State of the ‘Zoid

It’s been nearly a month since my last update.  Here’s what’s been going on:

Life

I turned 28 on 9/25.  Ladyzoid, Libbers and I went camping and had fun seeing deer, watching stars and making Hot Dogs and s’mores.  I’m not 100% sure Libby enjoyed it, as you can see, she spent most of the time cuddled in her bed. She did OK once she got into the tent, but I don’t think she felt safe out in the open.

My folks came into town just a week or two ago, and spent a long weekend visiting us.  They brought lots of old tools and models and stuffs I had stashed with them.  It was awesome seeing them.

My weight’s been a focus recently, also.  Not that I’ve been spending much time working out or anything, but part of being better about my health is getting enough sleep.  I burn the candle at both ends of the night way too much, so I’ve started sleeping more.  Or trying to, anyway. Counting calories has been helping, I’m 15 pounds down over the past two months, and I’m starting to finally see numbers beginning with a 2 instead of a 3. My co-workers can tell I’ve lost some weight, so that feels good. Also, 2XL shirts are cheaper than 3XL.

Commission Work

I don’t advertise that I do commissions, and I almost never do them. Often, when I have one going, I constantly have that feeling of “I have homework I should be doing instead of having fun right now” whenever I’m not spending time on it but playing video games or working on my own models. However, when the client, project or money’s right, it can be hard to turn down.

Before you ask, the YT-1300 is shelved for a bit.  I misplaced some of my materials, and need to get them back before I can continue.  Additionally, my fingers were bleeding and sore from all the hobby knife cuts from working with plasticard, so I needed a break.  It’s definitely going to get finished before Templecon, so you’ll get to see the final (unpainted) product before too long. I promise.

More recently, I’ve been cleaning a bunch of Convergence models.  Just last night I finally finished all the mold lines and I can glue stuff together. It’s just a clan and assemble job, but it feels like it’s been taking forever because there’s just so many little parts on these models, and they all have delicate detail and so many mold lines. It’s definitely changed my mind on eventually playing convergence, and if I never have to clean and assemble another one for a few years, I won’t complain.

One fun project I’m working on is some Necromunda models:  Clown Imperial Guardsmen.  While I don’t particularly have any feelings one way or another on clowns, with my love of the Joker and wanting an excuse to practice sculpting, how could I turn this kind of project down?  It’s a sculpting and painting job, and it’s whimsical and kinda sadistic all at the same time.  My client sent some existing models to use as sculpting and paint style references, which is supremely awesome.  Having models on hand to examine is way better than trying to match pictures.  Anyway, the sculpting part of the job is almost done:

Since the above picture, I’ve added frilly lace to the Officer’s pants/boots to match his frilly collar.  “Brief”case guy now has a Pinocchio style nose and is due for a proper trenchcoat/greatcoat before everything goes to paint.  Speaking of, see the guy with the huge ball on his head?  That’s going to be a rainbow afro, and a “BANG!” flag hanging out of the gun.

Warmachine & Hordes

When I needed a break from all the Commission work I’ve found myself doing, I built a second Ravagore.  The one Ravagore I currently use is a metal Ravagore head on an old metal Carnivean body, and is in my older Aquablight scheme. It doesn’t fit into foam well, and is super heavy. I plan to retire it and my original Carnivean in favor of plastic models with better poses. Ditto the shredders. The two extra Legionnaires are because I have one with a broken sword, and the one I had been using for a test model got all messed up when I tried to prime over it with white spray paint.  So, two replacements were in order.

I was really happy with the pose I got on my Ravagore – all that was needed was some hot water and an angled base.  It looks very much like the mobile artillery piece it plays as:

I also put together Captain Spud’s Succubus Model.  Isn’t she pretty?  I’m excited to get her painted up, it’s a great model that synergizes well with all our warlocks.

 

I’ve been playing Lylyth1 recently.  She’s one of the Warlocks I know the best, and she has a pretty simple gimmick.  I’ve been running her with the following:

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight (*6pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician (3pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Strider Deathstalker (2pts)

I’ve learned that it’s OK to rely on the pot to provide me a Shredder for Tenacity.  It’s also fun popping a Harrier out for surprise 10.5″ auto-hitting cruise missiles.  Wheee!  Legionnaires + Spawning Vessel is one of my favorite combos in the faction.  I tried to get a Blighted Bather in our group’s online order, but they ran out on the web store, and we never got ours.  #sadface  I did have a Ninja pick me up a Ram Blighted Bather T-shirt, so that’s awesome.

Lylyth1’s fun, but doesn’t fulfill my need to play tanky, so I’m looking to branch out into something different.   I’ve been enjoying reading the Legion faction sub-forum, and I’ve been listening to Blight Makes Right, over on HCO.  Recently, they went over all the Legion casters and discussed their strengths and weaknesses.  I’m looking for attrition in my second list, and I don’t want to do it with ninja-y movement or don’t hit me stuff, I want to do it with sheer brute force.

I need simple warlock’s too, since I’m no tactician and don’t want to get overwhelmed or confused.  Thus, Thagrosh1, Prophet of Everblight seems like a good place to go next.  He’s another Primal Warlock, and offers something completely different from Lylyth’s assassination game.  I also want the list to be different enough from my other one, so I think the Strider Rangers need to go in favor of Raptors or Warspears + UA.  Both are fantastic,  I hear.  It’ll probably be the Raptors to start, since they’re assembled.  I also like the idea of Spell Martyrs with him, because maybe arcing Mutagenesis is a thing?

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
* Succubus (2pts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Blighted Nyss Raptors (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
3 Spell Martyrs (3pts)

I think three heavies makes Thagrosh’s feat a threat my opponent has to take seriously, and I get to keep having fun with the Legionnaire recursion via the Spawning Vessel.  The Spell Martyrs are there for Mutagenesis angles and Zots.

Terrain Contest

As my local gaming club (the NOVA Nomads) grows, we’re working to provide a better play experience for our members.  This make sure everyone’s happy, and helps us recruit new members which means there’s always a fresh supply of victims players.  One way we’re doing this is with a terrain contest.  Our store can only hold 8 tables, so we broke out into teams of two (or three, or solo) and each team is to build a single themed table of terrain.  One group’s doing a desert theme, one’s doing city fight.  I chose a battlefield.  We never see trenches on the table at the shop, nor any plain rough terrain, so I decided some of both were in order.  I’ve been trying to take pictures all along the way, and I’ll have a decent walk through in a couple weeks.  Needless to say, it’s shaping up nicely:

Keep on movin’…

And that’s all I have for you for now.  I miss the tutorials and painting updates too.  It’s been “build” mode for me for way too long and I’m very eager to get back to painting.

All of these projects will be either wrapping up or heading into painting stages this week or next.  I’m looking forward to spending some of next Saturday behind the airbrush getting things primed and base coated.  Sunday is a Swap Meet at a not-so-local shop, but I’m hoping good things will come of that.

So, what are you working on?  Any recent distractions set you back?