Mike is feeling all nostalgic this week….

This week I've been painting Warzone models again. Why? Besides the fact I have enough Warzone and Chronopia models in my house to put any hobby shop from the late 90s to shame…it was my first real non Games Workshop obsession. 

I had encountered Warzone at Gencon in 96 whilst walking the floor looking for trades. While I didn't end up trading for any Warzone stuff (I did manage to trade for a bunch of Legions of Steel and Heavy Gear models)…the game intrigued me. The models were some of the best I'd seen outside of Games Workshop at the time…and in 1996 that was a real accomplishment.

Fast forward to 1997 and I was working for Liberty Hobby Supply. Lo and behold they had Warzone…and all the miniatures for it….and a 60% discount for employees (we basically bought at cost…hence why my miniature collection is as impressive as it is). So I picked up the core book…an assortment of Dark Legion and Imperial models and haven't really looked back.

As of right now, I'm sitting on probably 4 complete armies for Warzone…Imperial, Capital, Bauhaus, and probably Cybertronic. I also have smatterings of models from the other Corporations, the Brotherhood, and Dark Legion. Just tons of unpainted lead…a casualty of 20 years of mercenary painting and ebay auctions. To be honest, Warzone stuff never really heated up the painted market for me, so I mainly painted Reaper from 2002 to 2009 with the occasional GW or Rackham model.

So why am I painting them now? I'm done with painting stuff simply for the intent of selling it one day. Screw that. Again, I've been painting for 20 years this year…and I have maybe 35 painted models in my possession. All my "masterpieces"? Sold on eBay or painted on commission. Sure I made some good $$$ in my day…but kinda sucks to look back have nothing to really show for a hobby you love.

Hence, I'm painting a 20 year old model from a company that hasn't existed in probably 13 years…simply because I want to and I love their models. I don't care that I can't sell it or that it isn't an investment. I don't care if it's something the whippersnappers on CMoN deem worthy of a 7. I don't care if I still paint like the mid 2000's Eavy Metal Team (although my favorite era is late 90s). I'm painting for me now.

2014's Painting Resolutions (or crap I will completely abandon in two weeks)

Sitting at my painting table this morning and looking at the sheer volume of models I own, I've decided I need to come up with some sort of plan of attack. So without further ado, "My stupid list of stupid crap that I won't actually keep to but sort of keeps the OCD in check":

1. This year I will paint at least one full sprue of Empire and Ork models from my big Warhammer box set I got almost 14 years ago to a sort of Collector standard. That's just 16 plastic models that aren't that complicated…so I shouldn't have any problems (if only…).
2. Vor models…do something with the models I have no intention of painting (aka Zhykee, Shard, and Growlers) and paint at least one or two of the models I do keep (Union, Neo Sov, and Pharon).
3. Paint a Foundry model and not immediately shitcan it upon completion. I used to paint these things all the time, but now I try to get fancy with them and let's be honest…those models aren't for that sort of thing.
4. All my Westwind Germans are going to my nephew. God knows he could use an activity that isn't watching TV or playing video games. Also, maybe it'll give my Mom fifteen minutes of quiet.
5. Fantasy/D&D/Pathfinder/Warhammer RPG model collection…maybe paint some of those this year.
6. One piece of display terrain. I'm thinking Sylvanian cemetery so my small amount of Undead stuff can have somewhere to stay.
7. Mantic Plastics…I love Mantic but sweet jesus what am I going to do with 50 orcs. Easy, pull half out and give the other half away. Zombies and Ghouls are staying with me.
8. Dead By Dawn…write it, do art for it, paint some models for it…something.
9. Continue to thin out the miniature collection to only the finest models. I predict horrible casualties in my Reaper collection (particularly Warlord  and Chronoscape).
10. Give Ken all the metal stuff I don't plan to paint so he can melt them down.
11. Maybe use some of the other 200 colors of paint I have instead of just Red, Bone White and Black.
12. Maybe get the website back up.
13. Rebuild CMoN rating back up and not rely on past glory. Yep, starting back at the bottom and going to claw my way up again. All new models…so I have to get off my ass and work again.
14. Enter Crystal Brush.
15. Paint in the nude or at most a stylish thong and rain bonnet.

So there you have it. Fifteen things (and that's only for miniature painting) to do this year. If I buckle down, stop watching so much TV and playing so many video games…I think I can pull this off. 

First post of the New Year!

Welcome to 2014!

I finally got around to doing up "glamour shots" of all the models I've painted over the last couple of years. I've actually been meaning to do that for quite some time, but yesterday things just sort of came together. One would think I'd have a place to set up my photography rig permanently…but no. I just might have to set something up in the garage later this year for photography.

 In case you are wondering what's up with the "rusty frame" stuff, well that's all part of the design for the new Paintshop of Horrors.

I plan to have the new site up and running within the next couple of months. It's been down for far too long and I've relied on places like CMoN to show my work. The photography backlog was one of the bigger hurdles, but now that is mostly out of the way (I'm going to be updating the photos for some of the older stuff).

Another important step is to set up a Facebook page for the Paintshop itself. While I do not intend for it to be any sort of business, I'm sure most people wouldn't want to wade through my personal crap on FB to see new pics (although maybe 15 people know my blog exists…but hey, gotta try).

Why the impetus to get this going now? Well for one, I just killed my CMoN account. Ever post a model that's pretty good looking…you know at least a 7…and then some teenage asshole comes in and votes a succession of 1's to knock your score down to a 4. I didn't until today…and frankly I'm done with it. I'm not in high school and therefore I will not put up with this kind of bullshit voluntarily. 

Let me be clear, the staff at CMoN are top notch and their products and online store are fantastic. But at the end of the day, the main part of the site is just a giant internet comment board and we've all seen how those have devolved over the last several years.

Anyway, stay tuned for big things…all 15 of you.