Setting Goals for 2012

  One of the things I have been upset with for the last year or two is the lack of progress I have been making on my (many) gaming projects. I have let that get me down, and that has led to me not feelign like doing anything. In other words, I am not doing anything because I feel bad that I am not doing anything. The strange effect of the doldrums, I know, but there it is. I think the sentiment is a common one in our hobby.

   One thing that might help would be to set specific, achieveable, short-term goals, rather than having innumerable, never-ending 'projects.' So that's what I am going to do. And, I will chronicle them here, and try to keep my faithful readers up to date on progress. It may not be as glamourous as the sweeping flights of creative fantasy that I have posted here. Heck, I know it isn't. But it may get the creative juices flowing again.

   By the end of February, I want to have done the following:

1. Zulu Basing Goal. Finish basing 100 15mm Zulus. All painted up, just need basing and clear coat to be done. 15% done.
2. Indian Rifle Squad Goal. From start to finish, paint one squad of Indian infnatry for FOW. This is a newly begun project, and a test of concept. 0% done.
3. Steam Tank Goal. Finish the turret for my Ironclad Miniatures Steamtank and complete the model. 40% done.

   Not much to start with, but there is only about a week left. I will be very happy to accomplish these goals in that amount of time.

End of March Wrapup

Well... I did it. Finally finished the Empress Brits. The last of the clearcoat is drying as we speak and I will put up photos tomorrow.

This means (drumroll please)... I finished another month's project goals! Hooray! At least, I finished all the VSF goals. We will tastefully ignore the lack of discipline which led to only one goal of the other painting projects to be finished.

Look for a new edition of Reginald's soon, complete with photos of the British. Really. Would I lie to you?

Regarding the monthly poll, I was a little surprised at the overwhelming support for a built in canal. I suppose I can give it a shot. I think painting the a dark brown dye on the cloth with a foam brush ought to give me the nice dark line I am looking for.

Next month's VSF goals are not very ambitious, because I will have other projects I am very concerned with getting something accomplished with. They are:

• 10x Masked Minions [Parroom Station]
• 4x   Masked Minion guncrew [Parroom]
• 1x   Smoke Launcher (gun) [Parroom]
• 10x Halfjack Automatons [Privateer Press - Cygnar]
• 10x Halfjack 'mines' [Privateer]

The Halfjacks and the mines should be easy and quick. I already have the paint scheme figured for the minions. The smoke launcher should not prove terribly complicated either. Artillery pieces are usually pretty straightforward.

Coming to the Wire...

...on the monthly goal. And I am doing well. If I can get the last few highlights done on the British infantry and get them based and clear coated by Wednesday night, I should make my VSF goals for the month.

One more thing. I would like to promote my new blog here for a second. If you like my VSF stuff here on Victoria's Boys in Red, a lot of it will be reproduced there, but I am also including all of my other gaming interests. This means Old West, BattleTech, Car Wars, Warhammer, VSF, terrain building, RPGs... pretty much anything and everything I do gaming related. The blog is The Scattergun Gamer, which pretty well sums up my inability to focus and tendency to spread a little bit here, a little bit there, a little pretty well everywhere.

I'll try to get a few photos snapped as soon as I finish the British. They look pretty nice, but I am a little disappointed in my painting on them. I am not sure my brush skills are quite up to the level of these figures. All in all, though, I am pretty happy with them. I think I need to get a few more packs so I can practice up on them...

March Mid-Month Progress Report

Overall, the report for VSF gaming is Very Good.

10x "Great Rail Wars" Steam turtles: DONE

Hydra Miniatures's Warbot: DONE

Wyrd Miniatures's Brass Arachnid: DONE

Metal GW Stegadon Crew: DONE

And the whole Stegadon, based and ready.

As for the rest of this month's projects, both the Praetorian Heavy Bolter (aka the McFadden patent Single Barrel 3 pdr. Pom Pom) and the Autocannon (aka the Greelie-Heeby Magazine 7 pdr. Artillery) are about 60% done. This includes a modification of one autocannon crewman to change a control box to a telescope. The guns themselves are painted and done. Just finishing up the crew.

The ten Empress British have been started, and most of the block painting is done on them. I really like these minis. Lots of character. I have decided they will be representatives of the Manchester Regiment, formerly the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot before amalgamation with the 93rd last year. Non-royal, English regiments have white facings, as will these. Single battalion regiment. I think First Company, yes? Anyway, the ten I put in my goal this month are about 25-30% done, I would say. Keep an eye out for a Reginald's on the 63rd once I get these painted.

Besides my goal projects, I am working on a variety of other things sort of part-time. This includes the officer for the Queen's Own Aeromobile Infantry, the "Skywalkers." Just barely started on him, though. I need to back off of them a bit, so I can get my Warhammer Fantasy stuff worked on. Tomorrow and the next day might be bad painting days, as I am supposed to get my wisdom teeth removed first thing tomorrow morning. Pharmaceutical rollercoaster. Next stop, la-la land.

Oh, and I have the cloths ready to dye for my small Car Wars arena and the big green fields of Earth mat. Maybe if I tie dye them while whacked out on pain meds they will look totally awesome! Or maybe not. I think I will wait on that...

March Progress Report

Figures Progress So Far...

• Praetorian autocannon: 50%
• Praetorian heavy bolter: 50%
• Warbot Destroyer: 90%. Needs dip, clear coat and basing.
• 10x Steam turtles: 80%.
• 10x Empress British Infantry: 15%
• Brass Arachnid: 85%
• Stegadon crew: 90%

In addition, I have done a lot of terrain this month, which was not part of the goal. This includes one 6'x9' canvas jungle mat, one jungle rock outcropping, and two Martian unobtainite deposits. I should finish one more jungle rock, a massive jungle ridge (with waterfall!) and a 5'x9' Martian canvas mat before the end of the month. I have even done a couple of figures not on the list, including the prototype for some dangerous flora on Venus. More on those later when I do a Clive's Field Guide on it.

I'm feeling optimistic about this month. I have next week off for Spring Break, and although I'll be visiting the torturer (dentist) to have my wisdom teeth removed (lucky for me, I am a mutant and only have two), I think I will probably get a lot of painting accomplished. I promise I will take some photos and post them next week as well.

March Goals

Keeping the two main genres I am working on currently separate, I will only mention that I have 4 mounted and about 24 foot for WarHemorrhage as part of my goals for the month.

In the realm more properly associated with this blog, here are my goals for this month:

• 1x Praetorian Autocannon and crew (3 pts)
• 1x Praetorian Heavy Bolter and crew (3 pts)
• 1x Warbot Destroyer (1 pt)
• 10x Steam Turtles (10 pts)
• 10x Empress British (10pts)
• 1x Brass Arachnid (1 pt)
• Finish the Stegadon crew (4 pts)

So about 32 points worth, based on my scale, for VSF, plus about 32 points for that other thing. If I could just get hold of three more Praetorians with lasguns, I could finish that unit (the R&D platoon) off for good. I am looking forward to working on those Empress figures - something I have been just not getting around to for a while now. The steam turtles, warbot and brass arachnid will nearly finish off the Automaton forces. Still need to do the masked minions, a unit of 'halfjacks' [Privateer's Cygnar faction for Warmachine] and a vehicle that I am sort of modifying off and on, but that will be it. At least for now. Probably.

Unless I get "Oooh! Shiny!" again.

February Wrapup

Well... it took a lot of work in the home stretch, but I got a lot of it done. Just waiting on weather to clear coat, so I call them finished. Point by point:

• 10x German Atherbattalion (28mm): Done.
• 10x Vardu (var.): Done.
• 4x Venetian Aeronefs: Done.
• 1x Power Supply: Done.
• 1x Lizardman Stegadon (28mm): 75%. Still working on crew, probably 100% by weekend.
• 10x Feral Martians (28mm): Done. January Leftover
• 40x Zulus (15mm): Done. January Leftover

I also worked on other projects, which were not included in the monthly goal. These included:

• 2x Unobtanium deposits (resin): Done.
• 4x Flagellants (GW Empire - for my sons): Done. Need to do about 8 more...
• 1x Grandmaster of the Knights of the Blazing Sun (GW Empire): 50%. Horse is good, armor is done, still working on details, basing, etc.
• 1x Hydra Miniatures Destroyer Warbot: 33%. Primed, and assembled, and mounted on base. Paint job is a simple one.
• 1x War Wagon (GW Empire): 5%. Still working on paint scheme.
• 1x Castle (28mm): 25%. All I have to do is paint it, and it is nearly primed (black vinyl housepaint) so I can spray the foam safely.
• 2x Artizan Texas Rangers (28mm): For Owlcon Gutshot game

All in all, I am gonna call February a successful month. The only thing I didn't finish was the stego crew, but the other items made up for it, I think. So, at this point, we're batting .500 on the year. That'd get you in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I'll put up the March goals in a few days - I want to see how the poll goes for combining the blogs first.

February Goal Update

February is a short month, so not much time to get projects finished. With that in mind... I need to hurry up!

Finish current vessels for Republic of Venice's Aeronef fleet (4)

0% progress.

Finish ten Hydra Miniatures Vardu sprout warriors

0% progress.

January leftover: 40 15mm Zulus

90% Received from painter. Need to base and clearcoat.

January leftover: 10 Feral Martians

90% done. Just need to base and clearcoat.

Repaint on old edition of GW Skink Stegadon for Venus

20%(?) done. Body has a basecoat on it. Need work on scales, spikes, howdah and crew.

Ten 28mm Copplestone German Marines as Atherbattalion

About 50% done. Most base color on, but still need shading and details, plus base and clearcoat.

Armorcast Gothic Laboratory Power Generator

About 50%. Trying to get a cool glowing look out of the gratings.

Gah! Doesn't look all that good. I think I have been too distracted by Valentine's Day, the Olympics, and other projects not on the official project list. For instance, hunting down GW minis on eBay, painting a couple of cowboys for next weekend's convention, the new unobtainite terrain (although that only took about thirty minutes of work), and a few other things I have been kicking around.

January Wrap-up

This was originally scheduled to be done on Sunday night, but life got in the way. I had already scheduled my February goals post for the 1st, so that made it on time. Must take advantage of the opportunity to pre-schedule more often.

• Finish the aeronef fleet for the Papal States

Essentially completed. Two ships only need to be clear-sprayed. Cold weather this weekend prevented spraying outside in the garage.

• Paint ten 25mm feral Martians (RAFM High Martians)

50% completed. One prototype only needs basework and clearcoating. 9 other models are in base colors, but need shading, basework, etc.

• Paint forty 15mm Zulus

Cheated. Sent them to be painted. Expect to receive this month.

• Finish twenty 15mm German Luftschiffetruppen

Completed. In the display case. Put a fork in it. Done.

So, it looks like I got about half done. Maybe more, if you take out the Zulus. Mark up one 'miss' for the year. This sets me back a good ways on my February goals as well. Wish me luck... I'm gonna need it!

Goals for February 2010

As part of my ongoing commitment to getting a dent in the lead pile (which grows daily, somehow, even though I have sold off things and traded away others), I am trying to set achievabel goals to complete each month. Some of the things I will do are projects already started but never actually finished. Some are totally new.

Without further ado, the list for February:

• Finish current vessels for Republic of Venice's Aeronef fleet (need some more ships)
• Finish ten Hydra Miniatures Vardu sprout warriors
• Finish projects from January that are undone
• Repaint on old edition of GW Skink Stegadon for Venus
• Ten 28mm Copplestone German Marines as Atherbattalion
• Armorcast Gothic Laboratory Power Generator

It's a short month this month, so I think that's a good amount. Wish me luck!

Weekend Progress

Actually got a bit of brush time in this past weekend.

The Papal States vessels of the Italian Confederation Combined Aeronavy are almost done, even with the changes I made to the paint scheme. All that is left is one cruiser that needs a bit of detailing and a dig battleship that needs touchup. Then all eight vessels are off to be clearcoated.

Also got a good deal of work done on the 15mm Luftschiffetruppen. All that is left is basing on a few (six or so) and then clearcoating. Mark this unit down as 90% complete. Pictures later this week.

I am also in the process of rebasing many of my Mars-based units to a standard style. I did both Sentinels and several other figures (15 in all).

So, with only one weekend left in the month, I am skeptical about meeting my monthly goal. The Zulus are taken care of, though not finished yet. The Nefs are going pretty well, and the Luftschiffetruppen. But I got to get on those ferals!

Oh well. Must sleep now.

2009 Pledge Wrapup

So, as far as the Pledge goes... I blew it.

I was doing really well at first. Then I got hit with a serious double whammy: Historicon and peewee football.

Bought a lot of stuff at Historicon. A lot.

My youngest son (Dane) started his second season of peewee football a few days after we got back from Historicon. Practice three days a week and games on Saturday. Add in church obligations on Wednesday and Sunday, and... no time spent painting, essentially. The football lasted until December 5 - the Superbowl (we won!).

So, should I take the Pledge again this year? I don't think so. Two years in a row I have failed it. This year, I think monthly goals may be better. And so, the monthly goals for the first month of 2010:

• Finish the aeronef fleet for the Papal States
• Paint ten 25mm feral Martians (RAFM High Martians)
• Paint forty 15mm Zulus
• Finish twenty 15mm German Luftschiffetruppen

I think I can get those done, and maybe more. I hope to have some help on the Zulus from a friend.

Wish me luck!