Curse of the Bits Box

As a result of Good Life Gaming, I have been going through the apparently endless boxes and figures cases I have stashed in the house and garage.  Sorting out the stuff that I will never use and selling it; panning for hobby gold, I have to do a fair bit of rummaging through the boxes to find the things I think are worth selling.  It is this process that has encouraged me to reconsider the sense of bits boxes. 

When I first started this hobby innumerable people, and articles, advised me to start a bits box.  The message was everything would find a use eventually and I did just that.  When I first started I had a large pot with odd bits and on occasion I would find the extra bit I needed or wanted for a conversion or replacement for an error or miscast.   As I purchased more figures I generated more bits and when the pot was full I would start another one. And another one, and another, eventually upgrading to a storage box.   I in turn passed on the sanctity of the bits box to others like a gaming gospel.

 

What I now realise is I have boxes and boxes of bits that I couldn’t possibly or ever use and when I urgently require a bit rarely can I find it.  I have little hope of selling much of it on eBay or elsewhere at least for any worthwhile money.  Then there is the time, it and money continue to fight for premier complaint in my hobby, to spend looking for the left arm of a blah blah blah, often it can’t be found and I ask clubmate for help or, shamefully I admit, buy another one. 

After twenty years I realise they aren’t worth the space they get or the time they take out of my hobby.  Overall I think I have been misled if not downright fooled.  What I will be doing and advise you to is pick a small pot or box that can live near your hobby area and when it is full sort through and sell, donate or discard what is probably not going to get used.

Bits boxes and I have fallen out, made up and agree to make a fresh start.

Tau for something completely different....

A long time ago in a gaming shop far far away......well 4 years ago in Bath!
My wife, who no doubt though these "toys" were just another one of my fads very kindly bought me about 1500pts of Tau as my second army.....various games and god knows how many armies later they are still nearly untouched.
However, with the news of the long awaited Tau codex due for pre order on Saturday...i thought i ought to at least try and paint one....and here it is.

Im going to keep the green and sky blue theme throughout the whole army...and hopefully doing this army will improve my highlighting skills...once again i've relied on dip...but who can blame me..

Let me know what you think..

Good Life Gamer - March

Good Life Gamer – March

 

Here we are again and it’s going pretty well for me, I have kept my spending to a reasonable level and within budget and I have generated a bit more money.  I haven’t spent a great deal of time on my own projects but you can’t have everything

 

Buying.  Since I last posted I have bought the Games Workshop Warriors of Chaos magic cards.  I have an ‘in progress’ army in my cabinet, which really means I have started it and been distracted, a lot; I will come back to it at some point.  I don’t have the WoC army book as its £30 rrp and as I’m not playing it much that’s money I feel I can spend better elsewhere.  In the past I would have just ran out and bought it on the day of release, put it on the shelf and used it about 6 months later; maybe.  The same could be said of the magic cards but they are only £6, and usually a limited release. I, like my gaming pals, find the cards convenient and that’s how I justified my purchase.

People Carrier......

Well look at me 2 blogs in the same month......

Well as the title says the need for a people carrier was needed for my Bolt Action Brits and thanks to Zed  (and at some point in the future some sticking stuff together for him), this little beauty landed in my hands.

 

That was Wednesday night...........

 

Now on Thursday night................Tah Dah

 

 

Quick review, nice model, about the right size, very fiddly and lots of bits but still fun to put together.



2pts of Skraeling

My painting continues, and I have finished another unit of Skraeling for Saga.

Below are pictures of the new unit and the previous unit. I took advantage of a sunny morning to get some decent pictures.

I did have a unit of Levies lined up next to be painted, but with the NAF Championship creeping up on me, I have decided to make a start on my Nurgle Blood Bowl team. Sadly this will probably stop me from finishing my Skraeling by the time Salute comes around.

Embellishing the Mantlepiece

Can't resist showing off any longer.  I was runner-up in the painting competition at the Albanich 2013 show this past weekend.  Huzzah!

Normally, I wouldn't be so happy with second place, but I entered 15mm models in the competition, which did not have separate categories for scale.  So my 15mm street thugs, which I thought would go unnoticed among the throng of larger models, did really well.

This quick snap of them is not particularly good (getting a bit too much shine off the varnish), so I'll replace it with a better one when I get time (3 of these guys are converted, btw.  I reckon one is obvious, but can you identify all three?):

4Ground 28mm Detached House Assembly

This is not my first 4Ground building that I have bought and built and nor will it be the last.  The models are well made, well thought out and cohesive.  The ever increasing range covers a good number of periods and looks to continue to expand.  Even the price is ok; whilst they are not exactly cheap they are not in the same price strata as a lot of resin suppliers.

 
So everything is great. Ah well no, sadly not.  The instructions need some work.  Firstly there are some errors with the part labelling in the pictures, then the written dialogue trends towards scant.  The pictures are colour but they are far too small and sometimes the image appears to have been flipped.  This does prove confusing but with some looking ahead in the instructions and some dry fitting it’s manageable

 
On Sunday I built the 28mm Normandy detached house and an effort to ease the frustrations of others I have taken bigger pictures and added some additional description.  To help anyone who is in building the same model. Whilst the result is excellent I feel that I should have been able to do it in about 30% less time than I did.
 

I give it 8 out 10 sash windows

For those you that are thinking of building the Semi Detached house. below are some close up shots of areas that I found confusing

Check Point

As a club we're really enjoying Bolt Action, and so we continue to add more scenery to our collection.

A lot of the stuff we have is scratch built, but recently we bought some new pieces from 4ground, including a check point, which I present to you now.

The instructions weren't the best, but then again this was a very easy piece to put together. I've added some a lick of paint to the shed, and a wanted sign to one of the sign posts.

Hope you like

More Buildings!!!

Right it's been a few weeks since my last post, but then that's the joy of moving. Anyway the reason for the post is simple really, with the amount of BA we've been playing and the up and coming big game the need for more buildings was needed.

Building 1, another pub/Inn....you can never have enough.

 

Building 2, slightly larger town house.

 

Admittidly theye are using a large amount of the Mordhiem cardboard scenery but then why not. Both units are still in need of roofs (not sure what to do there, ideas welcome), then need sealing and undercoating to then be passed on to Jabba/Lordy for a nice paint job.

 

The final piece for now will be the town hall with clock tower......

 

 

Let me know what you think so far.

 

 





Random Musings...Stealth Purchase

We've all done it I'm sure; bought something that we think we won't tell our wife/partner/significant other about just to avoid "that conversation".
If you don't know what "that conversation" is then I envy you!
You just need to get your new item into your gaming/storage/painting area and it will be absorbed into the rest, no questions asked.
If you're spotted then it will be endless questions on why you need more toy soldiers rather than putting money into the holiday fund/electric meter/shopping money/apocalypse shelter budget.
You just don't need the hassle, right?

A lot of the time the postie will deliver items ordered when you're at work and kindly leaves a bright red "look, he's ordered stuff again" card for you to pick up your loot from the post office. The card alone will set up the round of questions and then when you come back from the post office with the parcel it all starts again! Nightmare.

Imagine my joy a few months back when I was the first one home and discovered one of these accussational cards on the door mat. I quickly picked it up and stuffed it into my pocket. I could go to the post office before work in the morning, pick up the parcel and sneak it into the house later! Hassle avoided! Sweet.
So arriving home the next evening I had stashed my shiny new box of Soviet anti tank guns (not even a particularly big purchase) into my laptop bag and carried it into the house, placing it in the usual spot.
We're in!
Just having the usual "Hello, I'm home" type conversation when I heard behind me;
"wass 'is?" from the boy.
I turn as the wife says "yes, what is that?"
The boy often likes to fiddle with the zips on my laptop bag, one in particular is red and appealing. This is the one that closed the pocket where I had stashed my ATGs.
Dylan was now waving this box around like his favourite rattle!
Rumbled!
Thanks, Son!

Anyone else got a stealth purchase story?

It's Snot Unusual

I don't normally post work in progress shots, usually saving the pictures for when I have finished all the painting, but I thought I would show you what I've been up to over the last few weeks.

In May I'll be heading to the NAF Championship in Nottingham, and once again have decided to create and convert a brand new team, this time its Nurgle...

I still have a little more work with the Green Stuff to do but these guys are essentially done.

Rotters

Pestigor

Nurgle Warriors

For my Beast of Nurgle I am using a base of Nurglings, and have prepped a base of face down and face up Nurglings for when the beast inevitably gets knocked down. I'll let you see them sometime in the future