And I was doing so well. . . .

So, I had been painting pretty much every day.  Even 15 or 20 minutes at a time is starting to add up, and pretty soon, I should actually start seeing some of those orcs near completion.  The nice thing about assembly line painting is that, once things start finishing, lots of things start finishing.  The downside is that, for a long time, you may not feel like you are making any progress.  But the orcs are indeed coming along, and today I took a break and started on the Milites Christi for SAGA. 

But I had only purchased one mini for the year - a pre-painted TIE Striker for X-Wing.  Sure, some Warpath models had arrived, but I am not counting them, since they came from a KS pledge a year ago.  Likewise, some other X-Wing models arrived - not counted because (1) pre-painted; and (2) ordered in 2015.

But I just placed an order for the "Liberty or Death" set from Warlord Games.  I went from virtually nothing for adding another 300 models to my pile of unpainted plastic.  On the plus side, if I can get my SAGA stuff and the Dystopian Wars painted before it gets here, I will only be in the hole by 150 models or so.  Possibly even less.

Yeah, it's going to sit on a shelf for a couple months, but it was on sale at price way too good to resist.  I just have to clear the queue now, and I hope this provides some decent incentive.

(And, I might wind up picking up another round of minis in the next couple of days.  Big project, for late this year.)

A long-overdue update

So, the painting is continuing, which is good, because AdeptiCon is 69 days away.  I think I need to finish about 3 models per day, on average, in order to make it.  And no, I will not finish 3 models today.  That's not going to happen.  So, where do I stand?

The Warmahordes model is running a bit behind.  I have the main colors done, and now am doing detail work.  He will be done and mailed on Tuesday, but I will not make tomorrow's post.

The Orc army for Kings of War - all of the axe and great axe minis are assembled.  The boars are put together, but need some hot water and green stuff to get them to work.  Haven't even started on the riders yet.  All foot troops are primed, and I should have skin tones on about 40 of them done today, and move on to armor and fabrics.  Another 20 or so are currently primed black, and I will start on their skin tonight or tomorrow.  Or possibly Sunday - I really could use a couple days where figures really start to look like I am making progress.

SAGA army #1 - Anglo Danes.  I have started on a couple of guys, but it was mainly an excuse to fire up the airbrush and get it working again.  I plan on spending some quality time with these guys in the next week or so, and moving them away from primer white.

SAGA army #2 - Milites Christi.  I haven't done anything with these guys, and that needs to change.  So, again, sometime this weekend, I plan on spending an hour or two putting some paint on them.

Arena Rex - still primed, and they won't be changing for a while.  It is not an AdeptiCon event, so they are kind of low on my priority list.

Guild Ball - I have three teams (though two of them are just starter boxes with an extra model or two), but I am hoping to start block out some paint on the Brewers next weekend or so.

Dystopian Wars - I chose a fleet, and I think I have a paint scheme.  Now, I need to build some armies and start painting.  Fortunately, 1/1200 naval (or whatever the scale is) paint fairly quickly, at least to the 3-color, tabletop standard required by AdeptiCon.

So, my painted models for the year right now is 0 models, and 0 pts for the WM 365 challenge.  With the year already 3% done, and nothing to show for it, I would be worried, except that I think some models will start wrapping up in the next 4-5 days, and then things can really get moving.  And, I haven't actually purchased any models this year, aside from some pre-painted Star Wars X-Wing models.  And those don't count.

Another new year, another chance to miss some goals

Declaring my painting goals for the month, so that I may be held accountable.

<K-2SO>They're high. They're very high.</K-2SO>

I'm trying to commit to painting 365 models this year, and also painting 365 pts worth of Warmachine/Hordes models. (Yes, I am going to double dip). So, this month, I need to do the following:



Assemble and prime an orc army for Kings of War that I am doing for a friend.
Paint a WM model for a holiday exchange (deadline is in 2 weeks)
Start painting my fleet for a Dystopian Wars event in April
Start painting 2 armies for a SAGA tourney in April
Start painting a Guild Ball team for some pick up games
Start painting some Arena Rex models for the same purpose


Or, put another way - paint like a madman for the next month, and see where that gets me.

Even if I miss these goals (and I will - I won't get everything done by the end of January, or even February.  I expect to be working on almost all of the above projects on the ides of March), I'll be more along than if I sat on the couch and did nothing, right?

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 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. . .

Curse you, real life!

Real life had to take priority for quite a bit there.  School has started, which means usual craziness that happens for September and October before everything really settles down.

I have been painting - in fact, I have finished 17 Risen since my last post, which is something.  (Heck, it's about as many models as I finished last year, but that is beside the point.)

(It's a lousy cell phone pic, but they are done, sealed and based.  I need to go back an add arc markings, but that's a rainy afternoon kind of project - the sort of thing I do right before AdeptiCon or something.)

I don't have a pic, but I recently replaced my airbrush (cheap learning model), and have been doing quick base colors on a bunch of Mantic Elves.  I backed Kings of War earlier this year, and part 1 of my pledge has arrived.  Sadly, most of it was for other people in my FLGS - my real army does not arrive until late this year, so until then, it's elves and proxy basing.

I've also been working on some Infinity models (USAriadna), and since I have joined a Malifaux league, I need to start painting my Ten Thunders as well.  Most of them are primed, so its really just a matter of actually starting them to get me going. 

Plus, I have some more terrain pieces in the works.  I am in the process of building the master copy, so I can make a mold, and then churn some of them out.  I am also working on a board for a Breast Cancer Brawl event, and an Infinity board for a special event.  The latter two are still in the planning stages, but the BCB board needs to be done by this time next month or so, so I should be starting it next week.

A little overwhelmed lately.

It's really a side effect of the kanban board.  See, the more organized I am (or, the more I can write down what I am actually working on), it can go from overwhelmed (but not knowing why) to actually seeing the scope of what I need to do.  So, on one hand, it's nice seeing the progress of things across the board, but it's also depressing, because no matter how fast I assemble and prime, painting is a bottleneck.  And, no matter how much I assemble, I have hundreds of models to go. 

So, I'm keeping the board idea.  (What?)  Yep.  But I might change it up a bit.  Maybe I try to schedule and list only one game per week.  Maybe I cap the board in its current state, and nothing that is not on it can be added until something comes off.  I don't know.  I do know that, so long as I make painting and modelling a daily (or almost-daily) activity, then sooner or later, stuff actually does get done.

In under the wire

It's still shy of midnight, so yes, I am making an update post for the day.  I was going to make it earlier, but got sucked into a movie, etc, etc.  Not much painting today, and I did not assemble any miniatures (and it was too damp to prime, for the most part), but I did work on the next set of terrain that will get the resin treatment.

So, this is still a WIP, but I like the way it is coming along:

And from the side:

It's 4" x 3", and once, this is done, I will be making a 90 degree corner.  Then, I can make the molds for those two, and start work on some 15mm and 28mm sheet metal walls (and corners for the same).  Those may actually be ready for a mold by the weekend as well.

I'm behind in my painting, but I felt like making some terrain, so I did that instead.  It was better than no hobby time.  Tomorrow, I may well be inspired, depending on the USPS.

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.)

No board update this morning

I might take a pic of the board later today, but for various reasons, the board did not change much yesterday.  The bottleneck is kind of obvious - I can assemble and prime minis much faster than I can paint them.  So, while I put together a couple of things yesterday, I tried to spend my hobby time painting.  I'm not even painting minis for a wargame; I've been painting up a couple of Bones minis, even though I haven't played an RPG in years.

No matter.  Painting is painting, more or less, and it's making a dent in the enormous backlog of plastic and lead.  I am using that time to think about what I want to take to GenCon and play, as well as beyond.  Once I decide that, and once I decide on a scheme for the Wrath of Kings minis, then those will start moving from the "To Paint" section into "Painting in Progress" fairly quickly, although they will then hang there. 

Hopefully, tonight or tomorrow, my post will include at least one finished miniature.  I really need to get something done soon, just to help maintain momentum.

Two in a row!

Too soon to call this a habit though.  Maybe if I can be publicly shamed (or at least the threat of it exists), then I will actually continue to advance in my painting.  I have several projects for GenCon that I really need to start on, so some of these new ones are definitely going to stall out for a bit.  Still, a quick look at the board status this morning shows that I definitely got some stuff assembled and primed yesterday.

What's missing is whatever army I take to GenCon.  If I take CoC, they are mostly painted, and I can take a painted Cryx army with only a little work (mainly re-gluing a few models that have come apart), but I am not sure what I want to take at the moment.  I need to decide by the end of the weekend, so I can start getting some games in with them, and so that I can start painting them if they are something else.

The other PG and I are also talking with the store about what we want to see played locally.  WM/H, of course, but we are also wanting to have Firestorm Armada and Planetfall, plus probably Wrath of Kings, Kings of War, and Infinity.  I am also looking at adding some random Mad Max style game (possibly Warlands),  just as an occasional, let's crash some cars, kind of game.

I'm hoping to move at least a couple models into the base and seal category here in a day or so, and I really need to decide at the beginning of the day what I am going to build.  I could probably build (which includes trimming, pinning, etc)  3-5 models per day for the rest of the year, and still not catch up on everything.  But I hope to make a dent this summer, that's for certain.

Well, until my Wrath of Kings KS comes in.  And whatever I buy at GenCon.  And if I decide to paint my SDE and Rivet Wars models. . . .

New year starts whenever, right?

So, summer is here, kids are underfoot, and GenCon is fast approaching.   I'm going to start making an effort to update a lot more often, because that way I can document some progress.  And, to help limit what I am trying to do, and to visualize progress, I took a spare white board, and made a Kanban board.

I have more categories than "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done," however.  But, if I take daily (or near daily photos), then I should be able to actually track progress of some projects across the board, and, more importantly, I can attempt to limit what is actually on my plate at any given time.  If I don't do that, then I can easily wind up with a several dozen different projects at each stage, and that's just too much.  Now, at the moment, there are full KS boxes that are in the "To Build" category, and as I pull a few models out of each per day, they will slowly move into the primed category. 

In the meantime, at the start of the day today, this is what my board looked like:

I should at least be able to add a few more to the "Build in progress" or "to prime" categories today, and some of the ones waiting for priming will be moved onward to "To Paint"

The more, the better.  Later this month, I have some Warmahordes stuff coming, and I have at least one Kickstarter coming before the end of the year.  Plus, I buy stuff at GenCon, and I am still dumping stuff that I don't play for stuff that I hopefully will. I need to start working on this backlog of lead and plastic, before it buries me.

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.

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.

AdeptiCon painting list

I've been really, really busy the last few weeks, so blogging fell by the wayside.  But, this is basically a public admission/declaration/whatever - I am putting together my army list(s) for AdeptiCon.  It looks like I need to have about 300 models painted.

That's the bad news.  The good news is that is Convergence, Minions, and Cephalyx for Warmachine/Hordes, plus Black Diamond for Relic Knights and Terrans for Firestorm Armada.  And, as another bit of good news, some of that 300 is already painted.  And, as a last bit of good news - almost all of it is assembled and primed, with most being somewhere between primed and final touchups/basing.  With any luck, and a lot of work, it's all doable.

Of course, the depressing part is that I know some people who would look at it and say "Pshaw, I can have that done before Christmas."  I try not to think about that too much.

Delay of game

So, the JR league was delayed by a week, so as to avoid conflict with an Exigence release event in a nearby town.  Unfortunately, I could not attend the event, so I got in a game at my FLGS.  I decided on running Circle for a while, since I figure it was a good way to bone up on my power attacks and general movement shenanigans. I'm not planning on being uber-competitve, and I chose Kromac because I like the model, and I kind of wanted to paint some Tharn.

So, Kromac and some beasts don't generally do well against Saeryn, a Scythean and a Serpah, and yeah, that game was ugly.  If I had been thinking, I might have actually managed to pull it off, but I have gotten out of the habit of slamming my own models, and basically conceded the game.

I tried Kromac again today, against pSorscha, and I came close to killing her.  Mainly because she lined up a few inches behind one of her jacks, and well within the Gnarlhorns slam range.  I just could not seal the deal, and on the other players turn, he stood, popped feat, and killed my poor frozen Kromac.  Definitely a "go big, or go home," moment, and I figured that I had at least a 50/50 chance of winning.  And, if nothing else, it was fun as hell.

I have to hold on painting anything until Saturday though, since that is the official start date.  In the meantime, I am just trying to get stuff assembled and primed.  I hope to get at least 3-4 beasts done this month, and start work on Kromac and some Tharn.  Should be fun, painting something that isn't a robot, and just because.  Hell, it's fun playing games, instead of running things and teaching all the time.