End of July Update, and Onto August!

So the month of July is finally done.

Wow.

August is here and is determined to give us one last month of "Bake you until you die of heat stroke" weather, so it seems.  I will admit though that while the heat hasn't been as bad as it has been in the previous years, (we've been in the mid-upper 80's most of the summer), it's the humidity that is making it miserable.

Step outside and you are in natures sauna. It's horrible.

So I spent a good portion of this month doing figures, and other stuff. 

(Warning this entry is photo intensive. Get a drink and relax while it loads.)

(Click on the photos for a larger version.)

So let's begin shall we?

Some of the figures....

My new plan seems to be working pretty well. June saw me clear off my work table of projects, (scenery, terrain, and non-people figures), and July saw me focus back onto figures again. Although I didn't get a chance to finish everything I wanted to do, (The SYW British Gun Crews still need to be finished), I did manage to get 50 figures painted up and flocked. Now all I need a good day with low humidity to be able to seal them.

Here's a few of them: 

These are WIP pics taken before they were completed. Trust me, they do look a lot better now.

(Guards for the Governor's Residence....)

(Some young lad looking for adventure, or wondering what he's gotten himself into???)

(A pirate raider!)

(A pirate in stripey pants!)

(An old sea dog and a gentleman with a shotgun...two different classes of people...obviously....)

(WIP: "The Old Sea Dog...")

(WIP: Workers and Field Hands...)

(WIP: 19th Century Politician....needing YOUR vote!)

(WIP: "Every 18th Century port of intrigue needs a Spanish Contessa lurking about in the background with lots of plans and schemes....")

So I was able to crank out approx. 50 figures and 1 piece of scenic.

Not bad. 

Not the total number I wanted but overall it's 50 more figures painted.

Now to just wait for the humidity to drop.

(The total for this month. Not a bad take....)

And for the second month in a row, my work table is cleared of "Stuff to do."

(This is starting to get creepy...)

"What's in the box????"....

I'm going to admit, I have a lot of figures.

For the most part I have them organized in containers according to genre/period, etc.

And yet sometimes I forget what I have, and need to go back and look.

And then I have a good cry,

Case in point, Container Box #9: Pirates.

It has been a while since I looked in here. 

(So let's see what's in the old box here, shall we?...)

(Oh dear....that's...um...quite a lot...)

(Packs o' pirates!)

(Some Old Eureka Long Nines...)

Along the way I had some issues with one of my brushes.

(Ugh....alas...t'was bound to happen.)

And then my wonderful wife and I had a movie night.

And for the first time in my life, I tried this: 

(All you kids with your newfangled microwave popcorn....fiddly foo!)

(Ahhhh...Jiffy Pop popcorn goodness!)

(And the movie.... "Dead Man's Chest...")

(And we had DOTS too!)

GENCON:

As I write this, Gen Con is ending in Indy, and wrapping up for the year. 

Numbers will be about 78K if all goes right, since all badges were sold out and they had to cap attendance at 79K.

I didn't attend but paid a lot of attention to peoples posts, and reports on it. 

There was some good and bad.

As normal there was the cattle stampede when the vendor hall opened.

(Been there, done that, have no need to do it again....)

Perhaps the biggest complaints I saw were the following:

1: Cost of True Dungeon was more than it was worth.

2: Overall cost of convention badge AND ticket prices.

3: Backpack issues.

4: Event staff smugness.

5: Hotel reliability issues.

I think the last one was the most common, although I did see a few reports discussing the attitude and mindset of some of the Gen Con staff personnel, (not the actual volunteers, but the actual corporate staff), and many of the hotels has mechanical issues. One hotel was telling people that they had to cancel their rooms as on Thursday right before the convention it was reported that the management and entire staff of one hotel just up and walked out.

Now, let us take a quick break away from gaming stuff, and before we delve back into August projects, lets talk about "FOOD!"

FOOD!

Every month my local masonic lodge puts on a community breakfast. For $6.00 it's an all you can eat, and they give you plentiful.

This month I went with my neighbor and we pigged out. Truth be told, I only had one plate, but what a plate it was.

Eggs, Sausage links and patties, pancakes, biscuits and gravy.

(Not a bad spread...)

(Put on by our local chapter, or should I say "order"?...)

One of the other things that I do is "grocery shop at Menards".

For those of you that don't know, Menards is a DIY store, like Loews, or Home Depot. 

Our local one (down the road from me), also carries a selection of grocery items. I call it "single guy/divorced guy grocery shopping". The food items are made for those guys that don't have cooking skills, (canned items, box dinners, frozen stuff, etc.), so a guy can get his lumber, hardware, and groceries all in one run.

One of the things I have learned that they have and that I like is their bacon selection.

They have four different types of bacony goodness.

(Bacon goodness...)

And now, back to gaming stuff...

And here comes August and the projects....

Now that July is out of the way, August is here, and with it, I once more switch back over from figures to "Terrain/Scenery/Non-Human figures."

I've got a lot on my plate this month.

First off:

Buildings:

One of my overall goals and long running projects is to build a fort for my 18th Century Caribbean Island of intrigue. This is going to be a long running "here and there" thing. 

But first to get things going, I decided to start with a building.

The first building is going to be a barracks for the island garrison.

Not happy with what I have been able to find on the internet thingy, I decided to use some scrap stuff and will scratch build one.

 The "core" of the building is nothing more than a carboard packing insert. Due to it's size, I've determined that this should be a 2-3 story barracks building.

The outside will either be foamboard or Plasticstruct siding. I haven't made that decision yet.

(The basic shape...)

(Another view...)

(Showing the dimensions... I am still undecided about whether I should put it on a base or not.)

(The core has some damage, but this will be covered with an outside exterior...)

And after that it is SHIPS!!!!

SAIL HO!!!!!!

So for the first time ever, I decided to sit down and get out all of my ships, (Actually most of them), and get them on the table to see what I have.

I was agog.

I counted 22 ships on the table, with one being in a mold, two being unbuilt, and one in it's huge box, making a total of 26. I am not sure that that is all of them either. These ships have been packed up, moved around, hauled around, etc, for 20+  years and the damage to them shows. All of them need some work on them, (some more more than others), and I think between the building and the ships, most of my August project time is going to be taken up here.

(Most of the fleet assembled...for the first time....)

(Galleons, merchantmen, warships, barques, brigs, schooners...etc...)

(Four galleons I got from a TMP purchase years ago. These things are huge...)

(More ships showing the work needed to get them...um..."shipshape....")

(The front three are from Hobby Lobby and can be easily converted. I took one of them and made a 15mm coastal boat for my AK47 games...)

(The resin ships in front are from the old "Pirates!" game by the defunct Flagship Games. I got these back in the late 90's.)

(Aye...that's a lot o' boats in the waters....)

Other projects....

I also have decided to get more "stuff" painted.

I finally got around to opening up the Wiz Kids Adventurers Camp set, to paint up, as well as some TAG cattle, cats, and dogs.

(Other items for the brush...)

But of course I needed to have some Sunday morning breakfast.

In this case, it was a cinnamon raisin bagel with raspberry fruit spread, and coffee with hazelnut creamer.

(Yum...)

And I asked Alexa to play some music for me while I worked and painted.

Me: “Alexa, open Spotify.”

Alexa: “Opening Spotify.”

Spotify opens.

Alexa: “What would you like to hear?”

Me: “Play me something nice, easy, soft, and tropical. Something gentle on the ears and my mind. Something to soothe my soul.”

Alexa: “Based on your musical preferences and listening habits, now playing….”

What the h…?!?!?

Sigh….

(This wasn't exactly what I had in mind....)

And my month of projects goes on.

Let's see how far and how much I get done.

That's it for now, stay tuned for more. 

More to come!

Thanks for reading!

Comments are appreciated!

BTW: The fridge has been restocked with tasty drinks!