Dwarves Are Done

I have surprised myself and got all ten of the Macrocosm dwarves done. This is despite the week being a bit rubbish and my other half being in bed with a bad back. For some unknown reason I seem to have my mojo back. Maybe it's the weight loss, the death of my auntie or something else.

I think there are some more dwarves to do but none of them are primed or based so I might leave them for a bit. So I will stick with the old plan A which is to do the cultists.

Dwarves In Spaccccceeee

So it's the dwarves again. I keep wandering off. There are now about half a dozen background projects that are floating around the desk which are soaking up any paint that would otherwise get wasted. A bit or priming here and a bit of tidying up there and that has just about been my day. Not including the tax return and having to do just about everything other than cooking lunch as my other half has done her back in despite having done a deal about jobs today.

Even so I have managed to get some painting done. The first coat on the dwarves is almost done and even a little bit of inking and basing is complete. With a bit of luck I will be able to finish them off and ink them tomorrow and may get them close to being finished. This would leave me just behind the curve on what I wanted to do as part of The New Cruelty, 23 figures instead of 25. If I do get them finished then I'll move onto the remaining Cultists/Raiders which would leave me slightly ahead.

In terms of the background projects and what I have planned there are a few ways I can go. Overall I would like to get a couple of projects pretty close to finished this year. These dwarf figures are part of the Titansgrave: Ashes Of Valkana project and they is a way to goes with the project yet. There are still some gaps in terms of figures I just don't have (and may have a problem sourcing) and some stuff yet to be painted. This is probably going to take up a bit of time in the next few months. X-Com is another project I want to do this year. Although I have some stuff for the project already, most of what I want isn't going to be available until September. There is also a fair amount of sci-fi/post-apocalypse crossover with the figures for all of the stuff I have planned so I guess this is what will happen in the near future.

Change Of Plan

The plan yesterday was to finish off what was left of the chaos cultists, I finished prepping them for priming them today. It appears to be a day where the British weather is going to ruin any plans I have (no plan survives contact with the British weather). It just seems to want to rain today.

So I have moved on to plan B. I have plenty of figures that are prepped and primed and ready to go. I made a conscious decision to work with one of the project I want to work on this year. There is a mass of lizardmen to do but they don't really fit in with the plan. So I guess the first but of the year I am going to try and concentrate on either fairly generic figures that can be used in a number of backgrounds. I have had some Macrocosm Dwarves that are ready to go. So this is the new project. These will do for Titansgrave and Shadowrun.

This new plan involves painting ten of these dwarves. If I get this done I will be slightly behind the curve with 23 figures done rather than 25. So the plan for the eight cultists has been pushed back till next week with some old Grenadier Miniatures (now Mirliton) Troopers and lizardmen to follow.

End Of The Week That Wasn't

Last week I thought I was starting to get back into the swing of the new year. I was only a few figures behind my weekly goals and this week I was going to catch up with everything. I had to do eight figures and all would be up to date. This week, for reasons that should be obvious if you look back at the blog, has been a bit of a wash out.

The table is pretty much where it was a week ago but I have managed to glue the last of the cultists together and put some glue on the bases before moving on to. This means that I am now thirteen figures behind the target for the year.

With being in Spain and coming back with a bug exercise has not been at the top of my list. I have missed exercise targets every day apart from today. I would have had to have beaten my all time daily record in order to get close to to an average of 10k steps per day. I have also put a few pounds back on but then I have eaten out every night during the week. Usually when I get to this stage, it is where I give up. Today though I have continued the work without any problems.

So the goal for next week is to get these eight figures done and keep on with the exercise. Pretty much just as it was last week.

Another Slow Day

During the only thing that I have done that is vaguely gaming related today is to order Star Saga. This part of my overall plan for an X-Com game by the end of the year. Some of the figures might not be so useful but some will fit right in with what I have planned. The terrain looks particularly useful.

Other than that it has been a slow day on the gaming front but I have played a couple of boardgames this evening. I managed to win twice and even managed to play one of my fave games. Outside of that however, The New Cruelty will not be happy this week. In fairness I have sent most of the week in Spain and I have come back with a hell of a cold which left me basically deaf in one ear for almost twenty four hours.

My Auntie's RIP

I buried my auntie yesterday. It wasn't a good day but it was a good service despite the vicar mixing up my mum's name with my auntie.

She was an interesting lady with a number opinions about a lot of things. She had a marmite kind of character. I for one she was a great aunt and I will always remember her as the lady who brought me the red elephants from Kenya when I was 4.

The Pyrenees

I'm on my way to Spain for my aunties funeral (well I was, I am here now). A chance to catch up with family and take in a bit of scenery.

I have had cause to do a bit of thinking. Taking a moment to appreciate life.

End Of The Week

Whilst the miniatures painting has gone well this week, it does feel like a good news, bad news kind of week. I have had a good night of gaming on Friday that I really enjoyed. I have lost half a stone in a week pretty much just from walking (admittedly 55 miles of walking) so I am feeling pretty good about that.

There are a few things that have been driving me up the wall all week and I don't seem to be able to do anything about any of them. Then my auntie has died in particularly tragic circumstances. Something like that changes your perspective on what is going on around you. Suddenly I am not thinking about me or what is going on around me. I am not really even thinking about her. My thoughts have all been with my cousins and how they are going to cope with the loss of their mum.

So as far as The New Cruelty goes it has been a good week. I might go as far as saying that I have pretty much kept to the code this week. Whilst I haven't finished five figures I am really close to finishing ten instead. At the beginning of the week the plan was to finish the remaining eight in the week to come.

Next week is looking like a good time to suspend TNC. My auntie lives in Spain so the funeral is going to be over there. Due to this it looks like I am out of the country from Monday to Friday.  This will give me a bit of time at the weekend but I doubt that I will get the figures done.

On The Verge Of Finishing

I have had a couple of hours to get on with painting the chaos cultists for a variety of post-apocalyptic games. This has given me the chance to finish off some details although these are mainly at the back of the miniatures. I keep finding missing bits and pieces but they are easily covered up. Just to make sure I am ready to go tomorrow I wanted to get the ink on which is now almost done. I am too tired to go on so I thought I would just do a quick post with an update.

Making Progress Again

This feels like a day I have made some progress, not just miniature painting but in the real world as well. A few little bits and pieces of conversation has made the day better.

With today's painting I am almost at the stage where I can start doing the ink washes. I doubt much is going to get done tomorrow as I will be out in the evening enjoying myself but hopefully Saturday and Sunday will see me getting these figures all done.

Next week is now looking like more recent bad news is about to catch up with me. Whilst I suspect that I will be posting as much as usual, it is looking like I won't be at home. For some reason life has sought to give me two funerals to go to, one half way across the country and the other half way across the continent. This getting old and being an adult thing really sucks some days.

Ridden Hard And Put Away Wet

28mm miniature painting is still a priority but maybe a little less so at the moment. My current exercise regime has seen me walk about six miles in the rain today. The phrase ridden hard and put away wet is not all that far from the truth. Still the exercise regime is having great results.

I've done a little bit more painting today in between all the other stuff that is going on. Not a huge amount of progress but I am heading in the right direction. I can see me doing some more work tomorrow with a good chunk of time available on Saturday and Sunday so I am hopeful that things are going to get done. I have glued a few more of the next batch together which is nearly all I need to do this week. Hopefully the weather will relent long enough for me to get them primed.

Hopefully playing a board game on Friday in Chester. The last time I was in Chester with this friend was a very good night out although I am hoping that this will have a more entertaining outcome.

Chaos Cultists Looking Less Chaotic

Still on the subject of Games Workshop Chaos Cultists, they are a little closer to completion today and there are a few more in the way. A sense of of an overall colour scheme is starting to come together and, although there is still work to do, they are beginning to look like what I was hoping for.

More GW Chaos Cultists

I have been thinking about making them look a little more like something that will fit into the X-Com game. Some of the figures have military style uniforms. Although I wanted basically a desert look for them, all brown is going to look somewhat dull. So a bit of green and blue will be thrown into the mix.

I have another eight of them in various stages of completion and these are what I would like to finish next week. One of them has a missing weapon and the hands to hold it. This will be a bit of a cobble but at least it will be different. Given the weather, I am not sure when I am going to get them primed.

Chaos Cultists Or Just Another Set Of Generic Bads Guys

Yesterday was not been a bad day as far as figure painting. There has been some actual painting. I started out with five figures which has turned into ten. The plan is still to get five done this week but hopefully I will get close to having the other five complete.

These figures look pretty good on the screen when you see them. Up front they are a little harder to paint. They would be better if they were a bit more generic something along the lines of what you get with the Imperial Guard.

Having done a lot of work with inks in the last few weeks I have gone back to something more conventional. The flesh has a little bit of a sickly green mixed in. This was deliberately not mixed very well to give the skin a slightly blotchy look which seems consistent with what these figures are about. If I manage to get a wiggle on I will give some of the figures camouflage  schemes especially on the legs.

The plan is that these figures are all going to look vaguely like they are in desert gear, with a few exceptions in the colour palette to make them more interesting. My view is that this will work with the ideas I have for their use. My ideas for Titansgrave make me think the world is mostly desert. My post apocalyptic worlds are fairly dusty and definitely not green. The only place where they might be out of play is X-Com but this probably isn't going to be such a big issue.

It's That End Of The Week Time Again

Well I have finished all the figures I have started this week. Only three of them so The New Cruelty id not happy. Still it was three more than last week. This is the necromancer for my Viking Game

I might have to take a better picture to show off some of the details

The general idea was to make them look similar but different. The slightly decomposed version has had a dry-brushing with the same color as the skin to give is a fairly unhealthy tone. Similarly the skeletal version has had a dry-brushing with a bone colour. The bases have gone through a similar process.

Next week's five figures are going to be some GW chaos cultists. Not that I have any use for them as 40k cultists. These are likely to be used as part of the Titansgrave, X-Com and possibly post apocalyptic games like Fallout. I am pretty confident that the five will get finished and I am tempted to do another two just to get my totals up to ten so at least I will have hit the target twice.

Fantasy Necromancer Miniatures Are Fun

Fantasy miniatures are still my thing this week and this Necromancer, I call him Vetis Bane, is a pivotal character in the legends that hold my dark age fantasy world together. I have talked about the miniatures and the ideas behind in a few places on the blog already, such as here and there. Given that things have been a little slow this evening, I have had a chance to get some stuff done as well as some time away with friends. Note To Self: This was a very good weekend.

So I am still largely working with inks, certainly for the main blocks of colour. Obviously, some of the details have to have some colour before they get a wash. One of the reasons is that the palette of colours that I have in ink is pretty limited and I find it difficult to mix them together consistently. The effect on the clothing isn't half bad. There is still a bit of work to do on them but as it has been a busy week, I suspect that these three will be the only ones  to get fully finished this week.

The figures are almost all Northstar apart from the most human head, which is Westwind. I think I am right in say that all the Northstar parts come from the Cultist box. It seemed the most obvious choice for the parts as it covers all the bases when it comes to poses and states of decomposition although possible some GW parts would have been okay as well.

My posts have been a bit thinner on the ground this month. Whilst I was managing a post a day almost all year (and on aggregate, more than that for the year) January is proving to be a very busy month. I am not sure how and why that is, apart from the exercise but it is proving to be fun

End Of The Week That Wasn't

Well the end of the first week of the year arrived a good few days ago now. Another year over and a new one just begun etc, etc. Even tho I missed my deadline, I thought I should post something. This blog is as much for me as to use as a reminder as it is for everyone else to read. So in light of that, I have been trying to work on my goals for the year. The figure painting has been a bit limited but I have played game this week and worked on some other game projects, but other stuff seems to have gotten in the way. An awful lot has kept me from the bench this week but the kids are back in school and things seem to be returning to something like normality.

Despite that, the work I am doing on my health has increased. I have managed to break my distance record by three days running and have gone from 17000 steps to just over 25000. According to the Fitbit, I have just had my first 5000 calorie day

Starting As I Mean (Well Hope) To Go On

It was about time I started doing some painting. There is now plenty of stuff that needs to be painted that is mostly prepped already and just about ready to go. As part of my new way of doing things, I thought.

Vetis Bane, A Necromancer - In various states of life

So I had been thinking about how to do the Necromancer for my Viking game. This villain, called Vetis Bane needed a suitable figure which I talked about here. Having created 3 versions of the same character is various stages of decay. Although the clothing is not 100% what I wanted, it is pretty close.

The first aspect of this was going to be depth of colour. I wanted the most decomposed figure to be paler and look more worn out. There are various ways of doing this but I wanted to use inks. For the living character, it got avery heavy wash, with three seperate coats whilst the skeletal figure looks like his clothes have been on the boil for weeks.

This is still pretty much WIP and there is a lot of work remaining

The Law Of Unintended Consequences

Going back to last year I started out on something I call The New Cruelty. As far  as most of my readers are concerned this is mostly about making sure that I keep painting and playing games. It must be done so it will be done. The thing is, right from the get go it was meant to be more than that, a lot more. This was about a commitment to a lifestyle change.

As it was about more than just hobby I have let it guide me. Every now and again I add something new to the list but I have yet to take something off it. Although I have been serious about it since I started it, I have really only aimed at doing the fun stuff. Since getting a Fitbit as an early Christmas present, things have changed.

One of the aspects on The Cruelty is exercise. This is something I have been short of for a long while. My belly was beginning to let me, and everyone else, know. In the last few months I have managed to lose about 3 stone or roughly 20 kilos. Most recently this has been down to walking. Today I have managed 20,000 paces (about ten miles or 16 kilometres). Whilst nothing like what I used to do, since starting working with the Fitbit about four weeks ago, it is a personal best. There have been a number of them today.

The trouble is it is interfering with my painting. I can pretty much guarantee that I have some free time after 8pm. Instead of this being my painting time, this has become dog walking time. The dog is getting walked so much that the dog is now afraid to go out the door with me as she is being walked about five miles a day now.

So tomorrow is a boardgame day (and playing actual games is part of The Cruelty). Sadly, this is going to leave me with Sunday to make my target for the week.

Gearing Up For A New X-Com

I have been talking about running an X-Com game (which has become ET-Com for Extra-Terrestrial Command) for a couple of decades now. That's a fairly long run in time. So having gone over my plans for the year, X-Com is coming to be a big part of it. Now that I have a coherent idea about bad guys, thanks to Chronicle-X things can progress a bit. Obviously with it being a Kickstarter, the figures are going to take some time to arrive. However if I can work it so that everything other than the figures is ready, a few months of painting should leave me in a position where I can start a game this time next year.

The Chronicle-X package has a whole load of different aliens. The first step for this game is going to be a bestiary. There looks to me to be at least fifteen different aliens in the game and maybe a few more. As I have already acquired some figures for this game, the intention is to use what I have already. I also want some zombies. So even without any significant variations, that's about 20 different stat blocks and descriptions.

One of the things this game does not seem to handle is ship to ship combat. There is enough in the Savage Worlds rules to do most of the things I want to do in my game. There will no doubt be a few changes and some more stat blocks for the vehicles and weapons.

I have already worked on weapons for the system here, but need to work on the weapons for the aliens. I might be able to get some casts of the alien weapons. I want to do this because I want the human soldiers to be able to use alien weapons. It would be good if the company was going to do some weapon sprues but I doubt it so copies will have to do.

Whilst I love the original game, it is the updated version of X-Com that I think I am going to use as my main guide. As I am using the Savage Worlds rules, this should not be to difficult. What I want is a series of new edges that reflect the computer games. This should not be a big issue.

All of this should be fairly easy to come up with. The bulk of what I need to do is going to be background. I have to come up with details of the organisation, the alien's plan and research. This is probably going to take as much time as the rest of the paperwork put together.

Backing A Kickstarter

Today I have backed my first kickstarter. It seems like a lot of money to put up for something that I may never get but the need for this one was pretty strong. Most of my gaming mates have backed a kickstarter at some point. In the past there have a few Kickstarters that have got my attention but I have been recticent to back them.

As Kingdom Death: Monster is now worth almost twice was it went for on Kickstarter and it has become something I really want, I didn't want to miss out on another one. That said, I am less likely to play this as a board game and more likely to use it just for the figures.

After I backed it they added a few more figures, cards and tiles as extra stretch goal. It's now only a few days away from being finished. Having run over the last of the origin, these new extra goals are probably likely to be achieved as well.

My expectation for the year is that I am going to move into doing more painting of futuristic figures or least slightly contemporary with a bit of sci-fi thrown in. Star Saga and some of the 3d Star Wars terrain also might make a showing So this might be a mix and match year.

500,000 Hits. Hurray For You. And Some Stuff

It took a little bit longer than I had thought/hoped to get here (well a day or so) but thank you for reading the blog and making this happen. I like posting but it's even better to know that someone is reading.

So after doing a whole load of painting prep at the end of last year I thought it was time to do some actual painting. Oh and more prep. I now go through phases of doing prep in the way I used to go through and apply bases to figures as I have gotten a lot better at that, once loathed, part of the process. It's easier to do something if it's going to look half decent at the end of it.

So I have decided that the first order of business for the new year is to complete any final details on what is on the bench. Most of this is stuff that I considered to be finished (apart from the bases). If I can manage that then the rest of my week will feel easier. None of the figures require that much work but there appears to be quite a few of them.

For my next project I am thinking in terms of doing some of the lizardmen next. I would like to try some more serious zenithal highlighting than I have tried in the past.

Starting As You Mean To Go On

The new year has begun. I don't really do the resolution thing as I am more in the moment than that. Most of the life decisions are already made and certainly all the ones about how I live my life are made.

So this is more about doing that talking about it. Then the weather got in the way of priming. I was busy prepping figures thinkIng would go outside and prime miniatures under clear blue skies. As I reached for my rattle can the sky opened up.

I did get some grit and texture put on some bases today, but not too much. That said, I have a week to make my target. I hope the weather holds.