Settling into a routine

 

So, preparation for St Albans Smackdown continues apace. First up, I've assembled and undercoated my Defiance Breach Markers to use as Taighas. Pretty much every list I've tested has some, and they're incredibly useful for Shasvastii lists.

I've also cleaned up and undercoated the Defiance turret models so I can use one as a reaction turret for the mission that has it. With those done that's everything I might need to use assembled and undercoated, so even if I don't get my painting done on time, I can still play!

I had, however, forgotten that the Countermeasures mission requires three civilian (HVT) models, so I've dug out the other two I already had assembled so they can see some paint too.

My test missions so far have shown I'm almost certainly not going to want to use the E-drone or the Cadmus Hacker in my lists. However, a bunch of the drafts are ending up including Corax Hasht, and some are using a Nox Hacker. Now, I could use one of my painted Nox Troopers with Combi Rifles I already have painted for the latter, but getting him out so I can use the right model if I do well with the painting is a good shout.

I also got the supply crates and dead bodies cleaned in time to undercoat, although I didn't get to the consoles and doors. With this batch of undercoating done, they're going to the bottom of the pile as I switch my focus to painting for the next few weeks.

I was particularly pleased this week with how I got a little hobby done some evenings after work, and also managed to get in some undercoating on my lunch breaks while the weather was good rather than needing to wait for the weekend.

I got a commission back from That Mr Shy, and I'll be showing that off later as it deserves its own post. He was kind enough to include a miniature in the box for me to paint. The focus for now is getting ready for St Albans Smackdown, so I'll probably look to get her assembled in February after the tournament, unless I finish early.

If this was a video I'd insert a clip of me laughing hollowly at this point. When has my hobby stuff ever been early?

Also arriving to the flat were 16 miniatures from the Arcworlde Comic Kickstarter. I already loved the Arcworlde range, but these were the first computer sculpted miniatures for the range and they absolutely blew me out of the water. The detail they can get in single cast resin is incredible, and the larger models with multiple parts fit together incredibly snugly.

So, February's assembly roster seems to be one metal Reaper figure and 16 Arcworlde models. I should also probably look at getting some of my Salute purchases together. My, it's really piling up, isn't it?

Recent news from Corvus Belli has also changed my "what to buy" plans. They've announced that in April, the Morat Aggression Force is going to be discontinued. I have been planning for a while to expand into the wider Combined Army once I'd got my Shasvastii painted, and there's around 36 or so Morat models on the list for discontinuing that I don't have.

I have no intention of trying to hunt down that many models on the second hand market after they've been discontinued. So, Dungeon Bowl is sadly being put to one side as a target for now in favour of soon to be discontinued models for a faction I'm already playing.

Without a particular project deadline post St Albans Smackdown, I'm thinking spending a little time painting random cool models would be a good way of getting to the point where I've got enough painted to get the Morats.

This is feeling pretty positive. I haven't quite got regular hobby into my routine just yet, but it's feeling like I'm getting regular progress, which is good for my morale. Hobbies are things we should enjoy, after all!

Not Salute Saturday: Arcworlde, War World and Battle Systems

Last Saturday should have been Salute, the biggest war-gaming trade show in the UK. It's a massive money maker for the small wargaming companies that attend, and its cancellation will have hit them hard. I decided to take a browse through their trader list and buy some bits and bobs to offer my support.

If your funds allow, consider doing the same!

Over the past week, some of my purchases have now arrived. Ironically, the first of these isn't really a not-Salute purchase, but rather the Arcworlde Second Edition Kickstarter, which turned up on the morning of what would have been Salute. I'd have counted it in my Salute-loot if the event had been on, so it's getting included!

Arcworlde is produced by Warploque Miniatures, who also produce a few fantasy American football teams as well. Arcworlde is a small skirmish game that's designed for friendly, rather than competitive play. It definitely has a whimsical feel.

I invested in two starter sets, in resin. I got the "Undead Raiders" for my wife, though I'll be painting them up for her as her job is being super hard work at the moment. I picked the new "Beastfolk" range, mostly because they have a hedgehog witch and a hare playing the bagpipes.

The resin cast quality is super clear and nice, and I can't see much in the way of mould lines. There's a couple of awkwardly placed gates I'm a little worried about, but nothing that should be a problem. There's a couple of small air bubbles in places as well. They should fix up pretty easily.

Arcworlde has a particularly good line of small critters. Whether they're miniature trolls, grifflings or Mjowls (cat owl hybrids), they're sensibly allowed to be taken by any faction and totally adorable.

I have a significant "adorable small creature" Arcworlde problem. They also do excellent big monsters but I've not picked any up yet.

Battle Systems make pre-coloured cardboard terrain. I'm looking at low effort options for populating Infinity tables so ordered a couple of small kits to get an idea of them.

Now they've arrived, I'm giving the "28mm - 35mm" label some serious side eye. They look more like 25mm size, though I'm going to assemble them to check.

I picked up a couple of things from War World Miniatures, as I'd not heard of them before finding them in the Salute trader list. They do a lot of scenery, but I decided to have a look at some of their miniatures.

I picked up this sleeping baby dragon, as he's a small and easy paint job, and I really liked the look of him.

Meanwhile, these are their "Sci Fi Renegades" set. They've got a very early sci fi look that I kind of like. I'm looking forward to them working their way through the queue and getting to the point where I can paint them.

That's all of the stuff I've ordered that's arrived so far. I've also picked up some stuff from Black Scorpion and XLC, so hopefully they'll be here in time for next week's post.

Goblins, Snorklings, month and and next month's plans...

So, I'm continuing with trying to get a model a week painted so there's something pretty for people to look at when they come to the blog. Or in this case, ugly. Here's some Snorklings, sculpted by Kev Adams. I got these with the Kev Adams self portrait sculpt I painted a while back that Foundry sold for GoblinAid.

I painted these up to check I was happy with my planned colour scheme for the goblins. Quite happy with that!

The main activity of the weekend was goblin assembly. I spent a bit of time trying to work out how this Goblin Spear Chukka went together before realising that the central piece of it was missing. I bought it cheap, sold as seen, due to a damaged blister. I'm going to have to be creative to sort this one out!

I was hoping to get about twenty or so goblins assembled this weekend. I've managedt complete these four shaman and a squiggly beast familiar. An internet gold star for anyone who can name the company / caster for all of these! (This does really show off the sort of thing I'm looking for with my goblins - a rag tag bunch of greenskins from many different suppliers!)

The plastic GW goblin shaman needs to stay in the pieces he's in for painting, as getting a paint brush into some of the nooks and crannies would be otherwise near impossible! There still needs to be a little work on the mould lines on the staff, but it is super fiddly, and I didn't want to rush it!

So, with the February project having been goblin assembly, I've not been hugely successful. They are at least organised, and I know how much effort assembling and painting them will be. For now, I'm going to keep a handful on the assembly desk as I move through other things, trying to get a few done a week until I've got a couple of units assembled up.

I've also put a little bit of fiction on my goblin project page. As units get assembled and / or painted, I'll get pictures and background put up there.

This is the March target. It does look like a lot when you pile it all together. Not all of it is purchases - due to being away at Christmas, we had a late family Christmas in February, so I have many presents! The idea is to get this lot all assembled in the course of the month.

It can be broadly broken down into:

• The Chaos models I wanted that went onto Last Chance to Buy
• An Age of Sigmar force using Bretonnian peasants as survivors of a lost kingdom of the mortal realms (because I was afraid they were going to become Last Chance to Buy)
• Skitarii (present)
• Arcane Ruins (present)
• Arco Flagellants (present)
• Arcworlde Boglin Bazaar

This is certainly an ambitious target. Some might say "brave". But I'm determined to start dealing with  models as they come in! Hopefully, I'll get a couple of speed paints in as palate cleansers as I slog through the mould line removal and gluing!

Wish me luck...

A little slip in self control (new miniatures)

Obviously, as a wargamer, I never have a problem with irresponsible purchasing sprees when I should be trying to paint more than I'm buying, right? No, wait. It's that other thing.

So, it turns out Bits and Kits have a new pre-owned section, with pretty reasonable prices. They had some Inquisitorial Retinue models. Had. Now I have them. The Crusader has a pretty solid paint job and just needs some light rescue. The cherub sadly needs stripping. The other three only came undercoated anyway.

A guy on a Facebook group I'm in had sculpted up a cool looking robot figure. I decided to get one. My wife thinks it's ugly and hideous. I think he's amazing. Should be a nice and simple paint job, too.

I know, I know, I haven't painted my existing Arcworlde stuff. Why on earth am I buying more of it?

Well, it turns out when someone asked on the Facebook group about when the hobgoblins from the Kickstarter were coming out, and the answer was "those ones are limited edition, they'll be redone in the next supplement", I had to own them immediately.

This weekend is now planned to be a busy weekend of painting and assembly - some new stuff, some existing, but I'm pretty stoked about getting some stuff done!

An eclectic week of interesting acquisitions

I took advantage of a break in the weather this weekend to get a little bit of spray undercoating done. Because I am a good husband, I sorted out the wife's Razorwing Jet Fighter.

Unfortunately, the stuttering noises the white spray can was making as I finished this did not bode well...

So, the Leman Russ I'm picking up for the Hobby Progress Challenge has now had the bottom undercoated in white and the top undercoated in black. Kind of a reverse zenithal or something. I'm not too fussed, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Here's the Bloodletter, ready for a spot of paint. He is what I will tinker about with when I get fed up of tank, so I'm still doing something.

I also did a little trade with the Lead Plague. My ill gotten gains for this included this preacher with a club, amazing bling and ridiculous hair.

I also acquired this delightful Conversion Beamer, which I intend to end up with a gentleman of the Inquisitorial persuasion, once I find the right pieces for him.

My darling wife had also ordered me a couple of the White Dwarf binders, in the interests of me not clogging up the house quite so much. I can imagine a lot of people thinking that they're a waste of money and horribly over priced.

The White Dwarfs fit in very nicely, the quality is respectable, and there's some nice artwork on the inside. I also took the time to track down the people who make them (as I was pretty sure Games Workshop aren't going to be making something so specialised). The unbranded ones usually retail for only a couple of pounds less, and they don't have free shipping on larger orders. In short - respectable and sensible grown up purchase at a not terrible price!

The majority of my Arcworlde Kickstarter arrived this morning, neatly dodging a bunch of guys on bikes who were causing mayhem with the traffic around here later that day. Due to a heavy rules re-write, the books are due to come a little later. A couple of small things were missing from the packet, but I got in touch with Alex and the missing Boglins and dice will be over pretty swiftly. I am a teensy bit intimidated by some of the bigger metal pieces - I've been spoiled rotten by the plastic and resin, I tell you!

(For those keeping track, I now have one fully delivered Indiegogo project, and 3 partially delivered Kickstarters. It's a race to see which Kickstarter will be the first to get me all my pledge!)

And here's some metal in more ways than one! I'm going to try and get these chaps prepped for Sim this week, as her nickel allergy means handling metal figures without gloves causes actual burns to her skin! As such, I'm going to be cleaning them up and giving them a quick undercoat so she can then tag in and paint them.

And finally, I decided to play around with the piece of scenery I got from Candy Art Studio last week and took a shot of a couple of my models having a disagreement over it. I'm playing around with my photography set up to try and balance quick and easy with good shots.

Salute 2014 - Miniature Companies: Old Friends

I'm breaking down my Salute posts into something coherent and . . . aw, who am I kidding? This is the only way I'll get my Salute posts done at all. Aiming for coherency is just pushing my luck.

This post consists of photos I remembered to take during the day, so is rather erratic in its coverage and focus.

So first up are Heresy. They of the Dragon. In short, Heresy have been making a Dragon model for absolutely years. There have been epic number of delays, and the pre-order backlog is currently sitting at 164, with a handful actually sent out.

But they are still going, not dead, and starting to do the resin casting by hand, one by one. I have the utmost respect for that determination in the face of adversity.

This chap is the Netherlord, one of their old metal sculpts, redone in resin to help pay the bills. You may be guessing already that Sim had a teensy bit of a budget slip at Heresy. Some day she will not be painting a titan commission and hit some of her own backlog!

One of Sim's favourite purchases from last year, Troublemaker Games were there again this year. In addition to Timeline 300, they are now working on Defeat in Detail, which is a 6mm Sci Fi wargame with plastic pieces. It successfully funded on Indiegogo during the year, and there were plenty of examples available, which I'll be showing off in a later post.

There was also Taban. I was super tempted by the Puppet Master and the Escape board game, but I decided to leave that for another day.

I liked JoeK minis' stuff last year. This year I bought some! He's also planning a Kickstarter soon.

There were also a couple of miniature folk who we already know who I didn't take any photos of. Forge World unsurprisingly got a ton of my money, but didn't have any miniatures on display that I saw. Hasslefree also gleefully parted my darling wife from her money in a pretty cheerful fashion. Sphere Wars is also something I really want to get into - I'd signed up to demo games for them, but had to back out as work has gotten super busy. We also said a quick hello to Warploque Miniatures, who had a lot of the Kickstarter models for Arcworlde on display. Studio McVey remain awesome people who put out excellent stuff, although this year I didn't pick anything up - I still have to paint the one I got from them last year!

The Kickstarter Problem

I have a Kickstarter problem.

I don't think anyone who knows me will be even mildly surprised by this statement. I've 'properly' backed five Kickstarters, with another three on behalf of my wife for various reasons. Last week, I got my first ever Kickstarter fully delivered - which has motivated me a little to have a little talk about the Kickstarters I've backed.

(I've had an Indiegogo campaign fully deliver, but this post is long enough as it is, and I've already talked about it before.)

Oh no, wait, I haven't got all that Kickstarter yet. I just went back to the site to get the information to start putting these posts together and . . . I haven't got all my rewards yet.

So, still 0 for 5 on delivery so far...

So, the Kickstarter delivery which prompted this crazy post was the download notice for "Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg". I pledged as a minion, so I got a shiny medal, a game, and a bunch of digital art.

The digital art is the bit I just realised I don't have yet. Not sure if it was delivered and I missed it, or if it hasn't been done yet.

The game itself? The voice acting and your little avatar are lovely and very pretty, with some nice cartoon-y artwork (it is based on a webcomic, after all). The mechanics are a bit . . . awkward at times. It's the sort of thing I'd download for free or a few pence, but not get super inspired by. I'd probably not have noticed it if it wasn't for the tie in.

I probably won't back computer game projects in the future - at least, not for the computer game rewards.

Funded: December 2012
Target Release: May 2013
Actual Release: March 2014 (ish)

Through the Breach was my first Kickstarter. I was utterly broke at the time, so only pledged for the Core Set. I do wish I'd been able to afford to go in for the full monty on this one and get All The Things, but financially, it just was not an option.

I did also pledge early, which earnt me a limited edition figure. Well, it will do when it finally ships. The entire project got delayed by Malifaux 2E, which was frustrating, but Malifaux 2E is also pretty awesome, so I'm not too narked about it.

I have had a partial delivery on this one, though. Wyrd sent the backers a PDF copy of the rules (along with a lot of beta versions along the way) as soon as they were ready. I'm still waiting on the physical copies of the books and the mini, but they will be along eventually. I have, sadly, not yet found the time to run a game.

Funded: January 2013
Target Release: September 2013
Partial Release: March 2014

Maki Games Kickstarter for plastic terrain was the first full wargaming Kickstarter I backed. It is Maki who are responsible for my unhealthy interest in collecting model shipping containers. I suppose there's worse things to be interested in.

And this is what I'm waiting for. Two of the most ridiculously "blinged out" shipping container models you will ever so. They are covered in skulls, and absolutely perfect for 40K. They suffered a hefty delay with their engineer falling ill but have been up front about that with the backers, and are giving regular updates to show what's going on. I am super excited about this one, and can't wait for the final delivery.

Funded: June 2013
Target Release: November 2013
Not yet received

I have mentioned Arcworlde on the blog before. Their website is down while the Kickstarter gets sorted, but I'm sure it will all be back up again soon enough.

I got a couple of warbands and the rulebook, so I could play with my darling wife. She's gone undead pirates while I've gone with Bayou Orcs. Their original plan was to deliver in February 2014, but they are currently running a little late.

Funded: September 2013
Target Release: February 2014
Not yet delivered

T5: Tile City was a recent Kickstarter for HDF terrain. These are pretty common at the moment, because people have realised they can buy a laser for their garage and off they go - and that initial outlay is perfect Kickstarter fodder. This one was going on at the same time as the Underground Lasers terrain Kickstarter, but for the sake of sanity and available money, after a lot of thinking, I went with T5.

Ooh, they have shipping containers. That's pretty! I don't understand why everyone doesn't find a well put together shipping container model gorgeous. However, I was incredibly strong about this and did not bulk out my pledge with some shipping containers as well as the core thing I was going in to get.

This is the set I went for - not the boards underneath, but the building. I'm getting a higher detailed version of this due to stretch goals, but it's a lovely modular art deco look that no-one else I'm aware of is really doing, and is really suited to laser cut terrain.

Funded: March 2014
Due: September 2014
Not overdue yet

In summary: Kickstarter (and Indiegogo) is a cool way to support companies who might not do something otherwise, or might not release as much. Do not pledge with any delivery date in mind. These are mostly start ups, and successful campaigns will end up getting swamped. Other times, illness or rookie errors like "forgetting to book your slot with the caster" will lead to delays.

There is another big danger. Stuff does not immediately arrive. That means that you have "hidden backlog", and the act of backing the Kickstarter doesn't necessarily associate in your brain with a big box of stuff you're going to need to assemble and paint turning up on your doorstep. Sim has more Sedition Wars models than she can count due to a runaway success. And that's before you talk to anyone who pledged on the "Vampire" level of the Bones Kickstarter...