The BIIIIIIGGGGGGG Adventure begins...

[Digger]

The old axiom of " a plan never survives first contact with the enemy" can also be used for life.  As life sometimes takes HUGE detours from what you plan, so does a hobby.  I have returned after a 7yr hiatus due to life, the universe and everything.  'nough said.

So The Diggerette and I have returned to here and our love...GAMING!!!  Over that last few years we have mostly played "board" style games such as Heroes of Land, Air & Sea.  This has mostly been due to work.  The work hasn't changed but we have decided to launch into a MASSIVE long term project. 

What is it you ask...we are going to do our take on a Lost World/Darkest Africa/Congo/Indiana Jones/Pulp/Fantasy/Island that Time Forgot/Dinotopia Island.  Basically it will include ALL the gaming, movie, book and historical bits that we love.  This will involve designing and populating the Island/World.  Then the collecting and painting of the figures, building the terrain and lastly PLAYING with it all.

This is not going to be a quick project, so don't expect fast progress like we get from Digits.  We also have very little space to store, work on or play at the moment.  Due to work we don't get to stay in one place to long, we generally get posted every 6-9mths.  So having lots of fragile or bulky bits to move all the time is not good.  But we shall persevere

Guess its time to crack on then, off to the workbench we go.

Pete

[Digits]

Excellent,  sounds like the start of a plan to me!  I look forward to seeing your ideas evolve!

Don’t be fooled by my rush of energy just now….most of my projects start with a lot of gusto….then fade away as I decide there is something else worthy of my attention and then sometimes lay dormant for ages.

If the plan / idea was a good one, then inevitably I will end up returning to it at some point (as in my Africa project) when the time is right. 

It helps that I have skin in the game.  Africa itself holds a lot of mystique for me having lived in a few countries there in my youth over an eight year period and having returned to safari there for my honeymoon. 

I don’t always start off with a particular rule set or clear idea of my final destination either….so I tend to jump around and scatter gun my efforts….but I have to say, recent progress has been helped by identifying one set of rules to focus my collection (in my case “Congo”) which means I will be able to play with the minis immediately, but it doesn’t answer all my questions or desires, so I will need to either bastardise the rules or look to add in another set to take care of the other aspects that drew me in the first place.

As for space constraints, I’m right with you.   I’d love the storage space to make big bold bespoke gaming tiles complete with grass lands etc but I can’t….so I will continue to use gaming mats and make bits of scenery that will fit in a box or two and can be transported about as necessary.

Anyway enough rambling….good luck guys!

[FifteensAway]

Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles might work for you (both of you actually at the risk of derailing digits which I am loath to do considering how he is inspiring me greatly with his current thread).  It is much more than an Old West skirmish game.  I expect to adapt it as my 'other' set of rules right beside Rank and File.  Possible a little bit of The Man Who Be King rules might be consulted for a bit of spice - with a dash of Sword and the Flame where workable.

Nice thing about the Bigger Battles is you can replace a single figure with a stand of figures and thus instead of an 8 figure unit, you have 24.  I will probably use them for Robin Hood and Three Musketeers games and perhaps more.

And, of course, I will be pursing a lot of the Lark Side of gaming - just taking whatever and making it more fun, or maybe just a tad silly, whatever brings out the smiles and laughter during the course of a game.

[War Monkey]

For myself 15mm is a really nice range, it is small enough on space and yet enough details to catch the eye. For the cost you can have a handful of minis for the cost of one larger one. keeping in mind that you move a lot they are easy to pack up. For playing space for the most part a 2 x 2-foot board will work great so a 4 x 4-foot area board would be awesome!

Before you know it, you'll have a large collection of figures, I know I have a few hundred figures I have in Plano storage boxes, model No. 3600. I mount my figures on metal washer and use a glued in magnetic strip in the bottom of the boxes.

[Digger]

Thanks for the comments chaps.
We haven't settled on a set or sets of rules yet.  Though we will be most likely be doing a Digits and starting with Congo and adding bits and pieces as required.  Our games will be skirmish style not big battles, and as to scale well the Keeper of the Treasury and Testicles likes 28mm.

At the moment it is more paint and make things as the drive and time allows.

So what is the first thing to do???  Put the kettle on and make a cup of tea...

[Digits]

AlwYs a great way to start!   Very cool looking kettle!

[Digger]

Actually that is the teapot...
Nothing beats a cup of brown joy!!!

Pete

[Digits]

I meant teapot…..senior moment! 🥴

Now show us some minis!

[Digger]

I had a couple of hours between call outs so I started on a couple of chaps...
First ever miniatures, so any positive comments would be appreciated.

Pete

[diehard]

Hi Pete, nice start you have there. Painting, like any other skill, is something you get better with through practice. Washes (paint or ink) and dry brush are two key techniques that will be a big help (especially on stuff like the fur on the bear which, by the way, looks pretty good.) Showing your stuff here on the forums is good too, there are a lot of super talented people here that are always happy to answer questions and offer feedback. So keep the faith, get yourself some good brushes and take care of them and you'll be surprised at how quickly you will improve.

[Digits]

Yup good start……don’t over phase yourself with such a large starting collection, maybe concentrate on a smaller batch and see the through to completion?

[aircav]

That’s a cracking start, you look like you paint a lot neater than I do 
The bear looks great.
I would agree with Digits about the amount of figures you have on the go at one time, but if you are one of those people who can mass batch paint that’s great (I’m not  )

[War Monkey]

A really great start! However, I always start with a Kraft of Coffee