Life in Lockdown

Wow - It's been almost a month since I last blogged ...

In my defence, not that I need to defend myself, Mrs. H. got ill, so we were quarantined for a fortnight, and I was looking after her, and young Master H, so in spite of thinking I might get some painting done, nothing happened but 'firefighting' household chores and trying to keep everyone in the house sane.  Also, the Mansions of Madness Investigators that Mrs. H. had set me the challenge of painting just weren't inspiring me - perhaps because I didn't choose them myself, I don't know. 

I'm sure I'll get back to them at some point.

Then I got ill, just as work provided me with a Laptop to work from home, and a week later when I was well enough to paint again, that meant I was well enough to be working too, and the weeks in lockdown had taken their mental toll.

Fortunately this week Mrs. H. did something wonderful.  last Thursday she painted a model. This one, in fact.  And yes, she did it all in one day.  I suppose, just like the ghosts in "A Christmas Carol", she must be magical so can do it all in one night and change the heart of this old curmudgeon here.

Gizza Kiss!

Reaper's Shub-Niggurath.  It's so big it almost fills the light box!  I said I'd share some pictures of her painting at some point - and here it is!

Her doing some painting gave me the impetus to get back at the desk again - but even better, she painted with me.  She's currently working on some very cute baby dragons (Also from Reaper) which I hope she'll let me photograph too.  Having her to paint with helped me get back at it - and getting back at it has helped my locked-down head too.  I may not get much more painting done this week as I'm back at work, and next weekend I have a Role-play convention that has moved online in response to the Coronavirus epidemic, but who knows, I may still manage something.

So, on to what I've got painted this week - it's somewhat eclectic, as it's mostly been what I fancied.  As I said above the Mansions of Madness Investigators have taken a step to the side until they are the thing that inspires me again.

It was Crooked Dice's 10th anniversary during my painting hiatus, and as I love their stuff, and wanted the free Janey Paranormal Investigator for Mrs. H. (hey, a model arrived that doesn't go on my acquired list ... Huzzah!) I ordered the fantastic skeletons that were released not too long ago.  They have a great "Ray Harryhausen" vibe to them, plenty of character without any fiddly detail, and will be lovely when 7tv Fantasy arrives.  Fingers crossed that some with Spears and Bows are in the offing as well, and I'll have a good selection for both skirmish games and RPGs too.

Does his skull go all the way to the top of that hood?

Next up I painted a few things that were on my work in progress shelf that had gotten as far as being undercoated, but no further.

Some Mermaids from the Pirates of the Dread Seas range from Dead Earth Games.  These came with their Dwarf Crew Kickstarter, and I'm awaiting their Human and Undead crews along with the rulebook, from the Kickstarter that followed.  There are some great sculpts in there, though the scale is a little larger than some of the other pirate figures I've got, they still fit in just fine.

With and Without Makeup?

The Savage Worlds 50 Fathoms game I'm running has moved online for the foreseeable future, but that's no reason to not keep painting Pirates!  The PC's have recently hired some more female crew, so I painted these up that had been sitting in an undercoated state for a while.  I can't for the life of me remember where I got them from though.

Don't call them Wench!

The last piece of work in progress is this Reaper blacksmith.  Painted just because I liked the look of him and it made for one less unpainted figure on the shelf.  I have a feeling we're going to need to get some more figure cases.  Or at least some foam that can go on shelves.

Have Anvil, Will Travel

The rest of my painting this week was 'shiny and new' - or at least relatively new.  Last month I painted the hoverdrone from Crooked Dice's Pulp Sci-Fi kickstarter, that looked suspiciously like one from a certain 1980's Sci-Fi film with an iconic score by Queen.

The next set of models that I've painted my also look as if they've stepped out of the same film.  They don't look very friendly, mind.

*wheezes* Fires Gun.

These, like the drone, are getting based on clear bases - I'm going to stick with sand and flock for my fantasy models, and the beach bases for my pirates, but I think for boardgames, and at least my 'current' run of Sci-Fi stuff that clear bases are the order of the day.  Just as well Warbases were still open and delivering last week!

Dispatch War Rocket Ajax!

While the most merciless of the character types hasn't gotten painted yet, I have managed his generals and his 'bride to be' - I picked blonde rather than brunette to match the film for the bride because it's my model, and I can.  The black and gold though.  Can't mess around with styling like that!

So, that's 25 Models painted since Friday, and 8 acquired since the last blog.  Still keeping ahead of the game!

Running Totals

Painted: 335

Acquired: 97