Monday, December 19, 2011

Week Fifty of 2011

The week was over lightening fast. The run-up to Christmas makes the time fly like no other time of the year...and I still have not sent my Christmas Card yet. Today.
I did manage to paint fairly regularly. It always amazes me how much you can accomplish if you just paint thirty to sixty minutes a day. My painting table is crammed with stuff but it is all progressing. It is very encouraging. I have found that the progression speeds up if you have several projects in varying stages. There is a danger and it is two-fold: too many projects at once can stall you as you become overwhelmed; but, too few leaves you completing things in fits and starts. I have six projects running at a time. This gives me any number of tasks depending on how I feel. If I get tired of inking, I switch to blocking. If I am tired of basing, I work on cleaning, building, priming or highlighting and so on. The nice part about this: last night I started to feel overwhelmed, so I grabbed two figures and finished them as they were that close. That got me fired back up and I went back to painting armor on some dwarves.
Projects:
 ACW is heating up. I found my missing bag of Union and Confederate Horse Holders. That means I am going to have to paint up some of more of my 28mm skirmish set that slowly has been growing over the years. I think it needs a few cavalry for both sides. My goal has been paint a squadron of twelve: mounted dismounted and horseholders. After that, it's either some Zouaves and artillery and then I have a nice small set for skirmishes.
Chaco is progressing. My mortar teams and machine gun teams arrived from Khurasan. Into the Stocking they will go. Post-Christmas will see the forces of Bolivia and Chaco get some heavy weapons. Rules--I think I am going to use Songs of Our Ancestors (http://wargameguru.weebly.com/review---song-of-our-ancestors.html) which was written for the Quar by Zombiesmith (http://www.zombiesmith.com/pages/quar-fluff). The genre is a thinly disguised WW1 hence,I think it will make a pretty good set of Chaco rules. I was a bit chagrined to see that Bolt Action finally came out with the "right" Vickers as I had always planned to do the small set in 28mm but was daunted by scratchbuilding a Vickers. I had even identifed the infantry figures from various lines that would have worked...oh well, I did it in 15mm as I got tired of waiting for the tankette...ain't that the way.
Colonialism/VSF is percolating nicely. I can smell the jungle--if you have ever been to the jungle you know what I mean. I dug out my Darkest Africa unpainted lead and started organizing. I also started mixing and matching Old Glory into that to round out the tribes. I also had put a small order into Foundry as the specials got too good to be missed. Foundry for all its faults ships fast. The box even had extra figures and shields. BUT, and I hate to be ungrateful, but, they shorted me 25% of my spears. Extra figures are nice. Extra shields are nice. Their figures do not come with spears so you have to order them special or make your own. I have a Masai spear and they are very different than what I can sculpt. So, I ordered spears because they are the correct spear...disturbingly, I am getting silence from Customer service. The whining aside, I think I may be putting some brush work on my Africans this coming year. The idea, a very Pulp-y small skirmish set of 28mm with a Battles By GASLIGHT/Rampant Colonialism/Sword and the Flame sized battle set in the new Blue Moon 15mm. Painting Masai is fun (lots of red, white and black), but I hardly want to paint an army of them in 28mm. Or Mahdists. Or Azande. Or Zulu. Or...I'm a sick, sick person. Why can't I just have generic Africans? Or American Indians?
Conan is rocking along. I am working simultaneously on guy and bad hero(-ine) figures and a whole host of minions. Some of the more Fantastic Darkest Africa stuff landed here, too.
Fantasy is happening. I saw a box come in from my Mother-in-Law that has the feel and heft of the Dwarven Forge stuff. I suspect it's the new Ice Cave set (http://www.dwarvenforge.com/cavern-sets?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.v1.tpl&product_id=16433&category_id=2). In addition, I have been busily working on a horde of figures for my Dwarf King's Hold set.
French Revolution is resting. I think it might rest until 2012 when the Prussians will need to start coming. Perhaps, I will farm this one out and work on the British forces. I also have been thinking about the Trent figure line as it calls out for a six figure a side skirmish...someday when the 15mm armies are done. Maybe. (http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=60&cat=171&page=1)
 Gamma World! I love this game. It was impossible to play more than a few one-shots in its day. Now 4th Edition D&D has gone GW. I had pre-subscribed way before it came out so I got it a 50% cost. Well, a rumble through some Horrorclix, Mage Knight, Star Wars and D&D pre-paints in my plastic pile spawned an idea: take the excess and turn it GW. Then the thought percolated for a day or two and a post on TMP brought it back to the fore. Here's the post (http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=251750) and here's a great summary of many of the monster and character types (http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=251750) and (http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=121302) and (http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=85362). Anyway, a quick add of a few HeroClix and Dreamblades from eBay to go into my stocking (Santa is so cool) and I have got many of the monsters and characters ready to go...anyone want to play? The new version occurs in a world wrecked by the Hadron Collider. It's pretty cool. And, 4th Ed has more of a miniature battle game feel than RPG. Check out this one for inspiration:
try to paint that...this one is going to be a character figure for me. If your primary mutation is pyrokinetic...now, where did I put thaose blisters of Reaper Weapons and cybernetic enhancements?
Dreamblade miniatures chrysotic plague Arsonist


Modern got an unexpected and excellent reinforcement. An acquaintance, Jake was lightening his load and sent me a Solido diecast VAB along with some SWAT decals. He kept one and turned it into a breaching vehicle for Modern and Post-Apoc gaming. The model is very nice...naturally being a war-gamer, I now want another, one to paint for SWAT and one to use for my Modern/Post-Apoc gaming. SWAT versus Military...Decisions, decisions.
OGRE is coming! I can feel the sub-sonic rumble of the tracks and hear the roar of Atomics in my minds-eye. I keep keep finding myself looking at my OGRE stuff. This week I also fiddled with Angel Barrack's buildings trying to decide if I should base them. I also was exploring building them in various styles and whether they could be changeable. The result: I think I am going to base them; I am defnitely painting them in two schemes; and, no they are going to be permanently glued together with the bits going into other projects.
Pulp is getting a slow growth as I have been painting and basing a few figures a week of this stuff. The slow progress feels pretty good as it feels like the Pulp mountian is shrinking. Slowly. But, shrinking none-the-less.

Painting and Painters:
  • Bret delivered a bunch of figures he had done much work on. With a little work here and there I will have a pile of stuff completed.. He is also lightening his load so he sent a bunch of stuff my way. Thanks! There is some great stuff in there: a bunch of partial paints, old OOP figures, Space Hulk first edition markers, boards, etc.
  • I enagaged in a Chaco War basing extravaganza. The forces are ready.
  • Conan minions, heroes, heroines, animals and villains were in the block painting section of my table. They are progressing.
  • Dwarf King's Hold nine dwarves, two bone piles, one mastiff, twenty-two skeletons, two dog skeletons and tow pits of doom are progressing down the conveyor belt towards the final black-lining and highlighting. This is the slowest but most rewarding part of any project. Then comes the terrible job of basing. And varnishing.
  • Pulp merchant seamen crew and a bunch of others are in the final stage--basing.

Magazines:
  • Battle Games is supposed to be back on track after a threatened closure. A Christmas issued is promised.
  • Miniature Wargames arrived. It was filled with goodness for the English Gamer--convention reports, schedules and a club listing. There were also a decent set of free rules for the Punic War gamer.
  • Wargames Illustrated is due any day.
BLOGS:

Merry Christmas,

Mark
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