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A Hodge Podge of Hobby Excitement

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Since there’s a little bit of everything today, I don’t think its fair to name a specific game this time around. Truthfully, I have more to talk about than to show off but momentum is building on several fronts so I hope that you’ll find this week’s news and progress interesting.

First off, I painted up four frog swarms for Hellboy: The Board Game. I’m focusing on painting things that I can use in the first case/scenario of the game so I can get a game in sometime soonish. These little guys were very quick and easy to paint and I think they came out fairly nicely. Not a lot of details to pick out but they certainly get the job done. Unfortunately, they do suffer from badly placed mold lines and while I tried to clean them up, some of them just wouldn’t come out. I’m finding that the Hellboy minis require trimming with a hobby knife where I prefer the mold lines on GW’s and Fallout minis that are easily sanded down. Those are much quicker and easier to deal with!

As loyal readers may have already guessed, my terrain order from Black Site Studio came in and it looked so good, I thought I might as well get started on it. I think I’m also eager to right the wrongs of the previous terrain project as well. Regardless, I’m really impressed by the quality here. It comes pre-painted as you can see below.

And truthfully, I think this kit could look fairly nice if you just put it together and slam it down on your gaming table. But you know me, I’m not going to take the easy road if the hard way leads to nicer results! For example, the wooden parts that are on the left in the picture above look too much like plain old MDF so I took the floorboards and painted up in my typical post-apocalypse style which you can see below. One thing I wasn’t expecting is that the pre-painted MDF takes paint really well so even though it is pre-painted and I’m changing the colors a fair bit, the pre-painted stuff is saving me time and is more fun to work on as a result. That is a win-win for me anyway and I’m happy to spend more if you get better quality and it takes less time to paint overall.

I’ve started working on the exterior of the building now and I have gone a bit above and beyond there too. I repainted the MDF to be a little more dull than the default color (which is not white like they show on their website surprisingly). I think this cold white is a bit better for both Fallout and to capture the feel of Boston. Not that I am any kind of expert because I’ve only had a brief stay in the Boston airport! Regardless of that, I also added some weathering to the bottom as I usually do and I’ve gone for chipping on the paint as well. It is time consuming to do but I think it will give it a bit more visual interest and make mine stand out.

I’ve been test fitting pieces as I go and truthfully, things aren’t quite fitting as well as I expected so I’m trying to get everything I need for a section done so I can figure out how it all fits and glue it together in the safest and smartest way possible. Patience will certainly help me avoid mistakes or so I’m hoping! As a result, it might be another week or two before this piece of terrain comes together at all but since I’m having fun with it, I’ll probably stick with it until that changes.

While on the subject of Fallout Wasteland Warfare, I did manage to complete my spreadsheet for my current miniature/board games and have some info I can report.

  • Money I hope to spend on Hellboy to get all of the game content and some terrain bits to spruce up the game further – $170

This is not bad at all and grabbing the Kickstarter for the next wave of expansions really helps keep the cost down. In light of what comes next, this is a good thing!

  • Money needed to get pretty much all of the Fallout minis that you can use in the game – $1,040

That is a pretty eye-popping total! I knew there was a lot to get if I want to be a completionist but I had never really thought it would cost that much. With that said, I don’t NEED to spend anywhere near that much to have a playable “army” for each faction in Fallout 4. In fact, some of the factions like the Raiders and The Institute can be completely finished if I spend $70 more on each. The fact that you can get the complete faction in Fallout for under $125 is a real strength of the game, I would say. I’m sure there will be some stuff that I skip it is good to know how much I will be spending to get everything that is out now anyway. Its probably worth thinking about that before you get into a game but I’d be willing to bet very few of us wargamer/board gamer types do that!

  • Number of Fallout minis I’ve painted – 40(ish)
  • Number of box sets I’ve purchased out of total released for Fallout 4 – 7 out of 38

I’m pretty proud of both of those numbers considering how long I’ve been into the game. I’ve kept my backlog fairly reasonable but I’ve already gotten a good jump on several of the game’s factions and should be able to play a lot more games of it in 2022 as I get more terrain finished. I’m sure if I revisit this total in about a year’s time, I’ll be quite a bit further along as well.

Overall, I think having a spreadsheet or list, if you prefer, for the game or games you play not only helps you track your collection and painting progress, it helps you see what your end goal(s) might be. I thought before I put this together that I’ll definitely paint up Fallout: New Vegas stuff once I get done with Fallout 4 and honestly, I don’t think I will after doing this. Its going to take me years to get everything for Fallout 4 that I’d like to have and I don’t think I’ll be bored of this setting any time soon. $1,000+ (not counting any terrain purchases) is plenty to spend too!

But wait, there’s more! Modiphius just teased a whole bunch more Fallout 4 releases coming out next year. I’ll share some pictures for those of you who like Fallout and are curious. One of these days I’ll convince someone to check out this game. Maybe they’ll even let me know that I inspired them!

There’s plenty more than what I’ve included here but The Railroad are my favorite faction (outside of The Minutemen) so their upcoming release is exciting. I’m equally glad to see the Children of the Atom (aka Zealots) who worship radiation and are formidable in Fallout 4. You could make some really cool terrain to capture their bases as well. More creatures and robots releases are great too. Fallout should have a great RPG-like mode because almost any kind of enemy you could want to face is in the wargame now. All in all, this is exactly what I was hoping Modiphius would release for the game and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on many of these new minis next year.

Lastly, I was going to talk about this in greater detail but since I’ve written a lot, I’ll keep it short. I saw this week that Games Workshop is coming to Adepticon in March! That means the Golden Demon is on for next year. I am surprised because COVID is far from over in the US but I’m happy for the opportunity to enter. I haven’t been thinking about what to paint for it and will have to figure that out pretty quickly but it should make for an exciting opening quarter of 2022 with that motivating me.

50 thoughts on “A Hodge Podge of Hobby Excitement”

      2. I haven’t seen these before so this could be very handy. I do intend on getting some basic household objects to for cinematic images if nothing else so I will give these a shot sometime down the road. Thanks for sharing, mate!

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Were you thinking to go along with the shack I’m working on? Sarissa kits seem to be a bit inferior to other MDF makers but they do make several things including railways that nobody else does so I’m certain I’ll be ordering from them again in the future.

        Liked by 3 people

      4. That is very interesting. I didn’t realize something like that was available. I think some of those could work with Fallout and I will definitely keep them in mind for the future. Thanks for suggesting it, mate!

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    1. I’m the same way, mate. I like to collect sets when I can. At the same time, there are situations where I can make exceptions and this may end up being one of them as there are some things I don’t need or just don’t want to paint! 🙂

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  4. The frog bases look great Jeff, the progress you’ve made on the building already, has certainly elevated it.
    The only lists I tend to do are kits I’m looking to get, then carefully leave them around for the wife to find when Birthday and Christmas is coming up ! LOL But if you find spreadsheets useful, then that’s the way to go.
    Some interesting models coming up for sure.

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    1. Thanks, Dave! We’ll see if I can assemble it properly after all this painting. That will be the trick! 🙂 I’m not shy about letting people know what I want for the holidays either though I usually end up picking up what I want myself when my family ends up getting me something other than minis haha!

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  5. Great job on the frog swarms, and the muddy base really suits them. That scenery looks interesting and hopefully you can get it to fit together properly. I’m not too sure what you could use to fill gaps in MDF buildings; maybe wall filler?

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    2. Thanks, mate! I’m glad you asked that question and Dave chimed in. I haven’t tried to use anything before but its something I’d like to try so we’ll see how I get on with it 🙂

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  6. It’s all coming along nicely! Curious what you will decide to paint for your Golden Demon entry, and if you have enough time to paint it to your satisfaction.
    Agree with leaving lists around as gift suggestions, it never hurts.
    Don’t know about looking ahead at how much the hobby is going to cost, it’s hard enough seeing how much I have spent.

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    1. Thanks, Bret! I think I’ve picked out what I’m going to paint and it is MESBG so I think you’ll like that anyway.

      I think looking ahead can be productive but those maniacs who buy all of the miniatures in a single game and convince themselves they’ll stay disciplined and paint them all are in a different category all on their own! 🙂

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  8. I’ve barely finished the New Vegas wave for units that I wanted to collect, now the Commonwealth is coming! Though I’m glad it’s coming slightly later on in 2022, so there’s enough time to plan ahead! 🙂

    The Commonwealth Wave looks amazing! There’s actually quite a good amount of miniatures coming soon, the Gunners is a must! The Mongrel pack would be a nice addition to Raider and Caesar’s Legion factions. The Yao Gui has me thinking of Zion based games. Even if some players aren’t fans of the Boston setting, there are miniature sets that can easily be used for games in different settings (like New Vegas, Capital Wasteland and etc).

    Overall Modiphius is rolling out with great products, hopefully 2022 will be less of a logistical nightmare for them. 🙂

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    1. You’re way ahead of me, mate! 🙂 I’ve got a ton of Fallout 4 stuff to paint. Years worth, at the rate I paint!

      I agree that the Commonwealth is good for New Vegas and Fallout 4 fans. I’m excited about the Gunners, Railroad, and Children of Atom though I wonder how limited in unit choices they will be. We’ll just have to see!

      For some reason, I didn’t properly follow your new site and I’ve been missing out on your updates. I just followed and will try to get caught up on what you’ve been up to as you’re always working on something cool it seems like!

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      1. Luckily I don’t post too often like on Instagram, so there aren’t too many post on the blog atm. 🙂

        I’d suspect there might be some additional units with existing models. Like for example the Enclave faction including a unit card for recruit infantryman, using a BoS Frontline soldier miniature to represent that unit. Maybe the Wastelander/Settler miniature will get a Railroad upgrade as an option to field cheaper agents on the table top. Alternatively existing miniatures like power armour will be useful for factions like the Gunners if they need to boost armour saves and equip missile options. Hopefully the unit cards will be previewed in a few months time. 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I’m the same way with Instagram and I agree, we may get some supplemental releases down the road. I think this latest one is definitely that for Fallout 4 and outside of the DLC, I think they’ve got to be starting to run out of “major” things to make for Fallout 4 but then again, I like all the releases so I hope not! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Prorbably The Commonwealth expansion will be the last major expansion for Fallout 4, though they might be able to pump out a few more kits for the Fallout 4 range. There’s still some room to sculpt named characters, though that’s something I’m not sure Modiphius would want to commit to for a full year.

        Now that it’s becoming a yearly cycle of themed releases, we could possibly see a full range set in Fallout, Fallout 2 or Fallout 3. Maybe 76 too.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. Agreed, mate. It will certainly be interesting to see where they go next with Fallout. They’ve released a lot of stuff already and there is an opportunity for much more as time goes on.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. That’s a lot of frogs! 

    That new Fallout stuff does look really nice. I think I’m definitely a candidate for being lured into this game. I’ve always liked Fallout (never played the computer games much mind you, tried Fallout 1 way back in the day and a little bit of one of the newer ones,  but I always thought it was cool). A good mate is really into the computer games though so I reckon he’d be up for a game if I painted some miniatures. I’ve also been tempted to paint something and sneak it into Necromunda as a cheeky nod from one irradiated wasteland to another. 

    You’re a brave man working out how much your projects would cost, I can’t bear to look at how much I’ve spent over the years. I know it only comes to a few pounds every month or so but taken cumulatively it all adds up. People often say this is an expensive hobby and I know what they mean but in terms of £ or $ per hour of entertainment I think it works out very well. 

    I’ve also found that keeping a list of all the things I want that I know are “coming soon” helps me to avoid spur of the moment purchases. When you’re looking at something really cool it’s all too easy to forget about the stuff that’s already on your desk, let alone the stuff that you’re planning to get when it’s released next week or next month. By focusing on my list of planned future purchases I (mostly) avoid temptation when people like yourself try to lure me into things like Fallout… 😉

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    1. Fallout minis could definitely work with Necromunda though I think they’re going to look a little thin compared to GW’s meaty sculpts if they aren’t wearing any armor! Fallout Wasteland Warfare as a game isn’t crazy complicated but it isn’t as beginner friendly as some wargames go but the theme is really strong so I would think your friend would enjoy playing it with you. It does have an AI you can use too though I haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. I will someday soon hopefully.

      I don’t mind knowing how much it costs because I do the same as you and buy a box or two every so often. If anything, I should be buying a bit more and building up a backlog so I at least have the stuff I really want to paint but I tend to stay disciplined and only buy what I intend to paint in the near future for some reason. I like your idea of a “coming soon” list to help with that too. Come to think of it, I tend to do that with display pieces I want to paint in the road to keep me from picking up other projects along the way. GW is very good at tempting you with shiny new things as we both know! 🙂

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  10. I hate trying to remove mould (UK spelling 😉) they always seem to be in the most awkward places possible, and you can guarentee on missing some, which then stick out like a sore thumb when you prime…

    I like what you’re doing with the terrain, it looks really good, can’t wait to see it assembled.

    I’ve thought about doing a spreadsheet, but there’s no way I’d ever put prices on there – I prefer ignorant bliss!

    Oh! And you’ve convinced me about Fallout, it’s on my list, unfortunately, it’s a very long list🤔

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    1. Personally, I think British people have added u’s to words to try and sound posh! 🙂 Mold lines are a real pain and I prefer minis that are easy to clean up but not having to clean anything up would be even better!

      If you do make a spreadsheet, don’t let the wife see it! I didn’t realize that Fallout was on your list. I guess I can retire and close the blog down. Mission accomplished! In all seriousness, I hope you do get around to it one day as I think its a really fun game and a nice mix of wargaming and board gaming as well.

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      1. I tell you, the way we spell words over here is mind boggling, I mean, what exactly does adding a ‘u’ do? I used to hate spelling tests at school!

        Yeah, I’d love to play Fallout, but they way my game playing has petered out over the last couple of months I doubt I’ll ever get to it. I’m hoping the holidays are going to reinvigorate things🤞

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I’m with you on the extra letters! I was a spelling bee champ in grade school and I’m not sure I’ve ever done anything all that noteworthy ever since 😀

        I’ll keep my fingers crossed and you never know what the future holds 🙂

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  11. Nice work on the frog minis! And the newly acquired terrain looks like a great fit for Fallout. The upcoming expansions look great, always happy to see games get support in the form of fun expansions. 🙂

    Hoping you’ll get to play the Hellboy board game and/or a Fallout battle report soon, though take as much time as you need or want to take of course. 🙂

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    1. Thanks for stopping by as always, mate! Its always nice to hear your thoughts. I’ve got work to do for Hellboy for sure, but I can play Fallout again as soon as I get a “card table” to setup my games on. Once Christmas is over, I will find something because I would like to get another game in as soon as I can!

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  12. Great job. Looks suitably creepy.

    $1000 over time to get Everything isn’t so bad. It’s only a lot of done all at once but that’s madness because you’ll never paint all of it. Better to do it in chunks. And as you say you won’t get everything anyway. Projects tend to reach a ‘good enough’ stage where you can do the games you want. 😀

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    1. Thank you, sir! I agree that $1,000 isn’t that bad compared to other games or hobbies and its unlikely I’ll get every release because I may try a faction out and decide I don’t care for it and only need a few of the releases for it instead of every tactical option. One day I do hope to get a “good enough” phase with a game. I haven’t gotten anywhere close yet! 🙂

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  13. Great work on the froggies, and the beauty of models like swarms is that no-one will ever look so closely as to rivet-counter a small mould line left on a model. As you’ll know, I think pre-painted scenery is a great base to work from, so good job so far on the MDF pieces. One day I’ll paint some Fallout models, but they’ll be the ones from the board game – and that day is not today or likely to be anytime soon, unfortunately!

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    1. Cheers, mate! So far, so good on the pre-painted scenery as well. The FFG Fallout minis are not bad at all. They are a bit cartoonish/heroic looking compared to Modiphius but that is not a bad thing necessarily either!

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  14. Fantastic and I love the Frogs. Knowing where you want to go is important (I find) with hobbying, otherwise you’d spend the same amount of money in multiple aimless directions. Good luck, and as a part-time completionist (who am I kidding) I GET IT!!!

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    1. Thanks for the kind words and I completely agree on buying aimlessly. That can be okay sometimes but if you’re playing a game where there are tons of minis to choose from, you won’t accomplish many goals at all. Its always good to hear from a kindred spirit, Mark! 🙂

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  15. The froggy dudes (and swarms) look entirely appropriate! As for the Fallout game – I’d like to want to jump in, but I’ve already got WAY too many other games to paint and (not ever get around to) play already. If you were local, I’m sure I could be talked into it, but there’s a bit too much distance unfortunately…

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    1. You are spoiled for choice with games so I don’t blame you! If I were local, you wouldn’t need to get into Fallout because you could just play with my collection, I reckon! 🙂 Thanks for the kind words on the frogs as well!

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