VFM Or FML?

Just found out I charge commission work at the same rate as a third world painting service...

So am I too cheap or VFM?

Bet my mortgage would get me quite a large games room in down town Mumbai :)

And Perrys are putting up the price of plastic boxes by £2 a go.... The same box I bought for £10 on day of release? Now that's inflation, if only I earned twice what I earned then and not nearly half....

So which future will be better... Revolution or Dark Skies or The Walking Dead....

Anyway back to painting blue goblins

Forgot the movies

Worlds End ****/5 as good as hot fuzz, no Shaun of the dead... Some classic 'cornetto trilogy' moments that leave you wanting the next one... Still wish they had made the Vampire one ' from dusk til Shaun' but fingers crossed

Now you see me... ***/5 was ok, clever like a Colombo film, as in all the clues are there but hidden well, except one big 'oh' moment that wraps it all together....

Some big movies out next month.... Lone ranger is my next big thing, get those LOTOW rules dusted down

Shaun

Hot paint brush

Well this UK weather is just getting unbearable for me... Hayfever, heat rash and no sleep... Come back winter all is forgiven, and the paint keeps drying on the brushes!!!

Figures this month so far are blue Mantic goblins... X30 done x30 nearly done x40 todo
24 figure unit of Newline Ancient Spanish ... For sale soon

Need to prep more ancients units to paint, something easier.... Phalangites maybe.

So no one seems to know what skin tones to use for the weird and wonderful allies... Numidians dark or light, Spanish earthy or tanned and Libyans ? Pfft maybe there is no right or wrong, but as long as they sell to someone I will be happy and they will be happy, maybe the only thing that needs to be right is the price

Shaun

SALE : Boardgames

Warrior Knights, New and unplayed, possibly punched - £30 Descent, big box, played once, - £90 Blood bowl team manager, played once - £15 Small world, played once - £30 please add P+P at cost or like for like if trades are being sent More to Stuff to follow as the shelves get tidied. May exchange for unwanted unpainted figures? Offers considered Or if you have PayPal pennies then Perry Miniatures plastics..... Pm me any interest or offers  Shaun

Getting on with it...

Well only 9 figures left on the commission, 4 cheerleaders and 5 MVPs to go, been a slog but it's nearly there...

World War Z .... ****/5 it's good and a must for zombie fans, the science didn't add up for me, but the action was bang on, runners I can cope with, long range health monitoring? Pfft

Figures for sale? The ancients are going on the back burner and I am gonna fire up some Naps. Painted figures for sale at a bring n buy near you soon.... Need les mis tickets for Christmas, come on we can get there !!!!

Admissions .... ***/5 not the funniest film, no one got offended, More knocked up than hangover...

Man of Steel .... ****/5 better than iron man 3 but not as good as Avengers, will there be a Justice League film off the back? Probably, doubt they will go solo tho, especially with Aquaman lol

Oh well, better get on then...

One by one...

So painting dreadball MVPs one at a time, customer has requested 'canon' or book colour schemes... But need ing to paint 2 an hour is proving a struggle, have finished three teams in his own colour schemes.

Also taking a break from these by painting Gallic warband figures, 8 at a time, hopefully this will give a varied colour scheme, 24 figure units will be on sale later in the year at either SELWG or WaRfayre at Reading, just in time for the road tax and Xmas presents, anyone got access to cheap theatre tickets? Les mis please.. :)

And a unit of dark skinned numidian light infantry, African skin tones more than middle east.... Who knows, no two websites  agree, altho 15mm tend to be darker than 28mm it seems

So 92 figures this month somehow... None for me, but to be honest I need the money more than figures that I won't play with til I retire in 25 years time.

Shaun

Starter for 10.....

Where's has my paint mojo gone?

Figures started since the last post -

24 ACW Cavalry
24 Wild German Tribesmen
48 Gallic Warband

figures finished -
None

commissions accepted -
50 Dreadball figures

games played - none

So, where to next? Wibbly wobbly time machine trip to the 60s not an option

Paint it black?

Am slowly painting the lead mountain of abandoned projects... Ancients of various denominations from NewLine.

While painting some 'wild germans' I have started to paint the naked figures with there mostly wicker shields and realised I may have gotten it wrong, and my google foo has failed to back up my thoughts.

So would it be right to paint the unclothed figures as caucasian flesh... With blonde hair...
Or with a black block 'tattoo' over arms or torsos etc .. Still blonde? Or a mix of gingers n brown hair....?

Is this historical or just me going all Conan?

Please reminder these are destined for sale so getting it wrong will effect future purchases :(

Many thanks all

Shaun

Option 3......

Salute has been and gone, it just felt too big this year..... Or maybe my hobby is just small? Not sure, very much enjoyed it but can't seem to remember anything awe inspiring but I also seem to have missed an awful lot of the games in my wanderings. Did see many people I know from various hobbies, a little bit of cross hobby pollution.

Well Mssrs Perry failed to grab my money as they were guzzumped by Victrix and there one off, til next time, Salute special of 10 boxes for £130.00, a no brainer at £9 off per box. So now I have 480 hoplites and a few ideas.

club has seen the return of actual figure gaming which I get to play with!! ACW which led to my purchase of 2more Perry Infantry and a Zouave Boxes to build units into solid 24 figure units with 4 skirmishers each.... Will even try to convert some Berdans in fockcoats from the spare shell jackets.

My plastic Wargames Factory Romans now have 48 plastic velites from new kid on the block, Agema.

I had a brief look at the 3ups for Warlord, WW2  Japanese ... Meh, then at Perry, WOTR dismounted men at arms and mounted sergeants.... Meh, and the FireForge, Mongols? Eh, what happened to the Crusade stuff... And Victrix, had lots to say bu nothing to show ...

Perry did tempt me with Desert Rats, but not Africa Corps? If I was still VBCWing they are ideal for a unit of ' black shorts' ala Jeeves and Wooster fame, will wait and see.

And then as I was about to get some of the new Perry AWI... Dave Thomas had sold out? so I have shelved the money til the next show and until I have got my glue on and maybe painted some more metals to feed to he bring and buy

April fuel

As its April I figured an update was due, being on holiday and generally off hobby lately has resulted in more games and less paint. Also I have hit the can be arsed wall again.

Two Dreadball teams painted for 20 points
Still not finished the Ratlins and last Chancers but am gonna get them done this week.

I need a project to kickstart the year but am flitting between too many scales and ideas, so instead of throwing money ,which I don't really have, at the problem I am going to go to Salute for some inspiration. Paint some units to sell at BnBs later in the year and let the hobby fund itself again.

Except for the 100£ christmas money left that I need to make into something physical soon or risk loosing it to the bills.

I have several projects in the offing but am being drawn to 28mm Sudan. I already have 4 boxes of pErry Ansar to build and paint, but can't decide what to buy to face off against them.

Option 1 is perry metal British units at 6.50£ a pack of 6 or 26£ a unit plus a gun and some sailors with an MG

option 2 will be to go for the new Perry Plastic AWI at 18£ for 40 odd Which willPlace the action 100years earlier and be a little more imaginary but a lot more affordable

January and February, stuff what I painted...

As its March I thought I had better have a catch up with the blogosphere.

January saw the finishing of a lot of part painted ACW, hence the overly large 190 points. I have been alternating between 50 man platoons for Shado's Imperial Guard and 24 figure ACW perry plastic units but as the IGs had slowed down I smashed through some Union units and then some Zouaves.

February arrived along with a mixed 50 figures for Shado, Last Chancers and Ratling Snipers and I cracked the seal on the ACW Cavalry I bought on day of release from Mssrs Perry themselves at Salute 2009? unfortunately I can't seem to get into groove with either set of figures, haven't painted horses in a couple of years!!!

Fortunately Charlie at the club needed a quick turn around on 3 units of Skaven, 25 in each, which I have managed to finish two of, meaning 50 points for February as opposed to a nearly 100, which will roll over to this month for completion.

Have really enjoyed the Skaven, much to my surprise, and as my son has a few hundred of the things I may just  squeeze  a few into the schedule. Although with Salute fast approaching and unprinted DreadBall teams still in the box and Season 2 due in a few weeks other things may get prioritised.

But then another painting order may roll in and knock everything sideways again.

Shaun

Not a new iPad... But the newest iOS I can get.

This is a test.....

In other news the year ended and started again.

The hobby bimbles along.

Paint gets pushed around little plastic men.

In with the new

I have been following a painting competition type thing on another blog, hosted by Analogue, which uses a different points system to the 1pt per figure I currently use, adjusting for scale of course.

Not sure if I fancy using the convertion over but it was interesting to think of getting 5000 painting points completed in a year :) thats 1pt per 5mm.

The only time i appear to manage the 1000 figures is when i am painting Napoleonics, so maybe it could be that i return to comforting arms of the good old French 36 man units that can quickly ramp up the points, but is that 36 points or 180 i am not sure yet, either way it will be using Perry Plastic and i was holding out until they commit more usits to plastic.

The allure of plastic is the cost per figure for me, the quality are on par with metal at worst, especially with Perrys. So why when the figures are just really for me am I waiting for an Austrian Hussar in plastic when I can use the near enough British ones, or wait for a Russian Cuirrasier when a French one is just a paint job away from crossing the border. Will ponder this one while I stare at the current plastic mountain of Perry Ansar and ACW Zouaves.

Perrys really are just pulling me towards 28mm gaming, when i have committed to 10mm large scale actions... damn them and extr-ordinary skills n business accuemen.

Maybe its a case of  '28mm for show and 10mm for a pro'

It's a wrap...

Well I tried to write this end of year piece on the ups and downs of the year, but for some reason the iPad wont let me create blog posts.... probably need an upgrade to be as good as it was before when it did allow me to post.

Bit of a slow start to the year on the painting front but a surge of activity post Salute in April meant a steady flow of figures were pushed through from both the lead pile and from a large commission. didnt quite make the thousand points mark but with December needing 130 odd points I found myself stuck, literally sticking with glue.... 80 WW2 15mm vehicles from PSC, Zvezda and 2 box sets of the new FOW means that 2013 may be a FOWFest if i can find some opponents at the slowly revamping club.

The Sale of my painted Roman Army funded this years hobby, along with the car insurance and road tax, but means I no longer have a 28mm painted Ancient Army, which gathers dust but made me feel like a real wargamer. The painting of my Plastic Perry ACW Infantry does mean I get to keep a toe in the real hobby that seems to elude most of the current club trends in gaming.

Big at the club has been 40k and Dreadball, with forays into Saga and Muskets and Tomahawks, but an upsurge of new members has meant the club has a new lease of life, if it comes with a different 'vibe'.

Home gaming was non existant and playing more Hex games didnt happen at all. I need to form a plan to paint up more 10mm units and get the HEXON2 Terrain out again.

January seems to be all about planning on most other blogs and recommitting to the hobby, but to me that just places a bit of pressure  into what should be a lot of fun.

2013 - play more, paint more, have fun.