Month in Review - February 2017

Strangely, it doesn't seem all that long ago since I was doing this, yet it also seems an age away, as it has been a relatively busy month.

Working on the Construct Warbeasts for Circle has really let me get a lot done, as it is mainly washes and drybrushing, with a load of basing effects, and I rattled out more than enough to run a full list.  According to War Room 2, it is 108/75, so...  rather a lot more.  I managed to plough through

Baldur2, Megalith, 2 x Wold Wrath, 3 x Blackclad Stoneshaper, 2 x Wold Wyrd. Wold Guardian.

I also managed to get the 5 shrimps from the 1st Woldstalker unit completed, but held off on painting the leader (curse you living model) as it will be more time and paint efficient to do him along with the leader of the 2nd unit.  Might even do both the Shifting Stone Leaders too.  That would have been another 10pts complete, but it stands me in good stead for next month.

With SmogCon been and gone, I've ticked off all my games against new opponents, and my 2 shows or Conventions, add to that, not one, but two of my Gargossal Backlog now fully painted, and that is 3/16 Hobby Resolutions cleared.  I need to finish at least one more next month to stay on track for the year, and I reckon I should maybe get those Beastmen finished for Warmaster to clear that space (especially as a few guys at the club were playing the Czech released Warmaster Revolution updated rules), or more of my Normans for the club Saga campaign, as I still have to put those Crossbowmen from York together.

Thing is, I'm really enjoying painting Circle right now, and it is going in quick, as I've already had to rearrange the display cabinets to fit in what I have done.  This might also be future-proofing, as I put the Storm Raptor together over the weekend (a 3rd Gargantuan?  Indeed)  There are a few changes I would make to my Baldur2 list as it currently stands, which means painting up a couple more models before Welsh Masters in May, and I have an idea for a 2nd build that pulls an idea from MacBeth of all places....  plus I probably should get a few more Warlocks and other living models done.  Gah, hitting the painting of actual proper units...  Might be time to switch Faction,

Looking further ahead in the year, ticket sales have picked up slightly for my Warmahordes 2 day event in April, and, while I doubt it will hit 48 players, I am hoping for 24, which makes splitting the groups up for both days easier, and I have holiday time booked for that, Welsh, NorthCon in June, UK Masters in September, and I am going to try and get a sneaky trip to Dublin in for the Irish Gauntlet in August.

Not done any boardgaming this month, or played any other games other than Warmachine.  I'm lined up to do a guest spot on the Painting with Menoth John show (https://pwmenothjohn.com/)once I have a Sunday night free.

Next up on the paint station is the Leader for the Wold Stalker unit, plus a 2nd unit and Baldur1, and I still have to do a little clean up and gap filling on the Storm Raptor before it gets primed.  Should probably get started on some Frostgrave models too...

Finally, I figured I'd share the words I put up on Facebook post SmogCon, as it gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction to be part of such an amazing hobby and bunch of people.  It was pointed out to me that, even if one person in twenty is an asshole, that means the other 19 are pretty decent, so, it is good to just focus on positives sometimes.

"So, 600+ mile round trip to SmogCon, don't even want to total up the expense, had an absolute fucking blast hanging with the PPS guys (Hungerford, Matt and Dallas) who spent more time with us than required and were super cool to just chat shit with, and sit in the pub eating kebabs, kinda weird when the only people asked for their question in a QA session by name are you, your missus and Thomas Guan. Was great to get in some games with both the guys from my own meta (David, Nicholas and Skywolf) seeing as I'm always running events, and do crazy shit like Thunderdome (with Nick, Sims, Ross, Sarah and Tom) then again with Rory, Konrad, James, Stuart and a 3rd time with Warcaster V1-3, with Konrad, Stu, James, Sarah and Cole. To the guys that I got pick-up games with (Byron, Alan, Martyn, Delano, James, some dude called Will H or something... ;) and to Norbert for the sweet Tshirt and whiskey, Jason for the T, and Justin from Beasts of War for getting my army on film, on that note, to every single person who came up and asked about or complimented my stuff, from people passing by and stopping me mid game to ask to take pictures, to the old women in the lift saying it looked more fun than their convention, and the (possibly) Italian women asking for pictures in the hallway. That means a lot like. To all the sound guys from previous events that we don't get to hang out with enough because of distance, and my Scottish guys Allan, Sean, Dan, David and Adam, that mean there is always a familiar face close by at some point. To Martyn for seeking me out to try and get a little 4 nations event organized on the Sunday morning, and James for getting at me to get in on the pre- WTC 6 Nations planning. It's appreciated guys. Congratz to Jon and all my fellow PG's for running the show, you do great work guys. Roll on Lock 'n' Load Europe!

Sorry if I missed anyone, you know who you are, and let's be honest, alcohol consumption and lack of sleep means there is a lot of blur over the weekend :P
Really, it's just fucking awesome to be part of such a great community and crew, and that it is always surprising and a bit humbling when people remember me, or actually seek me out, because I see it as me just being some dude doing these little events in this little country, so final thanks to Sarah for scoring the tickets, and always being the one to push me to do more stuff and remind me that, in terms of the hobby, I'm sometimes someone to somebody."

#workbenchwednesday 15/02/17 and 22/02/17

Ok, bit of a delayed double update now, because... reasons...

Nothing has really changed on the workbench because I went all in over a week and painted  a 2nd WoldWrath.  And Megalith.  And Baldur2.  And 3 Stone Shapers...   Yeah, over 100pts of models in about a week, including kids being over 4 nights and 3 nightshifts...

Probably a feat that will never be repeated because that is most of the stone stuff done.

So, having a 2nd list all painted, I was all set for SmogCon, and what an epic weekend that was.  So much stuff to process, but the highlights include - hanging out with Will Hungerford, Dallas Kemp and Matt Goetz from Privateer Press, playing loads of games against new opponents and my local guys that I never get to play because I am running events, playing stuff other than straight-up Steamroller, like 6 player drunken Thunderdome until 7am, then going for breakfast and a sleep, seeing the new Grymkin faction release video (and the models in the flesh) want all the things.  I had a huge amount of comments about my army, don't think I managed a single game without someone passing by stopping to ask if they could take pictures, and the guys from Beasts of War caught it on camera, and even asked me a few questions.  Also managed to take the PPS guys for a cheeky Nandos before they left.

That weekend crosses off two Hobby Resolutions though, so that is things continuing to move forwards.  And provided some sweet ConSwag.

Car crapped out on me on the way back though, so that was a costly bill on top of the weekend, and was straight back at work to boot.  Spent some time getting my Wold Stalkers assembled, as well as a couple of Wold Wyrds and a Wold Guardian.  All primed now, so hopefully won't take too long to get painted up.  Also had to rearrange the cabinets as one shelf for Circle wasn't cutting it with 2 huge bases added in.

I've been asked to do a painting guide for the Warmachine & Hordes for Beginners Blog, as well as a guide to painting Frostgrave models, so I have a lot to be getting on with.

#workbenchwednesday 08/02/17

Phew, late in the day, but this is a big one.

First up, the weekly workbench shot -

Looks suspiciously tidy right?  Well, the Saga stuff got moved out the way, as, fresh on the success of finishing my Circle list, the arrival of the new Wold theme force made the Baldur 2 list I had planned a lot more competitive, so I thought I'd try and bust it out before SmogCon.  Hey, it's only 7 models in 2 weeks, right?

Enter disaster...

So, being a big kit, I figured the 1,9mm brass rod was the best thing to use as pins.  Sadly, my old clippers gave up the ghost after about ten years faithful service, and shattered when I was trimming one of the pins...

This was after my Drybrush figured it was time to call it a day...

Maybe I'm just heavy handed?

Then, After using an entire bottle of Strong Tone to wash the Wold Wrath, I found out that I had about 8 bottles of Soft tone and 6 bottles of Dark tone in my stash, but no Strong tone.

So, that was a day lost, fighting the cold, before heading out to get new heavy duty snips, and a restock of Strong Tone.

Long story short, I finished Wold Wrath.  Well, the first one anyway...  Only 6 models to do in a week.  Around work.  and the Kids.

Totally doable, right?

Bloody picture won't rotate...

In other news, made the trip to York on Sunday (between Nightshifts) to Vapnartak, along with the guys from Falkirk Wargamers.  Did the usual wandering, spent a fair bit of time around the Warmahordes event, and had a demo of Relic Knights, seeing as I've had the models sitting in a box for over a year...

A modest amount of spending was done (for me at any rate) and the haul included -

Rogue Stars and the Pikeman's Lament rules from Osprey, to fill out the collection, and let me get a gang sorted for the FDWC Campaign, plus some Barbarians, who will be added to the Frostgrave pile, but might get used for Broken Legion's Dacians.  Picked up the Norman Crossbowmen from Gripping Beast to scale with my Conquest Knights, and a couple of Arcworlde figures.  A dark lord who is obviously not modelling himself after the Witch-King or Sauron, and a Norse style Leader.  Final purchase was a set of Union dice for Guildball from the Flea Market (once it had settled down to the level that you didn't flow between the tables on other people's sweat...) for a fiver.

All in all a good day, although work was a killer afterwards, but the trip was worth it.

Not a bad week considered, one item ticked off the Resolution list, and another 50% complete.

#workbenchwednesday 01/02/17

So, I did good keeping this updated last month, and hope to do so for the remainder of the year, if not beyond.

Having finished the Circle models, I've got a few Saga models up next.

The 2 units of mounted hearthguard have been drilled and glued to paperclips for priming off of their horses, and I've started with a colour primer of Platemail metal, followed by a Dark tone wash.  The skin has been blocked in with Tanned Flesh.  Once all the other details are blocked in, I'll give them an all over wash with Dark Tone, then highlight and layer up.

The Horses have been primed Leather Brown, basically because it's easier to paint the horse another colour and the basework is already done, and the texture has been washed with Strong tone.

The 2nd unit of Warriors was also primed Leather brown and hit with the Strong wash, and the skin was blocked in.  The plan is to drybrush Leather Brown over the bases, followed by Skeleton Bone, then re-do the rims Leather Brown.  That is how I do the majority of my bases these days.  It also gets the messy drybrushing out of the way before painting really begins.

Yesterday's review post got me thinking though, with 16 hobby resolutions, which is basically crossing off 4 every 3 months to keep on target.  Some, like keeping the Games room tidy or Ironmanning the PP forum painting challenge are obviously end of the year things, whilst others can be completed much sooner.  So, highlighters in hand, I set about provisionally planning how I would break them down over the year.

January - March - Finish the Microworld Beastmen, Paint a Gargossal, Play 6 new Opponents, Go to 2 Shows or Conventions.

York and SmogCon cover the latter two, and hopefully I can find the time to get a Gargantuan painted before then.  Then it's just a case of finishing off the beastmen and getting started on the next things.

April - June - Run a 2 day event, play 6 different boardgames, Place at Welsh Masters, Finish 6pts of Saga.

Well, the Saga stuff is halway done already, with more on the paint station so that's a big plus, Welsh masters and my event are in April and May, and the Boardgames breaks down to 1 a month.

July - September - Konflict '47, Warband Dark Elves, 20 Frostgrave figures, 2 Hordes Battle boxes.

OK, so, errrrr, basically this was all the choices that were left that after the first 8, and working out what 4 I couldn't tick off until the end of the year...

October - December - Tidy Games Room, Keep Butcher's Guild fully painted, Transfer Paints to Dropper Bottles, PP Forum Ironman status.

As above, mostly stuff I won't know I've done until the end of the year.