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. So some Warlord Einter 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.

XCOM The Miniatures Game - Preorder

Year in, year out, I have dreamt about a tabletop XCOM game. Most years it has appeared in "The Plan" but oddly not this year. Usually a slight version on a theme. Quite a few minis have been purchased to this end. I have a whole team of operatives painted and ready to go. There are even some upgrades should research go well. There are a whole load of ideas for the aliens too. With plenty of minis. Mostly older 40k stuff.

More recently I have moved on to something a little different. This takes in a few ideas from contemporary ufology. So really not the same thing. But it would work as an RPG. Which was the idea.

Modiphius has kindly stepped in and taken the burden of creation off me. They appear to have done this quite well. From what I have seen so far I am fairly happy that this will be a great tabletop game. The miniatures look amazing.

To be honest I wasn't sure what I was expecting. A starter box and a dozen different box sets, one for each alien race. I could see multiple the ten mini box,  with a race per box, like they are doing for Fallout. The game has a lot of races. At £30 a box, I was expecting a world of hurt.

This would eventually morph into XCOM 2. It's not a game where I would expect endless sets to be released. There is scope for terrain. The prospect of a Skyranger on one level makes me absolutely moist but also terrifies me that it will cost nearly as much as a small car. Much as I would like to see some old school stuff, I am not sure I would pay for both.

So when I saw the release and the box sets had multiple races, I was a little relieved. Being the same price as the Fallout sets, I would have hoped for a few more minis ithe box. It's made me look at Paranoia, which appears to follow a very similar format.

So the fomo thing isn't really going to hit me. I think I am going to order one of the starter sets. There is no preorder discount but there is a fomo miniature as an incentive. It would be possible to wait for a discount. The biggest sets come with cards, counters and dice. So this makes me think about what I want to buy. 

I am not a person who needs a specific dice set. I know people who like dice. Space is an issue, not to mention I already have too many dice. But they look good. As far as counters go, this is a no brainer for me. I own a laser cutter. Making counters is also kind of a thing for me. There are counters for civilians and "zombies". I would really prefer actual minis. So I will probably find something I can use. The cards, well I could probably do without them to but... They do look amazing and I can see a quality of life. So they look like they are on the list.

The two full hit sets are around £200. If I get what I want, I can drop that by about £50. I guess I could wait and save another £10 but lose the fomo mini. So let's not do that.

So far, only the most basic of the aliens are in the market. To be a viable game there needs to be another three alien sets. Minimum. These all look like they are in the pipe. There is at least one more XCOM set it appears. I am assuming that this is funky guns and armours.

Terrain is an issue to me. I am not just taking about resin) plastic. Although I want a few more bits. Printable UFO plans would be good. Most people I game with have a lot of 28mm terrain, some of which will work with larger scales. So far I am struggling with stuff for the slightly larger scale.

The rules also appear to be a bonus. I have been playing 5 Core rules for a while. It's a nice system and it means I can learn the basics of a series of rules which helps my fragile little mind. So far Modiphius has been an excellent custodian of the rules. I wouldn't mind seeing Five Klicks from the Zone or the WW2 rules. I was a bit suspicious about the Paranoia game and XCOM but from what I can see, they have been perfectly tailored to the games.

It's brought Paranoia, The Uncooperative Miniatures Game, to my attention. I was a big fan of the original rules. The first edition rules is one of my most read books. It's only downside was I could never get anyone to play it. So an Uncooperative Miniatures Game is ideal for me. The range is not huge but it seems to cover what you need.  Still trying to work out the boards to play on. It is looking like a good choice for a project in the near future.

For the record, I am just a fanboy. I am doing this because this is a project I want to see thrive. 

Finishing Off

I think that is the right phrase. I just finished off ten miniature males? This leaves me with a bit of a problem. Inasmuch as I have no idea what to do next.

Ive also managed to get some basing texture on the wattle fencing. This felt like a bit of a mission. They still need priming. Not to mention painting.

There are also a few more basing sabots in progress. Whilst there is no immediate need for them, it's probably better to get them done. Although maybe if I left them long enough they would accumulate enough texture without the need for glue. This is less than half of what I did last week but then I am not sure I need that more. There are a few more infantry bases done and I think some skirmish bases too, although I can't remember what I did with them if indeed I didn't give them away.

I should probably finish these first. Something tells me I will get a bit lost in the work. There are other projects.

Continuous Improvement

So even more progress. Something to do with fewer theme parks in my day I think 🤭. Although the pain hasn't gone away. A couple more colours down and I about to start thinking about washes and layers. Maybe tomorrow, or more likely Friday, I will get the painting finished and then maybe some work on the bases.

I have the terrain to work on. Some texture paste and the prep will be done. Followed by a decent prime. I'm not anticipating a detailed paint job here. Brown and a wash for the wood. There will be more work on the bases.

Limited Progess

Any progress is good progress. Right? This is despite my body feeling like it used to after a beasting. And I have been to a fun fair with a six year old. That's middle age for you.

So I got to painting about about 10pm. Shortly followed by me remembering all the things I hadn't done. So I had a few things to get done before I got to painting. Not to.mention the weekly bench tidy. I got one colour done and most of a second colour. At this pace I am on to getting the work done. 

There was a moment of distraction. I spilt a bit of paint. So I had to use it. This means a little bit of progress on the background project, my Trench Crusade stuff. When I look at them I think I need to grab them up a bit.

Tomorrow is looking like I am going to feel the after effects of today. Brufen all the way tomorrow. If I can manage as much tomorrow, and Thursday, I should even have some time for other projects.

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.