Another Milestone

This blog has just hit 20,000 page views (not counting my own).

Thanks to everyone who's commented, offered advice, support and encouragement.  I'll let you know when we get to 40,000.

Back with a bucket full of Bones!

I've been away for quite a long time as regular (if I still have any) readers will know.  I've been waiting for the Reaper Kickstarter rewards to arrive since April.

Yesterday they finally arrived.  Was I tired of waiting? Was I getting more and more annoyed with Reaper's refusal to tell international backers what was going on? Was I well and truly fed up with the constant disappointment? Yes to all those.

Am I happy now?  Am I satisfied with the miniatures now they have finally arrived? Have I forgotten the problems and forgiven the mistakes?  I hate to admit it but yes to all of those too.  When a woman gives birth they go through some very intense pain, but once the baby is born good old mother nature generally wipes away the memory of that pain.  Its just the same with my Bones delivery.  

I was ranting on the Reaper forum (sometimes with good reason) and complaining about a company I really like for its god awful communication.  But once I had the Vampire box in my hand and all those Bones miniatures came tumbling out everything was right with the world. 

There are a few issues with some of the sculpts, the Townsfolk Mom with Kids seems to have had a relationship with a potato.  This is the only reason I can think of to explain her potato faced offspring. Ellen Stone, a miniature I was really looking forward to has a face that's oddly similar to Pikachu's and Juliette the female Sorceress seems to have had her fingers burned (off!) casting a spell.

But casting problems are to be expected and with over 240 miniatures to paint i'm not going to lose any sleep over a couple.

As usual, Bones miniatures look like they're a little short on detail but in most cases that's just perception and once the paint is on the detail is excellent.

My next post will be my first paint job, Kagunk the Ogre Chieftain.

New Painting Table

I mentioned in my last post that I set up a new painting table and that i'd share it with you, well here it is.

I paint in my living room, this isn't a perfect solution but does have the main benefit of me being able to be sociable with my wife.  So when she's watching soaps (which I can't stand) I can occupy myself without having to endure them.

But painting in the living room does have some drawbacks.  First the painting table needs to be mobile so when we have company over it can be cleared away.  Second the level of noise has to be low so no electric drills or dremelling allowed. Third the amount of space is limited so the workstation has to stay organised and tidy.

I'm using a small computer desk with a pull out draw. It's on wheels so can be moved around easily and has plenty of storage area underneath for my basing materials, spare brushes, and the paint colours I don't use very often.  The pull out keyboard draw is the perfect place to keep my palettes.

Its a big improvement on my last table as the storage shelves mean I can keep the work space clear.  My angle poise magnifying lamp fits on one side and my little bench vice on the other.  

Both these tools are excellent additions to anyone's painting table in my opinion.  I don't use the magnifying glass too often, mainly for eyes, but the extra light is invaluable.  The vice comes in handy for all kinds of things including drilling miniatures so they can be pinned and holding them still while I file or cut them.

On my right I have my computer so I can reference photos for inspiration and listen to music, especially when Eastenders is on!

When the table needs to be cleared the paints and miniatures get packed away in plastic boxes and go onto the shelves the lamp gets unplugged and the whole lot gets wheeled into another room.

On the table at the moment are five of Bob Murch's Pulp Figures to finish for my regular DM's Pulp game, four Undead Pirates from Black Scorpion that I have no real need for but couldn't resist buying and two sets of barrels I picked up for £2.50 at Clifton Road Games this week.  They should come in really handy for all kinds of games.

Another Milestone

This blog has now hit 10,000 views, which isn't a huge number compared to some but certainly makes me happy and motivated to continue posting about painting, Role Playing and where to get great miniatures from.

Huge thanks to everyone who visits regularly and those that pop by occasionally.  To those that arrive here by accident and run screaming I can only apologize.

I'll post the next update on views when we hit 20k and when it doubles from then on.

5000 Visits to my Blog!

Hi everyone.

I've just had my 5000th visit to my Blog !  I'm very pleased as this doesn't track my own visits and I was fairly sure that no one but me would ever look at it!

Back in July when I started this blog I wanted to share what I was doing and maybe provide some inspiration to other Roleplayers that might want to use miniatures in their tabletop games.  Over that time my painting skills have improved, i've learned some new techniques, won prizes in a couple of competitions and painted some models i've been really proud of.  

In the last five months I've made 40 posts on subject like what scenery to use, Step by Step Guides and rants about Games Workshop and i'm glad you've enjoyed them.

Over the next few months i'm hoping that our local games will actually use miniatures more often so I can give you some reports and in game photos, a guide to making your own custom GM Screen, more photography guides and in March I have an enormous delivery of Bones Miniatures to look forward to.

Anyway, thanks for the support everyone.  Lets see if we can hit the next milestone of 10,000 posts in less time!  

The social acceptability of gaming. Or not.

Live Roleplaying at Dumnonni Chronicles
(Awesome Photo by Roy Smallpage, see more in the video below)

If you are anything like me (and if you are you have my profound sympathy) you probably have several hobbies that you don’t really tell casual acquaintances about.  I’m not talking about dressing in rubber or international jewel thievery but of Roleplaying, Wargaming and Live Roleplaying.

Me masquerading as a normal person

Just to put this into context I’m going to share a bit about myself, please feel free to skip to the next post if you start to yawn.

I’m in my mid forties, happily married with two sons and I have a responsible job managing a company that provides assistance to the elderly and disabled.  I’m reasonably well educated and financially comfortable, I’m a home owner and have no criminal record.  So pretty average in most respects.

My hobbies aren't exactly mainsteam though.  I don't watch football or play gold.  Over the years my obsessions have included painting figures, Roleplaying, Wargaming, Live Roleplaying and playing computer games including a lot of MMOs.   I've pursued some of these hobbies for nearly 30 years and doubt i'll ever give them up. 

Also me, but definately not normal.

I think its odd that I feel quite comfortable telling the people I work with that I went paintballing or played poker at the weekend but avoid telling them that I spent the weekend painting models, or playing D&D or dressed as a Pirate or Celtic Warrior at a Live Action Roleplay event. And if I do tell them I feel as if I need to justify my involvement with the hobby somehow.

Have you ever said something like ‘Oh its much more advanced than the kids version’ or ‘its just an excuse to get together with my friends’ or ‘the quality of the costume is as good as in movies’.  I’ve found myself saying these on many occasions.  As if having a hobby that is a bit different to the accepted view of what a 'sensible grown up' should do with his time is somehow subversive or worse, childish.

I’ll be the first to admit that most of these hobbies are ones I first picked up when I was a teenager, but I don’t really understand why a hobby like Roleplaying is seen as a game for children but poker is not.  Or why it’s perfectly acceptable to talk about Paintballing with work colleagues but we avoid talking about Live Roleplaying from the fear of ridicule.  Maybe its just me.

Initially I thought that the only common thread was that my kind of hobby requires the use of imagination to visualise a Roleplaying setting or to suspend my disbelief that John (who I know is quite an important person at IBM) is actually a blood thirsty Orc raider.

Actually, that doesn’t take as much imagination as you might think!

I think I do know now what the reason is.  The media likes to portray Roleplayers as geeks or nerds, it used to be the same for Comic Book fans (although this is changing in my opinion and it’s considered cooler than it was).  Maybe if more ‘cool’ celebrities like Vin Diesel, Robin Williams and Jack Black admit to enjoying the hobby the media might change it's stereotype of us.

In fact how about this for an idea.  There are loads of TV Poker shows on at the moment and frankly they’re pretty boring.  But how about we get Vin Diesel, Robin Williams, Jack Black and Felicia Day to do a televised D&D game with Joss Whedon as DM!  Its got to be better than watching other people play cards!

Next on Sky Sports.....Late Night pro Celebrity Dungeon Crawl!!

Another win!

I've just been informed that i've taken 2nd place in the Fantasy section of the Reaper Miniatures painting Contest!  I'm incredibly pleased with myself as the standard of entry was really really high with some professional painters entering.

Its nice to be appreciated!

So my very first blog post had a picture of an Ogre I converted and painted for the Golden Demon painting contest about 20 years ago.  It was really quite terrible.  That was the last painting competition I entered and I cheerfully accept that I am not a real artist, merely a semi talented amateur that knows a few tricks.

Fast forward 2 decades and I paint just for fun and for the benefit of my Role Playing group.  But I entered the Klaus model that I painted recently (see previous posts) in a competition for kicks and despite there being some really nice models in competition against poor old Klaus he actually won!  

Rocket Propelled Games (http://miniaturesforroleplaying.blogspot.co.uk/) are a new company (actually a group of gamers) who want to make decent good quality terrain pieces for other gamers.  I really like the direction they are taking and would recommend keeping a close eye on them and their upcoming Kickstarter campaign. 

I was delighted to be picked as their first featured miniature.  Thanks very much RPG Games!

Here we go!

I've been an amateur painter of figures since I caught the bug at my local Games Shop when I was 15.  I was drawn in by stink bombs, fake poo and video games (back when Space Invaders was new) and bought a figure to try painting.  I was hooked and played Games Workshops Warhammer games and painted quite a lot of figures.

27 years later and after numerous breaks i've got back into painting but for a different purpose.  Our long running sunday night roleplaying group has started using miniatures and its a real improvement for us.  Being able to visualise the same scenes as the GM is really usefull and helps us to enjoy the action more.

So why this Blog?  I wanted somewhere to record my progress on each painting project I start.  I also wanted to share my tabletop miniature's experiences with others as I found it quite hard to find any similar sites.

So if I get one reader other than myself i'll be happy.

A conversion I made a long long time ago!

Rich