Too... Many... Projects...

Over the last few days I've tried to be good and spend as much spare time as I can afford painting figures. But this afternoon I sat back and realised I had actually been working on lots of different ones, a few figures at a time, instead of my main one at the moment. Part of this is due to getting distracted. Whenever I think of a set of rules I would like to play a game with, or worse, a new set I have just got, I always end up rummaging around to see what I can paint next. If I had actually spent all of my painting time on one thing I would probably have at least finished something properly this weekend. As it is, I still have a table full of half complete projects!

 Normans!

This is the one thing I should have been concentrating on... I guess knowing I didn't have a game of Saga at the club next week meant I felt I could put off finishing my Norman warband, but that should not be an excuse. I've base painted the 8 crossbowmen and they are ready for dipping. In the background are 13 horses for my knights and warlord. I'm fairly sure I could have completed everything if I had just remained focused!

Pirates!
 

I recently got my copy of "And a Bottle of Rum" by Two Hour Wargames in the post and am really keen to try it. While I could just dive in and play with the pirates I've got, I want to go for the 'full experience' which means I'd like some soldiers, civilians, smugglers, natives etc. Part of what is good about THW rules is that there are several markers representing a chance of an unknown encounter on the table at the start and I want to have some kind of surprise to it rather than just getting 'more pirates' each time. So I am going to hit eBay later to fund this! But that isn't what this picture is about. I have a lot of Old Glory pirates, which are fair enough, but not dripping with character, and decided they might be an efficient way to put together a 'ghost pirate' option for if I want a supernatural element to my games. The chap pictured above is a go at painting 'ghostly' colours. I think it might work okay, especially if there is a group of 4 or 5 of them.

Zombies!

 The figures I was waiting for from 15mm.co.uk arrived safe and sound, so I wanted to waste no time in painting the 'Mad Axeman' for my zombie games. It'll be interesting to play a couple of games with him and see what happens...

 I had also ordered a zombie hoard (well, a pack of 16) at the same time. Now, while these are supposed to be fantasy/medieval zombies, I think they work just fine when you paint them up in 'modern' colours. And as they are pretty generic looking, it makes them easy to paint. I got the above finished today no problem. There are only 11 pictured above as I am keeping 5 for a Hoards of the Things element.

Rooting around in my 'zombie box file' I realised that I had a lot of half finished figures. So I picked an armed civilian and a couple of government agents and finished them off. The government agents, especially, will be interesting for the Mad Axeman to encounter! All of these figures have not had their bases finished as I am going to buy some of the easy, no, I mean lazy, coloured sand from The Army Painter. I get so bored painting grey urban bases!

Hoards!

One of the joys of HotT is that you only need a few figures to get a new element together. This makes it perfect for working on a few figures while I am waiting for other stuff to dry. So I was able to complete an undead bone giant and two units of death knights. With the addition of a few more elements, I'll have a fair sized undead/chaos army ready to go. Which brings me to...

The Tray!

Precariously balanced on a pile of boxes is my Dark Dwarf army from Irregular Miniatures and also several bags of unpainted 15mm figures which represent the start of projects I have hardly mentioned on this blog! Sigh....

Naboo!

Well, between all the above going on and various other commitments, I didn't even get a chance to play a game of The Queen's Gambit, which a friend had generously lent me. But I did get to set it up on Friday! Unfortunately it is now Sunday evening and I really should put it away again...

Now what?!

This has all got me thinking... Hang on, no, let's start again, because 'thinking' is actually part of the problem! When I am happily working away in the man-cave, I'll be mulling things over and getting new ideas as I paint. And it is this which leads me to take a break from whatever I am doing and paint just a few figures for another project. I think what I need is a more focused approach. A target. I should be saying to myself: "Right, if you paint this group of figures over the next few days, that will be enough to play an interesting game of [insert name here]." After all, I certainly don't enjoy the painting side of things as much as the playing. Knowing what I need to paint and how that will actually work in terms of a scenario for a game should keep me both motivated and able to produce something I can actually use, rather than an assortment of figures for various games... at least, that's the idea...

I think I'll have to test that out and see what happens....

15mm.co.uk Hooded Executioners

Sometimes some new figures come out which just inspire you and you have to get them! That's how I felt about the Hooded Executioners from 15mm.co.uk.

I did delay for as long as possible, but they just seemed to call to me. Partly because I figured they would be perfect Warband elements for my chaos forces in Hordes of the Things, but, as they come in a pack of sixteen, I can get 5 warband elements (3 per base) and have one left over.

What?! A left over figure, what's the use in that?!

Well, it gives me a groovy character to use in All Things Zombie!

I've been toying with using card makers for Magic The Gathering in order to create ATZ character cards (as many seem to do) and have just had a first attempt.

This is just a first draft, banged out in a couple of minutes, but I like how it is heading and it seems perfect for making character records for one off games.

For those of you interested, I used this free software: http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/

Now, I just need to wait for the figures to arrive!

Random roundup

Phew, where does time go?! Between this that and the other I haven't had much time for any kind of painting or gaming for ages, but am trying to scrape together a few moments to get various projects back on track.

I went and visited my parents for my Dad's birthday and Father's Day last weekend, which was a perfect excuse to get some DBA in! We played Rome (Dad) vs Carthage (Me) and the game went something like this:

1) The Carthaginian army approaches the Roman battle line.

2) Contact is made and a lengthy melee ensues

3) I lose really badly...

In my defense I was suffering from a really bad cold, which I had picked up the Friday before, but it was still a pretty poor show on my part...

In other news, my wife's Edward Monkton 'Madness Hamster' keyring broke. It was pretty old and battered by that point so it was not greatly mourned, but, being a wargamer who plays Hordes of the Things, I immediately thought "Oooh behemoth for my ratman army"...

One quick paint job later....

I thought it was a fun inclusion for when I want a 'less serious' kind of game.

To round up other events:

1. I went back to the club after an absence of several weeks and had a good couple of games of Saga. I was planning on using my Normans, but illness prevented me from finishing them. On the other hand, playing again has spurred me to try and complete them.
2. No pictures yet, but I now have a 15mm Dark Dwarf HotT army from Irregular. I will be reviewing this in the same style as the ratman army a while back.
3. We saw World War Z a while back and, I have to say, very much enjoyed it. It seems a lot of the criticism seems to stem from it not being very closely tied to the books and also that it is only a 15 rating. Ultimately I would say it is less of a zombie film than 28 Days Later etc, but works better if you view it as a thriller rather than a horror film. It was certainly tense and exciting (although it helps if you overlook a few large plot holes!). Basically it made me want to play more zombie games with fast zombies, so I guess it did its job there!
4. I have two more 'secret' projects on the go at the moment. Won't say much about them right now as it will probably just mean I lose focus on the things I need to finish first...

Right, better go. The postman just arrived and by the sound of things he has delivered my recent order from 15mm.co.uk!

Have a good weekend, everyone!