Week 21 - Progress, Yay!

So another week down and a bunch of progress to report for a change. The Sorylians are plodding along, I got a lighter coat on almost all the base colours and started to add in the detail colours. I only just realised I didn't give the bases a coat of black spray today, which was something I really wanted to get done. Nuts.

Out of nowhere I have managed to complete one of my goals as I have now got about 600 points of Abyssal Dwarves all assembled and tacked onto movement bases for playing. The added bonus with this list is that the Orcs can all be used for another army once I get more of each assembled and then I can do proper demo games. Also, that is a scary amount of models for just 600 points... That is what happens with no heroes.

I also received my copy of the Dropzone Commander 2 player starter this week. This was particularly exciting as the quality was way higher than I have seen anywhere else. The box was packed with layers of bubble-wrap and everything was bagged, there was obviously great care taken when the box was put together. The sprues indicated to me, more than any other that I've seen, a great deal of foresight. Each faction in the box has 3 sprues, all the same. The sprue was designed with efficiency in mind so rather than having 5-6 sprues for a faction, based on units, it was designed with a starter box in mind. This does mean that you wont see a plastic APC blister any time soon but I doubt this is an issue.

The other thing worth mentioning is that the plastic is really nice as well. The mould lines are almost non-existent, similar to the Wyrd plastics, and are very easy to remove. The details are also very crisp and fine, much nicer than I have seen anywhere else except maybe the Kingdom Death resins. I have high hopes for the resin pieces as a result. The digital design of the parts also means that everything snaps together tightly, a nice change after my FOW Open Fire experience recently. My only complaint is that the Scourge have little ribbed details right on the mould line, it really isn't worth the effort to deal with them as the risk of removing the detail is quite high.

I am also doing some research into a special project that could be quite exciting, more details to come.

Day 145
0/145 Painted/Days passed
0/55 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

Week 20 - Slow Going

Yeah so no post last week as I simply hadn't done anything. That is probably going to be happening a lot. I did sell a fair chunk of models that I either hadn't used in years or was never going to. I also updated the Wall of Shame a couple times to reflect those changes.

This week I got a little time so managed to assemble the leftover Flames of War models I had. I have to say that the Open Fire models are pretty bad. The tanks just did not go together well at all. There are large gaps and the tracks aren't parallel. I'm told that the plastics after Open Fire are much better though. In the mean time there is a lot of work to do to fix them up.

I also got some time to get the base colours done on my Sorylians and give them all a black wash. The next step is to go back over everything to bring out the bright panels, maybe do some highlights and start on details. I was thinking of naming them all using Greek Deities and Demigods. If I get really fancy I may try to do a font other than 'just get it done.' Don't hold your breath or anything!

A quick trip out to Bunnings today meant I could pick up some MDF panels to make terrain boards. If all goes well I may be able to get started on some space scenes. I also need to figure out a way to make a nice tiled floor board to go with some Doric columns I picked up cheaply a while ago. Something to think about anyway.

Day 138
0/138 Painted/Days passed
0/55 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

Week 18 - Return of the Father

And lo, he returns from the darkness, weary, scruffy and smelling of sour milk. He rises anew, a parent.

So I'm back, sort of. Lucky for me I went into parenthood assuming I would have no time for myself. That was not far from the truth it seems! I have managed the odd hour here or there in the last 8 weeks, where I wasn't exhausted and felt like building something. That is to say that I haven't done much (I picked up a brush for the first time in 8 weeks only today) but I have assembled 26 Orcs for KOW, assembled 6 of the 7 Batman miniatures I have and started painting my Sorilians. Pictures follow.

Unfortunately one of my Batman miniatures was miscast, missing an elbow. I have decided to re-sculpt it at some point as getting a replacement part could be more trouble than it is worth. Once I find the time anyway...

I have been given the opportunity to play around with a DSLR camera (used for the photos above) and while I still have almost no idea how to use it I can already tell the difference. Below is an example of my old camera (first) and the DSLR with only limited idea of how to use it.

Unfortunately I won't get to play with it for too much longer, but the wife wants one, so there is that at least... I hope to do some updates around the blog, like to the wall of shame, probably mostly from work, so look forward to that. One thing about parenthood, simple tasks take way longer than normal. If you think you have no spare time before you have a child, you will learn exactly how wrong you are! Even eating dinner can take over an hour and include a mid-meal reheat... As a result I have had to shift my style of doing things. I now work on a monthly project cycle, last month was mostly KOW, May will be mostly trying to paint my 10 Sorylian models for FS:A. The terrain project has no hope of being done in time, maybe next year.

Day 124
0/124 Painted/Days passed
0/19 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.