Reruns: Caveman Attack!

Sort of a sequel to my popular Waiteri Scouts photo (seen here.) This is the whole tribe.

Reruns: D&D

Here are a few of my D&D figures as requested. Also- I think my painting drought is soon to come to an end; Taking pics of my samurai led to me ordering a few more of the zen warriors. Not much -- an ashigaru, a couple samurai, and an ikko ikki monk -- but still enough that might snap me out of this funk.

Reruns: 42mm samurai

As requested, here are my 42mm samurai (by Steve Barber models). I use these to play a "reskinned" Red Sands Blue Sky. For those familiar with the ruleset (by Two Hour Wargames), my samurai version is less of a skirmish and more a a duel. (I do one or two samurai with a couple supporting ashigaru per side.)

Eyecandy reruns

Just so that my blog doesn't get too stale while I'm on a painting hiatus, here are a couple new photos ("eyecandy") of stuff I've painted in the past ("reruns.")

If you want to see new photos of anything you've seen here before, just drop a comment, and I'll take the photos. At least I'll get a touch of photo practice if not painting practice.

Couple more cartoons from my letters

Still no figure painting. I'm more comfortable with it, now, and I think that will actually help me get back into painting later. In the meantime, here are a couple more cartoons from letters I've written. One letter was about my chess prowess (guess how good I am,) and the other letter was about how I've donated 5 gallons worth of blood in the past few years.

Another painting drought

I'm pretty sure the busy weeks at work are killing my drive to paint minis. We've been understaffed since August, working 50-hour weeks (which isn't all bad when you get paid overtime). I'm sure many have worse work-weeks; mine are just busy enough to dampen  my verve to paint minis.
Though, I think the lack of a large project  may also be keeping my drive and inspiration down. But if I start a new project, I need to unload some minis. Probably would be my old Foundry Gladiators, AWI, and maybe my War Rocket fleet (great game, just never took off with my group.)

I've been looking at Trident Design's 40mm Robin Hood stuff, as well as 40mm Flash Gordon from Monolith; it all looks fun to paint. I'm also trying to think about what other custom projects I could put together. Maybe some 54mm post-apoc civilians to push the limits of my sculpting skills (and as spectators for my apocalators)?

I also haven't been playing a lot of minis games lately, so I have to ask myself why I should paint new figures. Maybe I could take something from one of the old collections and throw it all into a vat of Simple Green and start anew? Street Corner does provide a little outlet, letting me add one or two figures at a time. Maybe it's time to add another fruit stand or street vendor? Or more figure conversions? Tramp steamer crew? Personal questions abound, but I simply haven't been in the mood to paint minis, lately.

What have I been doing in the meantime?

I've been keeping artistically occupied. For fun, I've been writing letters to friends and family (actual HAND-written letters; no email, Twitter or Facebook for these communiques). It also allows me a chance to draw/paint something nice (but mostly silly) on the paper (such as Hanslore Krusher from my previous post, or the "flying dog/baby" combo shown here.) But I do paint some nice stuff once in a while. So, I'll try to post a few of those pieces of art at this blog until I get back into the mood for minis; Here are a few to get you started

Hanslor Krusher Day

My friends and I are usually stuck in town for Christmas, so we celebrate Hanslor Krusher Day instead (a name made up by one of my friends.) And I draw a picture of Hanslor and give it to a friend or family member. That is all. We don't do anything special, except maybe go eat at Perkins. HANSLOR KRUSHER!!

New game on Kickstarter

Flashpoint; Fire Rescue will soon be shipping; that was my first venture with becoming a backer on Kickstarter. Such a fantastic way of discovering (and helping to fruition) cottage industry board games.

Anyway, the new game I've backed is called Mutant Meeples. It's much like Ricochet Robots except each meeple (which take the places of the robots) has a special power modifying his movement. Also, once you've reached the target location, you can no longer use the meeple with which you reached the target. This gives players who are behind an advantage to those who are ahead.

There are 8 (supersized) meeples, as well as an expansion adding two new meeples and some tiles to modify the board.

That's the incomplete gist of it; head over to Mutant Meeples' Kickstarter page and check it out for yourselves. (The video is cute, too) : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tedalspach/mutant-meeples

Information at Boardgamegeek (Not a lot there yet): http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/109969/mutant-meeples

Note: Bezier Games (who created Mutant Meeples) didn't pay me for any advertising. In fact, no company I mention ever pays me to solicit for them. I just enjoy posting about things and games I like, or, in this case, new games I think are good to support.

For those who hate their jobs

Sometimes a folk hero emerges to give inspiration to the workers. Thought I'd share some good medicine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A4UGtM4hDQ

Street Corner: Spade

The last figures of the Sleuths pack are done -- Sam Spade and the dog, Milou. There was no conversion work for these two figures, nor was there much I could convert. I'm sure I'll think of something now that they're both painted.

That does it for the Sleuths pack. I actually enjoyed taking this long to paint one pack of figures. It's definitely a lot easier on the wallet. It's also nice to feel unhurried without a ton of packs sitting on the workbench looking at me, waiting for their turn.

I've been thinking of other things I could add to Street Corner -- Lovecraft, Weird Menace, 193X SciFi. I was even thinking to myself a couple nights ago, "What about Post-Apocalyptic, but if the apocalypse happened in 1929?"

These are all just brainstorms and whimsies; I'm sure I'll go back to add a couple small things to the tramp steamer, or maybe make another piece of scenery for the Street Corner itself, before I branch out too far.

Oh, and here's a quick comparison shot of my figures and the originals. When you shop for figures, don't just shop for what you see, shop for what could be possible.

Dressed up like a $2 trouper

I enjoyed this figure; every town, no matter the genre you're painting, needs a bum. This is the last conversion I did from Copplestone's Sleuths pack. Again, it was simply replacing his gun for some other item, which, in this case, is a bottle.

I knew all the colors on this figure would be muted and washed out, so I put him on a base with brick to bring a little color to the whole thing. To wash out (and blend somewhat) the colors even more, I did a light drybrushing of Foundry Rawhide.

That does it for the Sleuth's pack conversions. Sam Spade and the dog still need to be painted.
I actually have a couple other figures on deck ready to go -- (both by Foundry), a little boy and an old west civilian (which will work as an Italian immigrant, I think.)

Dress up like a million dollar trouper

This was an easy conversion: file away the gun, bend down the arm, and add a brass wire cane. Now I have a fellow who's ready to put on the ritz. He also could double as a mob boss dressed for his alibi.

By the way, this was another figure from the Sleuth's pack in Copplestone Casting's Gangsters line.