This week will be light on WIP and heavier on hobby musings. I will do my best to make it as entertaining and insightful as I can. Hopefully my discussion on the importance of storage space in our hobby is something that will resonate with all of you as well.
While I’ve been hard at work on some really good stuff, neither have been weathered yet so instead of showing you those in an unfinished state, I’ll hang onto them until they’re done next week. Fortunately, I have something I carried over from last week that I think is worthy of showing off all on its own.
This settler came out better than the first even if there were parts of the mini that were truly difficult to reach with the paint brush. That is something I’m noticing is a bit challenging and frustrating with Fallout minis. They don’t always seem to be designed with the painter in mind in that regard. Not to blow my own horn but there is a lot that I am proud of with this mini. Her face and the front and sides of her hair came out well. The lamp and the wood planks on her base are also as good as anything I’ve painted recently. The subtle wear on her jacket was sculpted but looks quite nice on the mini as well. While the back of the hair didn’t quite come out as nicely, that is about the only thing I can think of to improve on her. All in all, this is as good of a mini as I’ve painted in a little while and it is always nice to have something like that to share in the weekly round-up!
And now it is time for some hobby musings. You know what one of the greatest challenges of this hobby can be, particularly for any of us who dwell in the city? Storage space! To give you a little background about myself. I live in Chicago in a small two bedroom apartment. That is bigger than some people have in this city (and in other cities for that matter) but it is smaller than the space I had when I lived in Cincinnati for the good majority of my life. When I moved here, I brought as much of what I could with me but also got rid of quite a bit of stuff to try and adjust to the smaller space. I am a man of many hobbies (for better and worse) and I admit that I am using up some of the storage for other hobbies. For example, I have some Nintendo action figures I bought before taking up this hobby that I have no intentions of parting with. I also have a fairly large video game collection (which isn’t taking up valuable storage room in my closet anyway) and I collect Star Wars and Marvel trading cards which take up some room but not enormous amounts either. I probably own less stuff overall than many of you who read this site and I’m prepared to get rid of several things to clear out a little bit of space including my Mansions of Madness Second Edition board game and my Nintendo Nendoroid figures(which have remained in their boxes because I have no place to display them). All this is to say, I’m doing the very best I can to maximize my storage space and I realized this week that I truly am running out of room even after I get rid of a few things.
You would think that this would have hit me much sooner but it really just did this week as I was looking for house terrain for Fallout so I can begin playing in the near future. I’ve also been looking forward to making hobbit holes and I’m realizing that I don’t have the space to store more than maybe one or two of those or some houses for Fallout. So this means that I need to decide very carefully what larger terrain I buy because I don’t have room for much more.
This is definitely a downer in the short term but my fiancee and I have been discussing buying a place in Chicago at some point in the near future (if Coronavirus didn’t happen, we might be looking seriously for a place right now as a matter of fact) and when we do buy, the place should be a 3 bedroom at minimum and I’m expecting to have more storage at that point. I expect that as long as I live in the city, I will have to be cognizant of space before I tackle projects because this isn’t like living in the suburbs in the Midwest where middle class families live in houses with 4-5 bedrooms and there are large basements for storage too. Truthfully, I haven’t decided how to spend my terrain space yet but I’m going to try to figure out what is going to give me the best gaming buck for my money as it is likely to be another year or at least six months before we move into a bigger place as my lease is coming up for renewal soon. I also wanted to share all this with you because I imagine that it will impact what I do in my hobby in the near future. It won’t limit me painting miniatures much as I have a decent amount of storage for minis available but it may mean I end up focusing more on Fallout or MESBG and have to shelf terrain for the other game as I won’t have any space for it. I may have to re-prioritize my projects and go back to some of the Hobbit scenarios where I’ve got most of the terrain I need to play as well. I’ll keep you updated on what ends up happening and I encourage you all to avoid my mistake. Don’t build or commit to any projects until you’re sure you have the space or you may run into roadblocks like me!
Kuribo's Painting 
The settler looks great! I also really like the colour scheme.
Storage space (or rather the lack thereof) is the biggest stress factor for me in my hobbies right now. It is definitely something I’ll have to take in consideration when moving house. It also limits the terrain I want to make, simply because I wouldn’t have the space for it. But it is already much better than my previous two places. I also live in a two bedroom apartment in the city currently, probably not similar to Chicago though. What really helps me out is a storage basement at the base of the apartment where I store a lot of my larger terrain and unopened minis. But even that is really littered with stuff already.
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Thanks, Gero! I’m starting to get a feel for how to paint these minis now and I agree that the colors on this one are probably the best ones I’ve chosen yet.
I thought of you as I was writing this post because MESBG is one of the most demanding games in terms of storage and then when you add narrative games (let alone campaigns!) which all require their own unique terrain, it gets even worse. I wonder if this is a factor in why most people play MESBG with an army or two that they like and they don’t mess around with narrative gaming nearly as much as you and I do.
I’m really glad you have a storage basement. There is one in my apartment building but I’m not allowed to use it (a strange decision by the owner in my opinion) so that does not help my storage woes though I’m sure I will get access to a space like that once I move since I will own instead of renting. I’m sure I will talk more about this in a future post but I’m still trying to work out how this will impact my immediate MESBG goals. I think it is fair to say I won’t be able to play through any larger campaigns for a while which is a bummer.
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Great painting mate! That survivor came out brilliantly.
I hear you on storage space…. one thing I noticed, the more space you have the more you fill.
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Thank you! I really appreciate it. I completely agree with you as well. I’m sure that if I get more room, I’ll just keep plowing forward until that is filled too 🙂
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That’s definitely a nice looking mini! 🙂
Ah yes, storage space, the double-edged sword in our armouries! I find I can do a couple of things to sort of make it easier to store stuff. Firstly, although I’d like some nice big scenery pieces, I very rarely make or buy any, but if I do I tend to favour ground plan area of the terrain over height (2-D pieces are easier to store). Secondly, I limit the number of scales and periods/genres I dabble in so that I can maximise generic terrain that can be used for more than one game type. My approach is the same for minis, no big, 3-D figures or vehicles. Lastly, I try (emphasise try) to plan my storage for the next couple of years worth of stuff I’m going to paint, so that I know I’ll have somewhere to stash it – this also let’s me clean, prime and basecoat them and put them away where I know I’ll find them. This all does seem to be working at the moment, so maybe I’m lucky!
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Thanks, John. I appreciate it! I think your strategy is a smart one. Warhammer is very keen on big figures and vehicles these days but in historicals, I would think that is not a problem. I don’t like painting huge minis (they take forever) so I tend to agree with you on avoiding things like that. You’ve given me some good food for thought in terms of finding terrain that I can store easily but also suits my needs. I do think historical gamers are fortunate in how their terrain can be used across a number of settings and games. Playing a post-apocalypse game and Lord of the Rings offers no such luxury! 🙂
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Way to go! The survicor came out excellent. I was drawn to Fallout from my love of the video game, and the concept of visiting the Capitol Wasteland on the tabletop was too good to pass up. As for storage… well, that (as I rapidly learned) is a huge part of these games. I have been amassing Shadows of Brimstone before, adn I feel like way too much of my shelfspace is dedicaed to that. Good luck on the new house! I hope you get one with lots of storage…. and maybe a game room 🙂 – Cheers!
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Thanks for stopping by Chuck and for your kind words as well. A Fallout 3 game and board sounds really awesome! I’d love to see how you get on with that project so do let me know if you share it online somewhere.
Shadows of Brimstone is a really closet killer! The game seems to have an infinite number of expansions but the amount of variety those add I would think is hard to beat. I’ve eyeballed that game a number of times and if the minis were a higher quality and I had more space, I’d definitely give it a shot. I hope I get some more space sooner than later and a game room is the stuff of dreams for me at the moment as well 🙂
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Aaahhh the problems of storage. 25/28mm miniatures and terrain are THE WORST for storage. I only have 2 collections that are 28mm (.LOTR and Dark Age historical) and the miniatures and terrain take up more room than all the others in smaller scales. My 15/18mm ACW collection is twice as big and takes half the space.
So yes, your next place must include storage space and gaming space.
In the meantime, there’s always the option of renting storage space. 😀
Great job on the figure. I really like the base. You should of course, pursue whatever you like in the hobby. Whatever is fun for you. It’ll be fun for me to follow along. 😀
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I can imagine that 15 and 18mm makes a huge difference. For me, I think the terrain is the killer at 28mm much more so than minis but I don’t have a massive miniature collection so that could be why I think that way. LOTR is tough because you really want to have specific “boards” for different scenarios and settings in Middle Earth but having the room for that requires a large suburban home, I’m finding! I’m not looking to move back to the suburbs but I will do everything I can to get more space within the next year or so 🙂
Thanks for the kind words and I will take your advice on pursuing what I like to heart as well. I hope to not drive you crazy with too much post apocalypse rust in the near future 😉
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Storage, that is what brings us together today (say in the priest from the Princess Bride voice)
I feel your pain. While I enjoyed building my Gondorian wall, I have no place to store it. It broke all the guides I have for projects. I have two standard boxes I store items in, one size to store painted figures and a larger one for my terrain. Having standard sizes allows for easier stacking and storing. It sometimes limits me on what I plan to build but it makes it easier in the long run. It also makes me think on modularity for buildings and natural places where I can take them apart to lay flat if need be.
I’m enjoying on your progress on the Fallout figures and am looking forward to your complete set. They should look great together whether they are detailed resin or not.
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I have a large plastic box that I’m using for trees and hills which doesn’t fit in my closet and it is stuffed to the brim so I can relate to everything you said. I’m still trying to work out how to get the most out of the space I have and I know that from now on, I’m going to think about it much harder about these things than I have been so as to avoid future disappointment.
Thanks for the kind words on the Fallout minis and I’m glad that the shift in content has kept you interested. If I don’t have space for terrain, I can at least keep painting minis in the near future 🙂
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The survivor looks great. I’m just thinking that a lack of access to the storage basement might be a blessing in disguise right now, as it means it’s less space and stuff that you’ll buy and fill before purchasing. I can tell you that from my own (admittedly skewed) experience, the more space you have available, the more you’ll fill!
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This is a great point. I tend to buy stuff as I want to paint it and not stockpile anyway but I appreciate that my process is to weigh how much space something takes up before I buy to make sure that I will have the time and desire to paint and eventually game with it. I appreciate you sharing your perspective on this 🙂
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Even so – I could see you making a lot more terrain given your recent posts, and that stuff has to go somewhere!
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