Shut up and Paint

This is a post that I've been fussing with for awhile, which is sort of ironic given the title.  I guess I should just Shut up and Post.

Something interesting happened at a class at Adepticon.  Something unfortunate.  And being honest, in one 10 second exchange, solidified a feeling that I've been chasing but hadn't gotten my arms around.

This isn't a rant, but it might start off sounding like one.

WoW Classic Countdown II

The public stress test for WoW Classic went on this week.  I caught wind of it kinda late, but did enjoy poking my head back into the Orc and Dwarf starter zones.  It felt like home.

I started by rolling an Orc Warrior named Zoxe (I'm nothing if predictable), and ran him around until I realized that I was going to be extra-tempted to run him up to the Old Orgrimmar.  There are a few things in Classic that I really want to savor - stepping foot into the original Org map is one of them.  I decided that I really wanted to do that at Launch, and do it when the quest lines actually sent me there, so I can soak in the whole thing.  So to avoid temptation, I hopped out and decided to see what was up on the Alliance side.  (I'm a Horde player but the wintery Dwarf starter zone was always my favorite).

The Dwarf zone was also crowded, but mobs could be found and I got to level 5 as a Gnome Warlock, was sent to Khanaros and decided to log out in Ironforge (which I have fewer misgivings about seeing because my attachment is lower and it hasn't changed that much).

Overall it felt really good, but I had fewer "oh wow" moments compared to the Blizzcon Demo.  I think this was because the Demo was focused on higher level content (Barrens and Westfall) where we spent more of our time.  The starter zones were always fun, but you'd spend at most a couple hours in them per character.  We "lived" in Crossroads.

Anyway, a good way to spend a rainy evening.

Before I go, though, let me summarize my expectations for WoW Classic.

WoW Classic Countdown

Death Knights. I kinda miss you.

For the past few weeks, I've had a bit of nostalgia.  That itch in the back of your head.  The urge to go replay some long forgotten content of an old title.  And that title is World of Warcraft.

But not today's WoW.  I'm truly looking forward to WoW Classic.  There are parts of the game that I really want to replay that haven't been available since Cata hit, and I want the ability to start fresh on a new server without the modern trappings and niceties attached to my account.  I really want to just kind of wipe the workbench clean and start fresh.

It struck me that so much time has passed that WoW launched in a very different era.  So let's start by telling a few of the good ol' days stories.

Unboxing: Dropfleet Commander UCM Dreadnaught

I've been mostly away from the bench the past couple of weeks, and managed to finish up a contest entry yesterday.  I kind of scratched my head at what I should work on next - there's PLENTY to do, but what should come next? 

I started working on another contest entry, and paused, as the sculpt isn't as clean as I expected (but that's the topic for another post).  I don't know if I want to putz with it for an actual entry.  So it's backburner for now.

Next on my list was the DFC Dreadnought.  I really planned to get away from little plastic spaceships for awhile (I've been painting DFC stuff since ... January?).  However, I'm contemplating magnetizing the hull so I can run either hull variant (Gunboat or Supercarrier).  I'll be new to the magnetizing thing, I figure I'll get the big pieces together and then have some time to deal with any surprises.

I haven't done a lot of unboxing posts, but the Dread is enough of an investment to celebrate a little more than typical.  Here are a few pictures of the grand unveiling.

Box front with some concept art.  Overall packaging gets a thumbs up.  Semi-matte, high quality sleeve over a nice cardboard box.

Rest of the pictures after the break!

Eras

This is the end of an era. 

I'm typing this from my desktop PC, a pretty dusty Win7 box that I think I clucked down next to my desk sometime in 2012. As I type, I'm transferring pictures and files off of it, which is the first step in the process to clean it up and send it to the recycler. 

The space that my PC desk sits in will soon become my permanent hobby area.  We don't have a basement, and I've been living in a "temp" space on the dining room table.  I put quotes around "temp" because the mess has been there pretty consistently over the past few years.  Technically it all collapses into some rubbermaid bins and Amazon boxes, but realistically it's a daily presence and a nuisance. 

Times change. Interests change. For the past couple decades, I've been a pretty avid PC gamer and MMO player.  I'm not sure when that stopped being true, but it has.  Slowly, I drifted away - driven by my own physical frailty (a shoulder that is trying to freeze and hates long hours on the PC).  I also found a desire to be more visible and "do more" with the time that I have here on the planet.  (I'm not sure how painting tiny army men qualifies for that, but let me have this moment). 

Anyway, the past couple of years, this gaming rig has stopped being the place where I spent my downtime, and instead become the place where I do my taxes, or listen to music when I'm working from home.  And yet I clung to it and avoided the idea that I needed to reclaim the space.

We've been at this address just about 10 years now.  The place where my PC is now is where my PC was when we moved in.  I've never not called it "the computer room."  As I'm sifting through things here, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic.  Games the way they used to be; screenshots of guild greatness in WoW, shenanigans in EVE, heck the desktop background is still set to my EVE Corp (guild) logo that I adapted from a real world logo in 2004 (modernized a few times, but ... originating 15 years ago).

But it's time.  Time to move on, time to evolve, time to accept what has already been true for awhile.  I have some work to do before the machine is turned off for the final time, but this might be the last meaningful thing that I type from it. 

Let's do this.

Hot off the Desk: Dropfleet Commander Princess Liner

Quick post for a quick project.

In between other Dropfleet shenanigans, I grabbed the Princess Liner from her package and threw her into primer.  I worked on her here and there, while other things were curing or I felt like doing something different.  Looked at her yesterday and realized I was pretty close and glued her to her peg this morning.

The Bubblegum Princess Liner

I decided to go with a "Bubblegum Princess" as sort of an inside joke.  I rattled around in my paint collection and came out with this cotton candy scheme:

• Scale75 Cobalt Alchemy (blue)
• Scale75 Tourmaline Alchemy (pink)
• Scale75 Heavy Metal (silver)

These are colors I probably wouldn't otherwise use, which made it fun.

I did just a little work by hand with the Heavy Metal to better define the engines, put some AP Necromancer Cloak into a recess or two, and then it was time to ink and weather.

AP Purple Ink on the windscreens and AP Dark Tone ink on the underbelly and engines. I shot a little FW Payne's Gray ink into the engine intake using the Sotar to give it some more contour.  I dry brushed a little AP Chainmail metal on the silver after the Dark Tone cured.  Teal engine exhaust is Reaper Surf Aqua, and the engine soot is Liquitex Burnt Sienna (a little more orange than the Burnt Umber I use on my military DFC).

I like her as-is though I may go back and darken the windscreens some more.

Elapsed time is several weeks, but total time investment might be 2 hours.  Not intended for any awards, but was fun.

More pictures after the jump.

Zoxe 101: Airbrushing Stripes

Not these stripes!  No offense to Bill and the gang.

No, were are not talking about Stripes, although I do love a good Bill Murray movie.

We're talking about STRIPES, which can be squadron/unit markings (sci-fi), or other bits of regalia for fantasy, and of course historical (WW2 / Gulf War Chevrons).

When I've showed people my Dropfleet army, the comment I usually get is "Wow, that looks great ... how'd you do the stripes? Did you do that by hand?"  Here are the answer to those questions.

THESE kind of stripes.

Stripes are deceptively easy.  It takes some planning, the right materials, and maybe a little bit of nuance, but overall they're really simple and very effective.

Hot off the Desk: Dropfleet Commander UCM Lima and New Orleans Frigates

This is a quick post, mostly pictures.

I needed to add a few more frigates to my list, so I built out the remaining two sprues (each frigate sprue builds 2 ships).  I decided on two Limas and two New Orleans.

The challenge was to match a color scheme that I'd used for the rest of my Dropfleet list - and initiated painting almost a year ago.  I got pretty close, and managed to shave some time off my efforts along the way.

Intending these results to be tabletop+, not a contest entry.  Speed and #donenotperfect.

Hot off the Desk: Dropfleet Commander Remnant Centurion

Remnant Centurion - Battle worn, battle tested, battle ready.

The Remnant Centurion is (was?) a Dropfleet Commander ship available only at conventions and special web sales. It was most recently offered during the Adepticon (U.S.) and Salute (U.K.) 2019 shows, with the note that it would be retired thereafter. During Salute 2019, the Resistance faction was announced for Dropfleet, so I presume we'll see it - or something like it - resurface.

"Once these ships are guided to the Colonies, they are assessed for their space-worthiness. Many are barely intact rust buckets, fit only to sadly limp their way to Niccolum’s breakers yards under their own fading power. Others are surprisingly well maintained and are refitted with more modern scanner and ECM suites to join the UCMF. ... Those that have been pressed into combat duty due to the demands of the Reconquest have generally performed well and often exceptionally, especially those still captained by the same grizzled survivalists that brought them into the fold."  -- TTCombat, "The Remnant"

In the current experimental rules, the ship can fly with PHR or UCM factions.  The stats sheet lists it as a "Grand Cruiser" but in the narrative they say that this means "Heavy Cruiser" by "modern" standards.  Gameplay wise, the class has a good amount of hit points (14), good armor (saves on a 2+), and guns. Lots of guns.  This is offset by having a slower speed (7" thrust), higher signature (6"), and lower scan radius (6).

It's going to take awhile to get all the firepower where you want it, but the results should be worth the effort.

Zoxe 101: Holding Figures

Figure holders were an odd mystery when I first got started.  My earliest Brimstone figures were painted with some of the sprue left attached to the feet so I had a handle.  I thought this was really clever, until I realized it worked really terribly - simple handling snapped the gate (sprue attachment point) and I was left with nothing to hold onto.

Here are three methods that I use today.  All of them are cheap. 

Projects and Planning

More Dropfleet on the horizon - and a striping tutorial.

Yes, I've attempted to increase my posting frequency.  This is working hand-in-hand with my time at the bench to increase the velocity of my painting.  Coming out of a winter slump, the past several weeks were very productive.  I'm feeling good about where I'm at.  (It's a fleeting feeling; I'll enjoy it while it lasts, hah).

Adepticon was a milestone of sorts - coming home from the event I started framing up "what's next" for the bench. I have some really cool stuff waiting that I've been thinking about since last Gencon (in some cases) but there's been some hesitancy to actually kick it off. I learn more 'stuff' each project; I hesitate to start something not due until August because between now and then I'm going to learn and improve.

But now it's spring, the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming.  It's time.

And then Bones 4 Delivered....

I've started to feel a little better about my painting backlog.  Inspired by Adepticon (before and after), the past few weeks have seen some pretty reasonable progress at the bench.  As I type, I have one Gencon contest entry nearly done, and 3 different batches of Dropfleet ships getting ready for a tourney in May, the Brimstone Lava Giant assembled and awaiting primer once the Dropfleet stuff finishes.  Progress is slow, but steady, and I'll wrap up some of the Dropfleet today.

I have my summer projects queued up in a spreadsheet, and am looking forward to having items to display both at Gencon and at Reapercon, all while getting more fun things on our table for Brimstone, plus more Dropfleet, and plus a foray into Freeblades. 

All of that means fewer sprues on the shelf awaiting assembly, which makes me feel good; it's the first time I can say my backlog is actually reduced in quite some time.

And then Bones 4 delivered.  Behold its glory.

No way around it, that's a lot of Reaper Bones.  Hard to show scale; the Core Set box is about the size of a large shoe (boot) box.

It seems like a long time ago that we pledged this on KS, and it's a little surreal to have in our living room.  We did not go all in, but this is still a pretty hefty box.  There are 150 (!!) individual figures in the core box alone, plus 40 more in the expansion box.  That's before you get to the individual poly bags.

I'll admit that I was so afraid to open the box that it sat conspicuously in our foyer for a couple of days.  But, I knew we needed to at least check inventory, so out it came.

I am pretty excited about checking out the 4 new boxes of paint (small brown boxes on the right), and there are a few figures that I might pull ahead in the queue - a couple of large Dragonkin, for example - but yeeeeeeeesh.  This did not help the backlog at all.

Zoxe 101: Standard Colors III - Fun Colors

Spicy Colors

As time goes on, the tools and methods we use continue to evolve.  Sometimes it's a desire to try some new trick you read or saw, or sometimes it's a desire to try a different product to see what the fuss is about.

With every project, however, there seems to be a set of colors that you just can't get away from.  In Zoxe 101, I'm talking about tools/items/colors that find their way into virtually every project.

This time let's talk about some colors that I use in many of my models to add some spice.  In this case, let's do it with some pictures.

Reaper Rusty Red.  One of my top 5 colors.  It's not red, not orange, and not brown, and has a very organic look to it.  It goes down smoothly, and accents cool tones well.  I am incredibly sad that this line is now discontinued, but it looks like Reaper Carnage Red is a close approximation.

Here's some examples from the past year: