A Lapse In Connection

     I'll start off by apologizing for the lack of posts, a common theme, I know.  I've had a lapse in connection to the outside world, but not the hobby of miniatures.  In fact, instead of falling behind on my goals, they've been kicked into overdrive.  I'm two-thirds of the way through painting an army of Mephrit dynasty Necrons, (not hard, I know, but no army shaming here please), and I now have dozens of genestealer cultists awaiting final highlights.  

     Also, I've committed to catching up on my backlog so there aren't boxes upon boxes just piled around my study, so I've built full armies of Necrons, Blood Angel's, Dark Eldar, Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Eldar, and Adeptus Custodes.  I've also built units for Vior'la T'au, Sisters of Battle, Necromunda, and a lot more.  So like I said, still busy, just not typing.

     So in closing, how did all of your summer hobby projects go?  Any really great accomplishments, or monumental tasks overcome?  I'd love to hear about them so leave me comment or send me an email.  Till next time I'll catch you on the flip side.

Making Progress

     Soon I seem to be making some progress on the mini painting front.  After a couple hours painting, I finished a second hormogaunt for my hive fleet Hydra collection.  Here is the little bug in all his glory:

     Isn't he cute?

Shameless Self Promotion

     Well, this isn't completely shameless, as I do feel a bit low promoting a subreddit I started to get attention to Warhammer bits and minis I'm trying to sell.  But I'm doing it anyway, as I've recently come to the conclusion that you don't get anywhere in life just trying to look polite and please everybody.  I post on this sub pretty regularly, and would welcome anybody who wants to chat or sell their own Warhammer stuff.

     I do want to keep it clean, though.  This sub will not be a place for bad deals and rude interactions.  Play nice or you will be banned.  Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please check out the Selling Warhammer subreddit at r/sellingwarhammer.  Talk to you there!

Hobby Addiction Update: Hail Hydra?

     Over the last few days I seem to have found some of my hobby mojo again.  After weeks of absence, my paint brushes re-emerged, my water pot filled, and paint pots were shaken.  I'm back, baby!  And it would seem that I am on a decent track to wrangle my hobby addiction and maybe make a little bit of money, too.

     So let me explain.  A couple of weeks ago, the stress of future financial issues caused me to do something I must admit is as much a product of addiction as anything else; sell personal belongings.  I have an active Ebay account, and I have sold many things in the past.  This time, though, I saw an opportunity, and stumbled onto a personal gold mine.  Warhammer bits sell well on Ebay.   I didn't realize just how true this was until I posted some discarded Ork and Space Wolf bits, and they sold well over what I expected, and quickly.  So I posted more.  Shoulder pauldrons, chain swords, ork big shootas.  A ridiculous array of bits sold over the course of three weeks, and I came to the revelation that with my long-standing collection, i could continue this trend.  Then I finally assembled my prophecy of the wolf battle box and it hit me.  Some of the sales I had were commonly popular wargear, things like storm shields and thunder hammers, while others followed lore trends, and yet others the changing game meta.  Armed with this knowledge I started selling bits based on these themes.  It worked like a charm.  Now, how all of this relates to my painting again.  I had stacked of unassembled minis in backlog, which I started to assemble to get the spare bits ready for sale.  Building all of them, I thought "hey, they can't just sit on the laundry counter forever, I need to get base spraying."

     And so I did, which lead to me pulling out the painting gear and slapping on some base colors, and then it was just a quick wash coat and I was looking at how all they needed was some highlights.  Then I looked over at my Cult of the Four Armed Emperor and Hive Fleet Hydra armies, and I thought about how easy there paint jobs were to get done fast.  Now I'm about half a dozen Hormagaunts in and the other eighteen are just waiting on highlights, and I've been watching old Warhammer TV videos on painting up goliath trucks.  Hopefully I'll have some cool pics to post soon, both here and on Instagram.  I'll keep you posted with the details.

Family Time

     So, as I've stated before I'm something of an addict when it comes to miniature gaming.  And even though I purchase a lot of minis I don't really get the time to play.  So it was a wonderful gift this past Father's Day when both my oldest kids threw together a couple of armies from my collection and battled me for a three-for-all.

    My oldest chose her no-duh favorite, the Sisters of Battle, my son the Crimson Slaughter, and I ran my personal favorite, the Orks, with one of my new favorite pieces, Ghazkul Mag Uruk Thraka.  The table size and time limit were small, so we actually ended up engaging in combat first turn with literally no effort (I had to hold back some of the move distance on my Orks just so I could charge).  And i learned some things about all three of those armies, so overall it was a great match.

     It was fantastic to get a chance to spend some time on Father's day war gaming with my kids, and I hope we'll play more often.  Till next time.

A Far Flung Fall Off the Band Wagon

     Quarantine fatigue seems to have set in, as none of the projects I was working on have gone anywhere in weeks.  I've been endlessly spinning my wheels playing distracting video games and taking naps on the couch.  Even my kids seem to have quit on the hobby front, barely excited about D&D or board games.  Who knew having all the time in the world to play but being so worried its sickening could keep you from your passions?  I certainly didn't.

     But I'm trying to rally again.  I've busted out more miniatures to build, and tomorrow will base spray about fifty pieces.  And as many of them are Necrons, hopefully just a coat of Leadbelcher spray and nuln oil will be enough to get a decent looking force on my kitchen table, with some spot colors, of course.

     I really hope I can get back to working with my local gaming community soon, and re-spark that drive to fling paint and have awesome looking minis on the tabletop.

Hobby Addiction: Update 6

     So I found myself in a bit of a pickle.  The box of Necron warriors I mentioned in my last post came short a sprue of the little transparent green bars that complete there guns.  This frustrated me a little, and I contemplated contacting Games Workshop to get a replacement.  Then I thought better of it.  It's hard enough to try and go through the process of securing a return for damaged product when the company is based in your own country, I didn't want to have to mess with internationally trying to accomplish this.  Especially with all the COVID-19 shutdown issues.  Then an idea struck me.

     The sprue for the little bars is not much wider that the bars themselves, and the trapezoids shape is heavily featured in Necron design, so I decided to just snip four pieces of the sprue to the length they needed to be for the guns, glued them in place just the same, and I'll be base coating them tonight or tomorrow.  (For those wondering why I put the rods in before basecoating, my Necron force is the Mephrit dynasty, and the gauss rods for their guns are orange.)

     In the end, I think the effect is quite nice, and it'll be fun if I ever showcase my army for people to try and spot the unique four on there own.  Well until next time, good night.

In The Nick of Time

     Just three weeks ago, I decided to tackle a hobby project I have been putting off for well over a year.  I have assembled a fledgling Necron force through some boxed sets and a single purchase of a box of warriors, and as they have sat there idle since the release of Forgebane, I decided to slap them all together.  Now, I'm still seven warriors short of having the whole force assembled, but I watched the teaser trailer this weekend from Warhammer TV, and it would seem im getting the undying warriors of living metal built and painted just in time.  It seems the Silent King will be returning to make some noise!

Hobby Addiction: Update #5

     Well, I've stalled again.  I have the same fifteen miniatures sitting on my hobby spot as I did a month ago, and none of them are fully painted.  They have progressed, but not a single one is done.  I'm trying to double down and get some done, since my wife wants a low-key mother's day and I've committed to not playing a video game system all day. (I've recently been sucked back in to collecting Pokémon with my seven-year-old.)  Here's hoping!

     As proof, though, that I have gotten something done, here is one of those fifteen, a Khorne Bezerker:

     He's the furthest along, and I hope to be basing him tonight.  He's only got highlights on his gold and his black before he's finished, and I'm thinking a standard tan basing scheme for this army, since the model already has a mix of light and dark tones, and I want to keep that balance.

Hobby Addiction: Update #4

     So, its been a few weeks, and I'm sorry for the long absence.  Its been a little crazy, and other things have taken precedence.
     I know that this is cliche by now, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak here in Washington state, my hobby goals have been a bit derailed as I have been preparing with my family for what may be a very long period of distress.  That being said, as the initial preparations are done, I've probably got more time than ever to get some things done in my favorite hobby.  I'm going to start by trying to play some games of Blackstone Fortress with my wife and kids, if they're down for it.  I have been itching to catch a dread ambull for some time.
     I've been able to finish up more than a half dozen of the Blackstone Fortress minis from the first game, and I hope to get a few more of the hostiles and two more heroes done some time soon.  As the final expansion is set to release at some point this year, I really want to get caught up on the lore.

     On the note of terrible pandemic's though, this supposed blessing of grandfather Nurgle shall be squelched.  We are practicing social distancing, and keeping to our house as much as we can.  We are encouraging everybody else to be strong and stay the course.  Even with all of the opening up, we need to be united in our efforts to stop the spread.  I know its hard to be part of a community hobby like this when you can't gather, but as a hobby group, all of us are weathering this wornderfully.  I'll try and post some updates soon, and hope to hear from anybody in the Warhammer community with their ideas and tricks for keeping sane during the pandemic.

Hobby Addiction: Update #3

     I feel like I failed again slightly.  I picked up the two Black Library hero minis, Valerian and Aleya.  I've already built them, and have Aleya base coated Chaos Black.  This is sort of a setback, as I really didn't have the money to pick them up at the moment, but they really help with two of the armies I currently have base coated minis for.  So, I caved for those two.
     So now I feel like I have to hurry up and paint these minis to justify the purchase.  Oh well, I guess it'll help flesh these armies out and make for some fun fluff games.

Hobby Addiction: Update #2

     Things are going a little bumpy today.  Had to travel around and handle paperwork and things, so not much has gotten done.  Though hopefully, tomorrow will be a post of ten whole minis painted!  I started my sisters of silence last night, and I'm hoping to finish them tonight.  Talk to all of you soon.

Hobby Addiction: Update #1

     Ha, thought you'd have to wait till at least tomorrow to get your first update, huh?  Well, I just dry brushed the last of this little guy's base.  It's an enormous sense of relief and accomplishment having completed a mini again.  I'll have to hurry up and finish the rest of the unit.

Hobby Addiction

     I'm going to get real with you for a moment.  I have a serious addiction.  Tabletop gaming.  I'm not being humorous, or tongue-in-cheek.  I have nearly bankrupted my household before with my addiction to gaming and collecting.  After a long and arduous road, I have gotten things mostly under control.  This has taken being honest with my spouse, and honest with myself.  Its taken time to sit and assess my situation and talk with support professionals.  Thankfully I haven't had to give up any of the games I love as of yet, but I have had to make massive changes, and it has been hard.
     With that admission laid down, I'm now having to validate my hobby.  I'm going to make progress, and use this vice to make me better.  over the next year (2020), I'm going to be posting updates, which I hope to make daily, to my progress in conquering my hobby addiction, and bettering my life.
     To make this vague goal manageable, I am setting up a series of tasks to be completed, or at least shot for, which will be the purpose of the daily update posts, to show progress.  These tasks will be printed here, and I'll modify and adjust them as need be.  So lets start:

1. Get a major portion of my collection painted.  This one is seriously bad.  I have something like 4000 minis in backlog, and I hardly complete more than 10 in a year at my current rate.  This is aweful.
2. Obtain and fill storage for my miniatures.  I really just have piles of plastic soldiers just sitting on the floor or shoved in boxes.  I want to get them organized and transportable.  This is pivitol for my next goal.
3. Play more games with people in my community.  Here in Aberdeen, we have a thriving gaming community, and yet I didn't play a single game of Warhammer or LOTRSBG at all in the year of 2019.  NOT. ONE. GAME!  What is the point of owning these minis if I don't play the game which they are from?
4. Catalog my collection.  Honestly, this will be the first step, but it is of the least importance.  What it will really do is illustrate to me just how bad my problem is, so it needs to be done first to light the fire of urgency under my tail.
5. Share my creations with the local and online communities I wish I participated in.  I need to be more social, and I think this will be a great gateway into meeting more like-minded people.
6. Attend at least one major table-top gaming event.  I'm talking something like LVO.  I would love to see just how many others are into the hobby as much as I am.  And again, it would be a great place to network this hobby.
7. Hone my terrain building skills.  This one has a secret, ulterior motive, that I will share once it is further along in development.

    So, there it is.  This is my list of things to try and accomplish in the course of 2020.  I hope I get even a fraction of it done, and that it will help me further plans I have in my life right now.  I'll also be posting pictures and updates to my Instagram and Twitter feeds, so if that is easier for you to follow, find me @Aberdrew for Twitter and @theoriginalsehamon on Instagram.  Catch all of you soon.