Month in Review - June 2019

Well, it is the halfway point of the year, so let's have a little check in on progress to start off with.

More of this to come.

Amount	Task	Completed
78	Fully Paint Grymkin (HORDES)	23	29%
152	Paint Tales of Instahammer 2000pt Death Army (AoS)	138	91%
31	Paint 15mm Tree Folk army (Dragon Rampant)	31	100%
8	Paint 10mm Taurian Army (Warband)		0%
8	Paint 8 new elements for 15mm Picts (Hordes of the Things)		0%
6	Paint 6+ pts Jomsviking force (SAGA)	6	100%
4	Paint 4 Shadespire Warbands	1	25%
40	Paint 1200pt Norse Army (Of Gods & Mortals)	6	15%
100	Play 100 Games	36	36%
8	Play 8 new opponents	8	100%
8	Play 8 Boardgames	4	50%
1	Run April Fuel Daze 3!	1	100%
64	Maintain blog with weekly and monthly posts	23	36%
4	Go to 4 shows or conventions	4	100%
467	Transfer flip top paints to dropper bottles		0%
12	Write 1 extra blog post per month (BatRep, tutorial, review etc)	2	17%
991		28.56%
	January, February, March	2	50%
	April, May, June	3	75%
	July, August, September		0%
	October, November, December		0%

So, 5/16 #hobbyresolution2019 projects completed so far, not quite the halfway point I'd hoped for, but I guess it is OK considering my time away from stuff, and the random extras.  Let's break down the tasks I am still working on for a closer look.

1. Grymkin - I have a bunch of the newest releases already primed and started on the desk right now, and it is really only 20 Dreadrots, a few solos and Crabbits that I still have to assemble of the stuff I already own.  Should be fine once I get into the swing of it.

2.  Tales of Instahammer army - I only had 14 models still to assemble and paint before I quietly dropped from this, bit of a bugger, as I'd started off really strong.  I have the Incorporeal stuff started, and my General is assembled, with just some Bat Swarms to build.  Could probably still get it done over the next 6 months.

4. Taurian Warband Army - not touched this yet.  Still doable.

5. New Hordes of the Things Elements - well, they are all currently on painting sticks and started.  Should be doable once I get a chance.

7. Shadespire Warbands - painted one of the 4.  I have 3 more primed, but I keep changing my mind about the colourscheme for the Stormcast ones.  Again, should be easy, once I settle into it.

8.  Of Gods & Mortals army - Finished 6 figures so far.  The rest of the army is assembled, and with the exception of the archers, primed.  Enjoying painting the Foundry Vikings right now, so should be completed soon.

9.  Play 100 Games - haven't played a game since just after Welsh Masters. 

11.  Play 8 Boardgames - Nope.  The table in the Games Room has been a bit cluttered recently, and my semi-regular visit to the Warchest was postponed due to the kids being off school.

13. Maintain weekly/monthly Blog posts - Back on it after a bit of a hiatus.

15.  Transfer paints - not touched them.

16.  Extra Blog Posts - not kept up to date with these, not really been sure what to write.


So a bit of a mixed bag, still a lot I can get done over the next 6 months though, even if I can't tick them all off the list.

Still, on a more positive note or 3.

One, I finished the 6pts of Jomsvikings for SAGA over the course of two weeks.

Hearthguard unit 5/6 (Wargames Foundry)

Hearthguard unit 6/6 (Wargames Foundry)

6pts of Jomsviking Hearthguard and Warlord (Wargames Foundry)

Two, I've rearranged a load of stuff in the lair to sort my head out a bit.  Mass photodump.  I've added them from how the bookcase sits top down.  No prizes for making out what every drawer says.  I still need to go through them all again and make sure everything has bases and stuff, and figure out what ones I can get shot of as I'll never actually paint them.  But yeah, for the most part, it is stuff that I hope to get around to at some point.  The books on this unit are the games I actually have fully painted playable forces for, but I'll have to check, as I can probably add a few more now.

And next to that, I have sorted out the shelves of primed stuff, books and bases.  I might one day read these books, nevermind have painted forces for them...

Three, to date, I have painted 365 miniatures in the 6 months of this year, meaning I only have to paint another 14 to surpass last years total.

Viking Command (Wargames Foundry)

Fire Giant Warrior (Huge) (Reaper Bones 77616)

OK, so it said Fire Giant on the packet, but he is a Frost Giant now.  I cut the flails off his armour at the front, because I didn't like how they looked, and painted him up for OG&M and Blood Eagle.  He is a big lad (that's a 65mm lipped base) and being Bones suffers from shady details in place, as well as remaining a bit sticky to touch...  Still, he's done now and the 2 Viking Command were just because I figured it would be handy to have them for Blood Eagle or running units of Vikings in Dragon/Lion Rampant.

And that's it for the update.  Trailing a bit on some things, way ahead on others, and hopefully back into a good head space to keep at it.

See you Wednesday,

Cheers,

John

Glasgow Games Gathering report

So Sarah and I headed west today to the inaugural Glasgow Games Gathering in Glasgow (funnily enough) this morning.  Spur of the moment decision but a mostly enjoyable excursion.  The venue was easy to find, located a couple of minutes off the M8, and there were a few parking spaces left on site when we arrived around 11ish.

After paying at the desk, and getting our raffle sheets and hand stamps (right hand only because tattoo) we made our way inside.  The show is contained in one large hall, housing all the traders, demonstration and participation games.  The hall was well laid out, with plenty of space to manouvere around the various stands and tables.  The raffle sheet that was handed out was a clever marketing ploy, with stickers being handed out for a £10 spend at a vendor, or taking part in a game.  There were 5 spots in all, 2 for each, and a central spot that could be either.  I thought that this was a good idea, and I'm sure the traders would agree, and probably helps to boost sales and get people involved.  Admittedly, I will very rarely play any demo or participation games at shows anyway, but we were leaving before the draw, so it wasn't really a concern.

One of our first stops was Lesleys Bits Box who had a number of special offers on Warmachine stock.  £3 a blister or 10 for a tenner was too good to pass up, so we rummaged through both the boxes of them and came away with 20.

The benefits of Faction ADD...

Bit of a random selection, but considering it was all less than the price of buying Naaresh alone, I can live with it.  I've got the Minions models ready to play Disciples of Agony, so I just need to get some Skorne beasts and Paingiver Beast Handlers painted up.  There was a large selection of half price boxed sets too, but a cursory glance suggested they were mainly metal kits, and they don't scale too well with the newer plastics.


Other modest purchases were Ariovistus, Germanic Chieftan and Vercingetorix, Gallic Celt Chieftain from Warlord Games along with a couple of Army Painter colours to replace stuff I've been using up on my Vikings, and the Godsworn Hunt warband for Warhammer Underworlds.

I felt justified as I'd already painted the Skeletons.

And that was it as far as spending money went.  I could have easily bought more stuff, but, as I'm trying to hold back, I was ok with what I got.

My only real issue with the show was the heat, which, from experience with Carronade, is made so much worse by the fact that there is a swimming pool on site.  Obviously it is way beyond the event organisers ability to do something about it at the same venue, but I'll know to dress more comfortably when I return next year.

We didn't hang around for lunch, so I have no idea on the quality/cost of food at the venue if any, although I did see vending machines in the main entrance.

So yeah, good wee day out, kudos to the organisers, and my 4th show of the year, so I get to knock that #hobbyresolution off of the list.

The rest of the day was spent doing a bit more organising in the lair.  Progress going well, considering the amount of figures moving.  Cheating a bit by completely ignoring some, and I'll go back through each drawer one at a time once everything is up and away.

Getting there.

So, yeah, impromptu extra blog post (finally) and I'll have my Monthly Review for June up tommorrow.

Cheers,

John

#workbenchWednesday 26/06/19

Back again.


Workbench is looking kinda busy, but should be cleared soon.

Not Dwarfs.  Honest.

I've pretty much finished the next 2pts of Hearthguard for my Jomsvikings, with just the varnishing and basing to do, as well as adding the shields.  I've also been doing a bit of pottering away at the Frost Giant, but, there is probably still a while to go with him.

The Jomsviking project then should be wrapped up tomorrow, probably could have been done already if I hadn't painted the extra stuff partway through.

I still haven't gotten around to stringing the bows of my Archers yet, but do have 2pts of Berserkers assembled and primed to add to the list for Age of Magic games.

In other news, I went out today and picked up a couple of sets of storage drawers, with a view to rearranging the bottom half of the shelf in the corner of the lair, to try and create a bit more focus (and have drawers big enough for plastic sprues) as I continued to flounder blindly with a direction so have to revert to organising the chaos to help clear my head and narrow my focus.

At the moment, it is all Warmachine & Hordes stuff at the bottom of the unit, with more in the cupboards, but it seems pointless when there are a lot of Factions I just won't be painting any time soon.  As I have my Grymkin downstairs and am trying to assemble it all, it doesn't really need a drawer, but I have a load of Minions and Circle (my other painted Factions) that will probably stay within easy reach.  I'm also planning one drawer for the Foundry Vikings, and maybe one for Limited Edition/Exclusive models.

Less is more?

Quick head maths says I can fit both units, with one stack of the original drawers between them, although, I will be moving the shelves too.  I guess it is as good a time as any to get started on a large scale overhaul of my immediate space, as I've just started my days off leading into a holiday for the kids being off school.

So, varnish Jomsvikings, start pulling stuff off the shelves and moving it around in a bid to feel in control of things.  Easy, right?


I'll update my progress at the weekend when I do my Monthly Review post seeing as we will be halfway through the year.

Cheers,

John

#workbenchWednesday 19/06/19

Back with another #workbenchWednesday update this week, on time again, so, hopefully the mojo has kicked back in.

How's it looking?

That's a lot of empty miniature holders...

Some rare Scottish sunlight has made its way in, making me recoil from the desk for a bit.  All that is sat in front of me is some part done Grymkin, that either need primed, or the primer touched up.

It was a lot busier about an hour before this was taken.

The appearance of the blister backing means I've been varnishing and adding blood effects to stuff, so keep reading to see what that was.

Off to the sidelines are the rest of the newer Grymkin releases needing the primer touched up, as well as a couple of solos, the Cephalyx commission, and I've slapped the basecoats and wash on the Reaper Bones Frost Giant for my Of Gods and Mortals force (OGAM).

It's actually been a really good week for painting.  Last Thursday, I finished up my Warlord and 2 units of Hearthguard with Heavy Weapons for my Jomsviking force.  The Warlord figure is touted as being Odin himself, so, I guess he is important enough to lead the force.  The Hearthguard are made up of random figures with two handed axes and mail shirts, I've managed to paint one full 6 figure pack, and also a duplicate...

#workbenchWodensday 

As regular readers may know, I'm not really one to rest on my laurels (if my interest is engaged) so I kept on with the Vikings and finished off another 2 units of Hearthguard (with shields this time), as well as a Priest figure, and a unit of Berserkers, so that I can play Vikings as well as Jomsvikings.  The Berserkers were planned for my OGAM force anyway, and the large amounts of skin and pelts balanced out he heavily armoured Hearthguard.

Should have saved this picture for Thorsday (3rd from left)

So, currently, it looks that in building up the Jomsvikings and OGAM stuff, I'll also be able to make a few additions to also run standard Vikings, and get double duty as a Horde force for Age of Magic.  I like the idea of adding lots of Berserkers, but just the Priest counting as a Sorceror/Shaman and the one unit of Berserkers gives me 8pts when added to my planned 6pts of Jomsvikings.  The fact that I have Troll-wolves and Trolls to do for OGAM aslo gives me suitable Quadruped and Biped Creatures.

When you pull off that Chris Hemsworth look 20 years before Chris Hemsworth does...

When I was putting together the models for the Jomsvikings, I split each point of Hearthguard into 2 models with swords and 2 with axes (maybe a bit too standard for the Dark Ages, but whatever) and used the embossed shields that came with the figures.  I pulled them from a variety of packs, with the only restrictions being that they had to be wearing mail shirts and no duplicate shields per unit.  I tried to get a variety of stances into each unit, but wasn't overly concerned with any other factors.

Shieldwall fails due to personal space issues...

When it came to painting, I just took each colour in turn (dark red, dark blue, dark green, ochre, purple, dark grey) and put it on a different part of each miniature in any given unit (I'm sure they'll get mixed up over time).  So models had more areas to paint than others, and some I just skipped certain colours.  I also painted all 4 shields a different colour in each unit, as well as the beards and hair, and used 2 different colours for boots.

The men that iron cannot bite.  Mainly due to health & safety restrictions.

When it came time to do the Berserkers, I carried over my 'standard' cartoony wolf pelt colours, and had to revert to my (honestly not a Care Bear) green basecoated fur for the bearskins to represent Polar Bears.  I think I'll grab the Belicose Bears pack from Foundry to use as Creatures as they will scale better than the Fenrisian Wolves I have assembled.  I also added the blood effects, but a lot more restrained than I'd normally do.

The Priest basically follows the same colours as the rest of the figures, with a little gold detailing on his helmet.

Rune Axe - will rune your day if it gets embedded in your skull.

So yeah, that has been most of my downtime this week.  22 figures painted, and 4/6pts of my #hobbyresolution2019 SAGA force done.  I'm hoping to get the final 2pts done over the next week or so, along with a Standard and Musician I've based up, and can them crack on with the OGAM stuff.  The Frost Giant should be fun, and possibly quite quick as he has a very limited colour scheme.  I might even do him at the same time as the next batch.

I've also assembled a unit of 12 Archers, as I needed 4 for OGAM, another 8 Berserkers, just so that I have the option of running 3 units, and have sorted out some Bondi with spears to get cleaned up.  Been a while since I felt his enthused about something (or at least, it certainly feels it) and I'm hoping to be as productive as possible whilst it continues.  I'm going to push the (long)boat out with these guys and try adding bow strings with fuse wire to them.

I also managed to snag a bunch of pirate stuff from a variety of manufacturers in a facebook trade, but I have a plan for that, that could be a monthly article (God knows I have a few of them to catch up with).


So yeah,  that's been my week.  With any luck, I'll have the full force together to show off next time.

Cheers,

John.

#workbenchWednesday 12/06/19

That time again, huh?

So, how's the workbench looking?

Actually let some daylight in.

It's pretty busy, although I've just moved a load of figures off of it, as I've made a start on my Wargames Foundry Vikings for my Jomsvikings for SAGA (and other Dark Age/Fantasy gaming).  It has mostly been a case of touching up the undersides of the primed stuff and getting it all inked.

It was the Dark Ages because everything was brown, right?

As it stands, I have all 6pts of Jomsvikings prepped, other than the shields, as well as most of the models for my Of Gods & Mortals force too, with just a unit of 8 Archers to dig out and get ready.

'Axe' me about the fury of the Northmen.

I've gone for the easiest options for the army, namely 6 units of Hearthguard (4 standard, 2 with Dane Axes/Two Handed Weapons) and figured I'd start with the 2HW guys, as they would be quicker to do as I don't have to faff about with shields.  I've noticed that I've accidentally built 2 of the same model, so I will paint them up differently and switch one out at a later date.  I've had these models for probably more than 20 years now, so it is good to finally get started on them.  For my warlord, I'm using the Odin figure that came free with one of the collections back in the late '90's, which is available in a collectors box these days.

Odin is a big figure, so he is on a 50mm base, rather than a 40mm like my Norman Warlord.  I've assembled another Viking figure to use as a Warlord for playing the Vikings, and there is a unit of Berserkers on the tray to help build up that force.

Finally, after 4 full months of faffing about, the missing boxes from my HATE kickstarter showed up (from the States quicker than the UK, go figure) so I have that to go through and check at some point around getting those first couple of Hearthguard units done.

But first, sleep.

Cheers,

John.

#workbenchWednesday 05/06/19

So in a bid to get back on track...

It is looking pretty busy as I tidied up the primer and inked all the Vikings and a couple of random figures.  I'll probably try and get all the bases drybrushed and rims tidied up before moving them again and concentrating on the Cephalyx and Grymkin stuff.  Getting paid is a great motivator, right?  :p

My wrist is still playing up a bit, and along with work, and family stuff, haven't had a change to get more assembly or gaming in.  I have, however, made some headway into clearing out junk from the games room.  It is going to be a long job however, and that is without actually sorting through individual boxes and maybe trying to punt a load of stuff.  Maybe if I can clear a lot, I can get on my pipedream of creating a spreadsheet of every miniature I own.   Baby steps, huh?

Cheers,

John

Month in Review - May 2019

Well, I guessed I missed the April update...  and quite a few other posts...

It's been a strange time recently.  The good weather has forced me outside to do some much needed renovations on the garden, and I kinda lost my routine of hobbying.  I have a feeling that Assassins Creed Odyssey didn't help, after racking up well over 100hrs playtime in the first 3 weeks of owning it...

So...  numbers?

Sepulchral Guard (Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire)

Since my last update I have played 11 games of Warmachine (2 before the Welsh Masters, 7 at Welsh, and 2 when we dropped in to the Durham Raiders club whilst visiting the in-laws)  Went 3-4 at Welsh (mainly due to a battery issue last round) but I'm okay with that having not played since Belgian Masters, and it was mainly a chance for me to try out the newer models that I'd painted up for it.

Clockatrice

Paintingwise, I've done a unit of Chosen of Everblight for one of the Welsh lads, 2 Clockatrice, Baron Tonguelick and the King of Nothing for my Grymkin, and since Welsh, the Sepulchral Guard skeleton warband for Shadespire that I picked up when we were away.  It just so happened that I sprained/twisted my wrist setting up Carronade, so it put paid to painting up all the new Grymkin releases for a Bump list, but I'll get to them seeing as I did get the majority primed.

Ran APRIL FUEL DAZE 3! - 23 fully painted pairs of armies (and they said it couldn't be done) and as far as I'm aware, a good time was had by all.  Konrad retained his champion shield.  Possibly out of spite after mumbling about having to hand it back.

Went to Carronade - picked up Thud & Blunder, the SAGA Age of Magic rules and spell cards, the newest Copplestone 15mm packs (Ice Tribe Barbarian and Giant) and snagged a giant KR bag to hopefully house all of my Grymkin (it holds 4 standard cases).

So, the future...  I... don't know.  Genuinely, I have no real plan or direction right now, nothing to aim for (eyes #hobbyresolutions suspiciously)  I'm sitting here at 3am, listening to the rain, on my 3rd coffee in as many hours, as my sleeping pattern has been a nightmare recently, there is the 30+ Cephalyx models to get done for Sean, and they are currently joined with the new Grymkin releases that I'd managed to fight through pinning and priming, and a bunch of the Foundry Vikings that I'd primed but need a few touch ups on the underside.  The shelves by my desk are already crammed with other primed models, so, maybe getting as much built and primed was a bad idea (not sure based on weather).  So, I dunno, I'm sure I'll find something to batter on with.

Until next time,

John