Eyes Down

After yesterday I started to think about the progress I am making. At the start of the year I thought I would try my luck at a gamers bingo card. I decided it was time to revisit it. I guess it was supposed to motivate me. Even though I haven't really used it, my motivation has returned a little.

As far as blogging goes, I have posted as much so far this year as I have in the last six years. If I'm I continue being a good boy, I might even have posted as much as the last seven years. This is a bigger ask as I was still blogging a fair bit then. This will mean doing a bit more posting than I have of late. 

My view on blogger is starting to change. Last month I managed to get five percent of my total hits. I am not sure if I know how things actually work online anymore. My suspicion is that my blog is very popular. In all honesty it's probably very popular with Google's AI. I'm still blogging for me. Maybe some day my daughter will read it. At least I hope. T-Dog, if you are reading this I hope it puts a smile on your face.❤️

I was hoping to do a bit more 3d printing. As the printer is in my bedroom, I have been promising myself that I would build some sort of booth to manage the fumes. It probably won't be sir tight, but that's what gaffer tape is for. 

As for the bingo. It's what this post is all about. I am getting close to filling out the central box. This was the gaming gold for the year. The two outer rings were supposed to be fun stuff. In hindsight, I should probably have left the outer rings off. Reading in particular is proving to be something that gives me a migraine. I can just about read on the toilet but more than that gives me a headache. I mean migraine. My first novel of the year took me five months to finish. So no chance of one a month. The bonus square is now full. Bonuses are awarded for doubling a target.

If I can get Disney to work on my TV I am off to watch all three Star Wars trilogies and tick off one more box. This may be my last post. I am not sure I will survive watching episode VIII again.😱

Targets

So I kinda started the year with a plan. Which was strictly speaking two plans. The bingo being the official one with painting a thousand minis by year end. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster. I've had a summer where things were rather busier than expected. So I didn't get much done and even less finished.

It occurred to me last night that I was going to miss the latter target.  Having set my mind to it, I might just make it. If I do twenty five minis (well twenty four and a bit) per week I can still get there. So the plan is finish at least that many in each week.

Zomtober - Still Shiny

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

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

Getting Distracted

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

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

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

Start Of The Week - Zomtober

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

                                                                                                                                                      

Future Projects

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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