Breaking it down

 

So it’s been a strange month. I had to make some decisions regarding physical space at home and decided to go full tilt on the purge. Without much encouragement from my dear wife my trusty painting desk and storage system, which took up a good half of a room, ended up at the local tip. While I was at it I had a big clear out of my bitz, basing materials, books - pretty much everything bar my essentials. 

What followed was a very empty month with no creative outlet but a lot of study of philosophy and man thinking time. And lots more time with the kids….

This gaping void threw out my arbitrary constraint plan for hobby as per my last post completely. I toyed with the notion of no more new minis or painting and just using what I had, becoming solely a gamer. That idea didn’t last long. Instead I rediscovered my burning passion, as you’d expect from a period of abstinence, but through a lens where my self imposed standards needn’t apply. I just wanted to paint and indulge myself. 

I bought myself a very modest desk - a foldable office style model from Argos for £40. No fancy drawers or clamps, just a workspace big enough to work on one project at a time. Other than a commission of mechs I didn’t have anything to paint so had myself a little spend up, no guilt, no GAS, just what I fancied at the time. Suddenly I’ve got quite a bit of stuff to get built, all of which I’m very excited about. The next few months should prove very varied and interesting once I get back into the swing of things.

I’m terms of the main new stuff lined up:

• A new Sludge Imperial army with a big emphasis on gasmasks, tanks and barbed wire. 
• Frostgrave Witches with a Barbarian and Dwarf retinue 
• Chaos Dwarf and hobgoblin slave army for Dragon Rampant 
• A kitbashed Delaque gang for Necromunda 
• German WW1 platoon 
• The start of a 28mm Prussian Napoleonic army (gulp)
• Elite fire team and aliens for Majestic 13 

I’ve also used the time to examine the rulesets I have and which ones can use with the minis I’ve now got. I’ve always had a mindset of a different army or warband for each rule system which just isn’t sustainable in terms of time, attention or space. I did a little brainstorm and found from 12 different warbands I was able to play 26 different rulesets. Quite a fun exercise to do and led to a whole host of new ideas for using minis in a new way. The rest of the year is looking bright!