New Painting Station (and MOAR STUFF!)

Painting production has been severely disrupted this last week and Amanda decided we needed to do a big room-swaperoo... I'm STILL figuring out storage solutions for all the "ON DECK" items (stuff I want to work on, but am not CURRENTLY working on)... but the painting station is set up and I can get back to work... sort of... 

New painting station.

There isn't THAT much that's new about it... it's just in a different location in the house... 

It's been particularly hard because that Great Unclean One was SO CLOSE to being done... and the disruption has stalled progress on it. Sure, I still have WEEKS until Tanksgiving, it's not like I wasn't going to get it done on time... but when I'm working on something and motivated to work on it and in that "flow state" it is particularly jarring to have to STOP. 

One good thing about the disruption is it forced me to clean up a bit and put things in boxes. I love the idea of reducing clutter and only having ONE (or maybe two) projects out on the table at a time - to help keep FOCUSED... we shall see... 

I haven't been ENTIRELY idle... 

I did make this map for the Path to Glory campaign Amanda and I are playing. 

My drawing and watercolour skills are a bit rusty, so it didn't turn out quite how I had envisioned it in my minds eye... but I'm not redrawing it for what will likely be a very short-lived campaign. 

You can read more about the campaign on the campaign page:

Path to Glory - Methervale Campaign

Finally... to celebrate the new painting station, I picked up a few things to assemble and paint on it... (because i didn't already have enough things?!)

I got myself some faction terrain (for the Nurgle Army) and some Gossamid Archers for Amanda's Sylvaneth army as that will bring the force to almost (or, exactly?) 1000 points...? Also, while I was at the Warhammer Store, they still had the free miniature-of-the-month, so I grabbed one of them as well! 

Work-in-Progress Wednesday - 27 March 2024

Last Work-in-Progress Wednesday for March 2024... and the last one for 2024-Q1! 

No new miniatures purchased in the last week - because I failed to realize that GW now does two week Pre-Orders!? 

In the past week, I managed to finish off Skabbik's Plaguepack and the Neurogaunt (Free Miniature of the Month for March 2024) - so keeping up with the plan of painting ONE Warhammer Underworlds warband each week! This brings my total painted 28mm miniatures so far this year to 38 (versus 43 purchased). Regardless of how much I paint in the next week, I will not be in the black at the end of the Quarter as this weekend I'll be picking up THIRTY MORE 28mm miniatures (Zondara's Gravebreakers and the Rivals of the Mirrored City), which will push my purchased total up to 73!

Having finished up Skabbik's that polished off most of the warbands I was REALLY EXCITED about getting done... So now I'm not sure what to do... Part of me would like to finish up at least ONE more warband before the new stuff arrives on the weekend, but I'm not sure which one...

Here's what's on the workbench at the moment:

Sons of Velmorn seem the most likely to be finished next... just have to do cloaks and tunics and shield and belts and I think they're done... and that's not a lot of their surface area... 

While I was working on Skabbik's Plaguepack, I did do a little bit on Skittershank's Clawpack... might be nice to push through and finish THESE up before there are MORE Skaven on the workbench!?

I... it... it seemed like a good idea at the time

Trust me, I have a plan... it's going to be BRILLIANT... or suck... it's a fine line! 

My stand-in Chaos Gargant... did the easy bits, stuck on making decisions about clothes elements.... 

I've done little work on Thundrik's Profiteers (and the two other Kharadron Overlord heroes from Warhammer Quest that have joined this group)... I REALLY WANT to get them done... but just keep getting hung up on where to start and what metal colours to use!? 

Usually in this situation, I default to HOW ARE THEY PAINTED ON THE GW WEBSITE... 

Anothe warbands that feels SO CLOSE to being done, I should just finish it up and get it OFF the workbench... and yet it lingers for another week... 

Gnarlspirit Pack. Not sure if I've done any work on these...? 

And there are SO MANY OTHERS that are still just there... on the workbemch... because I fear if I put them back in storage they'll be forgotten forever and I HAVE PLANS for all of them: The Squigherd, Crimson Court, Myari's Purifiers, Hexbane's Hunters, Gorechosen of Drom, Garrek's Reavers, assorted Warhammer Quest heroes and villains, and so much more... 

Fall Terrain Painting Project

 Hasn't been much going on around here, game-wise... trying to wrap up a terrain project that's been going on for FAR TOO LONG - the 1:1 scale endless basement renovation project... It's been a DECADE that we've been chipping away at renovating the house and it feels like we've been in constant upheaval since... First was the roof and upstairs and insulation... then the kitchen... finally the basement, which had some momentum a few years back and then ground to a halt... and then Amanda decided this was the year it was going to be FINISHED!!!

In october it got to the point where drywalling was complete... and that's where I stepped in to do the PAINTING! 

Painting... 

Finished drywall before I got going on it... 

Drywall... 

More Drywall... 

STILL more drywall... 

You get the idea, right...?

Looking into THE BLACK HOLE... basement storage room (which was not renovated). 

Okay.... just about ready to go... 

Not sure why I uploaded so many... 

Now when give and blank wall and paint, the 12-year-old that pilots my brain is always tempted to scrawl rude words and drawings all over the place, but luckily, this time... 

Nope, nevermind, there it is... 

Ugggghhhh... Why am i like this...? 

Hmmmm.... 

Going to need a few coats for that room.... 

Oh, and it wasn't just the ONE room/colour... 

I am nothing, if not inclusive.... If I'm going to go and draw dicks on teh walls, it seems only right.... 

yeah... 

I... Just... 

Anyway.... 

Okay, fun time over.... time to get some actual paint on the walls... 

The hall and what was the kitchen is this lime green... it looks more yellow-ish on my computer screen... it is more lime-grean IRL. 

Hall

Kitchen... or what WAS a kitchen at one point... but is now being referred to as "studio" or "hobby project room"... 

Bathroom. 

Also bathroom. 

Looking from hall into bathroom

apparently one of the minions is moving downstairs... I'm not sure I'm super excited about the idea... but I guess it's a thing. This is their room. 

After I was done with the painting, the contractor was back installing flooring 

... and cabinetry (ikea boxes - I assembled, contractor installed) 

Door on the shower. 

bathroom vanity (again, from ikea - I assembled, contractor installed) 

Things are really moving along fast and it actually feels like... it might ALMOST be OVER!!?!?

Yesterday morning the countertops went in... 

I guess I better get building some drawers and doors!!

Will we ever see and end to it all!? Will the game room actually be accessible BEFORE the end of the year!? WILL WE ACTUALLY START PLAYING GAMES AGAIN!??!?? Amanda assures me all of these things will happen... 

I'm not going to hold my breath, or anything like promise there will be more content on this blog soon... 

I might do some stocktaking and reassessing and maybe it's time to ditch some stuff that I'm never going to get to. 

Game Plan 2023 - Q4

How is this year almost over!? 

I didn't have much of a PLAN for Q3 to look back at... with summer and renovations raging ahead, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be doing all that much hobby stuff... and I didn't... Here's what I did get up to over the last three months... 

Q3 - GAMES

In Q3 I played... 

• Wingspan x3
• 1754: Conquest – The French and Indian War x1
• Azul x1
• Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Carcassonne x1
• Charioteer x1
• Compounded x1
• Cyclades x1
• Splendor x1
• Terraforming Mars x1
• Wingspan: Oceania Expansion x1

Yeah... 13 games... wow... 

For the year, so far, I've played... 

• One-hour Wargames x20
• Codenames x11
• Wingspan x8
• Wingspan Asia x7
• Splendor x6
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x3
• Azul x2
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Terraforming Mars x2
• Tinderblox x2
• 1754: Conquest – The French and Indian War x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Carcassonne x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Charioteer x1
• Compounded x1
• Cryptid x1
• Cyclades x1
• Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Imhotep x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Terraforming Mars: Prelude x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

87 for the year, so far... not terrible... 

Q3 - Miniatures

I painted a total of eight 28mm miniatures this quarter, and purchased 26 more...

Aye-yi-yi... 

Q3 - Painted

• 3x Ninja All-Stars
• 2x Rat Ogors
• 2x Chibi Dwarves
• 1x Yagyu Jubei

Q3 total: 7

Q3 Acquisitions

• 6x Cyberpunk RED - Generation Red
• 3x Kromlech Space Dwarf Snipers
• 1x Darksword Miniatures Turtle Warrior
• 2x Ninja All-Stars
• 14x Clan Tanchyo (Ninja All-Stars) 

Q3 Acuisitions Total: 26

Q4 - THE PLAN

The renovations are... well... the end is... in sight, I guess... Drywalling was happening this past week. By the end of next week, painting could be happening... then the suspended ceilings...? Then some flooring...? (though some of the flooring will be waiting on cabinets to arrive...) Cabinets... finish plumbing... and then moving everything around and finding places for everything... Honestly, I'm not sure ALL of that will be done until the end of the year - when we might have time to devote to sorting and moving and such. 

If the renovation weren't enough... Amanda has just gone completely overboard with commitments this fall... I mean, as if the renovation weren't enough on top of a fairly demanding fulltime job... she's also committed to teaching EIGHT weekly yoga classes - each class being an hour long (PLUS the time to PREPARE each class...). AND she's spent the last month preparing and practicing a piece for the Saskatoon International Burlesque Festival - which was just this past weekend... AND plans to choreograph a completely NEW piece to preform at the Rosebud's Burlesque Club's Peek-a-Boo Halloween show at the end of THIS month... Does that all sound InSaNe?! But wait, there's MORE.... in addition to all this, she's also doing an online yoga teacher training thing that is every other weekend (two hours on Friday evening and then about seven or eight hours on the Saturday and again on the Sunday... AND there's homework and practice sessions she has to do BETWEEN those weekend instruction session!?).

Keiran isn't much better. They're back to doing three dance classes each week at a studio they danced at in the past and is ramping up for the school fall musical - which they will preform in December and Keiran will be VERY involved in... in addition to acting and singing and dancing, they are also doing a lot of the technical back stage - sets, props, and costumes (last year they sewed MOST of the costumes themselves!?). In addition to, y'know, SCHOOL....

That being said... I am SOMEWHAT hopeful that the hobby slump might... well... might not be OVER... but... I have some hope that a bit more hobby stuff will happen in the final quarter of the year... and at least by the Holidaze we might be getting back to playing games on the semi-regular... 

WHAT, exactly, will I (we?) be doing..? I couldn't say, exactly... If I had to guess... 

Q4 - GAMES

Looking at what i've gotten up to this year, so far (above), I'm obviously NOT completing any sort of 10x10 challenges this year... ah, well... 

Probably best to not even consider a Quarterly 5x5... 

Roleplaying

My online gaming pals did make Blade Runner characters a few weeks ago, and we're planning to play next weekend. I hope I can keep that game going for a bit - even if it's only every few weeks or so - at least to play through the adventure in the starter kit. After that..? maybe we'll continue with another adventure... or maybe we'll have a go at the new version of Twilight: 2000 or back to Wrath and Glory...?

I'd also like to run some in-person games... but that will depend on when the Game Room is available. Which will probably not be before November... maybe not even before December, or the Holidaze... In person I'd be keen to run the same things - Blade Runner, Twilight: 2000, and Wrath & Glory

I do still hope Finnegan will find some time at some point to run that My Little Pony Role-playing game for us... 

Board Games

Again, this will probably depend on when the Game Room is operational again... I'm hoping it will all be good by the holidaze and we can get some last minute gaming in before the end of the year!!!

Miniature Gaming!? 

Again... the Game Room....

I'd be keen to run some sort of skirmish games... maybe a short campaign... or maybe just try out the solo version of Stargrave (or Five Parsecs from Home)?!

Some of my miniature hobby time might be planning bigger things for the new year - like another online campaign or an in-person weekend campaign of some sort...? 

Q4 - Miniature Painting

With the end of the basement renovations and the Big Shuffle.. I should once again have a proper painting station and hobby space, to really get going on painting again. That might be in the new year. I'd like to keep plugging away at these Ninja All-Stars... and maybe a few Sci-fi things for Kill Team or Stargrave or Five Parsecs from Home- or any minis or vehicles or terrain I might use in any of the Role-playing games I might end up running. 

And the rats... I am still thinking I might run the Undercargard Challenge sometime next year... 

Though I kind of slacked off this past week... I'd still like to try and paint MORE than I've purchased this year - at least for miniatures (there is no way I'm going to get all the terrain that came with all the Kill Team boxes done... maybe that will be a project for NEXT YEAR!?) I have three months - about thirteen weeks 91 days. I've purchased 132 x 28mm miniatures and I've painted 62. I need to paint 70 more to "break even" - that's about three miniatures every four days... Nearly one a day... If I DID one a day, on average, I'd be totally in the black!? Maybe that's what I need to shoot for...? 

I just need to paint a miniature a day... and NOT BUY ANY MORE... 

Of course, now that I've typed that, GW will probably release an Emperor's Children Codex with a new Noise Marines box.... and, dammit, they'll probably simultaneously release a new Kill Team box that's, like, Noize Marines versus Goff Rockers - a 40K battle of the bands... and... it would just be so ridiculous that I just couldn't NOT buy THAT!?!? fuckers... Or a brand new version of Battlefleet Gothic!? 

State of Miniature Painting

The second order from Meeplemart arrived yesterday with  The Crows boardgames, Litanies of the Lost for Wrath and Glory and... 

These two miniatures for Ninja All-Stars that I happen to see they still had... (just... don't ask...) 

Updating my Painted vs. Purchased page (and the list took on the left (if your looking at this on a home computer and not a phone...), I noticed that broughts my total of 29mm Miniatures Acquired for 2023 to 118... 

So far, I have only painted 53...

then I started comparing and that sent me down a whole rabbithole of crunching numbers and thinking about things... 

If I paint four more I'll match last year's total... but will still have acquired 61 more miniatures than I've painted. So I got thinking about how I could, at the very least, paint MORE than I've acquired. I need to paint 65 just to break even. There are 109 days left in the year. If I painted ONE MINIATURE PER DAY that would be 162, which would be brilliant - well over what I've acquired and on my way to brining down the mountain of shame (though, it's not really much of a mountain, they're actually all very neatly organized in drawers in the game room...). 

Is it realistic to think I could paint a miniature per day...? Maybe... Maybe not... If I did one every other day for the rest of the year that would only be 54 and bring my total to 107, just shy of what I need... so I need to paint a little more than one every other day.  

Looking back at the last decade and a half (since I started tracking painted vs. purchased) there are only four years I was "in the black" (having painted MORE than I purchased). 

In the previous 15 years I have acquired 13222 28mm miniatures (an average of 881/year),  but only painted 9643 (an average of 642/year)...

To get caught up, I need to spend the next 15 years painting 239 MORE miniatures than I acquire... 

Can I DO that...? 

Will I even LIVE that long?!

I don't know... 

Maybe lets start with just painting more miniature than I acquire from here on out! So that means painting a little more than one miniature every other day for the rest of the year. 

What miniatures am I going to paint? NO IDEA!?  

The ones most likely to be finished next are these three:

Three Ninja All-Stars miniatures from the game Keiran got a few years back. I don't know WHAT got me thinking I should paint these up...?! 

I think I'd been looking around on Meeplemart to see if they had anything else I could add to the second order, as it is unlikely that I'll be ordering anything else any time soon... and i THINK I went looking at Soda Pop miniatures to see if they had any heroes for Super Dungeon Explore and they didn't but they had the two Ninja All Stars miniatures above and I remembered that Keiran had that game, but we'd never played it and I must have got it in my head that I should order these two miniatures and paint them and I could paint up a couple of teams of the ones that Keiran had and maybe that might motivate them to play the game....? Maybe...?

Anyway, the Samurai Sentry is pretty much done and the two Shinobi just need a few finishing touches and that will be THREE that I've done...? 

What will be next...? Who knows... could be the two new Ninja All-Star minis... Could be more from the box set (to finish a team... or finish the sentries...?) Or SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!? 

If I were in a place that I could actually make a PLAN and STICK TO IT(!?) - I'd probably count out a few Kill Teams (Ninja All-Star teams?) and clear everything off the painting tables and just work on those until they are done... but that doesn't seem to work at all anymore.. so... we'll just have to see...

Well Now What...?

 Well... it's October, now... 

First of all... I did finish up Day Thirty's picture for the September challenge. 

On the first of October, I did finish the inks on this one.

Comparison Pic - with the original I was working from. 

Day Thirty (a couple of days late) - Finished Study

This was a fun project. I did art. I learned a lot.

I feel like I want to keep going - the plan was to continue with... some other kind of "challenge" through October, but THE PLAN for such has always been a rather nebulous "I'll do a thing in October too" sort of deal rather than any kind of concrete plan... Unfortunately we're two days in, now, and I still have no REAL plan and I am, by NO accounts, a quick decision-maker! Also I HATE making a plan for a thing in the middle of the thing. 

This "September Challenge" took some thinking about and mental preparation... and... our renovation has gone completely sideways (Amanda completely CHANGING plans for a thing in the middle of doing the thing!?)... and now my folks are moving (hey - anyone looking for a nice two-bedroom condo in the Broadway area of Saskatoon?)... 

I may take a break... 

I may HAVE to take a break... 

I'm always a little worried that, once I got a ball rolling, taking a break might mean I lose the momentum and drop everything completely....

(Sort of like what I feel like I've done with MINIATURE painting and gaming!?) 

Soooo... What next? What do I do if I DO do a thing? As I mentioned, I HAD planned to keep the momentum going and doing something LIKE Inktober - maybe not SPECIFICALLY Inktober, though (because I don't really care for the prompt list) - partly this was to keep the art happening, partly to join in a community thing (I've had a few friends on Facebook that have done Inktober over the years), and partly because Ink could just be black and white and a would be a bit of a break from all the colouring I've done this last month.... (which is time-consuming)

ONE idea I had was to continue with the "Studying from the Masters" idea and do MACtober... (or Macualtober...) and do a drawing a day from one of my many books by David Macaulay (I have others, these were the quickest and easiest to find for the photo). I have LOVED DAvid MAcaulay's work since I was a wee lad. I can't remember how many times I checked Castle out from various libraries over the years of my youth. I've spent HUNDREDS of hours pouring over all those beautiful, precisely rendered illustrations!

Although... over the last month, I've really had FUN working with colour!? I went out and treated myself ( a couple times over the last week or so - to take advantage of the Art Placement 25% off sale!?) to a BUNCH more watercolour pencils and markers and even some fancy strathmore Media paper to do some "proper" work on!

And then there are these - I've been building and prepping all these boards over the last month as part of some nebulous plan to MAKE PAINTINGS HAPPEN! 

My daughter has jumped in on Faetober - a drawing of some sort of faerie creature every day for the month of October... maybe I should just join her... 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Ummmmm... 

I guess we shall see...