100pts per day

I'm pretty open with the fact I have poor mental health - the Brain Gremlins are there all the time, just sometimes they decide to hold a victory parade.

Well, recently it has been one of those times - and sadly the first victim is hobby.  It's one of those things - I have to take care of myself and do my share of household chores. I have to work. After that's over there's nothing much left in the tank.

I've seen people use the Spoon Theory, but to be honest I don't really connect with the whole spoons thing (I know the history of it, just doesn't speak to me) - it's more like army building to me.

100pts per day

Right, let's check the army list to see what we are working with...

10pts per meal (minimum 2)

10pts for personal care

50-80pts work (unknown at start of day... that's a tactical problem right there)

20pts+ family issues (another unknown... oh dear)

10pts exercise

10pts+ household chores (if not done in the day previous, pay double pts)

10pts+ hobby

Well that 100pts isn't getting very far is it...

Five games on my mind right now

Hopefully it is apparent to readers of the blog that I like to mix things up hobby and game wise.  From week to week (sometimes day to day or hour to hour!) the games occupying brain space change and flow - although none ever disappear completely these days, they just go towards the back of the queue for a time!

So, here's 5 games that are on my mind right now!

Dragon Rampant - I have two projects running side by side for this system, one 15mm and one 28mm.  Whether it's the proud armies UNORP against the denizens of the dark woods (or, once lockdown is over the Human Barbarians!) or the clash of Halflings both living and dead, this ruleset will accommodate!  For the fact that I will have three painted armies for this ruleset, with another still to go, this game is never far from my mind these days.

Carnevale - the unique setting of this game and the diverse cast of gangs we have in the collection make me keen to give it a try - however I do want to 'play it painted' so it's got to wait for me to paint up a couple of gangs before it will hit the table.

Mortal Gods - I'm going to chalk this one up to my better half playing (and thoroughly enjoying) Assassin's Creed Odyssey.  The metal minis definitely suffer from the Footsore issue of hand joints (seriously, can we at least have Gripping Beast style pegs on wrists?) so they are finding themselves pushed back on the assembly queue - which at the moment means they won't get primed any time soon either unfortunately. Still, the setting is cool, the miniatures are cool (hand joint gripe aside) so this is on very much still on the brain radar.

Burrows & Badgers - I've had a couple of warbands painted up for this for a while now, but real life has gotten in the way of learning the game and getting a mini-campaign going.  With the purchase of a third, neutral NPC style warband this has bounced back up the queue - and once some suitable terrain is painted up I really hope to get this to the table to start getting to grips with the game.

SAGA - well I finally got round to picking up the Age of Vikings supplement - and the fancy dice - to make use of my Irish and Shieldmaiden armies.  I'm hopeful that the armies shouldn't be too onerous to paint once I get into a groove, so this has bumped its way up the list a little.  However, I find the writing style of SAGA (particularly the 'in character' style of rules clarifications) to jar a little in this day and age with it's 'rarr masculine man' attitude - Mortal Gods has a much better example of 'in character' elements in a rulebook (and even then I personally find it a bit cringey).

Honourable mentions go to Infinity (thanks to the Infinity Army app - seriously, I wish all companies had that kind of approach), Dracula's America (now that I have some Wild West buildings) and Sengoku Monster Hunter (which, as a game, is totally 'me')- maybe next time I do a Five games post they'll have broken into the list!

A reflective ramble

I used to be famously slow at painting - the only complete force I ever managed as a young 'un was a Van Saar gang for Necromunda (all of a dozen miniatures if that).  That, a base coated dwarf BB team and a couple of WHFB units were all I ever painted - oh and the WHQ Elf Ranger and Queek Headtaker (probably two of my best ever painted minis - and both of which I rebought as I came back to the hobby; nostalgia is real folks.)

Upon returning properly to the hobby (ie. the point I realised 40k was never going to work for me and I took off the GW blinkers) I did have a sudden burst of activity - which strangely enough I've not properly covered here so I'll rectify that, gives me a reason to write more background stories and lore (one of my favourite parts of the hobby if that hasn't been obvious with all the daft stuff I come up with!).

But after that initial painting frenzy it cooled right off.  I kept ticking through random miniatures for Mordheim and Necromunda (completing the Necromunda Hireling Agency last year) but didn't motivate much beyond that pretty minimal level.  Almost overwhelmingly the assembled and prepped minis I've shared here since June 2018 remain unpainted.

Me, realising how many of my bare metal/plastic minis I've posted here are still just primed.

But something seems to have clicked a little since late 2019/early 2020 - I'm still slow, and I still fight with my brain from time to time for motivation, but I've got whole armies finished in that time - hopefully you'll have followed the posts showing off the 15mm UNORP and 28mm Undead Halfling armies for Dragon Rampant; I've really enjoyed writing the lore that surrounds these and hope some of you out there have enjoyed reading it.

I've actually stepped back from painting for a couple of weeks now - I don't know if it has been mental fatigue from lockdown life, or the old brain gremlins playing football with me again or what, but even though the paints have been left in the cupboard I've instead engaged in prepping things for priming - most notably lots of MDF terrain that I've been posting about as well as Carnevale and Sengoku Monster Hunter stuff.  I just hope I have enough spray for it all at this point!

Priming weapon of choice!

Looking at the rather large Pile of Future Glory it's clear that I need to start making a move - miniatures not being painted and used to game with might as well not exist after all! I didn't want to stop buying miniatures - I've got various projects at different stages of completion (acquisition phase at least) and if I stopped then some might never see the light of day, which would be a huge pity given that I felt enthused enough to spend money on them!

So, each month I have a hobby fund that I am lucky enough to have available to me.  I have decided that if I don't paint at least as many miniatures as I acquire in a given hobby fund period then the following month I am not allowing myself the luxury of buying any miniatures. Having now placed my orders for this period I have 22 miniatures coming my way - so I need to finish painting 22 or more before this same kind of time next month.  I am pretty confident (brain gremlins notwithstanding) that I'll finish enough minis - I'm about to enter the highlights and detail stage of a Dragon Rampant 28mm army after all (yeah, cheating a little I suppose, but I wanted to let myself into this new approach gently!!).

I'm really hoping this will help me get a move on - which will have the benefit of giving me more stuff to share here (which means more of my silly little stories for those that follow along!).

Hobby in strange times

So, like most people I'm impacted on by the lockdown going on during the COVID-19 pandemic.  prior to the lockdown coming into effect I was already placed into isolation for 14 days due to displaying some symptoms (which I do not believe to have been COVID-19) - during that time I was rather active hobby-wise; especially painting the basecoat on lots of bases across all sorts of systems!

But since the lockdown proper, and my working from home, it has become more and more difficult to devote some mental space to hobby.

Like many, I viewed this time as an opportunity to crack on with some of the Pile of Future Glory - but it hasn't really panned out that way.

After working for the day (some times on call until 8pm - I'm a key worker but not a particularly important one!) - it's strange but there's a complete lack of energy.  A complete lack of will and motivation.

But I have attempted to persevere - chipping away at little bits here and there.

I've prepped a few minis here and there for Dracula's America, Gangs of Rome and Necromunda; I've assembled some scatter terrain (more on that in the future), I've prepped some Jacobite Rising stuff and a new Burrows and Badgers warband.  I've also prepped both sides of my special Universe of Battle tribute project.  There'll be introductory posts on a lot of this when I find more energy!

I'm awaiting some decent weather (been rather windy recently!) to prime all that stuff to add it to the queue.

There has to be a way to re-energise, I'm sure of it.  I just haven't found it yet!

I know that in the scheme of things this is minor - there are many, many critical and key workers putting themselves at risk to help people (my sister is one, working in the isolation ward at a local hospital).

I think I just needed to put this all down in writing - to perhaps gain some perspective, perhaps to encourage me to take stock of what I have done and show myself it's not been as bad as my head is making out... a true ramble I suppose!

2019 - the year that was

It has been a year of contrasts for me (and no, I’m not talking about the paint range!). From trips to Barcelona, Tokyo and London hitting up game shops and seeing the sights, to the passing of my father at the end of November, it’s fair to say that 2019 will be a year that lives in my memory for happy and sad reasons.

But enough of that; my dad didn’t instil in me a love for gaming, fantasy and sci-fi for nothing! From this vantage point as I look back, 2019 was a pretty good year of hobby for me. With one thing or another I didn’t play as much as I might have hoped, but until I slowed towards the end of the year I was making good headway on the Pile of Future Glory (thanks @evilkipper for that positive thinking lesson this year, it really did help!).

In fact, thanks to 2019 I have completed the Necromunda Hireling Agency – and I kept up a post a week doing so.

I’ve got fun plans for a rather epic and foul story for Sector B67 when I start getting games in – watch this space for more on that as the motley cast get revealed! The sharp-eyed amongst you may have noticed a few little hints and suggestions at it in the background fluff for some of the hirelings. One thing I will say; it involves new GW minis! *shock*

I’m not going to commit to overly-strict promises or resolutions that I will get X number of minis done, or that I won’t buy any more miniatures (as if I’d stick to that!). But I do have some aims that I will be taking with me as I head into 2020.

This will be the year I sort bases for my Infinity collection. There, I said it. I’m sitting on a sizable haul of the beautiful minis for Infinity and with N4 coming down the line it is about time I finally summon the energy and funds to sort the stack of bases needed to make them fit into my vision for Neo-Shinjuku.

I will decide on a Blood Bowl team to get – currently working to filter down the options and decide what speaks to me. I’m currently thinking it’ll be between Chaos Chosen or Lizardmen…but no guarantees that won’t change before I buy!

I will work on my The Universe of Battle ACW project in memory of my dad.  Got my purchases planned already from Perry and Flags of War!

I will continue to be eclectic in my hobby – I don’t see the point in sticking to one setting, one ruleset, one company. There’s too much good stuff out there to limit myself!

I will continue to work at the Pile of Future Glory – and will share the fruits of my labour here of course!

Finally, I will write more homebrew rules. I used to write pretty prolifically for the L5R RPG as the owner of the Destiny’s End website and the itch to write rules, scenarios and more is strong and must be scratched!

Funkbusters

I often hit absolute funks when it comes to hobby activity. Sometimes it is the dreaded Real Life getting in the way, sometimes it is a collapse of confidence in abilities… you know, those times when what should be an easy kit to assemble just doesn’t want to co-operate, or when you just can’t get that highlight to where you are happy with it.

I’ve had lots of advice over the years from other hobbyists and putting that with my own experiences, I thought I’d pull together my thoughts as to what has worked to help me out of funks in case it is helpful to anyone that might chance upon this blog.

Now, I’ve had good success following the sage advice to not stop but to switch things up. You know the score, you can’t face painting another goblin and your hobby energy and momentum have dropped to dangerous levels… so you pull out a feudal Japanese samurai instead to re-energise. That’s great – but sometimes I find the brush just isn’t with me no matter what I try to paint, so what do I do then?

Switch it up totally! Engage in a totally different part of the hobby – assemble some of the miniatures pile or write some fluff or armylist a little.

And on that subject, I definitely view armylisting and the like as positive hobby activity… although there is the risk it can make me want to buy even more stuff of course!

Social media is great – it means I can follow all those ‘Eavy Metal painters, the Slayer Sword winners, Angel Giraldez, the incredible commission painters from Poland and Russia and all those Japanese hobbyists that are just something else. But it is easy to get sucked into the mindset that that’s how Napoleonic French infantryman with slightly wonky bayonet number 4 needs to look. I mean, the guy at the back that I will take off as the first casualty in a game doesn’t need NMM boot buckles.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire all the incredible artists out there and they do push me to try my best – but if I judge my peon gaming piece in comparison with an award-winning diorama I’m clearly not gonna like what I’m seeing. Admire them, be inspired by them, but don’t judge compared to them (unless you are a display/competition painter than knock yourself out!)

This also applies to those hobby machines that seem to just knock out mini after mini – even army after army – day in, day out. Fair play to them of course – but seriously, I have a full-time job with frequent evening meetings, ill elderly relatives and I’m trying to fit in exercise to make myself healthier… I think I can allow myself to celebrate my own hobby progress even if one week it is just ‘assembled three skeletons and tinkered with an Aleph OSS list on Army’.

This ties in with the hobby machine jealousy thing. Sometimes you just aren’t going to be in the right mental/emotional/physical space to enjoy your hobby. And if you aren’t enjoying it, then it’s not much of a hobby right?

Go read a book, take a walk, play a card game, fire up a console, listen to music, watch a movie/TV show, grab a coffee with a loved one or whatever else you enjoy doing away from the hobby. That’s OK too… and if we are honest, it’s healthy. It’s easy to get obsessive over our little miniature dudes and the worlds they inhabit in our minds – but it’s important to take a step back from time to time and devote some time and energy to other pursuits.

Variety is the spice of life... or something like that!

Coming up the only source for tabletop gaming was GW - of course, I was aware of the concept of historicals and a handful of other systems but GW had such a headlock on the high street presence for gaming that it was the only option most of us ever really had in the UK of the 90s.  Remember, this was back before the internet was anything like it is today – if you didn’t know someone who was already into a system then you weren’t likely to find it on your own.  Growth was slow back then and most of us tended to stick with GW games.

Now, I’m not going to bash GW here – from what I hear they are doing better things game-design wise these days and they aren’t all about 10,000 point armies any more (permit me the hyperbole - that’s how it felt when Apocalypse was first released).  In fact, much of what I see in Kill Team and Shadespire etc. I greatly appreciate the concept of.  I’m just not keen on the aesthetics of modern GW miniatures… although Blood Bowl keeps calling me, I can’t lie!

Of course, regular visitors will know I maintain a love of what I call the OGSG (Necromunda, Mordheim and Gorkamorka in my case) – these are long-term projects I’m chipping away at as an ode to my gaming past.  That certainly won’t change!

But, on to what I am particularly enjoying (playing/painting/armylisting/plotting) at the moment, and why:

Osprey Wargames – what I call the blue book series.  These books provide such a range of settings and styles of game for a great price – probably the highest profile of the blue books is Gaslands.  It seems to have crossed over beyond us wargamers into part of the general tabletop gaming community – perhaps it’s that X-Wing style manoeuvre template vibe.  It’s a fun beer and pretzels style game (or Pringles and Pepsi in me and Trials of a Casual Wargamer's case!) with an easy entry level (grab a couple of cars from Poundland or similar and away you go!).

But there are lots of other interesting games in the blue book series that have encouraged me to delve into worlds and time periods that, when I was a less mature (attitude not age!) gamer, I might have ignored.  Of particular note is that they are mostly skirmish (or similar) – which means having multiple forces for either the same/different game(s) is a far more affordable prospect!

Here are some of my personal favourites from the blue book line:

Chosen Men – Napoleonics without the need for 100s of miniatures, this sparked a force to represent the 1798 Irish Rebellion.  Scratches an itch for an era of history that I never knew I had!  It plays pretty smoothly – cavalry are particularly brutal.

Outremer: Faith and Blood – Crusaders, Saracens, Military Orders and campaign progression, with a playing card-based activation system.  And if, like some people I’ve seen online, you don’t like the setting, then treat it as bands of knights fighting for riches in the medieval land of Generica; sorted.

 
Broken Legions – now, this needs a campaign fix (on the long list of homebrew projects) but mix ancients and fantasy and you get this game about competing warbands of treasure/artefact hunters with added random monsters of myth.  Got loads of warbands for this one – and even homebrewed a new one to represent the Kingdom of Kush (Africa always gets overlooked except for Egypt and I wanted to put that right in my own little way).

Dragon Rampant – the fantasy …Rampant book, this has replaced WHFB for me.  Some criticise its somewhat limited variety of fantastical elements; but then I’m the type who will just homebrew and houserule anything and everything I feel so I’ll add anything I feel is missing.  In that way, I view this as a fantastic toolbox ruleset – and while I’ve got plans for 28mm armies, I keep turning my attention to some 15mm for this one too…

The Pikeman’s Lament – the pike and shot version of the …Rampant books.  I didn’t expect to be hooked by this setting, but despite not having the strongest emotional connection to the era, I still have put together a lot of options for an Irish Confederation force (with redshanks mercenaries of course!).  There’s just something about this ruleset and era that has now intrigued me!

I’ve got projects for various others (En Garde!, Ronin, Rogue Stars and more) but the ones above are my initial priorities (although project/paint queues jump a heck of a lot in ADHS HQ!)

Bolt Action/Konflikt’47 – what started as a ‘why not’ to spread my hobby wings has become probably my most played game ever at this stage (although Across the Dead Earth runs a close second I’d guess).  It became my first fully painted army ever (although I do have a few newer bits awaiting the paintbrush!) and the battles between my Germans and Trials…’s British are without doubt the most entertaining, narrative and bloody games I’ve ever had.  Of course, a lot of that is down to the awesome custom scenarios Trials… writes and the incredible tables he puts together for it.  I’m very grateful to have such a talented and awesome gaming partner-in-crime!

Infinity – these are the pinnacle of science-fiction miniatures for me and the setting has completely captured my imagination (I’ve also picked up the RPG).  The ruleset is almost off-puttingly complicated; but I’m viewing this as a challenge to help improve my mental health.  Seriously, most rulesets I have are quite straight-forward when it comes down to it; and even then I tend to forget most of the special rules or specifics – I believe this to be largely attributable to my poor mental health; but I know that by exercising my brain more it can (and hopefully will) improve memory and comprehension!

Darklands – this is the fantasy reflection of Infinity to me; some of the finest miniatures out there, great lore and setting, dense as all hell rulebook.  This presents the same challenge as Infinity, but I will endeavour to overcome it – the stash of metal and resin I have for it demands no less!  I think these will probably jump up the queue when my metal Maiobhanagh eventually get made as I’m planning an Escalation-style approach to my armies and they are the main missing piece of the puzzle.

There are loads more I could mention – I’ve got so many projects and ideas floating around my head it’s inevitable that they will appear here at some point, so if you are interested in the breadth of the modern wargaming hobby please check back!