Now it’s been a while since my last weekly waffle update and as I mentioned before it’s really been down to me trying to find the balance between a new relationship and the hobby. I’ve not got the fully worked out yet but I wanted to start the year with an update as I have started to get the balance which means I do have some finished models to share with you today. I also want to share a few things form last year as well as having a bit of look a the year ahead. Nothing as brash as laying out any resolutions but there are a few things I’m going to try and get done this year.
2019 was quite a quiet year on the hobby front for me with a few projects seeming to take forever to finish. Not because they were big and complicated but simply because I haven’t really pulled my finger out and got anything done. It started on something of a roll with me painting up a few models that were inspired by our D&D adventures. These were basically just models I found on line and like the look of rather than anything that I got to fit in specifically with a character. However once I picked them up it did spark me to think about writing up a new character to fit one of the models. Whiskyjack is now adventuring and providing his wisdom and stories to the party whenever we get together.
Next up we had a return to my fist love which as most of you will know is 40k Orks. For me it’s just the shear variety that they offer on both the conversion and painting front that draws me to them. Even though I haven’t played 40k for a long time and have no plans to get back into it at the moment, although Kill Team is on the radar for this year. This little outing was a Warboss from Artel that I just couldn’t resist. It’s a fantastic model and Artel have lost more wonderful minis on their site. Not really anything to do with the model itself but something to manage expectations if you decided to pick something up from them yourselves and that is that delivery can be slow. I’ve ordered a few things form them and on average it has taken about six weeks to ship to the UK. Everything I have ordered has turned up and has been in excellent condition so I will use them again. I just won’t expect a quick delivery.
We now get onto the project that has run for the longest this year and to fair I still haven’t actually finished off everything I need to do with it. In my feeble defence in terms of fluff it is something of a monumental project. Titans. The name says it all and in this case it has been me deciding to paint up a Titan force in a colour scheme that takes its influence from the Alpha Legion. It’s a colour scheme that I really like but if I had known just how hard and time consuming it was going to be at the start I may have gone with a different option. The models are fantastically detailed and to me capture the essence of what Titans should be and I’ve really enjoyed working on them. I’ve learned a lot form painting them the way I have and I’m also really happy with how they turned out. Once I do finally get the Warlord finished, which is the last one I need to do I will look at expanding the force. With what I have learned so far I really don’t think it would take me as long to finish as these guys as I now know how to get round the issues I had with the gold trim, which is what has taken the longest to do in this project. Overall these guys have been a lot of fun and I think the end results do the models justice.
Then things moved onto WarCry and I started to work on a Cypher Lords warband which is the project I have been working of for quite some time now. I had run into something of mojo blocker when I couldn’t work out how to paint the hair. After lots of pondering I decided that I just needed to get something done so that they were at least table top ready and decided to give some contrast paints a go. I’m happy with the results and think they the models look ok. I made a conscious decision that that wanted them to be table top ready and not to try and fix all of the little bits that could have been better. The result has been that over the last week I have finished off the crew and they are now ready for their first outing. I will need to learn how to actually play the game but I at least have the models to give it a go. Another reason for needing to get these done is that as a gaming club we have resurrected and old YouTube channel that we had and have been doing battle reports. Anna who is our resident director & producer, and to be fair everything else involved in production, want’s me to take part in one of them. Now if this turns out to be these guys first outing then it may be more of a how to play, or not to play as the case may be. Anyway they are now ready for an outing so keep an eye on the channel for a chance to see just how badly I can use them. Plus you can check out some the battle reports that are already on there. I know I’m biased but they are rather entertaining. You can find the channel which goes under the name of ‘Red Rose Wargaming’ here .
So that’s what I got up to last year but what am planning to do this year. Well looking forward the highlight at the moment is looking like it will be my trip to Adepticon at the end of March. I’m really looking forward to this and as I’m making the trip across the pond I’m going to have a bit of time in Chicago before the con being a tourist. Then it will be up to the con on the Wednesday for the full four days before returning to the UK on the Monday. I’ve managed to secure accommodation at the con this year, which was something of a challenge, but it makes life a lot easier for me. I’m really looking forward to catching up with people that I haven’t seen since I was last there, but have kept in touch with.
As well as the big event I’m going to try and keep my manage my exuberance and certainly a the start of the year I’m not going to over tax myself with fantastical projects. I’ve got a box of Corvus Cable on my desk so they are going to be my second WarCry crew and I’m going to make more use of contrast paints on them, just to see how they work. The plan is to go for a gaming standard I will be happy to share on here and on YouTube, so I’m hoping that will stop me getting bogged down on a really complicated paint job at the start of the year. I’m also planning on building another squad of my ‘Grot Bots’ for Adepticon. That should be more that doable but I will need to keep myself focused and not get side-tracked or the time will just disappear.
With the exception of wishing you all a happy and productive new year that’s all I have for you on this first edition of the decade. Like I’ve said before I’m not going to set any expectations for the week but I am going to really try and have something for you next week. Until then I hope you all have great week whatever you are up to and with a fair wind I’ll catch you all again next week.
