Tale of Gamers: October - Finished Miniatures!

So, I've finally finished something for my Tale of Gamers challenge with James from Gonzo History Gaming! I'm super excited!

The first batch of John Pickford Barbarians (available from Wargames Foundry, though I think you need to visit the shop or phone) are painted. So yes, there should be ten finished in a month and I managed five, but I'm happy to get something finished (first thing since August).

So, next up is a quick diversion - I've got a villager for the Oldhammer Forum chaos villager project due! I feel like I might have a bit of a speed paint coming on...

Overcoming a down patch

This last weekend was meant to be a big painting weekend, but I got an attack of the downs, so thought I'd share a few of the techniques I use / used to try and get over them. Perhaps this might help other people suffering a lack of motivation for whatever reason.

The first thing I tried was the ridiculously quick win. I'd already prepped and based up this Gray Maiden figure by Reaper I'd picked up from Bad Squiddo Games. She's going to be part of my Chaos Warrior unit. So, a quick trip outside to do some undercoating meant that a miniature was ready for painting for very little effort. And she looks darned awesome, so there's that little happy success feel.

I then got onto something a little more involved - prepping up Bad Squiddo's take on a Chaos Warrior. (She's currently out of stock while they redo her in metal, but expect to see her here when she's back.)

This is a little more involved, and the right arm was being a pain, so I left it until I had more cope - and the second layer of basing paste was also left while the first one dried. One figure significantly more advanced, definite feeling of progress!

I thought I'd get a little progress done on the Chaos Spawn. Has anyone else used this kit? It feels like there's quite a gap where they join at the bottom of the ribs. I'll be breaking out the liquid green stuff for sure!

 At this point, I got as far as picking the heads I'm going to use for the spawn (so many pieces! so many options) before reaching Sunday bedtime, and deciding to tap out. They'll need cleaning up and gluing on over the next few days.

Looking forward, the deadline for the Oldhammer Forum Chaos Villager challenge is looming, so a quick divert from the Tale of Gamers challenge to get a certain evil blacksmith painted up will be a Thing.

The other thing to do when you're short on cope for actual painting is to read up on inspiration. You've got to be in the right mindset - I can sometimes find it intensely frustrating if my mind is active / over-active while I can't bring myself to the actual painting. In those cases, things like tidying or other "making things more ordered" tasks help more.

You can get inspiration from all over - this is JRN's "Post Centaur Painting", but the new White Dwarf is also excellent material. Blogs like Massive Voodoo or Iron Sleet can also refresh the creative batteries.

I did find doing a little simple assembly and miniature prep in front of the recorded episodes of GBBO we were watching quite productive. I may repeat that experiment and see if it leads to more stuff getting done...

Tale of Gamers: First finished Marauders

The challenge with James of Gonzo History Gaming continues apace! I've actually been away this last weekend at a 40K LARP, running around and shooting at people with NERF guns, but trying to find the time each evening to get a little progress has borne fruit.

Here are the first two Marauders finished and table ready. I've also just realised I've not paid attention and not done the basing scheme the same as the first Forsaken I finished a while back. I think I prefer this scheme though, so I will probably just update the Forsaken's base.

Visiting Bad Squiddo Games

So, a little while ago, my wife and I took a little trip to Cardiff to celebrate my wife's birthday. There were many typically birthday like things such as staying in a nice hotel and delicious food and so on. But this is not what this blog is about.

No, this blog is about miniatures. And Cardiff is the home of Bad Squiddo Games, run by Annie, who originally was the Dice Bag Lady. As Sim and I are friends with Annie, we offered to help clear out some of her backlog of menial labour, while she got on with Important CEO Type Business.

My first job was putting a whole bunch of miniatures into blisters. Some of these were new sculpts - Annie has been commissioning all sorts of awesome historical and fantasy female miniatures in realistic and sensible clothing and armour. They've all been announced now, so no searching around for Secrets!

Photo by Annie of Bad Squiddo Games

Here is proof of me doing something constructive, cutting out the backing panels for the blister packs.

Annie is awesome people, and she's doing a great job of filling a massive gap in the wargaming market.

Whether you want awesome female orcs, women of the Red Army, or a swarm of guinea pigs, you should totally check out Bad Squiddo's range. Annie is a friend, but I don't think you'll be let down by the quality of what she's doing. I've been super impressed with everything I've bought from her so far.

Obviously, after a hard day's labour, we were able to get back to proper holiday activities.

Tale of Gamers: End of September report

Fires up the computer

Checks previous blog posts for already used exuses...

Right, lets have a look at how we did this month, shall we?

Ah. Not quite finished. Again. I don't like how the weapons have turned out, so I'm going to have to take those back. There's just a wash for the armour, the bone and details to go, so we're nearly there!

Meanwhile, the assembly hasn't gone anywhere. This was a busy month, with a trip away for my wife's birthday and a big LARP meaning I didn't get much done at all.

I'm going to experiment with trying to free up half an hour each evening, as well as the weekends, and see how effective that is.

I thought I'd be more demoralised at this point, but I'm actually pretty positive I can turn this around!

Road Trip! Duxford: Restorations in progress and WWII

And now, the final part of my Duxford photos! Hope you've enjoyed them all.

This wasn't labelled, but it looks like some sort of trench telescope. Nice concept piece for the whackier end of 40K.

This vehicle was hit by an IED. The glass was peppered with either shrapnel marks or bullet holes. It was hard to tell.

Crashed German fighter, on a display showing it how it was after crash landing, with a photo reference.

Early war armoured up civilian vehicle, then used for guarding airfields and similar, hence the RAF numberplate and symbol. Was thinking about something like this for Konflikt '47.

Also a fascinating and whacky thing that I hope I can find Bolt Action rules for if I do Konflikt '47.

And what it was used for is absolutely fascinating! I took the photo so I didn't forget.