OK, but busy with other things

Just a short note to confirm that I'm fine and haven't fallen off the internet. Packing for Empire LRP took much longer than expected, and I'm now dealing with the post event laundry mountain.

I even have finished models I've painted myself, and models I've had painted for me that I've not been able to photo for the blog!

Hopefully I'll be back on track by next week! With the long weekend, maybe I'll even get a little painting done...

Fenris Games: Toadstool Brownies

 

I backed the Fenris Games Toadstool Brownies campaign and picked up some Kobolds. They're not on general release just yet. I asked Brushchewer Inc to get them painted, and she's done an amazing job.

I also grabbed some Dire Marmots. I am unsure what I'll end up using them for just yet!

There were also some wolf cubs, who are delightfully adorable.

I couldn't resist setting up a little battle scene as some Kobolds fend off a marauding Dire Marmot...

Deathwatch: Characters

 

I sent a small batch of Space Marine characters I had picked up from a bunch of different places to Squiggle's Studio to give me some more options for army building once I start playing my Deathwatch.

First up is a Captain and a Watch Master - I got the Captain cheap off someone who wasn't using him, and the Watch Master discounted from a shop that was closing. I don't know which leadership options are best for Deathwatch, so they're some good options to try out.

Two Lieutenants - one limited edition, one from one of the Partwork magazines. A lot of Deathwatch get to naturally do the thing Lieutenants give a bonus to, so I don't think they'll get used all that often, but there may be some smart uses for them.

Both from Partwork magazines, the Chaplain and the Phobos Librarian are a couple of nice themed heroes that clearly Do Stuff that I need to Learn.

It'll still be a while before I get some games in - I'm not comfortable with being inside with other people for any length of time unless I have to right now. Still, they can all go away in their box until it's time to learn the game.

Nothing finished, but plenty of progress

With Empire LRP now less than two weeks away, a bunch of my time is now taken up in digging out my old kit, making sure it's all sorted, and getting packed. Still, despite that, I've managed to get a bunch of miniature painting hobby done anyway!

The last of the Reaper Bones USA figures is now ready for paint. This is an adorable Gnoll Pirate, who I love.

A bunch more of the colours are now blocked in on the Shasvastii Noctifer.

The Sensible Shoes Magic User is nearly done! It's just simple contrast paints, but I'm particularly pleased with how I blocked in the lantern glass.

I also started on these rats from Fenris Games. I went with a Cygor Brown pass, but it went a bit to dark, so I drybrushed them Karak Stone, then took another pass with Fireslayer Flesh. I think they're looking pretty good now. Not much left to do - drop in the faces and bases and they'll likely be done.

The Combined Army from Defiance came back from assembly. The Gwailo and Charontid lost an arm each in transit, but both are super easy fixes. With a bunch of Shasvastii to finish basing and undercoating before this lot, while I also try and blitz through all the undercoated models that I've had more than a year - I think I'm going to have plenty to be painting once I get back from Empire!

I also got some more Fenris Games models back from Brushchewer Inc this week, so expect to see them up on the blog some time in the next couple of weeks...

Don't Know What I Expected Really

 

I sent a few Inquisition models to Squiggle's Studio to complete a while back, and I haven't shown them off on the blog yet. First up is Eisenhorn, from the Inquisitor novels released around the same time as the Inquisitor 54mm game.

Next up is Kyria Draxus, a radical Ordo Xenos Inquisitor armed with a Shuriken Catapult and accompanied by some weird little Xenos beastie.

Finally, there's the Daemonifuge, Ephrael Stern, and her Harlequin companion. I remember reading the Ephrael Stern comics at school and grabbed the model straight away when she came out.

Once I get back to gaming in person again, I'll likely try out each in turn and see what they can do before deciding which ones I'll be bringing along regularly or not...

Getting a good start on the month

 

March went pretty well, all told, with five models painted. I decided to start off April by finishing off this Otherworld Miniatures Pack-bearer I've been faffing over since last year. I got the backpack glued on, tided up the bits of the paint job the glue had damage, and got his base sorted out.

My current front light is a bit yellow for my preference. Still not got the photo rig exactly how I want it, so more tinkering is needed!

The big plan for this "quarter" (April - June) is to get any Combined Army I've owned more than a year painted up and table ready, and get all the Infinity models I got back from my assembly people based up and paint ready as the "next batch".

I could have been a little more ambitious with this, but I realised that with Empire, the LRP I play, starting up again, I'm going to have slightly fewer weekends available. I also want to spend a bit more time clearing out the tat lying around my flat and making it more pleasant to live in, which will also take time.

I also had a small Reaper order turn up that I decided to assemble straight away rather than having it go away into a box. Reaper was selling a model to fundraise for UNICEF to help in Ukraine, and I added a handful of other models into the basket to make the postage worthwhile.

I'm not a fan of the integrated bases the models come with, and they're too thick to hide by gluing to another base and then building up the basing material, so I decided to take them off while catching up on Critical Role.

While using my clippers to get the worst of the material off, I discovered that the Siocast that Reaper are using for the Bones USA figures has a tendency of shattering. Fortunately, it breaks very cleanly and is super easy to glue back together again.

Here's the little nightingale back together again. But every single model I've tried to trim the base off has had this happen - and twice I've lost a little detail from feet that wasn't recoverable. I don't think I can complain too badly, though. I'm definitely using the miniatures in a way that's "not intended", but it's certainly something to bear in mind for other hobbyists with a fondness for conversions or similar.

So, I've got the nightingale bard all assembled and ready to paint.

I've also sorted the Bugbear Fighter and Gnoll Ravager done too. The Gnoll Pirate is following on behind as he wasn't quite finished assembly when I did this batch of undercoating.

I'm aware I've been getting more assembly and painting done this week, and it's a trend I'd like to reverse - I've got tons of models assembled and ready for paint already. Part of the issue is around space and time - I can do a lot of my assembly work while doing something else, while the painting is something I need to concentrate on.

Also, for Life Reasons, the hobby desk was a little hard to access this week so I took some assembly through to my office desk instead. Having the hobby space easy to access is clearly something that helps significantly, so it's something to bear in mind going forward.

This Oathsworn Miniatures Magic User is about 30% done now, and shouldn't be much effort to finish. I went with brighter colours for her clothes than I typically do for D&D miniatures. My logic was that wizardry is quite an expensive thing to study, so you're likely to see a number of adventurers who might be from richer backgrounds taking up wizardry than other classes.

I also started blocking in some colours on the Noctifer Spitfire. There's a whole bunch to get done so I'll start painting a few more at once, at least with blocking the colours in.

After thinking about it, I've requested a cancellation for the Goonhammer Open in May. Looking at the infection numbers in the UK, I'm really not comfortable in getting on public transport for a long while, or staying inside with a crowd of people for two days. Right now, I'm not even comfortable going out for a game in person for four or five hours for a learning game inside. Back to gaming on Tabletop Simulator it is!

Over the weekend, I did think about blitzing through some scatter terrain in the near future. However, looking at my available space, I realised I need to get the Infinity models I'm assembling finished up and away before I'd have the space to put the scatter terrain. Remembering to finish a thing and put it away before starting a new thing so I don't get cluttered and overwhelmed is a good step, and I wanted to celebrate avoiding the heffalump trap I could have fallen into!

Painting Complete: Ninja!

 

I've just finished painting this ninja model I've had lying around the hobby bench for ages. You've probably seen it hanging around in the background of a ton of my work in progress shots. It's was a tricky model to get right, and I kept being not quite happy with it turned out, so I never quite declared it "done". I'm pretty happy now, though, so am declaring this ninja fully painted and moving on to the next painting project.

...

I know, it's a stupid joke, but it cheered me up a little bit, and maybe it made someone else who needed it smile today.