Fall Terrain Painting Project

 Hasn't been much going on around here, game-wise... trying to wrap up a terrain project that's been going on for FAR TOO LONG - the 1:1 scale endless basement renovation project... It's been a DECADE that we've been chipping away at renovating the house and it feels like we've been in constant upheaval since... First was the roof and upstairs and insulation... then the kitchen... finally the basement, which had some momentum a few years back and then ground to a halt... and then Amanda decided this was the year it was going to be FINISHED!!!

In october it got to the point where drywalling was complete... and that's where I stepped in to do the PAINTING! 

Painting... 

Finished drywall before I got going on it... 

Drywall... 

More Drywall... 

STILL more drywall... 

You get the idea, right...?

Looking into THE BLACK HOLE... basement storage room (which was not renovated). 

Okay.... just about ready to go... 

Not sure why I uploaded so many... 

Now when give and blank wall and paint, the 12-year-old that pilots my brain is always tempted to scrawl rude words and drawings all over the place, but luckily, this time... 

Nope, nevermind, there it is... 

Ugggghhhh... Why am i like this...? 

Hmmmm.... 

Going to need a few coats for that room.... 

Oh, and it wasn't just the ONE room/colour... 

I am nothing, if not inclusive.... If I'm going to go and draw dicks on teh walls, it seems only right.... 

yeah... 

I... Just... 

Anyway.... 

Okay, fun time over.... time to get some actual paint on the walls... 

The hall and what was the kitchen is this lime green... it looks more yellow-ish on my computer screen... it is more lime-grean IRL. 

Hall

Kitchen... or what WAS a kitchen at one point... but is now being referred to as "studio" or "hobby project room"... 

Bathroom. 

Also bathroom. 

Looking from hall into bathroom

apparently one of the minions is moving downstairs... I'm not sure I'm super excited about the idea... but I guess it's a thing. This is their room. 

After I was done with the painting, the contractor was back installing flooring 

... and cabinetry (ikea boxes - I assembled, contractor installed) 

Door on the shower. 

bathroom vanity (again, from ikea - I assembled, contractor installed) 

Things are really moving along fast and it actually feels like... it might ALMOST be OVER!!?!?

Yesterday morning the countertops went in... 

I guess I better get building some drawers and doors!!

Will we ever see and end to it all!? Will the game room actually be accessible BEFORE the end of the year!? WILL WE ACTUALLY START PLAYING GAMES AGAIN!??!?? Amanda assures me all of these things will happen... 

I'm not going to hold my breath, or anything like promise there will be more content on this blog soon... 

I might do some stocktaking and reassessing and maybe it's time to ditch some stuff that I'm never going to get to. 

Game Plan 2023 - Q3

Holy Carp!? How are we already half way through the year!? 

Lets start by looking back at the Q2 Game Plan...

Games

I didn't really have any idea what sort of games I might play for any sort of Quarterly 5x5 Challenge... I did end up getting sort of close to playing five different games, five times! And, despite only playing ONE GAME in June, played over thirty in April and May... 

Here are the games I played this past quarter: 

• One-hour Wargames x5
• Wingspan Asia x4
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Wingspan x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x2
• Tinderblox x2
• Azul x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Cryptid x1
• Imhotep x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Splendor x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

What I've played, so far this year... 

• One-Hour Wargames x20
• Codenames x11
• Wingspan Asia x7
• Splendor x5
• Wingspan x5
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x3
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Tinderblox x2
• Azul x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Cryptid x1
• Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Imhotep x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Terraforming Mars x1
• Terraforming Mars: Prelude x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

Any possibility there might be a 10x10 in there...? Certainly there could be five games I'd play 10 times this year (One Hour Wargames and Codenames I've already done, it would be easy enough to get in five more games of Wingspan, Splendor and Wingspan Asia)... If I actually got going on playing Kill Team and Warcry, it would be easy enough to get in ten games of each of those... but that's only seven. Maybe if I ended up running a role-playing game in the fall and/or another online campaign...? 

Maybe I just need to try and play some games and see what happens.  

Miniatures

I didn't get a tonne painted... and I DID buy a few things... but I don't really see any need for any more purchases in the foreseeable future (Unless I got playing 40K on the regular and decided to pick up a few Harlequins or other Aeldari to fill in holes in 40K armies...) 

Q3 Game Plan

Things are still very much up in the air. The basement renovation still drags on and there is a lot to do before it's going to be finished. Demolition is complete, the last of the plumbing has been upgraded and concreted has been repoured... But things are kid of on hold now, until the end of August, when the contractor we hired to do all the finish work is available. So, I probably won't have full access to the game room or a proper hobby area until Q4...  That will limit what kind of gaming and hobby projects that can be worked on.

Also there are a few vacations being planned for this summer. Amanda and Keiran are heading off to visit Amanda's folks and sister and her family later in the summer. Then Amanda and I are theoretically going off on a vacation of our own afterwards  (as well as maybe a few shorter excursions earlier in the summer...?) 

Still... I would like to get going on some games of Kill Team and Warcry. I'd like to finish up a few of the new kill teams and Gallowdark terrain and a few more skaven for Warcry.

Hopefully we can still play a few board games from time to time. 

Not much of a "plan"... but... It's about the best I can manage right now. 

Hopefully by Q4 I'll be back into the swing of things... 

September Challenge - Part Three

 Whew! Three weeks of this!? 

As with the First and Second weeks, all of the selections from this week are John Blanche illustrations copied from the Black Library book The Emperor's Will - Agents of the Imperium. The original illustrations are © John Blanch and/or Games Workshop/Black Library and my studies  were done purely for my own private entertainment and education purposes and are presented here simply to share with the community a creative thing that I did. They are not now, nor ever will be, for sale. I do not take commissions of any kind. 

Just a reminder I post (most of) these (plus OTHER stuff!) daily on my Instagram as well:

https://www.instagram.com/tim.in.saskatoon/

Wednesday, 16 September 2020

Process - tried going for some darker pieces this week. 

Comparison - I always think I have the dark areas dark enough - sometimes I think they're even TOO dark - and then the watercolours dry (or the paper dries) and it never looks dark enough... 

Ah, well... 

Finished Study

In the process of this renovation, we're finishing the rewiring of the house - ran into this fun bit of craziness - some more modern wiring bodged together with some knob and tube wiring that was tied into two separate breakers and still live? The RETIRED electrician I'm working with on this project says this sort of thing predates his nappy days... He took pictures of it because he was so fascinated to see it put together this way. 

Fun times... 

(It's all fixed now and up to Code!)

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Process

Further Progress

Finished Study

Friday, 18 September 2020

Comparison 

Finished Study

I did actually go out to Art Placement - local gallery/art supply store and treated myself to a few new things to play with. Mostly more of what I've already been using. Moslty reds and browns, as Blanche does seem to like his reds... 

(I also got a few liquid acrylics for some future painting projects) 

Kind of reminds of this meme I saw floating around Facebook a while back:

I don't think anything I buy is QUITE that outrageous... 

It does kind of make me wonder when everyone starts bleating about the price of Games Workshop games... Do they live in a bubble and exist on Kraft Dinner? They've clearly never bought any art supplies... or bicycle parts (like, GOOD bicycle parts) or golf clubs or custom RC car parts or lingerie or real wool for knitting or dance shoes or motor boats or jet skis or gasoline for motorboats or jet skis or ANYTHING else anyone ever spends money on for their other interests or hobbies...? 

Saturday, 19 September 2020

My little painting station - currently in our bedroom as the basement is currently a disaster area in the middle of a never-ending renovation. 

Process

More Process

Finished Study

Saturday I also helped Amanda haul home a new chair she decided we needed. Not sure why we had to pay money for this thing whern there are so many just laying around in the alley for free? 

Saturday evening we made some Traveller Characters for a game my firend Woody is going to run from time to time, while the Wrath & Glory game is on haitus. 

I may also run some one-shots or short campaigns using Fate or Fate Accelerated - as it looks rather fun.

 

Sunday, 20 September 2020

Ugh... Sunday... 

Sunday was a rough day - there were so many distractions and I was just NOT having a good time with this piece. 

Eventually I had to just call it a day. 

Finished Study. 

Monday, 21 September 2020

Sunday's chaos reverberated well into Monday, so I needed something a bit mroe simple and straightforward. 

Finished Study. 

The cause of much of the distress and distraction of the last few days. Amanda decided to pull this wall apart - NOT part of our original plan for the basement renovation... but now it is... It's not as bad as it looks (and it looks a lot better than when she first pulled the panel off... Previous owners had put it up to cover up crumbling plaster - it LOOKED like the whole WALL was crumbling - but after clearing away the plaster it became more clear that the wall itself IS pretty solid... it's just a MESS... and I'm not sure HOW this is going to be dealt with now BEFORE the people coming to do the ceilings are due to arrive in a few weeks...!? Apparently we're just making this shit up as we go instead of sticking to the plan. 

Ugh... 

I almost gave up on the painting project this week. 

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Today... I admitted to myself that there is going to be no painting of miniatures for some time... the renovation has kind of killed that... and what little time I have, I spend on THIS project... so I cleared all those paints off the desk and made a little more room for painting pictures! 

I decided to ignore the basement today and clear my head out and just concentrate on the painting. 

Things are looking a bit better. STILL not sure how the Fü¢k Amanda thinks we're going to get this all done by October and get the heating hooked back up before the basement is freezing... but I'm trying to not worry about it too much... 

Process - Bit of a Diptych today....  

Finished Study 

This evening, Amanda and I got out for a ride with a friend we haven't really seen for a few years. 

Beautifully warm fall evening with lots of colour. 

I need to get out for MORE rides this week - especially while it's still so warm and colourful! 

Fresh air is good. 

Gets me out of the house and away from the basement. 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

September Challenge - Part Four...?

Doesn't seem to me much else going on around here these days...