The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley

So, yeah - I'll be posting again soon, I hope, but life kind of kicked me below the belt, and I haven't done much gaming, painting, or anything along those lines lately. 

Finished, not perfect

Finished, not perfect is the message of a video that I've seen several times on Facebook in the last few days.  The basic point of it (and it's not long, so go ahead and watch it if you wish) is that "Finished and imperfect is far better than perfect, yet unfinished."  I'm trying to make it my mantra as I work on painting (and other projects).  It's really an update on the adage about letting the perfect become the enemy of the good.

So, the Norse Irish DBA army is done.  It's been painted, flocked and sealed.  Completely done.  I'm going to be putting them up for sale or trade.  (It's nothing against DBA - I deliberately bought a bunch of armies so that I could paint some to pay for more.  Any system where my armies at that small in number is something that I am going to keep around, just because it's a nice feeling, to have a fully painted army for a change.)  Anyway, I offer proof:

I also have already assembled the Obsidian Oni.  I think the next project is going to be assembling 10 soldier models for Frostgrave.  In fact, I will pretty much be assembling and priming models for the next week or so, before beginning my next painting project.  But, there is more painting on the horizon; just changing gears a bit first.

But what about September?

So, I have some goals for this month.  If I state them publicly, I might even get them accomplished.  With that in mind. . .

This month, I intend to continue my project of working on only 2 things at a time - DBA army, unit of 10 models, that sort of thing.  I hope to get these done this month:

DBA Norse Irish army - going to finish these guys
Assemble Bunraku, Obsidian Oni, and the new Ten Thunders master box - but only one box at a time!  Prime each box when it is done.
Assemble 8 warriors for my SAGA warband, prime same
Assemble 10 soldiers for Frostgrave, prime same
Prime & paint 1 frostgrave wizard and apprentice
Paint another DBA army

Proof! I have proof!

And better pics than you can find of Bigfoot or Nessie.  Well, clearer, at any rate.

As I said, the Cygnar was a quick paint job for the demo set at my FLGS.  As long as they are a good three foot standard, I was fine.

And the DBA figs?  Well, a good washes covers up mistakes pretty well at 15mm.  Hope to have some more bases finished today - just need to make some pretense of fixing errors before I actually hit them with the wash and base them.

 I really want to start on something else, to take the place of the Cygnar models, but I said I would get both of these jobs done before moving on to something else.  Back to painting, I guess.

It's been a week

Any progress?  Yes, actually.  That Cygnar battlegroup is done, pending a final clear coat.  (No pics, sorry - I'll take some later and add them.)  The DBA army is coming along slowly - I just did not have any real hobby time.  Still, I have made some progress, and expect to be finishing bases (elements) tonight or tomorrow - after all, it's only two to four miniatures per base, and they are 15mm, so it should not take that long.  Once they are done, I will choose two new projects to work on - right now, I am thinking doing one assembly project, and one quick painting project. 

Sure, no one ever comments, but what the heck, I'm soliciting feedback anyway.  Which should I assemble, out of this group:

Frostgrave Soldiers (10)
Malifaux - Bunraku (3)
Milites Christi (SAGA) - 4 or 8 models


And, which should I paint?

Razorworm (Hordes)
Gaius Pallidus (Arena Rex)
10 BMP-2 (modern microarmor)
Black Powder ACW (15mm, 20 models)

So, how's that painting goal coming along?

Not as well as I would like. I obviously haven't posted in a long time - no excuse, really. So, did I get those Abyssals done? Yes. Yes, I did. And I have some photographic proof, actually.

So, what else have I been working on? Warmahordes, obviously.  My local meta took a big hit between the announcement of MK3 and its actual release, but we're back and playing.  I wanted to do 1 pt of Warmahordes per day, on average, which is a lot easier under the new MK3 point values, but I intend to break 700 if I can.  I'm behind, but here are the most recent.  (I did some other stuff, but unless I post pics, I won't count it.)

So, how many points is that, under the new rules?  The battleboxes all come out to 0 now, so I can't use that metric.  I plan on counting the casters as a flat 10 points, and everything else what the current point value is.  So, that's 40 for the trolls, plus 40 for Menoth and 39 for Cryx, if my pre-coffee math is correct.  So, 119 points, which is better than nothing, even if it is only 12 models.  Need to paint more, obviously.

So, I decided last night to basically clear off my painting table and work on only a couple of things at a time, finishing them completely rather than constantly swapping projects (faction and system ADD is a pain, but I'm trying to get it under control). To that end, the only things on my table right now are:

Cygnar battlebox - doing this for my FLGS

Norse Irish DBA army in 15mm

I hope to have both of those done this week, and then I will do something else. I am going to try and finish only one thing, and then replace it, because then I find that something sits on my desk, unfinished, for months. My goal for the rest of the year is, when I put something on my desk, it stays there until it is done, and I only can have 2* items on my desk at once.

* 2 is a fuzzy number here. Obviously, I have more than 2 items already listed. But I am mentally lumping a battlebox, unit, or DBA army as 1 item, so it's fine.

And yes - I have already selected what will be replacing both of those.  I just can't work on them until those get done.  I might expand it to 3 items on the desk, but, if so, that third will always be a terrain item, not a miniature, so I'm still keeping to that limit.  Gotta focus.  I'm well behind where I wanted to be, but summer is almost over, and I generally get most of my fall painting done in Sept and Oct.

That's a lot of plastic

No pics, because this is a quick post, but I have started working on the Abyssals.  So far, I have a whopping 4 of them assembled, although that number should climb to 15 or 20 by the end of the day. I plan on priming some of them tomorrow, and then I can start some color testing.  It's awfully cliche, but I think the Abyssals will be mainly red and black, and I will use cork to make lava bases.  I hope to have the first of them actually coming off the line, or nearly painted, by the end of next week, and things should really start to pick up after that.

It does mean that my Vikings are a bit on hold at the moment, but only until I get the Abyssals assembled.  Again, hopefully no later than the end of next week, although with 130 plus models to assemble, it might take a bit longer than that.  No too much longer though, since I am on a bit of a schedule here.

That didn't last long

So, I'm hoping to do an average of 1 pt of Warmahordes per day, and one model per day.  In theory, this would mean that, at the end of the year, I probably would have made a dent in my pile of shame.  I haven't finished anything yet this year, but I have been working on things, and I was, in general, feeling pretty good about it.

After all, so far this year, I have only bought (other otherwise been given) 2 Meat Threshers, and an Efaarit scout.  So far, so good.

And then my KS arrived. I hadn't really counted on that.  Now, on my floor, in a brown box, a small army looms at me.  It's 80 lower abyssals, 10 gargoyles, 40 succubi, 3 molochs, 1 champion, 1 iffrit, and 1 fiend.  So, I'm not 3 models down, I'm behind by 139 models.  Looks like I'll be spending some time assembling and priming over the next few days. . .

Annual belated New Years post

I make these every year about this time (late), and they never seem to actually come true.  Maybe I should change them, and make them realistic - paint less, lose more, etc.  With any luck, I'd fail at those as well.

Anyway, in 2016, I am aiming (once again) to finish one point (for Warmahordes) per day, and one model (in any system) per day.  That's "on average," so despite the fact that today is the 3rd already, and I have not actually finished anything, I am not yet concerned, or even really behind.  (Especially since I am going to be heading to the basement to paint in a few minutes.)

I obviously intend to play (and win) more games, and I have actually gotten in a game (and a win!) already this year.  I did not deserve to win the game (a 50 pt matchup between my Nature of the Beast tier list against a Goatvana list), but managed to do so because my poor opponent had really, really, really lousy dice.  (Seriously, it should not take both a Feral and a Stalker warpwolf, and a Druid Wilder, to kill a Road Hog.)

Right now, the only things I am going to be concentrating on are the things that I need for AdeptiCon, and some Warmahordes minis.  (I did not sign up for any WM events at AdeptiCon, just SAGA and Kings of War, but I have a fair amount of free time, and will probably play some Iron Arena games, so I need to either take my painted Cryx or CoC, or paint something else, probably Minions.)  I will have about 200 Abyssals to paint for Kings of War (yikes!), but I think I can basecoat them with an airbrush fairly quickly, and go from there.  I only have 37 models to paint for SAGA, and they are already at least primed with one color on them, with several actually approaching completion.  If I paint pigs and gators, I need to paint a lot - most models have at least some color on them, and some of the gators really just need the bases to be finished, but it's still work that I need to do at some point.

And, with that, I think "some point" needs to be now.  Off to paint!