No-November already!

Another month has zipped by without being realised and so I thought I should update the blog again. Things are very much the same – still self-employed, still waiting to move house, still waiting for the adoption process to conclude.

This also means that hobby is still on hold. I'n my eagerness I packed everything model related away a fortnight ago, only to be told we won't be moving just yet. With that in mind I'm slowly coming around to the idea of digging out a limited number of models and paints and dipping my toe back in. My painting tray is now spotless so it's the perfect time.

I also made a couple of purchases this week. I found myself on Ebay last weekend bidding on a couple of Blood Bowl teams. I like the idea of Blood Bowl, I always have. Myself and Bull used to play many moons ago but in my over-competitive haze of that era I didn't enjoy it as much due to Bull's Orks being really rather good. I like the fact that it is a pick up and put down kind of game – once you have a team you don't need to buy anything else (unless you wanted another team that is) and can play without much prep at all. So I purchased my old team back (as it were, not the actual models I used to have) the Undead. I also picked up a Dark Elf team… and some Humans. Hopefully the limited number of models will mean they get painted quickly (I shall not be going for a competition-level paint scheme this time) and I can always stick the excess back on Ebay.

I've also been looking at Warhammer Fantasy. As much as I don't want to give GW any more of my money, I like the idea of having a small army to play should the occasion arise. I still have the remnants of my old Warriors of Chaos army – well, 12 chaos warriors and a couple of sorcerers is about the sum of it – and it makes sense to make use of it that buy something completely new. With the new edition of WHFB pencilled in for next year it seems a good time to get a fledgling 500 points together.

I also looked through my Nurgle marines last night. Still a lot of models to paint there as well. Something else to be thinking about. As much as I don't want to try and paint too much too soon, it would be good to have a game now and again will Bull seeing as I have the models!

That's it for now. I'm hoping the next blog post won't be too far off, especially if I actually have something to blog about!

Malifaux: New Rasputina Plastic Starter

No more developments on the Gaming Board as we're in Ireland this week.

However, I thought I'd do an "inside the box" blog post – this time it's the Children of December starter set for Malifaux 2nd Edition.

I have to admit that my keen interest in Malifaux stalled around the time they switched from metal to plastic models, coinciding with book 4. I noticed that the new plastics felt very delicate compared to the metal models and wasn't convinced. My online GenCon purchases last year sealed it and I've never looked back.

When Malifaux 2nd Edition was announced my interest stirred and when I saw the imagery for the new crew box sets I was keen to see more. Shinybloodyitis struck at GenCon time last month and I ordered some bits, including the Rasputina "Children of December" plastic set.

The bits on the sprues seem very much as I remembered them a year ago – fragile – except the re-imagined Golem of course who really is a monster. The Gamin are very thin and delicate, not sure how much abuse they will take as their arms and legs are little bigger than the metal pins I use on larger models.

Rasputina came in six pieces and went together very easily. I'd be interested to see this model side by side with the original Raspy and I'm sure she's tiny compared to the metal version.

Next I decided to tackle the Golem. He was made up of 10+ pieces spread over a couple of sprues. Whilst he's a reasonably straightforward model to build it wasn't always obvious which piece went where – the picture doesn't help much and I was left with a piece over that seemed to have no home. Eventually I got him finished and he truly is a beast.

The Gamin were easy builds though just as spindly as predicted. The Wendigo, hmmm – I don't like the fact that he's got another model on his base that he's beating on (don't like the idea of a totem model being taller than its master) so I may clip him free from his victim and model him on some rocks instead.

The plastic is of good quality and there were minimal mold lines on the pieces. Very nice kit, just have to learn how to play the new Malifaux!

Gaming Board: part 2

See part 1 here.

Armed with my materials, tools and a plan (I can hear the A-Team theme tune in my head) I set to building my gaming board. Given that it was raining heavily outside I decided to build it in the spare room, especially as my wife was out – I should have time to build and tidy up before she got back.

I'd already cut the sides of my frame the day before, following my plan, and allowing a couple of extra mm for tolerance. I marked up every part that needed guiding holes drilled for the screws, to ensure they went in where they were supposed to. Using the foam as my guide I began to screw the frame together.

My woodworking skills are rather basic. I can cut wood with a saw (but not very straight) and I can use a drill and screwdriver. I managed to build a shed over the course of the summer, so was feeling that I would take this project in my stride. However, accuracy is not my strong point, despite the best of intentions and plans – my manual skills fall a little short.

The bottom line is that once the frame was together, the foam no longer fitted inside, in spite of all my calculations. I had somehow made the frame a couple of mm too short on one side, from plan to reality. Easily solved though – I took a long metal ruler and a craft knife and carefully shaved off the required amount. The foam slotted in like a hand in a glove – perfect. Much better too big than too short – I'd hate the foam to slide around in there.

I decided to change the plan on the fly at this point. The wood I had to make the corner supports was too thin to drive a screw through I decided, so I cut more of the frame wood into triangle shapes for the corners. I marked these up to ensure my drill holes were in the right place.

I screwed them into place using a Lego brick as a temporary spacer to ensure they were all at the same height from the base. They went in surprisingly well and made the frame much more solid. I was using 40mm length screws throughout to make sure there was enough to grip the wood on either side of a join.

I made sure that the screws were sunk lower that the wood surface so that I can add filler or wood glue to hide the joins. I will probably paint the frame in a gloss paint, once everything has dried, to give it a clean look and make it more durable.

When the foam was dropped in again it now sat a good 20mm above the frame. A little more than in my original plan (due to using thicker wood in the corners) but I'm not concerned as I will be carving into the foam when I create the playing surface. This will obviously weaken the foam, given that there is a massive void underneath it, but it should be more than strong enough unless I'm using lots of large, heavy models on there. I could always drop in a square piece of hardboard underneath the foam to support it if required.

All told it took about an hour and a half from start to finish… and my wife turn up as I turned off the hoover!


Part 3…