"I will take the Ring to Mordor!"

    The fellowship of the ring is ready to go on their perilous quest. I really enjoyed painting these up, they have good detail and the hobbits didn't take long at all. 

The Fellowship

The Hobbits, the hobbits, the hobbits! To Isengard!

    

    I appreciate the tutorial that I used gave each hobbit a distinct colour pattern. Merry and Pippin are pretty interchangeable in my mind, so giving them different coats and cloaks helps a lot.

Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas

Gandalf and Boromir

How are the fellowship boys going to get out of this situation!

    I was going to post earlier, but I have a bad habit of waiting till a set of minis are finished. It just seems like I would get the social media endorphin hit before actually finishing what I started, making me less eager to finish the miniatures? Maybe that's just me. 

    The fellowship themselves is around 600 points for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. Not the easiest list to field as they are all heroes with special rules, but still can be done. I looked through the Quest for the Ringbearer rules, which follows the ring to Mount Doom with like 28 scenarios. Might be a bit expensive to find all the different models for said scenarios though, but I would work with what I got. There is also a Fantasy Fellowship section in the book that allows for building your own fellowship. Basically a "What if..." rule set, which does sound interesting.

Painted: 9 points

Purchased: -32points

Total: -23 points

Next on the Hobby Desk

    *Soul piercing scream* That's right, time to finish up some Ringwraiths! They are getting their best cloaks from the drycleaners and will be ready to hunt for the ring.

2024 Hobby Resolution

    This year has been pretty crazy for the old pile of opportunities. You can check out my wild and out of control purchasing habits here. There were a few times that I was giving myself some "retail therapy" after some longer days of parenting alone. Last year this happened quite frequently as my partner went home to support a family member.

    With the variety of painting and crafting I did, I made a system of points to see exactly how much I accomplished. Troops would be +1, Mounted +2, Monsters +3, Small terrain +1 and Large terrain +3. I calculated that my yearly hobby debt was -180. Half those points came from the Zombicide Black Plague and Wolfburg expansion I bought preowned, a total of 97 points in Troops. This has got me looking through all my miniatures, thinking about exciting kitbashing, and sparking the joy of some of the miniatures I had when I picked up the model. 

Here are my 2024 Hobby Resolutions:

Paint what I got! I am privileged to have so many miniatures in my collection. It's time paint up what I have. My lizard brain was working when I saw that Thunder Games and Gifts was closing down, so being the sneaky hobbyist I did make an order and I DID order it LAST year.... but they arrived in 2024. I will be starting off with a small amount of miniatures (only about -32 points) in the 2024 purchase pile. Sometimes you just need that cheesecake when you are on a diet, don't judge me.

Schedule board game/ wargame nights: Between my partner and I working shift work, getting in board games at night is a bit challenging. Usually it needs to be at our house or one of us can go out. I'll try to get better at getting out with both of us.

Learn and play easy convention wargames: I have bought many indie wargames, Planet 28, Song of blades and heroes, Space/sword weirdos, Brawl Arcane 28, etc. These are mostly super simple systems that are designed to get miniatures on the table fast. It would be great to teach it at Prairie Expo, a local convention put on by Comic readers or put on something myself.

Play Solo: There is a lot of solo RPGs and wargames, it would be great to get them on the table instead of video games. I have had a bad habit of staying up too late and the extra screens don't help this. This would help with the previous resolution too, letting me learn at my own pace.

That's all for now, maybe there will be more as we go through this year.

Next on the Hobby Desk

    I have started to paint up the Fellowship from Lord of the Rings. Two are done, with a third on it's way. They are dogged of course by the Ringwraith that share my paint desk as well.

    

Rebel Troopers, zombies and the rest of 2023

Looking at how many miniatures I picked up this year, I blame you Zombicide with expansion secondary market purchase, I have started to look through all the miniatures that I own. After all, these were fun projects that I was interested in at one point or another and can rekindle that spark of inspiration. Star Wars Legion is one such project, I had painted the Imperial side of the starter set awhile ago, it was time to start the Rebels

At first I painted 10 rebel troops. But decided to finish the full set, 28 infantry, 2 AT-RT walkers and Luke Skywalker. For how slow I paint it has taken me to right before Christmas to finish up. The white spray primer I used, I believe it was a rustolium, made my paint hydrophobic, forcing me to use more paint to get it to stick. 

By the end I just wanted it done, so some of the Rebels look better then others. Alas, they are done.

Star Wars Legion Starter Set Rebels side

Two All Terrain Reconnaissance Transport

Luke Skywalker

    And now for the random stuff that I painted that isn't Star Wars related, oh, wait, Ron Perlman was a character in the Clone Wars series? What a good segway! Man, that guy is in everything! Without further adieu, here are some zombies I painted and Ron Perlman, both from Zpocalypse.

Zpocalypse zombies

Zombies and deranged Ron Perlman

Okay, he looks more like Ron in person

    Also one hero from Descent first edition, not sure about the base so I left it black for now. I looked up her name after I painted her all pink.

Red Scorpion

     That's about it besides some adventures I painted up, but I will post them once I get better pictures of them. 

Next on the Hobby Desk

Time to ring in the new year and paint what you got! I recently cleaned my hobby space and found many purchases that I'd love to paint! It's time to colour, and kitbash their world. It's time to dig into my pile of opportunity! Resolution time!

Season of Scenery 2023

     Alright, recall the search parties, and take my picture off the milk carton. I was always here, just a bit busy with childcare and working. Though I did manage to get a few terrain pieces done for Season of Scenery this year. 

    I picked up some MDF modern house terrain from cardboard dungeon two years ago or so. These kits are pretty cheap at $20 CND or sometimes less, so one of the reasons I hadn't had the energy to tackle the two houses I had picked up is due to the lack of detail. Coyote Manor doesn't have detail on the exterior. I started cutting out cardboard to look like vinyl siding, this I didn't finish as my mind thought other things to add. Wires? meters? A basement... somehow? The Grey Harbour house C that I painted, at least had laser cut details on the walls.

    You'll notice that the windows on each floor look different, that's because I made my own on the top floor when I couldn't find the ones that came with the kit. I tried to remove the bottom ones, this made the carboard rip or remove the paint. I might come back to it later, but for now, I am fine with it.

    I only did the exterior as the interior would need a lot of detail work, stairs for the second floor, wallpaper, furniture, etc. Design wise it also doesn't really led itself to a real home structure. I can't see stairs, kitchen and a living room being in that small space. Upstairs could easily fit a bathroom and a bedroom with stairs going down.

    I also finished some 3D printed doors, six of them to be exact. These are to be used in Resident Evil 2 board game. 

    I also played a solo game of Don't Look Back, a co-op survival game that emulates 80's slasher flicks. Some interesting mechanics, hopefully I can run a group through a game or two during October. 

    Black Magic Craft does have a video on how to transformer these Christmas Trees from Michaels into regular looking tree, so I am working on getting them done soon.

Next on the Hobby Desk

    Finishing up some of the adventuring party challenge, some have been finished for awhile and haven't had the motivation to post on here. Five are done... and it's basically October.. I gotta get moving on them if I want 7 more before the end of the year.

Reign in Hell - Finished Cabals

        In 2021, Snarling Badger Studios, released a daemonic combat skirmish game called Reign in Hell. This is the first game that Adam Loper and Vince Venturella, of YouTube fame, have created together. Initially, this was a PvP game with cabals fighting each other for control of Hell with campaign play as well, they have since released co-op and solo rules in a free PDF called The Oculus Spear to help players get games in during the height of Covid.

    Just this week, I have finished two cabals from the Dreamblade miniature I had picked up off eBay the same year Reign in Hell was released. The game can be played with up to 4 players, and has several different philosophies which dictates what type of daemons you can bring in your cabal. Painting up only 14 of the 51 miniatures I picked up, I see more cabals being created in the future. But for now, this will be enough to learn and play the game, besides, I have a BUNCH of daemons from 40k I could use in a pinch. 

Reign in Hell Cabals

    The two philosophies I picked for these two cabals were, Earth-bound and The Empty. Earth-Bound are daemons that want to return to earth, where all the fun is at, you know manipulating weak humans. Searching through the Dreamblade minis, I picked out figures that you might find on a metal album cover. The leader can be of three different types, Warrior, Zealot or Schemer. I chose Schemer, which has the ability to leave combat once per round and is able to activate another daemon near by after his activation. The Devout for an Earth-Bound cabal is a Succubus, able to Charm other daemons into attacking others and deflect some damage when she sees friendly daemons slay opposing daemons. 

Schemer and Succubus

    Some of the daemon profiles are up to interpretation so go ahead and use that sweet models that you can't seem to fit into any other games. I got a local 3D printer to print some bases for me, there is some hit and miss for quality but they were pretty cheap to get made.

    The band members all lined up ready to rock your socks off and devour your soul!

    

    For The Empty cabal, they are trying to unmake Hell. I went with a more muted paint scheme, mostly to get them off the table a bit quicker, but it also fit their theme. Only giving them splashes of colour besides the "Pain Smash" which just screamed to be bronzed. All daemons in The Empty cabal can destroy terrain or objective markers with a 6 on their attack roll. Both the Leader and Devout have some teleporting shenanigans as well. 

Devount - Void Demon and Leader - Zealot

    I went with models that were blind in some fashion, the bases were painted as a contrast to the Earth-bound bases, adding a hint of their base colours to them. 

For someone without eyes, the Pain Smash is quite the exhibitionist.

    My brother, Shawn, and I tried out Reign in Hell on Saturday. We played the scenario called The Prison, which has the cabals seeking forbidden knowledge from the captured daemon in the center of the table. Daemons who move within 3" of the pillars claim the objective, they only give it up after being slain or move away. However, the rules aren't clear when more daemons show up and the first original daemon has moved off the objective. I think we rolled off to see who claimed it, but I think in the spirit of the game, I think both would own it till either were slain.

Loonies for objectives

    And you are probably thinking, maybe, oh wow that's a neat mat that you have your miniatures displayed on there Jon. I have just made two mats based on the Black Magic Craft video here. I didn't use the oil washes and I was trying to add more of my mossy bits that I had, so it's bit rough. I also wasn't straying my watered down glue at first, which actually helped as it gave the grass some depth. 

    I have had the mats out in the garage which is a bit moist as the mats like to curl on the ends, so hopefully I can glue the opposite side to prevent this or the house temperature is more suited for them. 

Next on the Hobby Desk!

    I have joined a Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Tournament for July, now I just need to paint and assemble all the miniatures I need for it! Shouldn't be too bad, as I'll be playing Evil so a healthy coat of black is basically all I'll need.

Monster May(hem) 2023

    Looks like another May has passed us by! I can hardly believe it. Was planning for more, but with some travelling and tending to a backyard that hasn't seen much in lawncare in the passed two decades or so, it just wasn't in the cards. I hope Keith won't mind if my candidates for next year have a small head start (they were painted in May). As an extra kneecap to any progress I made, I accidentally broke off an arm on one model, so even, right? Painting a monster outside of May would be sacreligious, how dare you suggest that!?

Here are my entries for this year.

Nightwalker (Wizkids)

        Wizkid's monsters are very well done, good detail, and reasonable price. I prefer Reaper Miniatures for any smaller models. No real play for the Nightwalker, I liked it so I bought it, was thinking of using it for Reign in Hell, but it's base is double the size of all the other miniatures I have for it.

Rancor (Star Wars IA: Jabba's Realm)

    My partner gave me the Jabba's Realm expansion for my birthday... in 2017. Haven't played in sometime, would really like to get the core box and this expansion painted up and on the table again. 

    This rancor is the famous beast that resides the pit below Jabba's throne. Or at least, that's what the set implies. Witches of Dathomir are force sensitive warriors that ride rancors into battles, I painted mine to be owned by one of the sisters, giving her mount a tattoo after fierce battles together. Which brought me to my next idea, painting several Rancors with mounts. Imperial Assault can be played as a competitive tabletop game, so they could be fielded as an army. However, this Rancor is sold only in the Jabba's Realm expansion, a costly endeavor for what would most likely be a passing fancy. With a quick Google search though, it looks like someone has made a rancor with a rider in STL form. That's one step closer to my rancor army, haha! 

Size comparison to dandelions in my yard

    There you go, my meager entries into Monster May(hem) this year. I had two more miniatures planned, a fungal giant and a colossal skeleton. Yes, it's a skeleton, but it's big! Like a giant's or ogre's skeleton! Those count as monsters right?!

Next on the Hobby Desk

    I have a Reign in Hell warband almost finished off to show, just need a few highlights. For June, it will be time to finish off all the mostly done miniatures kicking around on the desk before I jump into the Season of Scenery for this year.