Sunday 5 January 2014

The Workbench, January 2014

Introduction

It's that time of year again when I hope to do a lot of painting during the holiday season.  However, as usual, a combination of family duties and sickness has prevented much progress.  For comparison, this is the state of things one year ago: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-workbench-december-2012.html.  One of these years I will get stuff done over the Christmas and New Year holidays!


So instead of showing you all my output for 2 weeks of effort, here's a record of my untidy workbench...

The Bench

Let's start the tour at the left hand side.  Here we have one of my Christmas presents: a box of figures destined for SAGA.  Most of them are monks, some of whom are armed.  These will form an angry mob, probably for my Scots warband (since they're angry at the Vikings, they cannot be part of that force).  There are also another bard and a mounted Scots warlord in the box.

Further back, but still on the left, is my Barbarian army for Hordes of the Things.  This was last year's Christmas present and I have actually completed 3 bases of it.  Only another 9 or so to go...

Next to that, there is a pile of boxes.  The top box contains a mixture of figures that are waiting to be sealed.  I managed to run out of varnish a day or two into the holiday season, just as all the small hobby retailers shut up shop for 2 weeks!  Still, as soon as the ordered materials arrive, it will only take a few moments to finish off these models.

The next box down in the stack contains another Christmas present.  This is a small squadron of starships that I will use as Tholians in my "not Trek" games.  Tholians were a very minor race in the Star Trek universe, most notable for their unique energy web technology.  I'll need to come up with some appropriate Full Thrust rules for the Tholian Web...

To the front of my painting station is a plank bridge.  My apologies for the quality of the photograph; this didn't come out well and I haven't the energy to re-take it.  The bridge is my first attempt at using coffee stirrers as building materials; I think it'll be quite effective when finished.

The rest of the painting station is the normal jumble of figures in various stages of construction:
  • There are a few Dark Age warriors (part of my nascent Anglo Dane SAGA warband) to the front left.
  • Several buff-coated cavalrymen and their horses are visible; these will add to my force of Witch Hunters.
  • A couple of Dreadball teams are in the clear trays in the centre.
  • Most of the other figures are assorted Old West gunslingers & civilians and modern zombies & survivors.
Finally, my West Wind bikers can be seen at the rear right, where they have languished since last year's workbench posting.  Oh, well - maybe I'll finish them this year!

21 comments:

  1. That is close to the chaos of my work bench! As I am currently working on 5 different projects in 3 different scales. Which just goes to show how unorganised I am. I am also about to start assembling my Deadzone figures so that will add another project to the list!

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    1. Chaos indeed. I don't think I'll ever have it under control...

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  2. I need to clean my desk a bit..... Still; a messy desk is a messy mind. What then...Is an empty desk? BOOORING!

    ;-)

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    1. Yes, I think I need to tidy up a bit as well :-) . I agree that an empty desk is a sign of an empty mind, though!

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  3. It may look cluttered and chaotic but I bet you know where everything is. It reminds me of my man cave, only you have far more desk space! I want to know what are the two foam-card buildings to the far left of the first photo?

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    1. Well, I know the whereabouts of anything I've handled in the last year or two. Not so sure about the stuff that's in deeper storage, though :-( .

      The foam core buildings you've seen are the sad remains of my failed build of Stoelzel's auto showroom, garage and carwash: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2013/08/building-disaster.html . I do intend to do something with them eventually, but I don't know when I'll muster enough enthusiasm...

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  4. That looks like a lot of fun, so much going on!

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  5. I need to get a permanent space to paint minis. Right now the unfinished figs stay in boxes in the closet till I pull some out to paint. My progress is a lot slower than yours.

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    1. I have many, many boxes of part-painted and unpainted miniatures as well as the models on my desk! And still I find myself buying more...

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  6. a Man Cave anyone should be proud off.

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    1. Cavelet, perhaps - the other half of the room has my wife's university notes and other stuff. Also there's no wide-screen TV and no beer - does that disqualify it from being a man cave :-) ?

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    2. Hmm Jury is out over that one.

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  7. At least it is nice and messy!..best way.

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    1. Well, I'd like it to be a bit tidier. It's just that this never seems to happen!

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  8. That's a lot going on. I only have 4 half painted zombies I've postponed as I'm working on more "urgent" project, but other than that, I hate leaving things half done :D

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    1. That's just the stuff on display - there's loads more in boxes stored around the room. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever finish all my models :-) ...

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  9. So after they're all finished, what you planning to do next month ?

    There is a lot of stuff there and all of of immediate use when finished as far as I can tell (they are all "reinforcements" aren't they?)

    Good luck with it all.

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    1. Next month? Hmm, I'll have to try and think of something to do :-) .

      I suppose that technically the HOTT Barbarians, SAGA Anglo Danes and Tholian starships are all "new" forces rather than reinforcements, though none of them break into a previously-untouched genre or ruleset.

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  10. Lots of good stuff there Hugh. Just keep plugging away.

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    1. Thanks, Sean. There is progress - models do get finished - and yet the workbench always seems to be just as cluttered as before. Strange...

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