One Last Hurrah

2020 is, mercifully, coming to an end.

But before it does, I need to finish off the accounting and log the last set of models I've painted. If I didn't do that, well, you can imagine the potential consequences.

Right, let's kick off. First, a hangover from last time - I found a sprue with a single German model left on it, so I turned him into a forward observer. 

This photo came out ok.
This wasn't the case for the others. 

If my maths is right there should be another spare knocking about somewhere, but I can't find him up to now. Exciting, innit? 

Next, I finished off the remaining models for the Terminator Genisys board game. This will no doubt be thrilling news for those people who will be forced to play through it when lockdowns finally stop being a thing.

I already have better quality casts of two of these models.

It's the same guy three times!

I also have a better cast of this model.

Drones! A swarm of drones!

As I sat down to write this blog post, I realised that there are another six terminator models I've painted and not previously blogged. They're pretty similar to the ones above and I don't have a photo, so, you know, imagine that.

I've also painted six bits of ruined jersey barriers that Kieron gave me some time ago. I don't have a photo of those either. Sod it.

It's the end of the year, and I should really have some kind of summary, but I dunno. I painted some stuff, but lost a fair bit of time to general lockdown/childcare/homeworking business. I did manage to get some bigger stuff done with the contrast paints, and I now have Japanese and German Bolt Action armies that I didn't have before. I've also got the Terminator stuff ready to go when I can corner some victims. 

I suppose for the new year my main hope is to be able to get back to regular games, which is a bit obvious. I'd also like to move onto a couple of planned projects that I've not got to yet. On the other hand, I have a big stack of Japanese infantry and some 3D printed tanks to get to, and painting those would add to existing forces nicely. So... yeah. The main thing I think is to hope for more time for painting somehow. And, you know, the end of the once in a century global pandemic wouldn't go amiss either. 

Right, that went slightly bleak. Let's distract from that by honing in on the really interesting stuff, my scores for the year. When I account for unhelpful things like sales and people just giving me things, those come out as...

Acquired:184

Painted: 210

I've had worse years! The main issue here is that I'm fairly baffled as to when I acquired that much stuff. That's something to try to improve on next year - can I keep the influx of new things under a hundred?

I'm sure we'll find out how I inevitably fail over the course of the coming year. Assuming there's no meteor strike or squirrel uprising, or whatever.

Happy new year!

Contrasting Opinions

I've been at the contrast paints again.

This time, I'm trying them out with some German grenadiers. I have a lot of these lying around the garage so figuring out a quick way to get through them would be very nice indeed.

Here you go - five grenadiers...

I painted these using the colour scheme from this post on Wargaming 3D. It was good to have a guide to work from, but these don't really match the uniform colour of the (few) grenadiers I've already painted. I know that there were dozens of possible shades of field grey, so I've no problem in keeping these and mixing them into my force, but I'd like something on the greener side to match what I have already. So I'm going to have another go with a different shade next time - I have a colour in mind so I'll try that out, and of course will thrill you with the results here.

I also found time to get started on the models from Terminator Genisys: Rise of the Resistance. Here's the first set...

I had a bit of a dilemma around how to base them - a lot of the scenarios from the game seem to be indoors, but I also have my Terminator Genisys Miniatures Game stuff to match with, so in the end I went for the tarmac effect I've used for those.

It's this kind of fascinating insight that keeps people coming back here, I'm sure.

Any, score time. I've been given some 3D printed barbed wire thingies this week so the acquired total has gone up, which leaves me...

Painted: 118
Acquired: 118

... with a lead pile the same size as it was at the start of the year. Hurray!

Sci-Finally

The lockdown continues, in-person gaming is suspended, and I finished my secret Japanese project recently. This left me at something of a loss, in the mood to do some painting, but not quite mentally ready to start the next big queue.

The result was that things went a bit random, so here we go. I kicked off with...

Remember, Genisys is Skynet! Also, none
of this will matter when the next film starts.

Kyle Reese from Terminator Genisys! This is the metal "freebie" from the miniatures game box.

Since I still have the board game to go at I also have a less-well-cast plastic version of the same model to do as well, and I'm probably insane enough to actually paint that even though I have a better version of the same thing already done.

Anyway. It's a nice model and a fairly good likeness of Jai "clearly too beefy to be Kyle Rees" Courtney, which has been slightly lost under my ham-fisted painting. But he's done, he'll turn up on the table occasionally, and he's been sat in the paint station for ages so it's nice to have him done.

One thing I did find odd about this is that the base is part of the casting. Which is such a simple idea that I wonder why it's the first time I've seen it since some Lord of the Rings models I had about 30 years ago. I'm sure there's a reason. Anyway.

Next, I went for...

Stompy, stompy, slashy stabby

Some Shaltari Firstborn!

These were a secret Santa gift from Pete, I think from 2018? It might even have been 2017. They're part of a big pile of Shaltari stuff for Dropzone and Dropfleet that I never seem to quite get around to. I'm not actually sure how effective these will be in the game, as they are very close range fighters and getting anything close enough to the enemy to attempt that sort of thing has always resulted in lots of gates being destroyed. Still, got to be worth a try, and at least it adds variety to the process of losing.

And finally, these...

Dug in like an Alabama tic

Wait, they seem to have changed colours, like a chameleon, using the jungle. They're always doing that. I'll try again...

Not sure about the spear things to be honest

There we go. These are a set of Predators "Alien Hunters" from Copplestone Castings. I'm pretty certain I've had these for at least 10 years, and it might actually be more like 12. I honestly couldn't say why I suddenly rooted these out, but I went at them with contrast paints and I'm pretty happy with the result. 

No immediate plans for these really, but at some point I'm sure they'll turn up in a 7TV cast or something.

Right then, pictures displayed, time for everyone's favourite part, admin! Let's see what all that has done to the all-important numbers...

Painted: 90

Acquired: 77

So that's looking good, but I have just ordered some more so I need to keep at it if I'm going to stay on track. I'm sure you'll be able to watch me attempt that here, so you can look forward to that.

Finally Returning to the Blog

Errr... hi.

Yeah, it's been months. But I've come back, yet again, so here it is - another new year, and another attempt at self-justification as I realise I failed to achieve what I was trying for.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, here's a series of things I've painted since I last managed to get myself sufficiently organised to post here.

Starting with...

Post-apocalyptic cultists!

I really like these models - they're from Crooked Dice, and I got them as part of the 7TV Apocalypse kickstarter. The detail on them is great, which made them very easy to paint. I've gone for greens and browns on them so that I have the option of using them as Nurgle cultists for my vaguely planned 40K 7TV adventure at some point.

Next, it's...

Probably going to be used as a panzerschreck...

Last Levy Germans! 

I had these on the painting table from the 7TV games day - I'd had the idea that some of them could work for Pulp, then did other things anyway. But they were still sat there, and it was easier to paint them than to find something else, so here they are. 

There's the multiple rocket launcher thingy above, then the "shooty round corners" krummlauf:

Probably use this as a sniper or something...

It can shoot this way too!

Then a couple of Volkssturm for good measure:

It's not easy to see in the picture, but the one on the left is in a firefighter's uniform.

Clearly, inspired leadership will be needed here, so let's throw in an officer for good measure!

A nice model, and I'm actually fairly happy with my paint job on him, so it's a shame that for some reason I couldn't manage a decent photo. 

Last among the defenders of Berlin are the Hitler Youth:

Sometimes a miracle occurs and I manage a photo you can actually see

Always good to have a unit I can feel guilty about any time it takes to the table. Possibly the worst part there is that the Bolt Action rules only let the NCO have an SMG, so the little guy in a sort of scout uniform must be the NCO... ugh. I have a vague idea that these might also work as some sort of pulp kids... thing as well. 

Anyway, moving on...

It's Terminator time again. Black Friday threw up a few Terminator models for dirt cheap at Wayland Games, so I grabbed what I could. So there's the T-1000 you see above...

...and John Connor, leader of the worldwide resistance, and last best hope of humankind. These are actually pretty nice resin casts, so it's a shame that my painting has done them no favours whatsoever.

I also got Arnie on a bike, but I've yet to do anything with him.

While I was at it I also painted a resistance soldier with a grenade launcher - he'd been sitting in my paint station for months for some reason, so it was nice to get him finished off.

I've also managed to paint a random apocalypse survivor that was hanging around my paints as well, but for some reason I've failed to get a picture of her. 

I also thought I'd already blogged about the tyre barricades and ammo boxes I painted a few months ago, but I can't find any evidence of that - you'll have to take my word for it.

So, I've basically lost track of where I've got to since I've been failing to post here for such a long time, but let's try to figure it out.

*counts on fingers*

*takes off socks*

Right.

I think this is what I've ended up with:

Acquired: 164

Painted: 81

That's... not great. I mainly blame Fortnite - my son got obsessed with it over the summer and I was forced (forced I tell you) to spend most of my free time playing that in order to win him stuff rather than paint things.

Also, I really do want to get better at posting on here (as I said a year ago!). I think I need to come up with a way of taking decent photos at the point when I finish painting, and then get a post up sharpish while I can still remember what I've done. 

Will any of that actually happen? Probably not, but it's good to have goals, or something.

Happy New Year!

More Terminator Business

The ongoing Terminator Genisys: Rise of the Resistance Kickstarter has kept my focus on the Terminator models I already have, and haven't yet painted. It's also kept me keen on playing the existing Terminator Genisys game, and led to a couple of games against Kieron last night.

I wanted to get the HK Gunship I got as a Christmas present onto the table, and I worked out a neat little 500 point list that included this and an infiltrator. This meant that a quick spot of kitbashing was in order, to create this:

Admittedly infiltration would probably be
easier if he kept his skin on.

If nothing else this got a bit more variety out of the resistance models!

We played a couple of games, with varying degrees of getting the rules wrong. It's fair to say that the game gives a good impression of the feel of the films - when you play as Skynet you tend to just push forward blazing away merrily at anything that moves, whereas the resistance player has more of a mad scramble to keep individual machines out of the middle of their lines. It has been a bit random with the scenarios that we've been playing, and we wondered if this is due to the small size of the table we've been using - for one thing, there's not much room to flank or anything so all of the resistance guns tend to be involved.

Still, we haven't tried any of the narrative scenarios in the rulebook yet, so that's still to do.

Anyway, here's a couple of photos...

HK gunship hovers menacingly over the resistance outpost

 

Strategic pointing from a resistance commander leads to victory

Most important of all, the infiltrator adds to my painting total, so here're the absolutely vital numbers...

Painted: 67
Acquired: -6

Pungari Pun Ross

I make no apologies for that title.

I've been back to my side project of "finally dealing with models I received as gifts years ago", and this time I've opted for some Pungari Auxiliaries for my Shaltari Dropzone Commander force.

Forty of the little blighters!

These were a secret santa gift from Kieron a couple of years ago, and they're basically apex gift trolling. They're potentially useful, but they were fiddly to paint, extremely numerous, and I'm actually not certain how valuable they'd be in the game. They are good at searching buildings, but otherwise they cost more, and are easier to kill, than standard Shaltari braves. Well played, Kieron.

As it was sat around near the Pungari, I also painted another Endoskeleton for Terminator Genisys, this time one with twin plasma rifles.

"It doesn't get tired, it doesn't feel pain,
and it absolutely will not stop until you
are dead. Or its ankles break."

This is another worryingly fragile metal model. This time I'm worried that the ankles are going to snap, as it's been leaning alarmingly and I've had to bend it back into shape a couple of times. I'm already contemplating things I could stick to the base as support when it inevitably breaks.

Anyway, robot ankle failure aside, painting an endoskeleton leads me neatly into plugging the Terminator Genisys: Rise of the Resistance Kickstarter that's running right now. It has about a week left to run, so if like me you're weirdly obsessed with Terminator, you can throw some money in that direction.

So, I've painted 41 models to include in a single blog post. That's got to have done good things to my numbers...

Painted: 66
Acquired: -6

Walls and so on

It's still post-apocalypse time here at Matt Towers. I've managed to snare Kieron into playing Terminator Genisys, which drives a need for more terrain, which has led me to more of this stuff.

Things!

I picked up some more of the Crooked Dice scrapwalls and a junk pile at Vapnartak this year. For once, I actually painted things I'd bought within a fairly short timescale, so here we go!

First, the junk pile. Not sure what the big grey thing is, but look, there's some sort of wheel!

Whatever this is a pile of!

A wheel! Some sort of hose!

Then, the walls...

Corrugated iron and things!

Some sort of machinery and possibly a motorcycle chassis!

A big gate and a tyre!

A big red pipe!

As a sort of bonus, I also finished off a plastic survivor that's been standing around in my painting stuff for a very long time.

He's got flip flops, a can and a gun.
I'm not sure if he's doing well.

I made this by chopping up some of the parts on the Wargames Factory survivors sprue that aren't supposed to fit together, as a sort of protest against how inflexible that set is despite the huge number of parts it has. That was several years ago now that I think about it, but I've painted him now!

Right, that went a bit stream-of-consciousness-y. Now here's the numbers!

Acquired: -6
Painted: 25

You'll notice, because of course you've committed the previous numbers to memory, that the acquired number has gone up by two. That's due to free figures I got by going to Chillcon recently. I don't really know what I'm going to do with them, but they go on the pile so there we are...

Right. That's all for now, but I've got more on the way, so watch out for that!

A Brief Endo-counter

I don't care what anyone else thinks, I like that title and I'm pleased with myself for having come up with it.

I've painted a couple more things! I'm still working on post-apocalyptic stuff, so first off, here's a command endoskeleton for Terminator Genisys.

That thing is either for communicating
with Skynet or scanning barcodes.

This is the first of the metal endoskeletons that I've painted, and I'm a bit ambivalent about it. One the one hand, it's a nice sculpt, it definitely looks like the murderous robots from the films. On the other, that attention to detail makes some parts, especially the wrists, are very flimsy - the arm holding the communicator bends very easily and I'm just waiting for it to break. We'll see how this goes on the table.

Second, a counter:

We seem to have a special on beans and cigarettes.

In my mind, this is part of a stockpile after the apocalypse. But it could easily also be part of a shop or something. It's from Ainsty Castings like so many of my resin terrain bits, and it's been sat around for a while so it's good to get it off the pile and potentially into use.

So here are my ever-present numbers:

Acquired: -8
Painted: 21

More Resistance!

Sometimes when I sit down to write a blog post, I have a theme in mind, and something interesting or at least new to say.

This isn't one of those times.

But, I've done a bit more painting, so I'll do a bit more posting! Let's have a look at it then...

Take cover! Get behind the small and flimsy fence section!

Over there! It's a small, flimsy fence section!

Yep, it's some more Terminator resistance fighters, and a single piece of crowd control fence that I had lying around. I'm building up a reasonable pile of these now, so I'm switching my focus to post-apocalyptic terrain to go with them before I try to get some games of Terminator in.

To that end, I picked up a few pieces at Vapnartak recently - so you can look forward to seeing those appear here in due course.

Right then, what's all this done to the incredibly important numbers?

Acquired: -8
Painted: 19

This is going surprisingly well! I'm fairly sure this can't last, but for now I'm not adding to the pile of unpainted things, so that's nice.

Piece of Resistance

The title is a reference to the wrong film. Apologies. If you can think of a better title for this post, I suggest you imagine I'd written that instead.

Anyway! In a similar vein to my previous post about post-apocalyptic barricades, here are some resistance fighters for Terminator Genisys. I picked these partly because I seem to be a in post-apocalypse mood at the moment, but also because I figured I could paint these quickly, get my numbers up, and get closer to having some bigger games of Terminator.

And indeed, these were very quick to paint!

Let's get killed in the future!

So, I've rattled through a dozen of them in about a week, which for me is very very fast. It also occurred to me as I was doing these that apart from the four carrying futuristic (and oddly bulbous, but that does match the film) plasma weapons, these would pass very nicely for some sort of private security or henchmen. I'm sure Kieron will be able to come up with something 7TV related that they could be used for...

In case you're wondering, I did plan to take more photos of these, but Mrs Matt returned from IKEA with the kids as I was posing them, so they were unceremoniously chucked in a box before they could be of interest to preschoolers. This does mean that there's a chance I've broken several of them. Suppose I'll find out the next time I open that box.

Anyway, here's the obligatory numbers that no one but me will care about:

Painted: 117
Acquired: 118

So close! It's a shame I'm going to Partizan in the morning, that's likely to push things in the wrong direction...

Something about Donald Trump

... 'cos it's about walls, geddit?

I've been at the paintbrushes again, and this time I've come up with something different for a change!

These are scrap walls from Crooked Dice Miniatures.

I picked them up at Chillcon earlier this year, thinking they'll be good for general post-apocalyptic shenanigans, including the Terminator game which I've managed a couple of outings with relatively recently.

They're really nice, clean casts, and there's enough detail to make painting them interesting.

Lots of random pieces of scrap, too, which did give me the problem of working out what colour everything should be.

Overall, these have worked out nicely in my humble opinion, and I'm keen as ever to get more terrain available the next time I do something sci-fi or end-of-the-world-ish.

So, once again, let's see the scores...

Painted: 105
Acquired: 118

Small Guns Go For It

I've been quiet here for a while, but in an unusual move I've actually painted more than one or two models - although admittedly they are all pretty small. Let's have a look at my tiny achievements...

First off, some ACW artillery.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! 

We need these for the first battle in a campaign that we started a couple of weeks ago. These are actually Parrott rifles, so would normally qualify for extra range in Black Powder. I suspect they won't have that ability in the campaign game, but it's nice to have these available in any case, since it increases my options for future games.

Next, some casualty markers!

Captions about dead horses. Errr.... something about glue?

These have been sat amongst my painting stuff for months, but needed finishing off, so I finally did that as I was in an ACW mood. My experience of Black Powder is that most of my units take damage (and then I lose) so it's worth having more of these ready.

Speaking of things that needed finishing off...

Legs are overrated!

It's a terminator crawler. This was sat on my desk in need of a base, so adding one lets me finish it and add to my painted tally...


Painted: 45

Aquired: 67

See? 

Things are being painted!

I haven't posted for a while. In my defence, this is mainly because I haven't done anything worth posting about, but I've also just not got around to writing anything.

But I've now turned that around, by both painting some models and also turning up here to tell everyone about it! So prepare yourself, here come some photos.

First up, yet another tiny spaceship for Dropfleet Commander.

A Shaltari frigate! Don't worry, I've done other stuff...

I've been doing almost embarrassingly well at Dropfleet Commander, leading of course to insistent claims from other players that the Shaltari starter fleet is overpowered. Clearly that's nonsense, I'm just a tactical genius.

Next up, terminators!

To the left...

To the right...

And now try it without legs

These are from the basic Terminator Genesys game, so I've got the same to do again (and actually I have one more crawler that needs to go on a base) but these were, as you can probably guess, very easy to paint.

Just need to actually play the game now!

It's all good, so I have to temper that slightly - I did by a staff car from Vapnartak. Pretty restrained, but I did intend to paint it quickly and just didn't.

So, what's happened to the scores?

Painted: 19

Aquired: 67