Planning ahead and getting things done

I was catching up on older episodes of the Fools Daily podcast (@fools_daily) the other day when Mike Marshall (@OldManMyke), a notable of the wargaming community, made an interesting comment. He said that he unboxes and assembles everything that he buys as soon as he gets it home so as to actually see what he has and to avoid that "I think I have some boxes of those in the loft" situation. It struck me as a simple, but profound idea. I know that I buy stuff all the time, "Oh great! Askaris on sale, well I'll need those for the Colonial project I have planned!" It arrives, I have a quick glance at it, declare myself satisfied and then immediately box it away since I am busy with other things.

Things have gotten so far out of hand that I worry that I don't actually know what I have. So I decided to mirror Mr. Marshall to an extent, and began assembling miniatures on the weekend. There are three immediate benefits that I have experienced. Firstly, I have more room. Yes, oddly enough I am actually storing vast quantities of sprue plastic, and additionally, once I clip the spares off and put them into my bits box I am gaining space, millimetre-by-millimetre. It might not sound all that impressive, but I live in a small house and every box of miniatures that is rendered into little soldiers that stand on their own two feet is a small victory. The one thing I will now have to start sorting out is a better storage solution for my miniatures than bookshelves, but at least I am getting a sense of the scale of the project. I had always assumed that keeping my miniatures in mint condition in their boxes was space saving, it is not. It does however mean that these boxes are no longer "collectible", so much for flogging a plastic wrapped copy of Space Hulk! But these miniatures were bought to be painted, games to be played, not hoarded.

Sitting and building miniatures is a great, low energy, way to unwind after a long day.

Secondly, I am beginning to comprehend the scale of Lead Mountain™and can plan where I want to go in discrete stages. For instance with my Polish World War II project, I want to put together a section first, then do some Germans to match, and then upscale both so that I can actually start playing some tiny patrol actions. A similar thing exists with my Napoleonics. I have now completed three battalions of French, along with some loose foot, but I have nothing for them to go up against. It is difficult to find motivation when the prospect of painting several battalions for both sides is a prerequisite a actually playing a game. What this means is that I need to try and achieve an element of parity, which means I need to get amongst the boxes!

Finally, there is something therapeutic about just sitting glueing miniatures together of an evening. IT differs from painting in the sense that it is easy to pick and put down, and it requires far less concentration. It is also creative in a totally different way from painting because one is essentially composing the subject which will be painted later. I noticed that I gave far more thought to the overall look of the miniature, adding grenades and holstered pistols to Space Marines for instance, than I normally would. Especially since I normally paint my marines in about three parts, I am hesitant to add grenades and such because they often stop the arms from sitting correctly. The last thing you want to do, having painted a miniature carefully, is to get glue all over the place as you try and wrestle arms and accoutrements into place. Don't get me wrong, I still think certain parts of the model benefit from being added at the last, but certainly composing miniature almost entirely then allows little extras to be added during construction. In fact, I have done just this with my Deathwatch Kill Team that I started assembling on the weekend.

A Deathwatch Kill Team takes shape.

I suspect that composing bases at the same time might also be a good idea, especially if the bases are more complex than sand, paint, and static grass. It allows, I think, a great deal of interplay between the base and the miniature. I suppose that I had better explain what I mean in more detail, but Mr. Marshall has certainly changed the way I think about assembly. I always considered it a rather mundane and irritating process that got in the way of painting, when in fact it can be creative and actually highly motivating.

Go and listen to the Fools Daily, the chat is good and the hosts very knowledgable about all things wargaming related.

A Voice in the Wilderness

Where have I been you might ask?

Well, in truth I simply have not had a moment for the hobby in the last month or so. This is due both to being inordinately busy, but also due to a lack of priority. In the last two months I have been on one hell of a fitness kick, and as a result have lost two stone. So rather than sitting and painting I have been exercising. Furthermore, I've been on courses on my weekends so time hasn't been an abundant commodity.

That said, I haven't given up on the hobby by any means. The Ravenwing miniatures I was working on are still patiently waiting for me, as are my World War II Polish Infantry. I suppose what I really need to do is set aside an hour or two per night to get things done, but competition for my time is only getting fiercer.

What I have been doing, though, is trying to sell some of my old bits and pieces that I have no need for. Firstly to liberate space, and secondly to generate a little money. I'm looking to offload a bunch of classic Eldar stuff over the next while, including some metal Harlequins. If anyone is interested, do let me know.

This weekend I will be delving further into the boxes and trying to shift some Lord of the Rings stuff too, if time allows after a weekend on the ranges, see what I mean? Recently I have been thinking about the viability of "holding on things", and in all honesty, I need to downsize my collection. Obviously we all dream of hoarding all our bits and then one day getting around to doing x, but sometimes the smart thing to do is just cut and run.

I'll be advertising things on here first for a few days before listing them on eBay, so that readers get the opportunity for a bargain first.

2014 in Review, some statistics

As is often the case at the end of the year we take stock of all that has happened and try and make sense of it all. This year has been tumultuous to say the least, starting, as it did with a move to Australia that quickly went South, and followed by a swift retreat back to Britain. Since then it has been a case of working hard to reestablish myself, and also a return to my Reserve duties after a near six month absence. Naturally this has had an impact on my miniature painting. Oddly enough my time in Australia was particularly productive, mainly because I was essentially unemployed and found myself with a lot of spare time. The big one for me was the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge which started with zeal and incredibly swift progress before foundering on the rocks of reality back in Britain. So whilst it ultimately failed to produce the result of a 2000 point army, the fact that I made it to July and past the Zone Mortalis phase was a small victory. 

My Zone Mortalis force, 1000 points.

Life always gets in the way, but I am chuffed that at the end of the year I have most of a Dark Angel army to show for it, and have actually had a chance to play. Among the real positives of the year were the Dark Pact gaming weekends in Cardiff, which furnished me with an opportunity to use my nicely painted Dark Angels against Jim's beautifully painted Tyranids. These weekends of gaming and fellowship have only galvanised my desire to paint and also reinvigorated my enjoyment of Warhammer 40,000. It may not be the tight rule set that some people wish it was, but it certainly is a great game for a group of friends.

One of my favourite Ultramarines I painted this year. 

I have also more recently begun to attend Ambrosden Gaming Club with my old wargaming chum Taff, and they have given us a warm welcome. I can only hope that the new year gives us more opportunities to get together and play with toy soldiers. There are rumblings of a 40k campaign, or perhaps even something more esoteric like Necromunda. I am optimistic. As this blog documents, the bulk of my painting efforts have been 40k orientated, but I have been ploughing through other projects. My Viking fix up project is now almost complete, which has left me with a Saga force of decent proportions. Indeed, I had a look in a mystery box over the weekend only to find that I had even more of those lovely Foundry Vikings secreted away awaiting paint. 

In the realm of 15mm, I finished my Soviet Strelkovy Company which took over decade to complete. I'll cover them in a separate post, but suffice to say they are done. Hot on their heels is a Finnish platoon which as been painted in rapid time, and finished just this side of 2015.

I must also add that on the quiet I have also finished my first 15mm American Civil War Confederates. Again this was a project that had its genesis over a decade ago when I was far more into the gaming side of the hobby and which has languished in the queue. These are now done, all based up for Fire & Fury, and ready for action against the Yankees. 

I've also managed to get two more battalions of French troops ready for my 28mm Napoleonic project, bringing me up to three infantry battalions and a handful of individually based miniatures for Sharpe Practice. I have another two battalions of Ligne to add, and then a cannon and some hussars from the Perrys. Reviews and photos to follow. 

Back at the start of the year I purchased the Warmachine starter box, and in the intervening months I have only managed to paint up one Warjack and my Protectorate of Menoth Warcaster Kreoss. Work continues on the other Protectorate bits, as well as pottering along with the Khador parts. Sorscha should be ready for the camera soon. 

High Exemplar Kreoss and his Crusader.

When I reflect on what has been achieved this year it appears to be quite substantial and I must declare myself satisfied. Certainly I could have done more, but on balance, and considering the relative tumult of my life this year, it feels good. 

Figures Completed (painted, based, and varnished)

• 30k Ultramarines - 8
• Imperial Guard - 1
• Orks - 4
• Dark Angels - 45
• Chaos - 1
• Warmachine - 2
• Vikings - 18
• French Napoleonic - 53
• 15mm Soviets - 104
• 15mm Confederates - 63

Games Played

• Warhammer 40k: 1 Win, 1 Draw, 4 Losses.
• Battlefleet Gothic: 1 Loss.

As you can see, gentle reader, not so many games, but plenty more on the horizon. 

Reflection on e-Books and Wargaming

I must admit that I am a little frustrated every time I play with my Dark Angels. Inevitably there is a rule that will need checking, or a statline, "how exactly does Grim Resolve work again", etc. I have a physical Warhammer 40,000 rulebook, and I have developed the muscle memory from only about three uses that allow me to jump between the sections I need at will. It also sports an index which makes finding anything really quick and easy.

The triumph of form over function.

Earlier in the year I made the decision to go digital and buy my Codices on my iPad. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I would save space, and the pictures and such look really grand on an iPad display, and additionally the iBook updates as Games Workshop push out the FAQs. However, from a practical standpoint it is simply too clunky. I can't jump between parts of the book quickly, and many is the time I have stood there tapping at the screen, swiping left to try and get to the correct page, while my opponent has to stand there, waiting on me. It simply isn't good enough. I want to move quickly between parts of the book and I feel that even with the ability to pull up rules definitions with a tap it simply isn't very ergonomic. I think that in future I might just stick with a physical copy.

In a similar vein, I have had an even worse experience with Privateer Press's digital content on my iPad. I have the Warmachine Rulebook on there, and as far as I can tell the app never remembers where I last was, nor does it allow me to bookmark anything. Worse, if I let the iPad fall asleep and then unlock it, without leaving the app it doesn't save the state I was last in. Time to open the PDF again. Privateer Press's app suffers from being poorly designed as a functional piece of software that the user will refer to, rather than read continuously.

However, this said, there are instances where wargaming does benefit from the digital revolution. TooFatLardies have for some time published everything they do in PDF format. This has multiple benefits, firstly it is platform independent. I dropped the files onto my Google Drive and can now access them wherever I am, and on any device that can display a PDF. Secondly, the fact that the documents I get from them are only PDFs, means that I can print them if I want. In other words, I can have my rules as soon as I pay for them, and once I do, I can print out those sections of the rulebook which I feel are necessary for reference. Additionally, TooFatLardies also publish quick reference sheets and other useful bits to enable gamers to play. Ultimately, a gamer seldom needs everything in physical media, campaign rules for example, or the army lists at the back of the book, and having a stripped down version of the rules helps in this respect. That said, even the iBook experience isn't all negative. I have several of the painting guides and a have the Kill Team iBook, both of these publications are of such a nature that I don't need them to be overly slick in terms of navigation, and the painting guides are especially nice in the digital format with the increased interactivity.

Campaign systems are perfect for digital platforms

Of course, I can understand why Privateer and Games Workshop have "siloed" their electronic publications, piracy. What they don't want is rules proliferating around the internet for free, and I suppose TooFatLardies have a very loyal following who are likely to pay for something. As an aside, TooFatLardies rules are usually cheaper than GW's or PP's offerings, but that is another conversation. My point is that I have no inherent opposition to either of the methods of access, I just wish the experience was better on the digital front. The fact remains that rulebooks and Codices are reference materials, and therefore they need to be easy to handle, or at least offer the user the opportunity to print out a sort of crib sheet.

I realise that absolutely nothing will change because of this post, however, I do think that I shan't be buying any more Codices in the iBook format. For the money I am paying I would rather get a nice solid book that functions adequately as a reference. Perhaps if the electronic editions were notably cheaper that would be an incentive, but since the prices are more or less equal, they do not even represent a saving. That said, I won't be buying physical copies of the Dark Angels or Imperial Guard codices in addition to my iBook editions, I shall just have to plough on through.

And just to prove that I have done some painting, here is another almost finished member of my Command Squad for my Dark Angels:

Chain of Command Sale Now On!

TooFatLardies are currently holding a sale on all things Chain of Command. So now is the time to pick up some excellent rules, and the campaign supplement At the Sharp End, at a great price. I bought mine this morning, along with I Ain't Been Shot Mum and the sci-fi rules, Quadrant 13. I am very interested in using these various rules to play with my 15mm World War II stuff, as well as my 40k things. I must admit, I watch some really excellently produced battle reports on YouTube, especially by StrikingScorpion82, but I am convinced that these rules aren't nearly granular enough for me. 

Warhammer 40,000's "I go, you go" mechanism places a premium on gaining the first turn and pounding your opponent with you heavy guns. Winning is therefore a combination of luck and winning the initiative, as the enemy might not have much left after a heavy turn of bombardment. In reality, all action should be near simultaneous, and elements of the enemy force should be firing back or reacting to effective enemy fire by taking cover. If one couples this with the arms race that is Apocalypse, the game becomes horribly one dimensional. In a large Apocalypse game that SS82 recently filmed, a squadron of four Leman Russ battle tanks was destroyed by a single shot. This highlights two things, firstly, weapons can be horrendously powerful, and secondly, the table needs to be larger to allow armoured formations to spread and manoeuvre more effectively, but at 28mm scale the table would need to be far bigger. My advice, just play Epic.

I have said this many times before, but I am a huge fan of the 40k universe. I think it is the most popular Sci-Fi wargames setting for a reason, and as such I am loathe to leave it behind. However, nothing says I have to play using Games Workshop's rules, so I am going to see if I can't utilise the Quadrant 13 rules, and perhaps build my own bastardised ruleset. What I really would like is a more interesting activation sequence, probably card driven, to break the tyranny of the 40k turn sequence. The emphasis that Lardies rules place on "big men" also adds a sort of Rogue Trader-esque role-play element to the game which should make for an interesting narrative campaign. 

Games Workshop Website Relaunch

Games Workshop recently relaunched their website. I must admit that I prefer the cleaner look and the less cluttered feel. Additionally, the website is super responsive, and even features a mobile site. Another surprise was the limited edition figure that you get when you spend over £60. 

Copyright Games Workshop

Furthermore, when you get this chap you also receive a code that entitles you to order another exclusive figure when you next order. The cynics amongst us might snort in derision, "Look at Games Workshop forcing us to buy from them. *Insert rant about corporate greed*." I actually have no issue with this. GW have to compete with other retailers selling their own stuff at a lower price, and their new emphasis on exclusive figures, a no questions return policy and web exclusive figures, is a fresh break from simply trying to smother their own vendors. I suppose it is a more positive approach, trying to win business by offering the customer something that they can't get anywhere else. 

I was also pleased to see the rerelease of the Imperial Guard, or Astra Militarum. The new figures look exceptional, and the bundles on offer actually represent a saving. Well, certainly the Cadian Defence Force at £100 saves the buyer a few pounds. I don't know if it is really enough to stop me from buying from a independent who can probably save me more money, but it is good to see GW trying to understand that their customers expect a good deal from a bundle. 

As an aside, I don't have the new Astra Militarum codex. Firstly, I will continue calling them Imperial Guard, I understand why GW have rebranded them as Imperial Guard is impossible to defend as intellectual property, but the name irritates me. I have a degree in Latin, not the smartest choice career wise but there you go, and if you translate Astra Militarum it means something like "Stars of the Military" which is pure nonsense, in fact Militarum is nonsense and means nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if they used Google Translate. Now, I understand that high gothic in 40k is supposed to be a corrupted version of Latin, much like how Medieval Latin was a corruption of Classical Latin, but this irritates me so intensely that I will simply keep calling them Imperial Guard. 

I already have a large force of Guard, so I don't really need to buy anything. However, the codex is a must have so I will pick that up as and when I find the time. Suffice to say, I like where Games Workshop is going with the new website and the latest launches, they have also been active on YouTube which is really good to see. There are showcases of the new releases and also how to videos, which represents a nice shift away from charging you for that content either through White Dwarf or iBook downloads. Have a look at their channel you might be pleasantly surprised.

And here for good measure is my work in progress shot of Librarian Turmiel for my Dark Angels HPC.

How To Paint Lots of Miniatures, Quickly

Nothing looks more impressive than painted troops manoeuvring across a tabletop decorated judiciously with terrain. Blue coated Frenchmen facing off against white coated Austrians, with green trees, a shallow blue brook, and a few stone hovels dotted about, makes a game of toy soldiers come alive with colour and really fires the imagination. Conversely, nothing deflates the imagination quite as much as a bare table with little or no terrain, and worst of all, bare plastic cavorting atop it. Certainly, when we all begin we start like this, our keenness overcomes aesthetic qualms as we simply want to play, and no one would dream of curbing our enthusiasm. However, weeks turn into months, and while the horde of grey plastic continues to grow, there might be little evidence of colour creep, and, while highly abstract woods in the form of an irregular piece of white paper with "woods" written on it might have been charming when we first started, no one can doubt that it is starting to all look a little bit lame.

Some people are into wargaming for the games, others for the modelling, but like it or not, we must indulge in both in order to qualify as wargamers. Even if your idea of modelling is to pay somebody to paint your figures for you, you are still getting it painted. I would suspect that one of the main reasons for people leaving the hobby is their apparent inability to get things painted, and thumbing through an issue of Wargames Illustrated or White Dwarf only further compounds the problem as the bar is set monumentally high. The hobbyist paints perhaps a handful of marines, and then comparing it to the beauty seen in the magazines declares, "mine looks nothing like that!" And so frustration. I used to be of a similar demeanour, always berating my own painting skills in the face of a 'Eavy Metal paint job, until I took my first painted army to a Warhammer tournament. It was an Empire army and my palette consisted of whites, blue, red and oranges. There was nothing particularly fancy about it, I did no highlighting, just glazes and washes, and yet strangers were commenting how great it all looked. I was baffled.

It was around this time that I realised that no one actually picks up your models and appraises them under a magnifying glass. They really don't. It gets said elsewhere, in many hobby books, but it does demand repetition, your models are going to be viewed from about a metre away, most of the time. Also, they will mostly be viewed from the top down. By all means, lavish attention on that character stand or model, these are the models that get the attention, but the nameless spearmen, third from left in the second rank of that unit of Viking hirdmen is simply just not interesting enough to be noticed. So let's just get things painted! Admittedly it is a little harder with loose formation figures, like say Space Marines, since we feel that they are more to be appraised from various angles, whereas ranked troops are somewhat hidden from view. However, realistically nobody cares much for a tactical marine, so he just needs to be done. 

Method is Everything

I find that if I approach the painting of a unit in a methodical fashion it tends to get done quickly. I've seen some folks lay out a block of forty troops and paint them up one colour at a time. I must admit I prefer smaller chunks, although I can knock out 24 Napoleonic troops in almost no time largely because the poses and uniforms are so repetitive. 

These Old Guard Grenadiers painted up in no time. 

With the Hobby Progress Challenge this year I have been able to paint up a ten man Space Marine squad in two weekends, with no time spent on them during the week. And this hasn't been a case of spending my whole day at the painting table, but doing smatterings here and there. As you can see by the image below, the results are pleasing and means that in the space of three months, I have painted up three troops choices for my Dark Angels, which means I have the functional "spine" of my army done.

So how do I get this done? Well, firstly I get the ambience right, I've discussed this in a previous blog post. The next thing is to break the process down into manageable parts. These consist broadly of the following steps:

1. Undercoating: I spray undercoat my figures on the sprue if they are plastics. And I almost always use grey, Army Painter do a good grey. I like grey because it is neutral and all colours adhere to it without the need for many coats. If I am painting miniatures with lots of white, I might use a white undercoat, but grey usually does the trick.
2. Assembly: I hate this stage, I really do. In my opinion line troops don't need to have customisable arms legs and everything else. That said, it needs to be done, so I just get on with it. I always try and assemble with a view to how I am going to paint the figure. In the case of a space marine I will assemble the whole figure except for the shoulder pads. I know some people like to leave them in pieces and assemble after painting, but as a general rule, if you can't reach it with a paint brush you are not likely to see it. 
3. Basing: Okay, here is the part where many people laugh at me, but yes, I do the bases before I paint the figures. I like to drybrush my bases, and it can be a little bit messy, the last thing you want is to hit your careful highlights with sloppy drybrushing. I might not flock the base at this point given that sometimes the base gets a touch of the highlight colours which can be cleaned later. 
4. Basecoats: This consists of applying block colours to the miniatures. Our base colours, once this stage is done the model looks basically complete, if a little flat. 
5. Washes: I hit almost every surface with an ink wash, this draws out the creases and gives the miniature some depth. With my Napoleonics, I apply quickshade dip at this stage. I know some people view it as cheating, but it really isn't any different from using inks. 
6. Details: This is where most of the time gets spent, essentially finishing every model individually. At this stage I apply my highlights. I only paint one figure at a time at this stage, applying highlights in various areas continually so that it dries as I paint the next area so that I can return to it. 

That is it. Each step can be as simple or elaborate as you please, but speed is essential. What I tend to find is that up until step 5 everything gets done on a production line as those are the parts of the method suited to it. Once I reach my final step I essentially finish each model individually. If you follow this method, you will get results. I have spent years discovering this for myself. I read all the articles in magazines and on the internet, but splitting my painting process into a group/individual phase just made it all come together for me. 

What I hope to do soon is post an article on a specific example of a unit that I am painting, so that you can see the method in action step by step. However, I suspect this might only happen once I am back in the UK in May, so there will be a delay in all likelihood. However, this article has laid the foundation for our method and the reasoning behind it so that the step by step tutorials will make sense. 

Painting Units Quickly

Those who have been following my recent progress will know that I have been getting a fair bit of painting done. In fact, I was rather chuffed that I managed to get my April commitment for the Hobby Progress Challenge done before April even began. Now, I could write an article about my painting method, which I probably will, later. However, I find that the biggest barrier to getting units painted is in fact not a lack of opportunity or an inefficient method, but a lack of desire to sit there and get it done. The solution is that as painters we need to tackle the root of the problem, which is the ambience of painting.

The Ambience of Painting

Where do you paint?

I sit at this table, on this stool. It is surrounded by a very busy living room space and kitchen where people are always coming and going, the TV is on and it is never quiet. Back in the UK I have a little corner of my bedroom dedicated to hobby time. It has a quiet monastic feel, and I sometimes imagine myself sitting there like the Venerable Bede painting late into the night.

How I see myself when painting

The reality is that I prefer the peace and quiet of my own space, but I can't have it. So I have to adapt. My number one cheat is to twin actions with suitable ambient noise. When I am painting bases, or doing the initial assembly or basecoats or washes on a squad I tend to put a film or TV show on, something that benefits from my eyes drifting towards it every now and then. This also allows me to be more social and exchange the odd word with my housemates, because nobody wants to be that guy.

However, when I get to the finer detail stage and I am trying to focus entirely on the figure before me, I put my headphones on and choose a suitable podcast or audiobook to keep me company while I pick out details carefully. This has the benefit of locking out external noise, whilst still keeping my mind occupied. I suppose music would work equally as well, but I like to feed my mind while I focus my manual functions. For me painting miniatures is fundamentally a therapeutic exercise. It allows me to unwind and focus my mind, but not the entirety of it. This process is explained well in Robert M. Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" which really explores the virtue of actions like motorcycle maintenance or fishing on the mind. If you haven't read this book, please do.

Painting is systematic, no matter how creative or unique it appears, but the process of base layer, shading and highlighting, arranged in whatever order you choose, remains systematic or methodical. As a result my body is able to go through the process of painting a Space Marine without too much hassle for my active consciousness. What this means is that my active mind is free to roam, and in the presence of obtrusive ambient noise it can easily be distracted, thus pulling me entirely away from my painting. Therefore, to keep my focused on my task, but also to keep the active part of my brain occupied, I listen to podcasts or audiobooks. Here are some of my favourites, in no particular order:

• The Ihnatko Almanac: Andy Ihnatko's eclectic meanderings across many subjects in his conversational style keeps me entertained for hours. Thoughtful and very listenable, he never fails to make me chuckle. He often talks about comics, films and technology, so things with broad appeal.

• This Week in Tech: A panel show which does what it say on the tin. Some of Leo Laporte's guests are simply brilliant to listen to, especially Jerry Pournelle and John C. Dvorak.

• Crippled System: A Warmachine/Hordes podcast. I listen to this largely for the banter, as I am not really dialled into the jargon of Warmachine. 

• Meeples & Miniatures: I've mentioned this one before. If you like TooFat Lardies games then this is as close as an official podcast as you'll get! Rich Clarke is often on, and the broad range of games and periods that Neil Shuck tackles is a nice change from the narrow field of game specific podcasts. A little Kickstarter heavy at the moment, but that reflects the trend I suppose.

• Grumpy Wargamers: A lot of grumbling about Kickstarter abuse on this one, I love it. The guests and hosts are really knowledgable, and one episode focussed on the cost of manufacture in wargaming, which I found dead interesting. This is an occasional podcast, but always worth the wait.

• Fools Daily: These bite sized podcasts are excellent for that quick morning painting sesh, when the house is quiet and no one else is up. Armed with brush and cup of coffee it gives me a little dose before my day begins.

• Malifools: Undoubtably the king of Malifaux podcasts. Mr. Marshall and his gang of ne'er-do-wells are good fun. The banter is great and the voices of mature wargamers who have been around the block are definitely worth listening to. I don't play Malifaux, though the figures can be sublime, but nothing makes me want to play more than this podcast. It often deals with the tournament scene, but what I like is that it doesn't suffer from the Bad Dice Podcast syndrome of having a highly competitive bent, but is heavily community centric. It pitches the Malifaux scene as a glorious cosa nostra that belongs to all, veteran and beginner alike.

• Independent Characters: I have been listening to this podcast for a long time now, and love it so much that I listened to all the back issues. As a 40k podcast I was initially sceptical as to whether I would like it or not, but once I dove in I was pleasantly surprised. The hosts are great, they don't pretend to know everything, and their garagehammer attitude with a strong focus on narrative is right up my street. Again, very community focussed, with a very active forum. These guys host the Hobby Progress Challenge that gets people painting so for that alone they deserve praise.

• Garagehammer & After Ullanor: Hosted by Mr. Witek and friends, these are long podcasts. However, I feel that they are very inclusive and Mr. Witek's rambunctiousness (can I use that?) and loudness is less serious and more fun than many podcasts. These guys are all about the fluff and the character driven game. After Ullanor is a subsidiary podcast which is the Horus Heresy book club. The treatment each book gets is very thorough, and I don't always agree with what the hosts say, but it has an air of inclusion that makes you feel like you are part of the conversation.

Here is just a selection of the "noise" that I use to help me get painting. Of course, I have omitted audiobooks, but those are another great source of brain food whilst painting. I hope that this short piece might help someone get things done with a brush, it works for me and there is no reason it shouldn't work for you.

In the Market for a New Game

One of the problems I face at the moment, besides relative joblessness, is the fact that I can't game. Not that I have ever been a prolific gamer, but with so much free time on my hands it seems a waste to not be able to indulge. The issue is that, even if I wanted to, I can't. I have with me a Dreadball team and some 40k Dark Angels, but I am not in a position to play as I am not overly familiar with Dreadball, and don't have all the books and such with me. I will need to make contact with a Dreadball player first, and then rely on their stuff to get up and running, only providing my own team. As regards 40k, I have nothing of note painted, and the scale is so small now that only Killteam is viable. I love Killteam, I remember the rules for it in White Dwarf many years ago, it is a great game to play with good friends, perhaps as part of a larger narrative. It does not, however, play well for a pick up game. Also, given that I haven't play a game of 40k since the 3rd edition rules, it probably isn't wise to start with Killteam.

Therefore I am in somewhat of a quandary. I need to find the local game that has a following, and it needs to be small in terms of models. I spoke to Gavin at Irresistible Force, and his group are big Warmachine/Hordes players. I always liked the look of the Jacks, but I got the idea, and I don't know where, that I wouldn't like the game. The other contender is Malifaux. Slightly more out of the way for me, but the game sounds brilliant. I am an avid listener to the Malifools podcast, and the general chat about the game and the sense of community, even on the competitive side, seems to me to be a winner. The problem is that I have never played. The good news is that the models are beautiful, and many will, I suspect, fit well into a 40k setting or Mordheim setting. So I am very tempted.

I suppose the fact that for either game I can pick up a crew for around 50$AUD and get playing is a good thing. Warmachine is also highly developed on the iPad, with the rules and other aids being available, helping me as weightless rulebooks are a must for me. I think the next step in this journey will be to arrange a demo game. I need to play these games and see the models in the flesh before I decide what to commit to, but at the moment I tend towards Malifaux.

Regular readers might scoff, "do you really need another game?" Well, the answer is simply that I don't view my miniature collection as something that is mutually exclusive. I can see myself using Warjacks in 40k skirmish games, or Malifaux characters on the streets of Mordheim, and why not? So in real terms, my only investment into a game system is into rules and that can come later.

Any thoughts on the matter will be highly appreciated.

PS. Infinity?

Gaming on a Budget

I find myself in somewhat of a bind at the moment. Usually, I can do whatever I please hobbywise. I rather fancy basing these figures, trundle off to the massive bag of sharp sand, microwave it. Giant bottle of PVA and applicator brush, we are ready to roll. Sadly, I can't do that now. I don't have sharp sand, I don't have PVA, or even a brush to apply it with. And in a further twist of fate, I don't have a little place to work on my little toy people. How very sad.

I think we often take for granted the kind of hobby infrastructure we build up around us over the years of painting and modelling. In the UK I have an extensive collection of paints, basing materials, and figures. There are few things I can't do with a quick rummage. Things are very different over here. I thought to get on with my first Hobby Progress Challenge Unit over the Australia Day weekend. Upon closer inspection of my figures though, it turns out that not only did I not remove all the necessary mould lines (naughty me), I only based some of them with sand before leaving. The problems are twofold; firstly, I don't have a hobby knife, and I somehow don't think my trusty penknife is up to the job. Secondly, I have no basing materials. One might ask, "why don't you simply paint the figure and base them later?" No. Once I lock down down the basing for an army, I always base first, not the edge or the static grass, but the sand and painting it. Since as it involves drybrushing, it can be quite messy, and the last thing you want to do is to spend hours lovingly working on a figure only to mess it up with errant strokes. This is a personal workflow thing, but I just work better this way.

Now, both of the above problems are fixed by a simply visit to Irresistible Force in Tana Merah, however, it also requires treasure, of which I am a little light at the moment. Our hobby isn't cheap by any measure and I think that until you find yourself without that cushy £25k+ per annum job it is difficult to appreciate just how expensive it can be. I think that not since I was an impoverished student have I felt the weight of the prices we pay. And this doesn't simply extend to Games Workshop, the hobby is expensive across the board. I wonder how teenagers afford even one boxed set? Never mind the paints and the other ancillaries that are required to actually do anything with it. Woe are we. Nevertheless, to remedy the situation I set about compiling a list of things I need, perhaps I should have had this list before I went make my first purchase:

- Hobby Knife
- Basing sand/gravel
- Static grass
- PVA glue
- Some more paints and washes
- Pin vice

Some things in the above list were more important than others, the Pin Vice was a luxury, but one I really wanted. The trick was now to try and source these items for as cheap as possible without compromising on quality. So, on Wednesday I set off with my cousin who was simply curious about the hobby to Irresistible Force. Firstly, I had been there the week before Australia Day and still there hadn't been a replenishment of stock. So I had to get a little creative with the paints and inks I wanted, hopefully it will all work out in the end. I also couldn't resist, I saw this and had to buy it.

The figures are gorgeous, and my cousin, who spent an hour in the store with me ooo'd and ah'd, she might just play a game of Dreadfleet with me. So that was an impulse buy, naughty me. Other than that, the only thing I really still need to progress on with my Dark Angels is some PVA glue which I can get at any craft store cheaply, but I just haven't gotten around to doing that as I have been busy job hunting etc. I did manage to finish a Tactical Marine in the space of an hour, barring the basing of course, so progress is being made. What I now need is a little box like paint station that I can store away and bring out as and when I want to paint, so as not to offend me housemates and H who I am sure don't want any of the living spaces littered with Space Marines. But that is a  topic for another post.

So for now I work away at my Tactical Squad, and read. I finished Battle for the Abyss the other night at around 2am as I couldn't sleep. And I am onto Mechanicum...