The unmatchable joy of successfully completing a project

 

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated everyone on my Shasvastii painting project for St Albans Smackdown. Usually this indicates a catastrophic failure, but it was mostly that I was too busy rushing to get everything done on time, which I just managed, getting the last two figures varnished the Friday before the event.

My previous post showed the four models I got done first, so I've not reshown them here. I'm stoked with the results, though.

First up are two Ikadrons and an R-Drone. These are super cheap models that provide a Regular Order to a force, meaning I almost always include them to fuel the actions of the tougher fighters. That said, they all provide Repeater coverage to increase the range of my hackers, all have defensive "Flash Pulse" devices, and the Ikadrons allow models to re-load their disposable weapons, and mount some quite terrifying light flamethrowers.

I needed a third HVT civilian model for the Countermeasures mission, so painted up this fashionable Yu Jing civilian.

I haven't quite got my photography set up sorted yet, so here's a shot where you can actually see her face . . .

A final last minute list change made me decide to assemble and paint Victor Messer. He's Shasvastii's best Hacker and he swapped out Corax Hasht in my Countermeasures list to solve my Hacking problems. The other two key specialists I needed were the Seed Soldier, who I took the Paramedic profile of, and the Nox Hacker, who gave me a second reaction through my Repeater network and options for solving classifieds where needed.

Lastly, the Taigha, using Defiance Breach Markers, are a vital part of Shasvastii list building. The small, angry bitey aliens are super cheap and provide a vital part of the Shasvastii tool kit, be that clearing mines, threatening to bite enemy specialists, or repeatedly dodging being shot at. They are terrifying bitey murderers who are kind of cute in a weird teethy way.

In the door this week is a nostalgia fuelled Kickstarter called "Dungeon Fiends Starter Set 1". For many years, I stared at the advert on the back of "Best of White Dwarf Scenarios Volume 3" that I'd got as a free gift with my first White Dwarf subscription, advertising the Games Workshop "Dungeon Adventurers Starter Pack" and the "Dungeon Monsters Starter Pack". I didn't into D&D until much later, but I often daydreamed about the fight these models might be having. 

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows describes Anemoia as "nostalgia for a time you've never known", and these models kind of do that for me. I dreamed of being a kid who ran D&D style games, although what I actually got into were things like Advanced Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, where we just described what was going on instead.

So, in honour of the kid I never was, I've ordered some hex bases and I'm going to paint up my "Dungeon Fiend Starter Set" and try and work out an adventure that actually uses the models I've got . . .

The Kickstarter was run by Creative Sculpt Studio, and they included a free model for all the backers as a "thank you". My free model was a Three Legged Goblin, which hit my Actual nostalgia buttons for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay "Shadows Over Bogenhafen" adventure. I'll paint him up separately to the Starter Set, he doesn't fit in the same space in my head.

Not a purchase, and going into a box for a future project are the Warhammer World Exclusive Orlock Champion and Gangers. They come with some variant weapon options, and a friend who was visiting Warhammer World for an event the other week was kind enough to pick them up for me in exchange for a Space Marine character I had lying about and wasn't using.

For the rest of the month, now the pressure is off to prep for the tournament, I have two or three things pottering about my head. First up is just painting a few random miniatures for fun. Doing some stuff that isn't for anything will be good for my head space around painting and make sure it doesn't start becoming a second job in my head.

Second, I've got a bunch of stuff back from commission painters and assemblers that need some attention. I haven't finished sorting the Deathwatch, plus I've got two separate batches of Infinity miniatures back from assembly that need basing sand, zenithal undercoat and so on.

Thirdly, there's all the other "half finished" things - cleaning up the rest of the Defiance Scenery for undercoating, painting the rest of the Defiance Scenery, finishing the Malifaux assembly that got abandoned when I dropped out of going to the Malifaux Nationals, stuff I got at this year's Salute, and a whole ton of abandoned assembly projects.

Oh, fourthly there's the newer models that have come in that need assembling - the Warploque Kickstarter and the Dungeon Fiends. For everything other than the first thing listed, my plan is to pick one thing, and get it done. Having half a dozen half finished things lying around isn't great from a work to sense of achievement ratio, so the idea is to pick one up, get it done, then move on to the next. Deathwatch is definitely first up, everything else can wait until that's done. Otherwise I could end up putting a lot of work into not finishing anything, which is a surefire way to wreck my newly found motivation!