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

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)

The problems of being an altaholic.

So, my FLGS is going to start some different fall slow-grow leagues in the middle of next month.  Right now, there are plans for leagues in Malifaux, Warmahordes, Firestorm Armada, 40k and Infinity.  I plan on playing in 4 of them.

Fortunately, I already have the needed minis for everything.  I can play either Terrans or Directorate for FSA, anything I want for WM, Combined or Ariadna for Infinity, and more than a couple crews for Malifaux.

But I would like to have everything actually painted by the end of the league, which is the hard part.  I think I need to spend some time in the next few days assembling things, and maybe really learning how to play Infinity.  And brushing up my Malifaux rules.

A wedding and two new games

I was gone last weekend - we went out of state to attend a wedding.  Fortunately, it was in the town where I went to college, which meant that I could see friends and nearby family, and revist the old stomping grounds.  Most of the game stores (hell, all of them, I think) that I used to hanfg out at are all gone.  But new ones have arisen in their place, and I wound up with two new games - Boss Monster and a Pandemic expansion.  Both will be getting played soon.

Anyway, continuing on my thoughts about Kanban boards and being overwhelmed, I need to take a pic of the current board and decide what to do.  I did get some stuff built the last couple of days, and I should be able to prime later today.  I think that, for the most part, this week I shall concentrate on getting some paint onto some Malifaux figs.  Next week, I think I will concentrate on FSA (and hopefully Planetfall).  The week after that, Warmachine.  And then I think it is on to GenCon (or near enough), so I will also be spending time the next few weeks getting ready to put things up for auction.

With that in mind, for today, I have two or three Ten Thunders models to assemble, and about a dozen of them to prime.  I plan on doing that today, plus basing some of the Kings of War models, and putting some base colors on some Malifaux figs, though I don't know whether it will be more Ten Thunders or the Latigo posse.  Or Gremlins. 

Now - as a sidebar - I said that I would be concentrating on Malifaux.  That's largely true, but I should have my Rhulic colossal coming in the mail tomorrow, so when it shows up, I might start putting that together.  Because I want to field it. 

Still on track for lots of updates

First off, my board has changed a little bit since last week.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Big change - something is in the "To Base and Seal" category.  It would actually be done, but it's been pouring or humid for the last few days, and I can wait for better weather to seal it.  Likewise, all of the Bayou boss box is now assembled, with most of them waiting for better weather before priming.  I am putting test colors down on a Tesknes and a Goristi model, just to see how I want to paint them.  Most of the Wrath of Kings models are assembled, but not yet primed, although I still have about 35 or 40 to go.

But yeah, I now have an almost completed model on there.  The first since probably mid-April.  For a game I don't even play.  But I need to get more done - 3Haley and some other models are on the way.

(Don't bother complaining about mold lines.  I didn't care about this guy, I really just wanted to see how the Bones material took different paints and effects.)

Progress report

I'm not painting nearly as much as I would like  Part of that is life getting in the way, part of that is because I decided to help out the FLGS.  Today, they are having a 40k tourney.  It's apparently going to be kind of a big deal - they are hoping to have people coming from several hours away (though the foot of snow expected over the course of the day will probably lessen attendance some).  Anyway, the FLGS does not have nearly enough terrain for this.  They have the table space, they have table toppers (to get them to 4' x 6'), but the tables would have been pretty spare.

So, the store reached out to the local gaming club, which, ideally, would have said something like "You betcha!  We're not really using it that day, and we'd love to see lots of 40k games being played in the area, even if they aren't at our preferred store.  What time and format is the tourney, anyway, because we would love to play!"

That didn't happen.

So, I looked at what I had in the basement earlier this week, sent a quick message to the store telling them that I could probably scrounge up some terrain for them to use, and got to work.  This is the result:



(For scale purposes - the green area rug is 5' x 8')

The final tally is more impressive.  I managed another seven or eight linear feet of walls, maybe more.  I had a large box of hills that aren't pictured here.  There are pieces on the right that got cut out of the photo.

Now, I have been painting.  I got a couple of things finished - and I'll post pics in the next day or so.  But, I have also been working toward the next big thing for my FLGS.  They're doing a miniature gaming demo day.  So, we plan on running demos of Warmachine and Hordes, another local is going to run Malifaux demos, and we'll have space set up to demo and play Firestorm Armada, Relic Knights, and Robotech Tactics.  We'll also demo PP games like Zombies Keep Out and High Command.

So I have also been building Robotech figs.  And some Malifaux. And painting FSA stuff, in addition to WM models.  And, this afternoon, while the snow falls, I am going to be spending some quality time in the basement, assembling veritech fighters and battlepods, while watching a bad movie or two, and periodically going out to fight a losing battle against the white stuff falling from the sky.

The waiting game

Okay, so I got my copy of Ogre.  Got everything punched.  Realized I was missing some sheets of counters, had extras of others.  Oops.  I have notified SJG about it, and new ones will get to me at some point.  In the meantime, I still had enough to play.

So, I took it with me for Turkey Day.  It fits in the minivan, but it takes up a lot of space.  I still plan on carting it around with me, but I might get a copy of the pocket game for cons and the like.  The game is as fun as I remember, though I am having problems remembering how to take out the Ogre.   Not rolling a lot of 1s and 2s would help.

Still waiting on Wild West Exodus and Relic Knights.  RK is having delays (again), and the ship date is indefinite.  I refuse to get exited about it until I actually have the models in hand.  WWX is shipping, and they expect to have everything out the door in the next two weeks, so hopefully I get mine soon.

Because I wanted some old western terrain for WWX and Malifaux, I backed a campaign on indiegogo.  And, because my gators have been screaming for a riverboat ever since I started playing them, I have to get that too.  Looking forward to getting it in a few months.

January (or more likely March) should have Robotech Tactics and Rivet Wars showing up on my doorstep.  Rivet Wars might make January, but again, trying hard not to get exited about stuff until I have it.  Looking forward to both games though.

And last, I have some Convergence stuff on the way.   It's a good time to be a gamer.

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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.

Belated update.

Yeah, I was going to post pics yesterday.  Went down to the basement with the camera, turned on the TV for background noise for while I was painting, and yeah. . . .

So, here are the pics.  I have done a little bit of painting since my last pic update.  First up, the least important stuff: my Malifaux crew.  I don't plan on playing many games of Malifaux at AdeptiCon, but I did pay the cost for the league, and want to play at least a few games, to help increase my familiarity with the system.  I have enough for it, so I might as well play.

I had two of the metal gamin and the rail golem painted at the beginning of the month.  Now, the rail crew starter, the rail golem, the metal gamin, and Willie are all painted and based.  Reasonably happy with them, too.

But, on to the Warmachine stuff.  I've been planning on playing Cryx for several months now - I had more painted for it than any other faction, although that is not saying much.  These guys were done (earlier this year, Feb maybe?), but never based.  I had to take care of that, of course.

Full Biles and a Scarlock do not an army make.  I had a couple of chicken jacks done, but I needed more.  So, I painted a few.

That's two slayers, a reaper, a stalker, two ripjaws,a harrower, a leviathan, and deathjack.  That will do, right?


But I need more than that.  I should have some support models and solos as well.

Five scrap thralls, two warwitch sirens, and Mortenebra and her special little friend.  But wait, there's more!  They're not pictured here, but right now, pGaspy, pThags, and a necrotech are basically sitting in their basing materials.  The second nectrotech is almost ready for basing.  Terminus is based, and, while he is not done, he is completed to the 3-color standard required by AdeptiCon.  The Kraken is now at the 3-color standard, but I need to pick up something tonight at the store to finish up his base.

The sticking point is the Revenant crew and Rengrave.  More than half of the revenant crew are almost ready for basing, and would be done to the 3-color minimum.  Rengrave and four of the crew are a little farther back.  With any luck, I will get the crew mostly done tonight.  If I can get them mostly done, tomorrow won't be bad, and I might even get the Withershadow combine based and to 3-color standard.

I do need to carve out some time tomorrow to put arc markings on the bases, but that should take no more than an hour, and it is something I can do while paint dries.  I might even start on that tonight, since I have Blackbanes and some other things that need arc markings.

So, what gone done today?

Short answer, nothing.  I did not finish a single miniature today.

This could be bad.  After all, I have only 8 days, and a few measly hours until AdeptiCon. And, in a previous post, I had 39 figures to finish.  That's almost 5 figures per day, so I'm in trouble, right?

Not entirely.  I have a real problem working on only one miniature at a time.  So, today, I worked on the following:

Terminus
Mortenbra
Deryliss
2 Ripjaws
Harrower
Leviathan
Reaper
x2 Slayers
Deathjack
Kraken

Willie
2 Rail workers
Emberling
Kang

That's almost everything.  It's missing only the undead pirates and the solos, more or less.  Some of the  jacks are almost done - I think one of the slayers needs some minor touch-ups and detail work, and then basing.  The ripjaws are mostly done.  Willie is almost done.  The kraken is almost ready to be placed on its base, which means that I am almost down to detail work on it.

One of these days, I'm going to post a "What got done today?" and it will list a bunch of figs.  And then it will be on to the infantry - but as jacks get cleared off, I will be adding the infantry to the painting queue, so they will start to get finished quickly as well.

Morning report

The title makes me think that I should sing this or something:

But no, I'll just write it out instead.

Willie and Deryliss have both been primed.  Mortenebra is about 50% assembled - I still need to add the second row of spider legs and her arms.

The depressing thing is that I did a quick model count.  Here is what I really hope to get done before AdeptiCon:

Warmachine

Terminus
Mortenbra
Deryliss
2 Ripjaws
Stalker
Harrower
Leviathan
Reaper
x2 Slayers
Deathjack
Kraken
Rengrave
10 Revenant Crew
2 Warwitch Sirens
2 Necrotech
4 Scrap thralls

ETA - pThagrosh.  He needs painting too.

Malifaux

Willie
2 Rail workers
Mei Fang
Emberling
Kang

I don't think that I am forgetting anything here.  Now, if all of these were bare metal, I would weep with despair, and then look for a source of pep pills. Fortunately, most of these are pretty far along - only a couple of things are bare metal, and most are anywhere from 50-80% done.  I missed my painting challenge for March, but I am pretty sure that I will paint more than 5 points in April.

Anyway, I'll take a pic later (I have to for something else anyway), but I'm off to try and finish assembling that annoying master necrotech.

Progress, part II

No pics, but I just need to do the bases for a metal gamin and a rail crew for Malifaux.  Willie has been mostly assembled, and can be primed tomorrow.  On the Warmachine side, I got a lot of the base colors down on a Leviathan and a Harrower, and some of the Revenant crew.  Deryliss is assembled, and I have started on Morty.  I hope to prime both tomorrow.  If I get them early enough, I should get the Ripjaws assembled and primed as well.

Considering everything else I did today, it wound up being fairly productive, painting-wise.  Hopefully I get some things done tomorrow and Saturday.

Progress

I finished these yesterday.  Yeah, yeah, I know - not the main system that I am playing at AdeptiCon.  My Cryx are advancing, but I don't foresee anything Cryx being finished before Sunday.  (And then hopefully a bunch of things will finish in short order - lots of things are getting close.)

Anyway, these guys are done and based, and a couple of the rail crew are almost done as well.

I'll try to post something finished tomorrow.  Guess that means that I actually have finish something, huh?

Malifaux Rail Crew basing test, and a WIP Helljack

Quick post to prove that I am working, albeit slowly, on some of the stuff I need for Adepticon.  I'll post pics of some other stuff sometime this weekend - I have a Steamroller tourney tomorrow, so I have to get that stuff ready tonight, and then I am not sure how much painting time I will get tomorrow.  Anyway. . . .

First up, a metal gamin for Malifaux.  This was a quick color and base test, just to see if I liked it.  I think it will work.

Next, we have a WIP of a Helljack.  I like the way this is going.  It's a little on the time-intensive side, but not too bad, and I plan on doing most of my Helljacks in this manner, I think.

Obviously, I have only done the upper carapace.  The necrotite glow area is barely started, and I need to work more on the rest of the chassis, but you can get the general idea of how the jack is going to look.  I want to have him done by next weekend, so that I can move on to the rest of the jacks.

Any progress yet?

AdeptiCon is now two days closer.  What have I gotten done so far?  Well, it turns out that not everything for Malifaux was assembled.  I have a Willie the demolitionist model that is still sitting in his box. I need to get him put together.  I have managed a test scheme on two of the metal gamin - I hope to have at least one of them finished later today, and possibly even based, if I can find some base elements that I bought some months ago for another project.

Not much has been done for Warmachine.  I had to strip a bunch of the models, and had to get them and onto their new bases.  It does mean that I will have to buy a new pack or two of blank bases, since I pretty much destroyed the old ones in the process.  They are almost stripped, and I hope to be reassembling and priming them later today or tomorrow, so that I can really get to work on them.

Drew some more concept sketches for the display board as well.  Need to finish my army lists and what not before I actually build too much of it, in order to make it look nice.  Hope to start on it before Christmas though, so I actually have a lot of time.

Time to get painting!

So, there is about 136 days until AdeptiCon.  I'm currently signed up for the Malifaux by Gaslight, Iron Arena, Wm/H Hardcore, and Blood, Sweat and Tiers.  I'm starting to look at lists, and making my painting queue, because otherwise, it is not going to get done.

For Malifaux, it looks like I need to paint about 20-30 models, tops.  And that would give me several different factions, and a fair choice of crews within those factions.  Not a problem.  Some of the models I want to use are already started, and unless I decide to build something around a man named Sue, I do not have to buy anything, so everything is already here, assembled, and primed.  Score!

For Warmchine - I have definitely settled on a faction.  I need to do some fairly serious painting, since virtually nothing for any of the lists that I am considering is painted.  (Actually, I think two of the 'jacks are done.  Not a big help, actually.)  Nor do I even own everything in at least one of the lists that I am looking at running.  I should have everything by the end of the month, or mid-January, at the latest.  I hope to have what I have on hand painted by then.

Oh, and I need to build a display board.  Not for a contest or anything, just for rule of cool.

Time to get cracking, I guess.

Relic Knights update, AdeptiCon too

So, despite my initial misgivings, I went in on the Relic Knights kickstarter.  The kickstarter ended a while ago, but they finally have the full pledge manager up, and I put in my pledge.  I had made more than I had expected for some of my old gaming stuff, so I went in for more than I probably really needed to have in order to play the game.

The final tally is going to be the Black Diamond, Speed Circuit and Noh sets, plus a couple of the extra bells and whistles.  I thought about picking the Paladins or Corsairs, but went with Noh as a third choice because they have fewer figs. I think the total is only about 70 figs or so anyway, but for some reason, 70 seemed more reasonable than 75 or 80. 

In other news, I managed to register for AdeptiCon next year.  I registered for a couple of Warmachine events, and the Malifaux Gaslight league.  AdepticCon requires everything to be painted to at least 3 color standard, and fully based.  I have 155 days to get everything done.  I think that, since the Hardcore is 1 army list only, I will not be using my Minions - Carver can fare very poorly against Lylyth lists, and Barnabas, while it counters Lylyth pretty well, is too pillow-fisted to deal with Gargossals and certain heavies.  So, I have to choose another faction, make an army or two, test them and paint them.  Plenty of time.

And paint some Malifaux figs as well.  Hopefully, my painting queue is kept to 100 figs or less.  But I have a hard deadline, and I intend to make it.

Malifaux - first thoughts

It's not so much that I am late to the party with this game, so much as that I was at a different party altogether, and had no reason to switch.  But, a couple of trades left me with a fair amount of Malifuax crews, and I decided that I finally needed to give the game a try.

So, this afternoon, after family stuff was taken care of, I pointed the car east and drove for an hour or so to go try a demo.  (Yes, I live out in the middle of boofoo - so, it's not driving an hour in traffic, but an hour on the highway, doing 70.)  When I got to the store, I first took the chance to touch base with some friends that I used to play Warmachine/Hordes with - I had forgotten that they played on Saturdays as well, though I do not know how often I would be able to get there, since that is my usual day at my FLGs.

Anyway, on to the demo!  I got given the choice between Som'er Teeth Jones and Perdita - basic box sets in each case.  I took Perdita, since I have Som'er Teeth.  We didn't play anything other than a simple brawl - nothing fancy, just trying to take each other down.

Fortunately, it was a demo, so I won.  Okay, luck has a lot to do with it - Nino flipping a bunch of high cards at the piggy, and using the family companion stuff to just pile on several shooters all at once.  With the pig down, all I had to do was (1) keep my crew alive; and (2) kill gremlins faster than Som'er Teeth could summon new ones. 

Anyway, the tl;dr version is this :Had fun, won, need to paint my stuff.  I didn't talk myself into a new crew while I was there - although there was a demo discount, I really don't need to add another crew just yet.  I'm pretty sure that I have ten or eleven crews already, and almost none of that is painted.  Maybe I should paint a crew or two first, and then add something, just to avoid the "I have 650 models and nothing is painted" syndrome for yet another system.

Quick hit at the start of the weekend

So, I've added a few things in the last couple of days.  Now, it is actually a net loss to my overall pile of lead - I got rid of more than 200 Chronopia models, all told, and added only a fairly small amount of Malifaux.   In the mail yesterday, I got a package containing the following:

Marcus set - painted table top
Rasputina set (table top) + December Acolyte (painted badly) + silent one (bare)
Von Schill set - table top
Hamelin set - in box
Ophelia set - bare
MacMorning set - bare
Zoraida set - bare

I'm missing one card (December Acolyte) - not a big deal, since I want to learn more of the basic crews before adding extra minions.  I'll order it, along with a couple of other things, in the near future.

I also picked up another copy of the Star Wars X-Wing game.  Now, with two copies, I can play larger games - at least everyone in my gaming group can have a ship now when we are playing.  I need to get some of the expansions - probably over the next month or two.

What I have not done much of lately is painting.  I have been assembling some things, but not any real painting.  I really need to get back on that wagon again - the year is almost up, and I am pretty far behind on how much I wanted to have painted by now.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that my collection shrank by about 200 figures.  So, adding in the Reaper and Relic Knights kickstarters next year, I should be just about even.