Follow-up on mini painting priorities
Back in November I revamped my hobby priorities. No more hoarding unassembled models… So now, six months later, I have a bunch of assembled, unpainted models. Which, I actually feel better about that a bunch of stuff still in the box. I can touch and see them, even throw them into a game if I want (sure, that doesn’t happen much, unpainted minis! Eww!). Since I just finished painting everything (except for a few expansion stragglers) for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower, I don’t have any really pressing hobby demands. So here’s my updated, current priority list: Games workshop display pieces I have a number of nice GW minis that aren’t necessarily ones I’d use in a game. They are however, very cool, in my opinion. These are the minis I’d be sad if I never painted, even if they’re not particularly “useful”. Gotrek, Felix, Grombrindal, and Jakkob Bugmansson XI. Double…
Scotland Forever
I was extremely fortunate to have spent the last two weeks in beautiful sunny Scotland. I’m not even joking, it was sunny while I was there. It rarely rained and even if it had, it still would have been a great trip. While in Edinburgh, I stopped in the Warhammer store on Castle St. and picked up a Sloppity Bilepiper and the 2025 Black Library Celebration. So far, the highlight is “The One Road” by David Guymer. As a collector of all things Gotrek, I was really happy to see that story in there. It was a quick, fun read, though Gotrek factored in as only a minor character. The short story bridges into Verminslayer, that I haven’t checked out yet, as it still has limited availability. I wanted to hit an independent game store while I was there, but the timing didn’t work out. As much as I like…
Reevaluating Silver Tower Painting Effort
OK, so I may have underestimated the painting difficulty of the Silver Tower minis. Long story short: Having fun, but taking longer than expected. Rigor Ranking explained The number of miniatures tells you something, but not the whole story. So I went through and graded the miniatures based on the perceived rigor necessary to paint. Here’s my grading scheme: The updated table below shows Silver Tower jumping from a weighted average of 2.0 to 2.5. Quite a leap. Right up there with Blackstone Fortress. Here’s the updated details: Description Quantity Original Rigor Adjusted Rigor Chaos Familiar 8 1 2 Grot Scuttling 8 1 3 Kairic Acolyte 8 3 3 Tzaangor 6 3 3 Blue Horror 4 2 2 Brimstone Horror 4 1 1 Pink Horror 2 2 3 Skaven Deathrunner 2 2 3 Darkoath Chieftain 1 3 3 Excelsior Warpriest 1 3 3 Fyreslayer Doomseeker 1 3 3 Gaunt Summoner…
Da Red Gobbo
Not only did I print the cards for A Most Un-Silent Night, we got it on the table! Right at the end of the holiday season! There may have been some rule bending (breaking) to get us across the silly finish line. Not much paint on these minis, but we got a game in. I even whipped up some Gnawty Snufflers to have in the game. Pretty fun and even a bit stressful! Those reinforcements keep pouring in. Relentless! Here was my first look at it, last year: https://cutandassemble.com/a-most-un-silent-night
Gorechosen Schemes
I’ve been on a bit of a Gorechosen/Combat Arena kick lately, and just started painting the models. Here are some great paint schemes. I need to pick a basing scheme too. I don’t plan to go all-out like some of these painters, they’ve outdone themselves! The Khorne models are a bit “samey”, but these painters have done a great job of differentiating the minis. I especially like the blue Skulltaker by Next Level Painting. It’s a little funny that even some of the newest things in my collection are a bit old now.
Painting Silver Tower
I just finished nine models for Gorechosen and I’m already looking at the next project. Next up is painting the minis for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower and I wanted to estimate how tough it’ll be. The number of miniatures tells you something, but not the whole story. So I went through and graded the miniatures based on the perceived rigor necessary to paint. Here’s my grading scheme: I’ve already painted Blackstone Fortress and Cursed City, and I agree with my method. Cursed City minis were somewhat more demanding than the Blackstone models. Shadows Over Hammerhal doesn’t have as many figures, but they’re all either quite detailed or are heroes. I like painting, but I also like having models painted, so I’m heartened that Silver Tower doesn’t look as arduous (fun, but arduous) as some of the other sets. Everything is primed and ready go, about half have a base color…
Finally finished: Aekold Helbrass
Big thanks to biggeek at cmon for an inspirational scheme. I honestly had a hard time “reading” this mini. There’s so much going on that the 14 year old me left it behind and moved on. Really happy with how this one turned out.
Sellers Remorse
I tend to be careful with what I buy so I don’t often sell a ton of stuff. I had bought some Blood Bowl teams to use in Blitz Bowl. Each Blitz Bowl team is essentially half a Blood Bowl team. So I sold them. I sold them without looking at Blitz Bowl 3rd edition. Bonehead move. A goblin team in 3rd Edition is 6 goblins and a troll. So all I would have needed was a cool troll model for a complete team! Ugh! So I thought it was funny that the half skaven half goblin team only came with 6 goblins. A goblin team in 2nd Edition Blitz Bowl is 8 goblins. Then I thought, maybe I’ll just collect a vintage goblin team. *Checks eBay prices* Yeah, maybe not. I don’t want to spend $15 per gobo for a team I might play once or twice. I’ll probably…
New priorities
I’m trying out a new hobby priority: No More Unassembled Models! My M.O. has been: I’m thinking about cutting out a lot of middle and get models ready to paint or play more quickly. I’m not sure how much value there is for me to have unassembled models that I can’t do anything with except hoard like dragon treasure. In fact, maybe that’s what I’ll call pre-usable models. Dragon Treasure. A dragon can’t spend gold, drink out of jeweled goblets, or wear filigreed armor. And I can’t play a game with models on sprue, or unbased lead. So I kicked it off without really thinking about it this past October. I had two spooky unassembled Blitz Bowl teams that, checks-watch, I’ve had for years! Time is literally flying. I asked myself: do I assemble both now or save one for next year? In my generally morbid mindset, I replied: What…
Pros & Cons of resin printing at home
Sometimes I feel conflicted about resin printing. It’s great being able to self-manufacture almost anything you want rapidly. I needed piles of skulls to add to a 3d rendition of the Hall of Death from the Catacombs of Terror. I just cranked them out. I still have a whole bag of skulls for more projects The convenience has a cost; it’s kind of a hassle. It’s smelly, it’s sticky, if you want truly custom models you have to spend lots of time on the computer. But there’s so much to print. Practically infinite amounts of really decent models and fun terrain/accessories. As nice as downloadable models are, they lack some of the magic of a physical product. Especially one bought from a real store. It’s fun to browse, talk to a real person, and look at packaging. Though, some of that magic is fading. And as much as I love…