Catching up on some painting

I have been painting lately, and most of it is even for me.  Just some quick pics, but not much text.  Here we go . . . .

First up, Rask.  Painted him to give him away.

Next, Swamp Gobbers.  They went to the same guy who got Rask.  (I need to replace both now, but that's no big deal. . . )

I did some Convergence, painted up a la Golden Army from Hellboy II.


Accretion Servitors

Reflex Servitors

and a Cipher.

I also did some rats.  These were test models from the Vampire Bones order, and I wanted to give them a paint, because they were all new and shiny.

Quick update

So, by the time anyone reads this, I will have primed the first test figures from my Bones stuff - 6 rats.  Yeah, rats.  They're simple, small, easy to paint, etc.  Great quick figs, and it makes a noticeable dent in the pure numbers.  I plan on keeping some of the figs in reserve, as it were, so that when I get bogged down on painting some of the fighters or something, I can bang out four of the skeletons or something, and feel like I have really accomplished something.

Anyway, I'm going to start following this blog.  Basically, the author is going to be painting an entire Vampire order (I think, though there may be some extras as well) and posting the figs along the way.  It's more ambitious than anything I am doing. . . .

On a random, army altaholic note - I might wind up picking up Infinity.  And, while I did not get a chance to play a demo of it at AdeptiCon, Deep Wars looked really interesting, so I may check it out.  And at some point, once the rules are out, I will probably pick up a gang for Wreck Age (which I did get to play at AdeptiCon, and thoroughly enjoyed).  The common theme of the games is, of course, that they are all small skirmish games; smaller even than Warmahordes.  I can afford to pick up those, but adding another big army or five has kept me (thus far) from Hail Caesar, Pike and Shotte, Black Powder or Bolt Action. 


Of course, that has not stopped me from adding labels for all of the games above, as I write this post. . . .

Got them sorted

It took a couple of hours, but I got all the Bones sorted.  Cthulhu has two right arms, and there is one figure that might be missing a piece.  I've already contacted Reaper, and they said (as I expected them too) that they would take care of it once they have fulfilled the KS orders.  I told them not to worry - Cthulhu can wait a month or two, and it's not as though I don't have plenty of other miniatures to keep me occupied in the interim.

In addition to painting, I have a bunch of terrain projects that I want to finish up.  And I intend to sell some of them, since there are some very nice new molds out over at Hirst Arts. . . 

No pics, but . . .

While it may be a little frustrating at the time, going through the Reaper Bones Kickstarter order and checking off all the miniatures is a satisfying way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

They're here.

This says it better, actually:

Right now, the box looms there, lurking on the chair, smirking at me with the temptations and frustrations of several hundred miniatures.  Not sure if I should open it now, or take it to gaming tonight and open it there. .  .

A quick vassal game

Got in a quick game tonight, testing 15 pts of Convergence against 15pt of Trolls on Vassal.  I was running:

Syntherion
Diffuser
Inverter
Monitor
Elimination Servitors

against

Gunnbjorn
Blitzer
Bomber
Thumper Crew

It wasn't pretty.  I ceded going first, and he got up onto some elevated terrain.  Behind the rock wall, and elevation, Gunnbjorn was extremely difficult to hit.  I pegged him, but not enough to kill him.  I tried for the assassination via range, and failed.  For my efforts, he put a rock wall behind Syntherion, blew him into it with Explosivo, and then did very nasty things to the Cyriss caster with the bomber.

Fun quick game though.

Oh happy day

Gone for a few hours, and checked email to see:

Hi there! We're shipping out your Kickstarter stuff!

You're getting:
Kickstarter Sophie x1
C'thulhu x1
Kaladrax Reborn x1
Nethyrmaul x1
Clockwork Dragon x1
Figure Case x1
vampire x1


Should be here Friday. I'm running an IK game on Friday, and a WM event on Saturday, so I won't get to do much with them until Sat night or Sunday.

Collection digression

I should have some Convergence test pics up later today, but in the meantime. . . .

This is from a facebook discussion, where the original question was asked:

Discussion topic: How do you guys decide it's time to part ways with an army? Have you felt that you have too much stuff, and it would be nice to have less, or use excess stuff to fund another project? How to choose, how to choose? Do you follow any personal guidelines in turning over your forces for something new?

My answer (predictably, as the Army Altaholic) was:

I see those words, but do not understand them. Kidding aside - until I give up on WM/H entirely, I am not giving up any of my armies. I've done it before, and then a mere 6 months later, decided that I wanted to play [X] again, and had to start from scratch. (I have pared down my GW stuff, but I keep some in reserve, in case of a move, since it is slightly easier to find a GW game and WM/H)

 A bit later, I clarified, because someone asked how I decided which GW armies to pare down:

For GW - for 40k, I kept Marines, Orks and (b/c they came in the last set) Chaos. All three are staples, don't change so much that my figs won't be any good, and all should stick around with edition changes. For WFB, I have Skaven and Orcs for the same reason, and though I don't now that Ogres will stay in future editions, it's a small model count army, so if I ever start painting them again, it's easy to finish, and a nice change from the other horde armies.

 The consensus was that, in general, you should get rid of an army either when you know that you are unlikely to ever play that army again in the future, or when you divest yourself of a game system entirely.  For example, when I got rid of my Chronopia stuff last year, I got rid of all of it.  Everything that I could find, all in one fell swoop.  It is possible that I have a rulebook or something still floating around, or perhaps an odd figure that I missed, but I tried to get all of it.  I might do the same thing with another game or two that I have - ones that I have not played in over a decade, and am unlikely to ever play again, since they pretty much require an already-existing group of players.

I have toyed with the idea of getting rid of a couple of Malifaux crews - ones that I did not paint, and have thought about stripping.  I'd be trading them for different crews - essentially, an army swap.  I do that from time to time, but mainly at the battlebox level - once I have a certain critical mass invested in an army, it becomes a lot less likely to go.


Comments from any of my (irregular) readers?

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So, here is a random update on some things:

Convergence - the three lights that I have are basically assembled.  The two from the battlebox are primed in black, and awaiting the results of a color test before proceeding.  The Cipher has been assembled (as much as it will be), primed black, and is the object of my color test.  The reflex servitors have been primed and are undergoing color test as well.  I am also looking at various basing ideas for my clockwork minions.

Wild West Exodus - they keep releasing renders of the models.  Looking forward to this one, but it can take its time getting here.  I have lots of figs staring at me with wide, metal eyes, and I don't need the extra guilt.

Super Dungeon Explore - I really need to start working on putting those figs together and painting them.  They look like they will be a lot of fun.

Malifaux - a couple of guys at the FLGS have expressed an interest in it.  My Ten Thunders are painted, but I should probably try and get a second crew put together and painted.

Reaper Bones - well, mine haven't shipped yet, but Reaper is shipping again, and shipping close to 750 orders per day.  They'll show up fairly soon - though I am not expecting them before the end of the month.

Relic Knights - as far as I know, these are still on track.  I have three factions coming (Speed Circuit, Black Diamond, Noh), but they are delayed until Turkey day or so, and that's fine by me. 

Rivet Wars - still on track for the tail end of this year, and that's fine.  I'll paint them, they look fun, but I don't need the extra stuff right now.

MERCS - I really should sit down for a couple of afternoons and finish some squads.  It's only five models per squad, so I don't have much of an excuse.

The Great Work has run into a snag.

My Cipher appear to be missing one of  the spikes for the piston spikes.  Not to worry - I have a heavy kit, and I think that I will have at least one dedicated model of each heavy.  So, since I wasn't planning on magnetizing that kit, I cannibalized that part.  The Cipher is thus almost as assembled as the one shown at the beginning of the painting guide in NQ 48.  I won't be using the studio scheme, most likely, but now that I have the models in hand, I think I will only do partial assembly en route to getting them fully painted.

The Galvanizer and Mitigator are in process of assembly.  I figure, if I have the buzzsaw attached to one, they can be told apart, which will suffice for tomorrow night.  I might try to pull the Diffuser out and get it started, if time permits.

The reflex servitors are ready for priming, but really, they are one-piece little metal balls.  I took a break and cleaned them up when plastic mold lines were getting to me.  I have several more packages, so I have several more opportunities to teak a break.

Still need to decide what heavy I want to make with the kit.  I have Axis, so Inverter seems like a good choice, but I love the thought of the ellipsaw flinger on the monitor.  I may flip a coin or something - though I will have the other within 6 weeks or so.