Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Not catching up

I'm not managing to catch up all that much.  The models that I was painting a few days ago still aren't done, and I'm not much more along than I had been.  (Okay, a couple things are "done," but they aren't really important at the moment.)  And, I won't be finishing anything for the next day or two either.

See, one of the local FLGS is running a 40k event this weekend.  They don't have a whole lot of terrain.  I mean, they have some, but they are hoping for (and planning on) having something like 10 tables running.  They might have terrain for 3.  They are bringing in terrain from one of the other locations, but they may not have enough.  So, for the next day or two, I am going to be making a lot of terrain.  I'm hoping to even get some of it painted, although that might be a stretch. 

The side effect of this is that (1) some of the terrain can be used for WM/H, so I do benefit some from doing it.  And (2) I've been meaning to build and finish some of this stuff for quite some time, and it's a good incentive to get it done, so that it can eventually get out of the house and sold at a con. 

I am hoping to get at least a few minutes each day painting on my stuff.  And, the good news is that my main army is Convergence, so I can probably do a decent paint job in a quick time, if I really buckle down on it.  That's the plan for next week - and I need to get cracking, because we are planning for a huge demo day at the FLGS next month, so I want to get as much painted and ready (not just for WM, but also FSA, Robotech, Relic Knights, and so on) as possible.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

I've been away too long

I missed about a week, since I went to the other side of the country to run a couple of races.  TSA pretty much frowns on taking paint, glue, and x-acto knives on planes, so I did not have the chance to do anything while I was gone.  I'm back, and painting again, although nothing is actually getting finished.

AdeptiCon is closing in, and less than 60 days away.  So, how did I work on my Convergence tonight?  I didn't.  I spent some time working on another unit of Gatormen.  OKay, I did get a Galvinizer mostly assembled, and tomorrow I will get it built, and another one or two besides that.  Friday, I should have a good three hour block of hobby time, although I might put it to use making terrain for the FLGS.  The former directly benefits me, the latter seems more appropriate, since I am trying to push WM/H at the FLGS, and having some non-40k terrain would be a plus.

Saturday, I am running a Steamroller, so it's a big block of hobby time, although probably not much painting, since I need to be ready to put things down and not come back to them within a moment or two.  My Cephalyx has a few boxes that need assembly, and I could always try to assemble some Robotech Tactics as well.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Stalled

Or, "Why Miniature Market is an enabler, and I have a problem."

Okay, so I am now up to 8 models done for the year.  Yay!  Unfortunately, all of them were for Firestorm Armada - 4 frigates and 4 fighter tokens.  Still, it brings me almost to parity for the day count, even as my WM models languish.

They don't languish much, actually.  I have a unit of Gatormen that are almost done with base colors, and I finished up a (belated) exchange model, so I am behind, but no longer shut out, in my WM count for the year.  I hope to have another couple of models done tomorrow or Monday, and then get some more base colors laid down before I have to take a few days off next week.

I don't know that I will be caught up before the end of the month, however.  That's because Miniature Market has been running a sale on Privateer Press products.  A couple of us combined to make one big order, and I now have another unit of Slaver and Drudges on order, plus an EBDT, Horgle, Moorclaw, and three more Galvinizers.  The Trolls will sit for a while, but the others will probably be fast-tracked to assembly and priming, so I can try out a couple Syntherion spam lists, and a fun minions army I want to try, just for grins.

Friday, January 9, 2015

So, how's that resolution going?

It's nine days into January, so surely I have a couple of models painted, even if I am behind, right?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No.  I'm behind.  A combination of working on a pinewood derby car and a couple of snow days put some major crimps in my painting time.  I'm working on things, but nothing much has actually been getting done.  Next weekend is already spent, so to be honest, I am hoping to round out the month with possibly only 10-12 models painted.  Feb can (and will) be a catch-up month, but right now, I am working on more "getting base colors on," rather than "hey, this model only needs some detail work and basing in order to be finished."

As to why I am not painting now - I am waiting for some base coats to dry, so that I can move them off my ready/active queue and clear the space for more models.  Not much I can do to speed that up.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Problems already

I'm looking at what I have, and what I want to use for AdeptiCon, and there is no way I will be able to maintain "play it painted" if I want to start testing lists this weekend.  So, I am modifying it a bit, to the proviso that I have to have at least 50% of any army fully painted (though not based) if I am going to play it at the FLGS, and I will play in no official event without a fully painted army.  So, even when my local SR tourney doesn't require it (and we don't), I won't play with anything other than a fully painted list.  So, I need to get cracking on a second CoC caster, ASAP.

Current model count for 2015 - 0.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Random 2015 challenges

So, in order to convince (read: force) myself to paint more, I am doing some various challenges in 2015.  The first is the annual Tale of WMH challenge - a mere 5 pts per month (or one warcaster/warlock), and that's generally easy enough to do.  I get two GOOPF cards (which I can use if I get nothing painted for the month), and I managed to get most of the way through 2014.  (In 2013, I think I used my cards and got bounced by August or September.)

I hope to do even better, since I am also thinking of attempting the 1 pt/day challenge.  I haven't seen the particulars of this one, but I'm imagining that is something like "Paint an average of 1 points worth of Warmachine/Hordes models per day, for 2015."

To help force those two, I am really going to try and hold myself to the "Play it painted" challenge.  I will allow myself a (short) grace period for two models - the Transfinite Emergence Projector and possibly the Sacral Vault.  I need some practice games with the TEP before AdeptiCon, and there is a good chance that I will either get the Vault at AdeptiCon, or en route to it, so I may not get it painted before playing any Gator games there.

I am also doing the Bartertown painting challenge.  No set goals, but I earn a variable number of points for every model I paint.  In addition to earning points for all the WM models, I want to paint up a lot of my Firestorm Armada, Relic Knights, Malifaux, and so on.  This will help give me incentive.

ETA - I'd really like to average one model (or base) per day, but that might be a goal too far.