Well, it’s definitely been a long while since I’ve actually written anything here. The tweets stopped coming as well. I’ve been doing more video gaming than actual wargaming, and before that, I was running events and not really playing.
Tonight, I get back to the gaming! Tomorrow, I’ll start the modeling (I hope)! This Saturday will be a tournament!! All the while there’ll be a couple video games I’ll be wanting to play…
The miniatures hobby sort of took an unexpected hiatus. I ran some events and played some WARMACHINE games over the past few weeks. However, whenever I’m in the house, I’m drawn to my computer to play video games. League of Legends. Now it pervades my thoughts. When I was crossing the street to go to Starbucks, I was thinking, “Master Yi would cross it using his Alpha Strike.” I was planning on heading to my parents’ after work to watch some movies and visit, but now I’m changing my mind to go to my home to play some LoL and take advantage of the final day of my XP boost. Yup – I spent money on a “free” game.
Retribution models collecting dust. Unfinished Berserkers and Drago. Bare metal War Dog. Podcasts to listen to. Prime MK2 on the horizon. Infinity and Anima Tactics models to paint. Grind to paint up. I even plan on doing “quick jobs” to finish up and catch up, but I can’t even make the time to break out the paint set!
I am complaining that I am having fun with something I rather not :)
I finally got my “starter” set of WARMACHINE Retribution models. I was excited about the Heavy Myrmidon plastic kit. The Bastions were pretty cool (still unassembled), but the heavy myrmidon let me down. They “plastic” felt really soft and weird, but it should be sturdy enough to withstand play. I did like how there were form-fitting pieces, very similar to Gundam plastic model kits. Unfortunately, I didn’t dig how the shoulder pads and arms connected to each other and the body. These things are suppose to be fixed poses, and the “ball and socket” joins gives you the flexibility to come up with your own poses, but my idea was to actually turn these into “action figures”.
I’m still plotting out how I’d magnetize the kit too, since it can make 3 different heavy Myrmidons. I’m thinking so far that it’s probably less assembling work to build 3 different jacks. More painting would be needed though. but there’d be fewer smaller pieces lying around. Right now, I just want an extra set of hands so that I don’t have to magnetize the wrists and tiny fists, but instead permanently attach them to the two different sets of forearms. Still plotting. I’ll get to the heavy kit last.
Last night I spent my entire evening assembling just two of the 3 light myrmidons, and Kaelyssa. The ball-and-socket type of connection was really frustrating to work with, especially when I tried to make it “fully posable”. I abandoned that idea after much fiddling with green stuff and just glued it all together. I used pins for the heads and waists, but everything else I’m trusting the large amount of surface area will suffice.
In hindsight, I should have switched the poses of the Gorgon and the Chimera. The Chimera’s arms are in a walking position, with one up front and the other behind the back. What this does is alters the position of the shoulder pads, which has these little turbines mounted on them. It would look cooler if both those were at the same level and facing the same way, like how the studio model is posed. Really, my Gorgon is using the studio’s Chimera pose while my Chimera is using the studio’s Gorgon pose. Blah. Besides a boring base and the model’s elongated neck, Kaelyssa is pretty cool. If my converting skills were better, I’d try to do what a fellow Press Ganger did (hacksaw76) and emulate her pose from her art.
Disappointing so far, but hopefully my “black widow” paint scheme will be fun and renew my love for Retribution.
In other news:
- was painting Drago and 2 Berserkers, but that was sidetracked by…
- assembling and sorta-painting a SD Gundam plastic model kit. One of two I bought. I just get strange urges to put together plastic “vehicle” models. I’m still tempted to try and put together a W40K Sisters of Battle Rhino/Immolator/Exorcist Tank. The last one cost me over $100 for parts, and I sold it for dirt cheap.
- managed to put aside the plastic kit to work on Berserkers, then Retribution came…
It’s been a while. Even my tweets have slowed down. However, I’d like to gives props to my iPhone for making tweeting with photos easy!
Really quick list of what I’ve been up to:
- Night life socializing has slowed down considerably, which is good because I save more money. However, I’m finding that I geek out more often nowadays :)
- Cleaned up room a bit, which lead to…
- Selling off WoW Minis. MonPoc soon to follow… I’m intrigued by the idea of painting plastic, but there’s so much to paint already and there are other games with plastic minis that interest me more, that my friends are willing to play too!
- Finished the Great Bears of Gallowswood and they, along with the IFP, are all sharing a foam tray home.
- Finished painting my D&D figure: Mordale, the tiefling bard. Very pink and wearing very colorful armor. Only took 2 nights and I’m proud of my work!
- Ran a WARMACHINE/HORDES Steamroller event at Gateway 2009. It was a success for me. Used the “dealer dollars” I won from the painting contest to purchase some Legion models. Was hoping to pick up Warhammer Invasion, but that won’t be out until next month. 1st in all 3 sci-fi/steampunk categories and my only fantasy entry, Mordale, didn’t win anything.
- I’m in the mood to assemble and paint again, except I spent the last two nights playing Atlantica Online. MMOs are a disease!!!
- Finally got my first PG order, which includes the Forces of WARMACHINE faction book: Retribution of Scyrah AND my PG shirt.
Plans for the weekend include: hiking, possibly a bbq, online “comedy” traffic school, reading the Retribution book and HOPEFULLY modeling instead of video gaming.
Just a quick update: Greatbears were coming along swimmingly, but then got distracted for a week. Now I’ll be back into painting. They just need final red highlights, some metal shine, then details: accessories. Oh, and their arms and axes are still primered black. Pictures available through Twitter.
Distraction above was from Atlantica Online. Paid more money and got two 1-week licenses (which is why I felt like I had to play, to make good use of them) and a 1-month license. I only used a 1-week license package. Getting close to level 80 now :) Just that I’m now at a point where the quests are pitting me against HIGHER level mobs. Even got a game card from Target, but used it after nDoors special promotion :( Spent like $31 in an attempt to get cool mounts. Instead, I’m loaded with scrolls to nuke the enemies with.
Infinity’s PanOceania starter has been assembled, and the Fusiliers have been primered gray. I should note that these miniatures are a major pain to assemble!! I’ve been spoiled by Privateer Press’ minis (and to some credit, GW’s plastics and minis too). Tiny, individual communications antennae?! I can’t wait to get some Remotes and magnetize them though!!
Placed an order for more Reaper minis. Assembled my dark elf sorceress mini for my friend to use in our current D&D campaign. Had a little dilemma deciding between round or square bases.
Looks like there’s been a move to get some WM gaming back in from the Irvine playgroup! YAY!
I’m suppose to draft up some rules for my special, fun “tag team” WARMACHINE event in early August. Will get to that sometime this week…
10-man IFP unit with an additional standard bearer and officer are complete! Sealed and awaiting a foam tray purchase… They were assembled back in June of 2007, primed and painting began in July of 2008 and finally sealed yesterday. Having done the IF Uhlans and Pikemen, I’m hoping finishing up the Great Bears won’t take up too much time. We’ll see…
In the meantime, I’m still fiddling with my new iPhone. Got a Twitter account so that I can tweet on the go! Yeah, I’m turning into one of “those”… Anyways, follow my game-related tweets @minisgamer. There’ll be more pictures there than on this blog :P
Parties are almost over. Lots of parties with childhood friends, family, babies, birthdays, going aways… To come: adventuring parties and a birthday.
Haven’t gotten much done in the hobby department, but I’m teeming with ideas. I’ve picked up to starters of Infinity (PanOceana and Yu-Jing), a couple of Reaper Dark Haven miniatures (for RPG and just painting) and assembled a couple more Khador models. I still have the IFP to finish, but all they need are their shields (started last night) and grass on their bases.
Went to a SteamRoller 4 tournament and got 3 games in before I had to bail for a birthday party. Faced epic Krueger twice – won two games by scenario’s tie-breaker and lost one to assassination. It was well deserved. Epic Krueger played aggressively and put me against the wall. I had a great idea to assassinate Krueger (sitting on DEF21) by having my Behemoth throw his Gnarlhorn on top of him, and then walk in with my Fury’d Demo Korps under Butcher’s feat to finish the job. Unfortunately, the Behemoth missed his boosted power attack, so the Demo Korps went to wreck a WoldWarden instead.
On Krueger’s turn, he brought Butcher down to a single point of life! (eKrueger missed 2 of his 3 attacks – one was used to finish a Demo Korps and pump his STR/ARM by 2) If he couldn’t finish the job, Krueger would surely be dead. His Gnarlhorn swerved around the Behemoth to finish off the Butcher, but it was so close whether the Gnarlhorn would take a free strike from the Behemoth of not. I let him go free and basically gave him the game. I had to leave early anyways and it was a good tussle. WM is great that way – the dice can tumble any which way!!
I forgot how far along with the IFP I’ve gotten before I stopped painting. It’s been over a week, but they all stand in shield-wall formation, valiantly defending my computer keyboard – poking my wrists when I type as a reminder – “finish us before you can use your computer comfortably again.” Hoping to have time to paint this week.
At the same time, I bought myself a Reaper mini to paint up as my DnD4E character for a new campaign. I’ll prime “Palinor, the Paladin” up when I prime the IFP shield arms.
Oh, lastly, I had a blast at Gamex. Played a few games and had a lot of down time, but the little gaming I got in was worth it. Interesting little stories such as:
- competed in the Rock Band tournament with a cobbled up crew, seriously mismatched and last minute, and called ourselves the Floating Brainstems.
- Played Super Smash Bros Brawl with a bunch of 4-8 year olds. It was fun holding back punches and just doing silly stuff to get laughs out of them.
- Kingsburg tournament! This was what I was waiting for. Did quite well for the 2nd time playing ever, but beat out in the last stretch and lost by a mere point to a girl who stole my much needed gold.
All that was Saturday. On Sunday, I ran my tournament which I felt was a success for my first time running. Anyways, didn’t stay long after the tournament, but won a 1st place and a couple 2nd placings in the painting contest, granted there wasn’t that many entries :P That weekend was overall enjoyable, especially since I was able to game with new and old friends alike.
So, I got like 12 hours of sleep yesterday, yet I still feel so exhausted. I got some more painting done, except I’m finding myself stuck on details again. ”Maybe I should add another highlight. Maybe I should define these lines…” If I just wash the metal areas and paint the bases, I’ll be done. Oh yeah, I need to paint the yellow on too. And the shield arms. The Great Bears I’ve left on the side to work on AFTER these 12 pikemen. Slowing down… I want something simple!
This weekend is Gamex. I’ve received my box of countdown timers. Hopefully Darren and the DiceHouse will come through and provide enough tables. I gotta do some shopping this week to make some simple construction paper terrain, perhaps get a dolly and straps for my army cases and boxes. That way I don’t have to make multiple trips from my car to the convention (leaving stuff unattended) and hopefully it’ll make keeping an eye on my stuff much easier.
After a 9-month hiatus from painting (due to life, with a lot of laziness mixed in), I sat down the last 3 nights to paint! Technically, the last 3 nights where I have been home have been spent painting, but technicalities aside…
My Great Bears were painted up to catch up with the IFP, sans skin. I’m done with base coating and applied the first few layers of red. Despite still being slow as heck, I am actually going about the painting FASTER. It’s not an excuse to be sloppy, though it does seem sloppy, but I’m content with the results. In fact, I gotta fight this pickyness and attention to detail because I know in the end that my models will still look a whole lot better than bare metal, black primered, or average Joe’s painted 3-color army. Finally, that’s ~$100 of product painted, and about $3K more to go.
Also will have to find time to buy, convert(?) and paint up two D&D characters for my own use. Totally geeking out!