jims-gaming-obsession

[jims-gaming-obsession]

I’ve been taking some time off from painting and putting that time into reading a series of books by James Lovegrove called “The Cthulhu Casebooks of Sherlock Holmes”. So far it consists of 4 volumes purporting to be “written” by Dr. Watson and revealing what really happened as Sherlock went about solving his various cases. Turns out they really involved interactions with assorted arcane beings such as Mi-Go, Shuggoths, Nightgaunts, Nyarlathotep et al. Fun stuff and well written. These should make for some nice Victorian Era Pulp Alley scenarios pitting Holmes, Watson, Mycroft, and Scotland Yard against various and sundry Old Ones/Outer Gods/Arcana. Might be a fun change of pace and setting.

If I can get rolling before Christmas/New Years, I have lots of angry Highlanders screaming at me to get some paint slapped on them! Plus oodles of assorted raw lead languishing in drawers awaiting some TLC. I really need to get back to work with brush and acrylics. Here’s hoping my resolve stays strong!

Also almost forgot to mention that I have actually started an exercise program 3 days a week - who’da thunk it! My cardiologist had me do a series of 36 classes and when I fulfilled that course, I sort of got used to going to the health club so decided to spend a few bucks for a membership. (I’m pretty sure that was the ultimate idea behind the original program - sneaky ba$tards!)

Once I get some figs/terrain painted up, I’ll post some pix here and on Facebook.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Now that DaneCon ‘24 has come and gone, I decided to take a bit of a break from the painting table to let my head clear. It’s been close to a month and I’m itching to get back to splashing paint on little lead/resin fighters. To start with, I cranked out an Owl-Bear that has languished on the bench for a few years. I haven’t a clue as to what I’ll do with it, but it was fun to paint anyway! I also bashed out a couple of terrain bits using some aquarium plants from the local pet emporium. (Can never have too much scatter terrain!)

Right now I’m glueing up a nasty looking Shiva the Destroyer fig I bought from Crooked Dice. It looks sufficiently evil that it should scare the dickens out of any players that come up against it! And it should paint up quickly as it is mostly a single color with some gold and silver accents. More Pulp Alley fun to come!

Finally, I’ve started working on a bunch of Highlanders from both Ian Lovecraft (RobRoy and friends) and from Ian MacDonald at Flags of War (Border Wars figs). These will no doubt take a bit longer to paint up as I’ll be seeing plaid in my sleep! At least some of the Reiver figs are a Houndsman and his doggies so no tartans on those guys!

Here’s a few pix of what’s done and some net shots of the stuff on the bench.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Been spending a good amount of time at various medical appointments so haven’t had much hobby time of late. What time I do have has been taken up with organizing my bits ‘n bobs for the upcoming Danecon outing. Painted up some palm trees to add to the mangroves for a bit of “down south” look to the other greenery on the table. Got all the minis and mausoleums set to go as well as a whole spit-load of nasties to let loose on the poor sods attempting the rescue of Lydia Luvbutton. (That’s not including the actual forces of the evil Barons out to make sure the good guys don’t succeed!)

Got all the printed materials cranked out, the various card decks organized, rulers printed, set-up maps ready to go, giveaway goodies gathered, player thank you’s sorted, and ground cloth folded! If I forget something, we’ll do without. (I will, however, not forget to bring my phone this year so I can get some pictures of the games!). Time for a stiff libation to assist in my prep - hah!

[jims-gaming-obsession]

It’s been ages since I made an entry here, so here’s a bit of an update.

Right now I’m working on designing and printing the support materials for an upcoming convention game of Pulp Alley. It will be a 6 (maybe 7) player game where the 3 “good” players are trying to find and rescue the heroine from the forces of evil - the remaining 3 or 4 players. There will be oodles of nasty surprises for the rescuers to deal with before trying to defeat the big mutha that holds our captured lady. Hopefully a tough - but win-able task!

Previously I had been cranking out a fair number of minis until I ran into a bit of a medical complication. I lost about a month of painting time while I dealt with the necessity of having a valve replacement in my Aorta. It was a bit scary beforehand, but my doctor gave me a lot of confidence in his skill and all went relatively easy. I had to take it easy for a couple of weeks, but that was no problem and now I’m back to normal and as ornery as ever!

Here are some pix of what I worked on since the last note.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Finished off the “Not Paternoster Gang” from Crooked Dice. Now I’ve got to work up some Pulp Alley specs for them so they can hit the table. Been a tad slow lately as I have been getting all my paperwork together to fill out those god-forsaken tax forms! (Just finished them off today - Thursday - whoopie!) Began working on some nasties for an upcoming con game - nothing grassed yet but got 2 of the 6 plants painted up. [I might do a small bit of dry-brushing on the purple areas to accent the detail]. Hopefully these bad boys will create some havoc in the bayou! Got lots of stuff in the queue but next up are a small bunch of plot point/maguffins to bash out before jumping into some new Border Reivers and some extra Voodoo Zombies. So many toys - so little time!

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Got the penultimate group of Crooked Dice minis all set for their sealing & grassing. Once that is finished I can attack the Paternoster Gang which should be fun and fast as they are Victorian characters with minimal coloration - mostly blacks, browns, and greys.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Haven’t added any updates for awhile so figured I needed to jot down a bit about the latest bits off the painting table. Taking a short break from working on figs, I bashed out some office furniture from Things from the Basement and some graveyard monuments and a neat gravesite that I found on Etsy.

Now I’m working on a group of assorted characters from Crooked Dice. There’s some thugs and some evil sorceress’s plus a mummy. When these are finished, I’ll finish off my CD figs with the 3 member Paternoster Gang from Doctor Who.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Got back to working on more Crooked Dice figs - this time 4 tough ladies who would be a match to any male counterparts! Just need to apply some Flesh Wash to these before sealing & basing. Then there is another batch of these figs that I want to finish off (have to hurry since I just ordered the Paternoster Gang from CD) before moving on to something else - possibly the latest batch of Reiver figs I got from the latest Kickstarter. I also tossed in the pic of the finished male adventurers.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Working on some more Crooked Dice figs. This set has 4 “security guards” which I will use as NPC’s wandering through the Art Institute plus a pair of male investigators and 4 female adventurers (not shown). This line has a plethora of useful figs in the pulp and horror genres that fit well with Bob Murch’s Pulp Figures and those from Pulp Alley and others. [I ain’t crazy about them being cast for “slotta” bases, but ya pays your money and snip ‘n file ‘em to work with whatever basing you use!]

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Getting close to finishing up these Mummers/Guisers. They’ve been kind of a drag to paint - not because of tons of detail but due to using so many colors for the multi-hued coats. It took forever to decide what colors to put where! Thankfully, the leader (pony boy) while fiddley was mostly a single color! [The “official” paint job used pink but I went with the orange-red instead.] I’ve also included the pic of the finished first batch of figs. These will make for a colorful Pulp Alley league for my pulp games.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Got the M.A.S.H. unit ready for sealing/basing. Might do a bit of dry-brushing on the faces yet and will hit the figs in white with some Nuln Oil or Apothecary White after I gloss coat them. That should make the detail pop a bit. I gave the “Frank Burns” fig a mustache so I could use it as a “Sidney Freedman” stand-in. I always enjoyed the episodes he was in. Though the figs don’t really look anything close to the actors from the series (BJ is sorta close), this was a fun set to paint up even if I’m not sure just how I will use it! It might just wind up as miscellaneous terrain or plot points in a Korean War scenario.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Working on the next project - the M.A.S.H. Unit - and it’s coming along nicely. Got most of the main bits painted and just have some detail work like flesh tones and miscellaneous bits to finish up as well as working on the operating table. Should be able to finish these off by week’s end. Then it’s on to another strange unit - Ike’s Angels. (Any grouping that includes a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves has gotta be labeled “strange”!)

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Got all the odds ‘n ends finished off with the completion of these last two samurai/ronin figs. Now it’s on to something completely different but one that should go fairly quickly as they are uniformed figures. I’ll keep the specifics under wraps til I have them ready to go - so put your guessing caps on and we’ll see who comes closest to the era these figs represent.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Got the first group of personalities finished off and have the second set ready for sealing. The first set:

And here’s the second set in progress:

Plus I bashed out the Starspawn Puppies all ready to seal as well.

Just a few more one-off figs to paint up and then I can start on some larger project.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Lord Flashheart is almost ready to hit the trenches - and then again, maybe not! Needs just a tiny bit of touch-up and then sealing/grassing/dullcoating before we get him to the table. More to come next week!

[jims-gaming-obsession]

Next up on the table is a motley crew of personalities from a couple of smaller companies - Giants in Miniature and Bears Head Miniatures - both of which may be defunct by now as these have been languishing in a box for ages! Hopefully the masters are still around and someone is producing them as they are fun figs and deserve to hit the table. The first 4 from “Giants” are definitely a random assortment of WWII folks plus a couple of literary notables - well, Flashy ain’t exactly notable but he is infamous!

The second set is a tad more co-ordinated but still widely varied. We’ve got HP Lovecraft, Einstein, EA Poe, and an unknown hypnotist followed up by a foursome of “Star Spawn Puppies” from the mind of HPL. All in all a scatter-shot of personages but should be fun to paint them up and field them in the appropriate scenarios.

[jims-gaming-obsession]

The bewitching “Bumbershoot Brigade” is ready for sealing/grassing/dullcoat. Took me a week to build (had to saw off the slot-a-base tab and glue the weapons/packs on the figs) and paint this squad but they turned out pretty decent. The lighting on my paint bench is pretty harsh and doesn’t really show the figs very well so I’ll post a better pic after I finish them off. For now, here’s the unit on parade.