Zomtober - Week One

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

An Early End Of The Week (20)+(4)

Here I am again. It feels like it has been a breeze this week. I will have to up my game. Everything I set out to do this week is now done. Maybe I will start next week's work early. I need a break first. And a cup of tea.

With the Star Wars Imperial Assault stuff I chose to start out mostly with the good guys. The Jaws is definitely a bad guy. I should probably look at doing some bad guys next.

The minis appear to be mostly in the 28mm scale. There are some that are definitely a bit larger but not big enough for Legion. 

The WW2 Soviets project is moving forward. There are still plenty more to do. It's not a forever project but it is one that looks like it is going to run for a while.

Still. I have some command figures and the first weapons group. I should really get around to finishing the project but I need to get some more stuff. So I should probably work out what I need to buy. Not planning on doing that any time soon. One of the minis below hasn't been based properly. He is a crew member for a mortar so will get based up with the other one. Eventually.

It is looking like this weeks two projects are going to continue. I am tempted to move on to the Quar. This should probably be the next project. I would like to get the other two finished first.

Earlier today I acquire some more card boot bargains. Some bits and another four Normans. These have already been attached to new bases and the glue is drying. Whilst not badly painted, they are not to my taste. The ironwork has a bluish tinge to it which doesn't really fit with my own work.

I am feeling a bit more positive about the future at the moment. There is nothing specifically that has happened to bring this about. I can see something that looks like a timeline ahead. It has been a while since I felt this way. So I can't really complain.

Real Progress

Insomnia is a wonderful thing 🤔. Due to waking up remarkably early and finding myself at my workbench since 7am, I've gotten quite a lot done. I now need a bit of a break and something to eat. So I m off for lunch, a brew and to watch some TV.

I am already thinking about what to paint next week. There is a lot of shiny out there. I can see the release date for the XCOM Miniatures Game getting closer. Before that arrives I would like finish all of the WW2 Soviets done before that. On point of principle if nothing else. I'd also like to get all of the Imperial Assault minis done as well. 

I can't be bothered to put a specific number on how many of these there are. More than eighty and less than a hundred. So probably there is just enough time to finish them off. 

So XCOM will arrive and then probably on to the Quar to finish off the Crusader (what I have prepped anyway). Wargames Atlantic seem to be getting a disproportionate amount of my money just of late. I strongly suspect that there are enough have to buys coming out that I know that some of my money will be going their way, if indirectly. The Gladiators and the Baron's War Outlaws seem like a certainty. I am guessing that the UAMC Hard suits, the Militant Monks, the Monstrous Mutations and maybe some of the fantasy packs may be on their way. Eventually. Christmas is coming. It's my birthday soon too. Maybe I won't have to wait until next year.

I managed to get some more work done later on. They are not done but they are a lot closer than I expected. Some more washes, a bit of touching up with a little bit of tarting up to give them a little bit of pop and they should be done.

Progress, Or Something Like That

Having had a bad night last night, I am now wide awake. Time I should at least make an attempt at sleeping. I've got a low key cold which isn't helping. So carrying on regardless. It's been a cat nap kind of day.

I was begining to think I wasn't going to make much progress. However I did better than I thought. I've got three full colours done and another four colours on some of the minis. So actual real progress.

The Imperial Assault stuff is a bit basic. This makes them easy to paint but very hard to paint well. Whilst not quite a uniform colour across the group, I am trying to a degree of commonality.

The Soviet stuff is more "uniform" but in many respects, are not the same as the other minis. I think these are all metal or resin, unlike everything else do far, which has been plastic.

If I put some effort in tomorrow, I might just get this done. The New Cruelty would be happy if I manage to make my target.

The Real Start Of The Week

A little bit later than I was expecting. It's Friday already and I am still trying to figure out where the week has gone. Hasn't felt quite so chaotic and stuff away from the bench is getting done. Mustn't grumble I guess.

The plan, such as it was , was to put twenty minis on the bench. Ten WW2 Soviets and another ten rebels for Star wars Imperial Assault.

Hopefully I will start to get a wriggle on now. Things should progress.

Start Of The Week - Mix And Match

So a different type of week hopefully. Maybe a bit more priming but hopefully back to the New Cruelty. I need to sort out some storage stuff on the laser and some bases. There maybe some walls for terrain. This should lead into the main project for the week. I have the clearest week for some time. So its over to the minis.

The front of the queue is now Star Wars Imperial Assault. Character figures came be a bit of a time sink, in a fun kind of way. I've picked out ten of them that looked like a mix of the most fun to play and most useful to play.

I want to finish the WW2 Soviets. Not because I want to use them, I just want them off the bench. I added a few more primed minis to the queue last week. I was priming some Crusader Quar which were sorted/kinda painted as Soviets. My brain is telling me get them done so I've added another ten spods for the Rifle Company.

The first signs of autumn are upon us. A few leaves are falling and there is a bit more rain about. My plan for the last few weeks has been about finishing a solid queue of prepped and primed mins. I have enough to do about ten a week for the whole of the winter. If I am doing ten to twenty I will run out a lot quicker. So I have some more scut work to do. The most obvious stuff is the Fallout kits. I also have some figures for the boardgame Stuffed Fables. I can get the latter done quite quickly and there are a good chunk of them. Just a little basing effect and some primer.

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.