Week 17 - Nothing to Show

Its been a rough couple weeks, with lots of life stuff getting in the way, no game nights and no progress to show. I've just about finished my two outstanding commission models though, they just need their bases done. I've also spent a bunch of time pulling stuff off the 3D printer, I have a full PHR army for DZC now, I just need cards and infantry. I should also get back to printing more technicals for the resistance to finish that army off but they are a bit labor intensive because of how quickly they print and the quantity needed. I have another commission model being dropped off during the week as well. My next few weekends are pretty booked so progress is going to continue being slow for at least another month. I hope to scrape enough time together to finish off the partially painted resistance vehicles during that time though.

Day 121
148/121 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
3D printed models - 15
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish Zombicide survivors - 24/30
Finish Zombicide zombivors - 21/33
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 43/62
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 15 - More Vehicles Off the Printer

So a bit more time spent this week with the 3D printer, I've now got about 1k points worth of Resistance vehicles ready to use. I have expanded my set of designs to include wagons, buses, drills and 'small' hovercraft. Not much progress on the painting front again this week as weeknights have been hectic. I have got a weeks worth of models done though and made progress on my two commission models at the same time, so at least I'm not falling behind.

More rough paint jobs for the time being, I will do a touch up job on them later. The paint seems to hold fairly well which is good. In order to make this stuff playable I need to pick up a set of cards and a bunch of infantry options. Other than that is some flavor units and a command option. A Leviathan is far to big for my printer so if I do a design up I'm probably going to have to split it up for printing. As it stands the 'small' hovercraft only just fit!

Day 107
148/107 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
3D printed models - 15
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish Zombicide survivors - 24/30
Finish Zombicide zombivors - 21/33
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 43/62
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 14 - 3D Printing an Army

Something a bit different this week. I had spent a bunch of time on various sites looking for 3D models to use for DZC, as a way to bolster Knightwolfs PHR forces and change up our games a little bit. Unfortunately most of what is out there is designed to replicate something from a video game or movie. This makes for highly detailed models that just don't scale down well or require lots of supports, making the models look bad. So I gave up and started designing my own models, specifically designed and tested to print properly at 10mm scale. The results of the first batch are shown below, Resistance technicals. I have got some PHR units as well but they took a ride in Knightwolfs game case so wont be available for painting until next week.

The paint jobs are a little rough and there are a couple different print quality levels in there but they more than serve their purpose. This will give our new gaming buddy some new toys to use this week, there are another 6 awaiting paint as well, maximizing the unit. The rocket mounts may get reviewed in time to something nicer but these can stand in for a warlords retinue in the future.

I need to figure out what I am going to design next, based on what is economical and I will want lots of. The PHR walkers are going to be based on Mechwarrior designs but will take a lot longer than more trucks for Resistance...

Day 100
140/100 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
3D printed models - 7
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish Zombicide survivors - 24/30
Finish Zombicide zombivors - 21/33
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 43/62
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 11 - Scourge on the March

I didn't have a lot of time to work on models this week so I focused on some easy ones. I finished 12 more Scourge, all of them infantry stands. I'm just about out of assembled Scourge now so will have to spend evenings this week  building the last of them in time for the long weekend.

I should be getting two more commission models sometime next week. Hopefully I can get them done along with the rest of my Scourge over the weekend.

Day 79
90/79 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 43/62
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 10 - Table Upgrade and More Scourge

Another productive week despite the family having a cold. I completed 7 more Scourge, mostly transports this time. I also spent the day making a new gaming table and workbench in the garage. This will let me play 4'x8' size games as the old 4'x4' was no longer suitable. This will let KnightWolf and I play some bigger games of DZC, among others.

I've had that gaming table since early 2014, built for playing Warmachine. I didn't get much use out of it until the last six months though and it has proven to be too small. Of course I am supposed to be finishing off my garage but I never seem to finish any of these projects! Even the table isn't finished, I need to put a surround on it and add some dice areas. Soon though (probably...)

Day 72
78/72 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 31/45
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 9 - More Scourge Complete

This has been a busy weekend. My Daughter turns 2 tomorrow so we had her party yesterday. We have family visiting (for the party) and both my mother and mother-in-law are staying in my house. So luckily I got my painting done early in the week! I've got 20 more Scourge complete, which puts me ahead by almost a week on my goal, which I'm definitely going to need...

I've still got a bunch of Scourge to go but this does make my forces look a whole lot nicer. And after next week I have another 2 commission models coming my way so I'm going to have to try and get as much done as I can this coming week if I want to stay ahead.

Day 65
71/65 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 24/45
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 7 - Working Away

So I've been pretty busy the last couple weeks which has made progress pretty slow. I have a little to show but there are a lot of models part way finished in the background. There are 4 DZC and 3 Malifaux models to show for the last fortnight.

I am also making progress on the commission models but it is all pretty slow at the moment. Hopefully I will get some time to finish some models this coming week.

Day 51
44/51 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 3
Paint remaining Zombicide zombies - 19/19
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 7/4
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 0/1
Paint all DZC Scourge - 4/45
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 0/15
Onslaught miniatures - 11/54

Week 23 - Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.

Another slow fortnight, I just wasn't really in the mood or able to get much done. I did have a great time up at TCOW last Sunday though. Learned a lot more about playing DZC and have a better understanding of the game now. I did manage to paint up 4 new Scourge models in the last week though, pictures below.

Aside from that I did get my new shiny toy, a 3D printer! Its not very big or terribly flashy but I have been having fun tracking down 3D models I want to print, including the classic companion cube from the Portal series. Pictures below.

So the printer is quite tiny and works best with PLA. This limits some things but so far looks to be working well. The first cube came out pretty well I think and took about 90 minutes, I will give it a paint up in the next week or so, I am cautiously optimistic that it could be used on a gaming table quite easily. I've got another on the printer as I type. The printer has so far set me back $820, almost half of that was shipping and taxes. After meeting a guy who sells 3D printers at Auckland Armageddon I now know I could have had a less experimental model for about the same price, 6 months earlier. But now I know. At least I should be able to use him as a supplier for filament.

I've also managed to sell some of my Relic Knights, as a nice little bonus.

Day 158
183/158 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/36
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 9/16
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - 0/34
Build and paint all Deadzone Plague - 0/21

Week 21 - Putting Brush to Plastic

It looks like weekends are starting to free up again, yay! After spending the last couple months with only limited free time I am just starting to get time painting models again. I have a photo of the last 4 dreadball models (technically done last week) and the last Scourge model. As an added bonus I also finished some of my Arcanists for Malifaux. Pictures below.

This means I have finished all of the original Dreadball models, wrapped up my Scourge (so far) and have a good start to my Malifaux. I've been busy unloading stuff on Trademe so have managed to get rid of my Kirai crew and some of my Robotech as well. The Kirai crew no longer played the way I wanted and doesn't fit with the rest of my Malifaux stuff so was easy to let go. The Robotech was surplus to my needs and was easier to move than I expected, a nice bonus.

So I have been pretty lucky that my work earlier in the year has kept me ahead of schedule during this down time. I will keep working on the Arcanists stuff over the next couple weeks but I will have to find another project to focus on pretty soon. Maybe I will finally finish those Elves!

Day 144
179/144 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 32/32
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 9/16
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - 0/34
Build and paint all Deadzone Plague - 0/21

Week 6 - Dropzone Completed

Back to back long weekends make for good hobby progress. This week I completed 29 Scourge models, bringing my current Scourge collection up to completion. Yay! Photos below.

So I am still waiting on a Desolator to arrive in order to give myself the full range of options for playing. Then I can decide on if and how I will expand. I had a little bit of spare time this evening so made a start on my Planetfall. I wrapped up 7 models and I hope to finish up most (if not all) next week as well. Pictures below.

I have quite a few of these guys to do but they are relatively quick. At least the small ones are, there are some rather large ones... By getting these done I can compare DZC and Planetfall and decide which I prefer, I would rather not spend too much if I'm not going to play one of them very often. The rule sets are quite different so hopefully I will get decent use out of both lots.

Also, WooHoo 1/3 through the years painting target!

Day 39
125/39 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 31/31
Paint all Directorate - 7/44
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - TBC
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4

Week 3 - Elves Turning Evil

More painting progress this week, despite looking after the little one all weekend solo. I finished up another 18 Elves and 2 Scourge. Pictures below.

The elves are starting to wrap up pretty quickly now, I only have 10 cavalry and 40 scout infantry left to go. Except after a close look at the Twilight kin army list I realized that both elf lists contain several 'core' equivalents and then flavor units (like Drakons or Abyssal riders) so I have decided to wrap all of them together to allow me to play both kinds of list. This extends what I need to paint a little bit but will let me have more utility from the same set of models.

I've made a start on the commission models, they will likely take me into next month to finish though. I will be working on the rest of the elves at the same time, looking to wrap them up fairly quickly and complete another goal. I'm thinking next month I will try to finish my Scourge, which will let me finally get a game in!

Day 18
40/18 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 27/83
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - TBC
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4

Week 51 - Done and Dusted

Well, here we are, the final post for 2014. Its been a good year overall, with the birth of my daughter and still managing to find time to paint models. My first KOW tournament as well. There were some not-so-good moments as well but you have to take the good with the bad. So just before I recap here is the last of what I will finish this year.

5 Elf palace guard and 2 Scourge vehicles. Unfortunately I haven't been able to finish my Dreadball, the paint stripper is still sticking to the resin so adding primer just isn't going to work. They will just have to wait for next year. Early though, I hope.

So to recap, I successfully:

• Made a gaming table (still unused though...) 
• Built and painted a KOW army.
• Made a Malifaux board and entered the Immortals terrain competition.
• Built and painted a strike team for Enforcers and Plague.
• Painted 368 models in a year.

Which isn't too shabby having had a new child in March. So now for the plans for next year:

• Paint another 365+ models.
• Build and paint a Malifaux faction.
• Build and paint all my remaining KOW Elves.
• Build and paint an Infinity faction.
• Build and paint a Warpath faction.
• Build and paint a DZC faction.
• Build and paint a Planetfall faction.
• Complete a Cosplay costume for Hamilton Armageddon 2015.

It looks a little ambitious but most of the 'complete factions' in the list are less than 20 models so the total is less than the 365+ target. I started on my Armageddon costume this weekend (the painting room was way too hot and stuffy for painting!) and have completed the shirt and I am about 60% of the way through making the pants. After that is a hooded vest, belt, boots and goggles and I'm done. No pictures just yet, got to keep some suspense for 2015...

Week 41 - Elven Progress Report #7

More progress on the Elves this week, finishing up a horseman, spellcaster and 4 bolt throwers. This leaves me with just four horsemen and two drakons to finish in time for the tournament. This is of course assuming that in learning to play the game I don't make any emergency changes to my list. I still have 10 more cavalry, 40 scouts, 100 archers, 5 palace guard and a dragon available to sub in, each requiring varying amounts of work. I may also be lending Knightwolf some models for his army, depending on what he needs...

I also felt that it was time to get to work on some Scourge models for DZC, managing to get my first unit of infantry painted. I have no idea on how to do the base just yet, possibly some freehand rather than adding sand etc.

I have made a start on more of the Scourge, I just have to even out the washes and pick out some details. I have also started on the Circle models for a mate. Trying to match colours is a PITA, it is a shame I cant get any more of the original paints. I only have 3 of the dozen or so colours and GW doesn't make most of them any more. I've got 2/3 of the base colours down now and they are starting to look the part. Hopefully he will be happy with them...

Day 285
273/285 Painted/Days passed
273/334 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
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 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.