The Perfect Workbench

I think I found the perfect workbench hobby spot.  I got all of our lawn furniture out yesterday for a BBQ and we've had beautiful weather this weekend.  After cleaning up the aftermath today I thought why not enjoy some painting outside?  It's 77 degrees (25 Celsius for my friends across the ocean), sunny, dry and a light breeze.

It's amazing what natural sunlight in full effect does!  I'm going to try to spend the entire afternoon out here and enjoy the deck before the heat, humidity and bugs come out for the summer!

Necrons are progressing quickly.  Today's goal is to knock out the rest of my warriors and potentially 25 scarab bases.

Future Projects: 2012-2013 Docket

As I was painting furiously last night I thought a lot about my hobby addiction.  I have this weird habit of working very hard on a project and shelving it as soon as it's finished.  I guess for me most of the enjoyment comes from the journey and not the destination.  Even though I tell myself every time it would be nice to know an army better and get more games in, I'm always thinking about the big next project.

Here are some of the ideas I would like to tackle for the next year:

Grey Knights: I'm pretty much settled on the fact I'm bringing some variation of Grey Knights to NOVA this year.  They transport well and I think they play well with the NOVA terrain and scenarios.  As much as I want to do Black Templar for NOVA, I just can't get excited.

Uncharted Seas: Probably the most fun I've had playing a game.  I plan on quickly painting up some more fleets and painting up terrain to get some good beer & pretzels games in.  I'd like to try and bribe some of my gaming friends into the game.

"Pro" Painting Project 40k (DKK/GK/Suns): I've found I do three levels of painting: The first is a rush job like I did my pirates or cadians; all about speed, base coating and washes.  I rarely do this style since it's hard for me to really cut corners.  The second style is a majority of my armies which is good highlighting, some blending and solid paint schemes.  I try to keep from freehand in this mid-range but this probably is what my Space Wolves, Dark Eldar, etc. would fall under.  The final is something where I do a lot of freehand and spend that extra time on details.  My Imperial Suns marines would fall in that camp.

For this Painting Project for 40k, it's going to be one of three options.  First would be the Death Korps of Krieg.  I love the models, and has always been one of those projects I've wanted to put time in.  The second would be taking the Grey Knights to the next level - more on very detailed/converted henchmen and character models.  The final would be adding to my Imperial Suns.  I would like to continue to flesh out that army and make it amazing.

"Pro" Painting Project Warhammer Fantasy (Beastmen): It's more than likely going to be Beastmen.  I want to try and challenge myself to learn how to do natural colors and not my typical strong primary color armies.  Less on contrast and more on unusual colors you find in nature. 

Speed Army Warhammer Fantasy: I need something that I can get on the field to learn the game.  It'll probably mean going back to tackle my Chaos Mortals or add to my pirate force.

Epic / Aeronautica Imperialis: I love playing this game (aeronoautica) and 15+ years ago played a ton of Epic.  I love the different scale and want to do some cool terrain.  I think it would be really awesome to do a city scape in this scale.

Terrain for My Own Gaming Room: My basement is my man cave, time to make it one.  I bought some zuzzy mats and I need to bust out some terrain to start making a hobby community of my own.  Especially for us old guys since a lot of the stores (both independent and GW) have been closing in the area.

Well there you have it.  Lots of projects, but at as my header goes so many projects... so little time!

Hobby Focus: Projects through Adepticon 2012

As usual, it gets to about this time of year and I realize that Adepticon is not far away.  I basically have about 6 months to get all of the projects I want done in time while not getting too bored on one thing.  I've decided to narrow it down to 4 big projects.

1. DARK ELDAR
 
This is my biggest project.  Here are some of the things I want to accomplish.

- 1,000 list for the Team Tournament.  Easy.  I'm almost there already.  Key is to get tons of practice games in and be able to switch it up if I find I like one portion more then others

- 1,850 list in for the 40k Championship.  This is the tricky one.  I want it to work based off of lots of experience getting games in.  This means I need to get this flushed out in some form in the next couple of months

- Display board for the team tournament.  We have some really cool things kicking around.  I'll start updating our team progress.

- Display board for the singles tournament.  This is my marquee event.  I always spend a lot of time making a cool themed base.  I have an idea to make a floating pleasure barge straight out of Return of the Jedi.  I'll either have it hovering over a gladiatorial pit or the monster from Star Wars that they dumped prisoners into (sarloc or something like that). 

2. TOMB KINGS
 
I really would like to get back into Warhammer Fantasy.  It's probably been 10 plus years since I've gotten serious games in.  I figured  an easy army to paint up fast would be something with lots of skeletons.  Go figure I want to do tons of big beasts.

- 2,500 points is my target on an army size to start with.  I figure this will be a good core.  When it comes down to it I really just want to paint a ton of options to try out fun things

- This is mainly to have fun.  Part of what really consumes me in 40k is always tweaking and fine tuning.  Honestly in Warhammer I just want to have fun and play some games.  Since I don't know how to maximize my points I want to enjoy that "innocence"  and take some fun and not-so-optimized units.

3. UNCHARTED SEAS
 
My buddy Jeff and I thought it would be fun to get some naval battle games in and something that isn't Games Workshop.  We got some great deals on the old line of miniatures that are getting refreshed so we didn't have to shell out a ton of cash.

- Paint up 2 or 3 fleets.  This seems pretty easy since I flew through my first few miniatures.  I think for this game system I'm going to go more tabletop and not spend a ton of time on each miniature.  The only exception might be the Human Imperial fleet where I may throw some of my "sun" icons that I love to do.  It would be nice to have some freehand work.

- Make some cool terrain and fun sea boards.  For me this is just as much about having a fun visual game as it is to play something new.

- Get a group of at least 4 people that we can get some semi-regular games in.  I'll be putting my recruiting hat on and try to push some product!

4. PIRATES!
 
I think my friend Dan and I will still be doing the Adepticon Warhammer Doubles tournament and we'll both be rocking a pirate theme.  I need to start getting some practice games in so I'm not completely clueless, but this will be a fun diversion.

- Make a solid 1k list.  I really don't have many intentions on flushing this army out beyond the team tournament but who knows.

- Tons of themed terrain, display board stuff and props.  We're going for team theme and will be stocked full of rum!  Really the goal is to have fun and break up Adepticon from having 3 solid days of 40k.  Last year just was a little too much.

 Well there you have it.  I'll try and stay on target and focus on these above four goals. 

Back in the Saddle!

It's been over a month without touching a paint brush and I'm fiending to get it on.  We just moved into the new house and I now have a proper hobby area.  Here's a few shots of my new area, I can't wait to break it in.  Tomorrow I'm running a tournament at our local shop so I'll get a chance to paint some miniatures during the rounds... that is as long as I'm not also running the ringer. The blog resumes!

Assembly Line Blues

Note to self, never again assembly line 25 highly detailed miniatures... ever ever again.  That was painful.  I usually work in the 10 or less mode, and I think I'll return to that.

On Friday I set a goal to paint 20 Grey Hunters, Assemble a Wolf Lord and sculpt fur on 10 Fenrisian Wolves.  Well I was an overachiever this weekend.  25 Grey Hunters done (minus snow, which will be added tonight), 2 Wolf Lords assembled and magnatized and 12 Fenrisian Wolves done along with an article that will be posted on the Space Wolves Blog http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com/  later in the week.

Here's a shot of Russ's finest ready for snow tonight.  Nicely done shots later once I break out the camera & booth.

One thing I noticed is my hobby area is too messy, a situation many of us gamers get ourselves into.  Add that to the fact the cat likes to jump up in the area I'm working and it's a danger zone.  Rather then doing the right thing and cleaning it up I went the painful route and painted in the not-lighting-optimal area which is my kitchen.  Not smart.  A back ache and eye strain weekend later, I'm ready to go back to my usual workstation.