What Next

Wow it has been a long time since I've posted on the blog.  I check it daily to see my blogroll and check out everyone else's sites but I just haven't taken the time to put in work on mine.

My wife just recently took up a side gig to help coordinate social media for her mom's workout group.  Watching her put the time into generating content made me realize much work it is to stay relevant in the constant barrage of media we consume on a daily base.

I digress...

I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my hobby space, mainly to do with the balance of family time.  I really can't dedicate the weekend time for gaming, I want to get as much time in with the kids and helping out around the house.  Sadly, my last game was Adepticon, and I may only get some games in a few times a year.  But my mind doesn't stop obsessing!   I'm always thinking of new paint schemes, fun armies to work on. It doesn't help that GW's rapid release schedule has so many temptations.

We just moved into a new house and although it is bigger, it doesn't have a finished basement yet, meaning I don't have a dedicated hobby space.  I decided to take half of my home office for at least a table to paint on, so that's working for the time being.  I've been getting a few nights here and there to put some paint on models.  I just don't get those marathon 4+ hour paint sessions anymore.

The big situation is the ridiculous amount of hobby stuff I have.  Massive amounts of miniatures still in boxes, tons of terrain, game systems I haven't even touched.  Years of years of planned projects I won't tackle, and lots of armies I've painted but are collecting dust.  I guess I'm realizing now I need to pair down.

My dreams of a huge gaming area with multiple tables for tournaments at my house aren't going to happen.  I won't be traveling to tournaments anymore.  This isn't that big of a deal, just a shift in priorities.  I just have changed over the last 10 years from being single, to married to having a family.  Time is the constrained resource.

Now what do I with all the stuff I have?  I really would like to extract some value from it, but I don't want to spend a ton of time cataloging, photographing and selling it.  I really do go back to my huge amounts of bits bins and scrap piles to work on projects, but honestly would it be so bad if I cleaned out space and just had to re-purchase from time to time?  I guess I need a professional hobby organizer.

With that said, here are my active projects and ones I would like to tackle.

1. Working on my 40k Imperial Knights.  Painting some extra weapon arms, and finishing up a Castellean

2. Guard CP Battery.  Yup, all the cool kids are doing it, but I really need it for knights.  Almost done painting 35 guardsmen.

3.  Tau.  I want to add some fun toys and try a couple one-trick pony lists for Tau.  Some goofy stuff that will probably win big / lose big.  All I need to paint is a few suit commanders, a few cadre fireblades, and a couple big flyers.

4.  MFSM.  For those of you that go way back with me in the GW community, I want to tackle the "Most-Friendly" Sea Monsters, the Idoneth Deepkin.  My daughter will love the models and I think they'd be fun to paint.  I really want to give Age of Sigmar a try, and the sky dwarfs were taking way too long to paint.

5.  Basement remodel and gaming space.  This will be done this winter.  I want to make a dedicated gaming room with a door to keep little hands away.

6.  Infinity.  Maybe this will finally be the year I paint some up.

7.  Wild West Exodus.  I love the Golden Army.  Might try and paint up a posse just for a break in pace of knocking out 40k armies.\

8.  Necromunda, Killteam, Adeptus Titanicus: yeah I want to do them all.  Delaque when they come out, cool terrain for Killteam, and a beautiful board and some models for AT.

Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of all my extra armies and the tons of box sets and terrain I have collecting space.  My wife will be much happier if I make the move.

Arena Rex - Ludus Magnus

It's been so long since I've posted.  Lots of life stuff... new baby, work craziness, etc.  But I've been painting here and there. 

I just recently discovered Arena Rex.  Wow, the miniatures are really cool (and fragile).  I really like the Ludas Magnus faction.  Here's my first take on my first 5 models.  I'll try and snap some better pictures soon.

After this, I'm working on a bunch of chaos space marine models for the 40k team tournament at Adepticon. I'll probably sneak in some Infinity sometime soon and probably get hooked on Necromunda.  Honestly, I'd like to focus less on the big armies, and more on skirmish stuff for awhile.

Hobby Project Debate

Now that I've detoxed from Adepticon for awhile I have been dabbling in a little painting.  I'm debating on what my next projects will be.   Here's my "short" list.  The reason I'm prioritizing is we have kid #2 on the way in October.  Plus I'm doing more and more with my SCA rapier combat study so it's the long debate on time spent!

Hobby

1. Work on a gaming table.  My dad does fine woodworking and will help me make a sweet one.  I've been looking around pintrest trying to get ideas.

2.  Figuring out how to use weathering powders.  I really want to learn how to make things look dirty and not just factory fresh.

3. Improving my airbrush skills.  I started last summer, I'd like to try and put some more time into it.

4. Make terrain.  40k, infinity, wild west, etc.  I'd like to have a good catalog of finished terrain.  I own all that I need just need to spend time on not working on armies.

40k/30k.  I'm hesitant to do too much until the new rules system is released

1. Imperial Fists 30k

2. Custodes for 30k (and 40k)

3. Add more to my Genestealer Cult, Tau, and generic marines

4. Maybe, just maybe I'll actually work on the Death Korps of Krieg.

Other Game Systems

1. Two factions for Infinity.  Currently have a bunch of Ariadna, Haqqislam, Yujing, Nomads.  Just need to decide on what to spend time and if I just want it table-top ready or "super" paint jobs

2. Wild West Exodus: I have the Golden Army, Union, Lawmen and Holy Order... I started really working on Union but I think the Golden army or the Holy Order would be a lot of fun to paint.

3. Devils Run Route 666.  I picked up a bunch of stuff on their first kickstarter.  I really need to learn Hobby goal #2 before I spend some serious time on them.

Genestealer Cult at Adepticon

I need to have a serious session with my camera.  I'll post up all the detailed shots of the cult.  In the meantime, here was my 40k championship army and our team tournament army (I did the non cult stuff).  We were lucky enough to play on the twich channel Warhammer TV Saturday night for the team tournament!

These were shots from my phone... sorry for the focus/resolution!

2016 in Review and 2017 Resolutions

2016 has come to a close and I'm already tearing through 2017.  It was an interesting year, and I didn't tackle as many of the projects I was hoping to as I was busy in other hobbies (sword fighting), and balanced the work and family life. I also put some major time into renovation of my house but at least now I have an awesome screen room ready for the spring when the weather gets nice.

Here are some of the hobby things I did do in 2016.

1.  Painted a pretty cool Khorne Daemonkin Army

It started out as our team tournament army for adepticon.  I then added a bunch of big monsters for the hellforged hunting pack. I owe some nice shots of the army up on the blog, that something I'll do over the next few weeks. 

2.  Odds and Ends for Necrons

I added 20 or so necron models to my force; a bunch of lychguard, stalkers, and characters.  I just feel dirty every time I play necrons!

3.  Tablescapes Tiles and Learned to Airbrush

I finally got over my fear of the airbrush and started working with terrain, especially the tablescapes tiles.  I also played around with how to use oil washes.  I haven't gotten as far as using them on miniatures, but for terrain it was a great way to add some shading.  In the end, I finished about 80 to 90% of the work.  I just need to add some finishing touches and learn how to weather.

Now for the resolutions for 2017!

1.  Genestealer Cult

This army seems to be taking forever to paint, and it doesn't help that it has a ton of models.  I'll be playing this for the Adepticon team tournament in 2017 as well as it'll be my go-to army for awhile.  I'll need to bust out some terrain for it as well.

2.  30k - Imperial Fists

I'd like to have a force for 30k, and the banana marines will be my army.  Should be fun to paint up a clean "standard" force.

3.  Infinity Terrain and 2 forces

I keep saying I want to get into infinity.  I'm going to try and put a damper on all the crazy 40k armies that keep coming out that will distract me and try and put some time into this game.

4.  Clean up my Hobby area

I really started tackling this at the end of the year and made a ton of progress. I'd like to sell a bunch of the stuff that is collecting dust and taking up space and organize the rest. 

5.  Build an Awesome Gaming Table

I'm fortunate enough that my father is an excellent craftsman and can help me design a functional and beautiful gaming table.  I've always wanted one and I think now is the time. 

6.  Terrain - and hosting some Beer/Gaming at my place

This really goes hand in hand with #6, to have some beautiful terrain not only for Infinity but 40k.  I'd like to have at least 2 or 3 themed tables for infinity and at least 3 to 4 tables worth of 40k terrain.  That way I can host some gaming days at my place. 

7. Weathering Powders

In addition to learning how to improve the airbrush, I've also been afraid of working with weathering powders.  This needs to get tackled this year.

8.  Age of Sigmar

I'd like to at least start an age of sigmar army for some relaxed play.  Either I'll use some of the Khorne models I've already created to flush that out, or I'll try some models I already have (Bretonnian or Chaos).  If I really get aggressive, I've always wanted to do a night goblin army with tons of squigs.

So there we have it!  If I could actually knock out half of my resolutions for 2017 I think it will be a pretty successful hobby year. 

Adepticon Chat on Beasts of War

I just had the great opportunity to talk with Dawn from Beasts of War to chat about the 40k Friendly and 40k Team Tournament at Adepticon.  Check it out!

Now after just watching Rogue One, I need to resist the urge to buy tons of X-wing miniatures and get back to painting up Genestealer Cult.  Only three months to Adepticon!

Genestealer Cult Tokens

I'm a total sucker for tokens.  You can see what I've done for other armies before in the tags.  I find that it helps so much in gameplay both in not forgetting things myself, but letting my opponent know what is going on.  There is nothing worse then feeling like someone is pulling a fast one on you, or the reverse... completely forgetting important bonuses. 

I created a set of tokens for the Genestealer Cult since there is so much going on.  Here's a picture of the finished product!

To make it easy, here is the list of things you'll need. I left Amazon links for the product you'll need.

Q-Tip
1 Inch Round Glass Discs
1 inch circle punch
Mod Podge Glue
1 inch felt adhesive circles
Printed tokens

I created a sheet of tokens that are a little wider then 1 inch.  That way you have some play in where you punch the circles.  I then punched out all the circles.

Apply some mod podge glue to the back of the token and glued the face of the token to the bottom of the glass.  After letting it dry, I simply added the felt circles to the bottom.  Easy as that.  Now I have nice looking tokens in a bin to break out in the games.

Hopefully tomorrow I'm going to get my first practice game in with the Genestealer Cult.  There will be some proxy, but I hope to have a good chunk of actual models on the table.

Genestealer Cult Test Models

I'm finally back to posting!  I've been painting a bunch of Khorne models that I'll get up on the blog over the next few weeks but first I wanted to share my test models for the new army... the Genestealer Cult!  I was so excited when Deathwatch Overkill came out.  The models have so much character and the play style is so different than any other 40k army.

Many years ago we did a paint scheme with Tyranids.  Red flesh tones and body with khaki carapace.  As much as I love the traditional blues and purples I decided I'd incorporate the same old scheme to mesh the armies together.

Here are my first 5 acolytes from the deathwatch overkill box.  It's quite a large paint pallet.  I still need to dirty up and weather the bases.  Looks like I needed to do a better job focusing with the camera, sorry about that!

Finally here are two additional genestealers I painted.  They're painted under the same old scheme I did previously.

Next up on the painting table are the neophytes that look most like humans... then the hybrids that are somewhere in between.  I'm also working on finally getting into 30k with Imperial Fists.  Lots of hobby action!

Under Construction!

Sorry all, it has been a long time since I've posted.  My house has literally been under construction and it has kept me busy.  That and a little laziness.  I've done a bunch of hobbying on the side but haven't gotten to take any pictures

Here are the big projects I've been working on that I'll be sure to post some pictures on. 

1.  40k Khorne Chaos: I did a bunch more units for adepticon, and was really happy with how they turned out.  Photos to follow.  On the workbench I'm finishing some daemon princes

2. Necrons: I've added a bunch to my regular playing list since it's so fast to paint.  I finished off some lychguard, characters and a stalker.  On the workbench I'm working on a destroyer cult.

3.  Terrain: I've almost finished up my secret weapon minatures urban boards.  On the workbench I'm doing some MDF street tiles that are more appropriate for Infinity and I'm tackling the secret weapon miniatures grassland and ruins tiles.  Then on to infinity terrain!

4.  Death Korps: All in the assembly phase... that'll big a big project!

5.  Marines: Working on a bunch of pods, marines, and I think I'm going to paint up a few squads of Deathwatch

6.  Tau: I really want to do the drone swarm of the piranha formation.  This means tons of drones to paint as well as 10 piranhas.  I'll need to figure out a fast way to paint this up.  I'm also putting together that huge LOW suit.

7.  Table: I'd like to do a nice looking gaming table frame that can hold all the tiles for a 4 x 4 table and can expand to a 4 x 6.  I need to scan the internet for inspiration.

So yeah, a little hobby overload.  I need to focus!  The game "No Man's Sky" has been eating up some of my free time along with Warhammer Total War.  Just need to wrap up all my Honey-Do lists...

Tablescapes: Urban Street Painting #3

I've been slowly adding and trying new things to the tablescapes urban tables.  It's been fun (and frightening) trying out new skills but I'm learning a ton of new hobby skills. 

I washed all the metal areas with a brown/black ink wash and went about sponging on masking fluid everywhere I wanted to put down road markings.  I then created some masking tape stencils to airbrush on the patterns. 

I also went out and bought some random patterns to put on the open spaces and figured some hazard stripes might look cool as well.  These were all airbrushed on as well.  Not too bad for my first try and it.  The masking fluid rubbed off easily with a large eraser and I was good to go. 

To celebrate the holiday weekend, I had a friend of mine and his son over to try out Infinity.  Unfortunately these roads are way too wide for Infinity (my fear) but I'll see if I can come up with some road debris to add line of sight blockers.  It was fun, and it was great to play outside with beer.

I then finished up last night by doing an oil wash of a dark brown.  I slathered it on and used a paper towel to pull off the top.  I wanted to "dirty" up the concrete flat tiles some.  After that was finished I let it try for the evening and did a matte coat of spray to seal it in.  It's hard to see my yellow lane dividers up top, but you can see the finished product on them as well. 

Next steps will be doing the same wash to the street and intersection tiles and then I'll try my hand at weathering powders.  It's been a very fun project, and I'll have enough to manage about 3 4'x6' tables for friends to come over.

Tablescapes: Urban Street Painting 2

I've been slacking on my painting.  Work and life have gotten in the way.  Here are some more progress shots of the tablescape urban tiles. 

I first started by airbrushing in the Badger Airbrush "Cracked Soil.  I did it around all the drains, manhole covers, and craters. 

I then worked into the craters some darker brown.  I used the Badger Muddy Brown to do that.  Finally I pulled in the black color in the center of the craters and I covered all of the metal work.

Next step is to paint all the metal work silver then wash it with an armor wash.  I'll then be on to the stuff I don't have any experience on... masking fluid to break up the yellow painted street markings!  After that I'll work on oil washes and weathering powders. 

Tablescapes: Urban Streets Tile Painting 1

I admit, I'm super scared of my airbrush.  I think the older I get the more I realize there is a learning curve on new skills and question whether it's worth diving into it.  Sad, huh?  But I decided what is a better way to learn airbrushing then some relatively flat tiles.  Maybe if I get the hang of that I can start trying out miniatures.

I figured I also am super scared of doing weathering powders and oils... so why not jump full on and try all these new skills!  I'd love to apply it to vehicles and terrain.

I picked up a ton of the Secret Weapon miniatures tiles.  I have enough of the clean and damaged urban streets to probably do 12 or 16 feet of gaming tables.  I originally thought I could use them for Infinity but the roads are a little too wide.  Now that I'm on a Death Korps kick, I thought it would be cool to do them in an urban setting as they're trudging through a bombed out city.  I'm also tempted to do a genestealer cult and Deathwatch pairing duking it out in an urban setting.

With that said, I dove in now that the weather is nice.  I primed all of the bases black then started with my first couple of spray paint coats.  I first started with Rustoleum Self Etching Primer.  It's an awesome greyish color with a hint of green.  The picture outside makes it out to be way lighter then it is, but you get the idea.  I hit all the roads with that in an uneven pattern.

I then masked off all of the roads and hit the sidewalks and concrete areas in a base of the Rustoleum Nutmeg.  It'll give me a brownish undercoat that I can layer on the grey. 

I kept with uneven coats through that, letting some areas of the black undercoat show through.  Here's most of my stack of the tiles I'll now begin airbrushing.  I started last night and after a ton of mistakes and learning, I finally got the hang of it. 

I worked in the Minitaire Concrete Slab into the sidewalks and then added it into the highlighted areas in the streets after I pulled off the masking.  Funny enough the first picture was with the garage door closed at night, and the other two were from this morning.  Lighting makes a difference.

I ended up finishing about half the tiles, and got really fast towards the end.  Next steps I'm going to work in more earth tones, and figure out if I paint the striping on the streets or do the blast marks next.  Then on to the scary oils, washes, and weathering!