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.

The Death of The Blogosphere

I was just going through my blog. Tarting a few posts up here, a spelling correction there. But I came to the point where I started looking at other blogs. What I noticed most of all was the Blogs I Like bit of the screen. 

Not every blogger has such a page. Every man likes the smell of their own farts I guess. Most still have it though. What we haven't been doing is culling the blogs that are no longer getting the love from their owners. I looked at Vampifan's page. A much loved blogger, who sadly passed n. But most are still hanging in there because people just given up. 

I can't really complain. There have been years where my post rate has dropped. Real life gets in the way. A lot. Something has kept me going. It's not the money. There is no money in it. Its about the love of the game. I guess it gets harder over time. Maybe blogging has had its day. I usually think about how involved I am with the blog at the new year. The usual time for reflection.

From the point of time I started thinking about setting up a blog, to the actual point in time it began, it took about two or three years. It was about time. The blog began when I had a bit more time and it thrived when I was spending more time at home. Its getting busier again as I have more time. So maybe thats what its all about, time.

So maybe its a time for a cull?  Or call it quits? I'm not that far gone. For me, my blog has had a resurgence this year. There is no way I am going to quite just yet. I haven't got to a million hits yet. According o the stats, I am stilling getting plenty of hits. Which I am assuming are real. So I will keep it going. 

Paint Stopped Painting

So I had another opportunity to buy some paint. It's not like I eed any more. Even at the pace I had been going at, I couldn't imagine needing, and I mean needing not wanting, in about ten years.

I am a bit of a paint whore. I don't care which range I use and I don't care who knows it. On the cheap. I've put some away already so I don't know the exact number. But it will be little over a 100 pots. So about £350 to £400 at full retail. Which cost me £4. Some have been used a little but are pretty close to full. So give or take ten pence each. 

So I have been sorting them out as they arrived at mine in a bag. I now need some way to store them. So this probably means even more paint racks. In theory I would like to put them all in dropper bottles. Which would cost way more than the paint. That would be in the region of £40. So maybe, maybe not.

There were a few MIG paints in there along with over dozen Vallejo paints. The majority of the paint is from the Foundry Paint system. This basically a triad system. There are a few incomplete triads, which if I like the range, I might fill out. I like the idea for layering colour and I considered buying into it at the time. There is a deal on the complete range, which costs as much as my first two cars. So I didn't bother. 

Still will give them a trial. Seems like the right thing to do.

Beware Of Geeks Bearing Bargains

To further ass to the queue I have purchased the BattleTech Clan Invasion box set. From a good friend, at a bargain price. I did this last night. So the set is now based alongside the last one of my unpainted mechs. Just the ugly ones.

The Clan Invasion was something I was never going to buy into. Oh well.

End Of The Week - Start Of The Summer

Well some progress has been made. My heart isn't in stuff at the moment. So I guess any movement is better than no movement. It's more a case of being busy this week but there are plenty of distractions.

So the Goblins for Blood Bowl. Like most GDub stuff there is a lot of detail. Fortunately not as much as the Skaven. I've almost finished a base layer for Varag. Some I can't complain. Except I do. Frequently.

Speaking of Skaven, I have put some paint to plastic. Not much, just a couple of colours. But it is a start. There has been a little bit of progress on the snow troopers and Sludge hussars too.

Re-Start

I have been busy. Busier than usual. School holidays are almost here and I am excited about that (more excited than when I was a kid even). So the immediate future is a little unpredictable. In a very good way.

So having some time, and finding a chance in-between storms, I got some preemptive priming done. Kits have been put together. Texture has been applied to bases. Even some green stuff has been added. So real progress.

Despite having had enough of Skaven, there are more in the pipe. I was going to paint another five. I was missing a couple of gutter runners and you never have enough linerats. I had some leftover minis. Due to the figure mix in the boxes sets, if you buy one set you don't have enough and if you buy two you have too many.  So I have a couple of extra blitzers and throwers that probably don't have much resale value. I now have a blister and thrower with a mutated extra arm.

Then there are some referees. I'm not sure about these. I don't really do elves. Nasty. I have a dwarf team but need a lot more minis. I have an old death roller which might see some action.

Bilerot Vomitflesh is on the way. Just a question if colourscheme. It's going to be Nurgle. I like Nurgle. He is primed and ready to go.

Given that I have goblins on the go I might as well throw in Varag. He is a bit of a beast. I hadn't realised that he was that big. I have the Black Orcs to paint and it seems likely that I will paint them all in the same scheme. I have Lord Borak on the way and I have Glart Smashrp somewhere. So I. Fitting with the overall chaos vibe. Will Khorne appear on the bench some time soon?🤔

Then there are six more cavalry for Sludge. I think I had them planned as hussars/light cavalry. Not going a colour scheme yet but given that they are hussars, you can bet that they will be jaunty.

There are a few other bits and pieces. Just have to figure out where they fit in to the schedule.

Start Of The End Of Something

My heart hasn't been in the game over the last month and my head? well who knows where that is. Summer holidays are looming and I am not sure how that's going to work.

Things are progressing. I have more Blood Bowl Skaven to paint. If you had asked me last week if I fancied painting some more Skaven I probably would have gone looking for a chainsaw. I'm thinking I might as well get them done now so at least the colours will match. There are a few goblins still in the queue.

Then there is Bilerot Vomitflesh, for my second favourite team when I am feeling the urge to bash. So plenty more Blood Bowl. These all need priming and currently it is raining here for the first time in ages. Fate mocks me.

                                                            

I've also got some Imperial Snow Troopers for Star Wars Legion. Which will bring me up to four units. Another unit that has been sat around for two years. I just found them and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

End Of The Week (For The First Time In A While) (15)28)

It's been a busy few weeks. I haven't had much time to do much of anything. Life and stuff. Forgive father, it has been two weeks since my last post. It has been three weeks since I last finished painting a miniature. Or something like that. I'm still on track, but there has been a blip.

The wall I think involves the Skaven. Compared to most of the stuff I paint, there is three times as much work involved (but I am only counting it as two). What started off thinking I was almost done, I had to reconsider that point of view. Still I have "finished" a Blood Bowl team which was a goal for the year. Well I say finished.

A couple more space dwarves are done to. The Titansgrave project they were purchased for now seems long dad. But I still like the idea.

I'm pretty close with the rest of the stuff in the queue too.

End Of The Week - Serious Progress With Little In The Way Of Actual Results

My brain is trying to work out how long I have been awake. I think it's twenty hours. Insomnia week. Even though I have been awake since silly o'clock, my brain is not dealing with the day night cycle which usually helps me settle down to paint.

I think Games Workshop has got it wrong. If you want people to buy more minis, you don't want to make them bigger and more complicated to paint. It makes bad business sense. This pops to mind because I am trying to paint my skaven Blood Bowl team, a target for the year, and I had forgotten how much detail is involved. It's two and more like three times the detail  (and size) of a conventional 28mm mini. I might have to reconsider my count for this.

With the other minis I am making progress. The stuff for Sludge has a few details to finish on the heads. The three figures from last week are effectively done. I just wanted to add some details. 

Then there are six Blood Bowl goblins in there two. Looking at these I have hardly touched them. I keep seeing bits of flesh that I have missed off. The plan calls for these to be painted up to go with my orc Blood Bowl team. 

So as there is a huge amount of work in the Blood Bowl stuff, I think I have to reconsider the numbers. Especially as the next week is looking like a busy one and the week after isn't looking like it will slow down either

Start Of The Week - The Usual, Prevarication

Here I am again. I started with really good intentions. At midday I was even at the bench. Then I realised that I had absolutely no interest in painting the minis I had selected. Somewhere along the line I did some laser design stuff. Stacking trays. Gave me a serious migraine. 

I went through a period of buying stuff I really wanted, basing it, priming and then putting it away for later. I've bought some more stuff since then but of the three hundred or so I had I am down to less than fifty. Naturally these are the ones that are really not grabbing my attention. 

I've gone back through my plan for the year, and even previous years. Not really feeling this either. I think I have painted all the metal I have got this year (aside from one which is destined to become a statue).

So I am promoting the Blood Bowl Skaven to the front of the queue. 

There are a few goblins ready to go and I have Varag put together but in need of priming (little chance of this happening today due to the rain).

Varag is a brute so I'm calling him the equivalent of three figures. There are a couple of more Blood Bowl teams about to jump off the shelf.

I have some Sludge stuff primed and ready to go. These are some light infantry with crossbows. Only need six of them.

This guy is for my daughter. Sshh. He is top secret. Let's just say his number is taken.

Finally I have some stuff from last week to finish off. I've decided to put the Stargrave stuff into the background.

We are looking at around thirty five minis for the week. I will be happy with twenty five or so. I have an urge to do some terrain. So I might do a bit of trimming. For practical reasons, I count figures as complete when I finish painting the minis. So I am already a good way though with a lot of stuff this week. So it should be easy to get to twenty. Something tells me Varag might be the first casualty.

End Of The Week - Lucky (13)

As things go I haven't quite hit my target. Despite another late start in the week I have managed to get another thirteen minis done. This leaves me with another seven in part process. This is not a total success. I have met my minimum standards for the week but not my goal. That said I am still on target for a thousand figures for 2025.

What is finished is very genestealer. Ish. I quite like what I have done. If I was going to do Stargrave I think these guys would be an option. I am sure I have some more of these guys around somewhere. Maybe someday. Just in case I need a reminder, these were the paints you used.

I am looking at what I haven't finished and I'm not close to finishing and it's the Stargrave stuff. This is probably because I have the least interest in finishing them. This didn't seem to be a problem with the space gnolls I did the other week. My muse is a fickle mistress.

Subverting Tropes

I sat down with some minis that were inspired by the old genestealer crossbreeds. They came out not long before the genestealer cults got released.  I had a plan for them when I got them and that plan died due to lack of interest.

My plan called for them to be something different. For them to stand out in their own way. They aren't genestealer and I didn't want them to look like them. Yet here we are. Almost all purple and blue. So much for subverting the trope.

They are alongside some Stargrave minis. My plan now is that these might end up as a Stargrave crew as well as a potential enemy force. 

Right now there is still some work to do. For the most part they are only on the base layer of contrast paint. There is still some highlighting and pritification to be done. There is a good bet I won't finish them by tomorrow but I am thinking I will get there by Monday.

Start Of The Week. On A Thursday. Again

So I've gone to the queue. I'm finding it harder to pick out something I want to paint. At least paint right now. So as it's late in the week again and I plan to finish twenty figures this week. The plan calls for limited colour palettes to help speed things up.

A few years ago I got into the idea of running a game of Titans grave: Tha Ashes of Valkana. This is a sci,/fantasy RPG that at the time was being championed by Wil Wheaton (so it must be good). I have some early 40k minis and I wanted to use them as a starting point. One of the things I wanted was the old genestealer hybrids. This was pre genestealer cults. The prices for what I was looking for would have got me a second hand car. Then I found these guys from Macrocosm. They do old style squat soldiers as well as cult ones, and I have some of them here.

Just to make up the numbers I thought I would add in some Stargrave stuff (Stargrave, Frostrgrave, Tiransgrave I am starting to see a pattern). When I was last looking at the figures I had painted I realised I had relatively few heavy weapons. This is mainly because I hadn't painted any. So probably not a bad time to start painting some.

So I should probably get on with it. I've done some tidying up and sorting out. I've even had a bacon sandwich. Time to pick a brush up.

End Of The Start Of The End Of The Week. I Think (25)

So I have finished last week's twenty five minis. The last three days have flown by with little real progress on the bench. There has been some fun and I have put some problems to bed. So reasonably happy. I'm tired but fairly happy. 

First are what will be the last of the main protagonist force, the men of Regional Control. I say the last, I will almost certainly do more. There are another eight of them. All still looking British but as rag tag as I can make them.

Then there are the thralls. Compassionless, unstoppable killers that never stop coming for you. They are unrelentingly but are not the fastest enemy out there. 

Then there are the ghouls. Most think these are either the early or late stage of the thralls. Whilst fierce in combat, it is their speed that makes them deadly. 

Lastly are my first real attempt at the fascists. There are only four of them. The short term plan is to get up to about twenty. The minis are a sludge of British and German kit with some random bits included.

This was a hard week. This week is also going to be a hard week. It's my clubs show this weekend but I am going to miss it because I have my daughter and I am going to a birthday party. I think I know what I am doing. More stuff from the backlog. Mainly because it's easy. I don't have any work to do. I'm not close to finishing the pre based and primed backlog but I am already a lot closer to finishing it off than I was this time last year. More on that soon.

The End Of The Week And Father's Day

So today was father's day and a fantastic day it was. I got to spend some time with my daughter which is always good time. So basically I am a happy boy. Smiles all round. The only down side is that it had to end.

I've spent most of the day wearing a baseball cap that belonged to my dad. I'd owned a few but never really worn them much until I inherited a few from him. Hard to think it's been over nine years since the he passed. This is the first year that I have really felt that things were trending upward since he died. With the notable exception of my daughter.

Progress has been hard won this week. I feel like I have made less advances than a Russian conscript army. Like an American soldier celebrating Trump's birthday, I just haven't hit my stride let alone made any marches forward. It says a lot when four times as many people turn up for a firework display as turn up for a parade honouring the army, just because someone else made it about them and not about the national military tradition. I feel for the guys wearing the boots and more so for the ones that used to wear them. That said, America seems to treat it's soldiers better than us British.

But I digress 

This is probably because I haven't finished anything. After a slow start to the week I thought I was going to finish things off after I got in after dropping my daughter off. What happened was I sat down and dozed off. When I woke up I was pretty much done. It took me about six hours to get off the sofa. The New Cruelty is extremely unhappy. Things may be a little better organised here. So....You know.

So looking forward. There isn't that much work left to do. Monday looks busy, at least the morning does. Wednesday evening and much of the weekend is also looks busy. I have no new figures and no plans to put anything together. So it looks like I will be diving into the backlog. If I can find some more stuff I have purchased this year, that will be at the front of the queue.

Insomnia Rules

It's the wee small hours here as I type this. I can't sleep. I can't do much if anything else. Over the course of the afternoon I did get some painting done. So the biggest block of colour is done on all the minis. 

Givern the short amount of time I have allocated for painting this week this is going to be some rough and ready work. Fortunately about half of the minis should be rough and ready by design. I am not using the Z word as I don't think they fit the classically accepted definition. That said, they are not exactly human anymore either and tending to injuries and self care are no longer priorities.

I actually fell asleep whilst I was typing this up. So my blog even puts me to sleep.

Start Of The Week And It's A Thursday

There has been a something of a painting of hiatus. Putting the figures together has been a major p.i.t.a. A lot of the minis needed pinning and green stuff. After all I said about plastic minis I was reminded of the downside.

Somewhere along the line I missed the fact that I just hit 900,000 hits. Perhaps my blog is suddenly popular. There are fewer blogs than there used to be. So if you are reading it, or even looking at the pictures, thanks for being there. If you are an AI just surfing and looking to let off steam, just stop by and save hi. Would be nice to have my own basilisk.

I am running out of things I can usefully do for Atomfallish and SUnderdground. There is a possibility that some Russians will appear this week which might make some British communists. If things go to plan there may be some more Brits too, but I don't have a plan for them right now. So I want to finish off the project either this week or next. Will then pick it back up in August when the bits I have on order should be in my hands. Phalanx is coming. I might get some stuff there but I am guessing not. 

Which puts me in a bind. Which is what's next? The Quar thing was the next plan. That would be £200 for four weeks painting. As I am trying to do things on the cheap, that is a big ask. Is it time to dive back into the backlog? I have some Sludge steady to go. Decisions, decisions.

Some guys in gas masks who will double as thralls. One of the biggest jumps I had playing Atomfall was sensing something behind me to see an unarmed soldier in a gas mask with out stretched arms two paces away. I panic fired a magazine into it. Most of the rounds probably missed but it didn't stop me thinking these things were more or less the hardest thing in the game.

These are ferals. In the game they are tough (but not as tough as the thralls)and fast and have a spit attack . These things probably killed me more often than anything else in the game. These are mostly Mantic Zombie Swarm miniatures with some Wargames Atlantic Pulp Zombies bits.

My plan calls for a fascist force. So in keeping with the WW2 these will mostly be late war Germans, with an emphasis on winter troops. As it is set in a post-apocalypse London, they all need at least one piece of British kit. A battle bowler here and a sten or SMLE there. With what is coming I expect to add to use more StG 44s. I might throw in the odd PPSh SMG for funsies. These bodies are Panzer Lehr. I was thinking about using them for soldiers in boiler suits but my backup was better. 

In my SUnderdground background the surface is extremely hostile still. It's not going to kill you quickly. It will kill you slowly. So I am thinking the winter troops with gas mask heads and more derelict looking bases for forces on the surface. Many of the tunnels aren't much better. So I have a source for gas mask heads at the right price now which hopefully will appear at Phalanx.

One thing is for certain, if I start another project like this, I will do so with all the stuff I need, before I begin. Sludge certainly went a lot smoother when it started. Although I may gloss over the bit where it took two years to get it started.

Whilst Sunday is looking busy (it's father's day so should be fun) I have plenty of time till the end of the week. Assuming I can stay away. This is good news as I now have twenty five minis to paint.