Minor Madness - or a goal, maybe (Finish line has been crossed day 100 + 10)

[LordBrentlake]

Great progress.

Apologies if I missed this earlier, but do you count mounted figures as one or two? I only ask because I find that I can spend almost as much time on a mount and tack as I do on the rider (dependent to an extent on the uniform/dress of the rider).

Colour me highly impressed anyway.

[FifteensAway]

As an English friend who lives here now says, I count 'noses' - so a figure and rider count as two, takes time and effort to paint the horse as well as the rider.  And some research - for the latest batch, in hunting about for horse color information, I discovered the 'silver and black' horse which is black with white mane and tail, this matters because horse color is one way I distinguish the 'sets'. 

Alas, I am running out of combinations so the next few 'sets' might be a challenge, just have to find more variants - one set will be basic black horses and then there are other shades of brown/chestnut to add in and I might try for a blue roan and I have yet to paint a set of white horses - but that will be used for one of the Mexican sets which will include a very well known and much appreciated recently departed from life acquaintance, Manny Granillo, who suffered a heart attack and serious car accident and died several days later. 

He was considered in such high regard that the GoFundMe campaign for his wife and three young children raised north of $90,000 US.  So, his 'set' gets the white horses.  And his character shall be: El Governadores de Las Siete Ciudades de Oro Manuelisimo de Granillo, included in the next batch up for painting, another dozen characters. 

I will also be using tufts and small stones to help distinguish sets and individuals especially for the on foot and dead figures but the mounted figures, too.  Makes on table identification easier - though all bases are marked on the bottom with either the character's name or initials depending on the size of the base.  Visual labelling just looks so much better than unsightly tabs - and helps with putting things away after a game.

Thanks for your comment and continued support, Lord Brentlake. 

[LordBrentlake]

Thank you very much for taking the time to give such an informative reply. My 15mm painting subjects tend to be multiple figures on a single base. Unless there is clear information that particular colours were preferred (such data being sparse before comparatively recent times) I aim to mix up horse colours on a base and introduce further inhomogenity through blazes and leg/foot markings. If the riders don’t have uniforms to unite them, I’ll often use some other feature. For my most recent project, which was fifth century Huns, I used the same pattern for the flights on the arrows of bases that belonged together. Hopefully that’s not too blatant yet at the same time straightforward to follow.

Using distinguishing features on the bases is something I hadn’t thought of. Thank you for planting that seed in my head. I’ll nurture it and see what grows.

[snitcythedog]

Very nice work and good for you keeping it up.  I am stuck atm as we just moved house and resetting up hobby space will have to wait until everything else is put away and out of storage. 

[FifteensAway]

Ack - just realized I added wrong, current tally is 834, not 934 (corrected in earlier post).  How dare I!!!  .

Numbers will be a lot lower this 10 days in part because of getting ready for Old West game but also because of holiday decorating and, hopefully, planting 1,000 bulbs for spring display (tribute to my late mother - and wife and I love gardening).  Wife is nuts about Xmas and not only lots of decorations in the yard but, so far, two trees in the house, one small and one 'standard' size - and she is making noise about a third!  And then there is her Lemax (and others) village, over 60 square feet of stuff.  Will see what final tally - corrected - will be on Friday.

Brentlake, look forward to hearing about what you decide.

Snitchy, yeah, that sounds a bit of a drag but hope, in the end, you have a better hobby space than previously.  One of my advantages may be the stability of 25 years in the same house.

[FifteensAway]

Day 70 update - add 56 new figures painted, all cowboy sets, four of them.  834 + 56 = 890 figures.  Closing in on 1,000.  Sure, smaller number completed but a few distractions like most of a day taking our niece 100 miles each way to catch an international flight, and holiday decorations outdoors and this indoors:



No photos yet of the newly painted figures but stockyard textured and sealed and ready for game tomorrow, still drying when photo taken:



And over the last few days twenty-two pieces of railroad equipment painted and seen here drying right after getting seal coated - and yes, American locomotives in the period were show pieces.  What you see below is the chosen color scheme of the Tentacle and Monopoly Western Railroad, my Old West concoction.



I'd call that a successful ten days effort - especially with so many distractions.  Pretty sure I still averaged the two hours per day - and maybe more again since a pretty hard push the last few days either side of that airport trip.

Only 9:20 PM my time so still a little time until end of day seventy - which I will use to load car for tomorrow.  And then it is just printing material for the game, character sheets, QRS, scenario notes, etc.

30 days to go on the challenge.  Switching back to AWI figures for next ten days.  I do reserve the right to interrupt AWI to paint a couple more Old West characters on their way through the mail - Sammy "Shotgun" McGillicuddy and Daniel "Deadeye" Wastrelson, two of the "Legends". 

Some additional photos at the blog: https://whiskeyhills.blogspot.com

[LordBrentlake]

Getting anything done at this time of year is a success in my book. Not only do we have all the Christmas distractions but in our higher latitudes the usable daylight is shorter.

Really like the stockyard board; very effective. The rolling stock is quite something too.

My compliments to your good lady on her seasonal layout.

[mikedemana]

Wow! Now that is impressive... 

Mike Demana

[FifteensAway]

More about the Old West game can be found here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=147545.msg1890072#msg1890072



Day 71 ran Old West game, day 72 put away Old West game, day 73 ran wife around town and then selected next batch for painting - the rest of the AWI French as seen above, eight battalions and four generals, 168 total figures including the horses and dead.  If I maintain my 12 figure per hour rate I can just get them done by day 80, just got started this morning with first part of my process, 'slop' on the skin tones (half way through skin in photo) - and knowing there will be touch up at the end, especially for the hands.  But seeing the skin tones is a 'moment of inspiration' that always helps to propel me forward.  Then comes hair and hats and then main uniform color or colors and then working down to distinctions (facing and such) and then details like backpacks and such and weapons; final stage is the touch ups, always a few touch ups.

[LordBrentlake]

The stockyard looked the business in use. Well, the whole game looked good. I’m not surprised that you were tired by the end of it.

I agree about doing the flesh first on figures. In addition to the practicalities of colouring often difficult-to-reach but important areas of a figure, it does give one that extra bit of impetus to see the process through. If not painting a figure with a predetermined set of clothing, I find it often hints what might work.

Anyway, good luck with the current batch. You’re off to a good start.

[mikedemana]

Looks like a great game! I hope the players all had fun. I tend to give each player 4 figs for their gang in my Wiley games. We tend to have big crowds like you did, too. I think my smallest game was 4 players and the largest was 7.

Even though I'm sure it was exhausting, setting up, running, and then putting it all away, it is a very satisfying feeling when it's done. A project come to fruition! And don't worry about forgotten rules or things -- that happens virtually every set of rules till you've played them a good half dozen times, in my experience... 

Mike Demana

[FifteensAway]

I need to invoke several, even five, of my 'reserve' days and push back the 'official' day 80 count.  Just too many days with no painting getting done what with prepping for the holidays - and I figure to loose two more days for Xmas eve and day.  So, report due now next Saturday (28th) rather than this Monday (23rd).  And even then the numbers might be low again, the motivation for painting at a low ebb just now, progress being made on those French but rather slowly.  I still hope to get them done but it will take a burst of enthusiasm returning.  We shall see.

Happy Winter everyone!  It arrived early this morning (my time).

[LordBrentlake]

Something that I’ve recognised (I hesitate to say “learnt”) is that real life intrudes unstoppably at times and that it is better to concentrate on dealing with it rather than beating oneself up over hobby time lost. That way one can hopefully get back to painting or whatever’s in hand sooner and, as you suggest, with renewed enthusiasm. The alternative is a longer than necessary hiatus due to a “woe is me” mindset that can be difficult to shift.

I’ve been there too often. It’s not a good place to be.

You’ve done admirably so far. Take the break, catch your breath and enjoy the holidays with the family. I look forward to seeing your next update.

[snitcythedog]

That stockyard will look spectacular when done.

[FifteensAway]

Stockyard does need a few more additions, a pile of cow manure is likely and a watering trough in each of the six main enclosures.  One of the reasons for some stockyards was to unload, water, and feed stock while in transit to reduce lost cattle enroute to market.  Other than that, only other elements are some dry brushing and, perhaps, some grass tufts around the outer edges.

I do plan this stockyard to be used for town scenes as well as the ranch use.  I also hope to create another, though not quite so large, set of yards more for horses - and include a training circle.  No great reason other than I like the idea, I have the fencing already painted and I created a spare base when I realized the first one was a bit too small for what I wanted. 

And I have quite a few additional bases I will be adding fencing too for crop fields designed to have commercial rubber crop fields drop in.  I will try and 'improve' on the commercial models when I get to that project. 

Terrain is both versatile and, for me at least, a huge part of the fun.