Start Of The Week - It's Storming

So the Soviet storm continues. The work bench, not in Ukraine. Yes I know the current are not Soviets. It wasn't much of a joke to start with. I am hoping for a little more success on the table top than the current Russians manage, well anywhere. I am feeling slightly bad about painting these guys because of Ukraine. So even if I lose on table top, I probably won't feel too bad. Unlike the Russians, I have a tactic so I am hopeful they will do okay.

It's looking like a busy week again. Alhough today is looking fairly open, the long weekend ahead is looking busy. I'm not confident I will finish these this week. If I don't, they will get finished next week. Which is also looking busy. I may not even get to the bench despite being at home.

My plan was to do ten minis this week. I've ended up with a dozen. The army has several types of headgear. Each calls for a different paint job with different paints. When it comes to batch painting, the only way to paint an army, my batches look at painting similar figures together. So I have done almost the troops with helmets and this week it's mostly the minis with ushankas. Then it will be the pilotkas, the standard Soviet side cap.

If this do go to plan, I have a follow on. I'll put the rest of the Quar Crusader cavalry dismounts together. Like I say, I could do with building up a bit of a seasonal buffer for primed minis. Winter is coming. Although when I look outside it seems more like monsoon season. Having had a couple of months of brown plants, everything looks really green at the moment. The background projects are likely to stay in the background.

End Of The Week, Schadenfreude, And The Power Of Weather Induced Irony (20)+(9ish)

August Bank Holiday weekend is usually my least favourite one of the year. Setting aside it's the end of the summer holidays and I will be seeing less of her, there is a four day music festival going on. Traffic chaos and struggling to sleep are the main issues.

It has been difficult to hear any signs of the music today. I mean it might be going on but the torrential rain and the thunder are drowning it out. I suspect that is is also drowning the festival. I do feel bad. For the security guards mainly. If the rain continues, which it looks like it will, I think they will be needing gondoliers.

I got to my target for the week and made of twenty figures. So not a bad week for me. Not quite half way through the infantry now and there is a T34 to paint. But more on that next week.

On the subject of armour I have some more vehicles on the bench. I got a Fidwog Quar infantry box, not because I wanted the Fidwogs (although I can see the ten of them becoming an optional unit) but because I wanted the two Fynrydhad light tractor to use for the Coftyrans. Whilst I like the fluff, this was the cheapest way to get two vehicles. I figured that they would also work for Sludge. These need some bases. So I am calling this the equivalent of four minis.

Then I accidentally started working on the big tank, I mean tractor. This one is called a Chyweethl. This is actually a Coftyran tractor. For the sake of putting a number on it, I'm calling this the equivalent of five mins.

For various reasons it's not been an easy few weeks. This seems to have resolved itself. So I feel happier now. If anything I am in a better place than I thought. I've also got some bigger stuff done. A bit of a clean out and some work on the lawn too. I feel like I have been doing some proper adulting.

Forgive me father for I have spent some money on minis. The important one was XCOM. I have been waiting to do this. Not gone for the full hit but enough to get me started. I've also got a few frames for the Quar Crusaders. A frame of specialists and enough infantry and cavalry to finish that part of the plan. I've also added some plastic cargo containers.

I need to start working on a plan for the winter. So building some more minis is on the cards. I had a bit of a blitz on putting stuff together a few months ago. I am not through that pile yet but I will be soon. So need to get a wiggle on. Some crew for the tanks at least.

Getting On With It

A short one today. The struggle continues. It's not quite 1984 yet. I am trying to keep to my new rules. Not perfect. I never was. But I am doing better. 

I have made some progress on the bench. My Soviet.forces are looking a lot less beige. For the bodies I need to do the skin, the helmets and a wash. A couple of highlight colours as well. This should be done by tomorrow.

Hump Day - RIP Tim Curry

It's been a long day and I got to the bench late. But I did get there. Although I didn't get a huge amount of surface coverage done, I got three more colours done. So I. Terms of painting the plastic, about a third of the way through. There are probably four or more colours on the base but these will take a little less finesse. Everything is still on track 

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Tim Curry. A local lad for me and he grew up down the road from my dad although I suspect the two moved in different circles. I noticed some posters of him in town yesterday. Frank n' Further has caused me a few problems over the years. I may explain it to you if you know me. Don't get freaked out by the an.....tici....pation. Quoting the character has gotten me into trouble more than once. Using the phrase "you got caught with a flat, how about that" sounded innocent enough when I said it his portrayal of Darkness was amazing. I've evoked that character many times.

It's been a good day. Having my daughter around makes me smile and she is apparently happy about it too. I will get back to work proper after she goes tomorrow. I've managed all of my targets for the day. So a win all round.

My thoughts about the future are all over the place. I see some changes in the next year or so. I am also looking at the bench. There is a new English Civil War era wargame from Osprey coming. I've had various ideas about Witchfnder type games over the years. Not least of which is using The Silver Bayonet and replacing the men of Wellington for those of Cromwell. I mean a musket is a musket right? I might also get drawn back into Sludge as I have a few units missing from the roll.

Bigfred Jacks' Diary

This morning I experienced something I haven't done for some time. I was sat in the house and felt cold. Well cool. Maybe the series of heatwaves that have been the British summer is now over.

I have been doing a thing lately. It started here really. A while back I started setting myself a target again. In all honesty the bar has been pretty low. Back in the day I was painting thirty figures a week. When I was painting anyway. Despite an increase in available time, this total has dropped significantly. Yes I know I tried to put that number up yesterday.

So I started using this in day to day life. With the little things. You, like food. Reading has also been a bigger part of my life recently. I managed two books last year and I am up to four. Reading has been given me headaches if I do it for too long. Reading is something I have always loved. I used to read two or three books a week so about temwrnty five times what I read at the moment. That's at a minimum. So whilst not approaching the heights, if I could get it to a book a month I would be happy. That's a much greater page count than I can manage.

An ex made me read High Fidelity and more pertinently, Bridget Jones's Diary. Whilst I have no plans to own big pants, the character does try to keep track of things like cigarettes smoked and alcohol consumed. As I don't smoke and I know ten year olds who drink more than me, keeping track and setting goals helps. I've seen it help me. Maybe it can help you.

Today has been pretty full on. I don't normally get to the bench until late but tonight was especially late. I have just got to finish the one colour on the figures for the week. So definitely some progress.

Tomorrow is looking even more full on. I should probably be in bed by now. It is looking like it's going to be a fun day. Maybe I get to the bench and maybe I don't. The end of the week is looking clearer. Ish. So I remain confident that I am on target.

Start Of The Week - The Soviets Advance

Back to the start again. I've put twenty Soviets on the bench this week. Last week I thought I had a bigger window. Rather than painting, I did a lot of farting around at the end of the week. So I rationalised and decided to go against recent policy and put up twenty figures as a form of aspiration, rather than the ten I have been managing recently.

It would be nice if I could manage it. Even if I get close and say maybe manage thirty over this week and next. So far, and it's only Monday, I haven't made that much progress. 

Still it's been a great day in other respects. I feel like I am doing a bit better of late. Things are on the up.

End Of The Weekend (25)

It has been a busy week and weekend. Throw in visitors, family and most importantly a daddy daughter time, I've not really had time at the bench. Not a Greek tragedy to be honest. Fun actually. But I have found more time than expected. Admittedly a low bar. I did try to make the most of what time I had. A bit of gaming, a cleaner house and a cleaner work bench.

Not that much of a problem.  Less about finishing and more about the plan. A fair chunk of stuff is now complete. So another ten were completed start to finish this week, the first of the Soviets. Then there are some dark age minis I picked up partly painted from a car boot. The guy who paints them like a silver blue metallic which I think would work really well for magic items. It just doesn't fit the vibe of everything else I have done. I wouldn't call it repainting but maybe everything has had a second coat. Seven Infantry and four cavalry makes a total of 15 minis in my mind. Not my best work but good enough for a mass battle line. I then went round trying to finish off anything on the bench. These Star Wars Legion Rebels have been hanging around for a little over two years.

I've had a quick reorganisation. I say quick, but I mean a fatigue bomb and putting stuff in boxes. The immediate plans are at least a little easier to access and everything in boxed together. The prepped and ready to go queue is looking a little light. I had some more stuff to put away after another trip to a car boot.

The Quar cavalry is now kinda, sorta on the bench. This is the excuse to "finish" the Quar project. I need a box of infantry and a frame of specialists for both sides (and that presumes I don't look at another of the three other forces available). I think I need to be looking at an order to Zombiesmith. There are plenty of options. Not to mention a vast array of STLs and vehicles.

The money is there I am wondering what to spend it on. I like the Quar, so much so I am almost a fanboy. In terms of queue, I have about three months that is either prepped or purchased and ready to go. This is on top of another three months of stuff still in kit form. Throw in the fact that I will probably overthink and over commit to XCOM next month, my paint queue is not a short one at the moment. 

This put me on a spectrum like odyssey. I am picking figures (not miniatures) out of the air here. So this is looking like the plan. If I give myself a target, it might help right? There are a few plans I would like to put in play. Hobbits and celtic dwarves have been in the mental backroom for a few years now. No pressing need, but I wanna. 

Added to this is the Trench Crusade stuff. This is the current background project but is getting a little bit of love every week. I can see some of the Star Wars Legion stuff and the BattleTech mechs taking over this role. It currently sits behind a box on the bench, just far enough out of sight that I don't feel too guilty about it. There is probably more Legion stuff to do. I can see a few of the newer kits making it into the plan. Maybe I should finish what I have first. The drawer full of stuff, the mercenary box sets and the snow speeders. 

XCOM is on the horizon. It's top of my personal Hotness list. This is likely to jump the queue when it arrives. So I should probably order it. I am waiting for the money to fall right at the beginning of September. 

No Quite Done

I had almost forgotten how easy it is to paint WW2 infantry. Especially those without camouflage. I don't know why. Always has been the case. So after about nine hours of painting and about three hours of prep, this week's task is done, bar a bit of detail on the helmets, weapons and boots.

As well as the details I have some other bits to do. I'd like to look at some terrain and maybe put some minis together. There is a hope that I might get a headstart on next week and look at twenty more Soviet minis. Maybe then I can get the army done in a month.

Today has been a daddy daughter day and now it isn't. Missing her already. It's been a good day.

Progress, With Distractions

My mind is rally all over the place at the moment. So this post is being written and rewritten as things happen. As I type I am being used as a foot rest by my daughter. This is a lot more fun than it sounds. She is so enthusiastic about everything. Especially snacks. I kinda think I should be getting her out of the house but she seems so happy where she is.

I was up early and needed to do something quiet. So painting seemed like the right thing to do. So I got a couple of colours done on the Soviets. I rarely play British modern forces. That makes me think about a few long gone friends and relatives. So the Soviets are a little easier, from a psychological point of view as well as a painting one. I always used to like playing the Americans as I didn't mind losing so much.

At some point I was trying to figure out what I need for the Soviets. HMGs are right up there. I was trying to get some more SMGs too. These Warlord minis are not my favourite. They have separate weapons which gives a whole load of modelling options. Which is nice. They can err towards jazz hands and getting the weapons to fit is, well, entertaining at times. So I was looking for something else. There is a box of Siberian Veterans but I think they are out of production.

To give myself the option of rifle and SMG squads with options, I need seventy minis for four of them. Heavy weapons is another ten. A few lighter support weapons and options is at least another ten. Command options is also coming in at around ten. I only have the one vehicle, a T34. 

A random T34

I'll need a few more infantry. The Siberian veterans would be great as I think they come with plastic HMGs and I want two of them. An anti tank gun or two and maybe some observers would round out the foot troops. Need to think about the armour. If one phrase summed up how I wargame it would be "not a tanker". I may need to check the page for spelling errors.

I have about ninety to one hundred figures to paint. With some more needed. As I said previously, I feel a certain amount of resistance to painting them. Partly because of the numbers but I have no immediate plan for them. A new OPFOR for sUnderDground maybe. I have some Copplestone Neosovs I was planning to use but these are chunky compared to the other plastics. 

There are another three weeks of the summer holidays so maybe I will get a third of them done and then move on to something else. As someone who is always hopeful, I might make faster progress. This is perhaps the simplest paint scheme I've done in some time. Being the Russian army, their clothing and gear is exceptionally uniform 🤔 and somewhat basic.

If I do the infantry first I might be able to maintain the interest in the project. The real itch is XCOM but the aren't even out yet. So get these done and move on to Paranoia, some more Sludge and the Quar.

Start Of The Week - The Coming Storm

I am actually having difficulty hearing the TV. The sound of rain on the exceptionally dry ground is really loud. We've had a bit rain over the last couple of days but not heavy enough to justify putting the wipers on whilst driving. So a good change.

The coming storm is more about the Soviets. I've had a boxed set and some extra bits that have been sitting around for ages. Probably two years. They have mostly been prepped and primed for several months. I could argue it's a bit of prevarication. There have been more fun projects. Couple that with the fact that there is an imperial f###ton (that's a bit bigger than a metric f###ton) of them. There probably isn't enough of them. The Soviets have rifle and smg units so trying to have the right minis for both is at least fifteen minis for a ten man squad. There isn't a lot of variety. This and the simplicity of the paint scheme means they should be an easy job. If a two month long one.

For some reason I chose the scheme, or something very similar, for the Quar Crusaders. I have a few of them in the queue too. I've decided I need an extra four for both sides. Three, three man teams and a sergeant with an officer and a standard for each. I might need to order them.

After a month of pain with my laptop, I bit the bullet and reset it. Which meant it has reinstalled all the crap I got rid of and deleted all the software I use.

End Of The Week (10) Just

I wanted to stick with the plan. Life is busy at the moment and yesterday, the day I had a plan for, didn't go to plan. So I've only just finished now.

Times seem to be going harder. This is how much it cost to fill up my fuel tank today. The limit on spending is £99. If costs go up, I might not be able to fill my tank to the top. I can only see one reason for this and apparently he has dementia.

A Sign

I took my daughter out to watch the eclipse last night. She complained about it, a lot. She did do a lot of handstands though. She didn't think it was going to be worth it. I missed the last decent one in the UK, so I wasn't going to miss this one. She didn't see the point.

During the complaining I pointed out that she would be in her seventies when the next good one came around and that maybe she would remember this moment with me. This was followed by more handstands.

There was basically one cloud in view. Which was right in front of the sun. I kind of got the hint of the moon on front of the sun. Seriously, if I hadn't known it was happening, I would not have noticed it. I managed to get my daughter to look at the cloud for a few moments. Then she went back to doing handstands.

Parking was chaos, but you know the very British kind. Queues with someone organising them. I had picked a good place on top of a hill. Just like everyone else.

It looked a lot like twilight. This would have been pretty impressive at noon. As I was somewhat late in the day, I guess it wasn't that impressive. So I was left thinking that the day she gets to see something closer to a real eclipse, she will probably have forgotten about this one.

Start Of The Week - Bindependence Day

So a quite pivotal or comical week in the UK. Depending on your point of view. No great outcome either way. An object lesson in irony appears to be about to happen.

Still, back in the real world of tiny toy soldiers. It's more about the ruins of post-apocalyptic London than pre-apocalyptic Clacton. So I have another ten minis for sUnderDground. These are much more of a mish mash. I am seeing these as more of a citizen militia. Prepped, primed and ready to go. Mostly Warlord stuff. A few bits are off the covers of magazines. There is a Pulp nazi scientist. He didn't really fit in with other stuff.

I am looking at my recent purchases. The Quar cavalry and the Paranoia stuff. I need to do some some work on the Paranoia bases. Design them and get them cut out. This is not the week to do this. Maybe I will find the time.

So maybe the Quar. The photo above may even be a tenuous clue. I have a box of each. When I get to establishing a plan, this is probably not enough. The Coftyran infantry (in my head) is based around ten man squads. Three groups of three and a sergeant. In an ideal world I'd want two of these an officer, sergeant and standard. Which would be three boxes. 

I would also like a few mounted regular infantry. An officer (one of these with an infantry officer helmet. A few extras like a sergeant, standard an a 3 man recon team or two. So four boxes. For each side. With the plan as it is I guess I am nudging another £300. I'm looking for a half set of each as twelve of each seems to hit the sweet spot 

Queue the sound of gears grinding and the smell of burning rubber. The plan is still the XCOM Miniatures Game all the way.

I see my future busy weeks being a little extended. Visitors, friends and family are all in the mix in the weeks after the summer. Happy for it all. I can see me keeping with the plan and I don't see the volume of painting going up. At this pace, with the currently active plans, I can see a gap in the queue around March. Assuming the XCOM doesn't jump to the front of the queue. Which it probably will.

End Of The Week (15)

A strange day today. It would have been my mum's birthday. So a number of moments of sadness. Whilst it has been some time since she passed, I still think about her every day. Things have moved on, but I still miss her.

So I hit my target. Things are progressing. The New Cruelty should be more than happy. The New Cruelty if you friend or is that the Computer. Some of the Paranoia minis are done. I am already thinking I need some more investigators. And all the other stuff. This is a project that has some legs. 

The fascists came out alright. For fascists anyway. I am trying for the convoluted mix of kit. This seems to have worked. With the corpses I will call this 12 for the week. 

I've seen a few things new for Blood Bowl. All big guys and all needed for one team or another. The is a Morg 'n' Thoth has been missing from collection, at least as far as a new figure. I mostly play chaos in all its forms so the other two figures, a rat ogre and a minotaur, fit my plan. I need to pick a team to paint this year. So, having had Varag Ghoul Chewer on the bench for around three years (the ultimate background project). Not to mention he is now almost six years in the queue. I finished the one missing detail and the base.

I also found an odd peasant from the villagers pack by Wargames Atlantic. She is now done. So I am going to call this 15 minis for the week.

There are a couple of projects in the offing. In keeping with the usual form, I will probably decide tomorrow. Or the next day. 

Slow But Steady

I have a bit more time on my hands today. Sadly. But it does mean I have finished the project for the week. Which gives me a bit of time to work on the other stuff. For some reason I am struggling to keep one of the arms attached. Need to find some spruegoo.

I want to do some work with green stuff. If nothing else I want to fill in the gaps for the wrecked ship. It feels like I can experiment a bit with it before starting the, er, not cracked one. That one won't look pristine either. Just not wrecked. I have a bit of gap filling to do on the last of the Athena Miniatures survivors.

Then I am already giving the Paranoia minis and the Quar Wars cavalry the eye. I've stuff prepped for a few more weeks at least. But. Well. You know. I should probably do these before I get the green stuff out.

I have some Normans on the bench. These are currently an alternative background project. These were painted by someone else but I need to do a bit of work on them. These needed a bit more texture on the base. So this is done now.

Wasting Money

Do I keep looking at the XCOM miniatures game. It's not a question of if, but when I am going to buy it. Where was this game ten years ago? It looks like I might have to order the resin sets as the inner ADHD in my brain (it is fairly deep) is telling me I can't wait to the new year.

I've kept looking at a couple of other projects. The first is already underway, which is the Quar. I might just have to rename it Quar Wars in my head. I'm not really wanting to start another army but I do want to finish what I have started. Which I am thinking comes get to £200. After this purchase.

As I was looking at another project, I thought I would get something else. To save on postage. Obviously. Duh. So the last thing to be produced for both armies was the cavalry. More like dragoons really. So a box of each was in order. Eight figures is an odd number for a cavalry box but then they are mounted and dismounted. I think this is not going to be enough, so I will probably pick up a half set of each.

As I say, I've been looking at the XCOM stuff. A lot more than is healthy. But whilst I was looking at that I also started looking at the Modiphius Paranoia stuff. Another miniatures game also using the 5 Core rules as their basis. So I got a good deal on what I ordered. I couldn't get the robots and the high programmer set seems to be a little bit expensive. So I will wait for a sale.

I've not had a chance to go through the rules yet, but I am already thinking about terrain. As it's set in a bunker, I am not sure I have a lot of terrain that will work. A while ago I was working on a set of laser cut sci finish corridors with the intention of also using them as bases. Something interlocking, almost like the stuff from Imperial Assault and Descent. There would be two layers of MDF. A base layer, to allow an interlock and maybe a slight change of layer underneath a textured layer. Need to have a think about this. How to represent a bunker on a three by three table? I wonder.

That's another 66 figures (by my calculation system) to add to the queue. 

Accidents Will Happen

Sounds like a cue for a song.

This model originally had wings. And a tailfin. And engines for that matter. Not to mention wheels. The first one I got even had some but not all of them. This one was always destined to be a wreck.

So far I have cleaned off the clips that hold the bay doors open. Now I have to figure out how to keep the pod bay doors closed (Hal). There were also some mounting points for the wheels. The things you can do with a mini tenon saw.

The plan is to fill in some of of the gaps. I think I am going to take a mold of some of the tail fin from the other model. This should make it look like it was ripped off. There is a plan to cover the voids where the wings were with plasticard or, more likely, some clear plastic packaging (I think I have some stuff that is up to the job. 

Just above the wing void are some hinges. These look like they will be tricky to remove. Not impossible but a pain. So the plan calls for the voids in the hinges to be filled and I will use some plastic tubes to cover the long void rather than filling it in.

This looks like it will need a fairly big base. I want it to look like it crashed so I want the base to have skid marks. Currently thinking I will have it sliding sideways.

It needs a better clean. Probably with alcohol. Then some gentle sanding. This should help with the adherence of the paint.

This is not the biggest project ever. I have another one, which I want to set up as landed. I have a rather large ARC fight, some obscure version of a TIE fighter and a U Wing coming. I am hoping to turn the U Wing into a landed ship. The TIE fighter has scrap terrain written all over it. Maybe one of the panels will end up on the floor. The ARC fighter looks big. I need to have a look at it. Maybe it will work if I take the wings off. More scrap piles and another piece of flooring.

The End Of The Weekend / Start Of The Week (10)

I got my ten minis in. So I am happy. Fairly good that they were mostly green. A coloured primer and 'contrast" paint helped a lot. I've already shown some pictires so I'm not going to bother here.

Some more sabot bases done too. Last of these for now at least. Just some I had sat around gathering dust. Mostly, if not entirely Warlord Miniatures this week.

Found two random, but identical second hand toys this week. The most battered was obviously the most expensive, and the one I found first. I've been after something to use as a drop ship. Now I have a drop ship and one that could be a wreck. I am getting a Traveller ship's boat mixed with a space shy.

I've started working on one of them already. Needs some filler and some extra paneling. Then I can start jazzing it up.

Anyway. Off for a daddy daughter day.

Day Of Admin Rather Than Progress

I've always thought it's better to have a plan. I used to regularly say that failing to plan is planning to fail. Then kids came on the scene and it became failing to plan saves me about twenty minutes of wasted time every day. This is said tongue in cheek. It doesn't really apply to gaming. As far as kids are concerned, it is good to have a plan. Just don't expect it to happen.

So it's not been a bad day. The game of the day has been prep and admin. I've found some more sabot bases. As I plan to do some more painting of these, it seemed appropriate to finish these off all together. 

There are some more sUnderDground minis ready for next week. These are planned to be fascists. So some Warlord Einter Germans from various sets. There are some zombies in the mix too. Somewhere I found a Eureka Bundeswehr. This should be another quick project. There are a couple of civilian (well armed civilian) casualties.

The sUnderDground project looks like an ongoing project. So there are a few more primed minis. These are a bit more of a mixed bag. Americans, Japanese, Germans and Brits. And a few zombies.

I got these from a car boot a few weeks ago. I like the guy, who I see fairly regularly. Always has something I want. A few more dark age minis can't hurt right? I'm not a big fan of the metallic blue (although it would be amazing as a colour for magic weapons) and there are a few bits that I need to look at to make them fit with my stuff.

Maybe I can get to doing something a bit more productive.

The blog seems to be doing okay. I mean the number of posts is up again. So I must be in an up phase. Will see how that goes. The last year has seen a third of the sites total hits. I must be affecting the outcome of everyone's AI searches.