Summer Sprint

GenCon badges came in the mail this week.  That's the point that August starts to feel very real.  It looks like it's going to sell out again, so I'd expect to be welcomed by this sign.

GenCon2017 greeting.  Expect it again this year.

Work was threatening to send me on business travel the week of GenCon.  I was keeping my head down and not reacting to the not-formally-announced trip, but was prepared to throw down an approved vacation slip from months and months ago and practice my best "are you kidding me?" look.  As it turns out, that trip got deferred to mid-August and the showdown was averted.

Anyway, I'm very much still in the middle of GenCon prep.  I have a few days off over the July 4th Holiday and am hoping to get the long-awaited project #1 (aka GC1) completed this weekend, then move strongly into the DropFleet Army prep for my battle at GenCon.  There is so much to do, and I paint so slowly....

But after a slow early June, I've accelerated and there is still hope.  As I was painting this week, I realized that my methods have really changed over the past year.  I've written about this before, but I happened to stumble across some Shadows of Brimstone minis that I finished just before GenCon last year, but never based and thus never declared "complete."  They're okay - certainly tabletop quality - but I kind of rolled my eyes and sighed.

I can't convey how much Miniature Monthly has changed the way that I look at the process.  

I'm nowhere near a master.  That takes practice and probably more innate talent than I have.  And I'm still using a mix of styles and methods.  For example, I don't like using a wet palette, which is heresy.  Some of the things I'm doing actually cost me time in the long run, but end up being lower risk by adding steps.  (I can jump in with both feet and risk completely ruining a model, or I can sneak up on the finish I want).  

But on the current-unnamed-project, I'm using the Airbrush to prime, basecoat, and provide initial highlights.  That's not something I was doing a year ago, but got comfortable with through KDM.  New to this project: using a Sotar 2020 airbrush to shoot inks and washes for shading.  Before the Miniature Monthly boot camp, that would have been unthinkable.

Last night I was using 2-brush blending to add a colored wash into the shadows of my current figure.  One brush to slide the wash into place, another damp/clean brush to erase the seam between colors.  Super simple, but not something I knew about until earlier this year.  I experimented with it on the KDM Watcher, and am using it full-force in the current GC1 project.

My task this afternoon is to work on the face of one of the female models.  I hate painting skin.  But I now have a decent understanding of the tools and theories I need to employ.  (That doesn't mean it'll look great, but it does mean I've got a better chance at success than I did before....).

Back to these guys ... soon. Very soon.

This is all Miniature Monthly.  Recently, I upped my tier to the top level.  This gives me a monthly 1:1 session with Aaron Lovejoy.  It's expensive and I won't keep it very long, but I needed to jump start the Dropfleet project, and he had an opening.  We did our first session last week; about an hour with him on Google Hangouts talking through the project and watching him doodle in photoshop changed reinforced some things I was already planning and changed the way I was thinking about the fine details.  An hour with him saved me hours of fussing and cussing and will speed up the entire project.  

I just need to get GC1 out of the way and shift gears to it.

Unboxing: Triplanetary

So, in general, I'm a fan of Steve Jackson Games.  I love sci fi games and space-based combat.  And of course I'm a Kickstarter junkie.

Triplanetary checked all three of these boxes, so I was in!  Triplanetary is a game that was first released in 1973, and last reprinted in 1981.  Through Kickstarter, SJG brought this title back to life, which I think is pretty cool.

This was a low stress campaign with zero additional stretch goals or other shenanigans.  Pledge. Wait. Get game.  Simple simple.

Anyway, here's the grand unboxing.

The game box - Front.

The game box - Back.

Box top open.  Oooooh, I love that smell.  The instruction booklet is nicely printed and illustrated but is thinner than "modern" sprawling epics like Gloomhaven or KDM. 

The game board comes in two pieces. At first I thought these were to separate mission maps but they actually join together.

Game board laid out with the game box for scale.

Most of the box is actually empty space.  There's the game board and a single sheet of punch-out tokens - no minis, meeples, or standees (although it's probably begging for some 'borrowed' ships from X-wing or Armada).  There are a pair of dry erase markers to record ship movement (the manual provides a method of shorthand to encode past moves).  And a single d6.  ... that's pretty much it!  

I'm actually impressed that the game was reprinted intact - the temptation to pimp out the box and "Kickstarterize" the reprint with minis, addons, and stretch goals.  But I think they made the right call and kept the price down.

The neat part about the game is going to be the vector-based movement and fuel management.  Simple, elegant rules where ships maintain their inertia between turns and fuel points are spent to change direction - sort of like Classic Asteroids on the old Atari 2600.

Will be fun to hotseat a game on a rainy Saturday soon.

Ikea Hellquest

I'm currently on a quest to overhaul our gaming alcove.  We have a family gathering in a couple of weeks, and I need to free up space and make things tidy before our 3- and 4-year old nieces descend upon our abode.  So, I've spent the past two Sunday afternoons assembling our new Besta chest/organizer.  This is not as exciting as it sounds!

Ikea Besta modular package from the product catalog wonderland.

Background:  Besta is a modular line at Ikea that lets you customize the result. It's primarily intended for TV/entertainment centers but we found a pre-config'd setup that will fit our gaming alcove perfectly and allow us to centralize all the various boxes and unassembled models that we have stashed around the house.

Hellquest, Chapter 1:  The older I get, the more I loathe box stores.  We've known for awhile that the gaming alcove needed some storage options but I was reluctant to buy based only on the online catalog and theoretical dimensions.  A few weeks ago we took a deep breath and braved the local Ikea to get actual eyeballs on the products.  We were in and out of the store as quickly as possible, before I failed a sanity roll when dealing with the SUV Soccer Mom Mafia (SSMM) that roams the suburban tundra around the Ikea mecca (*shakes angry fist at SSMM*). 

Anyway, with the valuable intel we needed, we retreated to our laptops to min/max the strategy (actual build configuration of the modular items) from the safety of our own country stronghold.  Then, for $29, had it all delivered to the house.

It was $29 well spent to have someone else collect all the bits and then hump them to my front door.

SSMM thwarted.  Hahahahaha.


Hellquest, Chapter 2: But ... the problem with the modular stuff is that upon delivery there was a very intimidating mountain of boxes in our entryway.   Each bit, each box, each morsel, has its own SKU, and came in its own packaging, with its own instructions.   Now instead of facing mortal combat with the SSMM, I stared down a huge puzzle quest with many possible false steps bearing mortal danger and shredded faux-plywood. 

I hauled the biggest boxes upstairs and began picking through them.  I retained all my fingers, escaped mortal peril from papercuts, and avoided scratching any finished surfaces by opening boxes with a utlity knife - which is something Ikea High Command expressly forbids in all of their hieroglyphs.

Here is where we stopped at the end of Chapter 2.  Backbone complete and all big boxes pillaged.  Now the details start.

Hellquest, Chapter 3:  Alas, there was a storyline complication.  One of the SKUs was missing from my packup - apparently the GM involved noticed my smugness-masked-as-praise when I bragged about the $29 delivery solution and decided I needed a wrinkle to keep things from being too straightforward.  I've been through the mountain of cardboard from top to bottom, and the promised 6 boxes of hinge hardware are missing.

Without a replacement, I couldn't complete the Hellquest and was forced complete a side quest to allow further progress.  My only alternative was to call upon the Ikea High Command and demand compensation for this outrage.

Or if that doesn't work, begging will ensue.



Hellquest, Chapter 4:  After 2 hours and 5 minutes of hold time with Ikea High Command, I was successful in the side quest.  For the next two days, I heard their hold music and looping messaging whenever I closed my eyes.

After a week's delay, the replacement hardware arrived at my doorstep.



Hellquest, Chapter 5:   It was a close thing, but negotiations with Ikea High Command were fruitful, allowing evil to be vanquished. 

I was a little nervous, because I didn't actually get any shipping info for the missing hardware until Friday.  But, FedEx h at it at my doorstep by 9am Saturday.  The quest was set to resume on Sunday afternoon.

Today after other chores, I steadied my nerves and went to install the doors.  This was mostly straightfoward, and I was able to assembly-line a lot of it, and it all went well.  I did have one hiccup with the hinge hardware - that failed to seat properly but felt secured - that caused me to de-install all the doors and put them back on.  Otherwise, I had very few adjustments.  I'll let things settle overnight and then see if I need to square-up anything.

The upper areas will become the home for my KDM and SoB collections, and Mrs. Zoxe's Super Dungeon Explore.  The lower areas will likely be crammed with all sorts of games, although presently it's hiding my KDM Wave 2 boxes and Gloomhaven.  I've not secured to the wall yet, but will - not sure if we want it along that wall or in the opposite corner. 

The pictures make it look smaller than it actually is.  Total width is just under 6 feet - the KDM Phoenix standing guard is one of my largest figures with a 12" wingspan.

The gaming surface was a $99 clearance find at our local Mendards.  It's 53 x 40 and enough room to play most anything. 

Quest Complete! On to the next!  KDM Phoenix standing guard.

We found the very large coffee table on clearance at a local home improvement store - $99! and it's big enough to play most anything.

Now, back to town to find solace at the local public house and await our next adventure.

ZPS - May 2018

Well, this sets an a precedent that I'm not all that comfortable with.  The very last post was the April ZPS and here we are in June already.  There's a lot going on, but I'm choosing not to post about my contest entries, so that means very little to actually say here.

1. On the Table:

• GenCon Project #1 - Last month I was doing assembly.  This month I'm perhaps past halfway through.  I'm doing a 'squad' of SoB figures for this project.  I'm kind of excited about it; it's some of my best work to date.  I've been able to combine some of the airbrush techniques I learned through the KDM builds this winter with some of the hand-brushing ideas that Miniature Monthly has taught me.  Is it world-class? Oh, heck no.  But it's some of my best work.  As they say: #donenotperfect.
• GLOOMHAVEN - We've officially started our campaign.  I can kind of sit back and sigh about why this game has drawn so much positive attention.  Loving it so far.
• Convention Planning - GenCon's event queue processed.  Once again we got a high queue number despite being online and clicking the second the selection engine went live.  So, no SoB.  No KDM.  No Elizabeth Beckley painting sessions.  But, as it turns out, the authors of one of my favorite book series - James S.A. Corey of the Expanse will be the keynote authors, and we'll be filling our time with meet and greets and such.  Plus a 1250 point battle for DropFleet (more below).  Fun with friends, a late evening class on basing and we still have a very full GenCon weekend.  
• More Convention Planning - PAX Unplugged tickets went live.  We bought a 3 day pass and have a nice room at the Marriott (attached to the convention center).  After years of really hating Philly for their crappy airport during work travel, it kind of pains me to say this: "I'm pretty excited to head back to Philly this fall."
• Yet more Convention Planning -  Labor Day weekend we'll be in Texas for ReaperCon.  The event list isn't up, but we're looking forward to another road trip.  Yes, we'll be driving from the upper midwest to Texas.  Call us crazy.

2. Gaining Momentum:

• DropFleet Commander.  As I mentioned above, I signed up for a friendly 1250pt battle at GenCon.  That means that I not only need to get my starter box fleet painted, I also need to get the Battlefleet Box opened, assembled, and painted.  I put the SoB project first, but at the rate that I paint DFC is probably going to consume a good chunk of the summer.  But I'm a little scared about getting this done in time.

3. Losing Traction:

• KDM Wave 2.  All of my expansion boxes are still where I left them.  I'm trying to crank through the GenCon projects first, and actually want to savor the KDM builds I will enjoy later.  Still, I see other people's Wave 2 work in progress and get jealous. 

4. Going, going, gone.

• I'm a little concerned about Gencon Project #2, which is focused on some SodaPop figures I picked up.  I'm worried about getting everything done by August, and this is the last project on the priority list.  On the other hand, the figures weren't cheap and I'll have wasted that investment if I don't pull it off.