Starting Short Arse Week

I am trying to clean house, as far as minis are concerned. Blah, blah, lead mountain, blah blah. I'm not sure I am in a hurry. The snakemen are Grenadier. The company and the shop they were purchased from have been ancient history for more than thirty years. For some reason they nag me to be painted every time I find them. There are some Oathmark dwarves, Black Treeratmen, a Copplestone halflings and the rest are random acquisitions.

It's a busy week but I remain hopeful that I will get to ten figures and maybe a few more.

End Of The Week (32.5)

I started the week with a plan. It was a good one too. But no plan survives contact with children. So currently watching the little one running around a trampoline park. At least at the time I am writing this. I am claiming thirty and a half minis for the week. The half and some of the whole numbers being animals.

There was a twitchy sphincter moment when I didn't think I was going to get close to finishing what I started. I got some time after the little one went to sleep and more or less caught up/+. I am now nicely North of one hundred painted minis. So on balnce, I am happy and The New, New Cruelty fins the situation acceptable.

So there were a few bits that needed finishing from last week. The five armed civilians, which I think are Scotia, have been hanging around since last week so it was nice to get them done. There was also a female crossbow woman from  Northstar's Frostgrave range, that needed a few spots of paint. Other than the pigs, all the animals were started and finished this week, whilst the pigs just required a few details. Don't ask where they came from as they were a random purchase on the market. The darker animal between the bugs is a bit of a mystery. I was assuming this was a domesticated dog but it has some prominent brows which could be nascent horns, making it a goat. The treasure pile was given to me by a friend, in the late nineties. It had been sat in a bits box for some time after being purchased from a bargain bin so its probably a late eighties GW mini.

The main focus of the week was the guys in suits. These should work for any modern game and some sci-fi stuff. They are a mix of Future Wars and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang from Copplestone.

As I have the laser cutter up and running, this has been used for a bit.  I might be playing Midgard: Heroic Battles so I thought I would get ahead with some bases, counters and measuring gauges. I have also finished the one hundred and thirty of so hex tiles for the next terrain hex project.

I have prepped a fair number of figures. Most of what I got in York is now bases on textured bases. I was planning on painting these but they are not primed. This should give me enough figures for an ulfhunder unit for  Midgard. What's above is about half of them.

Next week is all about the little guys.

Horses: A Love Hate Relationship

For someone who has spent a fair amount of time around horses and likes them, I have always hated painting horses. The last week or so, as I have been painting a lot of animals, I have been thinking about this, especially as I have some more to paint.

My big project of the last decade has been a dark age roleplaying game that I run. It has gone my a number of names with nornmen being my current favourite. Cavalry was not a big thing in this era, especially if you were a Viking. They did use horses but it seems they were more like mobile infantry. As I have been trying to have intermittent battles, every now and again, I get a few more mounted figures. I would like some Normens too I think.

I grew up around horses. My dad had a passion for them and I have been out and lived with a number of horsey women. I have probably a better understanding of horses than most gamers.

I just don’t like painting them. Never have and probably never will. I don’t understand why.

I must be part Scot as I don’t like spending the money but that isn’t it. Maybe its because I don’t like painting bigger minis. I don’t have a lot of them either. They are also quite hard to get a realistic look. You can paint them in a single colour but they are rarely that plain. Their foreheads, noses and fetlocks have different patterns and these need to be right. Some colours go with others and some do not. And don’t get me started on what palamino means. I have specially purchased horse paints. I could never wrap my head around the way white horses are called greys either.

So here we are, three more horses.

Can't Sleep

I am fog tired and wide awake. Insomnia is a thing for me. It is massively worse since I got ill. So here I am, at nearly 2am watching TV in bed.

I am making progress but it is stop.start. my energy levels are all over the place today. There are well over twenty minis in the queue. As I can't process stuff, everything I do I spend a few minutes on, then my brain goes into cat mode. So easily distracted, need to eat or doze off. It's something I am not enjoying. I would like to be back to normal and back in the real world.

Snack time.

There is progress but I can't find the mini from earlier. I think I am going to finish what I have stated but we will see.

Starting To Take Shape

My daughter is obsessed with maths at the moment. This includes what she wants to watch. Especially a show about super hero numbers that are all about five years old. Kids TV 🤔

One of the bad guys is called the Numbertaker. Like undertaker. I didn't come up with it.

The Numbertaker is a strange expressionless man, dressed in white with an oversized top hat. He is from MEP Miniatures, a company I have only just found out about and have become a big fan. A shameless plug but I have no skin in the game. They just make some minis I like and a character my daughter loves. They have numbered objective counters that are made to look like piles of toilet paper. What's not to love.

The First 48

I set myself the target of painting a figure I purchased within forty eight hours. As mentioned I did some shopping yesterday. Just to prove it to the god of painting, is the evidence of my success. At one point I was told that grandiose ideas was an early sign of madness. Clearly not in my case.🤔

For extra authenticity he is still a little bit dsmp.

Not my best work but not too shabby. One more priest for the White Twin.

End Of The Week (27) (+40)

I swear I had no intention of going to a wargames show but somehow I ended up in York this morning. And, well, you know. So I added about forty figures. I came back happy but exhausted despite a good mate giving me a lift.

I got a figure for my daughter. Let me know if you have any idea who this is meant to be. No prizes but you will go up in my estimation. There may be some long term loss of social status.

Another promise broken includes twenty more dark age figures. I want a small number of cavalry, I fancied some more civilians and I have a plan for some ulfhunder (think berserker but wolf hides rather than bears). I do have a target to paint a figure within forty eight hours (ish) of purchase. If it gets finished on Tuesday I will call it a win. This explains why they are already attached to bases.

There are some fantasy figures too. Some female hobbits (I gave myself and out for these at new year) and some villainous types. I was after some more modern civilians so I got some of them. This has something to do with next week's project but more on that shortly.

It was a good week for painting. I finished 16 various police and twenty two animals. Given the painting of the animals as half, there is a lot less work in finishing them. I needed some bigger bases for the cows but will make them next week.

There are six more minis almost done and another eleven animals. Not to mention some small pieces of scatter terrain.

I have also got the laser cutter up and running. I ran out of paint storage (oh yeah I got four more Army Painter speed paints three of which were metallics that I wanted to try).

So I now have a standard paint rack, a small thing one to fill a gap and deeper set of shelves with more drawers to follow.

I got the laser out to print some hexes. This has taken six months to find the energy.

Next week the plan is to paint some modern ish figures. Some are Copplestone Castings Future Wars range and the others are Kiss Kiss Bang Bang range which are also Copplestone.

A good week all round.