Wash Day

So I have done some terrain painting over the last couple of days. Most of which is still wet. I've used a lot of wash to get this done. Not something I have bought. This is way too expensive for this sort of work. So I make my own.

It's mostly water with some matt medium and flow improver. Lastly, a bit washing up liquid, measured in drops. Aside from the ink, it was about £12 all in. Another £4 for each colour of ink you need. So far, it's lasted about four years. So probably another two to go before I run out. I probably won't run out of ink by then. Well maybe the black.

I have used it on minis. It works fine. The pro stuff is a fraction better. So I probably wouldn't use this on anything I want to be the best it can be. It is perfect for terrain. So I call it terrain wash.

Moving on to the next project....

End Of The Week - With Added Zomtober (25)+(2)

Note to self. Did send it to be published on Sunday. Instead I booked to be posted at point in the future. I hit the wrong button apparently.

...

It's been a week of some progress. Not the greatest in general though. I have hit and surpassed the painting target for the week. Which is nice. The New Cruelty is happy. There are some new budget toys and even a bit of progress on terrain.

Starting with the zombie. Just the one. Another Warlord Konflict 47 mini. This one is for my sUnderDground project. Along with a big pile of other stuff.

The first bit of the terrain stuff is the Dwemer scenic bits from Skyrim: Call To Arms from Modiphius.I didn't want to use the original bases that came with some of it. An aesthetic choice 🙄. So it should fit in with the rest of my stuff. I did take a copy of the surface of the original bases to make this happen. Not finished, or even primed yet. There are a few other random bits of terrain that needed to be prepped, so they are in there too.

I've had a pile of wooden terrain features (yes made of plastic) sat around for a few months. Mostly for fantasy games but I figured I also needed terrain for Sludge. It got primed a month ago so I figured I better do something with it. It's had a couple of colours put on the plastic and a wash. Once the basing is finished, I will give everything a dry brush to make the colour pop a bit. This includes assembling the last four 20' cargo containers from Wargames Atlantic.

These are the last eight of the Warlord  28mm WW2 Soviets in the active queue. All good so far. Think I need another box to finish off some options. This project can stay on hold for a bit. Maybe come back to it in the new year.

There are some more Imperial Assault bad guys complete too. I am a bit taken aback by the size variation in some of the models. But, well, you know. I have plenty more to do on this project. This includes some more bad guys and a lot of heroes. Still finding that I like this project. There are a few more bits to buy, so I doubt that this project is going away soon.

Whilst I want to get these finished before XCOM arrives, I want to start and finish another project. So Blood Bowl it is next week.

I got hold of some budget metal 28mm Normans a few weeks ago. Whilst I should put a bit more texture on the bases, I am calling these guys done.

I got hold of some more budget stuff (in the region of 20p a figure for most of it. This includes a load of old, old school G Dub skinks. I I already painted up an Imperial ?£#@ton of these a few years ago. I figured what the hell. This would make them into a small, or rather short army.. They have been trimmed from their original bases and I've glued them to smaller bases. There were also a dozen or so Kroot and a couple of random metal minis.

Thanks to the decision to pull out into my lane and stop because they realised they couldn't turn right without hitting another car, I crashed into them. Not my fault, definitely on them. The car is still drivable but even with the minimal amount of damage done to it, there is a good bet it will be a write off. I don't see how this ends up not costing me money. I had hoped to get some more done this week, but my left shoulder is killing me. In the round, I suspect that things might slow down again for a bit. It's probably going to put a dent in my purchasing plans too.

Still I got a bonus day with my daughter, so on balance, an okay week.

Start Of The Week - Blood Bowl Halflings (No Real)

I have a soft spot for hobbits (or halflings if you don't want to get suded). I think it's between my ears. Personally I blame Tolkien (and the thing with elf's ears still annoys me). I have been running a dark age game which I try to secure in myth and history. This kills me because there are no halflings. So any way I can angle them into a game, I will probably take it. I am still looking for the right halfling mins for RPGs. Most are just too 17th and 18th century for my taste. This aesthetic does fit with G Dubs overall Old World vision

Over the years I have not be a big player of G Dub games. Except for Blood Bowl. I have kinda promised myself I will paint at least one Team for the game every year. There is a backlog. Oddly. Part of the great plastic mountain that I hide by trimming stuff from the frames. I brought a box and then got a treeman. Then picked up another team with another treeman on eBay a good few years ago. This Gives me a pretty solid team.

All Star Players are still a bit of a work in progress. I struggle with the idea of a squirrel blitzer, but you know, the older I get, the more open minded I become. If I struggled with that, I really struggle with a blitzer on the back of a sheep. There are a couple of other Star Players as well. In general, I don't see this as a team I would play competitively (but then nobody does), so buying them is a lot of money when I could probably proxy them. Well maybe not Rumbelow Sheepskin (the most 1980s name there is). not sure I could get hold of a suitable sheep.

So there are two Hefties, two Runners and twelve Hopefuls, along with the two treemen. Past experience with the current batch of modern G Dub mins, this is a bigger project than it looks. There is as much detail on was stunty as there is in two regular historical 28mm plastics. The plan is to give it a go. Its a short week for me. 

My usual free time is starting to fade away. I will be happy if they all get finished by the end of next week. In fairness I will be happier still if I can finish this Team before Sunday. If I can stay disciplined, I might just get it done. Just in time to finish off the Imperial Assault stuff before the XCOM package arrives. So the Start Of The Week post is done. Time to get on with it.

Limited Progress

So it is now stupid o'clock in the morning. Insomnia is fun. I should be making a determined attempt to get some sleep. Just a quick post first. Tomorrow should be a daddy daughter evening but she is away, so I am at a loose end. I would much sooner be spending time with her than blogging to be honest.

I have made a bit of progress. Not to mention getting some getting some other jobs done. Today feels like a positive break. I've put a few jobs to rest and can move on.

After getting my second box of Wargames Atlantic Cargo Containers, I have got them glued together. So I now have eight of them. I will look at priming them is the weather is good. Nothing too fancy. Will attempted to give them a coloured prime, rather than a fancy paint job. Hopefully these will be ready by the time the XCOM Miniatures Game comes around.

Start Of The Week - Same As The Last Week

The Start of the Zomtober week is here. There are a couple of WW2ish minis on the bench for this. Hopefully this will. Last week was a mix of Start Wars Imperial Assault and WW2 Soviet infantry. This week is going to be pretty much the same. 

I am a fair way through the Soviet project now. As you can see, I got carried away. There are a fair few of them left. I am eyeing up a box of Siberian Veterans. This is more of a way to get some HMGs. Maybe fill in a few gaps. As there is a metric xxxxton of them already, a bit of variation wouldn't go amiss and I need to sit down and work out an army. I could use a bit more in the way of heavier weapons too and maybe an NKVD squad. The plan was for ten more this week but I only have 8 prepped.

I wanted to do a bit more for Imperial Assault. This is a bit of a mix. I want to get the bad guys done first. Some elite stormtroopers. These needs a satin gloss when done. Some of the minis I got had already painted so I have two Royal Guard to paint. The same applies to the two Trandoshans. Lastly there are four Imperial officers. I have some extra minis. The plan is to pick a selection of different uniform colours.

Some of the minis I got were prepainted or st least primed. So there are two guards and two Trandoshans to paint. I don't usually paint onto white. I might try it a bit more. This stuff is really shiny though. The paint is running all over it.

I am already part way through putting some minis together. Mostly pinning and gluing metal minis. I have some stuff for Fallout Wasteland Warfare and Skyrim: A Call to Arms. There has been a really good sale on. I am especially struck by the Dwemer terrain stuff from Skyrim. The best bits of the game were exploring Dwemer ruins. Some of the bits have their own bases. These don't fit with the rest my scenery so I have taken casts of the purchased bases which will go on my usual bases fill in with a bit of texture.

End Of The Week - Getting stuff Done Mk MM (23)+(26)

Another end of the week is here. Ten Soviets and twelve Imperial Assault minis are done. Probably over done what I needed to do. The New Cruelty content. Given it is Zomtober I have a single zombie to add to the pile. So I am calling it twenty three minis for the week. It's not a record breaking week, not even for the year but it is pretty solid progress.

This is my second week of painting the Imperial Assault minis. Got to love the Star Wars stuff. It seems to make sense to do the bad guys first. So... obviously I didn't start out that way. So this week was four Gamorean Guards, four Weequay guards and four HK assassin droids. I am fairly happy with how these turned out. Not my best work but I did put some effort in.

The Soviet infantry is also progressing. I am getting to the bottom of the pile of stuff in the backlog. I am not altogether convinced that I have a workable army.

There are a few one of minis in the group. I am not sure if I need a guy with a heavy machine gun ammunition box or a second medic. But they look good.

I even have a single zombie. A simple nod to Zomtober. My plan had been to get three done but I ran out of time. This is probably going to end up in my Atomfall ish/sUnderDground set.

I ordered some more stuff from Modiphius. I really need to start getting some of this stuff done. There is an awful lot of it, albiet purchased at a 75% discount. I have the XCOM stuff coming soon and I haven't painted my annual Blood Bowl team. I have sixteen halflings and two treemen prepped, primed.and ready to go. Not to mention the Quar Crusaders. And Paranoia. 

Another Busy Day

It has felt like a long day today. New glasses put a bit of a dent in my mood. Grumble, grumble. I had some fun playing Caverna for the first time. I did my usual thing playing board games. The first game often goes insanely well. Having set the bar, things are only going to get worse.

I felt I should get some paint on a few miniatures. There was a need to paint the banaged heads on the Soviets. So I used the colour on some of the Imperial Assault minis. These are not quite done but they are pretty close. The Soviet stuff needs a flesh tone and some patching up. 

A daddy daughter weekend is coming up. So things are going to be busy. Hopefully going to be out and about for a bit and I am told to expect a bike ride. This puts a smile on my face.

I can see that I am going to get the jobs done with a little bit of grace. There is enough certainly about that, that I am already planning what I am going to do next week. 

Progress Via Diversion

It has felt like a crazy busy day. Whilst there was some daddy daughter time, I can't figure out where the rest of the day went. I still managed to find an hour to paint.

I ended up with some excess paint on the pallete. A few times. These made ideal choices for the Quar Chyweethl tractor (definitely not a tank). It's been sat on the bench for a while, waiting to be grabbed up a bit. This is now done. 

Over the years I haven't painted many vehicles. So this is a nice change. It will do some double duty for Sludge too.

I've spent more time on the Imperial Assault minis. These are getting pretty close to done. I am sure there are a couple more colours to do and a wash and the bases. Quite happy with how these are going.

The WW2 Soviets have made some progress. But only just. That said, as a group I need to do the skin tone, find a few small patches on missing colour before getting a heavy duty wash.

I can see some real progress. It seems very unlikely I will finish them off before the weekend. I have three zombies to do then. I might even try and get some more minis prepped and primed.

A Sudden Flurry Of Activity

I feel like kack. For over a week now I've had a cold and although I feel like I am boiling up, the thermometer says no. This means I haven't wanted to move around a lot. So I have not wanted to move far from the last place I sat down, which has recently meant the bench.

There is a bit more to the sudden flurry of work than that. I am enjoying what I do again. So there has been a fair amount of progress already. The end of the week is going to be busy so maybe I am trying to get ahead. This should give me a chance to get ahead so I can paint a few zombies over the weekend. It's Zomtober after all. Having fun regardless.

Start Of The Week - A Mixed Bag

Assuming the mojo stays with me I have a big plan for the week. Some more So it's. Another batch of Star Wars Imperial Assault minis is next. All bad guys this week. Finally a handful of zombies for Zomtober.

I have twelve Imperial Assault minis in the queue. it should probably be ten but the robots are unlikely to get the most complex paint job. The other minis are from the Jabba's Palace set.

There are another ten WW2 Soviets in the queue. I am a little further through this project than I thought. I should have worked through what I have before the end of the month.

Lastly I have some more zombies. More Konflict 47 freebies. I need to prime the zombies before I paint them. These will not be getting the full treatment but they should end up being good enough.

Zomtober - Week One

How did I forget about Zomtober. I found myself with a bit of extra time. So why not?

I do love free stuff. These came on the front of a copy of Wargames Illustrated. They were designed for Conflict 47. All the minis I have for this game came of the front of a magazine. They are expensive for what they are so if WI could get some of the British Army robots, I will buy a dozen copies.

In all honesty I don't need any more WW2 zombies. I have an Imperial Feckton of metal ones somewhere. My inspiration comes from playing Atomfall and my attempts to create sUnderDground, a post apocalypse setting based in London.

An Early End Of The Week (20)+(4)

Here I am again. It feels like it has been a breeze this week. I will have to up my game. Everything I set out to do this week is now done. Maybe I will start next week's work early. I need a break first. And a cup of tea.

With the Star Wars Imperial Assault stuff I chose to start out mostly with the good guys. The Jaws is definitely a bad guy. I should probably look at doing some bad guys next.

The minis appear to be mostly in the 28mm scale. There are some that are definitely a bit larger but not big enough for Legion. 

The WW2 Soviets project is moving forward. There are still plenty more to do. It's not a forever project but it is one that looks like it is going to run for a while.

Still. I have some command figures and the first weapons group. I should really get around to finishing the project but I need to get some more stuff. So I should probably work out what I need to buy. Not planning on doing that any time soon. One of the minis below hasn't been based properly. He is a crew member for a mortar so will get based up with the other one. Eventually.

It is looking like this weeks two projects are going to continue. I am tempted to move on to the Quar. This should probably be the next project. I would like to get the other two finished first.

Earlier today I acquire some more car boot bargains. Some bits and another four Normans. These have already been attached to new bases and the glue is drying. Whilst not badly painted, they are not to my taste. The ironwork has a bluish tinge to it which doesn't really fit with my own work.

I am feeling a bit more positive about the future at the moment. There is nothing specifically that has happened to bring this about. I can see something that looks like a timeline ahead. It has been a while since I felt this way. So I can't really complain.

Real Progress

Insomnia is a wonderful thing 🤔. Due to waking up remarkably early and finding myself at my workbench since 7am, I've gotten quite a lot done. I now need a bit of a break and something to eat. So I m off for lunch, a brew and to watch some TV.

I am already thinking about what to paint next week. There is a lot of shiny out there. I can see the release date for the XCOM Miniatures Game getting closer. Before that arrives I would like finish all of the WW2 Soviets done before that. On point of principle if nothing else. I'd also like to get all of the Imperial Assault minis done as well. 

I can't be bothered to put a specific number on how many of these there are. More than eighty and less than a hundred. So probably there is just enough time to finish them off. 

So XCOM will arrive and then probably on to the Quar to finish off the Crusader (what I have prepped anyway). Wargames Atlantic seem to be getting a disproportionate amount of my money just of late. I strongly suspect that there are enough have to buys coming out that I know that some of my money will be going their way, if indirectly. The Gladiators and the Baron's War Outlaws seem like a certainty. I am guessing that the UAMC Hard suits, the Militant Monks, the Monstrous Mutations and maybe some of the fantasy packs may be on their way. Eventually. Christmas is coming. It's my birthday soon too. Maybe I won't have to wait until next year.

I managed to get some more work done later on. They are not done but they are a lot closer than I expected. Some more washes, a bit of touching up with a little bit of tarting up to give them a little bit of pop and they should be done.

Progress, Or Something Like That

Having had a bad night last night, I am now wide awake. Time I should at least make an attempt at sleeping. I've got a low key cold which isn't helping. So carrying on regardless. It's been a cat nap kind of day.

I was beginning to think I wasn't going to make much progress. However I did better than I thought. I've got three full colours done and another four colours on some of the minis. So actual real progress.

The Imperial Assault stuff is a bit basic. This makes them easy to paint but very hard to paint well. Whilst not quite a uniform colour across the group, I am trying to a degree of commonality.

The Soviet stuff is more "uniform" but in many respects, are not the same as the other minis. I think these are all metal or resin, unlike everything else do far, which has been plastic.

If I put some effort in tomorrow, I might just get this done. The New Cruelty would be happy if I manage to make my target.

The Real Start Of The Week

A little bit later than I was expecting. It's Friday already and I am still trying to figure out where the week has gone. Hasn't felt quite so chaotic and stuff away from the bench is getting done. Mustn't grumble I guess.

The plan, such as it was , was to put twenty minis on the bench. Ten WW2 Soviets and another ten rebels for Star wars Imperial Assault.

Hopefully I will start to get a wriggle on now. Things should progress.

Start Of The Week - Mix And Match

So a different type of week hopefully. Maybe a bit more priming but hopefully back to the New Cruelty. I need to sort out some storage stuff on the laser and some bases. There maybe some walls for terrain. This should lead into the main project for the week. I have the clearest week for some time. So its over to the minis.

The front of the queue is now Star Wars Imperial Assault. Character figures came be a bit of a time sink, in a fun kind of way. I've picked out ten of them that looked like a mix of the most fun to play and most useful to play.

I want to finish the WW2 Soviets. Not because I want to use them, I just want them off the bench. I added a few more primed minis to the queue last week. I was priming some Crusader Quar which were sorted/kinda painted as Soviets. My brain is telling me get them done so I've added another ten spods for the Rifle Company.

The first signs of autumn are upon us. A few leaves are falling and there is a bit more rain about. My plan for the last few weeks has been about finishing a solid queue of prepped and primed mins. I have enough to do about ten a week for the whole of the winter. If I am doing ten to twenty I will run out a lot quicker. So I have some more scut work to do. The most obvious stuff is the Fallout kits. I also have some figures for the boardgame Stuffed Fables. I can get the latter done quite quickly and there are a good chunk of them. Just a little basing effect and some primer.

End Of The Week (0)+(32)

This has been a week of prep. I had envisioned getting a bit more painting done. I have been whinging about this al week. Still I now have enough stuffed primed and ready to go to just about see me through to spring. 

Since the last post I have gotten some of the Fallout stuff I got for Black Friday last year. Not all of it, but a good chunk of it. I have finally got some mojo back for the project. This is mainly down to Modiphius having another stock clearance sale. Much of which fits in with my idea for NukaLand (which is not Nuka World). Maybe a story for another time. I am guessing there are about thirty minis on the way. 

Some are actually Skyrim: Call To Arms minis. Not a full army but rather some terrain and some odd minis. Dwemor robots, flame atronarchs and sprigans, along with some terrain. This is the stuff I have wanted for a while. I wasn't going to by them because they were a bot pricey and in general I wanted them for other fantasy games. I may just give it a try now and I am tempted to go out and buy some more.

As for actual work? The Crusader Quar are he biggest project. A box of twenty four infantry, another four specialists and twelve mounted and dismounted cavalry. There are three boxes of the cadier mounts. I had originally envisioned them more as dragoons but maybe I will give the riders helmets and call them hussars an light infantry. I could always use some more specialists and there is plenty of metal stuff yet to buy along with STLs and vehicles. I should also get round to finishing the Coftyran Quar first. This is a fairly addictive project. Well as much as my non-addictive personality will allow. I can see a few more armies are coming out but I will finish what I have first.

Next are the Elf and Dwarf villagers from Wargames Atlantic. Twelve of each, split between male and female. I started with the regular villagers set and the guards. These were finished a few months ago with a view to get some more or maybe even move into Baron's War. I have enough suitable stuff to start at least but I keep looking at that starter set. The plan was to use the villagers for games other than Guards of Traitors Toll, mainly for the Nornmen project. I now have a hankering to play GoTT. A few more arms would have made things easier but there is a lot if good stuff on the frames. The elves are pretty good but the dwarves are amazing. Really what I have been after for a long time. Human civilians are easy enough to get hold of but demi human, not so much. I may get another box and finally do some Titansgrave.

My bench is always full of projects. One of which is the sUnderDground. I have some police which were brought for several previous iterations of the ideas. These have had some webbing and gear added. There are some more general minis and the last of the Athena Miniatures. There are also quite a few rando soldiers for the game. These needed a little fettling and some green stuff to finish off. I do like these guys. Whilst at Tabletop Scotland (that was a fun weekend) I purchased five Bad Squiddo minis, four armed ATS and a Scots Officer. You can never get enough female minis for most of my games and these fit in nicely. Not sure how I feel about painting tartan.

The largest total number of figures for any project is for Star Wars Imperial Assault. Some were already primed when I got them so I can't lay claim to them all. There are about ninety of them. Some of which are fairly chunky. I was somewhat non-plussed when Legion came out in a different scale. This initially put me off both. Business is business and I do love me a bit of Star Wars. This is a project that is giving me ideas. A lot of them. It's also one with a few more purchases on the horizon and a desire to integrate it with Descent.

There is a lot of random stuff here too. Some trench works, gladiators, fandom Frsotgrave bits, and bits of scatter terrain. There are also all the minis out of Frosthaven which even if they wrest of the game was disregarded, are a bargain. I spent a fair bit of time hoovering up anything that was left on the bench. 

Then there are also a whole load of wattle fences and gabions. Not to mention some cheval de frise (which I recently learned effectively means something like Spanish cavalryman). Some of this was purchased for Sludge, the cheval de frise and especially the gabions. They do have a lot of uses. The wattle fencing will work best with the dark age stuff and anything up and even beyond the renaissance. These should be an easy job although there is a lot of them. A couple of anvils from the Dwarf and Elf box found a way in too.

Finally these is the recently acquired Paranoia stuff. Not too much of this although I may well get some more. I have some smaller bots I also got at Tabletop Scotland.  The plan is these will get rolled into the project. I even have some old GDub metal Paranoia stuff. More bots I think although I will have to find them. 

Winter is coming. To coin a phrase. This little foray into prepping and priming is to make sure I have enough to paint over the winter. Which I have probably already said. It is not always raining in England. As the summer will attest. It is however easier to prime in warmer temperatures. So better to do it now.

The world news is looking a little bleak at the moment. Diesel is just hitting the £2.00 a litre barrier. I currently can't fill the cars tank with my card at the pump. I have to go into the kiosk if I want to fill up. Everything else seems to have started a slow creep in price increases. But not hobby stuff. There seems to be some element of price drops. This may be good for me but may be a bad sign. This is starting to make travelling any distance painful. So I am guessing that I will get a bit more time for painting. 

That Friday Feeling

 For most people Friday is a good day. I mean who doesn't love the end of the working week right? For me it always feels like another week is drawing to and end and there is no way I have managed to get enough stuff done. I feel like I have missed out on a lot lately. Time is marching on.

This doesn't mean I haven't got stuff done. In fact I have manged to get quite a bit done. It's just the mundane stuff that I am pretty sure won't make interesting reading. Not even for my daughter. It has been a hard week emotionally. There is rather a lot going on at the moment. There is a lot of it I should probably tell my daughter although she is way too young for this to be productive right now. Ignorance is very definitely bliss.

Apologies if this is a little all over the place today. I have a lot on my mind.

Although the minis I have in the immediate plan are not almost ready, they just need some primer, a lot has got in the way today. The rain being the least important. I used what felt like the last really good day to get a lot of outdoor jobs done. I do feel better for that. There is still some work to do for before what looks like stormier weather arrives. I have had a few problems about three years ago. These now look like they are coming back. I've already had to face a couple down. I suspect more are on their way. The only way out appears to be to keep going.

Still, I have a plan. Which is mostly to go on the defensive. This is probably going to keep me busy for a bit. Tomorrow is going to be a good day. In fact the weekend is looking like it will be a good one. 

Start Of The Wednesday

It's been a busy week and not the good kind of busy. Still here I am. Given the almost total absence of time poverty, I can't believe how far behind I feel. I can't even blame Skyrim.

Earlier in the week I got some stuff done. It is mostly Wargames Atlantic minis. The Crusader Quar stuff is now based, textured and stuck together. This will fill in the gaps in force. Well most of them. I'd like some more individual units. Some artillery, high ranking officers and specialists, like a medic. I had thought I would be pretty close to done with these. 

I've moved on to the Wargames Atlantic Dwarf and Elf Villagers. I would like them to fit in with what I have already. These have been focused very much on Viking mythology. So effectively light and dark. For the light elves I have already started a plan. These look like Saxons in blue with literally white skin. I've used metal stuff in the past. So I wasn't thinking of anything other than dark elves. What I have is actually designed as high elves but painted black with a minimal of purple with a lot of variety in metallic paint. I am thinking these will work.

The dwarves bring up an existing problem. I have about forty metal ones. Most are older metal sculpts which were done by Grenadier. Very much back in the day. I have been thinking about using the Oathmark range. Not to mention the long standing plan to buy Celtic and Roman dwarves

 from Checkpoint Miniatures. Despite what you might think, these fit better with my "Viking" world. The plastic is a much cheaper option. 

A while back I had wanted to do a project based on Titansgrave, the RPG. The plan had been to to be able to use figures with the rules. Which didn't really work so I progressed to the standard fallback, Savage Worlds. The project kinda died as I had problems finding suitable minis for the dwarves and elves. Some of these, with the Oathmark stuff might just work.

Then we are on to the Imperial Assault stuff. I'd really like to get these painted so I can get a game in. I am running out of storage for other projects, so I might try and use one of the boxes to store the minis. This may be an ordeal so maybe not.

This all needs priming. The plan is to do that tomorrow and hopefully start work on painting tomorrow evening. It will give me an excuse to sort out the shed.

End Of The (Hell) Week (0)+(2)

This has not been a fun week. The world seems to be out to get me. There was a significant extension to the stay of a high maintenance visitor. The police doing a safe and well check in the early hours of the morning for someone I have never heard of. Having fought my way around town during a local run day, finding the mobile phone of a much loved relative in my car, causing me to have to travel back through the aforementioned mostly closed town centre. My guest then also left their phone, actually two phones, and their glasses in my car. This was a bit of a bind as I dropped them at the airport to go home. I have forgotten how much fun it was to organise an international delivery of something valuable. Then a somewhat valuable package (well valuable to me) failed to arrive.

Some good stuff too. I've spent a couple of afternoons with friends. Talking shite, but entertaining shite. Then there was some time with the much loved relative.

This was always going to be a bad week for painting. I have looked at brushes but haven't actually picked one up. I decided that instead of painting I would do some prep. The plan did not get as far down the road as I originally hoped. Not the end of the world.

I did a bit of comfort purchasing. My guest did most of the shopping last week so there is a bit more money to spare. For my money I got a couple of Imperial Assault villains at a very reasonable rate.  So I now have an angry Jawa and and angrier looking Tusken Raider on a bantha.

An order arrived a few days ago, massively overdue but not a bad price.  Most of this was Quar related. More infantry, cavalry and specialists for the Crusade. On the picture these are next to the ones I've already painted. I need to remember which gaps in the TOE should be filled.

Some twenty foot containers and finally some elf and dwarf villagers, both from Wargames Atlantic. I need to figure out what I am going to do with them. Perhaps I need another frame of the regular villagers for a bit more variety. All of these and the Quar Crusaders out of the box and attached to a base with heads and arms needing to be attached. 

The plan had been to base prep and prime, so texture on the base before I get the rattle can out. I feel like I have been at it all day and got nowhere.

Going forward I still want to finish the Soviets. A similar ideology to my Americans, whereby if I lose I don't feel bad. This is really a nice to have. As I am halfway through the the extant project (I probably need some more to cover my options, only one more box, and half a dozen weapons, and some trucks, and tanks, and armoured cars).

I now have a lot of Imperial Assault minis. This is the new shiny and will probably be the first out of the traps next week.

Quar was the previous shiny. There are twelve dismounted cavalry and probably another twelve mounted cavalry by next week along with about thirty moee infantry. 

Looking at what's on the table there is a lot of random crap. In general the plan is to finish the prep and prime process ready for winter. This is already a lot to work through but the plan calls for more. A lot more.  So I think the week ahead will involve more glue. texture and primer. Maybe I will get to painting mid week and I will aim to finish another ten Soviets. This may morph into stormtroopers.

I am now going to wind down and raid some more chests in Skyrim.

Start Of The Week. Insert Eye Roll Here

I am kind hopeful that normal service will resume. My recent house guest is now on his way out of the country. I've only just got back so its not going to get there tonight.

With a bit of luck I will have another batch of Soviets completed. I have some more to prime but I also have some more Star Wars Imperial Assault stuff to prep and prime. Imperial Assault is the current Shiny and I may have to put the Soviets on hold. There are still quite a few Soviets to finish.  Indeed there are some more still to buy. I remain hopeful for another freebie. I've gotten hold of a box set and a couple of villain packs for Imperial Assault. I was expecting another set with some extra minis for a knock down price, but no luck so far. Despite it showing as being delivered.

A few weeks back I put in an order for some more Wargames Atlantic stuff. Not from WA direct but with a really nice deep discount. I wanted to finish off at least one of my Quar forces. Well finish for now as I need to stuff I cant get hold of or print. So another box of infantry, another cavalry and a single frame of specialists arrived. I've also got a box of Dwarf and Elf Villagers which I think are for Guards of Traitor's Toll. 

There is a single box of shipping containers (which is odd as I ordered two). I made some of these a few years ago but could never get the paint to look right. These will have a multitude of resources. Right now I am looking at them primarily for XCOM. Eight seems like a lot and I suspect there will be few times when they all make it onto the table together but I still want to use one or two on multiple boards.

Kobolds: There A Little Bit Like Gremlins

Kobolds. I love Kobolds. What they lack in strength and resilience, they make up for by large numbers, being small target and being sneaky, tricksy little gits. They are, in my opinion, one of the best bad guys in D&D (which may not be saying a lot as I am not a fan). Not powerful, but good enough to keep the players thinking.

I was doing some tidying up I found the box with them in. They are very old Citadel minis from back in the days when they were a fun company to deal with. I saw some pictures of them in a flyer I got in my first Citadel order and wanted some. I could only find two at the time and the poverty of being a teenager meant that I didn't get any more. I got a single kobold in a box of D&D plastic figures. One badly sculpted kobold was not going to be enough. Then I found five resin ones from Reaper. Nice, but very D&D and something totally un-Viking, which is my particular flavour. Then I managed to order a load more on eBay. So now I have just short of fifty. So I painted them up a while back.

For the Viking game, kobolds are perfect. My arch villain needs needs minions and I could not have made these guys any more minion like if I had painted them yellow and given them goggles and dungarees. In Savage Worlds they are small, swift rather than sneaky but sneaky is all down to the referee anyway. They are skilled at hit and run which always annoys the players. Which is fun.

I

Playing The Walking Dead: All Out War

I found myself with an afternoon free a little while ago so I thought about what I could do. Accidently I had watched a video about the game on YouTube about its reissue, so it was sticking in my mind. Since I bought the game mainly for the figures, the game was more or less an afterthought. From the first time I saw it online, the game game seems to have some nice ideas and and playable mechanisms.

Until the point this game out I felt that a lot of games like this had produced fairly low par minis. Whilst not the best I have ever seen, these are still pretty good. There are plenty of them. Like a lot of games, I continually think I should rebase them so that they fit with everything else I have.

As a way to get the game going, Mantic created The Road To Woodbury as a solo experience of the game. It's a game for one character that helps teach the mechanisms. It is a little dumbed down but not too much. The idea is to see whether you can get past the three zombies (and any friends they might acquire along the way) to recover the three potential resources. 

On the face of it, this is a game of three against one. Not such great odds. The way the zombies operate (the A.I. if you like) means that although it is a challenge you can win as long as you don't do anything stupid or get really unlucky.

I went on to play a couple more games. The original plan was to use these for other games. I haven't found anyone who wants to play with little toy zombies recently. Big sigh....

If you want to have a look at the figures for the game I painted them previously as part of Zomtober.

Start Of The Week

So it's Tuesday. I am still trying to figure out what happened to Monday. Sounds like a good title for a film. Yesterday was a bit of a wash. Today is not looking like it will be much better. It is all about. the Soviets. Still. So I have put another twenty Soviet infantry on the bench. I haven't got a picture of them yet as I can't get to the bench. There is no prospect these will get finished this year. It will probably be Friday before I even start them. The queue expanded last week with a couple of bargain purchases.

I got a few more bits over the weekend. There are some Robot Friends from Bad Squiddo. Although a little on the small side, I figured that they would work with the Paranoia game I am working on. This is still a ways off but I guess they have all sorts of sci-fi uses. I also got some ATS and a Scots Officer by Bad Squddo. The plan here is really for sUnderDground but I still have a Weird War Two project somewhere in the deep background. 

The immediate future is still looking fairly Soviet. I have all these shiny new Imperial Assault minis to paint. There are a number of duplicates but there are at least twenty that need painting and probably closer to thirty. There may even be a few more Imperial Assault minis coming. 

It occurs to me that I really need to up my game again. Whilst I am happy doing ten minis a week, I will get to where I want to be at the beginning of 2028. That assumes no more purchases, which, lets face it is a fairly dumb assumption. I also need to get back into the terrain building side of things.

Right now though, the week is all about family. So I better go and concentrate on that.

End Of The Week (12)+(Lots)

So I finished another twelve WW2 Soviet. It's a good job they are easy to paint. I've been board  gaming over the weekend. So not been a huge amount of time.

I made a couple of games purchases. The first was Star Wars Imperial Assault. Been after this for a while to finally found the right deal. It cost about a third of the retail price and I got a lot of extra figures too. Almost a double set with five boxed sets and a load of heroes. This may lead to a few extra purchases.

Mandi got me Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion a while back. Played it a couple of times and had a plan to buy the other boxes. This was about a sixth of the retail price. I can see a campaign coming up.

I think Imperial Assault was unsealed and aside from some of the minis being painted, it was completely unpunched and in mint condition. The Frosthaven box was a little scuffed but it was still sealed with the silica packets still in the box. This means a few more weeks have been added to the queue.

I've put a few small bits of plastic kit terrain together. Nothing major, but more is always better. Then there another batch of green stuff bits.

A good week all round.

Looking forward, next week is also going to be a bit busy. I have family staying for a few days. Not sure what impact this is going to have on the queue but I think it might be catastrophic. Well a first world catastrophe.