Week 50 - Cutting it Close

Well here we are, the year is just about done and with a final push I've just wrapped my last minis for the year. With the holidays upon us I've got no hope of doing any more before the new year, there may be the odd time here and there but it will be better spent preparing for next years challenge I think. Anyway, here are the last minis of the year:

13 more Zombicide zombies down. I wish I could say that these were the last, but I still have 19 to go, not to mention 65 hero models. They will be part of phase two next year.

So with the year closing up now is as good a time as any to reflect on progress made.

• I've managed to reach the 'one model a day' target for the third year in a row. That keeps me making something resembling progress, which is good.
• I've finished several of my goals for the year too and am able to field painted forces for several game systems.
• I unloaded a bunch of models that were surplus to requirements, making a goal of painting everything eventually much more feasible.
• I also completed 21 models via commissions and still have a happy customer. I still have 3 more works in progress for next year.
• I also got time to play some games and started a big renovation to my future gaming area.

There are of course areas I could improve on:

• I'm pretty sure I bought more models than I painted this year.
• Some goals were missed as a result of said spending...
• Painting quality has slipped a little more than last year, in the name of speed.

With all that in mind I threw together a rough plan for 2016:

1. Finish current commissions.
2. Complete outstanding goals of 2015.
3. Reach annual painting target of 366 models. (Yay, a leap year...)
4. New target, buy fewer models than I paint.
5. Complete gaming area.
6. Have fun.

That all sounds reasonable and achievable, we will have to check back next year to see though! Next year I also plan on posting more geeky stuff, reviews and maybe even some battle reports.

Day 344

366/344 Painted/Days passed

Goals:

Commission models - 21

TNT models - 22

Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11

Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9

Paint all Directorate - 44/44

Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4

Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37

Paint all Berserk zombies - 37/37

Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 131/150

Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79

Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83

Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 47 - Back to the Horde

I'm trying to get back on the wagon just before the year wraps up so I finished some more zombies that were part way done already. And a random gribbly I was using to test some ideas on. Anything to get that tally up to 365!

So that is another 17 models done just 12 more to go and I'm done for the year. I will probably still try to get the rest of the Zombicide zombies done though, just for piece of mind... Or brains...

Day 326
353/326 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 21
TNT models - 22
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 37/37
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 116/150
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 46 - Runes.....

That is officially the longest time between painting posts ever. My bad. What have I done in the last 6 weeks you ask? Aside from a bunch of life commitments I've done this:

Just the one model. Man that was a mission. At least this one is done, I have the gargantuan to do next. I've also had another two small models dropped off do do as well.

So yeah, I've managed to go from well ahead to nearly behind in the last few weeks. I'm going to have to spare some time to finish some zombies or I will miss my yearly goal, which would be the first time since I started back in 2013. And this post is early because I'm off to TCOW for the afternoon. Yay priorities!

Day 319
336/319 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 21
TNT models - 21
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 37/37
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 100/150
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Ba-Da-Boom Box

So at Auckland Armageddon it came to my attention that a local company was throwing their hat in to the 'block' arena. I'm not one to shy away from trying something out so gave them a looksie. The company is My Pop Culture and the blocks are called Ba-Da-Boom box. They offer three 'themes;' Gamer, Hero and Mixed for $50 shipped, or a $25 mini version. I picked up a Hero version.

The contents:
Spider-man Pop! vinyl
Riddler beer mug
The Hulk scalers
Iron-man cufflinks
Batman Heroclix blind bag
Superman comic
X-men 2 DVD

A Pop vinyl is always good and spidey is a welcome addition to my shelf. Now I'm not a drinker but I can certainly appreciate a decent piece of glassware. This is a welcome addition as my gaming garage is going to be finished soon and suitably geeky glassware will fit in nicely.

There were some nice small items in the box as well. The Hulk Scaler is nice, I'm not one to wear headphones (mine are wireless) but I have got a little key ring display that he will fit with nicely. The cufflinks are very nice and the Wife is particularly keen on me having some which is a plus. I've already got most of the Batman Heroclix set (I'm missing two rares) so an extra chance to get one of those was great (no such luck though).

Lastly were a couple of almost nostalgia pieces. There is an X-Men 2 DVD and a Superman comic from 2003. Now there is nothing wrong with the DVD except that I already have it, so all good. The comic is pretty weird as it really is old, very good condition and shipped in a bag though. Superman is my least favorite hero so maybe I'm just biased, a batman comic I probably would have loved.

So what is the verdict? I think there is a lot of potential here:

• There is a solid quantity of items
• The items are all good quality
• There was a good mix of toys, apparel and entertainment

I will probably check out the other variations in the coming months. The value of this box came in at about $83 (they claim 'up to $100' value) which is in just the right spot. The items I like are more than the base cost and the box arrived within 4 days of ordering, which are all big positives.

I would recommend checking this out, with xmas coming up in particular. Geeks can be hard to buy for at times and this would really up your odds of getting something they like, without having to be a geek yourself.

Available here. (So you don't have to scroll back up to the link above...)

Arcade Grab Block

As part of signing up for the Arcade block in the last post I had the opportunity to get a half price 'grab block.' These are boxes containing a random assortment of items from recent-ish blocks. I figured I would give this a go and post about it, for those on the fence. Bear in mind that these are only available when you sign up for a new subscription (for the time being) but the new Sci-fi block is out very soon... Which is obviously why I've been checking them out again. This set me back $23 USD, or around $35 NZD.

The contents:
CounterStrike shirt
Evolve Pop!
Portal 2 magnets
Street Fighter key chain
Blue Shell on Board sign
Sonic comic

The shirt is from Shirtpunch but is quite soft, which is good. The print is reasonable and I have nothing against more grey for my wardrobe.

A Pop! vinyl is always welcome, I've not played Evolve but the concept sounds pretty cool. This adds to my set nicely but I'm probably not going to add the others any time soon. Too many other cool options on the list first!

Now for the rest, the portal magnets are cool and look to be reasonable quality. The street fighter key chain lights up and plays the hadoken sound bite. This is pretty cool, hopefully it will survive regular use. The comic will prove to be a nice read I'm sure but I have no idea what I'm going to do with the blue shell sign...

As far as pseudo-random packs are concerned this one turned out pretty well. Between the Pop and the shirt I've not lost any investment and I only got one item of little to no use. Given the reduced price I'm pretty happy all up.

Value: The shirt and Pop cover the costs, everything else is a nice bonus.

Get your own here.

October Arcade Block

The October Arcade block just came through and cost me $33 USD, or about $50 NZD. I got a bit sucked back in with all the Fallout 4 hype, I've already stopped the subscription as the next set of spoilers don't really interest me.

The contents:

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 shirt

Atari cap

Fallout Funko blind box figure

Titanfall K'nex set

Retro City Rampage computer game

The shirt is the usual fare from Shirtpunch, it feels a little rough but the print is actually pretty cool, which can be a bit hit-and-miss from these boxes. I'm happy with this one.

Next up is the Atari cap. I'm not much of a hat person but it is reasonable quality and has both print (the rainbow stripes) and embroidery (Atari logo) so with summer upon us I'm just as likely to wear it as any other hat.

This box also came with a Funko Fallout blind box figure and a K'nex Titanfall set. Luckily for me I got one of the figures I wanted out of the blind box. I hadn't looked too closely at that set as there are quite a few 'odd' figures in there. The K'nex set is interesting, it didn't take long to do and it all seems to be made of thinner stuff than the normal sets. This isn't something I would usually get for myself (I prefer Lego) but it was nice to see what else is out there. I'm not going to get more though.

Lastly the block came with Retro City Rampage DX. I've not had a chance to load it up yet but it looks like it will be a nice little time waster. It comes in a old style box, with an old floppy disk style CD cover but has a download code as well. Solid effort all up.

So I've had a couple Arcade blocks in the past that weren't so great. This one is certainly a step up from those, all of the items are real, solid, pieces unlike some of the paper heavy ones in the past. If Nerd block keep this up I may be back on a more permanent basis.

Value: There are 5 items in this block and they are all worth at least $10 each so there isn't anything lost. No complaints from me, I'm content with this one.

Get your own here.

October Marvel Collector Corps Crate

The October Marvel Collector Corps crate theme was "Villains" and cost $45 USD, or about $70 NZD. This crate had a lot to live up to after the last one, lets see what we got.

The contents:

Shirt featuring several villains sketches

Comic

Morbius Pop!

Loki Dorbz

Venom keychain

Pin and patch

The shirt isn't too bad but is lacking colour. It is still a high quality shirt though and the grey is a nice change from the more common black ones from other boxes.

The comic is another variant cover. It seems like they were going with a Halloween theme a bit with this box as the cover incorporates zombie villains. The pin is of Green Goblin and the patch has Red Skull.

The figures on offer this time are a Morbius Pop, Loki Dorbz and Venom keychain. This is a pretty solid haul, 3 figures is pretty much what I want out of every box. The Loki and Venom are pretty cool, Morbius is a pretty odd choice though which points more strongly to the Halloween theme. Morbius is also the random drop in this box, he comes in zombie and normal forms.

I've spoken to a couple other people and the vibe around this box wasn't great. Some videos online say the same thing. I think this is definitely down to the Morbius Pop. If either of the pin or patch characters were swapped with Morbius I think people would have been much happier. As I said above, 3 figures is awesome, so I'm pretty happy anyway.

Value: A Pop and a Dorbz come in at $50, so with a shirt the value easily rises over the $70 spent.

The next theme is "Guardians of the Galaxy" which is awesome...

If you want your own you can subscribe here.

Week 40 - Printing Up a Dropzone

No painting progress this week, just some prep work in the background. I've got a stack of Zombicide models half way but none done just yet. Instead I've been running the 3D printer pretty much every evening, working towards this:

The one on the left is a product of someone else's file, the right is a card building from the DZC starter. Unfortunately that was all that was available, until I played with the source file. Now there are four designs, all able to be mixed together, as below.

I plan on doing some commercial building designs later, but this will keep me busy for a while. Also I have another commission making time a bit thin. Particularly since it involves these two.

So. Many. Runes...

I promised myself I would never do these models, so many runes. But I think that this time I have a plan, something to make the runes easy. I really, really hope so anyway!

Day 277
335/277 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 21
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 37/37
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 100/150
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 39 - Zombies Moving on to the Finish Line

No post last week as I was hanging out with the TCOW crew up in Auckland. Got in most of a game of DZC and watched a lot of TNT as well.

Painting-wise I have finished up another 15 zombies for Zombicide and 5 models for a Preservers warband for TNT. I'm liking TNT quite a bit, I unfortunately don't get to play a lot of campaign games for it though. Not to worry.

So I've still got 1 more model of the same style for the above TNT group, hard to say when that will get done. It will mostly depend on when I next have those colours out. Just 30 more models to go and I will have finished my requirements for the year, which will be nice. It is looking like I won't have many free weekends between now and New Years so that is probably a good thing.

I have Armageddon Expo up in Auckland in a month, meaning very little time to get a costume together. I think I can do it but with so few available weekends it may be challenging. Time will tell anyway.

Day 270
335/270 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 21
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 37/37
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 100/150
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 37 - Berserk and Dog Zombies

I suspected that the berserk zombies wouldn't take very long and I was right. This meant I was also able to get the zombie dogs completed as well. That makes for 57 completed models this week. Not a bad effort at all. This leaves me with just 50 models to complete in the next three and a half months. I made some time to prime some of the remaining Zombicide zombies which will mean I have enough to finish off the year at least. Here are this weeks efforts.

Like the toxic zombies, this lot will get clear bases eventually, I need more superglue first at least. I have plenty of other stuff to get on with in the mean time anyway.

Day 256
315/256 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 16
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 37/37
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 85/150
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 36 - Toxic Zombies

I got some time over the last week to get some painting done, this allowed me to finish the painting of the last 23 Zombicide Toxic zombies. I still have to find the time to swap out the bases for clear ones but I have to do that for all of the original Zombicide zombies anyway so they can wait.

I've made a start on the Berserk zombies, they should be pretty quick as the colour pallet on them is much more limited. I'm going for red, orange and brown, with some pale blue for the guards. They should be really easy to spot on the table. I will have to pick up some more brown wash before then but it should be the last step so isn't time critical. Next up should be the zombie dogs as they are also a limited pallet.

Day 249
258/249 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 16
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all Toxic zombies - 37/37
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/79
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16
Paint all Berserk zombies - 0/37

August Marvel Collector Corps Crate

The August Marvel Collector Corps crate theme was "Secret Wars" and cost $45 USD, or about $70 NZD. This is the first Marvel crate not tied to a movie release so makes things a bit different.

The contents this time:
Shirt featuring 4 Pop! vinyl style characters
Comic
Spiderman Pop! figure
Thor Pop! figure
Pin and Patch

The shirt is another official Pop! product and is very nice. The print is really cool, much better than the Ant-man one as it is more prominent.

The comic is an exclusive cover of the Secret Wars #1, featuring a Pop! Thor. Nice, but as the comic has been out for a little while I already have a copy. From the May Comic block, with an exclusive cover as well. This is a shame and with the theme as it is, not surprising. It was at least bagged and boarded this time, so an improvement. The badge and patch are both cool, I'm liking my little collection.

Last up are the figures. Not one, but two Pop! vinyls this time. This is excellent. The Spiderman and Thor figures are both great, the Thor doesn't balance very well, all the hair at the back means it doesn't really bobble either though. Not a big issue (most people seem to keep these in box anyway, weirdos... *Joking*) so I'm really happy.

This is yet another solid offering from Marvel Collector Corps. I feel like this is what Loot Crate and Nerd Block set out to be in their infancy but have since deviated. For me, I want cool figures, shirts and pins/badges/patches. Comics are a bonus. By sticking to this formula Marvel Collector Corps will keep getting my money. As long as it is spare anyway.

The pattern is looking pretty clear now: Shirt, Pop!, Comic, Pin, Patch and a wildcard figure. Nothing wrong with that in my books!

The value of this crate: for a Pop! shirt, 2 Pop! vinyls and a comic you would expect to pay $90-$100. For any given geeky shirt and 2 Pop! figures you could pay around $70. Either way you slice it you are still getting a little ahead, definitely not losing money.

The next theme is yet to be revealed, it should be in the next few days though...

If you want your own you can subscribe here.

August Loot Crate

The August Loot Crate theme was "Villains 2" and cost $30 USD or about $45 NZD.

The contents this month:
A mug (either Venom or Carnage, I got Venom)
A Breaking Bad apron
A Joker wooden toy
A Hydra pin
and the lootcrate mag and badge

There are just four items in this crate and three of them are fairly large. The first one is the mug. I think this was supposed to be the jewel of the box but unfortunately it is pretty rubbish. It would be very hard to drink out of, the paint job is pretty sloppy and worst of all, its ugly. The wife hates it. I think the best use for it will be as a pencil holder, and only just barely.

Next up is the apron. This is pretty nice, includes some pockets but is a little short. It is nicely made though so will find some use around the house.

Last of the big items is the Joker wooden toy. This is nice but more of a young child toy than a collectible. It does come with an alternate head and can be posed to some extent. It looks like this is a custom paint job not normally available though.

To finish out the box was a Hydra pin, a replica of the ones used in the Winter Soldier movie. This is really nice, something I would buy for myself and the highlight of the box.

So the verdict this month: Meh. The best item was also the smallest. I think the box could have been much better just by changing out the mug. A normal mug with a nice print would have been way better and quite possibly allowed for another small item to be put in the box too. I know of at least a couple people who have dropped their subscriptions after the last two boxes and I am one of them. I may yet return but for now I'm happier spending that money on other things, even just a Pop vinyl, comic and patch would make me happier than the last couple boxes.

Thinking of subscribing yourself? Use this link and you get a discount and I get credit too! Win-win!

Week 34 - Keeping Up the Pace

Not a huge post this week as I struggled to get much done. Things just didn't work out in trying to get to the painting table this week, there was a lot going on in the evenings. I have got 5 more Bones figures finished and a Mars Attacks hero done though so I'm still technically on track for the end of year goal. I did manage to trim up most of a set of the Mars Attacks heroes though so maybe I will get more of those done next week. I should probably be trying to get the rest of the toxic zombies done though since they are all about half done...

Day 235
235/235 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 16
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/46
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Paint all Toxic zombies - 14/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 0/37
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 33 - Post Apoc Wargaming

So there was no post last week as I was up in Auckland playing with the TCOW guys. We were playing This is Not a Test (or TNT for short) which is a skirmish game set in a Fallout-like setting. The guys are playing through a campaign and Knightwolf and I will tag along every once in a while too. I will give my thoughts on the game once I've played a couple more times but in the mean time I painted up my starting warband, pictures below.

Since then I have also painted up a couple extra models for my next additions and hope to get hold of a few more guys to round out my options. I also managed to finish up my commission work today so pictures are below also.

So that makes 20 models in two weeks, which just catches me back up. I've pulled out some Bones models to do quickly as some critters for TNT as well as some of the extra Mars Attacks heroes, giving me a nice range to work on. I'm bound to get back to those zombies sometime soon too...

Day 228
229/228 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 10
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/46
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Paint all Toxic zombies - 14/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 0/37
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

June Marvel Collector Corps Crate

The June Marvel Collector Corps crate theme was "Ant-Man" and cost $45 USD. (About $69 NZ.) This crate was a little late due to some payment issues with my initial subscription but is still available if you start a new subscription.

The contents this time:
Shirt
Comic
Pop! figure
2 blind box figures (with 4 possible figures)
Pin and patch
All of which are Ant-man themed

The shirt is nice quality and is from Pop! vinyls new clothing range. It gives me high hopes for that range as it is nicer than any shirt from Nerd Block and on par with several of the Loot Crate ones. The print leaves a little to be desired, it is cool and clever but that doesn't always make for the best of geeky apparel.

The figures this time are really good. I'm all for boxes that are mostly figures so I was bound to be happy. We get an unmasked Pop! Ant-man with exclusive mini Ant-man and two blind figures. The full sized Pop! is great and the mini figure is cool but it is claimed as a bobble head, which doesn't work very well. On the other hand the blind box figures are really good. It helps that I really wanted Yellowjacket and got him but they are also bobble heads and work great.

The last items are the comic, pin and patch. The pin and patch are great, the same quality as the last crates offerings. The comic was a nice read but does drop you in the middle of a story a bit. As it is issue number 5 this is kind of to be expected but in some ways I would have expected an issue 0 or 1. This is an interesting move since not many people knew much (or anything) about Ant-man before the movie, so it does tie in well that way. (I assume issue 1 covered some of the origins, much like the movie...) This poses the same issue I was worried about with Comic Block, how often are we going to be dropped into a story part way through, without knowing much about who is in the book?

So the pattern of the Marvel crates is starting to unfold, with the first one containing a shirt (with 4 possible prints), Pop! figure, comic, extra figure, pin and a patch. It seems like you will always have something that has variable odds which is a nice little feature to go with the guarantee of a Pop! and a shirt. The next one (orders close on the 16th BTW) will really solidify what these will contain in the future.

So what is the value from this box? Well the shirt, Pop! and blind figures add up to about the cost price, so the comic, patch and pin are free. Everything is exclusive though so you could swing the values a bit that way. This does mean that if there is something in the box you don't like (particularly a bigger item) then you may struggle to find the value.

The next theme is "Secret Wars" which will be pretty interesting...

If you want your own you can subscribe here.