A Funny Old World

This is more of a rant than a gaming post. There have been a few things lately that have caused me to review what is going on in my life. So I thought, as this appears to be how I record my life now, I would mention them here.

I have had a few opportunities to consider my own mortality lately. Stuff going on, talking with The Older Generation of my family (which are really quite old now and not in the millennial sense of old) and being sat outside a funeral for a friend of the family that I never met.

In the past few months I have had some "Man in the Mirror" moments. Time to make a change but too tired to do it.  If I want to make my world a better then change is the only way ahead. Before anyone starts, this is not a self improvement post. It is just about getting stuff done. Not leaving those jobs undone. Starting projects with a real intent of getting them done. From brushing my teeth and reading a book to sorting the garden and eating right. This has been and may well difficult 

 

Even if it is hard, I have one good reason. That is getting so big they probably won't need a child seat for much longer. There are many things that are important but none more important than this one. 

I remember my grandad telling my mum that it wasn't worth buying a new pair of shoes as he wouldn't get the wear out of them. I feel like I have been buying books and minis that will take a while to finish. My reading, as an example, had almost stopped. Maybe a book a year, down from a book a week and often more than that. I am back up to about three or four a year with an aspiration to one a month. At my current rate I have enough books for twenty five years. This is almost enough for the rest of my life. 

There is less of a problem with minis. It's things like I have a plan to paint a Blood Bowl team every year. For me there is a lot of work in painting G Dub so unless I have a really reason to do so, I limit myself. With Blood Bowl I have enough sets to go beyond the end of the decade and a few years into the next. More general minis is harder to say. I have worked quite hard to get through the backlog (the lead mountain or plastic pile rather than anything to do with shame). A good chunk of my pile of stuff is there because it is leftover from projects that are finished or at least not coming back so I have no reason to paint them, although I often do.

Like life, the pile is short but life feels shorter. If you are reading this far down the post it's probably time to get on with your life and do something more interesting instead.

Still Moist - The Hexes That Is

I'm just trying to clear the decks. I don't need a tidy work bench but sometimes it helps. I've still got a bit of work to do the Paradise City tiles. Just a few bits really. But green and pleasant land stuff is done. It has seemed like a lot of work for three and a half hexes. 

They are still moist so I can't handle them yet. Whilst far from a complete set. There are multiple linear terrain types and a few variations in colours to do. So another twenty to thirty are still needed. About as many again for the urban ruins. And all the other stuff.

Moving forward, I have a load more to do. Some h5lf hex tiles already exist but lack the interlocking base. I guess I could completely restart with new everything but it sounds easier to cut the existing baseplates off and repaint the edges. 

The dog is working out well. Still trying to figure him out. I haven't figured out whic noise means he is hungry or needs to pee yet. Or a way to stop him trying to hump my arm. 

The Importance Of Not Being A Zombie

So the vibe for last month was zombies. Some would say its always zombies for me. I've just seen some Star Wars Legion zombies. Zomtober has been a mini painting challenge that I have been aware for about a decade and when I have had the time and motivation, participated in. My friends all know that I have a penchant for zombies in table top games and just about every other media. I should probably remove the word penchant and replace it with reputation. An not the good kind of reputation.

I was going to get my entire collection of zombie minis out of their respective cases so I could take a picture for the blog. I decided that I didn't have enough energy or the thirty minutes it would take to do this. So you will have to cope with this.

I watched the original Dawn of the Dead with mates when I was about seventeen. I've kinda been stuck on the idea ever since. Not that I want it to happen or think it is scientifically realistic (well maybe The Last of Us has some science behind it). When I first saw the film it was supposed to be an allegory (no really it wasn't just a low budget horror film) for the eventual end of the world brought in by excessive consumption and societal complacency.

The Last of Us is perhaps a little more pertinent to our world. Environmental change will sadly bring about a lot of changes but hopefully not too much brain eating fungus. There are some that would question if these are zombies but by any way I look at it, they are. Here you don't just have the ruin but the rot as well. On the tabletop I like this look of the mushroom growths as terrain.

I was recently taken by The Last Signal by Black Site Studios. This involves zombies, and other much weirder stuff, caused by a "mysterious technology catastrophe." Here it is not a virus or a fungus causing the zombies, its an addiction to technology which eventually takes over the brain. If you have read the Simon Stålenhag books or watched Tales From the Loop o/ The Electric State, you have an idea about the early stages but things get much worse. This feels closer to what is going on in the real world. Again more my metaphor or allegory. 

Clearly none of that could never happen. I mean look how far we have come? Oh. Well now that you come to mention it. It's almost prophetic.

Zombies have become very much the metaphor for what is going on in the world around. Hopefully, not a metaphor for my own life. The world is a better place without literal or metaphorical zombies. I don't think that is the world we are going to get. 

Back in the real world. As close as I get to it apparently. I wanted to make some space on the bench so I figured I could get some of the hexes finished.

These are for the hexagonal edge strop I am working on. The white stuff is covered in tiny hexes with the eye on a sci-fi city-scape. I am calling this set Paradise City with a nod to Guns n Roses. I have a heavily damaged set in progress already although not as far along. This is being called Paradise City Lost with a nod to Milton.

Sick

I woke up early. The seventy two hour TB has been keeping me and the dog awake. My eyes seem to be producing something like a mix of clear gel, salt, vintager and curry powder. I feel like I have had a beasting and then force to drink a couple of bottles of vodka yesterday.  I hurt everywhere, and much more than normal. So I really would welcome AI to take over my day. Blurrg...

Today was set to be a busy day. Well busy for me anyway. Sadly I am currently busy taking day nurse and attempting to project one of my lungs out of my mouth and onto the floor. 

The only progress is that I have picked out what I am actually going to paint and I've put a couple of colours on. So that is fourteen Fleet Troopers, an Emperor Palpatine and some random stuff I got online, some of which were already in progress.

Time for a major Nerd Out. When I watched the original Star Wars film, the opening scene of the boarding of the Tantive IV (that's tan-ta-vie) stuck with me for a very long time. This was a big influence in a lot of sci-fi games I got into as a teenager. The usual Star Wars retcon ruined it for me. Which goes like this. Princess Leia is a diplomat for Alderaan. Not a rebel at this point. The same trooper uniform is worn on Yavin 4 (Lucas does seem to like the number four a lot). Which makes her definitely a rebel. If they are Fleet Troopers then what are they doing on Yavin? I think this is mainly down to the defenders of the ship needing a brand name so they could be written up in a book or a mini made (Palitoy and Kenner, you really let me down here).

Now what sticks with me is that the ship is supposed to be a diplomatic vessel, a corvette and a diplomatic ship. To me that is three different vessel types. But what the hell. A huge amount of stuff has been made up since the original film came out.

I guess I can go back to sleep now.

Addendum 

After some extra sleep, listening to the dog whinge for no reason I can establish, and having him become very "friendly" with my right arm, I did eventually get going. At about 11pm. No painting but there was a little bit of work on the hexes.

Now it's time to watch Willow.

Start Of The Week. - With An Andalusian Short-Legged Weimaraner

Another week goes by. The days are passing far to quick. It's time to figure out what to do this week and I have been struggling to find the motivation. My daughter has finally persuaded me (no, definitely not bagged) into getting a dog. The aforementioned Andalusian Short-Legged Weimaraner.

I am still feeling the Star Wars vibe. When I went looking for some more Imperial Assault stuff I found a job lot of Star Wars Legion. There original and clone wars starter sets, six infantry and six characters. Possibly more. Aside from the original starter, I don't have any of the other stuff. So at half the original price of one starter set, I figured it was worth a punt.

So I guess this means I am painting Legion this week. I already have a metric f%$&ton of this stuff. The picture is a bit vague but I am expecting something in the region of one hundred minis. So a good deal all round. Even if I doubled my Legion queue. It would be nice to think I could get twenty minis done this week, Whilst Legion minis are a bit chonky, they are not overburdened with detail. The new dog and a bad cold, stinging eyes and a cough like I have that seventy two hour TB that is going around might put a few spanners in the way. To be honest I still haven't figured out what I am actually going to end up painting but the Fleet Troopers are looking promising.

There is a big batch of stuff that is already prepped and primed. Stuff has arrived from various sources. Some of it was primed white and others grey.  Oddly several duplicate sets of stuff are that way. I am looking at this as an opportunity to see the after effects of the base coat.

And yes, the dog is a Dachshund.

End Of The Week, Future Projects, And A Bit More About Intermittent Obsession (45)

The Halflings and the Treemen are done. This feels like a relief. Life has been busy of late. Not in a bad way but the real world and other projects (and some daddy daughter time 😍) has kept me on my toes. So one of my annual goals is done and I feel better for it. Due to the complex nature of the minis involved, I am calling this forty five mini equivalents.

I've done some more scut work on the latest batch of hexes. some are ready to paint but most need some texture first. A bit more CorelDraw work is required so I can finish things off. I am starting to see I need a lot more single hexes.

So I have been thinking about what to do next. Did you read yesterday's post? Insert eye roll here. My mind is on the next project. Or just all over the place.

Quar have been a big thing for me for a year or so. I have a batch primed and ready to go. I've even cast up Iliad of extra bits for the cavalry. There is a new box set out. It's a couple of new armies. So not what I really want, and I have another army to finish off after the Crusaders 

The cards from  A Clash of Rhyfles would be nice. would be nice. not sure I want to use the rules but I can see taking some influence from them and turning them into Savage Worlds Showdown game or even Osprey's "A World Aflame". Having grenades that can be thrown half the distance a sniper rifle can shoot did not endear me at the time.

Using the initiative cards seems nice. I also like the idea of using minis like the standard bearer, chef, musician etc, to convey specific abilities. Need to have a think about this.

Earlier I was looking at the new Stargrave Combat Armour minis that are definitely not space marines. I should be looking for the meme of Fry saying take my money. this is despite one of them looking like a fat Spartan and another looking like they have a gas powered egg whisk and should be considered armed and dangerous.

I have more of a purpose for the Wargames Militant Monks. I can see them in a Baron's War army but more likely as extras for Guards of Traitors Toll. 

My mind keeps moving back to Star Wars. That involves Legion and Imperial Assault. I have a metric f+#@ton of stuff for this already.

Despite all of these ideas, I still have no idea what to start tomorrow. There is doctors stuff to sort out and it looks like I will be a dog owner again by midday on Monday. Interesting to.

No humans were harmed in the production of this blog post. 

On The Nature Of Intermittent Obsession

So I am a gamer. Mainly tabletop stuff but I do move into video games. Not to mention DIY and carpentry. I focus on one thing and then another. If I were a bit more of a rapid cycle you could call it ADHD. Whilst I know a few people who are a little further down the spectrum than I am, I don't think it's that either. There are times when I do get a sense 

There is definitely a sense that I move between hobbies and even specific interests within a given hobby. Rather than it being a low key mental health problem, it has become my way to maintain momentum. If I try to push through, I can do it but I get slower. God knows I am slow enough already. 

So I am back at the hexes. If you look here you can see it has been going on for a while. This project had been underway for some time before it made it onto the blog. There was design work and some testing and that was after six months of feasibi.

Specifically I am working on a hex project I was working on back in January and further back into December last year. To be honest I got a little naffed off with myself as there were problems. Now I have a plan and I am making progress around other things. And another big pile of hexes (well technically partial hexes). 

From where I am sat there are two boxes mostly full of hexes part of the way to being finished. That is a lot of hexes. It's specialist stuff I need right now. The rest is there for the next project. And the one or two after that. 

So it's a feature, not a bug. This will end when I run out of materials. I use one supplier in the main and I will wait until they have a sale. Maybe there will be another distraction. I am not seeing one right now, but you never know. This is literally going take a decade to finish. Maybe I should get a game in with it.