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

Can I play with madness?

A day late this week.  While I had all my painting finished yesterday, I'd not got the bases sorted, so did that this evening before updating the blog.

I've made a proper start on the Investigators from Mansions of Madness, and have managed to get 12 of them done this week, plus a few other sundry bits and pieces from the 'work in progress' pile, along with one brand new arrival.  The first of my expected Kickstarter deliveries from last year has arrived ... so the acquired number will tick up again.

But first, onto the Mansions of Madness - I had a little trouble with some discolouration on the clear bases from the superglue I was using - I'm not really sure how to combat this other than try to use less superglue.  Still, I'm happy with the results I've got on some not-terribly well sculpted models.  The more recently produced models are much better than the older ones, and I feel I've done them more justice, but they're also a little smaller than I'm used to painting, and my eyes are getting old.  At least, that's my excuse.

Agatha Crane

Somehow she seems to be welcoming our new lords from the outer planes.  Well, she is a Parapsychologist.

Bob Jenkins

I'm not really sure what Bob is supposed to be holding in his hand.  I painted it silver as if it's some kind of goblet.

Carson Sinclair

The Butler, Carson.  Either his eyes are a little dark, or he's been chasing the dragon.  Possibly both.

Father Mateo

Father Mateo.  While I was painting this I couldn't get out of my head that I thought he looked like Benedict Cumberbatch.

Gloria Goldberg

Probably the best bit on Gloria is the portable typewriter she's carrying.  Unfortunately I didn't photograph her from an angle that shows it off.  Or in focus it would appear.  Maybe I'll update this picture at some point.

Harvey Walters

Harvey is one of the better sculpts (in my opinion) from the original set of investigators.  He also has the same name as the sample character showing the character generation in Call of Cthulhu 5th edition, which was the first edition I played.

Minh Thi Phan

I tried to do an Asian skin ton on Minh.  Not sure I got it right as Mrs. H. has dubbed her "The Simpson".  Still.  Mrs. H. hasn't painted anything for me to photograph to put on the blog yet, you know, just to show off her talents and all that.

Preston Fairmont

Preston's a fairly dour millionaire, in miniature form.  I couldn't get rid of the bumps on his cane either, not without risk of snapping it in two.

Rita Young

Rita is one of the few non-white investigators - I'm pretty sure in one of the novels linked to Arhkham Horror she's described as mulatto, so I tried to go for coffee-ish coloured skin.

Sister Mary

I will admit I didn't enjoy painting Sister Mary.  At Mrs. H's suggestion I painted on an Alice band to try to cover up the mould line that I just couldn't get rid of through her hair. Her eyes are sculpted rather bulging, somewhat Innsmouth-Looky.  And the model itself is hunched over.  While the character art makes her look about 20 ... the model itself comes over as a lot older.  Ah well.

Wendy Adams

Wendy I'm rather pleased with, however. She looks rather scared and waifish, which she's supposed to.

William Yorick

Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio ... There's a lovely fracture on the skull he's holding (it's not a mould line I missed, honest) so whoever died, it was violent.

That's 12 of the 30 done, 18 to go which I'm sure I'll manage over the next couple of weeks.  They'll also come in nicely as characters for 7TV Pulp - and as I've recently received a number of Mythos gribbly stat cards, the monsters will be able to play their part as well.

I also painted a few other bits and pieces this week though nothing particularly fancy.

Objective markers - Always useful.

Another 'thing from the work in progress pile' here - I had these rocks glued to bases sanded and undercoated, and just lying there, so I finished them off as objective markers.  As I was painting Mythos things, I gave three of them Mythos symbols - the Elder Sign, the Icon of Nytharthotep and the Yellow Sign.  The final cairn with a handle sticking out of it is clearly some kind of weapon to smite the Mythos - just to keep in theme.

Ooooh.  it's and Ooze.

I also painted this Ooze - It's not got a base because I just have no idea how to base it really.  It's cast in semi-transparent resin, so I've picked out the rocks, bones, and other bits and pieces.  I'm sure it'll eat an adventurer or two at some point.

I also said that I'd had a Kickstarter arrive - the Crooked Dice Pulp Sci-Fi Heroes and Villains plus a few extras (some of which were for Mrs H, fortunately) so I've got 24 models to add to the acquired count.

One of these will be taking the part of a Robot Sidekick to the Sci-Fi lizard I painted last week.

Long live Flash! You've saved your Earth!
Have a nice day!

And that's it for this week.  18 models Painted, 24 arrived, so a little in the red this week.  I'll try to get at least another 12 of the Investigators done, and see what else takes my fancy.

Running Totals

Painted: 310

Acquired: 89