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

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #144

Still trying to be completely healthy. So lame.

I had intended to write up more this post, but it's going to devolve into just quick notes. First, and most important, I built this lighting arch for my desk! It was pretty cheap to build all things considered: LED lights and power cord from Amazon, aluminum bar and c-clamps from OSH, all for about $60 total. It provides great light, but it does have a different tint (slight blueish) compared to my normal lamp (slight yellowish). However it's not so much that I'm worried about it.

In addition, I got the Sonnia Criid crew on to bases and most of them primed for Sketch Style. I finished a bunch of stuff this last two weeks that finally got posted too. I'm making a bunch of bases at once. Also got my 4 Corrupted Hounds and 3 Wicked Dolls assembled. Finally, I'm nearly done with my 3 Changelings as well.

Total games played this year: 2

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #143

So done with being sick.

I've been sick for 2 solid weeks now and still coughing. It's really hampering my ability to paint in the evenings when I have to take a bunch of pills. I've been trying to scratch out a little painting here and there but the progress is low. I did wrap up the Gupp Swarms and Mysterious Emissary which was nice. The Spawn Mother (pictured here) is almost done too, but I'm giving it a couple days to mull it over before I call it finished. The Changelings are also in progress now, and man are those small models. Beyond that, not much to report.

I was going to write up a review of the new Vallejo weathering paints but I just don't see that happening. They are pretty sweet, and if you can pick up a couple, I highly recommend trying them out.

Anyway, lots of progress this weekend. Got all 9 Gupps primed, made some progress on the translucent Spawn Mother, and lots of progress on the Mysterious Emissary.

A couple weeks ago we wrapped up week 5 of the Malifaux campaign.

Total games played this year: 2

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #142

Arise like a phoenix my muse!

So progress was pretty light this week unfortunately due to a massively slammed work schedule. Despite that though I am becoming increasingly motivated to paint. This weekend I picked up a bunch of Golden Acrylic heavy body paints in prep for the class with Matt DiPietro in a couple weeks. I'm really excited to learn how to use them. I've also been making progress on a couple projects and generally cleaned up a bunch of loose ends. This blog is not getting a lot of attention, but obviously that is not my primary concern and it will get the attention as appropriate.

Anyway, lots of progress this weekend. Got all 9 Gupps primed, made some progress on the translucent Spawn Mother, and lots of progress on the Mysterious Emissary.

I played a game this last week! Finally my first game of the year. I've got a lot of catching up to do. We played the first game of week 5 of our Malifaux campaign. Man I love playing Malifaux.

Total games played this year: 1

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.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #140

Finally getting a desk post in...

I've been slacking pretty bad on the blog here in this new year. I'm finally gaining steam on painting, but it's still feeling like a bit of an uphill struggle. I've got a couple other things done that I just haven't photographed and posted yet. The Neraph here is in progress and would have been my last unpainted Legion model if there wasn't a bit of an accident at my FLGS the other day, where I picked up the Grotesque Assassin and Nyss Warlord. I'm honestly not quite sure why I got them since I'm not planning to play WM/H anytime in the next couple months.

I picked up four Vallejo weathering paints the other day to experiment with. I'll post a couple examples later this week but my first impression is pretty positive.

Total games played this year: 0

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #139

Probably my last roundup post of the year.

My muse is still somewhat on holiday, but I'm still finding a little inspiration. More progress on Lilith Avatar, and started working on a this memorial-style terrain piece.

Played another two games of Malifaux this last week, wrapping up week 4 of our campaign for me at least.
Total games played this year: 56

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #138

Doing this post extra early just because of expected timing issues.

My muse seems to be on holiday, but I did get some stuff done. New Nightmare base for Carver is finished, and I did the extreme whites/blacks for Carver as well as prep for sketchstyle. Angel Eyes is done except for getting on to a base. I also got the Lilith Avatar model assembled and primed, which also included attaching it to one of my blank Neverborn bases and getting it gap filled. Other stuff got done too, like priming my 2 plastic Shredders and assembling a bunch of other things (2 Transmortis, the 4 Guild models from the starter box, and the Batman model).

There was also a backslide for my painting percentage as some of my Wyrd Black Friday order arrived this last week, which included the Titania box, Will-O-Wisps, Bandersnatch, and 3 limited edition models (alt Nicodem, alt Guild Guard and alt Bishop).

Played another game of Malifaux, wrapping up week 3 of our campaign.
Total games played this year: 54

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #136

Turbo mode...

Not a lot of progress. The last week has been busy with home improvement work. Mysterious Effigy is done and just need to post pictures. Started the 2 Bloodwretches. Widow Weaver wants to be started but isn't yet. Not much else to report unfortunately.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #134

Technically I'm still on weekend, just long, but here goes...

Lots of progress in the last 2 weeks. My 2 Stitched Togethers and 2 Waldgeists are painted and just need to be put on bases. Speaking of which, I worked out basing schemes for "Puppet" and "Swampfiend" types in Malifaux and not only prototyped them, but also created extra bases for most of my current backlog of remaining Neverborn. In addition to that, I got the Black Blood Scion and Mysterious Effigy primed. And to top it off, I've started painting my Nephilim Bolt Thrower from the Legion battle box.

On a more personal note, I feel like my muse is really strong lately. It's especially comforting given all the stresses in my life right now. Painting has been an important outlet for me to work out frustrations and just get out of my own head.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #133

Can't believe how much I've done in the last 2 weeks!

No picture tonight. I finished a pile of stuff, which I won't recap here obviously. Ironically I don't have a lot of stuff in progress. The Widow Weaver and 2 Stitched Togethers are primed and ready for paint, but I haven't started them. I've assembled 2 Waldgeists, Black Blood Scion, and Mysterious Effigy. In general, I'm in a bit of a holding pattern.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #132

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Finished Lelu and Lilitu. Got my Alps and Stitched Togethers primed. Got started painting on the Black Blood Shaman (pictured here). Went through my terrain building supplies and got organized in the hope that I will start building terrain in the next couple weeks. Got my wet palette refreshed with a new sheet. Now for sleep.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #131

Oops. Missed a couple weeks.

Sort of a mediocre week for hobby progress. Painted Jakes, although I'm not sure how soon I'll be playing her. Also finished the 3 Daydream and Nekima. Nekima was a bit of a challenge and I got stalled a couple times getting her done, but I pulled it off. Pics of her to come tomorrow when I have more time to post. I also got 3 Alps and 2 Stitched Togethers assembled, along with just some general organizing of remaining unpainted models. Speaking of...

In the process of sorting through my remaining unpainted Malifaux, I did something extremely rare for me. I found my old metal Mysterious Effigy model. I was trying to interpret it and finally just decided it was unreadable visually. So I opted to toss it into my parts bin and get the new plastic version of it. The plastic one is very nice in comparison. It still pains me a bit to do this. However having looked through my existing metal models and at the new plastic sculpts, if there was a single model to do it with, this was the one. As my friend aptly put it, "the old sculpt looks like Picasso throw up".

Another task I wrapped up was swapping the bases on my Neverborn models that have the type "Spirit". All of them happened to have Incorporeal which is a very relevant thing to remember, and I decided that the best way to represent that with a visual reminder was to use the translucent purple bases that Wyrd sells. The only problem was used straight as is the bases were too bright. So I opted to hit them with a matte coat, then a purple ink wash to darken them a bit. I like the result. The Dreamer one was the tricky one since I needed to re-paint the glowing fire effect on the bottom.

Here's a shot of the newly updated bases in among the other traditional ones.

And finally I have this little experiment. I did a primer undercoating of black and then white, and then did 3 washes of various sepia colorings and control levels. This was just to test out how easy it may (or may not) be to do a western style look (a la sepia colored old photographs) on a model. The results are, well, less than exciting, but as a proof of concept they did show that it's feasible. I'd obviously need a more interesting model for the overall look and way more work, but the effect is interesting. I might fool around with this a bit more later when I pick out a more appropriate model to test on.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #130

Back in action!

Daydreams are almost done. Made some bases, including ones for Lelu and Lilitu, which needed to blend Nephilim/Nightmare/Woe elements, which was tricking. Assembled and primed Lelu, Lilitu, Nekima and Capt Jakes (not pictured). Primed both Hellmouth units. Cleaned my desk. Most importantly, I have my muse back! Now though, it's bedtime.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #129

Not going to be many weekend updates for a while. Family vacation is about to launch.

Joy of joys! Liquitex Burnt Sienna ink is a wonderful replacement for the old GW Chestnut ink that was ended years ago. I'm so excited!! I tested it out a bit and it's a pretty fantastic.

Ran out of dullcoat. Doh! Kryssa would be completely done except I need to spray her with dullcoat. It's on it's way though, so hopefully this week.

Got some progress done on the new Proteus, as well as the Scythean parts to convert my old Proteus with. That is going to be a real nerve-wracking conversion process for sure!

Arc painting progress:
Warlocks: 16/16
Heavy Beasts: 11/11
(Seraph, 2 Angelius, Typhon, Neraph, eCarnivian) Light Beasts: 10/10
Lesser Beasts: 24/24
Pack Beasts: 8/8
Solos: 13/13
Incubi: 10/10
Small Based Units: 34/34 (Striders+UA, Hex Hunters+UA, Legionnaires+UA, Blackfrost Shard)
Medium Based Units: 11/11 (Warmongers, Warspears+UA)
Cavalry Units: 5/5 (Raptors)
Artillery/Support Units: 11/11 (Scather, Spawning Vessel, Blighted Bather)
Total: -/153
No arcs needed: 3 (Lylyt3, Throne, Archangel)
Unpainted models: 15 (2 Hellmouths, 2 Shredders, Bolt Thrower, Neraph, Proteus, Kryssa, Scythean)
For some reason my model collection total is off for Legion, so that's now updated. Further proof that I'm more of a Cygnar player than a Legion player I guess.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #128

Belated happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans! And belated happy Canadian Independence Day to my Canadian brothers and sisters! And, uh, happy weekend to the rest of you.

Finished my Cygnar box! Finished the Gun Mage Riflemen! Got Proteus assembled and did gap filling on the Bolt Thrower and Neraph! Used lots of exclamation marks!!

I also finally got around to making some spare wall templates. I was going to order some out of clear plastic, but it turns out no one actually sells any, so a custom order from the plastics store was my only option which would have been unnecessarily expensive.

Got one of my Rules Digests spiral bound at a FedEx Office location. Totally worth the $6 I paid for them to do is, as it was done perfectly, and also given clear plastic covers. So much easier to use since I can lay it open flat now. Highly recommend doing this.

One last note to myself, I got a tip that Liquitex Burnt Sienna ink is a pretty close match for the old GW Chesnut ink that I miss oh so much. Need to see if I can find some.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #127

Critical stall.

Just got back from a weekend away. Short update. Lancer is complete except for a base, which I had to backorder from my FLGS. Will have it done in a few days once that base arrives. Also got a bunch of stuff assembled and ready for priming. New Proteus arrived as well and I've got all the parts trimmed. Hopefully have him assembled this week as well.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #126

Happy Fathers' Day to all the hobby enthusiasts out there!

I'm super tired, so this update is going to be pretty condensed. It was a good week overall. Maddox and the battle group from the Cygnar starter box are started (as pictured here), and I'm hoping to get most of Maddox done tonight. In addition, the 2 Gun Mage Riflemen are primed, and most of the Legion starter box is assembled at this point, with just the Neraph left to go. I also got the 2 Hellmouths prepped and ready for priming as well. I'll likely leave all the Legion stuff alone for the time being until I star the Riflemen.

In addition to this hobby work, I also got a couple games in this week, playing 0pt and 35pt games with Haley1 vs Helynna. I won both games. I'll forgo a proper battle report on those probably, since I suspect there will be a lot of Mk3 games coming up.

Games played this year: 35

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #125

Jump, jump, jump, pounce!

So progress this week has shifted gears after finishing the Sacral Vault. I trimmed a bunch of Cephalyx models (3 units and 3 heavies), but painting jumped over to Malifaux models that I had prepped and primed. It's sort of fortuitous actually since I was hoping to make some progress on my remaining Malifaux horde of stuff. Iggy was a very quick paint and I've already made a significant amount of progress on Taelor, with the base mostly done and herself mostly done as well. The Black Blood Shaman is ready to start, and 3 Daydreams just got primed. I've only got 3 more evenings of painting ahead of me before leaving for Lock & Load, but we'll see how much gets done on Malifaux during that time. Speaking of Malifaux, I did some planning work to figure out what all bases I still need to make. I'm documenting it here for my own future use.

Malifaux basing plan:
Remaining models:
Black Blood Shaman - 30mm Nephilim
Lilith Avatar - 50mm Nephilim
Nekima - 50mm Nephilim
Lilitu - 30mm Nightmare Nephilim Woe
Lelu - 30mm Nightmare Nephilim Woe
Widow Reaver - 40mm Nightmare
3 Daydreams - 30mm Nightmare
3 Alps - 30mm Nightmare
2 Stitched Together - 30mm Nightmare Puppet Darkened
Mysterious Effigy - 30mm Puppet Effigy
2 Waldgeists - 40mm Beast Swampfiend

Currently have:
2 30mm Nightmare
2 30mm Nephilim
1 50mm Nephilim
1 50mm Woe
2 30mm Woe

Need to make:
1 50mm Nephilim - custom for Lilith avatar
2 30mm Nephilim/Nightmare/Woe
4 30mm Nightmare
1 40mm Nightmare
Bases for Stitched Togethers, Waldgeists, and Mysterious Effigy - Gotta decide on options there

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #123

Late update. Another boring week.

More progress on the Vault. I was traveling for work again this week, and generally had a very hectic week due to family stuff. So the progress isn't amazing, but it's getting there.

Paint Target: Complete All Models
Sacral Vault - painting