Where am I? What's going on?

 

I went away on holiday! I went to a friend's wedding! We went to Warhammer World, and played a couple of Escape Rooms! I took no Blog Suitable Photos of any of it!

So. I'm back at the flat and now the laundry is caught up, I need to work out what hobby stuff needs doing. These Stormcast need photographing and putting away. But that's blocked right now because KR Multicase ran out of some of the foam I need and it needs cutting fresh. Hopefully it will be here soon!

My most recent Infinity assembly batch needs basing and undercoating. A couple need some bits gluing back on. This is the Combined Army reinforcement packs from the Defiance Kickstarter, so a bunch of assorted useful models.

I'm also halfway through hand undercoating any bits of the previous assembly batch I might have missed with the spray can before I do  the zenithal prime to make them ready for paint. I need at least a couple of these models in four weeks time, and I'm away at Empire next weekend.

Here's the muddle of half finished stuff I've got lying around. The Nox Troopers and Cadmus need finishing. The last of the Underworlds terrain needs doing. There's then a few D&D figures it would be nice to paint, a smattering of models from Salute that need undercoating, and the two Horus Heresy figures I need to undercoat.

I've also sent off the last of the models for my Deathwatch to get painted by Squiggle's Studio. Once these are back, I'll get some games in and work out what the biggest priority is for gaming purposes.

There's definitely way too much "in flight" stuff, and I need to finish off some bits and bobs so I can put them away or on the "later" shelf and clear a bit of space to think. Lets see how I get on before Empire...

Work in Progress Wednesday - Defiance Combined Army Part 2

 
I got the other half of the Defiance Combined Army models prepped and ready to paint. This is most of the "line troop" type models, in four sets of three.

First up, we have the models I'm likely to use the most in Infinity. These are Seed Soldiers, cheap forward deployed troops with a couple of good specialist options. I've run lists with three or four of these regularly, but there's currently only one general release model, so these are an incredibly useful addition.

I've also got my first "proper" Taigha. You might remember I modelled up the breach markers to be used as Taigha as a quick stop gap measure, but once these are done I reckon they'll look much better.

I've already got eight Nox Troopers, so these probably won't see much use. The most likely is the pistol model may see service as a spare Hacker, but I already have three Combi Rifle models, and I really can't see a use for a second Nox HMG.

And finally . . . there are three Cadmus. I'll likely only ever have one Cadmus in a list, but having a bunch of different weapon options means its clearer to my opponent what's going on.

I'm not sure when I'll get my painting done, but these are all now ready to pick up when I need one, which makes it easier to casually get started.

Too hot

 

I have some delightful new Contrast paints to try out and see what they're like, but London is a furnace right now so it's only really sensible to paint in the evenings. Still, I've got some time off over the next couple of weeks (although some of that will be taken up with Empire), and I'm hoping to get some painting done.

I have more Infinity models back from assembly that I'm getting based and undercoated up. I've not really got many practice games in to decide what I'm taking to the upcoming tournament, though...

I also had the Dungeon Fiends 2 Kickstarter arrive. I haven't had the same visceral joy reaction to Dungeon Fiends 1, though. It feels like slightly less of a weird and wonderful selection this time around, maybe?

Third Stormcast Post

Well, here's the last of the first batch of Stormcast Eternals painted for me by Squiggle's Studio. The second batch has now arrived and I need to get on with photographing all of them! Maybe at some point I'll even get a game in.

First up, we have a pair of Celestar Ballista. I'd actually assembled one of these myself before sending them off - they're a nice, simple kit that would be great for new starters.

To go with them, here's a Lord Ordinator, who is good at that artillery thing and gives bonuses to war machines near him.

Here's another one of those Limited Edition Stormcast Hero types. Not even sure what type he's meant to be!

This Knight Incantor has an automatic unbinding of a spell ability. This makes me nostalgic for 4th edition Dispel Magic Scrolls...

Another store birthday type model for when I need an extra character...

And another one? I really got carried away with limited edition characters I have precisely no use for.

This one I can at least remember is Knight Questor Dacian Anvil, because he has special rules that my faction . . . can't use.

A Knight Heraldor. A special thanks to Squiggle who used one of the Forge World heads so that a man with a trumpet isn't wearing a full face mask.

Not a Stormcast. But a violent Dwarf who can turn up with Stormcast. I should really read his new Mortal Realms books! I've liked Gotrek since the early 90s, so I was keen to have the option to take him.

And finally, a Lord Relictor, or "spooky man with a friend on a stick". I pray for the day they release a new single miniature release of this model that's slightly less of a pain to transport...

One Page Rules: Grimdark Future Firefight Campaign Day 1

 

My friend I tried out Grimdark Future with a few months back set up a mini campaign day for three of us to play through. I brought my Deathwatch, my friend brought his Necrons, while our third player borrowed some of my friend's Eldar as she's not finished painting her Sisters up.

So, on this mysterious backwater planet, the Inquisition have noticed strange activity and possible Eldar, so the Deathwatch were sent to investigate.

The Deathwatch scouted into an Industrial area that had started to mysteriously collapse. As they took up positions, a strange ray gun flared and the squad's gunner fell to the ground. 

The close assault specialist ran up to support the kill team's scout, who was accessing a strange Xenos device to determine it's purpose. Out of the dark leapt a mechanical horror, draped in human skin.

Spotting a more ornate mechanical creature, the kill team's psyker Librarian Abelii charged in and engaged in a brutal duel. Neither were able to gain the upper hand, even with the Librarian unleashing a lightning storm on the powerful Necron.

Lieutenant Clypeus held off the horrific Xenos, and another of its allies that materialised into existence. He was badly injured, but held it together to stay standing.

Meanwhile the close assault specialist sprinted to try and retrieve the squad's servo skull that had been sent to scout ahead, but more mechanical Xenos had been tampering with it, and didn't fall to his desperate assault as darkness fell, and the two forces separated.

In the end, both forces had gained intelligence on the other's activity, but neither had managed to gain an edge...

Heading out into the wastes, the team hadn't got far before suddenly Eldar leapt out of the shadows to attack!

The squad's scout crept around the edge to take out the Eldar's fire support.

Meanwhile the Lieutenant desperately fights to hold off another one of the Eldar's infiltrating attackers.

However, as the Eldar's assault troops charge in, the Marine's armour holds true to protect them...

And the Marine counter attack brutally cuts down the aliens, leaving them in control of the battlefield so they can gather intelligence as to what the Xenos are up to . . .

Meanwhile, elsewhere the Eldar strike against the Necrons, striking out against their ancient foe.

With a suspicious run of luck, the Necrons are swiftly vanquished. Were they manipulating fate, or was it pure luck?

It was a day of games and catching up with friends. It's something I wasn't doing much even before the pandemic, and something I'm keen to do more of in the future...

Work in Progress Wednesday - An Errant O-12 Kappa

 

Slightly separate from the big Combined Army push, here's an errant O-12 Kappa from the Vallejo paint set. He ended up getting assembled alongside a whole bunch of aliens.

I'm definitely thinking of having a bit of a blitz of the O-12 I've got, maybe early next year after the Shasvastii are done...

Half Year Checkpoint

First up, last week I managed to get this Reaper Bones USA Bugbear painted. It's a simple tabletop job, but he looks fine. He's sold as "Bhonk", which I suppose helps people remember which specific Bugbear model he is due to the big club, but I'm not a fan of the name myself - it feels a bit too goofy.

I'm not too unhappy with this month, as it goes. I got the Blizzard Templates done for Infinity, along with three D&D figures. If I can keep that level of consistent painting going in between projects, I'll be getting a reasonable chunk more painted than I currently do. The issue historically has been big gaps when I end up not painting.

The problem, though, is that the whole "buy less than you paint" thing has not been followed through at all. I've got 44 miniatures painted, which is great, but bought more than 300 I'm intending to paint myself over the same period.

So, lets work out some sensible solutions to this. First up, I'm going to reset my "yearly tracker" for the second half of the year to see if I can moderate buying miniatures. The start of the year's plans to get Dungeon Bowl have been completely derailed and I'm in no place to get a big purchase right now. I am deeply tempted by Horus Heresy, but I'll look to get some existing projects done before buying into anything significant there first.

Painting wise, I keep daydreaming about vanilla Combined Army or Morats, but right now I have a big pile of Shasvastii to paint. I'll focus my time on getting them done, and slow the pace of sending off models I'm not going to paint this year to get assembled when it takes me a bunch of time to sort them out when I get them back. Next year, I can worry about O-12, vanilla Combined or Morats...

I have a handful of Battletech Miniatures, so they'll be a good "stretch goal" project or a palate cleanser between Shasvastii. They're not so big a job as to become a stress. But I'm leaving that for later this year, and for this month, the focus will be on getting some Shasvastii painted. Assembly wise, I want to clear the decks of all the Infinity models I have assembled but not based and undercoated.

This all said, looking at what I have time to get done, I'm going to be selling off my Skaven. I've not got to them in ages, and looking at what I've got to paint, I won't be getting to them in a year, at which point, if / when I do get to them, I can buy them as I go and not have cluttered my tiny flat up in the meantime.

There's probably a whole bunch of other things I can clear out, but I spent enough time listing stuff on eBay this weekend!

Looking at the pace of the past twelve months, I've worked out a year's worth of projects I've not started, that I'd expect by July next year to have all assembled and ready to paint. My current list is the Dungeons and Lasers set, the Defiance scatter terrain, the Battletech miniatures, Arcworlde, my Blood Bowl team, a Stargrave crew and the Fenris Games Rubble City terrain I started on a while back.

The list might change as my whims do, but it gives me a reasonable idea of how much I can get done, and stop me from over-buying more in the coming months. It should also help as I sort through these piles of miniatures if I'm reasonably going to get something done soon or if I may as well sell it on.