Keep me busy this January

[shelldrake]

My wife left for Japan today to visit her family for a month. Now I know most people would probably think “woo hoo – party time”, but my Wife and I are very close, so I am already missing her a lot.

To conter this, I am going to try and accomplish a lot of things hobby wise this month – painting minis, making scenery, plan some games and actually play some games.

Please feel free to nudge me along on a daily basis and ask for updates, or even post encouragement 😉

I will post what I get done here to keep my self accountable.

[kyoteblue]

I will check in on you from time to time then.   So what did you work on today, I got nothing mostly because I finished up my 15mm Battlefront Scorpion/Scimitars  yesterday. I would like to round my Team Yankee Brits out with an Abbot Arty battery but lack the money to buy them till next week.

Hope this help ya !!!

[shelldrake]

Good work – you are ahead of me.

I started making a list of the 15mm AB Figures Napoleonics I need for the ‘large’ skirmish game of FiveCore in the making, and sat here wondering if I should go and paint something, anything.

As it is still the afternoon where I am, I have some time up my sleeve.

[kyoteblue]

Clean off the painting desk/table , rummage thru your figures and see if any need some paint…and off you go.

[Rod Robertson]

Shelldrake:

Why not paint the minis necessary for the first game you want to play? Pick a force or two and paint enough to put on a modest game. Then switch it up and paint up some new minis for a new and different game with modest expectations. You have 15mm Aussies and Chinese IIRC so is there anything outstanding in either of those forces to be painted before you can run a game with those? Then go down the road marching to the sound of the guns and prepare a Napoleonic game and paint the needed figures for that. Just keep your gaming and painting goals modest and attainable. Set yourself the goal of playing 3-4 games in January and paint each week towards those realistic game goals.

Perhaps I’m a bit OCD but I like to make lists of the minis which I have to paint, make little boxes beside the list items and check them off as they get done. I post the lists besides my hobby bench and work towards checking off a box a day if at all possible. Each box usually represents about a half squad of infantry, a vehicle, a stand of cavalry, two stands of skirmishers or light cavalry, a stand of close order infantry, etc. One day out of each fourteen I go on a priming and base coating binge and then spend as many of the next 13 days as I can detail painting and washing up that batch. The check marks get me through it. Weird but effective for me.

Keep us posted on what you have gotten done and we’ll cheer you on. I have time to do that because I’m presently in a painting doldrums and have been most delinquent in meeting my check mark goals for the last month or so. But a stern and stirring e-mail from Just Jack telling me to get off my duff and stop wasting my time got me painting again both yesterday evening and tonight. I’m now working on Taliban motorcycles and technicals while finishing off some Hittite hordes and WWII French armour. It feels good to be back in the saddle again!

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

[kyoteblue]

That is way more organized than what I do Rod !!!! I mean it’s cool and all but….

[shelldrake]

Ok – I have painted a giant spider for a FiveCore Pulp game… I have about six(?) spiders to do in total, so my goal is to have them done by the end of tomorrow!

I also need to base them.

Next on the list, and I may do one tonight as a test paint, is a PNG Mud Man for the same game.

 

Edit: Oh, and thanks for the replies so far… this is actually working! 😉

[Angel Barracks]

I have subscribed so will be silently judging you from here.

[Les Hammond]

If the cat’s away, the mouse needs to keep busy in my experience 😉

6mm France 1940

http://les1940.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/386297688467965/

[Shaun Travers]

I would love to help but going camping for the next five days with limited (I think that actually means none) mobile coverage.

I was in the same boat about 6 months ago.  My wife and children went away for two nights and I missed them a lot.  So I played 4 solo games of 20mm WW2 🙂 I even had to lug the table and terrain from storage downstairs, and packed it all up before they came back.  I would not look forward to a month away.

So keep busy and I will check back in about 5 days and see what you have done.

[Rod Robertson]

Shelldrake:

Rise and shine, it’s 5:00 am (your local time) and you have painting to do. No lollygagging and lying about. How did those spiders go yesterday? What’s on the roster for today? Tonight I’ve got to chrome 7 Taliban bikes and 3 pick-ups, paint tyres and block out technical chassis and body colours. What are you going to do? Mud men?

Keep up the good effort!

Rod Robertson.

[shelldrake]

hehe – I actually did some painting when I woke up at 5:40… I have completed one spider (need varnishing though) and did work on three more, including an even bigger giant spider.

I also finished painting my first mud man, and now I know what I am doing i will start on the other eight of them.

I will post photos of the painting before they are varnished, as that tends to hide some of the detail in the painting.

[kyoteblue]

Woo Hoo !!!

[shelldrake]

Bad photos to match bad painting 😛

 

The mub men painting is based on these images:

 

 

I have put a coat of varnish on them, and once dry they will get another coat for good measure.

The spider has a base prepped and waiting for it, and the mud man needs some base work done before it is finished.

 

The spider based on the bird eating spider, which is ******** huge to begin with! I decided on a bit more colour so it would stand out more on the table.

[kyoteblue]

Looks good, keep painting, but call the wife from time to time.

[shelldrake]

kyoteblue wrote:

but call the wife from time to time.

yep, we are staying in touch daily now she has landed safely and at her Parent’s home. There was an anxious wait as I found some suit case keys on the floor at home, but it seems they were spares and not needed.

[kyoteblue]

Good, glad the keys where spares.

[shelldrake]

Well, I didn’t do too much today  – It was too hot to be bothered to do too much of anything.

I did some Napoleonic planning in my head instead

[Rod Robertson]

shelldrake wrote:

Well, I didn’t do too much today  – It was too hot to be bothered to do too much of anything. I did some Napoleonic planning in my head instead

Shelldrake:

This is unacceptable. No virtual painting, gaming or planning is allowed during the month of January. Only tangible progress through the assembly, priming, painting, basing of minis and the actual playing of games is acceptable. So get off your pensive duff and get to work! You have spiders and Mud Men to finish, Napoleonics to paint and games to play so stop slacking. And “it’s too hot to paint” is no excuse, so crank up the AC or break out the fans and get to it man. There are only 24 days left in January so hustle up!

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

PS. All my Taliban Motor bikes are chromed, coloured and the riders have been block painted in. Just detailing, dry brushing and washing/weathering to do. Two pick-ups are painted but the third needs to be redone as I got the metallic grey colour wrong; it looks ridiculous. So I’m almost on track.

[shelldrake]

To make up for my day of *cough* important wargame planning *cough* that didnt’ see me do any painting, I have already completed ALL of my giant spiders this morning.

They are just drying off, which given the heat here at the moment might have been 10 mins before I even painted them. Once that is done, they will be varnished and then based by the end of the day.

I will then go on to paint more mud men… hopefully at least three for today, but don’t hold me to that.

As proof, here is really bad blurry photo of the finished spiders drying:

And to make up for that really dodgy photo, here is a spider in action against my FiveCore Pulp Hero (who has yet to be appropriately named):

 

I am also going to come up with some giant spider rules for FiveCore Pulp today, which I will post in a different thread to see what people think.

[shelldrake]

Rod Robertson wrote:

PS. All my Taliban Motor bikes are chromed, coloured and the riders have been block painted in. Just detailing, dry brushing and washing/weathering to do. Two pick-ups are painted but the third needs to be redone as I got the metallic grey colour wrong; it looks ridiculous. So I’m almost on track.

Photos or it didn’t happen!

[kyoteblue]

Looks productive to me, I was just lamenting my lack of any thing to work on right now…but then it snowed yesterday and it’s to cold to prime any thing right now.

[Shaun Travers]

I am back – you have done lots.  More than I do in a year (except the thinking/planning bit – I do a lot of that)!

[shelldrake]

Shaun Travers wrote:

I am back – you have done lots. More than I do in a year (except the thinking/planning bit – I do a lot of that)!

 

umm, this is more than I did in the last two years

 

You should jump on board this being held to account, as it is working.

[kyoteblue]

I was given a box of the BF Abbots for my Birthday so I started on them today.  More BAOR stuff for my Iron Maiden Team Yankee army.

[Shaun Travers]

umm, this is more than I did in the last two years

You should jump on board this being held to account, as it is working.

I have signed up for the Kaptain Kobold 6×6 challenge. That will definitely hold me to account as I am supposed to play 36 games this year – 6 more than I ever have in a year!

[shelldrake]

kyoteblue wrote:

I was given a box of the BF Abbots for my Birthday so I started on them today. More BAOR stuff for my Iron Maiden Team Yankee army.

Nice – I look forward to seeing them painted up and in a game.

I have a Team Yankee Russian platoon on the way in the mail – I am hoping they will match up is size with my Modern Aussies so that I can use them as OPFOR.

[shelldrake]

Shaun Travers wrote:

I have signed up for the Kaptain Kobold 6×6 challenge. That will definitely hold me to account as I am supposed to play 36 games this year – 6 more than I ever have in a year!

That is some challenge. I don’t know that I would able to do that challenge… although the Mrs loves board games, so I could make a dint in it if I tried.

[Rod Robertson]

shelldrake wrote:

Photos or it didn’t happen!

Sorry Shelldrake, I don’t do Internet piccies so I guess I have no painted minis really. I’m off to check out your pulp and Napoleonics posts.

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

 

[kyoteblue]

I will try to take some photos of the Abbots and post them on my Facebook page later this week.

[OldNick]

Good luck on your painting and staying busy.  I was in a similar boat.  Wife went down to Florida to grab some Sun and visit her mom.  Since it’s the crazy busy season at work I was at home. (Note when you work for an airline what are we going to do this weekend takes on a new meaning)  Got four battalions of line, six gunners finished and a bunch of native Indians primed and started before she got back.

[shelldrake]

OldNick wrote:

Good luck on your painting and staying busy. I was in a similar boat. Wife went down to Florida to grab some Sun and visit her mom. Since it’s the crazy busy season at work I was at home. (Note when you work for an airline what are we going to do this weekend takes on a new meaning) Got four battalions of line, six gunners finished and a bunch of native Indians primed and started before she got back.

If I can do a fractoin of that I will be very happy! If all goes well I will be getting some Napoleonics for my Skirmish game this comng Saturday, so I will focus on painting them up.

[shelldrake]

Thanks Tim!

Wow – 3 – 4 months is a long time. It makes my 1 month seen like a breeze.

I am keeping on top of the mess at the moment… except for the painting room… I kind of made a mess there yesterday looking for minis and I found a whole heap of things I had forgotten I had.

We use LINE and Google chat to keep in touch, so we are never ‘far apart’ which really helps.

[shelldrake]

ok, I haven’t been doing much painting, but I have started prepping scenery:

Some ‘forest’ bases:

I need to finish the bits I had to hold on too when gluing the flock on, and then I will add a few extra touches like darker flock around the trees and some bushes.

I dragged out a table I modified years ago to hold a 60cm x 60cm gaming tile so I could play skirmishes on for 15mm games:

I ordered a 15mm MDF farm house for my Napoleonic games:

and I based my 15mm Napelonics I purchsed yesterday:

These are just the initial units, and I will be painting a unit at a time if all goes well.

 

Now to go and finish the forests and make some other scenery.

[kyoteblue]

Looks good, keep working away !!

[shelldrake]

I just stared painting my first unit of 15mm British Napoleonics, and to my horror, the grey I use for the trousers has dried up!

I did a quick check, and the blue I need for the French has dried up too.

Thank goodness for the internet… I was able to order the paint I need with super fas shipping, so I will be back in full swing tomorrow some time.

In the mean time I can paint the bits I have no problem with paint wise.

[kyoteblue]

Glad you are able to work around your paint problem !!! I’m waiting on the new Battlefront Volkarmee book for the East Germans to arrive at my FLGS.

[shelldrake]

I don’t play any of the Battlefront games any more, but I have been eyeing their figures off now that I am doing more in 15mm. Very useful for adding to enemy forces.

[kyoteblue]

It’s ok, I don’t play any Nappy’s.

[shelldrake]

kyoteblue wrote:

It’s ok, I don’t play any Nappy’s.

I wasn’t having a dig at you about playing the game… just mentioning that the figures are very useful

[Author]

Posts