Saturday, July 11, 2015

A Long, Strange Road

Six months is enough of a break, Get back to work, slacker.

First off, thanks very much to those of you who have emailed and made sure that I am still of-this-earth. It is nice to feel a part of a global community of like-minded individuals.

I am, in fact, still hard at work painting- it's just that much of the work I have been getting done minis-wise of late has seemed less-than-sharable via this blog. I've been exclusively performing all those mundane tasks that I know all serious hobbyists will nod their heads knowingly about: re-basing warbands (no, NOT for that!), prepping Kickstarter reward packages, and painting minis for other people. These things take time, and they are not the most exciting of topics . . .

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Whatcha starin' at?
I have managed to get through two batches of commission work since the last time I wrote. Avid readers of this blog (hah!) will remember that I had given this up earlier in the year to focus more on my own collection. Well, the money is too good and I need too much of it, so it's back on that wagon for ol' VeronaKid.

The first group was this set of beholders. I can't imagine why my client would possibly need so many considering the monster represented is usually a unique addition to a D&D campaign, but hey- these were fun as hell to paint up. My favorite of the batch was certainly the Julie Guthrie-sculpted Reaper version in purple here in the back-left:

The three goofy looking guys that are painted in aqua were also great sculpts, although I have no idea what company or sculptor they come from.

After polishing them off, my client sent me this sweet batch of elementals and constructs, which I just finished off last weekend:
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I know the picture here is dark, but I never managed to shoot a decent one of this batch before I sent it back. The huge rock guy in the top right is a killer sculpt from Reaper, and this one in particular was the Bones plastic version, so I assume it is very inexpensive to pick up. My favorite from this batch though is definitely the Albion Fenbeast who is right in front of the rock-hulk. The summer GW campaign that he came from was one of the highpoints of my own personal gaming career. That summer, I must have played WHFB at least three times a week with a really great group of guys. Good memories, and a great sculpt.

Other than that, as I mentioned I have been re-prepping older minis of mine for use as various Skulldred warbands. These were originally all based in very hap-hazard, non-matching manners (different basing materials; some round, some square, some hex-based; etc), so I am trying to "tidy up" the collection, so to speak. Plus, it's cheaper than buying new minis!

Here's shots of a few representative minis from each of the war bands my various family members play in our weekend games:

My older boys' early (Asgard) Goodwin barbarian horde

My recently painted up Skaven

Mostly Reaper lizard men, who usually are mercenary baddies
A couple members of my little guys' greenskin toughs
Wifey's Reaper Amazonians. I can't recommend this line of sculpts enough. Brilliant.

That's really about it. Life has been far too crazy to do anything like actually play games with any of these figures, but I hope to remedy that soon.

Riiiiiiiiiight.

I have to say, I am very amazed at the thunderous silence in this community (and it's associated blog-o-sphere) over the new Warhammer "Age of Sigmar" stuff. I would have expected a much louder outcry along the lines of "See??!!! We knew they would ruin it!!!" I would think that the quiet murmurings simply indicate that old-timers have long since given up altogether. I, for one, still check the GW site frequently. I wouldn't dream of purchasing a plastic figure at their prices, so I haven't ordered anything from them in probably five years now, but I do think, actually, that the new game indicates a step or three in the right direction. Smaller forces encouraged and therefore a smaller initial investment required to participate? Check. Easier-to-digest rules (a la Skulldred, or SOBH) which in turn encourages a younger audience? Check. Elimination of ranked models which in turn eliminates fiddly maneuvers and the subsequent "wait an hour while your opponent moves his entire army" syndrome? Check. It really does feel that the new game is headed back towards its more narrative-driven roots and away from things like Death Star units, killer combos, and out-of-control magic phases.

I do applaud GW for once for not just making the game more bloated and (worse) more exclusive. Blow it up and start anew. Good job.

Hope you are well, wherever you might be. Take care, leadheads. Hopefully the next post here will be before the winter holidays roll around again. :)

4 comments:

  1. I would recommend you at least give AoS a try with the free PDFs. I've played three games using models from my Oldhammer collection. In one game I did a very Oldhammer thing and just put all of my toys from two armies on the table without even trying to balance it - I know from experience the larger army is around 1800 points while the smaller just over 1200 points. The smaller army was able take advantage of the Sudden Death rule and managed to score a major victory on the last turn by achieving the scenario goal.

    I really don't remember the last time I had so much fun playing Warhammer...

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    1. I do plan on giving the new rules a run-through or three once time permits. I am a huge fan of GW's decision to release both the rules and the army lists for free- that goes a long way with me. There are some pretty intriguing ideas in this release, although I am certain that the multiple rolls per attack (to hit, to wound, to save) will be as tedious as ever. I can see it working o.k. With smaller games of 5-10 models per side.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  2. Age of Who? Just kidding. Our group has been busy playing other games but I did download the rules and army lists. I'm not interested in collecting the miniatures though. Speaking of which, great Jes Goodwin sculpts you have there. I have a couple of handfuls of Asgard barbarians on my painting table at the moment. I'm loving your Skaven collection also.

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    1. Thanks for the comments and compliments. I agree that the AoS minis are not on the must-add list- much too high falutin' for my tastes, and they look like they are even bigger than GW's already too-big scale.

      Thanks for reminding me- my ratmen need some painting love and attention soon. So many minis, so little time.

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