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’ลil 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 
Great work on Lokaris, I agree that compared to the late March photo, he seems to ‘pop’ more and is looking even more vibrant. Awesome work!
And a very timely post for me with great insights. I have been buying hobby-related things left and right for all kinds of future projects, which has completely depleted my funds. But I don’t really have a good plan for what actually to do next, and I think that contributed to the buying frenzy. I should have a realistic conversation with myself about what is actually achievable in the short term, and then follow up on it. Thanks!
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Thanks, mate! I’m glad to hear you think so.
I’m curious to see what you’re preparing for but I’m also not surprised to hear it because we’re both pretty ambitious in the hobby. I think you’re right about not thinking through plans can lead to chaos too. I was in the same boat when I came up with the Conan idea. There’s a lot of good things about the idea but I’m not in a great place to actually deliver on it which is the real problem. I hope you’re able to sort it out and don’t be afraid to post about your ideas to help you sort through everything. Doing so here helped me quite a bit.
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Well the main thing currently holding me back is that I want to replace my gaming mats with modular gaming tiles that are slightly more three dimensional. Lately I have spend a lot of time researching what it would take. While it sounds fairly straightforward, I am planning different boards at once: grassy, stone/rock, Pelennor Fields / nordic plains, city, water, desert, snow and Geonosis / badlands. Basically I’ve been planning all backdrops for all of Middle-earth and to a lesser extent Star Wars. Obviously I’m not going to make all of them in the near future, but even planning them takes a lot of time.
Then there’s also a lot of different materials and tools I’d need that I didn’t own previously. Which is quite expensive. And there’s also the not insignificant issue of storage.
However by now I am so far in the sunken costs and time investment that I want to pull through. Yet I feel a bit daunted to actually do it. I am currently building a test tile. But I’m still missing some essential materials and equipment, which means another drive to two different hardware stores to get. I kinda wish I hadn’t gone down this path, but hopefully it’ll all be worth it in the end.
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That makes sense and it is suitably ambitious! Maybe its just me but I don’t see as many people doing those type of boards as there used to be and it is a shame as they’re more immersive. I use mats because I don’t have storage space to make boards currently but I have thought about changing that in the future…
I can believe the cost is high and so is the storage. There’s a bit of a learning curve to it too, I imagine. I hope that you feel the project starts paying dividends as I know you’ll need some motivation and inspiration to see it through. I’d definitely like to see how you get along with it, if you decide to blog about it. It would be interesting to read about and see what you come up with.
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Excellent progress on Lokaris Jeff, great that you have felt motivated again on the large project.
I currently have similar dilemmas each month, which project do I get this month, or look new distraction ! LOL sometimes, missing a model that goes out of production, can be annoying, GW keep doing that with the Space Marines, but their pricing makes me less inclined to spend my budget there. I think the biggest thing is when you get to your Conan project will it annoy you not to have the heads ?
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Thanks, Dave! My motivation has slipped a little the last day or two so we’ll see what I focus on this week.
I sometimes forget how bad it is for fans of GW. They really face the constant distraction of new releases worse than anybody, I reckon! I think your question is really useful because I’m realizing that I can in fact live without the Dwarven terrain and I don’t have a firm idea of how I’d use them. I think they’re really cool and I have a decent idea of some terrain I could make with them but its hardly concrete and for that reason, I should not worry about getting them. I started thinking about my existing projects more and realized that there is stuff I can and should buy for those instead as well so this problem is solved, I think!
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To buy or not to buy, that is the question. Or … do you need all the heads or only a few in the set? What if there is someone else that might use some dwaven head terrain? Just saying.
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I wonder who that person could be! ๐ I’ve been mulling this over and I’ve realized that I’m not terribly likely to build a Vanaheim/Asgard “board” which is where I envisioned the heads fitting best. I COULD use three of the heads as a backdrop in a diorama involving Conan potentially but that is a half-formed idea at this point.
Not that I’m trying to sell you anything but I really do think they’d be a nice addition to your Dwarven collection, though that is already really impressive and I wouldn’t blame you if you felt as though you don’t need to expand it any further. If you’re interested in the terrain, they’re on a bit of a sale at Noble Knight last time I looked. I think its only an extra dollar or two off but in these tough economic times, I take every dollar I can get.
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The dwarf heads are tempting but like you, at what point will I get to them vs what is already “scheduled”. Need to wear dark glasses to avoid the shiny object syndrome.
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I hear you on both of those accounts! There was a surprise sale that caught my eye so I found a good way to spend the money in the end.
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I found this to be such a great read, because itโs almost exactly the kind of dilemma I feel like Iโve been in for about 12 years ๐คฃ Seriously, I think if you know you want them, then get those dwarf heads. But you need to have a very specific idea; otherwise, the way the hobby market is these days, by the time you come to work on Conan, thereโll most likely be even better stuff available and youโll feel silly for being stuck with dwarf headsโฆ
At least, thatโs how itโs been for me over the years!
Itโs definitely a double-edged sword though. While sticking to one or two projects can see some amazing results over time, itโs so easy to stagnate that you almost need that palate-cleanser stuff to keep the motivation. Thatโs what I told myself shortly before I ended up with more plastic than the local GW shop!! But that was the old me, the new me is much betterโฆ I thinkโฆ
At least we can be assured of one thing. Conan DOES love you! ๐คฃ
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Haha, thanks mate! I think the root of the problem is that its much easier to buy new stuff than it is to actually assemble and paint miniatures. That takes quite a bit more time to complete. I think the whole time I’ve been in the hobby I buy at a faster rate than I can paint which is prevalent amongst hobbyists.
You make some good points on the terrain. My problem is that I don’t know for sure that I’ll want to make the terrain that I was going to use them with so that makes me cautious about buying it now. When you start buying stuff that you aren’t sure about, then it may never happen. You make a good point about new stuff being potentially available later on too.
I used to paint just one game and nothing else at a time, if you can believe it. I couldn’t do it now and have introduced a lot more variety into my collection. I don’t NEED any more projects for variety’s sake, thankfully but I do agree that its hard to focus on just one thing for an extended period of time.
I’m glad the Cimmerian loves me and I’m not going to tell my wife about it either haha!
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Oh yes, that definitely rings true for me, as well! It can definitely be exciting to buy a whole army in one hit, or to have that huge crate of miniatures for something like Hellboy, but then it kicks in that you need to actually do something with it allโฆ thankfully my pile of shame has shrunk significantly these days, but it can be genuinely tiring, canโt it?
I guess if youโre feeling cautious about getting that terrain, then itโs probably a better idea to pass on it now. You donโt need to add any kind of guilt or remorse for getting it if youโre still ploughing through the other myriad projects youโve got on the cards, after all!!
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That’s good to hear on your pile of shame. Mine has grown since around the time I bought Hellboy but I’ve been okay with it thus far. I don’t feel like its out of control or I can’t get caught up eventually. I’ve mostly just bought things that I already wanted or knew I’d get to eventually, if that makes any sense.
There was an unexpected sale that I saw yesterday so I jumped on it and got some things for one of my existing interests so that finally settled it ๐
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Got to love an unexpected sale! Hopefully that will be fruitful then – but donโt let it distract you from Hellboy ๐คช
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It is not miniatures or terrain so it won’t distract me in that sense ๐
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Ah, thatโs a positive, at least!!
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Nice progress on the painting, Jeff! ๐ I have a few projects that I’m making progress with now that I first considered decades ago! You might find that with the proliferation of 3D-printed items you might have no problem getting stuff you want in the future.
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Thanks John and that is interesting to hear! I’m glad to hear the long game has worked out for you. Funnily enough, this is why I tell my wife I won’t get any tattoos. Things change and I can’t predict where I’ll be in ten years or if I’ll still like the same things or not!
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Oddly enough, this post helped me think through an issue I have, one that we might share! Limited resources and unlimited ideas… I’m glad you’re leaning towards waiting on the Conan board, or you’ll end up like me driving yourself crazy trying to make it all work!
Do you tend to try and complete a project? I noticed you were saying you might focus on finishing Hellboy. I only ask because I’m working through some Maladum minis right now, and I wonder if maybe focusing on one project alone might help with the burnout a little!
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Yes, you said it well. Ideas are cheap but being able to execute them takes a lot of time and dedication. There is temptation all around us too. So many cool miniatures and games out there nowadays.
That’s a good question. I do get things done eventually. I painted up an entire Hobbit Starter Set a number of years ago which took a decent amount of dedication and focus, truthfully. I like variety in my painting though so I rotate between a few different things. Fallout, Hellboy, and display painting. It slows down my Fallout and Hellboy progress a fair amount but it keeps me motivated and prevents boredom. So I won’t be focusing on painting Hellboy exclusively in the near term, I’ll keep bouncing around but I’d say if that motivates you, definitely keep doing it because actually getting things done and seeing goals and ideas actually happen is rarer in our hobby than people like to admit. Its much easier to start new things and never fully finish them sadly.
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Nice progress on Lokaris, that gauntlet looks great and I like the additions to the shoulder pad. As for your dilemma I think that is a very sensible way to look at it, I definitely have some projects that I got excited about, bought the models for, and have since been collecting dust on the shelves. The only saving grace is that Iโm pretty sure Iโll get around to them some day, but the funds could probably have been better used on something more immediately useful!
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Glad to hear it, Nic! The mini is starting to come into form now, I feel. While I’m not surprised to hear you also have this problem, as I think it is universal in the hobby, at the same time it is disconcerting because you’re so good at army painting that I tend to think you can accomplish just about anything painting wise! I could easily spend 5 years painting a Warhammer Fantasy army and I reckon you could do it in less than a year, easily ๐
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Appreciate the belief in my army painting abilities! Truth is thereโs always more ideas than time! No matter how fast you might paint ๐
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Haha, well if there was anybody I know who could overcome the problem it was you! ๐
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Fantastic progress on Lokaris. Every time I think about how good your skills are, you go ahead and surpass yourself. I didn’t really think that there were substantial improvements to be made on that shoulder pad but clearly I was mistaken!
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I didn’t either. I’m glad my friend caught it as it has made a big difference. I’m always trying to improve but a lot of the time now, I don’t really notice it when I do. Its kind of a funny and unexpected thing.
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