Planning some actual miniature hobby

 

With the realisation that I'd been too busy to use up my holiday allowance this year, I have the week off. The eBay clear out continues. The unpacking continues. I've got two games of Infinity booked, so we may see a battle report of some kind if I remember to take enough pictures...

But I also really wanted to start getting into getting some miniature assembly done. First up on my to do list is a Halfling Blood Bowl team. With the new edition out, I'm sure there will be some folk interested in getting some games in.

More experienced players of Blood Bowl may be asking where on earth the Treemen are in this picture. Well, I haven't bought any yet! The new rulebook and the team's Treemen will be the reward for getting the rest of the team assembled and ready for paint. I'm not daft enough to try and play Blood Bowl with a Halfling team without any Treemen...

I also could really do with getting my Dungeons and Lasers set off sprue and into a storage box. They're pre-painted, so it's not really an "assembly" job, but it's something that will take time.

As a potential bonus, I found this box of assorted Frostgrave sprues. I may be joining a Pathfinder campaign in the new year, so knocking up an assortment of generic baddies could be a fun little side project.

Now, where are my clippers?

Wizkids Pathfinder Leshy Window Box Set Review

Recently arrived after a bit of a delay is this box of Leshy miniatures for Pathfinder. It's classic Wizkids pre-painted stuff, but at the higher end of that scale. You're getting eight miniatures, which are all based on the book art of the Leshy, a popular PC option in Pathfinder.

The Leshy are spirits inhabiting small plant bodies. With the recent Pathfinder Remaster they moved from an "Uncommon" player option to a "Common" player option, essentially becoming a comparable player option to Humans, Dwarves and Elves. That said, they gain their sustenance from sunlight, with their "rations" being very pricey, so they're not well suited to underground campaigns.

(There's a weird point on this one, where Fungus Leshy are mentioned a living in the Darklands, Pathfinder's Underdark, but the PC Fungus Leshy still need sunlight by the book. Still, this is a weird little side annoyance for me, and not super important.)

Here, left to right, we have a Lotus Leshy, a Seaweed Leshy and a Flytrap Leshy. Flytrap Leshy aren't a specific PC option (though there's a monster stat block), but mechanically they work just fine using the Cactus Leshy options.

The great thing about Leshy, being spirits inhabiting humanoid shaped plant matter is that you can really have a wide range of different themes or vibes.

Next up we have the Gourd Leshy, the Sunflower Leshy and the Fruit Leshy. Sunflower Leshy are another "monster option" that fits into other character classes just fine.

The paint jobs on these models are at the higher end of the Wizkids pre-painted scale, and really quite fancy. They've gone with brighter colours, which suits the general feel of Leshy in general, but there's a couple of spots, such as on the Gourd Leshy, where a little more shading would have probably brought them up an extra notch.

Finally, we have a Cactus Leshy and a Fungus Leshy. They're all very distinct with individual silhouettes so easy to tell which is which. All the sculpts are oozing character.

Leshy are small in the rules, and here you can see one being a little shorter than an Aenor goblin who was what I had around to compare them to.

The recent NPC Core book introduced an NPC profile for a "Gourd Witch", which is a pumpkin headed Leshy with a witches hat and witch spells. I'm only shocked I hadn't thought of it myself before now.

As a few Leshy face off against some marauding goblins - would I recommend buying this box? It is really pricey for what it is, but the quality is at the top end of what Wizkids do. For me, it was a must buy because getting the 'official sculpts' and not adding to my painting queue was an easy choice. There aren't many other good options for small plant folk right now outside of 3D printing. It's not going to be everyone's aesthetic, but if you've got the budget as a Pathfinder GM who uses miniatures, I'd recommend them.

Aenor Goblins Finished

 

I finally finished the goblins by Aenor Miniatures that have been stuck on my desk forever. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out, and a bit annoyed that the passage of time has meant I forgot a few bits of how I did them, which meant when bits needed fixing due to overpaint, I struggled to get the right colour match.

This does remind me that I really need to work on getting half done bits and pieces finished before I move house. Not just because half finished projects are harder to move and you're more likely to miss things, but the delightful feeling of Just Finishing Things is probably going to be needed for morale purposes in the run up to the move.

I still need to finish up the new Conquest Druids, but the new item for the paint table is this Dwarf from Otherworld Miniatures. She's going to serve duty as a Templar in my Frostgrave warband, so I need to get her painted up before my next game.

Hedge Witches, Goblins, and a Plinth

 

This week, I finished up the Hedge Witches from Conquest Games. They were a good couple of miniatures to get my vibe back for painting. They're good options for Frostgrave, too.

I've also been plugging on with the Aenor Miniatures goblins. I got started on them ages ago with a sepia wash over off white, and they've been sitting for absolutely ages. I was very pleased with how a little drybrush really brought out the details on the cloak.

Three of the five are now finished and waiting for photography. I'm going to finish the last two before I count them all as "done". I'm also pondering the Steel Legion Drab base rim - maybe I should change it to black?

My big purchase that arrived this week was this 5" x 5" plinth from Fenris Games. I've picked it up for miniature photography so I've got an alternative way of raising miniatures up to the hills I'm currently using. It'll need washing and cleaning up before I get started on painting it, but I'm going to finish a few bits and pieces first.

End of month check in, and Marching forward

 

February has been really busy. I went to Tinbot III in Norwich, I've been busy having a clear out on eBay, I played a bunch of games at the club again, and my work was really rather busy as well. That did mean I didn't get quite as much painted as I'd have liked, but it was still a good month for hobby all told.

I got Dukash painted early in the month for the tournament, and he did well in one of the games I played him in..

The Tiefling Warlock also let me experiment with a possible Morat red skintone, but while I liked this one for the Tiefling it's not what I'm looking for for my Morats, so I'll try something else on another model until I work out what I'm looking for.

I had a bit of a painting stall for a couple of weeks after that. A mix of being exhausted after work, spending more time playing games, and prioritising getting stuff listed on eBay to sell over painting meant I didn't get anything else finished. This is fine. It's about priorities, and things being out of the flat before we move is more important than a few extra miniatures getting painted.

That said, the goal for March is to finish my half finished jobs - both these part painted models, but also finishing those half assembled Exrah that I abandoned out of frustration a while back. Which I definitely need to space out given . . . you know, that giving up in frustration issue I mentioned.

I also got in my first ever game of Frostgrave, which I'll write up on the blog later. It's a fun, swingy game that I really enjoyed. I think it's too random to try and make it competitive, which helps keep the pressure off.

I also picked up the John Blanche paint sets from Army Painter at the end of the month which I'm planning on using in some projects in the future. I'm pondering doing my Imperial Agents in a limited palette scheme using these paints but I'll need to do some test models to decide if that's the right call or not.

Overcoming brain weasels and finding joy

It has been a bit of a rotten week, and I'd stalled out a bit on painting. I've been working on my plans for 10th edition Astra Militarum, plus considering paint schemes for my Nomads and Bretonnians. I'm also really keen to get the Aenor Goblins that have been my Cursed Side Project for too long now.

I was getting to feel like I had a lot of painting I should be doing, and that was making it feel like a chore. So, one evening I grabbed some miniatures I wasn't at all invested in and just threw some contrast on them.

This Conquest Games Hedge Witch ended up being the one I got the furthest into. If you look closely there's a few spots I've missed on the base coats, but it's not far off getting finished up. It'll probably be one short paint session to finish her up.

I got in my Infinity campaign game for this round, playing a 250 point custom mission with my Shasvastii, and trying out some profiles for the new edition. More on that later.

I've also had a couple of arrivals in the post, too. First up are these miniatures from Black Magic Craft. They're produced in short runs, so when I saw a post mentioning they were available, I couldn't resist.

I also had this Bad Squiddo Pulp Heroines Kickstarter arrive. It's a nice, small set of six figures. I was thinking I didn't have much to use them for, but Annie has done a partnership with Forbidden Psalm to have free rules to use them in Last War or Endless Horrors from Between the Stars. That suddenly makes them a nice quick project with a purpose, which is quite exciting. I'm sort of day dreaming about how to base them, which is probably a good sign.

Tiefling Warlock and Combined Army Agent Dukash

 

In last week's update I mentioned I'd finished a couple of figures but hadn't had time to take fancy photos. Well, here's the fancy photos! I feel like I'm definitely getting the hang of this photography business.

First up is Agent Dukash, another Shasvastii for Infinity. In N5 he's now a Parachutist (Deployment Zone), and is pretty fighty. He's a hefty chunk of points, though, so he's not going to taken all that often. He's been very hit and miss for me so far, though I'm not sure if that's because he's very hit and miss, or just that it's a skill issue on my part.

Meanwhile, I also painted a Tiefling Warlock. This is a Frameworks miniature, and it's painted up really well. When I first got these models, I thought the details were a little soft, but I've been pleasantly surprised how it painted up. There's still a few areas of meh detail, but they aren't in areas you'll focus on.

To get this miniature done quickly, I painted it with contrast to start with, then gave it an Agrax Earthshade wash. Once this was dry, I drybrushed it with Karak Stone before picking up a few details, mostly with the skin. If I was doing this again, I might pick a couple of block colours to drybrush a more specific colour on, and other areas where I don't drybrush at all and use manual brush highlights.

I'm not sure if that's going to add a lot of time onto painting a model like this but I suspect it won't add much time on but will look much better. I'll give it a go in a future model and report back.

The end of eternal January

 

Well, I'm done with January. And also January is over. I had a pretty productive hobby month, finishing up a few models that have been on my paint table for a good while. This Lyran lance means I've definitely got enough models to try Battletech when I'm inspired to.

I am a little behind on "buy less than I paint" right now, down to a Made to Order box of Blood Bowl Halflings and Blue Giant Studios ending a few product lines. But six painted, twelve bought isn't too catastrophic, and is easily recoverable. If I can finish Agent Dukash and the goblins I've had on and off my desk for a whole age, I'll be back to neutral.

Getting back into painting Infinity was pretty darned great. Getting Oktavia painted and playing a game with her was a really positive vibe. There's a small amount of stress to be painting miniatures that I'm likely to use soon, which I'm not liking and will likely avoid in future. I've got an Infinity tournament next weekend that I'm currently planning on playing Combined Army at. I'm starting to consider shifting to playing one of my mercenary factions for a while until I've got the core of Combined Army painted up to take the pressure off.

I also managed in the last week to get another quick pass of undercoating done. The Anathematic, Rindak and Dartok are now ready for painting. I'm not sure what I'm going to pick up and paint next - I'm thinking I want to get a bit of volume painted, so I really need to go with what's enthusing me in the moment.

I also got back to HATE at its new venue, which I really like. It's a little harder for me to get to and needs a little more planning to reach. But I've had a couple of games there now, and I'm looking forward to more. I've also missed being able to get food at the venue, and have appreciated being able to get dinner there.

The Old World campaign day was also a great success. It confirmed to me that I like the Old World game, and that the effort to put my miniatures together and paint them won't be a waste. I'm not going to be doing quite as many events this year, but this and the upcoming Infinity tournament in February is a nice start to the year while I have the time.

A pilot, a rogue, some unexpected weather and behind the scenes footage

 

I managed to get Oktavia Grimsdottir finished up for my first game at the club slow grow. She's a human pilot who works for Aida Swanson the Shasvastii smuggler. It was a little bit of a challenge to come up with colours that fitted my Shasvastii scheme, but by painting her jacket the colour I use for their tech, and her hair the colour I use for their guns, there's enough visual clues to tie her in.

I also finished the elf rogue by Strata Miniatures. This is from their "Dungeons and Diversity" range of a bunch of traditional fantasy heroes in wheelchairs. If you want to run a character in a wheelchair, there's homebrew rules available for a combat wheelchair for D&D, while Pathfinder 2e remastered has equipment rules for wheelchairs in the Player Core book.

I will need to get a bit of a shuffle on with painting. Blue Giant Studios was ending a few lines of minis and having a sale, which meant a few bits and pieces of those turned up. I also ordered the Blood Bowl "Made to Order" Halflings, which turned up within a week rather than 180 days later, which is inconvenient for getting ahead of my painting numbers. With the "Made to Order" for the Empire Wagon just announced, I'm looking a little nervously at the paint desk.

While Storm Eowyn meant I was mostly expecting the weather to be absolutely awful, I woke up Sunday to calm, sunny skies, and rushed to find everything I've been putting off undercoating over the winter. This was definitely the right move as it turned absolutely miserable on the Sunday, and I'd have got nothing done.

Two Daturazi Witch Soldiers and Bit and Kiss now have their zenithal finished and are ready to paint. These are pretty staple picks for Vanilla Combined Army, especially the Daturazi. They're not going straight onto the paint table just yet, as I've got a tournament in early February. I use contrast a lot in my Combined scheme, and I worry about it rubbing off if I take a half finished model that hasn't been varnished to a game...

Meanwhile, I've also finished fishing out an assortment of minis I've painted over the past few years to use for Frostgrave, written a list and picked my wizards spells. That will be a future blog post, and while I was taking photos of this week's completed miniatures, I took a few glamour shots of them too. I still want to play with my lighting set up a little more - I'm not 100% happy with it - but I do feel that my miniature photography has been improving of late.

Review of 2024

 

It's been a bit of a weird year, all told. Work got catastrophically stressful, I got into a TCG, and looking back at things that happened in the first half of the year feels like some kind of weird other-time where things happened to someone else.

As far as "goals for the year" went, everything kind of fizzled out. Some large Kickstarters are the bulk of the miniatures that came in. There's a few limited releases or things that were going out of production, with a bit of a slip when Imperial Agents came out.

That said, I did manage to tidy the hobby room sufficiently that my dearly beloved has a table of her own in it, so it's not a complete wash.

I managed to run a D&D game in person for some friends, which was excellent fun. One of my long term ambitions is to run a long campaign in person with miniatures and maps, but that isn't something I'm aiming to do in 2025.

I made it back to Salute, which I mostly loved for seeing a bunch of friends who run small wargaming businesses. A trade show when you're trying not to add to piles of unpainted miniatures is a bit difficult to work out how to approach.

I also made the trip to UK Games Expo. It was a lot, but I had an amazing amount of fun. I found new games, like the card game Flesh and Blood. I got some Pathfinder Society games in so I got to play rather than be a forever DM. I would go again, but I probably won't in 2025, as I have a lot of other commitments then already.

I did successfully get some games of the new edition of 40K in - both with my Deathwatch, and signing up for a small narrative campaign with my Imperial Guard. It's been great fun, despite losing all but one of my games.

A got a cheeky game of Malifaux in. Not much to say about it beyond that I did play it, and I want to get my crew painted!

I also got my first ever game of Age of Sigmar in. This is something where I'm keen to try out Skaven, but that's a painting project away from happening...

Infinity has been a bit slower than previous years, but there's still been a whole bunch of it - I've done a few tournaments and a league, but the announcement and then the delay of the new edition, N5, sort of took the wind out of the sails a bit. The new edition has engaged a lot of keen, though, so I expect that to course correct shortly... That said, I did get games of three other systems in instead, so I think it's just a question of balance.

My local club, Hackney Area Tabletop Enthusiasts (or HATE) has sadly had to move venue after the closure of Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. It's now running in a new venue that I haven't made the journey to yet.

When I sat down to write this I was thinking I hadn't gotten a lot done. It turns out, I have - but it's been going out and doing things rather than sitting down and painting miniatures. The review has been really helpful in a way, because it's helped me realise I've had a productive, positive year. Among a bunch of stress and distractions, looking back at the positives helps put me in a good mindset for the coming year.