Plots and Plans for 2019... aka looking ahead to the next year...

Yep, it's the first of a new year, thus I have to prattle on about utter bullshit involving good intentions and possible projects. Every year I make a grand list of shit I want to get done, and I maybe get about a third if not less actually done. So this year, fuck that.

My grand plan for 2019? Focus on skirmish level stuff and not think even about grand armies or major painting projects. It's always nice to fantasize about entering one of those fancy contests... but lets face it, I'm not going to be jetting my way to the UK or Europe any time soon. No, this year... focus on the smaller stuff. Actually finish a gang, a warband, or whatever.

So I will be focusing on models from or compatible with:

• Blackstone Fortress
• Silver Tower
• Shadespire/Nightvault
• Necromunda
• Kill Team (includes Rogue Trader)
• Frostgrave
• Star Saga
• Assorted other games (Zombicide, SDE, Imperial Assault, etc).

I know I won't finish ALL the models for any of those games... but I can at least finish something playable for one or more of those games. None of them require a huge number of models to be completed for playing. I spent 2018 building up my speed and technique... so this year I take that and use it to actually get some specific stuff done.

The other part of my grand plan is to stay away from purchasing any more models. There will of course be a couple of exceptions here and there... but definitely not on the scale of the purchasing I did in 2017 and 2018. Definitely no more Kickstarters... I got stuff coming in for Bones IV, Xenocide, and the D&D doggies... and that is gonna be it for a while.

Oh... and one more part of my grand plan... pretty much dumping Chronopia, Warzone, Epic 40k, Spacefleet Gothic, and Warmaster (the latter two are going to Ebay as people actually want those). All of those have been sitting in a box for the past 19 - 20 years or so... they gotta go.

Currently reviewing earlier seasons of Zombicide... more or less going to paint the survivors from S1 and maybe 3 each of the zombies... and can the rest. Between all the stuff I got for S2 and S3... and Walk of the Dead 2... I really don't need that many "regular" zombies (and any duplicate survivors are going to get used for Last Days).

Not nearly as "out there" as my usual New Year goals. Basically, Keep On Keeping On and Get Rid of Some Stuff.

Lord Pommelfanny and Friends...

I set some lofty goals for myself for 2018... and thanks to being out of commission for about 3 out of 4 weeks in January thanks to travel and the flu, I'm running a bit behind. Still, I did manage to do about 8 or 9 since the beginning of the year (and yes, most of those are Zombicide).

Any way, here is a quick workbench update (from Left to Right):

Front Row (aka finished)

• Baba Yaga - Commission model I've had for way too long... and finally finished. I used the Pathfinder artwork for color reference and tried to keep the colors kind of muted. Only real splash of bright color is her shawl which is done with some old Lich Purple.
  
• Goblin 1 - Another commission piece. The Red Box goblins are just way too tiny for me... they are almost snotling sized. This one I painted, stripped, and painted again just to get him to look right.
  
• Goblin 2 - Personal piece. One of the goblins from the Bones III KS. I went with my usual green for him... but I'm kinda thinking I should have maybe done some sort of ochre color with glowing green eyes... as these goblins just look really sinister (as opposed to the GW ones which have a goofy and loveable look).
  
• Dwarf Adventurer - Another personal piece and another from a KS. He's a resin cast from an old Heartbreaker model from back in the early 90s. I had painted him for the 20 Year Challenge... but I just didn't think he was my best work.
  
• Necromancer - I am not a fan of the whole "Boobs A Poppin" fantasy look. But I have had her based and primed for over a decade and I was looking for a model I could practice some undead flesh painting techniques on. Her color scheme was inspired by some of the Scourge Wizards and Priests from Wrath of the Lich King (and I guess Scholo back in the day).
  
• Zombie - This is a Black Tree/Harlequin model. I really like the look of the old Warhammer models and this guy pretty much fits in with that early 90s look. He's part of my home grown DIY Heroquest/Warhammer Quest collection. He'll probably end up as a flunkie for the Reaper Bones Warlock/Necromancer I painted early last year.

Back Row (aka shit I'm still working on)

• Mirkwood Elves - Commission models which I running horribly behind on. They are getting the same Autumn treatment the first two I painted got. The toughest thing about these guys is building up the rust color on their tunics... which takes forever. But, I'm gonna try out a new formulation using all Citadel paint that should speed things up.
  
  
• Lord Pommelfanny - He's an officer model from Heresy Miniatures. He's the leader of my Rogue Stars mercenary band. Basically, he's a Rogue Trader and he goes all over the fringes of Imperium space with his merry band of rejects looking for treasure. I'll be posting some of his friends over the next few months.
  
• Margara Firetongue, Dwarf Rune Priestess - So, I made an adjustment to my yearly goal last weekend. Basically, I want to focus more on quality and less on quantity (but still get a bunch of stuff done by end of the year). As such, I'm working in one "fancy" model into the painting cycle. So far, I've spent most of the last week on her. Her fleshtone has about 7 or 8 layers in it... and her clothing has a similar amount. Why am I spending so much time on her? Long story short, I'm trying to make this one look better than the one I did in 2004. So far so good...

So in conclusion... I'm still trying to speed up my painting but I'm also trying to focus on the quality of my painting as well. Probably means I won't hit 75 models by end of the year... but it does mean I won't hate every model I finish this year. Still hoping I can hit close to 60 though (which means a lot of Zombicide... which I'm getting tired of).

It's a New Year... or something... or whatever...

I haven't really posted much on my blog for the past 14 months. Haven't really had much in the way of thoughts on the hobby that couldn't be expressed in a short post on Facebook. But as I've been gradually "getting my shit back together" over the last few months... actual blog worthy posts have begun to percolate once again. 

Some good things happened in 2017:

• Diane's renewed interest in collecting 40k models. Her enthusiasm for collecting Space Marines has given my enthusiasm for the entire hobby a real kick in the ass again.
  
• Kickstarter stuff came in. Bones III and Impact's Oldhammer Dwarves & Goblins specifically. I got my Star Saga stuff in too... but that whole KS left a lot to be desired.
  
• CMoN's big end of year sale. Gave me a chance to load up on cute animal D&D models as well as a chance to get the Sedition Wars box set cheap.
  
• Citadel Painting App. If you use GW's paints, this thing is awesome.
  

To be sure, there were other good things about 2017... but these are the big ones that stick out in my mind.

Going forward into 2018, I've set some hobby goals for the year. Unlike other years, I've tried to keep things a bit more realistic and achievable. 

• Death Guard Army for Armies on Parade. Doesn't have to be a huge force... and I'm probably gonna go bare minimum with a Patrol sized formation. Got all the stuff bought... just need to paint it and keep my focus on the end goal.
  
• De-clutter the hobby room and "the collection". Started out strong on this front a few months back... just need to finish getting rid of stuff and reorganizing the stuff I'm keeping.
  
• Speed up the painting process. Mainly things like painting multiple troop models instead of just one at a time. To be fair, I have a lot of character type models as well... so no idea how to speed those up.
  
• Blog posts that are more than just painting WiPs. This is probably going to be the tough one... but this is the year to put forth some more effort on the blog.
  
• Hit 75+ minis painted this year. With the focus on painting multiple troop models at the same time, this is possible... hence the plus. Fair chance some of these will be Death Guard models, but I'm sure quite a few will end up being skeletons (as I can paint tons of those over a short amount of time... in theory...).

That's it. Five goals which are within reach with a bit of effort and focus. Will I get all 5 crossed off? Maybe. I'd be happy if I could cross 3 out of 5 off the list... as that would be an improvement over the last few years.

I'll probably post again this coming weekend with all the models I completed during my time off. Fair warning, not as many as I'd hoped but still a reasonable amount.

A sneak peak at my some of my upcoming personal projects...

Things have been pretty quiet on here for the last couple of months. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't posted anything since July. Granted... things have been kinda crazy... Gen Con, Kickstarters, slogging my way through six months of backlog, and much more. But as work stuff has settled back down... I've been slowly working through all my painting projects and commission work. 

I took a bit of a break over the last week to concentrate on assembling and prepping my next batch of personal projects... and here they are:

There is a bout 30 metal models in the photo... all ready for painting. About half of the models are old Harlequin Fantasy models (the undead and the barbarians) and the rest are a mix of Reaper and Ral Partha. Actually, I thin there is 1 Ral Partha model... the hill giant.

Not pictured... all the plastic models I will be working on. Why? I have a different prep processes for hard plastic models (GW and Mantic), softer plastic models (Zombicide and Imperial Assault), and Reaper Bones models. But there will be a fair amount of those as well.

I will probably end up doing some tutorials with some of the models... such as a revised undead fleshtone with the zombies, maybe a tanned flesh with the barbarians or the ogre.... and possibly a pallid flesh one for the female necromancer (althouth I also have a Diehard Necromancer that isn't pictured here that might work well for that).

Long weekend painting challenge...

Anytime I have a long weekend, I like to set a little painting goal... mainly so I feel like I actually accomplished something other than grilling an awesome steak and mowing the front yard. As I have Monday off for July 4th, I am preparing my challenge model for painting.

Meet Amiri...  the Pathfinder iconic Barbarian. Yes, I bought yet another Barbarian model... I know so out of character for me. What I like about this mini is she is not clad in a chainmail bikini or a leopard skin thong. Never been a fan of that whole thing... sure it looks cool on the side of a van as she's fighting a firebreathing Jimi Hendrix while some wizard watches in a crystal ball... but that's about it.

Anyway... I'll be painting the Bones version of her on this long weekend. The model itself actually has a really nice amount of detail and no funky spots caused by the casting (that I can find). I think I might have to freehand some of the texture on the trim of her armor, but still a good model over all. If only the Bones version of the Whispering Tyrant wasn't so crummy.... but alas.

I've already removed mine from her broccoli base, inserted a pin in her foot, and primered her black with Army Painter Black Primer. Just need to do a little touch up on the primer and she'll be ready to roll Friday night. 

Oh yeah... I painted some stuff (finally). See the dwarf in the back... he went in the Pinesol the next day.

On the table this week....

Some progress on a couple of projects this week. I managed to make some headway on the Viking dude from Red Box Games over the last couple of weekends. I'd have liked to be a little further along with him... but thanks to some minor health problems and work he's taking a bit longer. He is turning out really nicely though... the colors I chose are working will together. Just needs the shield and some details painted and he'll be done.

The elves beside him are another story. Only progress on those two was a basecoat of fleshtone... had left over when I was working on Viking dude. The one of the left is almost done... just some work on the flesh and some detailing and he'll be done. Elf on the right is a couple of steps behind his buddy. 

Beside the elves you'll notice a Zombie from Mantic games. He's the starting point on my Dragton Rampant Undead warband. I decided to spice up the appearance of the Undead by giving them some nicer basing treatments... aka chunks of Sculpey and plasticard. I have two groups of 12 of these guys to paint (and they only cost me 2 pts...). I'll also be fielding 3 units of skeletons, a unit of ghouls, and possibly a Dracolich or something along those lines. Not a fan of how Vampires are treated as an elite styled unit rather than a command option... especially since I have tons of Vampires from Warhammer to use.

Back to the left you'll see Achmed the Terrorist. Why am I painting him? Got the idea of painting up some whacky Zombicide alternative models... and he's the first one of the batch. Still working out exactly how to paint him up...I want to go for a black shirt, camo pants... maybe a black mask.. but I'm having some trouble figuring out the best approach for the black on him.

Beside him are the first two Vikings from my recent Gripping Beast purchase. These are by far the best Viking plastics ever. They aren't that different size and style wise from my Foundry and Black Tree Vikings, easy to assemble, AND they aren't posed like they have a stick up their ass. But fear not, my old Wargames Factory vikings are getting cannibalized for my Undead warband... mainly weapons and shields. I figure it'll help push the whole Draugr motif.

Yep, officially a skirmish wargame convert (and apparently a big Osprey Fan too)

For the past 20 years, I have struggled to find a balance in my miniature gaming hobby. Unfortunately, trying to find that perfect balance of painting, collecting, and gaming has been always unattainable. As hard as I try... I always end up focusing on the painting end of things (along with a healthy bit of hoarding all the "shiny" stuff I come across) and as a result, I game maybe once every five to seven years. 

Rather than get bogged down with something large scale... I'm focusing all my gaming efforts on small scale skirmish games. Right now I'm trying to assemble my warbands for a couple of fantasy games... Frostgrave, Of Gods and Mortals, and my new favorite at the moment, Dragon Rampant. 

What's so great about these games? For one, price point for getting into them is low... pretty much cost of book and that's it. Second, between the remnants of my old Warhammer stuff, my RPG models, and my historicals I have an unlimited amount of options for composing my warbands. Third, I'm not stuck painting the same type of models for a year so I can field an army.... I can stick to my usual scattergun approach. Fourth... it's a lot easier to get people to try a new mini game if they don't have to drop $250 on a starter force... unless they are new to the hobby, they should have something to field.

To be clear, I'm not dumping the big wargames completely. Still have my Orcs and Gobbo army for WHFB. I still have all of my vast legions of 40k models (although no way in hell I'm upgrading past third edition... as it's pretty much large scale Epic 40k now). I still have all my WW2 Russians for Bolt Action. I did say goodbye to Warhammer Ancients though... SAGA gets all my Vikings now.

Now someone talk Osprey into doing up some nice small scale sci fi skirmish games... I got a ton of Warzone stuff I need to do something with.