Blam!

That's the sound of my painting points being shattered into a thousand pieces!

To cut a long story short, whilst everyone's been getting excited about the reveal of 9th Ed 40k, I've veered off in a completely different direction.

My hobby motivation has very much come in fits and starts over the past few weeks. I think being stuck inside has been starting to get to me a little. It pretty much killed my will to work anything. When I did, I found myself unable to focus on any one project for very long. 

A friend of mine managed to really stoke up my hobby inspiration again a few weeks ago though, which led to a completely unexpected purchase:

I've always been a massive potter nerd and loved the look of the Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game from Knight Models ever since they started previewing it a few years ago. I never had anyone to play with though so I never actually picked it up until now.

 If that sounds like a familiar story, that's because it's exactly what happened with Middle Earth last year! It was even the same friend who convinced me to take the plunge on both occasions. 

That friend added me to a Facebook group he runs for the game and let the beautiful models splashed across my FB feed slowly erode my self control. Clearly he's a bad influence on me! 

The models were a dream to paint up. I enjoyed working on them so much I managed to finish all of them over a single weekend. The small size the game is played at and the scale of the models themselves also really encouraged me to treat each one like a character piece in their own right, so they were great fun to do. 

I'm really proud of how the they turned out. I feel like these are some of my best painting to date! Normally I'm really self critical of my painting skills so that's saying a lot. 

After finishing the Order, everything kind of snowballed. My mate pointed me in the direction of an ebay shop selling other models for the game at ridiculously cheap prices and just like that, I was hooked. Three weeks after buying my first models for this game, my collection looks like this:

. 

I regret nothing! 

Yes my painting points are totally ruined when I already have a massive backlog of other stuff to work through, but at least it gives me something to occupy my ever dwindling attention span with whilst I'm still stuck inside. Even if I never actually play the game, they'll make excellent display pieces. 

That's all for today. Hopefully I'll have some more to show you soon as I get my hobby mojo back and try to dig my way back out of backlog hell. I've even had a fun idea to try and actually get some games ayed of some description, but I'll tell you more when I get there. 

For now, stay safe and I'll catch you next time. 

2019 into 2020: a slightly late New Year post.

 Happy New Year to everyone!

I've been away from blogging for a few months, mostly because of lack of reliable internet. It's been really frustrating, but I'm back now though and I figured I'd do a quick year review post and talk about my plans for 2020. I was hoping to get this out before the new year, but life gets inconveniently busy over the holidays unfortunately, so I'm sure you'll forgive the untimely nature of this post.

Overall I feel it's been a really fantastic year, both personally and hobby-wise. I've travelled around quite a bit this year, met some amazing people (both in and out of the gaming community) and generally had a pretty good time.

In terms of hobby, not only have I played some fantastic games, I've also managed to stick to 90% of the goals I set for myself back in January and achieve an ambition which I've had ever since I was twelve!

I'm referring of course to my adventures in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. Anyone who actualy pays attentions to my 'games played' sidebar will realise that I've been playing an awful lot of it this year. I've always something which I've wanted to do, having been a Tolkien nerd since an early age and been fascinated by the LOTR sections in the back of old White Dwarf magazines. There's never been a group near me who played it though, so I haven't been able to jump into the game.

 That changed back in January when I met Shaun through my local gaming shop. He's been a prominent member of the SBG community for years and it didn't take long for him to draw me in too. A single demo game was all it took!

I've found the LOTR/Hobbit community so friendly and welcoming, I feel I've really found my hobby happy place. That's probably the biggest reason why Middle Earth projects have made up the vast majority of the frankly ridiculous amount of painting which I've done this year. It's almost scary how easy it is to slip into a new army project when playing that system, something which I really should work harder to keep a lid on this year.

To give you an idea, this is a photo of all the Middle Earth miniatures which I've completed since February:

Those were on top of the various 40k and other projects I've completed, making for a grand total of 585 painting points earned across the year!

In fact I've been so productive that for a brief, shining moment, I actually broke into positive painting figures- something which I thought would never happen! The arrival of my Mirkwood army shattered that moment, but it's something that actually happened, abeit briefly and my hobby backlog is certainly a lot more managable now than it's ever been.

The only downside is that between all that painting and real life stuff happening, I've somewhat let blogging fall by the wayside this year. It's a shame because with 2019 being the most productive hobby year I've had for a long time, this should have been reflected in my blogging output, but in fact it was the quietest year on the Wandering Mind since I started it in 2009.

It's a situation which I'm determined to resolve going into 2020. I find blogging about my hobby really rewarding. If nothing else, it's a record of what I've done. I also love sharing my work with the world, even if not many people actually see it. I think part of the reason it's fallen off is that Facebook groups are far easier to post and share my work to these days. Doing that is nowhere near as satisfying though, Hopefully 2020 will be the year I finally get back to a more or less regular posting schedule.

Ok, now I've wittered on a bit, you're probably wondering: What are my plans for the coming year?
Well I'm glad you (hypothetically) asked:

 I don't really have any big new projects lined up got this year. With fully painted armies ready to go for each of the major systems I play, I'm in a pretty good place. I've got nothing huge looming which I need to tackle, but I've got a couple of ideas on where I want to go from here.

I think I'm initially just going to focus one finishing up projects I've already got going but gotten distracted from. The main ones I can think of right now are:

1. Mirkwood Elves

I need 333 points of these done for an event Shaun is holding at the start of February. Luckily I only need 13 models and I have 7 of those finished already, so this should be pretty quick to do.

I'm particularly proud of how my Rangers are shaping up for that force:

They're a bit more vibrant that most Wood Elves you see, something which was very much deliberate. Pretty much every Mirkwood force I've seen painted so far has a very muted pallete, which in turn makes the army look boring as hell to look at on the table. Don't get me wrong, I understand why people have made thos choices, it's just not what I want for my Wood Elves.

After getting the event army done I'll probably expand the force out 700-800pts at some point. I got Thranduil and some Armoured Elves for Christmas so they've gone on my painting list too, but they're not nearly as urgent, so I'll get around to them at some point. 

2. Nurgle Odds and End

I promised a friend of mine last year I'd paint up a load of his Death Guard and Nurgle Deamons, but with one thing and another I kept getting distracted. 

These are going to be tackled in early 2020 as fairly high priority, probably starting with a massive blob of Poxwalkers and Plaguebearers. Wish me luck!

3. Mordor Terrain 

If you've been paying attention to the few posts which I made this year, you'll realise this is another project I got majorly distracted from in 2019. I bought a box of Warcry terrain intending to turn it into a Mordor themed board, but then I had to finish off my Corsairs for an event, then got distracted even further by Mirkwood.

I want to get this done and dusted in the next couple of months so I can have a Middle Earth board to play on at home. Most of my home terrain is 40k-based with lots of city ruins, rubble and industrial gubbins - not exactly evocative of the grandeur of Middle Earth. Considering that SBG is rapidly becoming the main system which I play, this will enhance my play experience immensely!

That should leave me a bit of time to return to a project which I abandoned a couple of years ago:

 4. Fantasy Dark Elves

This is something which isn't really a priority but I'm wanting to weave between my other projects this year. 

The Old World announcement from GW a couple of months back has gotten me pretty excited for the return of square bases in some form. With this in mind, I figure I should get my Druchii finished ready to play with for when it eventually comes. I first bought my Dark Elves back in 2009, so I think it's high time I actually finished them to a good standard. I also have a couple of friends who are keen to dust off their old armies too, so even if these rumblings of the return of the Old World don't amount to much, it'll be good to play a few games of Fantasy again.

On top of that, I've got friend who's hinting at gifting me his old Orcs and Wood Elves, so there's a possibility that there's that to look out for at some point in 2020 too. As if I don't have enough projects to be getting on with!


So there you go, that's my slightly rambling review of 2019 done and dusted, along with a quick look ahead at 2020. With the blog going dark for so long, it felt pretty good to be able to return with quite a chunky post for people to sink their teeth into. Hopefully I can keep up the writing habit this year, but as ever we'll have to see.

Happy New Year once again. I hope you all have a great year both in and out of the hobby!

I never learn...

January sales at gaming shops are dangerous. I only went into Athena Games this morning to pick up the new Daemons Codex. Then I saw this sitting on the shelf for 35% off!

I think it goes without saying that I snatched up up right away. Yeah I'm weak.

I was going to pick up the Underhive box and Gang War at some point soon anyway, but I was hoping to get a bit more progress in on my existing projects before I took the plunge. I couldn't really argue with that price though.

So I'll be working on this for the next few weeks. I'll post more once I've made progress.

"I Aten't Dead"

It's been a while since my last post. This is mostly due to being unemployed and just having moved into a new place, so i've been too busy to get round to blogging. I've been slowly plugging away at some of my projects though. I even got some models finished for once! I'll be trying to post up my progress on stuff over the  next couple of weeks.

The main thing I'm working on atm are my Thousand Sons. I've finally found a red paint scheme which works for them and I actually like. This coupled with the release of Betrayal at Calth means I can get most of what I need in one go. I've got my copy of B@C ready to go, thanks to my lovely girlfriend who got it for me as an early Christmas present, but it's taking all my self restraint not rush through and assemble it all at once.

This is the test scheme i have so far for my XVth Legion:

I've got a plan to convert up some helmets for them from Chaos Warrior helmets, so he's remaining headless for now (Assuming I don't go the whole hog and buy FW heads for the whole army) and I'm going to see if I can prise the left shoulder pad off so I can replace it with the Mk IV Forge World ones previewed in their newsletter today, but other than that, I'm happy with how he's shaping up.

With the test model complete, I've started a little production line to paint up my first squad:

'Slow and steady' is my watch phrase for the whole project. Considering I've been planning this force for nearly five years now, I don't want to get too carried away and potentially ruin my expectations for the end result by rushing through it.

I'll post more soon.

Mk1 Dreadnought conversion WIP

I'm still in the process of moving flat, but I wanted something to work on, so I decided to treat myself to a moving-in present (that's my excuse anyway) and buy some of the new Ad Mech Kastellen Robots.

They're gorgeous models and I love the 50's Sci-Fi vibe they're got going on, but I had something different in mind for them. My plan was to convert myself an updated version of these:

Yup, the classic Mk1 Dreadnoughts. I've always loved these models, but they're a bit small and clunky to use in game these days. There's also the fact that the models go for ridiculous prices on eBay! It's a conversion idea which has caused surprising amounts of controversy on the various Facebook groups on which I've suggested it, so I'm determined to do them justice.

So I set about with creating my modernised versions. The first step was to construct the torsos. I'm aiming for the rounded look which the original models have, but to also add a little bulk. With the aid of a couple of 28mm bases and a stack of pennies, I came up with this:

I'm obviously leaving off the domed head, but a disc of plasticard neatly sealed the hole left behind. After that I added bits and pieces to bring it closer to the look and vibe of the original model, until I arrived at something I was was happy with. At the end of the night's hobbying I had this in front of me:

I couldn't resist painting up the legs, as they didn't even need converting. They're only lightly pinned atm until the body's finished. There's still a long way to go, but I'm quite liking how it's turning out. It has a definite resemblance to the Mk1, so I'm going in the right direction at least.

Unfortunately I won't be able to work any more on it until at least next week when I can get my hobby area set up in my new place. It's been carefully packed away for the move tomorrow. It's annoying, as I'm keen to crack on, but I'll just have to be patient. Good things come to those who wait after all.

Shattered Legions Warleader WIP

With me still being in the process of moving, I've been somewhat limited in what projects I can work on at the moment. The vast majority of them are boxed up ready for transit. I did however find a box of abandoned projects in a cupbaord and I couldn't resist having a poke around to see what I could do with them.

I ended up making this:

He's going to be some kind of iron hands character for my planned Shattered Legions project. He's probably going to either be a Preator or a Forge Lord and been given the provisional name of Arik Haxor.

It looks a mess atm, due to the mishmash of parts used from various states of painting, but I reckon he'll look great once properly painted. I still need to bulk out his legs a little though I think, as he seems a little top heavy. 

My Shattered Legions is going to be quite slow-burn I think, as money's going to be tight for me for a while. Forge World have also mentioned at their Open Day that there's a distinct possibility that proper rules for the Shattered Legions are likely to be coming soon, so I don't want to build anything I can't use.

Thunder Warrior Militia Commander

To distract myself from my disappointment at Age of Sigmar, I've been working on my Imperial Militia force for Horus Heresy, having fallen in love with the Militia & Warp Cult list FW have just given us in Tempest.

I've decided to go for a Techno-Barbarian theme, partly as a way to use up all the odds and sods from my bits boxes, but also because I'm liking the idea of a Mad Max-inspired force, with lots of salvaged weapon and vehicles.

Inspired by Babu Dakal from The Outcast Dead and also wanting a place to finally include the model, I decided to use the Mk1 Marine from the 'Armour through the Ages' set as my Force Commander, with his background having him be a rogue Thunder Warrior who escaped Terra and is now a tribal leader on the fringes of the Galaxy. With the quick addition of a 40mm base and a pet mastiff from the Kings of War range, he was ready to go.

Vesh N'rada, Rogue Thunder Warrior, Techno-Lord of the Dark Wastes

Kudos if you get the reference in his name. I'm really liking how this turned out, considering it's such a simple kitbash. I'll post some of his minions soon,

A rare find

It looks like my Tau mini-project and larger Inqusition force need to be put on the back burner for a few weeks, owing to the fact that I have finally acquired something I have wanted for a long time.

When I arrived at my local gaming club tonight, a friend of mine gave me these:

They're not the best of photos but I'm sure you can see what they are. Six Space Crusade Terminators and a 2nd Ed Tactical Squad. Both need to be stripped and have some TLC applied, but  they're still quite the find, especially as they didn't cost me anything!

I've been after the Terminators for years, but I've always been outbid on EBay whenever they come up.

I'm not sure how I'm going to use them yet, but the Terminators will probably going into my Sons of Horus or be used as Exo-suits in my fledgling Squat force. Either way they're going into the stripping tub tonight, ready for me to work on them on my free day on Wednesday.