Ups and Downs!

I had planned to get back to a regular posting regime but so far things haven’t worked out as I’d hoped.

I mentioned recently that we’d taken on a new person at work and that, after a bit of training, we should get into a regular earlies/lates shift pattern. Well, I managed one week of earlies and then newbie went off long term sick so I’m currently back to permanent lates, at least until the end of July when we start our summer projects and are all on a set shift anyway until the term begins again in September.

Being on earlies for a week was great. I managed to get quite a bit done in the afternoon/evenings, unlike working lates where I’d start somewhere between 10 am. and mid-day and finish around 9pm, where I achieve very little.

So that’s one down, here’s an Up…

During the week that I was on earlies, I managed to get ISS Vanguard back to the table. It took a while to get back into though, as it is a game you can save at a certain point, just after you’ve finished a planet and stored all your loot, and remembering what I was doing was tricky.

I enjoyed the story immensely, as playing with the optional app certainly immerses you deep into it – some great voice acting. The planet exploration has so far being entertaining too, but I do wonder if it may become repetitive as the game goes on, though it does pose some pretty problems to solve and you have to get your team working together efficiently. I much prefer the ship management parts of the game and it reminds me a lot of the video game X-COM Enemy Unknown.

And Down…

Because I then went back on lates for the foreseeable future, I had to pack it away again, as it is a game that needs time spent on it to allow the story to flow and despite leaving it set up for several days, I just found it difficult to keep picking up where I left off.

Up – I started painting again!

After about 6-months away from the brush I’m starting to claw a bit of time back at the weekends to try and make inroads into my ever increasing backlog. It hasn’t been easy. An hour here, an hour there, I’ve struggled to get back into a rhythm, and it showed.

Marvel: Crisis Protocol’s Doctor Strange – it was the only figure of substance I had primed up – was, perhaps, not the best thing to shake the rust off on. Anyway, here he is…

The cloak went well, and so did much of the rest of him, but trying to do the magical aura that surrounded him turned into a bit of a trial. You know how it goes, when you have it in your minds-eye of how you want it to look and then totally fail to be able to replicate it – I actually get that all the time, but hey!

Anyway, it is what it is and I was pleased with my efforts in the end no matter how rusty I felt.

More Ups on the painting front. I tried hard to paint some of the things that have been sitting half-painted on my desk for far too long. I finished three Davco 1/3000 ships – Renown, Norfolk, and Dorsetshire.

These little ships are basic in detail and so don’t require too much work and should have been finished long before. However, I got distracted by MCP characters and they got pushed to the back of the queue. They’re all painted in early war schemes, ready to play out some scenarios I have planned – Stromvaer, and the sinking of the Bismark – which means they’re mostly dark Grey!

Stromvaer took place in April 1940, when Renown confronted both the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, fighting to what could be described as a score draw, with the Scharnhorst developing radar issues and not engaging whilst the other two both sustained some minor damage before the Gneisenau made off in cover of bad weather.

The Battle of The Denmark Straits, and the following pursuit and destruction of the Bismark, is well enough known and at some point I hope to recreate it all in miniature, especially as I now have all the ships that took part painted up… watch this space, but don’t hold your breath!

I also finished Chewbacca, almost. I need to get him based the same as the Star Wars Legion figures I did eons ago – probably need another 6-months at least before I get around to that!

Unfortunately, I ran out of varnish. Vallejo’s Mecha Varnish is my preferred weapon of choice, as it gives a very matt finish that is extremely hard wearing. I’ve also had no issues when applying it, whether by brush or airbrush. I couldn’t get any more for love nor money at the time, so I ordered some Ultra Matte by AK.

I sprayed up the ships and Doctor strange as per the instructions, diluting it a little with airbrush thinners. It does give a nice finish, however, it’s no where as near as hard wearing as the Mecha varnish. Three thin coats, just as I use with Vallejo’s, and on test I easily rubbed the paint off from the rim of Strange’s base, something I wouldn’t normally be able to do. So, It appears to be a good varnish for display but if you intend to use the minis for a game, I’d steer away from it. So, a bit of a down there, but…

I now have a nice large pot of Mecha Varnish, I just need to apply it!

The UKGE took place recently and, of course, we paid it a visit. This year it was bigger than ever before, with a total attendance of over 65,000! It certainly showed, as when we turned up at 8:30 in the morning they had already filled three carparks, which put us further away than I’d been before, and we usually arrive later!

The amount of people cramming into the halls did make it difficult at times to get to see some of the more popular stalls. And why do people insist on wearing massive backpacks, knocking people about when they keep turning around. There was also a lot of non-gaming stalls. Some making an effort to adjust their wares to the crowd – candles shaped as dice – but some (one in particular was selling tea cups!) have no bearing at all and, unsurprisingly, never seemed to attract any attention.

Still, we had a great time, especially in the bring-and-buy, and came a way with several new games. I also bought a new magnifying lamp for painting, which I’m particularly pleased with.

On the new games front, we have; Star Wars Armada, Skyrim the Adventure Board Game, Dinosaur Island, Zombicide Black Plague, Nemesis, Unmatched Battle of Legends Vol II, and two expansions, Arkham Horror Under Dark Waves, and Root: The Clockwork Expansion.

Lots to be going on with and hopefully I’ll report back on them over the coming weeks (months?).

Well, that’s the ups and downs of the last month or so, as I’ve brought you up to date with my goings on. With a bit of gaming here, and a bit of painting there, I might be able to start pushing out a bit more content… fingers crossed!