It seems like I’ve done quite a lot apologising of late and I’m going to start this week with another for not doing any updates for a few weeks. As I mentioned previously I’ve had a real loss of mojo of late and just haven’t got anything done but I don’t think I’d realised just how much other things that were going on outside of the hobby were impacting on me. So here we go with a bit of waffle. We have had a bit of reorganisation at work which I had touched on before and as part of this my job was regraded which essentially meant I had to re-apply for my own job. At the same time, they did the same thing for several of my staff so I’ve been spending a lot of time helping them sort out their applications and then prepping for interviews. Then trying to do the same for me and I just didn’t realise how much it takes out of you. In my case it was my mojo as I just didn’t have any interest in hobby for a few weeks. It’s weird but through all of this I didn’t think I had been stressed about the whole thing but friends and family had a slightly different view on that, so top tip for the day is to listen to them. Anyway the results came through this week and I’ve still got a job and I can’t believe how much better I feel as a result. Like I said I just hadn’t realise how much it had been weighing me down, and one of the first things to come back has been my mojo.
Now Al, Anna and Tom have resurrected our old YouTube channel, ‘Red Rose Wargaming’ and have been churning out Warcry battle reports and it looks like a fun game. Al has also picked up Aeronautica Imperialis and I really like the look of the models for this, particularly the Imperial Thunderbolts, which just make me want to read Double Eagle again, and if you haven’t read it yet give it a go. So with my mojo restored I ordered some Thunderbolts and the Corvus Cabal so that I have a bit of variety in a new project. Unfortunately grouping them all together was a bit of mistake as the Cabal weren’t actually in stock so I’m still waiting for them to arrive. Not to matter, as a stop gap I then ordered the Cypher Lords. To be fair to myself I do really like the look of both of these war bands, although I have no idea of their play style, so I will enjoy painting both, when the Cabal eventually turn up. I have colour schemes in mind for all of them so I’m hoping to be able to plod along with them and try and get the ideas out of my head and onto the table top. Nothing to fancy but I think the ideas should work out quite nicely.
Now on a side note with the resurrection of the YouTube channel I mentioned to Anna that I had been thinking about doing a video version of the weekly waffle. A sort of talking head video where I went through much the same thing as I do here just in a different format. I was just toying with it as something I might possible have a go at in the future but I think Anna is really keen to get some additional content for the channel so I may find myself forced in front of the camera, which could be interesting. Anyway it won’t be happening just yet but one to look out for in the future.
Now then on the hobby front I’ve made a start on the Cypher Lords and my plan for them was to go with a mix of Astec and Tsynch (Egyptian) ideas. However, I came across some by (name here) on line that had been done in a purple and turquoise colour scheme. So having a bit of thing for turquoise at the moment I decided to use these as my inspiration. I was mindful that I didn’t want to do an exact copy because I know I would have spent ages trying and probably failing to get an exact match. The idea here is to try and get something finished to table top standard in a reasonable time frame and to enjoy the process. In fact, the enjoying the process is the most important part for me. And so far a have really enjoyed working on these guys and girls.
I also wanted to try something a bit different with these and applied a bit of colour theory in the way that I based them. I haven’t read anything about the background of War Cry or any of the war bands but my idea was that this lot come from somewhere warm and I wanted the colours to reflect this. So I used a red primer and this has made a massive difference to the way the skin colour has worked out. It is much richer and less pale than I usually get painting over the light grey primer. It may just be me but the other colours, especially the metallic ones seem more vibrant then normal so I’m happy with the approach and may try it on other projects.
When I as a good way through painting the process looking at the poses and weapons I had the idea that these would make really good Seguleh. Now for those of you aren’t familiar with The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and if you aren’t I would highly recommend it. The Seguleh are a group of warriors whose society is based on duelling so they are all expert swords men and women. They all wear masks with markings on to show their standing in society, so 1 is the head honcho and it works down from there. I didn’t want to make any changes at this stage but in the future I day do some more and simply take the plumes off the helmet and smooth them out a bit. But that may be a project for the future. For now, I’ve decided to go with ceramic feel for the helmets and then I’m going to add some simple markings to finish them off.
Bases a just green stuff although I have rushed them a bit so there are a few gaps but I really want to keep the pace up with them so I’m leaving them as they are for now. Although I may come back and re-base them at some point in the future. Now despite the return of my mojo I’ve not had a great deal of hobby time this week but what time I have had has been good time. So this is where I am with the Cypher Lords.
The Corvus Cabal and the Aeronautica Imperialis have also just arrived but I’m going to finish the Cypher Lords before I start on these. Let’s not get to carried away at the return of the mojo and just keep things ticking along. I’ve a lot planned for the rest of the weekend so may not get a great deal done for next week but the plan is to keep things ticking a long by getting in an hour here or there. And that’s it for this week. A slightly longer waffle than usual but I have missed the last three. Hopefully this will mark the return to regular weekly updates again. So until next week I hope you all have a really good weekend / week and I’ll catch up with you all again next Saturday.
