The last couple of months have been an almost complete gaming drought. Only a couple of games of Space Hulk & Mansions of Madness, and a few RPG sessions (WFRP, Shadowrun, Twilight 2000) have happened, plus there have been a couple of 'failed games' - games that I set up but then didn't play for whatever reason.
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| Mansions of Madness really is great fun! |
As usual, this kind of thing happens when work and home life become busy and/or frustrating past a certain point. I haven't done much painting or anything it feels like either, but I have at least done relatively more of those things! But painting has been limited from some space issues in the house (I am now working at the same table I use for actual work) and also visibility - I need to sort out some better lighting to allow early morning and late evening painting.
The main focus was actually on building the plastic sets from the lead mountain and putting a basecoat on them ready for painting proper; this was to get all of my painting 'tasks' into the same state, ready for the application of the colour coats.
First up - and please forgive the shadows - some repaired and lightly touched up fantasy and 40K stuff.
Then, a big increase to the WSS artillery, including some more light guns and some siege guns.
And some Hussars: a mixture of French and Imperial Hussars, plus the 'Scotch Hussars' for the '45.
Some WSS Bavarian and Imperial cuirassiers, amongst some other bits'n'bobs
A not great closer up! Feel the mass, not the detail...sorry.
Okay, a better shot of some more artillery and dragoons, being finished off; plus some Space Marines and some Heroquest ogres.
A close-up of some big guns - with a few British grenadiers off to the left
Some Dragoons, mounted and on foot
The finished Space Marines - I gave these to my son, no doubt he will use them more than I will!
And a batch of Bacus WW2 stuff. Germans at the front, with Panthers, Tiger Is, Panzer IVs, Whirlwinds and Demags.
Then the British: Sherman Fireflys, 25pdrs, 6pdrs and tows and crew.
Hope of course, springs eternal about getting more painting and more gaming in! Priorities for the former are some more 6mm WW2 and a few more Napoleonics, then a bunch of 28mm ancients for the little one. As for playing, I should really just get something to the table and not overthink it too much!!!! I guess one of the issues is that what I really feel like doing is starting another involved campaign, but that might be difficult to pull off currently - but not sure if I am in the mood for lighter, more generic one-offs which are the easiest to set-up.
I found a bright daylight bulb really helped in the dining room where I used to set my games up, and even more so in my new games room, which faces north west. A good mix of projects as always and real life has meant not much on the go of late. I too wish to play some campaigns, but have not had the chance to set anything up, using the OHW scenarios instead to scratch that games itch.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think I need to think a little more about this, optimizing my painting spaces better. I can't have a dedicated space, so maybe I need to think a little more creatively about combining good lighting and good portability.
DeleteYou hope to play more gaming and painting but it sounds like you have done more of those in the last few months than 90% of wargamers :-) Try not be too hard on yourself - you are actually gaming and painting which is the main thing to focus on.
ReplyDeleteTrue, true. Actually, I have been following some of your recent posts with great interest, I really want to establish a rythmn of getting some similar rpg-ish solo games to the table very regularly.
DeletePainting motivation has definitely dropped off a cliff lately. Winter light? Or the standard stresses of the fall? Hard to say. The german tanks look pretty awesome. A lot of your pics are suffering from back lighting, so it's hard to see the paints jobs well enough.
ReplyDeleteSome might argue that 'not' seeing the paint jobs is better in my case haha! The tanks are very nice, Baccus have done a good job. I don't usually, but I did actually pick out some of the detail (spades etc.) which I don't normally with 6mm tanks. You are quite right about the back lighting - my desk is next to a south-facing window, with all the lighting also between the desk area and the window too. I will read up the relevant chapter in The Wargaming Compendium and see if I can tweak things a bit to improve the images.
DeleteI think we all go through slow gaming periods, at least you are still managing to paint stuff. Quite a lot of stuff in fact. I'm the other way around, my big 15mm desert and 20mm Persian projects left me completely 'painted out', but now I'm back to down ng odd bits and pieces. I'm sure the games will return. Ive been having some fun with very lightweight 3x3 Portable Wargames, which at least get some toys on the table.
ReplyDeleteI think I need something like that: after I get a few toys on the table for some simple games played to completion, I always feel like doing more. I have noticed that I like painting a bit every day, and I paint the most and best when I can achieve that, rather than try to do things in big batches.
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