I know it is my own fault, I built all of them at once, and thus they all need painting at the same time. To top it all off I have decided to paint some as Hospitallers and some other as Teutonics, one in white and the other in black. Both are colors I find difficult to paint, particularly the white. Happily the rest are subject to the usual palette of colors which will reduce my boredom.
And no, The Muse is not singing, this is sheer bull-headedness that is driving me.
So, I found three boxes of Fireforge Middle Ages knights and sergeants while rummaging around in The Vault. I briefly thought of just pushing therm back into the dusty corner that I found them but I remembered the old saying "Cemeteries are full of people that thought that they had more time". I sighed and moved them to the head of the Painting Queue. I spent a couple of hours cleaning them up and assembling the minis last night. Now all I need is the motivation to paint all thirty-six of them!
You know the feeling, a little whisper in the back of your head. A nagging idea that you've forgotten or misplaced something. That sneaking suspicion that, even though you can see that you have finished the job, something isn't right. Yeah. Ever since I finished my Middle Ages figures a few weeks ago I had that feeling. A shadow at the edge of my vision. Just yesterday I found out why.
As I was sorting things to bring to Pro or Con to give away I began moving boxes in the depths of The Vault, particularly in the Heap of Embarrassment when I found an oddly light box. "What would have possessed me to put an empty crate this far back into the corner?" was the thought that passed my mind as I opened it up and found these guys lurking inside.
Now I have to track down The Muse and chain her to my workbench so that I will these done before the end of the year....
If you are old enough to recognize that quote I hope your arthritis is doing better than mine. A friend, Zhodani Commando, called recently asking if he could get me to handle a rush-job terrain feature. He is planning on running a campaign game at Pro or Con on the 27th of September. Normally I prefer more than two weeks notice but the job seemed simple enough; he needed a bit of moonscape, steep hills to block line of sight and provide safe areas to maneuver. I agreed and drew up some sketches of the hills that would meet his needs (see below), he gave it the "thumbs-up" and I was off to the workshop.
This one is for my buddy Housemartin.
One of the sure signs that Autumn is here and the local "convention season" has begun is the annual Pro or Con wargaming convention. This event has been running for simply ages and is always a fun and friendly convention. Three sessions of games, an expansive Flea Market, on site food and drink (adult beverages as well after 1500hrs), a raffle and a low entry fee combine to make this a superb way to spend a Saturday. Mark your calendar now and be sure to get there early so you can look through the Flea Market before play starts.Several local Brick & Mortar stores will be in attendance to expand the ways you can spend your hobby dollars.
You can look at the scheduled games and pre-register at Tabletop Events.
This event will run from 8am to 11pm at the Elks Lodge at 31117 Plymouth Road Livonia MI.
I have been on a painting bender for the last three months (as much as I hate painting, I absolutely refuse to play with un/semi-painted minis) grinding out forty mounted figures and 153 foot minis. I do try to answer The Muse on the rare occasions that she calls to me and I get the urge to paint. Largely in an effort to get through as many of my unpainted minis as I can before I die (an impossible task, to be certain). But, today, the fickle nymph that she is, she has moved on. I sat and looked at a tray full of primed Gauls, paintbrush in hand, paints arrayed all around me, and .....nothing. Not even a hint of any energy to apply paint. I guess that the Gauls will have to wait; the poor things have been waiting for literally years!
On the other hand the itch to make some terrain has fortuitously matched with a request from a buddy for some "moonscape", bleak hills and craters and such. I guess it is just time to shift gears.
Pleased as I was with my markers for Heroic Actions in 15mm I decided to further explore markers for other aspects of the game in a less scale-specific manner. I recently built several boxes worth of Middle Ages Knights and foot soldiers and one of the hidden bonuses of plastic minis are the "spare bits", these would provide basic components of my markers. Stamina Hits and Shot Markers are two of the most common ones that will be used on the table (I made some shot markers using spare arrows but they are proving fragile during use). I gathered up spare shields and quivers for this little exercise then cut a bunch of 20mm squares out of matte board and got to work.
This is an experiment, we are currently using casualty caps (very unsightly) to mark Stamina Hits and small cubes in red and green for Shot and Charging markers. It remains to be seen if we are organized enough to keep the markers with their relevant units during play. Small loss if they don't work out, but as they are essentially free, a great bonus if they do.
I had a few hours to kill and was trying to avoid any big projects but the Muse wouldn't leave me alone. Forced as I was to find something to paint I dug these elderly warriors out of the Mountain of Shame and gave them an Old-School style paintjob to match the figures that I painted thirty years ago. Then I based them up for Midgard and sent them to their barracks.
The Housemartin is a fearless buyer of things via the internet and his eagle-eye had spotted many a deal over the years (especially painted figures, he likes painting no more than I). On occasion this can backfire as things are mislabeled or dishonestly presented, but on the whole he has done very well. The biggest risk is when the minis are turned over to the attentions of the USPS or UPS for shipping; any sort of misadventure can befall even the most carefully packaged goods. Recently he came to me with an Assyrian heavy chariot that was much worse the wear from its travels to see if there was something that I could do to bring it back into service. And so, I says to the lad, we'll take a look.
