Update Feb-March: Part 4: "More figures, Hobby Lobby, and a trip to the ER..."

 So as this multi-part update continues...

More figures to paint....

So with some of the figures done, it was (once again), time to reach into the "drawers of stuff", and pull out some for the next batch that is queued.

So let's see what is coming up eh?

The first one is a Reaper Chronoscope "Dorothy".

This is an interesting figure although I wished they would've given the option of a picnic basket also.

Since I had done "The NSFW Witch" I thought, "Why not Dorothy?"...

That's right Toto (the dog and not the band), She's not in Kansas anymore...

 And then the next was a pack from the Old Westwind "Vampire Wars" line.  Always need some 19th Century Female Victims. (I painted these up pretty quickly...)

Victims, Clues, or Objective Markers? Your guess is as good as mine...

And another Reaper Chronoscope. I swear this nurse is up to no good...

Time to take your...."medicine"...

So a part of me was getting tired of the "Pulpy" stuff that I have been doing and in doing so, ended up pulling out a pack of Foundry Pirates!  Arrrr!  Now THAT'S the stuff!!!!

Oooooh...these guys will paint up nicely...

And then ANOTHER Reaper figure...however this one is from their "Savage Worlds" line.

You can never have too many dames with a gun...I think...

And yet ANOTHER Reaper! But this time a fantasy figure from their Dark Heaven Legends line...

And ooooooooooooohhhh....a dancing girl...*sigh*

Aye...with just a wiggle and a shimmy, she can captivate an audience...

And then I decided on a custom figure.

See I got out a pack of the great stuff from Pulp Figures, in this case pack PMX02 from their Western/Mexican Revolution Line.

This one gunslinger kept giving me the eye, and well...I got thinking....and scheming...

He's kinda got...."that look"...

So then I got to thinking..."What could I do to him?"

And then.....THIS...popped into my brain.

Yeps...I decided to do a version of Marvel Comics "The Rawhide Kid".  Although this version is well...a bit "light" in his boots...

You can go ahead and use mind bleach now...

So...*ahem*...with that all behind us....Let's move on...

Next stop...Hobby Lobby!!!!

Hobby Lobby!!!!!

I'll admit it. 

My wife, and I, both love Hobby Lobby.

With that being said, we always try to make the best out of the deals. For me the best part is when they discount their paints even more and put their high quality brushes on sale.

So naturally when they had "a sale", we went.

Yay! Hobby Lobby!

And I got some nice brushes that were on sale...

Good paint brushes are like dice...you can never, ever, have enough...

And picked up some paints. The burnt umber paint is one that I go through a lot of due to weathering and base colors and groundwork.

All the colors of the rainbow....or maybe not...

On top of this, I needed to buy another set of brass rods as the ones I had previously disappeared in the clutter. The brass rods are being used as bars for the customization of the Knuckleduster Jail that I have been slowly working on. (Note to self: Never do a "from scratch" customization of a Knuckleduster building ever again...)

Bars for the cell....

So that was the end of my recent Hobby Lobby purchase...

And then something happened...

So on March 11th I got to feeling a little "not well" in the chest area...
My wife being concerned for my health, decided to take me into ER to get "checked out".
Once there, they looked at me and said "Get him inside..."
And so I spent the night at IU West ER.

I'd rather be at a Holiday Inn Express....Comfy it wasn't....

And naturally they did this...

I've had so many in this arm, I have a permanent tap I think...

After a night and morning of tests, I had good news and bad news.

Good news:

"It's not a heart attack."

Bad news:

1: I have the beginning initial signs of Dystolic Heart Dysfunction.

2: I am just in the crossover range of Type II Diabetes.

So welcome aboard the health and lifestyle change train!

With my wife, we've decided to lose weight, and change our lifestyle.  We need to lose weight or die...

And then the next weekend when I was home, I started a new project...(but that's for another time)...

More to come!

Today's Acquisitions...

In an effort to keep up with this blog, I got this out this evening...(while finishing off a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label).

One of the things with most miniature gamers, (at least with me) is the amount of "non-gaming, gaming stuff" that we do. This include cleaning worktables, emptying that overflowing trashcan in the game room, organizing your figures, paints, brushes, etc.

To be honest, this seems to take up more of my time than actually gaming.  However it is the little things in life that make it worthwhile and "it is the season for the Halloween stuff to be coming out!"

So today I took a much needed little jaunt, under the guise of taking care of a bill with my eyeglasses company, (who just happened to be closed, so I get to go on Monday), and stopped by Michael's, Hobby Lobby and finally for the first time in over a year my LGS.

The first stop WAS the optometrist, which happened to be closed and seems to keep bankers hours.

So after that it was a quick run down to Michael's to see if their Halloween stuff was out and much to my surprise the first portions of it are out on the shelves!

YAY!

Summer be gone!!!!

The biggest problem I have with the Halloween decor is simply that "If I was single and had the house to myself, this would probably be up all year around..."

I saw some nice Lemax Halloween pieces that I will be stocking up on soon, Their cemetery gates make nice terrain pieces.

And then it was off to Hobby Lobby...

At Hobby Lobby I was on a mission. I needed to pick up some thin metal rods that they have so I can finish the bars to the jail cells in the Sheriff's Office and put that nightmare behind me. 

Add to the fact that my Dremel bit the big one...sigh.

But I was able to get two packs of the brass rods.

Hmm...these will work quite nicely...

And while checking the clearance area, I noticed that some brushes were on sale, and lo and behold, they had some of the REALLY NICE Windsor and Newton Brushes for 50% off!

I found two nice ones and added them to my collection.

Nothing wrong with getting nice brushes when they are on sale, I always say....

And then it was off to my LGS.

Readers will hopefully remember that I have had mixed feelings and experiences with my LGS in the past years. The store I would really like to check out regularly is over on the other side of town, (a good 30-40 mile drive).

So I really wasn't sure what to expect this time I showed up.

The place is still small, and honestly, sitting in an industrial park area, the rent may be cheap but the frontage is non-existent and even though I have been there half a dozen times since their move, I still need a GPS to locate it.

However I wasn't there for directions or inspections.

Instead I picked up some Reaper Bones figures.

A nice PC cleric figure...or a NPC...

And some more female sword-users

And then I found this and said "Cool, Old School Roper Style monster to give the PC's a problem or four...lol..

This looks like some promising XP's right there....as soon as they can kill it, without being killed that is...

And then I decided to pick up some of this as something to work with on some ideas I have seen it used on. Let's hope I can master it.

 On the way back I stopped for a quick lunch of Sliders and then made it home.
Relaxing today after a hard week at work, and tomorrow I get to work on the jail...finally!

More to come!

Sept. Update: Scoring on Storage and other things...

 Well, the burning days of Summer 2016 seem to be behind us and Fall 2016 is here in all of it's wonderful glory, and with that, it also usually means "SALES" at stores!
So for the past two weekends I have been journeying to Hobby Lobby and Michael's in search of "Stuff".
And stuff I have found.

A PLACE TO PUT IT ALL....

One of the biggest issues of miniature gamers and us multip project doers is that over the years, (actually not even that long), we seem to collect a lot of "Stuff".  Whether it be extra parts from models, or the misc. figure here and there, or some odd groundwork, etc. We start amassing collections of "stuff".
And as our figures, scenics, etc. in this hobby grows, we need places to keep this "Stuff".
And like many others I was having storage issues.
And then Hobby Lobby and Michael's had sales...

And here was my first major purchase...

The first item is an IRIS scrapbook case. Advertised at 12" X 12" but in reality is: "14 5/16th X 14 1/8th X 3 1/8th. I took along a 28mm fig on a base to check to see if it would fit.
Yes it did.
So I bought six of them, and now I have eight total.

Nice description on them....

Easily stackable...

28mm Figures and some terrain pieces/scenics will fit quite nicely into the

Yeps...they stack pretty easy. 

Next up was a couple of larger containers:

Essentially a 14.5 qt container with removable tray and latches for security.

Nice for those bigger pieces, and hobby construction items, or bulk stuff, etc...

I grabbed two of these.

             

Not bad if I do say so myself, and the tray is a welcome added bonues.

Next up was something I wanted to check out and since they were cheap, it was easy to get some.
The are called "Memory Boxes", and they are essentially heavy duty boxes with a black lining to protect pictures, etc from light, and a name care holder on the front. They are pretty sturdy and can hold a variety of small items.

So this was my total storage container haul:

         

MY NEW GM's/DM's Box...

As a GM/DM; one of the things I always seem to need is a box to carry around the essential GM/DM stuff, (Pencils, dice, tape measure, note cards, Anti-Acids, etc..)
What nicer way to do it than having your very own GM/DM box?

So I picked this little "Treasure Chest" up for 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

To be honest, I've had my eyes on it for quite a while, and due to the price, I just didn't get around to getting it. Now it's mine!!! muah-hah-hah...

Plus I am sucker for these types of things...

Also at Michael's, they were having a sale on Foamboard/Foamcore. One 30" X 20" X 3/16th for $1.00 each, (regularly 3.00).

I grabbed six.

Plus I grabbed some magnetic adhesive sheeting to see if it will work to hold figures in the cases. I'll let you know how this goes when I try it.

And a replacement Bell/Mason Jar for my paint jar that broke recently. $1.99 for this little baby...

And finally checking out the clearance area, I came across some paints listed for 2.99 (the special glass gloss paints) and marked down. Some to 1.49, and a couple to .79 cents.
Some more colors for me to experiment and work with.

All in all, a great haul!  Now to start using these containers and organizing the mess a bit more (and better)...

And then back to painting figures!

 

More to come!

A brief pause from "Real Life"....

Greetings to everyone on a cold, wintry, February night...

Well I made it through my week trip to California. With that behind me, I now, (NOW), have a trip next week to Wisconsin, and then week after that for a 1-2 sojourn to Columbus, Ohio. Then I will be done for a while I hope.

And I can get back to painting fully.

But there IS news on the home front!

First off: LITTLE WARS!

My Event was accepted and listed in the PEL. 

Sat, 5:00pm-9:00pm Event ID E113: The Lost Treasure of Chili Verde Two-fisted, heart-stopping, Pulp Action Adventure!!! In the 1500's, the lesser known Spanish explorer "Conquistador Leo", discovered a great Aztec treasure, which he then promptly stole, and then hid; drawing a map, (which was then torn into several pieces), to its secret location. He then lost the pieces of the map, and almost immediately forgot where the treasure was hidden; (right before suffering a brutal, hideous, death at the hands of The Aztecs). Now, centuries later, the map pieces have finally come together as various factions try to claim The Lost Treasure of Chili Verde for themselves! Take control of one of the groups competing to recover the priceless lost treasure. Danger! Romance! Sultry Women and Men with Guns all abound in this heart racing, Pulp Action Adventure!!! Hosted by Michael Murphy; 28mm Rugged Adventures / Astounding Tales (TBD); 6 players. 

To say that I am "excited" is an understatement. I haven't run a convention game in a few years, and am nervous but looking forward to it.

Second off: HOBBY LOBBY HAD A SALE!!!!

So this past weekend, while recovering from travelling, my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), convinced me to do some shopping with her, and we made our usual stop at Hobby Lobby and they were having a sale!!!!

So I picked up some of the Testors EFX stains. 5.99 - 6.99 bottles of paint for less than 1.30 per bottle! Let's see how it works.

And then my wife, knowing how much I needed some different color inks for stains and washes, decided to get me this....

Which is EXACTLY what I was looking for, but never seemed to remember to actually look for when I was needing to be looking for it....

While I was away, she also put in a second "item shelf" which now holds all my brushes, etc...Keeping my desk, "less clutter free"...

And this is what it looks like right now...

This in turn allowed me to do a little bit of base coating on my Mexican Federales...

The Mexican Federales under El Capitan Maximillian Empanda...Keeping law and order (as much as they can), in old Mexico...aka (The Big Enchilada)....

And a little bit of work on one of the buildings that I primed back in 2009.
Not much has been completed, but it's still a start and I am happy with it.
I look forward to being back in about two weeks and going from there.

I'll have more coming soon!!!!

Thanks for looking!

Update: A "Fall Haul", Pulp Figs and a possible new genre....

Well, once again it's time for my often "overdue updates", that seem to so often plague me. Really, dear reader, I "do" intend to try to make regular updates, but with "life and the real world" getting in the way, while suffering from Mini-Gamer "Ooh Shiny" syndrome, and the fact that I think that anyone who does read this blog on a frequent and regular basis, must sometimes scratch their head and wonder "Does this guy have a life?"...well....You can see how easily it get can put on the back burner.

But anyhow....

So this past weekend my wife (Gawd bless her!), and I did our Saturday shopping. Hobby Lobby, Michael's, JoAnn's, and Menard's all had sales of varying sorts and while we didn't hit Michael's or JoAnn's, we did hit Hobby Lobby, and Menards.

So as you can see in the pic below, here is the results of my "Fall Haul".

1:Six Packs of Lemax Street Lamps from their Christmas Village.

2: A power unit for them. (might have to get another one).

3: Numerous acrylic paints.

4: A box of "Project Bricks". (I've seen some people use them to make all sorts of cool things for gaming so I thought I would get a box and "give it a whirl...").

5: A couple of plastic protractors. I always seem to lost these...

6: Some Mayberry Fair and Jewelry bits and bobs for treasure containers and other assorted madness.

7: Some Dremel Cutting blades. (I needed to restock and actually remembered this time).

8: Two Lemax Cobblestone Mats. One to be used as a standard mat, and the other to probably be cut up into road sections.

9: A Lemax "Spooky Town" Haunted Tree....

10: But perhaps the most of all was the incredible sale they had on quality artists brushes. They were selling 11-13 dollar brushes for 2.50-3.00.  So now I own some new Winsor-Newton brushes.

A quick look at the haul. Oh yes...and the wife got two pumpkins to kill for her cooking stuff.....

Here's a close up of the "Enchanted Christmas Village" street lamps. 

Add caption

I've actually seen these used in a game at Little Wars last year, and they struck me immediately as "Ooooh! That is soooooooo cool!"  And I've always been wanting to get some as a result.

Then there are the paints....

 I'm starting work (after all of these years) with more metallic colors and satins, and pearls. My friend Mike Mitchell, gave me the idea. Honestly I have no idea why I hadn't thought of it before....That's the way these things go I guess...

Moving right along, I saw this at Menards and was in "I neeeeeeeeeed this!" mode!

BOO!!!!!

This is "just" the thing that your pulp characters DO NOT want to encounter or find when they enter that creepy old forgotten cemetery late in the night to investigate the mystery of (insert mystery of the week here)......

I'm going to check it out, but I think I can get rid of the skulls, and the tombstone, and apply groundwork over it, and keep it "scalish"....

And my brushes.....

Really...for what I got here, it would've been a small fortune...but I am very, VERY, happy, as I wear out fine detail brushes real easily.

And while we are talking figures.....

I've been working on some more of the wonderful Bob Murch Pulp Figures stuff for a bit now. Truly 99% of them are a complete joy to paint.  As you can tell below, you can see many of them, in various stages of painting completion. 

Oh and you can see a Westwind figure there, and one of my Blue Moon Egyptian Agent figs (#4, I think), that I previously wrote about. 

A picture of "The Usual Suspects"....

While rummaging through some of my many figures, I came across this little beastie that was started years ago by my wife, and never finished. I do think it's time to finish it and thus give my pulp figs, (and others), something to be on the lookout for, don't you?

What a wicked web it weaves.....

Remember in the previous paragraph that I said that "Pulp Figures are 99% a joy to paint"?...Well here's one of the "1%". 

This is a WIP of "Angus MacHaggis of Clan MacHaggis."  

Of all the hard things, the tartan pattern is a nightmare, as is the Glengarry.

While some folks like the current tartan kilt pattern, I think I am going to go and redo it today. replace the white with a think dark yellow, (it will help divert the eyes from the mess ups in painting straight lines), and finish the glengarry. for some reason I've been having issues painting straight lines recently, (especially tiny straight lines...) 

But he is a good figure.

Angus MacHaggis of Clan MacHaggis....Rumor has it that they reason no one has ever seen or caught the Loch Ness Monster is because that "Nessie owes Angus money...."

And as such this brings me to a new dilemna....

A while back I was getting interested in Dystopian Wars.  I love the ships and still do, although I don't see anyone around here playing it, and thus, in a way I don't see any battle reports on TMP, LAF, etc...so perhaps it's a niche or even a 'dead game", (kinda like Leviathans went?)....

However, I have been in the last few weeks been getting more and more interested in AQotMF ("All Quiet on the Martian Front").

The Tripods are a beauty and there is so much possible alternative history there. I could kick myself now that I didn't jump in on the kickstarter. And since it works well with HO and 15mm I can already us a lot of my scenery and terrain for that.  Truly I do think that in the next month or so I am going to plop down the cash for the starter kit and get deep into that....

Sigh...

It never stops with us mini gamers does it?....

Okay...more to come....

Hope you enjoyed....

Comments are appreciated.