Week 47 - Assembly Line

So there isn't much in the way of completed models this week. I have got 13 Zees on the painting desk which are almost table ready. They may get done for next week. I have however managed to trim and assemble quite a few models this week and I aim to at least have all the season 3 Dreadball teams assembled for next weekend. I also assembled all of my Rail Crew for Malifaux, the bases are coming along as well.

I have got into a bit of a rhythm with the model assembly in the last couple weeks. Part of this is due to a PP Insider blog I read a couple of years ago. It talked about the best advice one of the guys had been given about the hobby, "always be trimming." What this boils down to is having a little 'away bag' complete with a set of files, knives and clippers and a small bag of models. This away bag is what you take on business trips, weekends away or (in my case) to work for lunch breaks. You just sit down in your off time and trim some models. This frees up your hobby time for painting and gaming rather than filing off mould lines and clipping from sprues. This is also doable during those TV shows your partner forces you to 'watch.' As a result I can usually do a couple models per day at a relaxed pace and spend my weekend time painting.

With Deadzone shipping beginning next week I took the opportunity to trim up a set of 5 Enforcer models. They should be quite fun on the table and will really speed up getting Deadzone onto the table in the new year.

Week 46 - The Ball Starts Rolling...

So an early post this week due to unforeseen circumstances. Not a great deal to report either but things are ticking along once again. I have started to trim up the Asterian Dreadball team so that between Knightwolf and myself we will have all the teams available for games. Then I can start on the Terratons and Nameless. I played a couple of short games using the Zees and Terratons this week, the first was Zees vs Terratons. My poor little monkey clones were stomped by the turtles, it proved very difficult to get past them and with the Zees all being Jacks I just couldn't get the upper hand. The second game was Terratons vs Marauders. This game was also in favour of the turtles, I benched two of the Orc guards in the first rush and just kept scoring one point strikes. Knightwolf just couldn't reclaim much ground but did miss a couple shots that would have made things more even. Painting-wise I have finished up the test model for the Zees, shown below.

The scheme isn't too complicated but I have foregone the dip this time around as I see myself taking these guys, so they can get a decent paint job. Unfortunately the lack of direct light has made the shot a bit dark. There will be better shots when I get more done...

I am going to find myself with some time in the next few days so will be able to trim and assemble some more models. Unfortunately I wont be in a position to paint them but I can at least replenish my stores of assembled models. I have even started planning out my bases for my Ten Thunders crew and am fighting the urge to make a themed table for them... A steampunk rail yard would be a fun table to play on... I have also determined the base colours for my Morat Aggression Force so may have a test model done for those depending on how my week shapes up.

The year is winding up fast and I am nowhere near hitting 500 models, there is still time of course but even that is pushing my maximum output! I may have to settle for 400 but that is still a decent amount for a first try. The real question is 'can I keep it up next year?'

Day 320
370/320 Painted/Days passed
370/366 Painted/Target (101.1%)
6/6 Mercs - Kezai Wazza (100%)
71/71 Zombicide! (100%)
31/31 Dystopian Wars - Republique of France (100%)
48/55 Dreadball: Season 2 (87.3%)
32/40 Blindwater Congregation (80.0%)
11/18 Malifaux - Kirai Crew (61.1%)
50/82 Dreadball: Season 1(61.0%)
89/150 Corporation Marines (59.3%)
7/19 Infinity - Haqqislam (36.8%)
21/89 Forge Fathers (23.6%)
1/85 Kings of War - Abyssal Dwarves (1.2%)
1/89 Dreadball: Season 3 (1.1%)
2/474 Kings of War - Undead (0.4%)

Week 45 - Painting in Full Scale

So I have been painting this weekend (a full 18 hours worth!) but not the kind usually found here... I took the weekend to paint the nursery. I had the clever (stupid) idea to paint the nursery to look like clear skies and rolling hills. This was so it would tie in well with all the Winnie the Pooh stuff the wife has bought. Did I mention that this would be the first time I was painting an entire room? By myself? Really should have made it easier on myself...

At any rate here are some photos of what it looked like before:

During:

And after:

With furniture:

So understandably I haven't done much else painting-wise this weekend. I have had a chance to assemble a full roster of Zees for Dreadball though so I hope to get those done fairly quickly as they are tiny little fellows. I have updated the model list with all the extra Dreadball bits too, just short the missing season 2 bits.

Day 314
369/314 Painted/Days passed
369/366 Painted/Target (100.8%)
6/6 Mercs - Kezai Wazza (100%)
71/71 Zombicide! (100%)
31/31 Dystopian Wars - Republique of France (100%)
48/55 Dreadball: Season 2 (87.3%)
32/40 Blindwater Congregation (80.0%)
11/18 Malifaux - Kirai Crew (61.1%)
50/82 Dreadball: Season 1(61.0%)
89/150 Corporation Marines (59.3%)
7/19 Infinity - Haqqislam (36.8%)
21/89 Forge Fathers (23.6%)
1/85 Kings of War - Abyssal Dwarves (1.2%)
2/474 Kings of War - Undead (0.4%)
0/89 Dreadball: Season 3 (0.0%)

Week 44 - Rallypoint, Zombies, Infinity and Steampunk

Hey I remembered to post this week, huzzah! So this was a particularly busy weekend, with a Halloween party on Friday evening and Rallypoint all weekend. The party was fun, there were some nice little costumes and quite a few liked what the wife and I were wearing. No pictures yet as my camera was still set on 'models' mode when people were taking pictures, so they all came out blurry. I hope to get a photo up soon though.

Rallypoint is the annual Hamilton event for non-GW games. This year I was playing the PG role and doing demos instead of playing in the tournament. I also took a couple breaks to play some Infinity and Zombicide. The Infinity games were a bit of fun, Knightwolf and I got a win each, we seemed to both get convincingly smashed so we do need to get our heads around our models and when to hold back, rather than rush forward. Dice played a factor for us both and a little was put down to the table layout too. Unfortunately we were so preoccupied playing that I forgot to take any photos. Oops...

The Zombicide game was epic. We were doing quite well, right up until a spawning got one of our survivors killed and flooded the board with zombies. It all went downhill from there, until this happened:

Yeah... That is every zombie from the base game and all the toxic zombies, in a pile, in a single square... We managed to claw back a win though, setting fire to the pile (worth about 100 xp) with a flame-thrower and finishing the scenario, which required us to get to that square while it was zombie free. (Get to the choppah! quite literally)

I managed to start assembling the last 2 Haqqislam models which should be ready for under-coating this week. I also received the (almost) last shipment of Dreadball, which has had a few parts delayed. With some luck I will get them together before the end of the year!