A Tale of Two King Crabs

327 > 312

Why is 327 > 312?

What happened to 312?

I just can't help myself I suppose, but there are limits to my madness. Valentine's Day added to the pile along with a purchase form ebay. My wife let me ger anything hobby wise within reason for Valentine's Day so she got me a boxed set I have been wanting for awhile. This boxed set added 14 miniatures to the total.I purchased some Battletech maps on ebay and received another bonus miniature in the process. The last miniature, a King Crab, brought the total to 327.

Hobby Backlog Porn

As promised a picture of all my hobby backlog porn stacked up in order of rough aquisition.

Some assembly required.

In detail climbing from bottom to the top.

Layer 01 - Robotech RPG Tactics x 2 (Left box unopened)
Plastic Bags - Robotech RPG Tactics Wave One Rewards
Level 02 - Reaper Bones Kickstarter
Level 03 - Deathstorm
Level 04 - Battletech Pursuit Lance and Assault Lance
Level 05 - Operation Ice Storm  =O
Level 06 New King Crab and Used King Crab

Now you can see whay 327 > 312.

Everything I have aquired is in order of aquisiton except the King Crabs. The new King Crab should be on the bottom and the used King Crab should be up top. The used King Crab is still bare metal, fully assembled, and only has an easily repairable broken arm.

What am I going to do with three King Crabs?

You knew it had to happen.

Even better for my Battletech purposes.

Okay enough already.

 

 

Back on topic.

 

When examing the Reaper Bones miniatures, my daughter has been taking dibs on certain ones like the fairies and frogs. No idea what to do the Reaper stuff, mostly it is to try new paint techniques and paint different things like skin, cloaks, etc. One idea which has spawned due to the lack of ATOW RPG miniatures, I think the Reaper Savage Worlds and Pulp Action miniatures might work well for stand-ins to represent in-game characters during the RPG sessions. Operation Icestorm has some gorgeous miniatures, they are easy to assemble and look fun to paint and try new techniques with. The miniatures are slotted and the bases they came with are not slotted so I wonder if this is a mistake.

 

Progress on Goal of Assembly

Most of my time has been working with the Robotech and Deathstorm boxes. I paused the last week with assembling the Robotech miniatures as the Valkyrie instructions are vague in certain key areas. Palladium Books have provided some better detailed instructions for assembling the miniatures which should speed this process up much faster. It will be a while before I can paint them, but the idea is to get them out of the box and on to the table soon.

Prgress on Goal of Painting

I finished my Ravaner brood and have now started painting my Hive Guard wich are coming along nicely. If I can keep my goal I should be able to paint a unit about ever month or so and this would be fine with me. I'll get some pictures of my Ravaner brood soon to show the new paint scheme and base scheme.


Now I have to go read up on four different sets of game system rules.

312 > 174

Why is 312 greater than 174?

174 is the amount of miniatures I received in the last few months of 2014 for three different games.

140 miniatures are from a kickstarter campaign for Robotech RPG Tactics. 25 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Warhammer 40,000. 8 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Battletech. 1 model is from a surprise birthday present for Battletech.
140 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave One
25 miniatures for Warhammer 40,000 Deathstorm
4 miniatures for Battletech Assault Lance
4 miniatures for Battletech Pursuit Lance
1 miniatures for Battletech (King Crab) :)
174 miniatures in total.

Breaking down 174

I pledged for the Showdown in the Robotech RPG Tactics kickstarter which gave two times the Battle Cry pledge which basically was the core set and unlocked stretch goals. In other words I have a shit ton of miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics.
The Deathstorm boxed set was perfect for me as it includes both armies I own and use, plus the handy small updated rule book. This boxed set was such a bargain as it gave my Blood Angels a new captain, new terminators, new dreadnaught (magnetize for all flavors if can), and additional death company. The box will also bolter my Tyranid forces with a new broodlord, genestealers, a carnifex (magnetize those dual devourers), and warriors. :( Warriors, hmm ... they are the new sculpts with swords and lashes and they can make a prime. :) I am very interested in playing the scenarios from the campaign booklet for some easy quick games.
The Battletech lances gave me some new battlemechs to use and especially new battlemechs to throw at my players in my ATOW campaign. :) I love torturing them with challenges just as much as one of my players loves getting head hits. Best of all they don't need to be assembled, they are ready to play. The birthday present was a surprise and I can't wait to play a game with two of these death machines running around terrorizing and destroying everything they can. Only one player I know off hand would say game on. Needless to say this probably will make an appearance in the ATOW campaign.
There is more, eventually and hopefully anyway.
84 miniatures for Reaper Bones II 2013 Core Set
54 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two
138 additional miniatures in total will eventually be added. I say eventually as the updates from

Reaper concerning the Bones II kickstarter point to a successful delivery soon. Actually today Reaper confirmed they have started Wave I fulfillment and I am in Wave II. I still have no idea what I will do with them to be honest. Hopefully is all I can say for Wave two of Robotech RPG Tactics and that’s all I have to say about that.
If you add all the received miniatures and the additional miniatures up you will get a hefty sum.
312 miniatures in total. This is why 312 is greater than 174.

I could be off by a few.
Actually I could say 313 miniatures as I assembled a Wolverine II model for battletech last Sunday I purchased in late 2014.

Goal for 2015

I have set a goal for 2015 of assembling and painting miniatures once a week. It doesn't have to be much, just assemble and paint something once a week. Any easy goal in all respects. When it comes to the assembly portion of the goal I can use assembled minatures in game as soon as they are assembled. I can assemble small things or large things, this game or that game, or start something this week and finish something next week.

Proof

The first week of January I started my once a week assembly goal and I think it went well. I got two battlemechs assembled. One battlemech was the Wolverine II I mentioned earlier which will go to a Marik unit I am building for the sake of building. The other battlemech was a Thug which was sent as a return fire birthday present to a friend. It has found a happy place in the ATOW campaign.
I started assembling the captain and terminators from the Deathstorm boxed set during the first week of the New Year and continued some more. I used my bag of bricks for basing materials on my previous Devastator squad I finished a while back. I intend to glue the miniatures to their bases before priming them to make it easier and so I can use them. I post about these units later.
During the first week of the year all the way to the end of January I assembled a lot of the Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures from one of the boxed sets. I tried the valkyries first and went WTF over the amount of pieces and which arms are for what. I have a lot of battle pods together. I got two destroids together as well. The amount of parts for some of the miniatures is huge and daunting, they will take time. The amount of time to remove mold lines takes time as well. I need to focus on what is needed to play the scenarios in the back. Whatever some may say I think those are easy step up battles to help learn the rules very easily and fast.
I did cheat one my never buy expensive GW tools, but I ended up buying the mold line removal tool and so far it is very helpful.
Painting I have been sticking to as well. I started with the repainting of my Tyranid Ravener. I changed the overall paint scheme to make it much easier and faster to paint them by eliminating certain complicated steps, paints which dry too easily, and adding a few steps to better the miniatures. I have picture of them, but I would rather post about them later. I have actually moved into painting my Hive Guard now.

TL;DR

I have a large backlog of combined old and new hobby work. This backlog needs to be worked on to get more game time. I’ll have plenty to post about soon. I was going to post pictures of everything stacked high, but does anyone really want to see hobby backlog porn?


I’ll have plenty to post about soon with pictures.