I know what I did this summer...
Fucking hell (excuse the sweary Yorkshireman). The last time I posted was May. I've been meaning to drop an update for a while, but kept putting it off...
As I write, it's a slightly damp morning at the arse end of August. A good three months since I last updated. Progress on the climb up Lead Mountain has been slow over that time, not least due to the rather warm summer that we have had (rather warm up here in the North East—most of the rest of the world has been on fire...). But, despite the water in my wet palette rapidly evaporating, despite the paint on my brush drying before my eyes, and despite a couple of days where my office got above 30 degrees, progress has been made!
Some Nurgle aligned Chaos warriors and champions sourced from the excellent range of miniatures at Fenris Games.
The first thing to showcase are these absolutely exquisite Nurgle adjacent Chaos minis from Fenris Games. Lovely hunks of cast metal and a real joy to paint. These I managed to knock out in a frenzy of painting in June before the real summer heat truly hit.
A lovely resin dwarf hero from Fenris Games, whom I have provided with snazzy tartan pants.
The second is this cracking dwarf hero, also from Fenris Games, which I painted up for my Five Leagues from the Borderland party (featured in the last post I made). I had my second ever attempt at painting tartan and, I hope you will agree, it didn't turn out too bad! As you may also surmise, I have yet to drag the scenery out and crack that first game of Five Leagues out yet—the temperature has just been too stifling, or else work and other commitments have prevented me from finding the time. Soon though!
Unfortunately, those are all the miniatures that I have to show off in picture form, but rest assured, I have painted a few more bits and bobs. Mainly a few zombies from Wargames Atlantics brilliant plastic sprues and some Victrix Peninsula Wars British Infantry, which will be for Silver Bayonet. This is mostly because my mate Darren has suddenly discovered Osprey Games' catalogue (despite me banging the drum for them for years!) and decided that he wanted to give Silver Bayonet and Burrows and Badgers a shot. I therefore expect some anthropomorphic animals to hit the painting desk at some point in the future...
We did managed to have a crack at a coop mission for Silver Bayonet over July and I have to admit it was a lot of fun. We're hoping to get a campaign of it up and running. I certainly has this in mind when I drove all the way down to Derby to attend PeachCon for the second year at the beginning of August. I did pick up the First British Unit for the game from North Star while I was there, as well as some other bits, including some mythic bees for Warriors of Athena, a couple of new ancient dead minis for Arcworlde by Warp Miniatures, and Dave from MS Paints' new game, Petrichor. I also managed to snag the last copy that Alex from Warp Minis had of Siren's Oath, an RPG by his wife Wingshan, that comes with some absolutely lovely mermaid minis. The RPG looks like it is the kind of game that will go down very well at the local monthly RPG night I run, so I'm planning on scheduling a game of it later this year—just have to get the minis painted before then!
Overall, though, PeachCon didn't feel as good this year around. It might be because it felt less intimate, spread out as it was across a couple of halls. It might be due to the fact that some of the vendors from last year hadn't made an appearance—Warlord Games was absent, as was Fenris. I know they were charging for vendor stalls this year, which might have been the cause. Also, not having Ian there to chat to did make it a bit of a lonely affair, as no-one else from up Durham way that I know goes down to it. Finally, it was hot that day and by 1.30pm I'd given up and set off on the drive back North.
In the weeks since, while the weather is cooling down and I find the motivation to pick the brushes back up again, I have focused on clearing out the backlog of unbuilt minis littering my office. This has meant that the rest of the Wargames Atlantic Zombies were build, with variations to cover all periods; the new Skaven Spearhead force release several months back has been glued, magnetised and put away; and all the new acquisitions from PeachCon have been assemblaged and primed, ready for the Autumn/Winter months ahead.
Lead Mountain rose a little higher, but the climb continues...