years ago I got into the idea of running a game of Titans grave: Tha Ashes of Valkana. This is a sci,/fantasy RPG that at the time was being championed by Wil Wheaton (so it must be good). I have some early 40k minis and I wanted to use them as a starting point. One of the things I wanted was the old genestealer hybrids. This was pre genestealer cults. The prices for what I was looking for would have got me a second hand car. Then I found these guys from Macrocosm. They do old style squat soldiers as well as cult ones, and I have some of them here.

Just to make up the numbers I thought I would add in some Stargrave stuff (Stargrave, Frostrgrave, Tiransgrave I am starting to see a pattern). When I was last looking at the figures I had painted I realised I had relatively few heavy weapons. This is mainly because I hadn't painted any. So probably not a bad time to start painting some.

So I should probably get on with it. I've done some tidying up and sorting out. I've even had a bacon sandwich. Time to pick a brush up.