WIP, WIP, and more WIP? (and maybe some more . . . )

Hi,

With the advent of summer, cub, and full on family shenanigans, hobby time has been reduced to the premium I more or less expected.  I have managed to get a few things done, however, and have also started playing around with a couple of other projects.

First off, I've finished painting the first base of Spartans.



I'm still waiting on the bases I ordered (4 weeks ago!) from Litko, but should get these based up as soon as they arrive. From what I understand, this kind of wait is normal from Litko, but their products generally are worth the wait. *edit* Bases arrived today, but are flexible; I was expecting rigid. Looks like I'm going to have to send in a second order.



For this first, rear base, I picked out some of the lighter armed figures in the Xyston range.  The guy above has the heaviest equipment in the lot.  Front rank will have more linen and muscle cuirass models.   I'm looking to build a more flexible army, something that could branch from the tail end of the Persian wars through the Peloponnesian war.  The Xyston figs don't sport bell cuirass, so they're no good for the main part of the Persian conflict, but I figure I can fudge a bit.



A fair bit of the work I put into these guys seems to have been lost, thanks to their trusty hoplons.  I'm sure, however, if I didn't put it in, it would bug the crap out of me, so there you go.  One thing I'm cautiously pleased by is the spears, which are made of plastic broom bristles.  I need to work on the shape of the blades a little, but I'm content with them as a first try.

I was at Dueling Grounds last Wednesday for the game in my last post. I got there a little early, and had time to kill, so decided to peruse the shelves.  This may have been a mistake, as I came across their extensive selection of Dystopian Wars miniatures, including all the models that have been released in the last year or so since I first found out about the game.  The "holy crap!" factor on these models is undiminished.  While I was wildly enthusiastic about this when it was first being released, personal issues, increased involvement in historical gaming, and the lack of a "champion" at the local club combined to relegate the project to the lead (or in this case, resin) pile.  I've had a brain worm since last Wednesday however, and have pulled out the models, and spent the last several days stroking them and muttering "precioussssss" to myself.




I pulled out the cruiser I used as a test model, along with a squadron of frigates.  In retrospect, I think I need a little more colour in the scheme.  I'm thinking of red as an accent, maybe on the rocket tubes and in a few other places on the model.  I also dug out my Tenkei Sky Fortress (which sold me on the Blazing Sun faction), and have begun putting it together and magnetizing it.



I've spent a couple days posting to message boards to see what the local community is like.  Looks like there's a few people playing over at Meeple Mart, a store I've been meaning to check out for some time.  In addition, an old gaming buddy, owner of the GK Workbench has a fleet, and might be interested in the occasional game. Very exciting.

Speaking of projects long-deferred, Blood Bowl is a very hot item at the THMG, and accounts for most of the non-historical gaming in the club.  I've been a fan of GW's specialist games for years, but have somehow never played Bloodbowl, despite its excellent reputation.  A long time ago, in a province far, far away, a kind geekly mentor gifted me with a stack of old-school 40k ork models.   I then promptly sold off my existing ork army, and moved away.  I kept the models however, and have been meaning to paint them ever since (as they're among my favourite GW models of all time).  It occurred to me that with only a minimum of conversion, they'd serve nicely as the basis for an orky BB team.  I dug out the bag, picked out a few likely prospects, and as soon as I lay hands on some green stuff, will begin the process of evil-genius scale creation.




Lastly, speaking of evil genius, it's come to my attention that the happy lads at Games Workshop have once again reinvented 40k, with a new edition released this week.  This has prompted me to take a virtual stroll around one of the internet's happier places, and one of its more emo, just to see what's going on.  The early word seems to be that this version will lend itself to a more balanced game, meaning less tankhammer, meaning there's a chance in hell I might actually dig out my orks and get modelling.  There are at least a couple old partners in crime kicking around the city that might be interested in a game, so there's a chance of this happening.  Maybe.  At some point.  Possibly.  I think. GW is more of a painting and nostalgia kick for me these days, but who knows, anything can happen.

Not to worry - there's still plenty of historical stuff in the works, and most of my games for the forseeable future will be Impetus or Maurice (especially the latter, now that round 2 of our campaign has started), but it looks like the content here will be mixing it up a little.

FMB