October - Act Two

The (Canadian) Thanksgiving Long Weekend wasn't anything special this year. I only went over to my folks on the Sunday to help them prepare for moving later in the week. On the Tuesday, I was over at their place again to help start with the moving - as the new place was available a couple days early. Just as we were leaving to get a second load I crushed the tip of my left middle finger between the sections of a steel overhead door as it closed... and that pretty much ended the usefulness of me for the rest of this move. Lucikly my folks had a BUNCH of friends that were willing to help out and my sister and they'd hired professional movers for the bulk of it (the loads we took over were mostly fragile things they didn't trust to the movers!). 

I apologize to anyone that left comments on the last few posts that I didn't respond to. I do appreciate all the comments, and would have liked to respond to them - especially those on the last one - but typing has been... challenging... So, there will likely be minimal commentary with this post as well. 

On the holiday Monday, Amanda and I got in a game of Century: Golem Edition - Eastern Mountains. My concern about her catching on and me never winning again was, perhaps a bit... presumptuous..? I won 85-73 and that's AFTER we realized over halfway through the game that Amanda was only paying one gem to place a trading post on locations where I already had one (you're supposed to pay TWO gems, in a two-player game). 

Saturday was Role-Playing Game night which EVERYONE BUT CHRIS bailed on at the last minute. So I recruited Finnegan, once again, to finish off the short Fate Accelerated game I'd started the week before. 

This week we made use of maps and tokens I'd drawn and uploaded to Roll20

You can see better pictures of all the original illustrations over on the ART BLOG

Last night Amanda and I played a quick game of Azul. I was surprised to discover we haven't played this since June - we played it a LOT in the spring after Amanda got it for her birthday, and then... sort of just stopped. 

I have been keeping up with the drawing, but the recent work is all posted over on the Art Blog. Likewise, some bicycle riding has happened... despite difficulties with crushed finger... there is a brief report of rides over on the Bike Blog... 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

October - Act Three - the last eleven days of October 2020... 

Game Plan 2020 - Q4 Plans

 ""PLAN"!? AIN'T NO 'PLAN"!"

Wow... and entire quarter slipped by and... well, it slipped by and now we're well into Q4 and... I have no plan... 

Looking back at the Game Plan 2020 - Q3 Plan I had planned to play:

1. Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress x5
2. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Wrath & Glory x5
3. #New40K x5
4. OTHER GW/40K games (Necromunda, Kill Team, Aeronautica Imperialis) x5
5. (Some other To Be Determined Board Game?) x5

What I DID actually play was: 

• Warhammer 40,000 (Eighth Edition) x8
• Warhammer 40,000 (Ninth Edition) x8
• Wrath & Glory x7
• The Big Bang Theory: The Party Game x3
• Sidereal Confluence: Remastered Edition x3
• Terraforming Mars x2
• Abyss x1
• Battlefleet Gothic x1
• The Castles of Burgundy x1
• Century: Golem Edition x1
• Dogs x1
• Monarch x1
• Mouse Guard Roleplaying Game x1 
• Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Star Trek: Five-Year Mission x1
• Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition) x1

so... 

Succeeded in playing BOTH editions of 40K MORE than five times each... and I played Wrath & Glory MORE than five times... I did NOT manage to play a mix of "other 40K" games five times - though I DID get in a game of Battlefleet Gothic, which was pretty cool! I also didn't get in five plays of any one other game. Though there were a few games we played two or three times each, and, in total, I played more than FORTY games throughout the Quarter. So... I'd call it a relative success. 

For painting... I'd had plans to paint; Blackstone Fortress stuff, Some more Chaos Space Marines, finishing up some Grey Knights, MOAR Daemons (so many Daemons!), some stuff for Finnegan (Death Watch and T'au), that Knight that's almost done... and a bunch more stuff... 

I didn't get a LOT of that done... I did get a few things done... 

28mm

• 12x Death Guard (Plague Marines and Terminator Lord)
• 4x Inquisitorial Stormtroopers
• 1x Genestealer Cult Sanctus (for Finnegan)
• 1x Genestealer Cult Kellermorph (for Finnegan) 
• 1x Kroot Shaper (for Finnegan)
• 3x Inquisitors (including one for Finnegan)
• 7x Deathwatch Veterans (for Finnegan)
• 1x Daemonette
• 13x Flesh Hounds
• 6x Grey Knights
• 5x Seekers of Slaansesh
• 2x Chaos Space Marine Obliterators

Battlefleet Gothic 

• 2xChaos Cruisers 
• 3x Imperial Escorts
• 22x Assorted Ordnance (Fighters/Bombers/Torpedoes)
• 1x Planet

Assorted Terrain

• 8x Assorted Wall of Martyrs bits (trench, 3 emplacements, 4 end bits)
• 2x Small Sector Imperialis Ruin bits
• 4x Chaos Monoliths
• 2x Daemon World Rocky Outcroppings
• 3x MORE Daemon World Rocky Outcroppings
• 1x 4'x4' Game Board

But all of that was done in July and early August... I've done NOTHING in the last month and a half. 

Q4 PLAN

Well... what to do for the rest of the year. 

Honestly, at this point, I just don't know. 

I'm feeling pretty despondent.

October - Act One

 After finishing up my September Painting-From-the-Masters Challenge, I took a few days off to figure out what the hell I was going to do next... and... I still don't know what I'm doing. One thing I know I'm NOT doing is painting any miniatures.... 

I was really hoping to carry on with Art-Making in October and add in some more regular bike-riding. 

I didn't do much of anything on the first... 

Friday, 2 October 2020

I did get out for a ride with this guy. We popped by the Dragon's Den and I picked up Century: Golem Edition - Eastern Mountains. 

Saturday, 3 October 2020

Got this one to her tap class - and went for a bit of a ride while she was in class. 

IN the evening, I ran a one-shot of Fate Accelerated - just to try it out. The adventure was called: Dude, Where's my WARHORSE!? Only two of the regular Saturday crew were able to make it out, so Finnegan joined in. It was a riot. Mistakes were made, but I'm really looking forward to trying this system again. 

Sunday, 4 October 2020 

I didn't go for a ride. 

I didn't draw or paint anything.

Amanda and I DID try out Century: Golem Edition - Eastern Mountains. I know I tried out the original non-Golem version a while back and wasn't overwhelmed by it... but it was fun and different enough from the original Century: Golem... but had some of the same ideas... 

I just trashed Amanda - she just couldn't wrap her head around it. I think I had 88 to her 60...? 

Monday, 5 October 2020 

I did draw a self-portrait on Monday. Self-Portraits are hard. Especially when tryiing to do it in front of the bathroom mirror. I wasn't happy at all with it. There is no way I'm sharing that hot mess here. 

I did get out for a bike ride though. There's a whole post about that over on the Bike Blog:

Monday Afternoon Ride

Tuesday, 6 October 2020 

Had another couple of goes at self-portraiture. Man, self-portraits are hard. Portraits in general are hard. Well... y'know.... portraits that actually LOOK like the person you're trying to draw. The portraits weren't  really for any vanity reasons, more because I wanted to try a portrait of an actual person and it's always disappointing for all involved when you try to draw someone else and it looks NOTHING like them... or... only looks slightly more like them than a potato. 

This one I was the least disappointed with - as it was the one where I least looked like a potato. Well, a regular potato. I do kind of look like a mutant potato. But maybe I should think of this as a success as I kind of look like a mutant potato in real life...

In the late afternoon/early evening I went out for a ride. 

When I got back, Amanda and I played another game of Century: Golem Edition - Eastern Mountains. I think she's kind of caught on. Despite a slow start and doing some wildly inefficient moves and going on about how she has no idea what she's doing, SHE's the one that ended the game by collecting a fourth victory toke (one turn before I would have!). I still won, but the margin was much narrower - 77-71. I think my days of winning this game are limited. Probably to two. The two we've already played.

Afterwards, I kind of stayed up CrAzY late and did this... back to the 40K theme... sort of... 

Wednesday, 7 October 2020 

I did get out for an hour or riding... but no pics

So... like... six months ago when all the COOL kids were doing this "Six Fan Arts" thingie (drawing six pictures of characters you are a fan of), I thought I'd jump in on that action and asked friends and followers on a few different social media platforms for suggestions, and my friend Orion suggested I draw Leman Russ - Primarch of the Space Wolves.... or... at least I HOPE he meant the Primarch and NOT the Astra Miliatrum tank named after him... boy will I feel silly if he meant the latter... Anyway, I never got around to doing ANY of the suggestions... until now...

Thursday, 8 October 2020 

I got out for two rides on Thursday. One was in the morning, to get to an appointment, and the second was in the afternoon... just for fun... and to do some sketching. 

Watercolour pnecils and Pentel brush pens, mostly. I did't eh wet brush work when I got home, as I'd not taken a brush when I went out with me. 

Friday, 9 October 2020 

Still all over the place. Back to portraits. This one was for my good friend Woody. He'd asked that I do a picture of Roy Batty from Bladerunner (back when I was asking for suggestions for the #sixfanarts thing... that I never did...) 

In the evening, Amanda and I walked over to our friend Kurtis' and played a few of the Century games from Plan B Games. 

First we tried out Century: The New World - the third installation in the original series. 

There were some familar bits - managing and trading resources - though this time the yellow, red green and brown cubes represented corn, meat, tobacco and furs, respectively! There are a lot of new elements - some worker placement and set collection - so many moving parts!? It was a bit overwhleming!? 

I dominated the first game by getting ALL THE WORKERS out as fast as I could. 

In the second game, Kurtis and Amanda tried to emulate the strategy I'd played in teh first, somewhat, while I concentrated on other things... the scores were almost identical!? 

Next we played Century: Golem Edition - Eastern Mountains - the second in the Golem series of games. 

I don't know what THEY Were doing with their turns, but when I ended the game, taking my fourth victory tile, I think they, collectively, had three between them (one had one, the other two...?) 

For the fourth game of the evening, we went all the way back to the original Century - Spice Road. Amanda won this one - proving that I do not ALWAYS win! Kurtis and I were about 10 points behind her...? She had 80-something and Kurtis had 73 and i had 72 - there, I wasn't even in SECOND place! 

Saturday, 10 October 2020 

I got out for a quick ride in the afternoon. I had started a drawing - a MAP for the adventure I was planning to run in the evening... but I didn't quite get it done in time... as it turns out, it wasn't really NECESSARY?! Maybe I'll finish it up for next week, though, as the one-shot I'd planned turned into a bit of a 1+1 shot... 

Originally, Woody was supposed to kick off his Traveller game this week, but had apparently forgotten he was on parent duty as his wife was heading out somewhere. Jon and Randy also couldn't make it so Finnegan Joined Chris and Christian for another game of Fate Accelerated. 

This one took place about 100 years or so in the future. Humans have spread out throughout the Solar System and have far more efficient drives - so it doesn't take years to get from planet to planet. The players were members of the United Nations Space Security Directorate - part of a Special Operations Recovery Team (SORT). A Manned mining station on one of Saturns moons went offline and as they were the nearest SORT, they were tasked with investigating. 

Hijinks ensued. 

As we spent MUCH of the time going over the rules again and trying to figure out character generation, we totally called it a night after 4.5 hours (which was midnight in Christian's time-zone, 10pm for the rest of us) and said we'd finish it off next week - or maybe some other week Woody isn't available. 

Anyway, that's it for the first third of October. I've taken to posting on the Art Blog and Bike Blog again, so I may just post THAT sort of stuff there and just go back to posting games and minsituare here... which, will likely be few enough in these strange and troubled times of RENOVATING DURING A PANDEMIC!? 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

October - ACT TWO - just the games... maybe... 

Well Now What...?

 Well... it's October, now... 

First of all... I did finish up Day Thirty's picture for the September challenge. 

On the first of October, I did finish the inks on this one.

Comparison Pic - with the original I was working from. 

Day Thirty (a couple of days late) - Finished Study

This was a fun project. I did art. I learned a lot.

I feel like I want to keep going - the plan was to continue with... some other kind of "challenge" through October, but THE PLAN for such has always been a rather nebulous "I'll do a thing in October too" sort of deal rather than any kind of concrete plan... Unfortunately we're two days in, now, and I still have no REAL plan and I am, by NO accounts, a quick decision-maker! Also I HATE making a plan for a thing in the middle of the thing. 

This "September Challenge" took some thinking about and mental preparation... and... our renovation has gone completely sideways (Amanda completely CHANGING plans for a thing in the middle of doing the thing!?)... and now my folks are moving (hey - anyone looking for a nice two-bedroom condo in the Broadway area of Saskatoon?)... 

I may take a break... 

I may HAVE to take a break... 

I'm always a little worried that, once I got a ball rolling, taking a break might mean I lose the momentum and drop everything completely....

(Sort of like what I feel like I've done with MINIATURE painting and gaming!?) 

Soooo... What next? What do I do if I DO do a thing? As I mentioned, I HAD planned to keep the momentum going and doing something LIKE Inktober - maybe not SPECIFICALLY Inktober, though (because I don't really care for the prompt list) - partly this was to keep the art happening, partly to join in a community thing (I've had a few friends on Facebook that have done Inktober over the years), and partly because Ink could just be black and white and a would be a bit of a break from all the colouring I've done this last month.... (which is time-consuming)

ONE idea I had was to continue with the "Studying from the Masters" idea and do MACtober... (or Macualtober...) and do a drawing a day from one of my many books by David Macaulay (I have others, these were the quickest and easiest to find for the photo). I have LOVED DAvid MAcaulay's work since I was a wee lad. I can't remember how many times I checked Castle out from various libraries over the years of my youth. I've spent HUNDREDS of hours pouring over all those beautiful, precisely rendered illustrations!

Although... over the last month, I've really had FUN working with colour!? I went out and treated myself ( a couple times over the last week or so - to take advantage of the Art Placement 25% off sale!?) to a BUNCH more watercolour pencils and markers and even some fancy strathmore Media paper to do some "proper" work on!

And then there are these - I've been building and prepping all these boards over the last month as part of some nebulous plan to MAKE PAINTINGS HAPPEN! 

My daughter has jumped in on Faetober - a drawing of some sort of faerie creature every day for the month of October... maybe I should just join her... 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Ummmmm... 

I guess we shall see... 

September Challenge - Part The Last

 As with the LAST THREE WEEKS, I've been "studying from the masters" - reproducing the works of John Blanche from a Black Library art book I have called The Emperor's Will. 

The original illustrations are, of course, © 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, 23 September 2020

Wednesday's completed study. 

Thursday, 24 September 2020

I started on this one on Thursday, but didn't quite get it done. 

Friday, 25 September 2020

I finished it up on Friday... and HAD planned on doing another one... but then life happened some more and it just didn't work out. So I didn't end up doing a drawing a day - unless this diptych counts as two...? 

Saturday, 26 September 2020

Comparison 

Finished Study

Sunday, 27 September 2020

Sunday I had to head over to my folks to start helping them pack up as they're moving midway through October. 

I did get started on my drawing before heading over there at noon. 

Finished things off in the evening after I got home. 

Finished Study.

Monday, 28 September 2020

Got out for a ride on Monday. Like, a ride for FUN, not just to get some place... 

Nice and cool. Pretty colours everywhere. 

I took a LOT of photos - to many to slip into this post, and FAR to many to post on Instagram, so I dumped them all in a post over on the Bike Blog

Despite plans to do something a bit more challenging - as I, in theory, had a pretty free day... I didn't get started on this until a bit later.... like, a LOT later... than I'd expected. 

This is where I was at when Amanda called it a night and went off to bed. 

I got the inking done just before midnight and decided to call it a night myself.... 

Tuesday, 29 September 2020

I coloured the previous days Tuesday morning. AFter all those miles and miles of cross-hatching and dot-points... I was a little hesitant to add any colour to this one - I was pretty certain anything else I did would just ruin it. In the end, I was pretty okay with how it all turned out. 

Earlier in the day, I'd king of given up on doing ANOTHER drawing - one just for today - but after working with the electrician for part of the afternoon, I found I had some time on my hands and decided to try knocking off another easier one... 

The colour was a bit rushed.... But, hey - I DID another drawing... and I had fun and did some different things with the drawing, so.,,.

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

I did START one for today... but then... well... life happened. 

Renovation madness.

Helping parents get ready to move. 

Ugh... just so tired. 

I'm going to go and watch some TV and I'll finish this one up tomorrow...

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

My plan had originally been, with the momentum started this month with the illustration-a-day challenge, to continue right on into October with Inktober - a similar challenge involving one drawing a day - in INK. I know a lot of people that have participated in this challenge in the past - and even tried a few times in the past (it's been going on since 2009). 

Not sure if I should showcase them here....? Or actually make use of my old Art Blog (which I haven't posted of for over a year)...? Or just post them all on Instagram and Twitter.... 

In some respects this COULD be easier than this months challenge, as each of these illustrations I did this past month started off as INK drawings that I then added watercolour to. (Of course there is nothing that says I CAN'T do the same through Inktober! The only stipulation is that it's a drawing in ink).

OR... 

I might just do something altogether completely different. 

Orktober? Artober? 

Drawlloween?

Darktober?

so many October art/creative challenges!? 

We'll see how I'm feeling in the morning. 

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...