I’m excited to share some progress on the current 75mm miniature and I have quite a lot of hobby ramblings related to my current hobby dilemma to get to as well.
But first, let’s talk about Lokaris. I got some feedback from a painting friend that I should expand the highlights on his shoulder piece and brighten them a little bit. His shoulder is one of the brightest places on the mini so this seemed like a no brainer so I went for it and was very happy with the results. I also worked on one of his gauntlets this week and it was very technical to work on but also has some great details. When I got it done, I was struck by how cool this miniature is looking now. I think the slow and deliberate pace I’m working at is really paying dividends and this going to look very nice in the end. I’m becoming more and more hopeful that it might end up being one of my better display pieces which is exactly what you want when you start a project like this.
Since the changes I made to the shoulder armor is somewhat subtle, let me show you what he looked like the last time I showed it off and where it is now.
I just realized that the pictures I took this time could have been a little closer/zoomed in but I think you can still see what I’m talking about, hopefully! I’ll try to take closer up pictures in the future to make amends. In hand, the mini is starting to really “pop” which is a term painters use a lot and is kind of subjective and undefinable. In my mind, a better term comes from Art History and the French language. Trompe-l’œil which at least to me, means painting done so well that it fools or deceives the eye into thinking its a real, 3D object. There’s still quite a ways to go on Mr. Lokaris but a lot of the work left to do is high impact and very visible so it will be fun to see it come together.
And that’s it for painting progress this week. As far as other noteworthy things going on. I managed to snag another Fallout rules supplement this week so that’s one item taken off the to-buy list! This one is for the Nuka World setting and models. I will do a review of it eventually (probably a month or so since I just reviewed one not too long ago). I reckon if I keep buying one item per month, I’ll have everything pretty much by the end of the summer which will be great to accomplish.
Somehow, I find myself with a little extra spending money towards the end of the credit card cycle and I’m a bit paralyzed by indecision. Not too long ago I talked about the Scibor Dwarf Head terrain that is going to be discontinued soon.
And indeed, you would think that buying it is a no brainer, right? Well, I started thinking about it and my idea for wargaming in Hyperborea and I realized a few things. If I don’t buy the Dwarven Heads soon, they’ll be gone and probably too expensive to be worth getting directly from Poland (where Scibor is based). On the flip side, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I’m a LONG ways away from being able to actually work on the Conan project and make any progress. I have plenty of Fallout minis I’d like to work and a pretty sizable backlog of Fallout terrain (fence, two houses, and more street pieces) that need to get done. I have the terrain I’ve been working on for Hellboy and 100+ miniatures still to go there. If I do take up the Conan project, I will be slowing down progress on those two gaming projects AND I have the Monsterpocalypse Diorama I’ve started and haven’t worked on much lately, I have a Stonehorn miniature and a pretty involved 75mm from Kimera all waiting in the wings…
I try to be pragmatic in our hobby and realistic with myself and if I’m being honest, I think I’m two or three years away from being able to work on Conan in earnest. My best bet would be to finish Hellboy completely before attempting Conan in any real way. That would ensure that I keep all of my current projects moving forward. So the question then becomes: Do I buy the terrain above or not? Funds remain tight here at Chateau Kuribo and there is a lot I can buy and I can’t quite decide how foolish and irresponsible it is to buy something that I MIGHT get around to in a couple of years? For example, buying a box of Fallout miniatures that I don’t own is arguably smarter as I plan on playing the game for many years to come.
While I love Conan (and I’m sure he loves me back!), I fear that the answer is probably that this isn’t a great idea and its very possible that I end up never actually painting said terrain because you never know if your motivations and interests will change in the future or not. It probably doesn’t help that I’m on an Arkham Horror kick now and see myself focusing on it in my reading and gaming time in the near future which perfectly illustrates what I mean about your plans change over time and in ways we don’t always expect.
One of the challenges I have with gaming stuff, is that if I look too much at what other people are doing and what products and games are out there, I tend to get ideas and inspiration to take on gaming projects that I don’t have the bandwidth to tackle. Its easy for your eyes to be bigger than your stomach, in other words! For example, I’ve spotted a couple of things Scibor is releasing that I’m really intrigued by. He has Kickstarters/Gamefound campaigns for more typical fantasy towns people and even halflings!
I’ve always loved the idea of creating some fantasy dioramas, vignettes, or even terrain that represents a fantasy town. And had I not started looking around at all the various options on the gaming market a couple of months ago when I first got the Conan idea, I never would have known about these upcoming releases or been tempted by them! I mention all this to illustrate how easy it is to get sucked into new ideas and new projects, before you have the time to execute them. I think that is what happened to me with the Conan idea. I had the desire but nothing else to turn it into reality.
For me anyway, its a very slippery slope and when you’re a slow painter, you have to be careful you don’t bite off more than you can chew. That is why I have historically stayed away from Lead Adventure Forums and websites that showcase all of the hobby releases these days. The temptation and inspiration is so strong and gaming projects require a lot of time and effort to actually see through. Having said that, the extra inspiration has been great and that is why I got so fired up to work on the Hellboy furniture for the last month or so. Before I started looking around, my inspiration for painting gaming stuff was a little lacking, truthfully. So it is a double-edged sword, if I’ve ever seen one!
Its kind of funny how a $30 piece of terrain kicked off all of this but here we are. I could be persuaded to buy it or not to buy it at this point, so we’ll see if the enablers in comments can accomplish their mission or not! But to be more serious, I do think the Conan project needs to be shelved for a while and I will have to wait until I get further along with everything else I already own. Its a shame as I had some cool ideas like a Stygia “board” and utilizing some really cool minis from Crocodile Games but maybe I’ll get to bring those life sooner than I think. On the upside, that will help me accomplish more with Hellboy, Fallout, and the existing display projects I already own which is a good thing. Having said that, I am still tempted by the Fantasy diorama thing which is a longer story. Perhaps I’ll share more on that next week!
Kuribo's Painting 