Zomtober - Week One

How did I forget about Zomtober. I found myself with a bit of extra time. So why not?

I do love free stuff. These came on the front of a copy of Wargames Illustrated. They were designed for Conflict 47. All the minis I have for this game came of the front of a magazine. They are expensive for what they are so if WI could get some of the British Army robots, I will buy a dozen copies.

In all honesty I don't need any more WW2 zombies. I have an Imperial Feckton of metal ones somewhere. My inspiration comes from playing Atomfall and my attempts to create sUnderDground, a post apocalypse setting based in London.

End Of The Week (0)+(32)

This has been a week of prep. I had envisioned getting a bit more painting done. I have been whinging about this al week. Still I now have enough stuffed primed and ready to go to just about see me through to spring. 

Since the last post I have gotten some of the Fallout stuff I got for Black Friday last year. Not all of it, but a good chunk of it. I have finally got some mojo back for the project. This is mainly down to Modiphius having another stock clearance sale. Much of which fits in with my idea for NukaLand (which is not Nuka World). Maybe a story for another time. I am guessing there are about thirty minis on the way. 

Some are actually Skyrim: Call To Arms minis. Not a full army but rather some terrain and some odd minis. Dwemor robots, flame atronarchs and sprigans, along with some terrain. This is the stuff I have wanted for a while. I wasn't going to by them because they were a bot pricey and in general I wanted them for other fantasy games. I may just give it a try now and I am tempted to go out and buy some more.

As for actual work? The Crusader Quar are he biggest project. A box of twenty four infantry, another four specialists and twelve mounted and dismounted cavalry. There are three boxes of the cadier mounts. I had originally envisioned them more as dragoons but maybe I will give the riders helmets and call them hussars an light infantry. I could always use some more specialists and there is plenty of metal stuff yet to buy along with STLs and vehicles. I should also get round to finishing the Coftyran Quar first. This is a fairly addictive project. Well as much as my non-addictive personality will allow. I can see a few more armies are coming out but I will finish what I have first.

Next are the Elf and Dwarf villagers from Wargames Atlantic. Twelve of each, split between male and female. I started with the regular villagers set and the guards. These were finished a few months ago with a view to get some more or maybe even move into Baron's War. I have enough suitable stuff to start at least but I keep looking at that starter set. The plan was to use the villagers for games other than Guards of Traitors Toll, mainly for the Nornmen project. I now have a hankering to play GoTT. A few more arms would have made things easier but there is a lot if good stuff on the frames. The elves are pretty good but the dwarves are amazing. Really what I have been after for a long time. Human civilians are easy enough to get hold of but demi human, not so much. I may get another box and finally do some Titansgrave.

My bench is always full of projects. One of which is the sUnderDground. I have some police which were brought for several previous iterations of the ideas. These have had some webbing and gear added. There are some more general minis and the last of the Athena Miniatures. There are also quite a few rando soldiers for the game. These needed a little fettling and some green stuff to finish off. I do like these guys. Whilst at Tabletop Scotland (that was a fun weekend) I purchased five Bad Squiddo minis, four armed ATS and a Scots Officer. You can never get enough female minis for most of my games and these fit in nicely. Not sure how I feel about painting tartan.

The largest total number of figures for any project is for Star Wars Imperial Assault. Some were already primed when I got them so I can't lay claim to them all. There are about ninety of them. Some of which are fairly chunky. I was somewhat non-plussed when Legion came out in a different scale. This initially put me off both. Business is business and I do love me a bit of Star Wars. This is a project that is giving me ideas. A lot of them. It's also one with a few more purchases on the horizon and a desire to integrate it with Descent.

There is a lot of random stuff here too. Some trench works, gladiators, fandom Frsotgrave bits, and bits of scatter terrain. There are also all the minis out of Frosthaven which even if they wrest of the game was disregarded, are a bargain. I spent a fair bit of time hoovering up anything that was left on the bench. 

Then there are also a whole load of wattle fences and gabions. Not to mention some cheval de frise (which I recently learned effectively means something like Spanish cavalryman). Some of this was purchased for Sludge, the cheval de frise and especially the gabions. They do have a lot of uses. The wattle fencing will work best with the dark age stuff and anything up and even beyond the renaissance. These should be an easy job although there is a lot of them. A couple of anvils from the Dwarf and Elf box found a way in too.

Finally these is the recently acquired Paranoia stuff. Not too much of this although I may well get some more. I have some smaller bots I also got at Tabletop Scotland.  The plan is these will get rolled into the project. I even have some old GDub metal Paranoia stuff. More bots I think although I will have to find them. 

Winter is coming. To coin a phrase. This little foray into prepping and priming is to make sure I have enough to paint over the winter. Which I have probably already said. It is not always raining in England. As the summer will attest. It is however easier to prime in warmer temperatures. So better to do it now.

The world news is looking a little bleak at the moment. Diesel is just hitting the £2.00 a litre barrier. I currently can't fill the cars tank with my card at the pump. I have to go into the kiosk if I want to fill up. Everything else seems to have started a slow creep in price increases. But not hobby stuff. There seems to be some element of price drops. This may be good for me but may be a bad sign. This is starting to make travelling any distance painful. So I am guessing that I will get a bit more time for painting. 

End Of The Week (10) Just

I wanted to stick with the plan. Life is busy at the moment and yesterday, the day I had a plan for, didn't go to plan. So I've only just finished now. Some more grist for the mill that is sUnderDground. I got the scientist for a Weird War II project. He didn't seem to work with the vibe at the time but he suits this darker world quite well.

Times seem to be going harder. This is how much it cost to fill up my fuel tank today. The limit on spending is £99. If costs go up, I might not be able to fill my tank to the top. I can only see one reason for this and apparently he has dementia.

Start Of The Week - Bindependence Day

So a quite pivotal or comical week in the UK. Depending on your point of view. No great outcome either way. An object lesson in irony appears to be about to happen.

Still, back in the real world of tiny toy soldiers. It's more about the ruins of post-apocalyptic London than pre-apocalyptic Clacton. So I have another ten minis for sUnderDground. These are much more of a mish mash. I am seeing these as more of a citizen militia. Prepped, primed and ready to go. Mostly Warlord stuff. A few bits are off the covers of magazines. There is a Pulp nazi scientist. He didn't really fit in with other stuff.

I am looking at my recent purchases. The Quar cavalry and the Paranoia stuff. I need to do some some work on the Paranoia bases. Design them and get them cut out. This is not the week to do this. Maybe I will find the time.

So maybe the Quar. The photo above may even be a tenuous clue. I have a box of each. When I get to establishing a plan, this is probably not enough. The Coftyran infantry (in my head) is based around ten man squads. Three groups of three and a sergeant. In an ideal world I'd want two of these an officer, sergeant and standard. Which would be three boxes. 

I would also like a few mounted regular infantry. An officer (one of these with an infantry officer helmet. A few extras like a sergeant, standard an a 3 man recon team or two. So four boxes. For each side. With the plan as it is I guess I am nudging another £300. I'm looking for a half set of each as twelve of each seems to hit the sweet spot 

Queue the sound of gears grinding and the smell of burning rubber. The plan is still the XCOM Miniatures Game all the way.

I see my future busy weeks being a little extended. Visitors, friends and family are all in the mix in the weeks after the summer. Happy for it all. I can see me keeping with the plan and I don't see the volume of painting going up. At this pace, with the currently active plans, I can see a gap in the queue around March. Assuming the XCOM doesn't jump to the front of the queue. Which it probably will.

End Of The Week (15)

A strange day today. It would have been my mum's birthday. So a number of moments of sadness. Whilst it has been some time since she passed, I still think about her every day. Things have moved on, but I still miss her.

So I hit my target. Things are progressing. The New Cruelty should be more than happy. The New Cruelty if you friend or is that the Computer. Some of the Paranoia minis are done. I am already thinking I need some more investigators. And all the other stuff. This is a project that has some legs. 

The fascists came out alright. For fascists anyway. I am trying for the convoluted mix of kit. This seems to have worked. With the corpses I will call this 12 for the week. 

I've seen a few things new for Blood Bowl. All big guys and all needed for one team or another. The is a Morg 'n' Thoth has been missing from collection, at least as far as a new figure. I mostly play chaos in all its forms so the other two figures, a rat ogre and a minotaur, fit my plan. I need to pick a team to paint this year. So, having had Varag Ghoul Chewer on the bench for around three years (the ultimate background project). Not to mention he is now almost six years in the queue. I finished the one missing detail and the base.

I also found an odd peasant from the villagers pack by Wargames Atlantic. She is now done. So I am going to call this 15 minis for the week.

There are a couple of projects in the offing. In keeping with the usual form, I will probably decide tomorrow. Or the next day. 

Slow But Steady

I have a bit more time on my hands today. Sadly. But it does mean I have finished the project for the week. Which gives me a bit of time to work on the other stuff. For some reason I am struggling to keep one of the arms attached. Need to find some spruegoo.

I want to do some work with green stuff. If nothing else I want to fill in the gaps for the wrecked ship. It feels like I can experiment a bit with it before starting the, er, not cracked one. That one won't look pristine either. Just not wrecked. I have a bit of gap filling to do on the last of the Athena Miniatures. survivors.

Then I am already giving the Paranoia minis and the Quar Wars cavalry the eye. I've stuff prepped for a few more weeks at least. But. Well. You know. I should probably do these before I get the green stuff out.

I have some Normans on the bench. These are currently an alternative background project. These were painted by someone else but I need to do a bit of work on them. These needed a bit more texture on the base. So this is done now.

The End Of The Weekend / Start Of The Week (10)

I got my ten minis in. So I am happy. Fairly good that they were mostly green. A coloured primer and 'contrast" paint helped a lot. I've already shown some pictires so I'm not going to bother here.

Some more sabot bases done too. Last of these for now at least. Just some I had sat around gathering dust. Mostly, if not entirely Warlord Miniatures this week.

Found two random, but identical second hand toys this week. The most battered was obviously the most expensive, and the one I found first. I've been after something to use as a drop ship. Now I have a drop ship and one that could be a wreck. I am getting a Traveller ship's boat mixed with a space shy.

I've started working on one of them already. Needs some filler and some extra paneling. Then I can start jazzing it up.

Anyway. Off for a daddy daughter day.

Day Of Admin Rather Than Progress

I've always thought it's better to have a plan. I used to regularly say that failing to plan is planning to fail. Then kids came on the scene and it became failing to plan saves me about twenty minutes of wasted time every day. This is said tongue in cheek. It doesn't really apply to gaming. As far as kids are concerned, it is good to have a plan. Just don't expect it to happen.

So it's not been a bad day. The game of the day has been prep and admin. I've found some more sabot bases. As I plan to do some more painting of these, it seemed appropriate to finish these off all together. 

There are some more sUnderDground minis ready for next week. These are planned to be fascists in the game. So some Warlord Winter Germans from various sets. There are some zombies in the mix too. Somewhere I found a Eureka Bundeswehr. This should be another quick project. There are a couple of civilian (well armed civilian) casualties.

The sUnderDground project looks like an ongoing project. So there are a few more primed minis. These are a bit more of a mixed bag. Americans, Japanese, Germans and Brits. And a few zombies.

I got these from a car boot a few weeks ago. I like the guy, who I see fairly regularly. Always has something I want. A few more dark age minis can't hurt right? I'm not a big fan of the metallic blue (although it would be amazing as a colour for magic weapons) and there are a few bits that I need to look at to make them fit with my stuff.

Maybe I can get to doing something a bit more productive.

The blog seems to be doing okay. I mean the number of posts is up again. So I must be in an up phase. Will see how that goes. The last year has seen a third of the sites total hits. I must be affecting the outcome of everyone's AI searches.

Start Of The Week - Sort Of Apocalyptic

Still on an Athena Miniatures spree. Not sure what these figures are called and I don't think they are on the website yet. I'm.not quite sure what I am doing here. I thought there were ten of them but one of them is a survivor.

I suspect these were done for Scavenge, Skirmish, Survive. This is/was a winter apocalypse skirmish game. I hear a new version may be in the offing. Regardless, the winter apocalypse vibe really works for me, especially as I plan to use them in sUnderDground game.

Looking at the week ahead, getting these done is doable. I am not sure if there will be time to get much else done. Maybe a few bits here and there. Maybe not. 

End Of The Week - All About Progress (10)

I have been begging for rain for a few weeks. Britain has been close to a state of draught for some time. There were only really three hours this week that I didn't want it to rain. So of course it did. And only then. This has been the metaphor for the week.

So the goal for the week was paint ten minis. British NBC figures from Athena Miniatures although the casualties came from a different set. All done and I am quite happy with the outcome. I've even had a chance to tinker with what is coming next week.

I have been playing a few rank and flank games lately. Midgard being the main one. I have a vast number of dark age minis. Mainly created for role playing purposes, so mostly on 2p or 25mm sized bases. This works for me as I can create sabot bases. 

There is quite a lot of work involved here. I wanted them to match the colours on most of the figure bases. There are seven colours here, which took some time. Gluing everything together took some effort too. I think I need about twice as many as I have finished her. More will be in the works.

I've also had a chance to muck around with some terrain. A lot of glue and sand is no more. The texture on the bases of the gabions and cheval  de frise are finished. The wattle fencing has had some glue and sand added to strengthen the models. The plan is to put some texture paste along the edges before I start painting them all. As this is mostly wood colour, the actual painting process should be relatively easy. 

As a renaissance gamer, I couldn't resist putting a quote from Ozymandius onto hex terrain. Not sure which biome I am going to use yet but it's a good bet it will be desert) badlands. Makes me smile when I look at it. Should probably be in hieroglyphics. Oooh. Another project.

There is some Star Wars terrain in there too. Along with the gabions. There is more of this to come. Well it was cheap. Something for the future.

This is not bad progress. Speaking of bad progress, Summer (holidays) is coming. Well actually it's here. So I am not sure how things are going to play out on the mini painting front. Still, I will be having fun. My hopes for the week should be manageable.

British Infantry In NBC Gear

Awake early today so got some painting in. Focus is on the Athena Miniatures British NBC minis and a couple of similarly equipped casualties. They are starting to look a little better (less like shiny t💩💩rds. These are some fairly robust minis. All are probably six footers.

A little bit of titivation is still required. The masks and the SA80s need a bit of highlighting. Maybe a wash on the rifle's handguard. A little bit more on the bases wouldn't hurt either.

These are looking perfect for the sUnderDground game. They look more apocalypse than post-apocalypse. Don't envy anyone in an NBC suit. Respirators are bad enough.

My guess is these will be finished soon so I might moving on. These are also by Athena Miniatures but aren't up for sale yet. At this point I suspect the colour scheme will be pretty much the same but with a few additions for things like helmets and gear.

Start Of The Week - Three Colour Minimum

There is this old idea found predominantly in club based wargaming of the three colour minimum. All figures on a table should be painted and in order to qualify as painted, a mini must have at least three separate colours on it.

Deep inside me is a streak that does not like this. There is an element of my personality that has elements of oppositional defiance disorder. Now I have to say I favour pretty looking games this means the minis need to be painted. When someone tells me that I can't do something, I generally want to do it. Back in the day this meant painting WW2 American micro armour in basically green with a separate colour for tracks. So two colours. I did try to put together a, erm, "skyclad" force that were bald and, erm, "shaven". I could just not find the right minis at the time.

This in a roundabout way is bringing me to this weeks project. Ten 1980s British squaddies in NBC gear. Whilst not an expert on the subject, these look like the MK3 suit, which was basically green. It's a bit hard to say stuff about the webbing but it is probably 1958 pattern so a slightly different shade of green.

You have black boots, gas mask and mostly black rifle. When I say black, I should probably say very dark grey. The rifle would probably have an OG handguard (that's olive green and not old guard). The gloves should probably be black but then they would fade into the rifle. A lighter shade of green would work. I am toying with brown but I am thinking about that three coloi(not shade) minimum.

These guys are just not going to pop. To make something closer to popping, they are going to need some highlights. Green ones. It would make sense to use some sort of metallic colour for the lenses on the mask. I could even put a red line around the filter on the mask.

Whatever I do, these should not take too long to paint.