An Update at Last!

Hi!

Well I seem to be working through my painters block and have finally settled on a force to aim towards collecting and painting for the Tale of Several Gamers challenge!

The army will be Dwarvish and based on the work I did on the old Leviathan game several years back. The problem I had with it back in the day was that in order to play a decent game you needed at least an 8x4 foot board, tons of scenery and the patience to paint up some really big war machines and beasts.

The furthest I ever managed with my Dwarves for the game was about a dozen painted figures like these little chaps:

On the other hand, I really enjoyed working on my 15mm scale stuff and believe it will be an ideal opportunity to really get the project back into action and allow me to create some really interesting new rules, units and so on as I go which is a real plus and I must admit I am getting rather excited about the possibilities it presents!

Worry not though! While the majority of the force will be 15mm scale, I will be running a side project to create a warband for small skirmishes in 28mm scale which should allow me to sort through my assorted 28mm scale Dwarves I have in my bits box.

One of the really interesting things about the project will be the chance for me to finally create a properly post apocalyptic desert wasteland too which hopefully will give folks some inspiration for a chaos waste type of scenic madness!

While its not properly Oldhammer, it is a fantasy ruleset that is sadly under appreciated and all but forgotten and I have to admit that I have found myself rereading my old notes and ideas with a dangerous combination of nostalgia and fresh ideas!

In order for me to keep from getting bogged down with the project and facing another case of painting depression, I propose to do a bit of a side project here, continuing to flesh out my alternative Imperium setting and adding some new warbands to it in 15mm and 28mm scale too (I know its rather ambitious, especially with the run up to Christmas but what the hey!)

Hopefully I will have one or two bits and bobs to add over the next couple of days and will start the Tale of Several Gamers in the morning too!

All the best!

A Brick Wall Moment

Hi!

Well I'm back from my holidays and have finished my commissions so can finally have a go at organising myself for the upcoming Tale of Several Gamers challenge but have hit a bit of a snag.

Said snag is that once again I seem to have been hit with a case of painters block. I've started painting a few different miniatures from different scales, ranges and periods but none of them seem to be working out which in turn makes things worse!

More infuriatingly, I have also found that I just don't have anything I want to get my teeth stuck into for the challenge (don't get me wrong, theres lots of ideas ranging from a Giant warband to finally tackling a Leviathan or Chronopia or even Crucible themed army but none of them seem to be really appealing at the moment!)

Its not the first time I've found myself feeling a bit down on the hobby front but it is the first that I've had in a while that makes me want to just throw my hands up in defeat and pack it all away for a while!

I must admit that I've tried all my usual tricks and none of them seem to be working at present, mostly, I suspect, the problem is that I just don't have the miniatures I want to have a crack at and the expense of getting them together is proving prohibitive and rather daunting, especially when I am saving up for our wedding. I think I am going to have to have a bit of a sit down and think over the next couple of days before the challenge starts and see what I can come up with.

Its really rather annoying as prior to the start of my holiday, I had a solid plan with what I was wanting to do and how I was going to do it but it seems to have fallen somewhat flat and the new possibilities seem to be coming and going without properly taking root. I really want to complete a 28mm scale force but suspect that at most I would be able to settle with a small warband of a dozen or so figures which is perfect for skirmishing but not for mass battles which is a bit of a problem.

Unfortunately the painters block gets worse with every frustratingly botched figure and I don't think I've ever had more partially completed figures kicking around before which in turn makes me ever more loath to pick up a brush and either power through them or try something different to break the monotony. Once again I am finding my stress relieving hobby causing me stress which is really making me cross, especially as even a week ago, I was getting along with things fine...

On the plus side, it is making me put a good deal of thought into the challenge and what I want to do with my hobby more generally!

Hopefully I will get out of this funk soon and get back to business as usual!

All the best!

A Tale of Several Gamers Update!

Hi!

Well it looks like we may have a few folks interested in taking part in a bit of a relaxed challenge and I thought it may be fun to set up a separate blog for folks taking part in to post their own updates (not that posting them on their own blogs isn't absolutely fine but I figure it would be more like the original article that the challenge is based on!)

So without further ado, heres A TALE OF SEVERAL GAMERS!

If you are interested in joining in, please feel free to leave a comment here and I will get you set up on the blog itself with writing privileges.

Once we have everyone joined up, I will post the rules of the challenge up (check out the previous post for more information!) and we will start the challenge proper on the first of November!

All the best!

A Tale of Several Gamers!

Hi!

Well it looks like there's a few folks interested in taking part in a Tale of Gamers challenge!

Now comes the tricky part of sorting out a set of guidelines to get us started. In the original series in White Dwarf, the challenge was to budget £25 a month with the aim of collecting and painting a new army a bit at a time.

Points were awarded for getting stuff painted with 5 points for getting everything painted in a month, 3 for getting some done and zero if you don't manage to get anything done.

If memory serves, points were also awarded for playing games 5 for a win, 3 for a draw and zero for a loss but as we are probably all over the country (if not world) this is probably not going to be practical!

With the new challenge, how about combining it with a bit of a lead mountain reduction too with points being awarded for painting stuff from your unpainted collection instead?

Extra points can also be awarded for detailing background for your army too which would encourage folks to develop some really imaginative warbands and characters!

So with all that out of the way, how about this for an outline:

The Budget!

Challengers can spend a maximum of £25 a month on their chosen force however by spending their budget they lose points!

Spend nothing! Only use figures from your lead pile. Minimum 5 figures.
5 points
Spend half your budget:
3 points
Spend your entire budget:
0 points

The Painting!
Paint everything you have bought or culled from your stash:
5 points
Paint some of the figures:
2 points
Paint nothing:
0 points

The Background!
Post an article on your warband, be it background, character description or whatever on your blog
1 Point per article, maximum of five.

Misc!

Play a game using the warband you are building
5 points per game.
Create a suitable piece of scenic madness themed for their warband:
1 point per piece (maximum 5)

How does that sound? It gives incentive to folks to collect and paint an army, cull their lead mountains, develop an interesting background for their force and blog about it and even play some games!

Time scale wise, how does 6 months sound? It should give folks time to develop a decent sized force and we can see how we get on from there!

All the best!

A Tale of Four Gamers Anyone?

Hi!

Following on from my last post, I am thinking of starting up a bit of a group project based on the old Tale of Four Gamers articles from White Dwarf.

If anyone is interested, please feel free to get in touch here and there doesn't need to be four of us!

The rough idea is to set a challenge to build and paint a force a little bit at a time and chronicle our progress as the warband begins to develop into a larger army.

Furthermore, I quite like the idea of developing a background to the force to really give it a character of its own and as a bit of a twist, what about trying to develop a less usual force? Can Warhammer be used in different settings? For example, I've been thinking about putting together a couple of warbands based on the classic Slaine Comics!

Can warhammer work with a setting other than the Warhammer world? Tune in later to find out!

All the best!

Oh The Temptations of Oldhammer!

Hi!

Before I head off to bed for a well earned rest from sculpting on my day off and out to work again tomorrow, I thought I'd have a bit of a rant about the shocking temptation I am finding myself exposed to by perusing lots of Oldhammer blogs!

Take a peek at pretty much any of the links at the side of the page and you will see lost after post of wonderfully painted tiny metal miniatures with lots of truly beautiful armies on parade to tempt me into the madness of collecting and painting an army for Warhammer in 28mm scale. An army that would, even if I ever finished painting it, be most unlikely to ever see use on the tabletop!

Hopefully I will be able to resist the siren call but its proving very difficult, especially as I have been really rather enjoying painting up my Helios Elves!

Now, as much fun as it's been to paint up a selection of 28mm scale stuff, I just don't know how folks have the patience it skill to paint up entire regiments of them! Every time I've tried, its always ended badly with me burning out in the attempt and giving up. And yet here I am, once again swithering about collecting and painting an army! I totally blame it on those inspirational types out there who I've already mentioned!

Will I eventually take the plunge and put together a full army? Well thats the million dollar question I suppose and the answer is, at present at least, I just don't know. As much as I hoot and bellow about the amazingness of 15mm scale, there's nothing quite like the sheer spectacle of a well themed and painted 28mm scale force and if it wasn't for the expense and time involved, I may well have already taken another bash at an army project.

Maybe I need to try out a tale of four gamers approach like those featured in the old White Dwarf magazines and set myself a reasonable challenge without overwhelming myself with tons of lead to paint. Maybe I should just be strong and resist the temptation but I'm not sure I can...

I think I am going to have to think long and hard about the possibilities and see how I get on but any suggestions would be most welcome.

All the best!

Warzone 15: Nepharite and Razide Progress Report

Hi!

Well its my second day off in a row and alas there's not been much time for sculpting or painting my assorted gubbins as I have a commission to finish but I have had time to sort out some pictures of my sculpting progress for my Warzone 15 project:

 Razide and Nepharite

The two sculpts are pretty much finished but still need a head adding. I am thinking of sculpting them separately so folks can decide what beastie they want them to look like themselves by supplying a sprue of three heads. Once I've finished them, these sculpts as well as my gun toting zombie sculpts will be going up for sale to anyone who would like to pick them up (proceeds will be going towards our wedding!) 

 Rear View!

Next up, here's a quick pic of the newest addition to my Helios Elf force, a Spearman!

House Helios Spearman

I've had this chap for about ten years now, ever since the range was first released and he was stripped and given a fresh coat of paint recently and I must say, I am quite pleased with how he turned out! I doubt I will do much with the 28mm scale stuff that I am painting but its quite satisfying to be painting my way through my lead pile and who knows, maybe at some point in the distant future, I will actually have a home big enough to get a gaming table!

I have an action packed few weeks ahead with commissions, training days at work and even a trip to Glasgow and London to look forward to so I don't know how many updates I will manage over the course of the month but I shall see what I can do!

All the best!