29 December 2019

2019 Wrap-Up


2019 was a bit like 2018. Not much gaming, but I did some painting. Didn't buy many figures, so the balance of painted vs. unpainted continues to grow.

Quick look at the gaming related goals I had for 2019 when I wrote up my 2018 year end entry...

Plus I had some other things I hoped to get to, with varied success. I knew I wouldn't do them all, but they were on my mind as possibilities. On the positive side:
  • Trolls. Got the last two Marauder trolls I was missing from my youth & painted them, plus a new set of Drew Williams trolls and a few others.
  • Half-Orcs. I finished painting the last regiment of old half-orcs I had remaining. While no project is ever truly "finished" this one is wrapped up other than a couple of odd figures still in the bin.
  • Gaming. While this is an in-between thing. I would have liked to do more, but did manage to get in a few more games of Dungeon! with my family, tried out a few games of Kill Team with friends, and played a couple of solo games of Temple of Elemental Evil, and a third one with my daughter. I had planned on starting Rangers of Shadow Deep and/or Sellswords & Spellslingers, but I only got as far as making a 3x3 game board and few terrain pieces (plus a handfull of minis for the first Shadow Deep scenarios.)

Now, on to the PICTURES!

Gaming...

My first games of Kill Team were quite fun.




And I played some boardgames, both solo & with my family.




Painting...

Old World Army Challenge 2. This was my first year for the OWAC, and I used it as motivation to paint the sea elf contingent I had planned for years. Top photo is the final OWAC pic, but I painted a handful of figures afterward...





And then the misc. painting....

Prep for future Shadow Deep games. (More not pictured.)



Rat Ogre conversion I had planned for many long years.



Trolls!









Random mid-year undead.



Mucklegeet, the Heresy Miniatures giant finished!



Slow year for the hobbits, but I painted these scouts.



Witch hunter and the start of a mob.



Last of the half-orcs finished! (More or less...)



One of those modest "grail" figures. I had wanted this figure since I was a kid. Saw it up for sale on FB and jumped on it!



Deadcember 2019.






So what are my miniatures/gaming hopes and dreams for 2019?

The given:
  • Old World Army Challenge 3. I am painting wood elves this time.
  • Giants in April.
  • Deadcember. Always Deadcember.
The Dream:

I'm still thinking about my Althammer 2021 idea. In short, I turn 50 in 2021 and would like to play some games. Particularly some oldschool gaming, and indulging in some of the scenarios/campaign ideas I've been rolling around. But given how recent years have gone, and how quickly my 50th is approaching, I'm losing hope that this idea will come together as I'm still missing most of the key ingredients to make it happen. So I'm torn on how much to select what to paint in 2019 with that fading goal in mind.
The painting:
  • Hobbits/JTC. I'm having some issues getting the remaining figures to round off my ideal regiment sizes, but I think I'll go ahead and get going on what I've got.
  • Humans/JTC. I've probably got near 100 infantry and 12 light cavalry.
  • Misc. Humans. To be used as bandits, outcasts, militia, low-grade mercenaries, etc. Roughly 60 infantry, 12-15 heavy cav.
  • Shields for the sea elf spear unit.
  • Sea elf fish mage, banshee, and finish the shore riders.
The gaming:
  • I would like to play some more Temple of Elemental Evil. Preferably with other people, but solo if not.
  • I'd also like to play some Rangers of Shadow Deep or Sellswords & Spellslingers. Again, preferably with others, but solo if not.
  • I would really love to meet up with some other Oldhammer fans and play some 3rd ed. Or 6th. Or maybe even something else. As long as it's not some sort of competitive tournament.




28 December 2019

Undead Lemmy


Difficult figure to photograph! Mostly painted with multiple varieties (hues?) of black. Figure from Diehard Miniatures.



And here he is in the magnetized spot with the big skeletal dragon (from Reaper Miniatuers) posted previously. I'll need to come up with a name for the dragon... likely lift one from a song lyric of title!




26 December 2019

Huge Skeletal Dragon




Gravestone is on a magnetized 20mm base, and can be switched out with other figures... Like the Undead Lemmy I'm working on next.

O

08 December 2019

Early Deadcember Progress Plus Others


Happy Birthday To Me!
(Born on Pearl Harbor Day)


I got a quick jump on Deadcember painting...


These four skeletal beasts plus one other all painted the first few days of the month.



Painting stalled for a few days, mostly due to work. But I've managed to finish prepping stuff for an optimistic rest of the month. Skeletal and zombie dragons, 25 armored skeletal spearmen, 6 wraiths, 1 undead Lemmy Kilmister, and and if I get through that, I'll try to paint as many of the (unknown total) skeleton cavalry as possible.

I'm going to make a magnetized spot on the skeleton dragon base for Lemmy. Because they look so good together. I'll make an alternate filler for the spot for case where he's not present on the base, too -- because I may want to use him as an undead hero in regiments. \m/


December er, Deadcember is a bit of a clusterfuck for me. I'm trying to finish some custom vinyl/art toy stuff for holiday gallery shows. The first two (below) have been sent to Clutter Gallery for their Gift Wrapped show. I've got a couple more due for another east cost gallery... but more on that later.



In the meantime, I've also been prepping (stripping, mostly) figures for the 2020 Old World Army Challenge aka OWAC3. This year, I plan on painting a bunch of wood elves, mostly late 80s vintage Citadel lead (Jes Goodwin sculpts) plus a few from Ral Partha & Grenadier. I'm still after a few of the Goodwin elves, if anyone has some to spare. Archers/scouts and a few specific comment figures in particular.



30 October 2019

Prepping Bones

Probably not going to paint much in the next month -- but who knows. But I did get to start prepping some Bones. Some Bones bones, in fact. First was just a dry fit of the two large dragons from the last Reaper Bones KS. They still need to be cleaned and glued.



I did actually clean and glue the skeletal beasts set.



I got the set of 6 wraiths, but haven't started cleaning them yet. I think I'm going to cut off the bendy weapons and replace them with hard plastic.



And lastly... after posting the pic of the mycomancer, I got the urge to look on eBay for the Fungal Queen, which was part of a larger set that I didn't want to buy into on the KS. But I did want to get this figure (and maybe one or two others) when it became available individually. This one also happens to be cast in Bones Black, which -- I know now -- is not actually black.


27 October 2019

Ancient Goblin Shaman

I've wanted this old Citadel goblin shaman since I saw it WD as a kid. When it appeared for sale on FB recently, I had to have it! And paint it! 30+ years I waited...


25 October 2019

Old Half-Orc, New Photo

Fried, the psychedelic half-orc shaman/mycologist. Mycomancer? Pronounced "Freed" - short for Friedrich.


22 October 2019

Half-Orctober '19 - Complete

Finished my Orctober (Half-Orctober) goal a week early. 24 Grenadier/Mirliton half-orcs, with an oldschool Ctiadel figure mixed in to round the regiment to 25.




Time for a group photo!

Along with the completion of my Orctober/Half-Orctober '19 goal, that also finishes the half-orc project. At least in terms of figures I already owned & planned (for several years now) to paint & form a small contingent for gaming. (Should I ever get the chance to play games again.) A really enjoyable project! As nice as it is to feel a sense of completion, I'm already thinking 10 more archers would be a good addition. And my eyes will be open for more/new opportunities to add to this. But for now I'm done. 😁
  • 25 Warriors (mostly Grenadier)
  • 16 Warriors (Old CItadel)
  • 30 Warriors (Black Tree and a few Reaper Miniatures)
  • 10 Archers (Grenadier/Mirliton)
  • 5 Skirmishers (Alternative Armies)
  • 1 General (Grenadier/Mirliton)
  • 1 Shaman (Reaper)
  • 1 Standard Bearer (Unknown - maybe Grenadier?)

19 October 2019

Half-Orctober '19 - Second 10

Took a little longer, but I finished the second ten (in front) half orcs. Three of the new ones were converted from pikemen using plastic Skaven swords and borrowed shields. Just five more to paint...


07 October 2019

Half-Orctober '19 - First 10


Finished the first 10 of 25 half-orcs for half-Orctober '19.



Undeadish Glamour Shot (testing new lighting)

Today I rearranged a bit in the corner of the basement where I paint and photograph. I moved a really bright suspended LED fixture that I recently installed across the room and swapped it with the one near my photo table. Also put it in a slightly better position. This one is brighter and a warmer color.

I had recently draped a sheet of greenish "teddy bear fur” that I won a few years ago over the storage boxes on the ledge behind the table. But as the weather is getting colder, I'm concerned that we will get mice moving into the basement (as has happened the past few years) and I was worried that I was creating a nice nesting spot for them. So the fur backdrop is now suspended from a bit of PVC pipe that is in turn suspended from a water pipe. On my to do list is making some larger trees for the background (and possible future gaming).






I unpacked the Undeadish (or at least most of what's painted so far) for some test photos to see how the lighting would work.






01 October 2019

A Thousand Times More Virtuous Than You



Finished the last details and base on the happy-go-lucky sea elf prince who gave up his claim to the throne to his equally well meaning cousin, then sailed the seas of fate, promoting peace, carrying with him the healing boon of the white sword...

Re-purposed classic figure to fit into the sea elf force I painted for the Old World Army Challenge.


30 September 2019

Sea Elf Standard & Pre-Orctober 2019


Sea Elf Standard. Poor color rendering on the photo -- still need to work on better lighting for photos. Sticking with the aquatic fauna theme for the moment.




My plan for (Half-) Orctober 2019: 24 old Grenadier half-orcs, plus a Citadel barbarian who will pass for one of the regiment, and a Reaper priestess that I didn't finish last year.





Anyone else really enjoy the new Dark Crystal series? I had a few initial reservations, but enjoyed the heck out of it.





28 September 2019

A Few More Sea Elves

4 additional sea elves for those painted in in the Old World Army Challenge. I had a unit of 28, now I can split that into two units of 16. I do need to paint the some banners, though.