Well, at least I had fun

I ran a tournament at DundraCon today, and I had a lot of fun running it. Unfortunately, I also didn't get very much painting done, which I had counted on actually getting a significant amount done. I did manage to tank brush the troops and wash them, but no more than that, and I got a few of the Guards of the Fountain Court base coats on their armor. Uh, and that was it. Alas, I had to play as the ringer for two of the three rounds and then help the new ringer out a bit in the third. So crunch time is rapidly approaching. Maybe tomorrow I can do another painting marathon in the morning.

I did manage to get a total of 6 players into the tournament, which is pretty well attended for LOTR tourneys in this area. I deliberately played against Wyn in the first round, which was a slightly modified To Kill A King where if the kings aren't killed then it goes to killing other heroes for Minor Win determination. We got some terrific houses that you could remove the roof from, and I managed to pop Gandalf (my king - it had to be the highest point model) into it supported by other troops. Wyn, who was playing Dol Guldur, pretty much wrote off cracking that nut, and instead ran a budget wraith up and Black Darted my other Hero, Damrod, out of existence. I went running after his now fleeing force, and managed to break his army but failed to cap any of his heroes (wraith and a Spider Queen). So the ringer army took a Minor Loss the first round despite losing three models the whole game.

The other two games were both wins for the Small Errand, with Gandalf making huge contributions to both wins and becoming a bit of a joke in the room - "Oh, it's your turn to get beat on by Gandalf?" to whoever was playing the ringer army. Hey, that's not fair - Gandalf almost got crushed by a dogpile of Uruk-Hai, including a captain, which laid three wounds on him in one round - the first three fate rolls all failed, but the rerolls saved two of the wounds.

Anyway, that's it for now. Bed time.

Building for Must Do done

OK, I've gotten the last couple of Warriors built, plus they and the Guards of the Fountain Court are based. So at this point I've got everything on my "Must Do" list constructed, cleaned, and sanded. Next up is priming and basing. After that, I'll probably just bring the Warriors up to the standard the other Warriors are currently at, and then shade them all together. I also need to get cracking on making the rangers I have now appropriate with shading and highlighting. The last step in this list will be to paint up the Guards to fully done.

I'm hoping I can get all of that done by the end of the weekend. Don't know, though. I've also got the plastic rangers and Ecthelion to do after this, so I need to get cracking.

New priorities

Well, while watching some more Firefly on DVD, I finished these fellows.



In the Army, there was a saying: "No plan survives contact with the enemy." As it is here. I've got an opportunity when I finally got these models, and now that they are converted and built, there really isn't any reason to not move them ahead of finishing the Citadel Guard. So these six boys are moving onto my "Must Do" list, and I'll be getting them based, primed, and painted before the Citadel Guard.

Cutting in line

One of the things that my wife likes to do with me is to snuggle together and watch DVDs in the evening. It's nice together time, and it's fun to watch TV on our time. However, this does distract me from working on the important stuff, like models. I'm kidding, of course. Particularly since my wife just saw that.

I've noticed that it's pretty much impossible for me to paint and watch TV at the same time. The light sucks, there isn't a good way to brace my hands, and I just am not focused. However, I have found that I can build stuff and clean mold lines and the like while watching TV. Well, I got a wild hair up my butt this evening and these guys decided to cut in the priority line:



The biggest pain in the rear was freeing the shields from their former hosts. I managed to ruin one shield in the process as well as stab myself in the thumb with an exacto knife. So if you see red on one of the models, yes, that is my blood. I give to this hobby.

Status report on the Errand

OK, so it's time for me to evaluate where I am compared to where I need to be. The Gathering is now less than four weeks away, and I still have work to do. Not surprising. If anything, it's surprising just how far I've actually gotten towards my goal. So here it is:

MUST DO

This level includes construction, basing, and painting through at least three levels of color on the models (shade, mid, highlight).

Gandalf
6 Rangers
8 Rangers with Spears
6 Citadel Guard (2 bare, all need highlighting)
2 Warriors with shield and spear
22 Warriors with shield (incl captain) (4 bare, half need highlighting)

LIKE TO DO

This level includes conversions and construction, basing, and painting with at least four levels of color, preferably five.

Ecthelion conversion
5 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields
2 Rangers with spears
6 plastic Rangers
2 plastic Rangers with spears conversion
1 Warrior with shield (probably just include him in earlier batch)
Touch up models to a higher standard of highlighting and shading

MIGHT DO

This level includes construction and painting to at least three levels of color, with the character models painted to display quality (entries into Red Dragon).

Mounted Ecthelion conversion
Rivendell Gandalf
Warriors with spear converted to using swords
6 Knights of Minas Tirith
New display board

As things stand, I can definitely see getting through the plastic rangers, with touch-ups being done as much as possible. I may jump the conversion of the mounted Ecthelion forward in order to get something interesting into the painting competition, but no further than ahead of improving highlighting on the entire army.

However, I do have other things going on in my life which could distract me, particularly grading papers, which I am woefully behind on. On the other hand, I've played through Mass Effect twice, so that doesn't have the time-sapping draw it once had. We'll see how things go next week.

Considering minor changes to the Errand

Hmmm... I had a brief conversation on AAZ about Guards of the Fountain Court, and I am sorely tempted to include them. The biggest issue will be that if I do I will have to give up a model, dropping to 44 from 45, which in turn drops my break point from 23 to 22. What I would be gaining in return would be F4 models with D7, countering any S4 nastiness I might encounter. Which is the point of my Citadel Guard - the compromise being that with the CG, I'm going to get thumped on 5-6 anyway against S4 but I'm getting a better chance at winning than if I had my F3 warriors instead. So with that in mind, here are some alternate lists.

Option 1

Gandalf the Grey

King of Men with heavy armor and shield (D7)

23 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shield
5 Rangers of Gondor
9 Rangers of Gondor with spears
5 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields

Total Models - 44
Total Spears - 14

Option 2

Gandalf the Grey

King of Men with armor and shield (D6)

22 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shield
3 Rangers of Gondor
11 Rangers of Gondor with spears
6 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields

Total Models - 44
Total Spears - 17

Option 3

Gandalf the Grey

King of Men with armor and shield (D6)

24 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shield
8 Rangers of Gondor
6 Rangers of Gondor with spears
5 Guards of the Fountain Court with shields

Total Models - 45
Total Spears - 11

So I can have one of higher model count, more spears, D7 Guards, or D7 combat hero. Tough call. I'll put the Guards of the Fountain Court on my "like to do" list after converting Ecthelion and give them a try in some games.

A long and trying ordeal comes to a happy end

Back in 2008, I ordered some LOTR blisters and a book for Flames of War (I've only played FoW a couple times, but I do enjoy reading the books, and this was a new update with a buy one get one free deal) from The War Store on Black Friday. This was a good deal - over 30% discount on the blisters and the book, plus a free book. Mostly these were for my Gondor army - I got a ton of Gondor minis from my victory at the Vegas GT, and these purchases would fill out the army. I got a blister of Guards of the Fountain Court since I don't have them, a blister of Foot Knights of Dol Amroth to cover dismounts for the blisters of mounted Knights I got. I also picked a blister of Arathorn and Halbarad because it was cheap and I'd always wanted Halbarad without the banner.

Well, three weeks after I ordered the stuff I was wondering where the package was. I checked the UPS log, and it was delivered a few days earlier! Uh, no package for me. I filed a claim and after the holidays they verified my claim and The War Store reshipped it. Almost two weeks later, I'm still wondering where my models are. UPS: delivered three days ago! Now I know something is wrong. I go back and check my invoice - uh oh. I transposed the numbers on my address, and it was sent to another condo! I went over, and the lady there said she hadn't seen anything but would ask her boyfriend. I check back two days later, no one's home. I'm getting discouraged.

I check again tonight. The lady there immediately starts apologizing profusely - her boys had apparently opened the boxes and rifled through them. But I did manage to recover not only the first box but the replacement as well. Score! I need to contact The War Store to see if I need to send the stuff back, but I'm guessing that since UPS paid the claim and didn't catch the error either it will just go under the rug. At least I finally have my order!