Zomtober - Still Shiny

Zomtober is still running. This phase is just about over. I'd kinda planned to keep the current project running a bit longer. The minis, being a bit soft on detail, haven't taken to long. I found the one missing character which took about twenty minutes to paint. It's about par for the course. I have another set somewhere. It cost me a pound on a car boot sale. It occurs to me that it might be worth painting the remaining zombies.

The paint isn't dry yet. I still need to paint the bases. Happy with the progress. I might go and carve out a few more hexes and maybe go and buy a box to put them in. And a house to put the boxes in.🤔

Getting Distracted

I know it's normal for tabletop gamers to get distracted. Perhaps I am a little more distractible than most. If you can stick with a project, please accept my apologies for the generalisation. 

My plan for the week got dropped briefly. So I have had two sheets of foam with hex bases leaning against a wall for about a year. Long enough for dust to settle. It's been causing me a problem every time I see it. I've been putting it off because I realised how much effort it was going to cut it. I lost an evening to the first sheet and now my hands hurt. 

I now need to figure out where to put them.🙄

Start Of The Week - Zomtober

I painted a few zombies last week. They look unhealthy but need a bit of grebbing up. These are from the game The Last Night On Earth. To be honest they are not the best figures either. The game is fun though. Being a bit light on detail, they should be easy to paint. Which is good as it looks like a busy week. There are twelve left in the queue.

There are some characters too. These have a bit more detail, but are still fairly soft on it. A quarter of the volume and a fraction of the details than the Skaven I did recently. Not quite as quick but this should another easy win for the eighth of them. 

When I get these finished I got some part painted stuff to finish off. Some more Northmen. Due to my aversion to painting horses, it seems a no brainer. I don't have any Normanish cavalry There were also some crossbowmen, also Normanish. The metal does have a really blue hue. I like it and may buy some. On these minis, they really stand out.

End Of The Week That Was (Zomtober) (28)+8

The end (of the week) is nigh. So here I am again. The plan was to paint twenty five and maybe get in a few extras along the way. I found a few more to add into the mix. The thought occurred to me that we are actually in Zomtober. I am not even sure that it is a going concern. But I had been promising myself that I would join in again this year. SOme of my mates would tell me that I am zombie obsessed. I mean a hundred metal zombies isn't that many right? I don't know how many zombie games I own but its less than twenty, so not that many. I've probably played a few more digital world games. Playing Dead Rising 4 every Christmas since it was launched isn't remotely obsessive

My plan was to paint the minis in Last Night on Earth. At least all the ones from one of the sets I have (OMG I have a problem) across the month. The models, although nice enough are a little on the small side and are a bit soft on details. I thought I would start with a couple of text paints. There are two groups in the box s I thought I would change the flesh colour.

Then there was this guy. He was prepped for a few weeks ago to fit in the stuff here. I misplaced the head so I am just getting around to him now. Not to mention a junior pod person.

Bread an butter for the week was going to be to finish off the Atomfall plan. Which was getting close this week. Until I ordered some more stuff.

Mostly it was regular, if somewhat scrappy, army units. These are in principle Regional Control forces. They will do for most forces. My new favourite kit for the nuclear winter is the late war British (winter) set from Warlord. Lots of winter clothes , balaclavas, and even respirators. Not to mention late war helmets.

Then there are some Union of Fascists. Just a few more. The next batch of minis will be some more of these, assuming things go to plan. You can never have enough bad guys.

There are even a few civilians. Well one might be RAF.

                                                                                                                                                      

Future Projects

It's the start of a new month. My mind is searching for another project. It's not like I am short of projects. You don't get to be my age without accumulating a pile of shame. Mine is smaller than most. If I went at it at the same pace I am guessing I would get through everything in about eighteen months. Certainly everything I have a hope in hell of painting.

In my head there is another small scale apocalypse idea (the end is almost nigh, CF my previous post). This starts along the line of the end of the world happens and then there is an AI who tries to take over what is left of the world. Which includes making slaves if the humans left and building a robot army. Think skynet but it has control of a few hundred metres of territory. There are no resources and no power so all you can do is scavenge and build with what you find. It's just an excuse to buy some robots . Well more robots. 

There are at least six Blood Bowl teams to paint and numerous hangers on. I am a big fan of the game but I am not feeling it. Nurgle will get finished this year but not this month.

I still have a hankering for a Dredge inspired tabletop RPG game. This is by far the most expensive potential project. There are no cheap plastic alternatives. It would be a lot of fun. Plenty of terrain and boats to design. Whilst I wouldn't be starting totally from scratch, it would be pretty close to starting from nothing.

Much of my inspiration comes from the digital gaming world. So right now that would be Fallout 4, Rage 2 (sounds like a football result), Far Cry New Sawn, Generation Zero, Mutant Year Zero, The Last of Us, and Phoenix Point. The last two have a more creeping subversion vibe which I kinda like (I've watched Invasion Earth again which has a more sci-fi bent. I've also been thinking about The Weald, Summerland and Rangers Of Shadow Deep. I very much like the crawling doom aspect. I think it has something to do with the teachers scaring me to death by playing Jeff Wayne's The War if the Worlds and being made to pretend to be the red weed. I have some ideas for FIMO.

I've been playing Midgard: Age of Heroes. Whilst I don't have specific forces for it, I have plenty of minis I can use. So whilst I want to do something for it, I don't know what I would actually need.

Traveller was part of the conversation a few months ago. Whilst I started with Tunnels & Trolls it was Traveller that got me to fall in love with RPGs. Talk moved on to 2300AD which would be no hardship either. This was looking at replacing my idea for an X-Com style game. Again, this is not much of a painting challenge as I have a metric &£@kton of sci-fi minis.

I've touched in Quar: A Clash of Rhyfles a few times. I can plan to about sixty minis. To get to where I want to go, it starts at the bottom end around £100 and up to £250 for two forces in good order. I like the tanks which would do double duty for Sludge. 

Already Making Progress

At least I think so. Everything seems like hard work at the moment. My whole world seems like a headache. A little bit of time to paint appears to be a spark today. Tomorrow looks like a busy day so I should make the most of the day.

Start Of The Week And A New Old Plan

So it's back to the past. The 1980s in fact. Having taken some inspiration from Atomfall, I am looking again at SunderDground. Post apocalyptic London never looked this good in my head. I cannot think of many places that would better suit tactical nuclear redevelopment than London. Except maybe Salford.

I got hold of a few frames of winter late war British. If these had been available at the time I started I don't think I would have purchased much else. They come with gas masks, late war helmets (which are better suited than the battle bowler) and best of all they look a little bit battered and are dressed for the nuclear winter.

There are a few that are planned as British Union of Fascists or the BUF. I'm after some late war winter Germans. These too need to look battered. There are also a few civilian types. It was more or less an excuse to paint what I had left.

To round out the week there are three Coftyran Quar and one more figure for Mordheim / Witcherish. Then in the background are the stuff that has been in the bench for a while. 

It's looks like a clear week. Good in some ways but I am thinking of the bigger picture. I am therefore reasonably certain I will finish the primary group of 25. The Quar should be in the window, assuming I don't get distracted. There rest will see some progress but probably won't get finished. I would like to finish a week with nothing left on the bench.

End Of The Week - And I'm Cheating A Little (25+3)

Another busy week. Two days during the week disappeared and I've had two days of fun with my daughter. I have been doomscrolling a bit too much. The prospect of WW3 is picking at my child of the 80s thing. So what do I do? When the going gets tough, the tough buy a couple of tins of corned beef and make post apocalyptic terrain. And more hexes. Lots more of them.

When I think about most of the games I have run and worked on over the years, the apocalypse features in there somewhere. Even my Viking game is set in the run up to Ragnarok. In most of the sci-fi stuff there is a war of apocalyptic proportions running in the background.

In terms of figure painting, if I look at what has interesting me this year, there has been an end of the world vibe. Sludge has been called Napocolyptic, I've been painting stuff for a 1960s / 1980s apocalypse in the form of Atomfallish) SunderDground, there is some Nurgle stuff on the bench not to mention Frostgrave, Stargrave and Mordheim. Let's call it a coping mechanism.

The primary focus for the week has been more hexes. A project two years in the making. Plenty got done this week. I've managed most, if not all of the non-blank tiles. There are another fortyish blank tiles to do. I think I will need more paint. So I've not started the second round yet. Plus it sounds like a lot of work.

I added a few more bits into the mix. Battle mats were kind of the inspiration for the whole hex thing. Deep down I wanted variety. I wanted a corner that could be a different colour. So I was thinking badlands as one of them. Basically desert but with a few bits of junk and perhaps a more varied colour scheme with yellow or orange. So I have done a few pieces. Only one is actually newly done. The rest are stuff that was in progress.

Having seen nothing but things with six sides (well technically eight) I decided it was time for a palette cleanse. Painting eighty odd of them will do that to you.. I took a look at what is in the immediate hex queue. It's almost all the basic plain hexes. So about as dull a job as I can imagine especially as it's about fifty of them which will just be white with a wash.

 I've done a fair bit of a priming, including some scatter terrain. I have a pile of stuff lying around. Whilst I like the infinite variety of individual bits of scatter, I don't like the near infinite task of putting them away. So time for bases of grouped bits. There is one piece that is really just fantasy, a few bits of sci-fi stuff but it's mostly modernish and apocalyptic. Hence my earlier diatribe.  These are actually finished, suitably grabbed up with painted bases. I just can't find the picture and can't be bothered to drag them out of the box.

So if next week goes to plan it will be back to the final phase of Atomfallish. I have some more mainstream troops, who will double for most forces. There are also some fascists in there. If the end of the week goes to plan, there might be some commies too. Even more fascists are needed and winter Germans and fallschimjager fit the plan. 

If not I have no idea what to do next.  I have some stuff I can use for an unofficial Empire army/Witcherish (which given the approach of the wild hunt I am also counting as an apocalypse, if pre-apocalypse counts). 

I got three Coftyran Quar this week. They were cheap. The plan is to try painting some and see if I like it. Like it enough to buy six boxes and a couple of tanks as I doubt anyone else will be buying the other side. I can see three boxes on my wishlist. 

Then there are more hexes to do. If I get the paint, I will finish off the Paradise City set. Well I say finish. I've had some thoughts. Maybe I will look at Paradise City Lost. I have some stuff that might turn into a full badlands/desert set and I have the deep stuff to cut up and I would really like to do the trenches and maybe even the alien tunnels.

I've also made my my first Temu purchase. It's mostly terrain orientated. So that might arrive. Lots of tat and some rollers. I guess I will see how things go. Then there are some second GDub bits won on auction. Probably eBay rescue time.

Start Of The Week - Even Not, Even More Freaking Hexes

SO even more hexes. It's time for the futuristic urban terrain, or Paradise City, as I like to call it. Nothing special, if anything this should be the easiest set yet. There are about 150 to get done. So it's a bit of a mission. I'm also filling in a few gaps. With ruins to badlands being the one I am thinking about.

Even More Freakin Hexes

It's getting close to winter so I wanted to make sure that I have all my priming done, any jobs in the shed were complete and the shed itself was secure.  Before it starts to get too cold. Instead it got wet. Very wet. Today has been the only day I could even contemplated it and I've been a bit manic.

Terrain projects tend to get done in the shed. The last thing I want is bits of expanded polystyrene in the house. Especially the bobbly stuff. Thus sems to attract static and then get carried everywhere. For some reason everything I need has ended up in the house.

So I have some hexes to finish. Well a whole box of them that are part complete. Maybe two boxes. And a bit.  Not to mention I want to use the laser to cut some more.

I have basically been working on three subsets which are modern/modernish/post apocalyptic in nature. It has taken some fettling. Then there is another project, which will split into two sets.

The stuff I have has mostly been sat around for two years. I've just needed to get it all in one place and get some mojo working. The first is the suburban path. Nice simple smooth lines. It's designed to be in good working order but not perfect. The kind of thing you might find in the burbs or a park.

The second is the post apocalyptic version the first path. These are designed to look heavily mashed up. I wanted them to fit in with the existing apocalyptic stuff I've done. Sort of a green corridor with a path in the middle.these have taken quite a bit of work to paint and the bashed details took forever. Then there is a test piece.

Lastly is something of a rural path. Big flags, mortar and sets running along the edge. I sort of think they are finished. I am also contemplating changing colour of the flag stones.

I have also finished a lot of other stuff. It's part of a bigger project, so not really finished yet. The general idea is to have a near future paved city. The plan was to call it Paradise City. I may have been listening to Guns and Roses in the 90s. This would then segue into a ruined set. This would be called Paradise City Lost. 🧐 Did you see what I did there? Desert hexes was another plan. This would be another 150 tiles. Which is a mission. So I might might start with a transition set. So grass to desert. Or urban ruin to badlands (or a more fun name for desert). Or both. Enough to turn and edge or a corner into something else for visual interest.

There are still a load of tiles to work with. Then there is another hundred, much deeper tiles I need to cut. These are probably going to end up as a trench system. I don't discount the possibility that they will end up as an alien hive.

As I am now knee deep in hexes, I think I might well stick with with the job in hand. I still have the Atomfallish stuff to do. I may have some more in a couple of weeks. I am also thinking about the Witcherish idea. I have some minis that will work. I also got a few Quar, as more of a test. It's probably hexes.

Start Of The Week - Stormy Weather

So I had. Planned to do some priming this morning. Evidence below. The weather has kinda got in the way. There is a lot of talk about how to prime in the cold. Not so much about how to prime in the rain. Or in storm force winds. The met office has a yellow weather warning ⚠️ right now. It's almost drowning out the TV.

So it's time to do something else. Whilst I am searching for a project, I have no current plan. There is no real shortage of stuff to paint. This is my bits box, all 21l of it.

So what next? It really is time for the hexes.

End Of The Week - Reboot (28)

It's been a good week, for me at least. I am not so sure about the work. Twenty eight minis done, so actually progress. All were started and finished in a week. Which must mean something right.

Whilst the process worked, I am less certain about the outcome. I wanted to do some more Sludge stuff. Something a little bit different. Colonial troops was the idea. And yes they are American Civil War zouaves. The minis look like what I had imagined. They just don't look right for the job. As I say, just not Sludgy enough.They haven't got that Napocolyptic vibe. They are not grungy enough. Nor do they have sufficient medieval accoutrements. They need some swords and axes. Will have to think about that.

There is a plan for next week. I have almost thirty figures prepped and ready for painting. There is some scatter terrain ready for some attention too. I am struggling to think what I want to do next. There are plenty of options, its just I don't have an itch to scratch.

I have been thinking about the general direction of travel. It has to be said that I enjoyed painting the Empire Free Company last week. They fit The Witcher vibe and the WFRP game I am playing in. GDub is not really my thing but I keep looking at stuff for the old world and how I could translate it into something I like. It's going to be way more than what I want to spend I could quickly spend £500. If I went down the proxy route it's still not going to be much cheaper. Decisions, decisions.

Sort Of Confused And Not Sludgy Enough

So far this week I have made good progress. Although it's a busy weekend, I think I will hit and just possibly exceed my target. They are still at the bobby stage and although the paint is in the right place, they are still not shaping up. The work looks pretty like what I had planned. I'm just not liking it. At all. They are far too bright and not Sludgy enough.

It's crossed my mind to use them for something else. Turnip 28 maybe? But if they aren't Sludgy enough they are certainly not Turnipy enough. So I guess I will stick with the plan. The colours may tone down a bit and I am thinking about giving them something like medieval weapons. Maybe add swords or axes to their belt kit?

I am now sat in bed after a shower. It feels more like a Sunday than a Friday night. My life is totally rock and roll. I have stayed on plan all week, even if things have had me distracted. Still I have a fun couple of days coming up.

Start Of The Week - Decisions, Decisions

So cat brain aside, I dove into three projects last week. By dove, mean did some kitbashing and glueing some.bits together. This seems to take forever. Getting the arms to fit together is probably my idea of purgatory if not actual hell. Much better to buy something that someone else has put together, primed and then got bored of.

So Sludge got another look in. I acquired a couple of frames of ACW zouves. You have to ask what the Americans were thinking of. I intermittently think about the ACW but not in 28mm. That way madness lies. Unlike Sludge, which is perfectly normal.🧐

I was missing a few bits so had to fill in a few gai. So they will be painted as colonial troops with some regular army soldiers. These are really part of another army. Another project, mostly built around some Austrian minis I have. 

As it's another army, I thought it needed some leaders. So a mounted and.dismounted commanded up in the mix. As did another cannon and crew. I've only done the one artillery piece so far, so another one seems appropriate.

This was going to be my project for the week. My brain won't let me settle. So I prepped another three projects. So there is more Atomfallish stuff glued too. A whole load of BattleTech stuff. I've even put some more scatter terrain together.(Seriously, I think my car's suspension would have a problem if I put it on the back seat all at once).

Perhaps it's best to save this for another post. Or maybe I will have changed my mind by then. Mmhhhmnnnh. The jury is out.

End Of The Week - With Some Success (41)

This week I have had a bit more time for the hobby. In truth I am missing the things that the school holidays bring. No point regretting, so I'll fill the time as best as I can. My brain is in full cat mode, so the projects are all over the place. To illustrate, this is everything I have touched with a brush this week.

I am feeling that I have got my mojo back. The numbers are not as good as they might look as the Skaven have been on the bench for over a month. I have a definite feeling these were a project that was abandoned when I thought there good enough.

Whilst on the subject of Blood Bowl these are all work in progress for the Nurgle team. I'm happy to play about with the skin tone but want to look at some of my original team so I can properly colour match. I have some more players to put together yet, enough to round out the positionals along with a few more linemen.

The Moor Walkers from MEP Miniatures have turned out really nice. To be honest I loved these from the moment I saw them. I really had them planned for Atomfallish but will work for a few other apocalyptic ideas. On the plus side, which is all plus already, this was perhaps the easiest paint job ever. I suspect I might be spending some more money with them in the future.

This week's main project has been these Empire Free Company Militia. The real advantage of these is that they were almost free. I paint a lot of fantasy stuff and it's nearly all dark age themed, so this is out of my usually purview. I'm playing some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at them moment and these are just perfect. They seem ideal for The Witcher, the game more than the TV show. There are some other minis in the range look good but I really need smaller numbers of minis. I don't need 32 bowmen. But maybe a sprue or two. And flagalents, missile troops, greatswords, state troops, Sigmarite and knights. Practically an Empire Army. 🤔

I also went down a bit of a rabbit hole with some other stuff. Cat brain. Attention span of a.  So because I need more scatter terrain.

Making More Progress Than Recently

Summer holidays had proven to be a busy time. I haven't really been in the swing of things for weeks now. Distractiona and low energy levels are not helping. There is some progeess. And a bit of frivolous spending.

BattleTech is back on the agenda. I ordered some stuff, most of which didn't turn up and what did had problems. So I have another twenty mechs, based, primed and ready to go. There are a few mechs already in the queue that had fallen by the wayside. Mostly for aesthetic reasons.

I got some freebies recently. These are being prepped for multiple uses.  On the periphery if what I had been planning was Mordheim. I'm already playing in Warhammer FRPG once a fortnight. I can also see them as being useful for The Weald. It can also morph into Frostrgrave.

I picked up three thin women in tattered robes at the start of the year. I was figuring oin using them for post apocalyptic games and maybe The Weald. Lots of detail and easy to paint. What's not to love 

Finally it's more Blood Bowl stuff. I am getting close to finishing off the Skaven. G Dub minis seem to take a lot more effort. These have probably ruined my mojo. The there are some Nurgle big guys. These are at the early stages. The skin is done. I need to find some of my original team so I can figure out how I did the uniform. These seem likely not to get finished any time soon 

Start Of The Week - Change Of Tack

Start Of The Week - The Battle Battles Back

I thought life had been entertaining recently. The most recent highlight was getting stuck on a rollercoaster. Followed by a three hour road trip home (which should have been half that). As I am typing, I am reminded that I should have been painting now but I am really too tired to contemplate it. There is family stuff going on too. Not me directly but it's all hands on deck and I appear to be in possession of the only available hands 

Obviously there is some work in progress on the bench. I'm looking at the Skaven and rolling my eyes. There is some Nurgle stuff I want to do but I want to find the stuff I have already done so I can get a good colour match. It's probably time I should have a game.

The plan for the week involved some priming. There is some BattleTech ready to go. Not to mention the Empire Free Company I got the other week. I had some thoughts about what to do with them. Frostrgrave, Mordheim and The Weald were all ideas. They would work for Warhammer RPG or even better for The Witcher. These would work well for a quick win. I probably need to start thinking about priming in earnest before the bad weather kicks in.

It's also been a week where I have been thinking about my mum. The day that would have been her birthday has been and gone.

After the start of the week, the world returns to normal. From Thursday I should be back in the driving seat. All is good, but it was good anyway. 

Although it's early, I think it's time for bed.

End/Start Of The Week - Forgive Me Father (25)(+47)

It's been four weeks since I last did one of these. This is mostly because I haven't had anything to update.

I have made a number of purchases (Forgive me Father for I have sinned, again, willingly and with forethought). I has after some BattleTech minis and some Blood Bowl stuff. I have managed to complete six goblins for my orc team. Reasonably happy with that. There are some in progress Skaven. I am less happy about that. I do now own all the minis I want for my Nurgle team. Varag is back there somewhere. When I start typing Varag the spullchucker seems to want to autocorrect it to Nigel. I ask myself if this is irony in action.

BattleTech is proving to be a pain in the arse. Which hasn't stopped me acquiring another 15 mechs. At least in the UK. Getting hold of it is becoming a pain. There is plenty of stuff that is just not available. What is available appears in batches. Intermittently. I am hoping that BattleTech Gothic dies on the vine as maybe they will get some regular stuff on the shelf. There is some work in progress.

Blood Bowl is not much better. There is a load of stuff that is unavailable on what appears to be a permanent basis. Unlike BattleTech, there is a fairly brisk second hand market. Like a lot of G Dub stuff, one box is not enough and two is not enough.

Star Wars Legion is back on the bench again. I had an unpainted Snow troopers ready to go. There are already a few in the collection but I wanted to finish these off. It's another game with stock issues. I am still looking for some dismounted scouts at the right price. So I have seven of these done.

There was one unit left for Sludge left to paint. For some reason I wanted hussars on the table. I don't have much cavalry for the game. The plan still calls for some more units. Heavy cavalry being one of the most important. This means another twelve horses and their riders. If I really pushed it, I wanted two of these units. This seems like hard work. 

Given the complex nature of some of the figures and the mounted nature of others, my complex calculations call this twenty five complete. I am wondering what to do next.

Forgive Father, For I Have Failed To Post For Two Weeks

A few weeks ago I was talking about my struggles with Blogger. This seemed like a lot of noise at the time. I haven't had a period that busy for some time. School holidays and all. I was wrong. That wasn't busy. The last two weeks was.

So I have had all the school holiday stuff, fun, well a lot of fun, but not conducive to the painting of 28mm miniatures. Then family happened. I had two tyres that needed attention, then other people have required four trips to hospital, two interactions with the police, additional dog sitting, a broken laser cutter, A new bathroom door (see dog sitting), two airport runs are the edited highlights. Then I had new cable fitted so I could get wifi. This took about a day off moving, tidying, fitting, moving and tidying again.

But yesterday I got some time. I have been working on painting quietly in the background. Even short periods have been causing me health problems. But I have made progress. I think I am up to twenty five finished this week. This sounds like a lot, but I have been working on them for over a month. My target for a thousand in the year is still just feasible, but seems less than likely.

So here we are. The holidays are nearly over. There are two more weeks and then its back to the normal routine. So should be resuming normal service soon. Ish. Maybe. I have been thinking about doing some terrain but I don't want this to detract from the figure painting. I guess we will see.

Frostgrave or Mordheim?

I got a freebie on Wednesday. The plan was that what I was getting was just going to end up in the bots box. What I got was some GDub Empire Free Company minis. A few had a rather heavy black base coat but most were just unprimed and a bit bashed up. SO with a quick base change I now have about eighteen free company, a couple of smaller, but similarly dressed minis, and a couple of zombies.

I play in a Warhanner RPG, I like Frostgrave and I have a mate that likes the idea of Mordheim. So lacking a project in mind, this was an easy distraction. It has managed to get in the way today. I;ve also had some British Winter Infantry turn up. Then I may have already purchased some more BattleTech.

Over Packaged And Underdelivered

A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of a Blood Bowl binge (I didn't order that much) I won an auction for Borak the Despoiler. He arrived today in a huge box. Well huge for the size of the mini. It made me smile.

I have Borak now. I blogged about him some time ago, so I must have wanted him. He was one of my faves in the old game. So a wish complete.