Gone Fishin'

I've obviously not been posting here for quite some time. The last 4 months went sideways on me. Family health issuers, alternate art paths, work insanity, etc. Honestly, I was just struggling to find time for hobby stuff and this blog quickly got cut from my attentions. I have actually painted a number of things, but it's all been speed painting for a Necron 40K army. I'm now back to painting some Malifaux stuff again, although it's somewhat limited for the time being. In addition to painting, I've been spending some of my hobby time on sketching and experimenting with color using other mediums.

I'd like to say that I'll be back to posting here again, but honestly it's unlikely. Going forward if you want to follow me, the best place is vxghost on Instagram for stuff I consider more serious artistic efforts, or @sboding on Twitter for more general finished gaming models.

2017 Wrap Up and 2018 Resolutions

[Disclaimer: This post contains fluffy, introspective nonsense... Just like last year's did.]

2017 was terrible year. This recap is going to be pretty short and depressing. I recommend skipping it.

Last year's goals:
1) Paint the Batman model for my comics fixer - Fail! So very sad.
2) Play 52 games - Fail! I lost count, but I think I only played about 25 games or so in.
3) Read 2 books about painting - Fail! I read almost finished one book.


Probably the big highlight for me was playing in 2 Malifaux tournaments back to back (1 at Kubla and 1 at a LGS). Both events were a blast and I met lots of great people.
Beyond that, my year was brutal for hobby and playing. My wife was super sick. Like, hospital for 2 months sick. She's still not completely recovered either. Beyond just family and friends, I am really thankful for this hobby as a stress release outlet. Painting especially is very helpful.

Models painted last year:
Neverborn: 54
Other Malifaux: 15
Legion: 3
Cryx: 1
Looking at it from a size perspective:
Small based: 55
Medium based: 8
Large based: 10

73 models is actually pretty respectable given the insanity of this last year. Significantly less than the 100 last year, but way more than I would have expected.

Goals for next year:
1) Read 2 books about painting - Because continual learning is important.
2) Paint at least 1 model purely for artistic desire - Because I really am enjoying painting for the sake of painting.
3) Finish painting my Neverborn collection - This should be easy, but I'm setting it as a goal anyway.

So my goals for next year are much simpler. In fact, I'm loathe to even set goals, but I'm going to do it anyway.

And that's it. Here's to the close of a rough 2017 and hopes for a great 2018. Cheers to all!

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #145 (the last)

The last roundup...

So I haven't done a "weekend roundup" post for ages, and for good reason. My wife has been really sick for a few months now. Things are getting better now, and I am still painting. However one of the things I realized as my time got more pressed was that updating this blog is just not a super high priority for me. Doing weekly posts was once very helpful, but it had become a chore. So I'm setting that aside and will continue to just post finished works or other random things. Pictured here is a slightly staged view of my painting desk. The projects are the ones in progress.

Tomorrow, Wyrd's Iron Painter competition begins which I have bravely signed up for. I don't expect to win, but I am aiming to just finish all the rounds. This will obviously take a lot of my painting attention, so hence even more reason not to put too much time into the blog.

One last note: I am posting random painting progress on Instagram when it comes up, so if you just want pictures and sound bite updates from me, that's the best place to follow for the foreseeable future.

Total games played this year: 19

Feedback Requested

I'm explicitly reaching out to any remaining readers I have out there. Recently I've been debating whether to keep this blog updated so much. A few months ago I posted about having been maintaining this blog for 10 years. Well now I find myself in a situation where I'm using other means like Twitter and Instagram to share my completed works. Although this blog is somewhat helpful from a "documentation" point of view, I'm starting to debate the value in keeping it. So I'd like to solicit opinions. Maybe I should be using Facebook instead? Maybe there's some magical app or tool that makes it easier to cross-post to multiple things at once? Maybe I shouldn't even bother with some of these? I'm honestly curious to hear other ideas.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #141

So much insanity everywhere. My muse is distraught.

This week has not been as productive as I'd like. I unfortunately got food poisoning on Friday and that left me a mess for a couple days. Work has been hectic due to my new larger role. And in general I've found myself just quite busy overall. Still though I did manage to get some stuff done. This weekend was largely about getting things assembled and finished up. The Neraph got done, and I finally got caught up on posting stuff to the blog. I also got these small terrain pieces done which were essentially tests for the new Vallego Weathering paints I picked up. I'll try to post a review of them later once I can write that up. In addition I got a bunch of models assembled and/or primed, including: Mysterious Emissary (primed), 3 Changelings (assembled/primed), The Claw (assembled/primed), The Thorn (assembled/primed), Swamp Mother (assembled), and 3 sets of Gupps (assembled). The Swamp Mother is the translucent version and I have a devious scheme in mind for that. I'll post pictures of that project for sure.

I still haven't gotten any games in yet this year and January is pretty much gone. It's been a real challenge, but schedule-wise and mentally to get myself out for a game once my son is in bed.

Total games played this year: 0

And now some completely frivolous musings that can be freely ignored...
My inner artist/hobbyist needs to just get something off his chest at this point. I'm not inviting a discussion here. I have plenty of those going on within social media and real world already. These thoughts are just my artist-self needing a quiet voice.
The pain and fear I see around me lately has become nearly unbearable. So much division, and so many lines of angry and hate. The artist within me weeps for this. It is precisely the diversity of humanity that makes art such a vital medium of communication, and it is precisely the diversity of humanity that art needs in order to truly fire the soul. Without difference, there is only black.

2016 Wrap Up and 2017 Resolutions

[Disclaimer: This post contains fluffy, introspective nonsense... Just like last year's did.]

2016 was a very good year for hobby time. Despite all the other suck that happened in 2016, I had a generally great year personally.

Last year's goals:
1) Paint arcs on all my Legion models - Success! Piece of cake.
2) Close out DZC - Success! Got this done early and it felt great.
3) Get my Cygnar collection up to 95% painted - Success! I'm actually at 100% painted.
4) Play 52 games this year - Success! Counting both WMH and Malifaux I played 56 games.
5) Attend 1 convention - Success! Lock & Load again of course.
6) Paint a Batman model for my comics fixer - Fail! I got it assembled, but not even primed.
7) Play tighter games - Success! Hard to actually measure, but I feel good about this.
8) Pack away old models - Success! All the space I made in my case got filled by Cygnar though.
9) Archive selected models - Success! Actually there weren't that many, but it's done.
10) Read another book about painting - Success! Finished A Brilliant History of Color in Art. Great read.

A huge highlight was really the 56 games I played. As a working father it can be really hard to get games in. Honestly one of the best parts of playing was starting a Malifaux campaign. I have been absolutely loving the Malifaux campaign and I'm looking forward to plenty more of it.

Models painted last year:
Cygnar: 45
Malifaux: 24
Legion: 12
Minions: 8
DZC: 7
Mercs: 3
Convergence: 1
Looking at it from a size perspective (excluding DZC):
Small based: 57
Medium based: 14
Large based: 21
Huge based: 1

So not quite as prolific this year, painting an even 100 models, compared to 130 last year. The big difference being that this year I tackled more solos and especially Malifaux whereas last year there was a massive amount of Cygnar painting that filled the ranks. I did however build more terrain this year (6 additional pieces, one of which didn't get it's own post).

Goals for next year:
1) Paint the Batman model for my comics fixer - Again, gonna try to get this done.
2) Play 52 games - Again, great goal to have every year.
3) Read 2 books about painting - Books good.

My goals this year are thinner than last year mostly because I've got some family situation stuff going on that will preclude me from traveling much. Plus my work situation has changed (due to a promotion) so I'm purposefully not setting a bunch of goals for myself here. What I do want to do is really enjoy painting again.

And that's it. Here's to a fantastic 2016 and hopes for a great 2017. Cheers to all!

Holiday Happiness

My gaming bros (Lance and Henry) and I had our annual gift exchange which is a fun and relaxing end to the year. Gifts from those guys included:
* Miss Fire (limited edition) - Such a crazy awesome detailed model. It's a really challenging project that I'm excited about.
* Barbaros (alt sculpt) - Although I already have the regular plastic Barbaros, this sculpt is simply amazing. Gotta paint it.
* Amphibious Assault (Swamp Mother + 3 Gupp Swarms) - I'm on a quest to get all the scenario boxes assembled. This one also includes the translucent green version of the Swamp Mother so I have a nefarious plan for how to paint that.
* Master of Puppets (Collodi, Vasilisa, 4 Marionettes, 3 Wicked Dolls) - Just... yeah... so awesome. Can't wait to play Collodi.

And so now I have a bunch more Malifaux painting projects to keep me busy. Hooray!

10 Years of Blogging

This last week my blog turned 10 years old. It's a little staggering to realize I've been posting here that long now. If I'm honest with myself this blog started as a "me too" response to all the other blogging going on there. Over the years it has sometimes felt like a chore, and there's obviously been times when Blogger changed and caused me problems. However despite my original reasons and challenges over time, this blog has become a huge source of self-motivation for myself. I feel that a few reflections are in order...

My favorite lessons learned:
* Building a portable assembly kit was one of the smartest things I did. It allowed me to keep projects moving even when life forces me into weird corners. Having it as a modular kit that I can expand and reorganize has just made it even more valuable over the years.
* 10 years ago I only used GW paints. Now I have paints from 10 different makers and an appreciation for why each one is useful in different situations. My eye for color has also improved which is why having all these different paints is so valuable. The real lesson though is that experimenting with new paints and techniques is always a good idea.
* Keeping a painting journal has been incredible useful. I'm not great at doing it all the time, but being able to go back and reference past projects and formulas has been very helpful many times now.
* Color theory is totally a thing. It allows for a little analytical process in the midst of the creative process and has really helped bring my projects to life better. More on that below.
* Basing is also a thing. The more I do it, the more I appreciate doing it. Whether it's to create a uniform army theme or to tell a story, basing is something I truly enjoy rather than "just do".

And now a couple comparison photos and some thoughts about my painting journey:

This first photo shows Ashlynn (painted Nov 2006), and Taelor (painted June 2016). The comparison is pretty interesting. The first thing I noticed when I put them side-by-side was that my sense of brightness range is much better managed later on. Taelor's overall brightness is pretty even with much of the brighter parts centered on her torso and face to draw attention to the center, but still not overly bright. Ashlynn on the other hand has a really bright face and the metallics are pushed far too bright.
The second thing I noticed was the basing. Even though Taelor wasn't any sort of fancy project, the base helps tell a small piece of a story, whereas Ashlynn's base is, well, her standing on a rock. The difference in basing efforts over the course of time has definitely changed for the better.
The last thing I noticed is just the amount of push in the shading and highlighting. More about that in my other comparison picture though...

This second photo shows Alexia (painted Nov 2006) and Mysterious Effigy (painted Oct 2016). This comparison is extra fascinating to me because it really spotlights how I use color differently now. I remember finishing Alexia and being stoked about the color work on her. Looking back at it now though, It was still just a hack. The cloak has good color variation in it, but everything else is too flat. The Mysterious Effigy on the other hand used a triadic color scheme. My shading and highlighting techniques involve shifting tonal values towards cool and warm colors, and in general I push the contrast much farther than I would have ever considered back then. I also attempted to balance color usage around areas of the model in order to keep the overall appearance of the model more balanced.
My favorite projects/accomplishments/events/things:
* Painting a huge Cygnar army as a uniform project still feels like an amazing accomplishment.
* Building my own paint rack was sort of a separate project but often when I look at it I'm really pleased with myself.
* Learning to use an airbrush was a ton of fun, even though I'm still learning how to use it.
* Playing Unbound with Jason Soles as his last MK2 game of Warmachine was perhaps one of my favorite games ever played.
* Painting the Archangel was a huge project that I really threw myself into and used the airbrush a lot for, and learned a lot about painting very large projects.

Some interesting stats over the last 10 years:
* Total posts: 1119
* Total models painted: 712
* Most popular post by hits: Paint Toxicity

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #104

Fantastic week! Except for the whole going back to work thing.

Well my DZC collection is now fully painted as well. Now on to Cygnar to catch up on. As you can see pictured here, I've got Stryker2, Acosta, and the Black 13th on my desk right now all in progress. The Black13th models are just crazy small in comparison.

I've packed away a bunch of models as well. All of my trolls and menoth are packed away. I also threw a few blisters for models that I've classified as "never going to paint" into that storage as well. I've removed them from my collection on this blog more for psychological reasons to myself than anything else. The models I packed away include:
* Arkadius and Carver - Because I'm never going to play a pig army.
* Kreoss3 and Durant - Because I'm unlikely to pick Menoth back up anytime soon.
* Triton A2s - I'm actually looking to find a new home for these with the local DZC community since they are extra that I can't really use.

Cygnar Paint Taget (tier 4):
pCaine - done
Ace - unowned
Reliant - done
2 Gun Mage Captains - done
Gun Mages + UA (1st) - done
Gun Mages + UA (2nd) - assembled
2 Hunters - done
Black 13th - painting
Tempest Blazers - done

Remaining DZC models:
2 Triton A2s - selling
2 Phobos - done
2 Odin - done
2 Enyo - done

2015 Wrap Up and 2016 Resolutions

[Disclaimer: This post contains fluffy, introspective nonsense... Just like last year's did.]

2015 was generally a solid year for hobby time. There was a pretty solid block where family stress smashed my motivation though and I fell into a Diablo3 pit for probably 4 months. If it hadn't been for that, this would have been a banner year for playing.

Last year's goals:
1) Get my Cygnar force up to 100 painted models - Success! Easily beat this goal.
2) Get caught up on all new Legion releases - Fail! But oh so close. I'm missing Blightblades. Otherwise I'm caught up on new things. I'm still behind on older units as well, specifically Archers, Swordsmen, and Grotesques.
3) Play 52 games of Warmachine - Fail! There was a solid block of 3 months where I barely played anything. If I add in my DZC games, I'd actually be closer, but still a ways off. Probably 44 games total.
4) Attend 1 convention - Success! Lock & Load for 3 years straight now! Not only that, but I played Unbound there AND got to play a game with Jason Soles which was hands down the highlight.
5) Not delude myself on other factions - Success! Other than the foray into DZC, I stayed very focused this year as my painting tally shows. Speaking of which...

Models painted last year:
Cygnar: 66
Legion: 16
Mercs: 7
DZC: 41
Looking at it from a size perspective (excluding DZC):
Small based: 63
Medium based: 10
Large based: 14
Huge based: 2

So this year I painted a total of 130 total models (89 of which were 30mm scale) compared to 85 the previous year. This year I was again very focused on what I was painting, with Cygnar being the bulk of it.

Goals for next year:
1) Paint arcs on all my Legion models - I love having arcs painted on my Cygnar. Time to bring my Legion collection up to the same standard.
2) Close out DZC - There's only a few left, but it would be nice to have it completed. I don't anticipate needing to add a whole lot of models to that force.
3) Get my Cygnar collection up to 95% painted - This is just so I don't lose steam and end up with a bunch of unpainted things sitting around.
4) Play 52 games this year - Gonna try this one again. If I can keep pace and not fall into "Murtaugh Mode", then it should be easy. I should note this is not limited to Warmachine.
5) Attend 1 convention - Again. Probably gonna be Lock & Load.
6) Paint a Batman model for my comics fixer - A friend of mine (who doesn't play miniatures games) is my fixer when it comes to comics. He has made amazing recommendations. He's a big Batman fan so I managed to get one of the great Knight Models versions of Batman and I want to paint it for him to premium quality as a way of saying thanks. 7) Play tighter games - More about this below.
8) Pack away old models - I don't want to get rid of anything, but there's lots of models I simply don't play anymore, and they are taking up precious case space. I think it's time to put them in long term storage.
9) Archive selected models - I've got a bunch of models I'm just never going to paint. For my own sanity, I owe it to myself to just pack them away in long term storage or find new homes for them.
10) Read another book about painting - I've already got a great book sitting on the shelf about the history of pigment that I'm very keen to read. I just needed some motivation.

Whew! That's a lot of goals. Some of those are pretty small though. I am a little concerned though because there's 3 big "distractions" from these goals that I can already foresee:
1) Diablo3 2.4.0 patch - Whenever it hits, it will definitely distract us with a big rash of playing.
2) Malifaux - The new campaign rules have us very intrigued, so I suspect that we'll play a bunch of that and I'll want to paint a new crew for it.
3) Unbound at Lock and Load - If they have it again, I will most definitely want to play in it and I already have a scheme in mind for it. But I'll save that for a future post.

On the topic of playing tighter games, there are 3 specific things I want to start doing in every game this year. First is use a tray to roll my dice to eliminate confusion and cocked dice. I think this is just a good practice in general and avoids lots of problems with hitting models as well.
The second is to not do any more rewinding of model moves. This is something that I've grown to dislike a lot. positioning is really important in this game, and as soon as a model is picked up and moved at all, it can completely skew things. Whenever people back things up, it always becomes a "I think it was about here and had a line to this" sort of thing, which usually benefits the person doing the moving. I'm going to start treating it more like chess where once it's picked up, it's committed.
The third is simply to play to a death clock in every Warmachine game, even if I don't enforce it on my opponent. I want to play faster and get used to making sharper decisions quickly. I find that mistakes breed better future choices better than spending lots of time mulling over options.

And that's it. Here's to a great 2015 and hopes for a great 2016. Cheers to all!

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #94

I finally painted!

In a shocking turn of events, I finally painted. For the first time in over a month. Most of this post is going to be random housekeeping, so let me focus first on my burnout situation and how I overcame it...

So at the beginning of the school year my son started Kindergarten. I'll spare you the details of why, but this is a huge deal. There was a lot of challenges and stress. Between that and a wave of politics and shake up at work, I was pretty much completely overwhelmed. Slowly my hobby motivation got ground to a halt. Diablo 3 also released a big update that rekindled my interest. That combination (along with a fair bit of alcohol) basically sucked me down into a "knuckle under and just survive" mode. My normal gaming buddies are also pretty buried as well which made it even harder to break out.
So what's changed? Well my son's school situation is vastly improved, and work is better. Not just that, but my small gaming group is starting to rekindle interest. Those things are the fuel, but I think the spark was ironically that Netflix released another season of Hemlock Grove which I really enjoy. When I got the email that the new season was available, it was like the gentle whisper wake up call saying "Hey, it's time...". I've also come across this free app on my phone called Streaks which is used as sort of a daily task reminder tool and it tracks how long of a streak you can maintain on each of those daily tasks. So now painting is one of those tasks and I'm determined to see how well I can do. Nevertheless, sometimes it just takes the right confluence of events to get out of a funk, just like the funk is sometimes caused by the right confluence.

So what have I gotten done in the last month? Well...
* Assembled Acosta and a Reliant
* Put 3 coats of paint on these Helios tanks for DCZ
* Bought Devastation, and promptly got more excited about Cygnar than Legion (sigh)
* Leveled 2 seasonal Diablo 3 characters to level 70 and got 350 paragon levels on them
* Read a zillion books with my son


And now, begin the random notes!

When I cleaned my desk, I wanted to document all the paints I put away that I had been using for my DZC projects. So here's the list for my own reference:
SWW: Heavy Body Black, SWW: Baby Poop, SWW: Dark Sepia, SWW: Sapphire, SWW: Amethyst, SWW: Ruby, SWW: Concrete, SWP: Green Earth, SWP: Red Brick, SWP: Rust Orange, AC: Napoleonic Blue, AC: Slate Grey, AC: Violet, AC: Ultramarine Blue, AC: Prussian Blue, AC Basic Red, AC: Emerald Green, AC: Gun Metal, AC: Silver, AC: Beige, VMC: Smoke, VMC: Black, VMC: Glossy Black, P3: Black, P3: White, P3: KRH, P3: Frostbite, P3: KRB, P3: Jack Bone, P3: MWH, P3: Midlund Flesh, P3: Grey (90/10)

And here's a list of PP stuff in various states of progress:
Assembled PP stuff: Gun mages + UA, Eiryss2, Black 13th, Kara Sloan, Stryker2, 8 Blight Wasps, Gobber Tinker, Acosta, Saeryn&Rhyas2, Zuriel, Reliant, Acosta
In progress stuff: Murder Ponies, 2 Phobos, 4 Ares, 2 Helios

And this was my original paint target, which is completely blown out of the water now, but I'm documenting it here...
DZC Paint Target:
2 Zeus - assembled
2 Ares - painting
2 Phobos - painting
8 Immortals - done
4 Junos - 2 done, 2 assembled
5 Neptunes - 3 done, 2 assembled
Hades - assembled
2 Helios - painting
2 Janus - done
2 Sirens - done
1 Triton A1 - done

Lost Among Bananas and Insidiousness

This is just a quick post to note that I am currently taking a bit of a break from Warmachine. Not a serious one. Just temporary. My life was completely upside-down for the last 6 weeks and is finally returning to something resembling normalcy. Health issues with my son, challenges with my job, injury to my back, and other random small things sort of smothered my hobby activities. I've decided to take this time as a bit of a break from Warmachine and play some other things for a bit. I'll post those activities here as time allows and eventually will circle back on Warmachine once I feel properly rejuvenated for it.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #90

Short update cause I'm exhausted.

Lots of stuff has been getting done, but I'm sorely behind on blogging. My personal life has been thrown into complete disarray with health issues for everyone in the house. Despite this, I got some stuff done recently, including Rutger Shaw who I'll post tomorrow. I also got a ton of models assembled and primed and base coated Siege, Triumph, an Avenger, and the horses for the Tempest Blazers. I also cut out felt templates for trenches, painted a whole slew more Tau Ceti bases for Cygnar, and generally got all my stuff organized. The next couple weeks are likely to be dead quiet from me though as resolving health stuff takes priority.

From the Desk: No Weekend Roundup

Sometimes life just goes upside down on me. Such as it was the last week. So there's no progress reports or anything really. I've been spending time assembling models when I can but little else. This post is just for my own sake really to distract my mind from life for a few minutes.

Now that Lock&Load is over, I think it would be good to have a new paint target. To that end, I've created the following two Cygnar tier lists that I want to start working towards.

Siege, Trial By Fire (tier 4):

• Siege - trimmed
• Squire - completed
• Triumph - trimmed
• Hunter - completed
• Journeyman - completed
• Hunter - completed
• Journeyman - completed
• Defender - completed
• Strangeways - completed
• Jakes - completed
• Charger - completed
• Field Mechaniks (6) - completed
• Gun Mages + UA - completed

This one is pretty easy. Most everything comes out of my existing collection.

Caine1, Sons of the Tempest (tier 4):

• Caine1 - completed
• Hunter - completed
• Defender - completed
• Gun Mage Captains (2) - completed
• Gun Mages + UA - assembled
• Hunter - completed
• Gun Mages + UA - completed
• Hunter - completed
• Black 13th - blister
• Tempest Blazers - assembled

This one requires a significant amount more work.

2014 Wrap Up and 2015 Resolutions

[Disclaimer: This post contains fluffy, introspective nonsense... Just like last year's did.]

2014 wasn't as busy on the personal and work fronts as the previous year was, but I still had a lot of trips and then of course the holidays had a pretty big block of non-productivity.

Last year's goals:
1) Attend Lock & Load (again) - Success! Had a great time, played a ton of games, and generally really enjoyed the entire trip.
2) Enter 2 painting competitions - Success! I entered KublaCon and Lock&Load. Easy to pull this one off. I will note that I didn't place in either of them which spawned a conversation with myself that went similar to this blog post by Meg Maples.
3) Get 90% of my Malifaux collection painted - Fail! Yeah, totally got distracted by prep for Lock&Load and then starting my new Cygnar force. It was an ambitious goal to say the least.
4) Start painting my Cygnar horde - Success! This was a slam dunk. In fact I made way more progress than I anticipated I would. More on that below.
5) Close out my random few unpainted models from other factions - Fail! Again it was an ambitious goal that was demoted by other things.

This wasn't as bad of a year as last year, but still not super productive...
Models painted last year:
Cygnar: 49
Malifaux: 19
Legion: 13
Mercs: 3
Circle: 1
Or looking at it from a different perspective:
Small based: 66
Medium based: 10
Large based: 8
Huge based: 2

So this year I painted a total of 85 models compared to 42 the previous year which is a huge surge in the amount I got done In all fairness, last year included 3 huge based models including the Archangel and Throne which were complex. However this year I started a whole new faction and designed the scheme for it which worked out fairly successful. Plus I painted the power generator pieces from Secret Weapon to match my Cygnar force.

Goals for next year:
1) Get my Cygnar force up to 100 painted models - I really love playing Cygnar, and I have a ton of models I really want to paint. This should be a slam dunk for me.
2) Get caught up on all new Legion releases - I've loved all the new models coming out for Legion, but I've fallen behind due to my Cygnar obsession. Time to get back on the latest releases. If I'm really ambitious, I may also try to paint a unit of Archers or Swordsmen.
3) Play 52 games of Warmachine - I've never set a goal to play a number of games before. This is mostly motivated to keep myself from falling into "It's late and I'm tired" mode and to get out and play more.
4) Attend 1 convention - It may not be Lock&Load, but I'm going to attend 1 convention for sure this year.
5) Not delude myself on other factions - Seriously, no silly goals about closing out models for other factions or games that I'm just not going to be as focused on. Like painting Dreadfleet, or Malifaux, or Protectorate or whatever.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #66

Traveling weeks suck.

This week was not great for actual painting progress, but I got lots of stuff posted up on the blog. Stuff that I'd backlogged to post but spent the time painting instead during the previous week. Fyanna however has gotten a lot of work done. She's about 75% done at this point, but I haven't even started a base for her. Working on a Legion model again has reminded me how streamlined my Cygnar paint scheme is. Painting this model is much more work given the wider variety of colors at play. I do love painting my Legion though, and particularly these solos that have nice character to them. However it's no wonder I've cranked through a much higher volume of Cygnar in such a short time period than any other faction.

I also worked on a prototype for the Alien Temple bases. I've been thinking about putting my new mercs on these bases to give them their own theme. I wanted something that looked different but I could still get done efficiently. These are not super efficient, but they go pretty quick. I think the real question is whether I actually want to re-base any models or not. This also goes back to my Cygnar Gun Mages being on different bases (and having a different theme as well). I'll probably stall until I've gotten much further through my Cygnar paint queue to make this decision, but having the prototype for this base done now helps for the future. I still need to decide what to do about the bits of moss growth on these bases though. For my own reference, here's what I did so far:
Base coat: Ironhull Grey
Streaks: thinned Underbelly Blue
Wash: SWW Algae
Base coat cracks: Ember Orange
Highlight: Cygnus Yellow
Highlight: Cygnus Yellow + White
Highlight: White

And finally, a big reason I haven't gotten more done this last week is that I've been re-bitten by the Diablo3 bug along with a couple buddies of mine. I've been playing a lot and this is an example of one of my recent spoils. I'm not proud of how much I've played but sometimes my inner muse needs a break with some semi-mindless button clicking.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #58

Blah. Just... Blah.

To say that I've been in a painting funk for the last 2 weeks would be an understatement. More on that later for those that actually care. For now, here's sort of the state of my desk and other hobby related things for me.

The Thunderhead is still early in progress. The vast number of glowing coils has intimidated me a bit. The two Lancers however are nearly done with just insignias missing at this point. I hadn't planned on starting them at all, but there was a tournament last weekend that I was hoping to bring my new Cygnar force to and I needed a few extra points to round it out to 50. Lancers with Nemo1 seemed like a perfect fit and so I was trying to crank them out real fast. Long story short, I didn't make it to the tournament due to a back injury and hence getting these done didn't push to the top of my priority stack.

My next big push with Cygnar is probably an insane one. Pictured here are 2 units of Stormblades. I've got them, with 6 WAs, 2UAs, and a single Stormblade Captain all assembled, primed and base coated. My plan is to paint them all together at once. Like I said, probably insane, but once I do this I'll have my Nemo1 tier 4 army all done and it will give me a whole other level of accomplishment with this new Cygnar army. I purposefully did this roundup post early on Sunday instead of in the evening in the hopes that forcing myself to look at my paint queue would get me motivated tonight.

So what else has been happening hobby-wise? I received my Blighted Bather which is good, although I have no idea when I'll actually get around to painting it.

I also backed the Massive Voodoo Indigogo campaign for the Ultimate Paint Rack. I'm super stoked about this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it is supposed to ship before the end of this year. An added bonus is that it will come with a brush box and wet palette which will dramatically increase my portability for painting (I theorize). I've been struggling with my existing paint rack capacity already so I'll be curious to see if this solves it or just shifts it.

Beyond that, life has been challenging. I had a back injury a couple weeks ago which really laid me up hard. We also had family visit and work has generally been a different shade of stupid. On the plus side, my son (who is now 4) has been awesome. He's learning to read and engaging at a whole different level now. The joy he's been bringing to my life has really kept me above water.

From the Desk: Some Models Are Cursed

Warning: This post is just a cathartic rant.

Some models are cursed.

Every so often I work on a painting project where the model just feels like multiple things go wrong. Almost like fate conspires against me to complete the model. No matter how much I want to love the model, it just becomes torture to work on. I had this experience recently with the metal Mature Nephilim and before that with the Extreme Carnivean. I've had it happen plenty of times before as well. Rather than catalog the various models this has happened with, I figured I would think back to the types of curses I've run into.

Model is ugly - Recently this post by Meg Maples about Choosing a Mini for competition painting was a really good read about this very issue. Sometimes models are just ugly.
Model has a "messy" sculpt - Some models are just very crowded with details or the surfaces are sculpted such that they seem overly complex and difficult to differentiate different parts of the model from each other. This becomes especially annoying.
Bad primer coat - Either too thick, or grainy, or whatever.
Model gets damaged during painting - I have this problem with big models. They tip over on my desk and get damaged. It can happen a number of other ways as well. Sometimes even just a bad join and the model comes apart.
Model simply scares away the muse - This is perhaps the most difficult situation. Some models are just not inviting of creativity or excitement. When this happens it takes an enormous amount of willpower to overcome those barriers and just muscle through to the end.

So what's the point of all this? Nothing. I'm just getting this frustration out of my head and heart. I had 2 large models that came under heavy curses recently, and as I prepare to start competition entries for Lock & Load, I need to take a step back and release this frustration.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #47

If I wasn't trying to at least do these weekend roundups, my blog would have nearly starved to death.

Lots of random notes this time for the last couple weeks of work.
So first up is a quick shot of painting projects that are in progress. 3 of the Terror Tots are done, 3 more along with the Cherub are barely started, and Lilith is about 90% done. I've sort of been struggling with her. Parts of her I really like, and other parts feel just enough off that she seems distorted somehow. I can't pin my finger on it, so if anyone out there has any insights, feel free to share them. In general I'm going to call her good though once I refine the metals and clean up the grey straps.

Built out my portable painting kit! That was yesterday's post. Looking forward to using it this week hopefully.

I spent a bunch of time getting more base work ready for the Lilith crew. I realized this last week that I would just barely have enough 30mm blanks for obsidian pillar bases so I baked an even dozen more. Then I spent time getting a 2-level base made for Lilith and 7 more 30mm bases carved for the Terror Tots and Cherub. I have to say that this third type of Neverborn base in my obsidian pillar theme is by far the most labor intensive. The Nightmare ones are the easiest, and the Woe ones are somewhere in the middle. But carving the cracks in the top of these Nephilim pillars is definitely the most time consuming. At least I have these first 8 done. I've also got blanks ready for the 4 Young Nephilim, 2 Mature Nephilim, and Barbaros. I may try to put together a miniature kit for carving them and bring it to work with me to work on during lunch breaks if possible.

I also made a 2-level Nightmare base for the Dreamer, who I absent-mindedly based on a single level base. This rounds out the remaining re-basing work that I needed to do, so I figured I'd put together a group shot of all 4 that got re-based. Amazingly it wasn't that big of a deal to pull the pinned models off of the bases, mostly cause I think they were all metal.

Other quick notes... I'm totally failing to do my "painting practices" still. Been crunched on hobby time and just more focused on getting Malifaux models painted despite the clear value of doing the practices. In that vein though, I put together a plan for everything I want to get painted before Lock & Load this year and it amounts to a minimum of 42 models which is going to keep me very busy during the next 4 months, especially since a few of those will be competition entries.

2013 Wrap Up and 2014 Resolutions

[Disclaimer: This post contains fluffy, introspective nonsense... Just like last year's did.]

This was another crazy year and my painting productivity was heavily impacted. I took 5 international work trips and my son turned 3 which were the two largest impacts on my ability to get much painting time in. On the plus side I also did a number of home improvement projects like install a central vacuum, paint and finish out the guest bedroom, build shelves in the garage, and completely rebuild my painting desk after the bedroom remodel. I can't really complain too much about how much I did get done.

Last year's goals:
1) Attend Lock & Load. - Success! This was pretty easy once I got approval from my wife. I had a blast at the whole thing and really enjoyed the road trip.
2) Get my Croxorz collection up to a "completed" status. - Success! Completed this pretty easily. I'm not sure if I'll keep expanding my collection at all this year, but I do enjoy having them to play occasionally.
3) Expand my airbrush skills. - Success! Sort of. I did use my airbrush a lot more this year but I'm still not doing amazing things with it. I really need a class I think to get better use out of it.

This wasn't as bad of a year as last year, but still not super productive...
Models painted last year:
Legion: 23
Malifaux: 10
Minions: 8
Protectorate: 1
Or looking at it from a different perspective:
Small based: 15
Medium based: 18
Large based: 6
Huge based: 3

I also built and painted 5 objective markers, 8 fences, and an outhouse!

Goals for next year:
1) Attend Lock & Load (again) - Yep, just like last year.
2) Enter 2 painting competitions, which will likely just be L&L and KublaCon.
3) Get 90% of my Malifaux collection painted.
4) Start painting my Cygnar horde. More about that in an upcoming post.
5) Close out my random few unpainted models from my other factions. There's just a few rogue models that I haven't completed that I should just get done. I'd consider this one my stretch goal for the year though. I don't expect to fully succeed at this.