UK Games Expo Day 1

I never thought I would get excited about dice. About twenty years ago I lost all my dice. Some of them had stories. But what do you do. I replaced them. Somebody complained that they couldn't read the dice so I got the most garish, brain offending dice I could. Over time I got another set of them. After that, somewhere along the way I have acquired them. People have left them behind, I have been gifted some, some giveaways and then there are the ones I cannot readily explain. There are a lot of Chessex dice, some cheap ass dice but nothing expensive.

Whilst at the Expo I sat down to listen to listen to a talk. It turned out to be the son of Gary Gygax, Luke Gygax. I am not a big fan of D&D but Luke was an entertaining speaker. It was almost the high point of the day. 

So I got to ask a question at the end. Being a dad, I wanted to know what Luke's best memory of his dad was. It turned out it was his dad killing his character in an entertaining way. A nice story about a nice guy told by a nice guy.

As I was getting up to leave Luke gave me a set of dice. Yes the first paragraph did seem a little random. It was a set of expert level dice, along with a crayon to colour in the numbers. Old school. This is now the most expensive set of dice I own. By about five times. From here on our, the dice of the son of Gygax.

Checking In

I guess I just wanted to check in with myself regarding the blog and and matters gaming. I'm not quite half way through the year but it is getting close.

For some time I had lost my way. Real life or real illness had gotten in the way. There was a point in time where I had time and energy to spare. I have more than I had but it is still a finite resource I should be able to paint about ten a day if I use speed paints. I am managing about twenty a week. Maybe a few more if they are all the same or similar uniforms. I can't sit down for long sessions like I used to. I either end up in pain or I get a migraine.

Speaking of numbers. As I am writing this the running total figure painting total for the year is 438. My goal for the year is 1000. The numbers each week have been up and down a bit but it is usually around the 20+ mark. So I actually appear to have a bit of grace. At the start of the week I was worried that I was going to run out of time this week but things seems to have been me being a bit cautious. It appears the need ro be close to a toilet has really helped me out

Quality wise I think there might be some questions. This is the first time I have really used contrast/speed paints. In fairness I am really using them as a base layer rather than a complete solution. My projects this year have been more about getting things done for projects with a limited operational life. So I guess that's okay.

Real life and the arrival of my daughter daughter did nothing for the blog. A small price to pay 🙂. I would also get a bollocking from the ex for anything I did that wasn't to do with her. Did anyone say domestic abuse? Since the COVID thing, which was only six months later, I really didn't have any energy. To be honest I still don't. However, I have now wrapped my head around Spoon Theory, and yes it's a thing, I am doing better. The blog has been the last thing on my mind.

So I was looking at the number of posts. So far this year I am nearly at double the number of posts I have managed in the last five years. I am sure it will be more than that by the end of June. I gave some thought to going back to daily posts like I did in 2017. Whilst I would really like to do that, I know I don't have the capacity to do that right now.

My plan for the year had called for me to work on my hex terrain. I have two sets I wanted to "finished". When I say the f word it's more about putting the projects to bed with the prospects of waking it up again at some point in the future. But not before I had finished another two, or possibly three other hex projects. This is usually a summer projecy so I can use the shed.

Life Mocks Me

At times, things can seem overpowering. There is a wall of stuff to do. My energy levels are through the door. My daughter has left me with a pile of stuff to do on top of the pile of stuff I have to do. Then it's migraines and brain fog. Then it's the seventy two hour TB cough making me rock so hard my ribs hurt. Just for giggles I get a dose of the runs that burn so hot that I think I have been living off vindaloos for a month. These seem to spring to life every time I have a coughing fit. Not quite every hour on the hour all night. Which is more often than I would like. So as I am laid up in bed with a bottle of water, a stock of immodium and my metaphorical running shoes on I contemplate my fate.

Coughing fit and short sprint later. So when life mocks you, mock the mockers.

On the plus side I need to stay near the toilet. The nearest place I can sit is the chair next to my painting bench so after my last dash that's where I am. My daughter should just be getting off the plane. I hope she is ok. I am not ready for painting but at least I can watch the TV.

I have made a little progress. The background for my Stargrave game had a Roman inspired culture. Imperial by nature, as you might expect, but very much in decline. They had created a servitor race, who fought in their armies and when they failed their masters, fought in their arenas. These were the gnollar. They were bred for combat. Genetically fast and strong with enough intelligence to be a good soldier. From childhood thy were taught the art of war and conditioned to respect the Imperial colours. I know that they are supposed to be some form of hyaena, but I am not sure that they are limited to that, and I am still thinking about skin/fur tones.

Part of me looks at them as tells me that they scream Traveller Vargr. Maybe not the sophisticated Imperium Vargr but maybe the Corsair kind. I have heard hints that Wargames Atlantic might be thinking about Traveller minis. The trouble with Traveller for me is I run games with minis and as far as I can make out there have been about half a dozen Vargr minis in 25mm. GW did some in 15mm. I have all of these. I know Martian Metals made some during the 1980s but we are talking unicorn poop. This is all better than the Hiver which as far as I can tell there is only one one.

I am hoping I am going to the UK Games Expo in a couple of days. Fortunately I am not driving. I have taken the liberty of marking the toilets on the map and packing a bottle of water, some rehydration sachets and some immodium already.😟

Bad News In Liverpool

Yesterday was a bad day round here. People were hurt for whatever the dumb ass reason was. There will be consequences. The world will not be a better place for it. Especially if you were one of those directly affected by the incident. My heart goes out to you.

As someone who was born inside the 0151 area code and has to tell the world he isn't a Scouser, yesterday was a bad day for me. I come from this strange place where I am not a Manc or a Scouser. I don't sound like a Scouser. Most people have no idea where I come from. I just sound vaguely northern. Pity the fool who calls me a Wool or a Plastic (you're all Plastics as far as I'm concerned (If you don't know, don't ask)). Yesterday should have been all about football and I shouldn't have cared because I'm more about rugby league.

But whilst yesterday started about football. That's not how it finished. I have no idea what happened. Some madman decided he was going to run his car into a load of celebrating fans. Kids were hurt. The number I heard was that there were a total of sixty five casualties but as far as I am aware, no deaths. So the best news possible from what was a very bad day. If you are one of the injured, one of the family members or have been affected by the incident, my thoughts are with you. 

I hope the perpetrator gets what they deserve and I also hope that nobody else suffers unjustly because somebody is trying to score points. So far I haven't met a Scouser who wasn't a survivor. I know this is another hard time. I know people will get through it.

  

Start Of The Week With Some Post-Apocalypse And Stargrave

In order to give me some time to paint I will try to make this quick. Time is short. There is no real plan this week. The project that is currently lighting my fire has run out of minis. What I would like to do instead involves gluing some kits together and I don't have the time for that. So in the hope I can stand a chance of hitting a target, I will dive in. I am limiting my target to twenty figures.

The first group is some Stargrave kitbashes. I would say conversions but really, its a little bit of greenstuff and glue. I liked the look of the gnolls when I got them but I liked the look of the metal minis more and the metals are just a it bigger. I also just don't have much of a use for gnolls as most of what I do is really dark ages so gnolls with Stargrave weapons and a few more brutal bits worked out well for me.

I got some Crusader post-apocalypse stuff a few years ago when it came out. I have painted a few of them since I got them but only odds and sods. This batch should be most of what's left. Whilst not entirely perfect for the Atomfallish / SUnderdground they will do the job. 

End Of The Week And Breathe (22)

This was never going to be an easy week. Between fatigue, flu (with a cough that makes me think I have that seventy two hour TB that's going around) and daddy daughter time, I am frankly amazed I hit my planned target. Somehow I did. Not my best work and I doubt it would win awards but I have made a dent in the numbers.

This was a week where I was concentrating on the Atomfallish SUderdground project. Figure painting wise, this is a new project so I am still quite enthused. I have more or less run out of minis to paint. There is some stuff on back order, some stuff pending production, waiting for dispatch and I am waiting for a few shows to see what discounts I can get. I should have about another hundred on the way with another fifty comong with The Damned sometime around July/August. Then there is the opportunity for buying another two or three boxed sets, As I have said the price keeps going up.

The first is my special forces team. It's loosely based on a S.A.S. patrol. I chose to give some of the face camouflage. This meant I had to paint the eyeballs for the first time in a decade. I like these guys so I put more effort into them.

Have painted some army guys last week, I wanted a few more and maybe some specialists. In the background these are from the Regional Control. In reality, the UK was divided into I think it was ten Regional Control Headquarters in case of a nuclear war, each having its own majoor bunker such as Kelvedon Hatch, which is well worth a visit. Eventually I would like to have e nough of these for at least a platoon sized skirmish force with some specialists.

Then come the civilians / outlaws. I did some last week but want a lot more. These should be the most generic force so I could probably pick them up and slide them into other forces, More of a militia force. Not very well equipped. They may or may not be well motivated. These are more likely to have improvised and melee weapons. 

My last group this week is a new force which as a place holder are called the Brethren. Still playing around with these but in my mind they are some form of neo nuclear pagan with a hint of mutation. Their skin colour is slightly off as a hint. I suspect I will add a few mutations. I have some treekin bits and will have some beastmen bits too. The bodies areViking bondi bits with some WW1 and WW2 bits within any odd random bits that seemed to fit. These guys will be totally kill crazy, but lightly equipped. 

This means next week is going to have to concentrate on something else next week. With more daddy daughter time and a very busy long weekend, painting time is going to be tight. The coughing doesnt seem to be going away. I doubt will be starting anything new, so I will be dipping into the pre primed/based backlog. So it could be anything.   

Getting There

So I am more or less where I want to be. I can continue with the details and if I had unlimited time, I probably would. As I am going to die someday, I will call it quits soon. My plan is subtlety changing as time progresses. But more of that in a moment.

As I do more research I come up with more ideas. Originally I was all about Atomfall but now it's more about SUnderdground. This means details change. In Atomfall the SLR was a more common rifle with the EM3 being available in small numbers, presumably as an experiment weapon. In my world the real EM2 rifle, the Janson Rifle was actually adopted because Britain did not need to keep the Americans happy by adopting the 7.62mm NATO round.

I now have forty plus bases to paint. This fills me with something like joy. Think matter and anti-matter. So anti-joy. So a whole load of no fun.

Perhaps I need to start thinking about what happens next. I have some more stuff for this project on order. It's not about to arrive. I want some Brits in winter gear, which aren't out yet. There is a lot of stuff that isn't out yet. So maybe I need to order some more stuff. I was looking at two hundred figures for the original plan. I am nudging four hundred now. I've not brought them yet, but this is where the project is heading. I need to have a quick, quiet word with myself.

Start Of The Week - Atomfall / SUnderdground

Short and sweet as I have minis to paint. The first group is a special forces unit. Kinda S.A.S. patrol ish. Like the regular troops but with better and more kit. The plan is to paint them as if they are wearing a Denison smock. I just wanted an excuse to use a Welrod.

In Atomfall there are the Druids and my original idea for SUnderdground was something I called the Brethren. I am now thinking something a bit more like new age Vikings. Luckily I have some plastic Vikings. Whilst these are more conventionally equipped I can see a lot of them being melee armed. 

Then there are a few more outlaws. The plan calls for some more esoteric weapons. There are a few on the low end of what I think of as esoteric. Then a few more for good measure. 

Lastly there are some more soldiers. I wanted an officer. I have not suitable caps but a WW1 will do. The guy with the knife between his teeth strikes me as a natural character. A bleeds green type who might be just a bit Jack Churchill. I have an engineer, because why not. Then a bren gunner because I haven't got one and another rifleman because I could.

It's 10pm. Time I started painting.

End Of The Week -That Was (21)

Yeah. I got where I waved to be. It's started off as an Atomfall week but now I am not so sure. Same sort of genre but back to one of my ideas. 

The first lot were meant to be outlaws. I guess they still are but could be any form of seni-civilian force. These guys are not meant to be the best equipped troops nor do they the best skills or motivation. 

The second group are straight British Army. I suspect there will be more. A lot more. There is the guy from the green slime who should make a nice character. I want to do some Military Police. Not sure I have the right heads but I have something close enough in the form of WW1 caps. Not perfect but not so far off. Then there is a plan for a special forces team. These seem to be closer to the front of the queue.

There were a couple of crooked Dice characters and even a Stargrave mini finished. I didn't take a picture but will probably get around to posting them eventually.

Next week is going to be more of the same. It looks like it might be a full stop for a bit as I don't have any more minis to paint for this project although I have some on order.

Next weekend is a busy but fun one, it's looking like I will have a good run up till Friday. There are some completed kits on the bench, there are some details (basing, priming etc) to deal with. It does look like I will start the week painting and not Thursday.

Atomfall Ish - All In

I have a summer cold which is kicking my arse. It's now at what I call the chewy stage. So nearly over. So not quite empty.

Having started the Atomfall project and got some kitbashing and painting progress, I thought I would start a plan. I don't have all the minis I want. Not even close. A good chunk haven't even been released yet. When I sat down and did the numbers I was a bit surprised. 

The list got to about two hundred and forty miniatures. That's about three months of painting time for me. This doesn't include terrain and big minis. Then there is all the random stuff. This is a lot for a one off game. My guess is that I can probably do a sixth to a quarter of the bits to build the minis that I want.

With it being fairly niche idea, things would be difficult. Some of the figures are going to have other potential uses.  WW2 British do pretty much what there name says. Well maybe not the one with the SA-80, and the same for the outlaws. Some weapons are not so useful. Maybe thirty to forty percent wouldn't fit WW2. My druids were going to have some more up to date kit but will stay as the manufacturer intented so they can be used as some form of generic medieval levy. But what if there was an alternative?

Well I have one. For a while (and intermittently) I have been working on a post-apocalyptic game called sUnderdground. I was originally envisioned as a near future background but a sixties or maybe early seventies nuclear renaissance background could work. 

It doesn't quite have the "northern" angle and in general it is very poorly represented in 28mm (still looking for individual sterling SMGs and British army helmets coupled with SLRs that don't cost £3 and come with some extras). I can work in lore to explain a lot of anything that might appear incongruous.

This idea requires even more minis. The druids still work but would need to have troops armed with more modern equipment. I had planned to use Copplestone Neo-Sovs but these are a bit big. So some Soviet type troops would be needed. I was also looking at some fascist. The plan for both of these was to use WW2 bodies and some heads mixed in with some British and civilian heads. I was thinking most of the weapons would be British with some national weapons, like a ppsh thrown in. The game lends heavily on home made, scratch built weapons. So more scratch building fun. 

Despite not starting this week's work until yesterday, I am making progress. I am pretty close to all of the minis having a base coat. Although I am not convinced everything will be finished on time, it should be Monday at the latest. I have fewer distractions so hopefully things will get done.

Half Way Gone (22)

So I have finished what I had planned to do last week. Which means that I am more than a little bit bit behind. They are not my best work. Blah, blah, blah, great art is never finished it is only abandoned.

We are where we are. I have some sort of bug. All I have wanted to do all week is sleep. Which is only a little worse than normal. Anyways, onto the next batch.

Start Of The Week - Atomfall

When I finished painting last night I realised that my brain was not going to let me sleep. I've experienced it before. It's what I call a contact high. Except this is contact with my daughter. It was a good week.

Whilst I wasn't going to fall asleep I didn't think my motor skills were where they needed to be to paint. I suspect it is the withdrawal from alcohol after tasting some beer for the first time in two years. It wasn't so bad I didn't trust myself with a knife.

So I looked into the bits box and put together another eight minis for the ideas I have for Atomfall. The new stuff is mostly WW 2 Commamdos. Which made me think of my dad's uncle Harry. The game has a mainly 1960s vibe but it's a 1960s in arguably the most remote part of England, behind a thirty foot wall and cut off from supply.

I have a few Protocol soldiers here. I plan for a few more, probably using British and Canadian late WW2 from Warlord. This should probably include a couple of officers, some redcaps (that's MPs for my colonial cousins) and some special forces (I really want to use the welrod). Not sure I have enough British army primer for what I want to do now.

In the game these guys are the best equipped. Do not read this as well equipped. I can see some being painted in RAF colours and I may even throw in one in WW1 uniform. It's my game and I will do what I like. So there will be a really mix of head gear as this breaks the mass up. As they are "better" equipped, they are more likely to have packs, pouches and grenades. I cannot see the use for heavier weapons. Anti-tank and indirect fire (well maybe not a light mortar) seem a bit redundant.

The civilian minis can have a number of roles. Their primary was as outlaws but will work as characters or a citizens militia maybe. The majority of the heavy lifting is Wargames Atlantic Partizans. There are some WW1 and WW2 bits and some zombie heads which are British Bobby and hard hat/miner's helmet. These were always going to be lightly equipped. They carry what they scrounge up or loot off the bodies. So no packs and good weapons.

Next? I need some ferals. Mantic zombies seem like a good idea. They are actually twenty years old now. So about time I used them. These should be pretty fast and good in hand to hand so I probably don't need more than half a dozen.

End Of The Week - Hurrumpff

It's been a good week. It really has. I now have a lasting, and damaging image of one of my fellow RPG player's characters as being a combination of father Dougal and Cardinal Richelieu's most ineffective musketeer. This has nothing to do with the fact that he put my halfling character in a papoose,  whilst trying to find a three legged goblin, in a sewer and tripping over causing my character to land face first in a dead dwarfs crotch. 

Then I made a rookie mistake. I let my daughter write a birthday card for her friend. This took forever, making us late. Having written the card, she realised that she had written the wrong name in it. With only a petrol station on the way, the cards have cost nearly as much as the present.

Still, she had fun dressing up as a dragon. This makes me concerned that she might become a larper. I have done a bit of larping. So I know what it's like. Especially after the game ends for the night. Which is what worries me.

But I digress. This is a figure painting blog. Sleep When I'm Lead right? Or was it Lead Reckoning?Which is a problem as I haven't done anything like as much as I had planned. I am pretty close to where I said wanted to be but I was under promising with a view to over delivering. The first fix is done and I am part of the way through snagging. Some highlighting is still outstanding as is the base colouring on the dismounted nfigures. It's not like it's as miss is as good as a mile. It progress so it's all good and I can catch up next week. There was some progress with terrain and I had some actual fun gaming. It is possible to brew up a Sherman Firefly with a Panther at 1" range. Seriously if I had gotten any closer I would have bent my barrel but at least I wasn't shot in the arse. I would have been able to do a 180 and line up for the next one but we ran out of time.  I also managed to glue together the first batch of 12 minis for the Atomfall ish project and buy a vortex mixer. This might be the thing that saves me the most actual pain.

There has been some friction with getting the riders primed. I used to have a priming rod and some new style g dub pots with wires stuck out of them, specifically for the purpose. I haven't been able to find either. So I have had to come up with an alternative.

So next week. First I will finish what I have started. Always a good first step. I will then put together at least another eight plastic minis for Atomfall ish. Maybe a few more but not so many that it gets in the way. Sort the bases, prime them, and paint twenty of them. My head tells me not to make another twenty eight so I have stuff for next week, as this will probably take forever. I might order the latest Stargrave offering but I might hold off till Phalanx.

If I get ahead I will look at some terrain. The hexes are calling to me. I now have the deeper hexes for tunnels and trenches. Do I will start with a few test pieces. Prescious little daddy daughter time for a fortnight so I will make what I can of it. Hopefully I'm in a place to meet up with a much loved old friend. Times passing, maybe I am getting old, but it feels like they don't make friends like that anymore.

Not Making Progress/Five Hundred Hexes

It's been a busy week. I can't quite put a finger on what has made it busy but it has been none the less. There was a haircut, some laser cutting and tidying up along the way. Now it's a daddy daughter weekend and I am more than a little giddy.

The laser cutting was mostly terrain hexes. I am saying that there are five hundred of them but that's only because I am confident that there are five hundred of them but I think it's closer to six. This perhaps explains why I haven't done as much painting as I expected.

So there is definitely some progress. I will probably have a few hours tomorrow and maybe four hours on Sunday. So there is a chance I will hit my target for the week. It's not a good chance, but it's a chance.

Start Of The Week - Acres Of Opportunity

At some point in my old life I would have described this picture as offering acres of opportunity. That point was probably also the point I believed in the power of positive thinking. I suppose I could describe last weeks number as an all time high. Which it is although it really took three weeks to get here.

I use the old GDub pots as paint handles. As seen here, they are all empty. I can't recall the last time I had this many empty handles. It wasn't even the last time I moved. It's at least six or seven years.

So where to now? I need to finish the riders as dismounted figures. By finish, I really mean start. My current plan also calls to finish off all the metal minis I get this year. Which I may have made harder due to a special offer.

This week I will finish off the riders and dismounts. I will resist the urge to start anything else. With a view to a new project next week. So I guess I am looking at 22 minis this week and maybe starting the process of putting some plastic together. The latter is not filling me with joy abounding.

May The Fourth Be With You/End Of The Week (50)

So it's Star Wars day. I shared some time with a fellow friend and fan online before. It made me realise that I have lost track of the world again. It seemed to be a reminder that I should do more with friends.

So I hit my target. Somewhere along the lines I found another mini to paint. Then I had some spare paint on the palette. So I picked up some stuff from the part finished pile. Then there were the two plant creatures. All done. So I am calling it thirty minis. Maybe thirty one. With what I finished at the start of the week I will call it fifty.

Next week is likely to be a busy one. I have plans for what I wanted to do but I am struggling to see how I will make it happen. I have painted the horses, which I see as the hard part. I just need to paint the riders and their dismounted counterparts.

When the alarm went off to remind me it's time to take my daughter home (I left it on from last week) I felt a real feeling of missing her. It's not like I don't get that every day, but still. This week has been all about absent friends and family.

A New OCD Itch To Scratch

Most things I do in life, and especially hobby life is about making my life easier. All the paint racks and shelves you see in the background of my pictures are designed and cut by me. Everything used to be on simple stacks of wood, like ai still have on the bench but once all the paints ended up in Vallejo bottles, this wasn't working. I kept getting cascade failures. I would nudge one bottle and I would suddenly find a dozen of them on the bench.

So I transferred the ink. Then I transferred the Contrast Paints to more Vallejo bottles. I transferred some more GW paint to bottles. Finally I trimmed the bits from almost all of the loose plastic frames I have hanging around.  All in all I have a bit more space.

This has taken me weeks. I guess it still isn't finished. Well it's mostly finished. It isn't an excuse for not finishing my target for the week. I am actually doing quite well.

Traveller Day

A friend of mine just told me that today was Traveller Day. This struck me as something made up. Which I guess it is. It is actually a thing. Two things struck me. Firstly as a massive fan of Traveller how did I not know this. Then the thought occurred to me was what a load of %^$".  However I am supposed to be painting, so it was a good distraction.

Back to the painting.