Pushing Myself (and Pike)

8am Eastern time: I've been working this week on building the For King and Country starter set for Pike and Shotte. As of right now, I have about thirty figures left to make. I'll finish them today, and the readers may learn a bit about how I procrastinate!

Doesn't help that Artemis II is on its way home with 240,000 miles to go at 1,200 miles an hour. Let's see how far it gets by the time I'm finished.

Step one, go get breakfast and groceries, cleaning the litterboxes as I leave.

See?

10am: Back, after breakfast at Starbucks, a few groceries, cat litter and filling the gas tank.

Then 25 minutes of leisurely putting stuff away and self-refreshing before getting down to work.

Finally, some painting videos to keep me from getting bored while my hands are busy. We'll try some Duncan Rhodes Empire (as close as Warhammer Fantasy gets to 17th century) and then some WWII and Konflict '47 as a reminder to get onto those kits after this one.

10:28am, and I'm off!

11am: First video done, also six musketeers without bases. A good start! But... nap time. Excuse? Morning meds cause drowsiness.

1pm: Up again. Read a bit of science fiction until...

1:30: When I start again with a second video. 

2:00: Total done so far - sixteen figures, four without bases and two hats.

Then a ten-minute break for blog-prep, restroom break, and cat-coaxing. (My flighty calico has been under the couch for 24 hours straight, since the three-hour visit of a patient but clearly absolutely terrifying pair of apartment cleaners.)

2:40: Four more musketeers assembled to accompaniment of a German Grenadier video, with four more bodies clipped, behatted and ready to arm. Where's Artemis? 232,000 miles out, good for them.

3:10: After a painting video for a US Ranger as played by Tom Hanks, I have twelve more figures done, complete with bases. Just six figures to go!

231,000 miles for Artemis. Time for a snack and reading break - more of a 1979 SF magazine.

There's a story and article in there about moon colonies, by Jerry Pournelle. I also just finished listening to the latest Warhammer 30K novel, which is largely about an invasion of the Moon. Good timing, huh?

4:15: Three command figures built - two musicians and a standard bearer.

The rest will need to be officers. The command sprue has three figures on it but enough leftover bitz to make a fourth out of one of the pikemen. Since there are four pikes on the infantry sprue, but five bodies in pike-carrying poses, this causes the leftover "sergeant" to end up in an odd pose:

The video this time was of a Konflict '47 "Firefly" US jump trooper. Next is a "Stahltruppen" - basically a Nazi in power armor.

4:45: One and a half more. (There are a LOT of left-over bits to pick from). Trying to convert a chap to hold a spear (or is it a partizan?) two handed. This is probably not a smart idea, a more officer-like type might be better.

Holding it straight-ish 'til dried.

Next painting video is a firelock figure by 7th Son.

By 5:20, I've watched three 7th Son videos, and built and based all 82 (!) figures. Just some hats to add - to fit them, all the heads on these guys look like Shakespeare in the Folio. OK, so we could have one or two balding gentlemen, but the rest need headgear.

Before doing that, I'll look up 0200 Hours, as one of the videos was for Wargames Atlantic German Sentries... also, I think my stomach is trying to tell me something.

Ooh, the Stalag Luft III escapees look like they'd make good character minis for VBCW... down another rabbit hole I go!

Had supper and watched a video. Looks a bit complex for my taste, and I don't like custom dice. Kill Team will work just fine for this scale. But the minis do look great.

6:33: Done! I think...

And (almost) everyone has hats.

Artemis and crew? Under 225,000 miles away as of 8pm. Safe flying to them. It has been a bouncy week in the news, and following the flight and building toy soldiers keeps me sane and happy. Good luck to all those reading this, hope your day was as peaceful as mine.

Five more blissful days off!

The cat is still under the couch.

More Picking Away...

More stuff accomplished this weekend. First, I built a second DBA base, this one for English medievals:

I ordered a handful of Fife and Drum figures. The Spirit of '76 vignette, and five minutemen. My plan is to paint them up for a work display - the theme for the whole year (not just summer) is America's 250th. So another excuse to promote miniatures in the library. I plan to paint two of the minutemen to represent a pair of free black colonists who - completely coincidentally - shared my rare last name. So I hope to do a good job painting them.

What I got was a bunch of figures, free overstock! Thanks! About half minutemen, half Continentals in uniform. That could make up two small regiments or one large one, with mixed appearance like Jim Purky's own 2nd New Hampshire. 

I haven't built or painted metal models in ages, so some filing practice is in order. I'll also have to use a pin drill on the standard bearer. As for basing... probably singly, for skirmish games. I have lots of round Wargames Atlantic bases.

I also bought some Games Workshop 25mm and 25x50mm square bases, for the Pike and Shotte starter set. Here's the first infantry sprue mostly made up:

Needs a few more hats, and there are also a lot of scabbarded swords on the sprue I haven't figured out where they go on the figures yet. I'm glad I just made these chaps to start with, as I found out specific arms go to specific figures. Also, gluing two arms onto a figure at once is a bit messy. A little filing and paint, though, and I'm sure they'll look good enough for the tabletop.

Finally, a painted Skaven done with Speedpaint pens. Fun and not too frustrating. I find it hard to tell the colors apart when they're bunched together, so (for example) some of the leather has a gold tinge...

I'll stop here, as I have two cats on my desk trying to interfere with typing and projects.

For comparison, here's the one I have to coax into letting me touch.
On the right: still unopened boxes of Warlord samurai.

'Til next time.