Track Your Minis

I once overheard the following at my friendly local game store:

If you do not have a collection of unpainted and unassembled miniatures in your closet equal to your weight, then you do not actually like miniatures.   

It was a joke. A bad one, but a joke regardless. 

And the joke applied to me.  

When I was on travel in LA and desperately searching for any SAGA content at all, I stumbled across the Wisco Horndog's YouTube channel. It is a bit bro-dacious, but he is actually a skilled (if unorthodox) painter.

One of his channel's features is the 100% Painted Challenge. This instantly forced a very basic question in my own head: 

What percentage of minis I purchased have I completed?   

The answer? Not nearly enough...  

When I did my initial cut of painted, and just looking at "war games", not board games like Zombicide or Imperial Assault, I was at 406 minis with 18.97% painted. If you estimate that I have spent $100/month on minis since I got into miniatures a more than a year ago, that's at least $1000 of unpainted toy soldiers. Probably more, but therapy hasn't helped me accept that yet.

This picture represents about 150 miniatures from 5 game lines... There's more scattered throughout the basement...

Disheartening. 

I decided to come up with this rule, Old English-icized so that it has some kind of holy power: 

Thou shalt not purchaseth a new miniature of a line that thou ownest until thou hast reached 50% painted.

Yeah... There's holes larger than a Kardashians recently puffed lips in it, but it is a starting point!

Most of the current wargaming miniatures I have painted.  I'm strategically not including board game minis, like Imperial Assault and Zombicide.  It would be too depressing...

I would argue that having this kind of rule, and empirical data to check it against, is a good thing. It kept my wallet safe through the Black Friday.

The other impact it has had is that it helped me prioritize what I paint and what level I want to paint to. After generating the list, I assigned emotional weight to each of the miniature lines. Higher emotional weights were both high priority, and will be painted to a higher standard. Lower weights I can now accept at a lower quality just to help them get done. 

So, if you are like me, and instantly rush out to buy any model you need (okay, want) regardless of the queue on your desk, then I would encourage you to take stock of your current miniature collection and form your own rule. Maybe, like others, you feel compelled to get your overall painted count up to some threshold. Perhaps you need some purchasing control.

Taking some time to inventory your collection so that you can make better decisions with your wallet and your time is a good thing!

Starting RelicBlade

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Earlier this year, while I was in the middle of a buy-and-paint-all-the-things phase, I stumbled across Guerilla Miniature Games' RelicBlade video. Ash made the following statement in the very beginning:

This game is super kid friendly.

I was sold. 

A dream is to get my son and daughter to play miniature games with me. Seriously. One of the main reasons I am trying to get better at painting is so that when they can play, the miniatures I paint with be exciting and inviting to them and their friends. Yeah, borderline Michael Scott pathetic.  I know.

All shiny and chrome. Path of the Advocate on the left, and the Adversary on the right.

It is one of those terrible projections I have onto my kids. Some dads want their kids to be star athletes. I want them to be uber-nerds.

The crazy thing is, Ash from GMG wasn't wrong.

RelicBlade is spectacular for kids.

The rules are simple and clean. The cards document most of the experience.  Games are quick, which is often overlooked when most kids cannot stay focused past 45 minutes.

Initial base coats on the RelicBlade miniatures.

Another one of my favorite rules decisions is the 2'x2' playing area. This may seem counter-intuitive, but hang with me like a klingon to a butt hair. 

The most surprising perk of the smaller play area is that it is achievable. In fact, you can knock out a thematic 2'x2' chunk of terrain in days instead of weeks of work. With a small amount of foresight, the smaller 2'x2' can be used as centerpieces in larger tables when playing other systems. It's okay of you do, RelicBlade will wait for your return like a faithful puppy made of white metal. 

There are plenty of other reasons 2'x2' is great for a skirmish game. It helps games go faster. Ranged attacks become more balanced. Storage is easier. In short, don't be turned off by the fact that you don't really want to use your 6'x4' game mat for a melee-focused skirmish game.

The first two RelicBlade Pigmen. They were exceptionally easy to paint.

I am only going to spend a paragraph on the sculpts, but the summary is that they are great. They are cast in a standard white metal, closer to the Reaper metal quality than Corvus Belli. This means that there is no lead in the alloy and they are a little more brittle but can't quite get the same level of detail as the CB. The detailing is still great, and these figures lend themselves well to both basic and advanced painting techniques.

I tried a few new things on these guys, including basic wet blending, airbrushing the entire skin tone, and using ultra-controlled washes to shade them.

Okay, enough gushing. If this appeals to you, which it should if you like skirmish games, check out the RelicBlade website. And currently, through mid November, there is a second Kickstarter ongoing for RelicBlade. The first Kickstarter was incredible, and delivered on time. I cannot recommend the Kickstarter highly enough.

The Painting Cloth

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It finally happened.

While checking work emails this morning, I spilled tea all over the paper towel I use to wipe excess paint and water on. 

The painting cloth.  RIP.

This funky piece of paper towel tracks my painting journey over the last 6 months.  The middle two sections contain many of the colors used in my Steel Phalanx army.  The top and bottom are a mixture of Zombicide and Caledonians for Infinity.

You will be missed, beautiful cloth. Rest in peace.

Or just rest in the trash can.

Whatevs.

As far as my own hobby goes, I am still trying to knock out my Caledonian force for Infinity before going back to Zombicide.  Unfortunately, travel and life have limited my hobby time, but I'm back to making progress.

Work in progress Traktor Mul from Infinity.

This potato image attempts to capture the highlighting done on the green of the Traktor Mul using an airbrush.  It looks a bit hollow without many of the details painted, but I am surprised by the quality of transition given how little time was spent with the airbrush.

Photography Thoughts: Taking Quality Pictures of Miniatures Faster

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For the record, the last thing I want to do in the world is take pictures of my minis.

Without practice and planning, taking quality photos can be a multi-hour effort.  Time I would rather spend writing code or painting.

Here are a few things to consider in order to help speed up the process.

Record Camera Settings

A significant portion of my delay in taking photos is tweaking the settings on the camera. Every time I go to use my DSLR, some important settings has been changed.  Here are a few settings you should write down so you can easily re-configure your camera:

  • White Balance - It's better to get the correct white balance prior to post-production. This is doubly-true for cell phone pictures.  Whatever light setup you use, know the "temperature" of your bulbs.  For example, I use two cheap IKEA desk lamps with 5000K bulbs. For both cell phone and DSLR pictures, I set the white balance to 5000K to ensure that I get close to true coloring. Getting white balance right up front also saves a ton of time in post-processing.
  • ISO - Try to keep it low, probably no higher than 250.  No other setting will ruin your pictures as fast as a high ISO.  Even worse, it may take you a while to realize that is your problem.
  • Aperture - Depending upon the effect you are going for, you will either want this between f/7-10 or f20+.  If you are trying to get shots with good bokeh, you probably want to target f/7.  It will give you good softening of the background without losing detail.  On the other extreme, if you are going for a large group shot, f/20 or higher is the way to go.
  • Shutter Speed - This is largely driven by your Aperture.  Shutter speed will also influence if you must use a tripod.  A basic guideline is that your shutter speed should be at or faster than your focal length.  So if you are shooting a 50mm lens, then your shutter speed should at least be 1/50th of a second.  Anything slower than 1/50th of a second will need a tripod to ensure the picture isn't blurry.
  • Focal Length - Find your favorite focal length for your favorite lens and write it down. At the moment, I'm shooting most stuff at 55mm on my AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G, the starter lens that came with the camera. The reason is that I trust it to focus more than my AF-S NIKKOR 55-200mm 1:4-5.6G lens.  That lens can produce wonderful bokeh when backed out further, and I prefer shooting at 100mm-135mm.

Take a Picture of Your Tripod Setup

Ideally, you want two pictures to refer back to: the tripod extended but collapsed, and the tripod set up to shoot.

These reference photos will help you get ready to shoot faster.

Example tripod setup pictures.

Take a Picture of your Lighting Setup

Again, another key to being able shoot quickly is reference photos of your lighting setup to help you get the lights back into position quickly.

Painting lights actually make wonderful photography lights.  If necessary, you can diffuse the lights slightly by taping a piece of paper on them. Even better, if you know the temperature of those bulbs, then you can more easily ensure that your white balance is correct.

My current lighting reference picture.

Keep Extra Elements Handy

Elements just sounded nicer than "stuff" and "things;" go with it.

I like to have my miniatures standing on something to give them additional context.  For Zombicide or Imperial Assault figures, this can be a board tile.  For Infinity, the Operation: Icestorm paper board and USAriadna paper board are great. Simply make sure you know where those items are for quick reference.

I also like to use an old, black tablecloth as the backdrop.  I throw it over my keyboard and monitors to help ensure that visual focus isn't stolen from the miniatures.

Other good backdrops can be simple pieces of paper.  Set your figures on top and bend the paper behind them.  This can produce a nice, infinite-white background.

This is a paper towel behind the Necromancer from a cell phone picture. In the seedly editor, I simply added some vignette to help darken the edges and draw attention to the miniature.

The Wrap-up

Let's be real, part of this post is informative, and the other part is my own set of reference settings and images to help me take more pictures.  The reason it was nearly a month between the last two blog posts is that I felt it would take too long to get the camera out. So now we 

Caledonia Coming Together

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I have been watching an excess of airbrushing videos recently. YouTube's next recommended video has been a great guide. One of the videos last night was an old one from Kenny of Next Level Painting. He made the following point (summarized):

An airbrush is a great tool to help you paint faster. What makes the difference is what you so with that extra time. If you don't do anything with that time, it will only look like you airbrushed your miniature.

It is an obvious truth once I thought about it. It is noticeable when a miniature has only been painted by an airbrush, even when done well.

On the painting table recently has been the force of crazed Scotsmen known as the Caledonian Highlander Army from Infinity. They are being painted as a response to the difficulty of playing against the Steel Phalanx I currently have painted.

My current selection of Steel Phalanx.

It should be noted that Steel Phalanx is cool. An army of AI recreated heroes from the Iliad, they are a mix of high technology and brute force.

They are also incredibly difficult for a new player to play against. 

The Steel Phalanx has a host of special rules that give them a large advantage on the battlefield. They can easily form multiple link teams. Their most common trooper, the Myrmidon, has an Optical Disruption Device (ODD) that makes it very difficult to hit.

Myrmidons.  The core of Steel Phalanx and some of the most difficult troopers to play against.

They punch you in the mouth and easily dodge your counter punches. That makes the not very fun to play against until you have experience against them.

Caledonia has a similar spirit. They are angry Scots and Englishmen who want nothing more than to punch you in the mouth. The difference is that the Highlanders do not care enough to dodge your counter-punch.

All of my painted Caledonian Highlander Army as of September, 2017.

When I started on the Caledonians, my goal was to put together a furious (and furry) horde of kilted berserkers with some specialist support. Multiple Dog Warriors, Highlanders, units with Frenzy, and wonderfully dynamic (if uncomfortably constipated) sculpts define the faction for me. 

I find that the only disappointing part of the faction is the reliance on the worst line trooper in the game, the Caledonian Volunteer. All of the Volunteer's stats are laughably bad. They only have a Paramedic specialist option. The only interesting weapon load out is a dirt cheap HMG.

Here's two of the recent Caledonian Volunteers I painted.  I did the green of their jackets using an airbrush and light shading.  These two made the quote from Kenny more relevant.

The real problem I have with Volunteers is that they don't embody the faction. Haqq gets absurd WIP 14 Doctor+ directly fitting their lore. Fusiliers are better shots, but a consumer society (and potentially interference from ALEPH) has weakened their willpower. USARF Grunts have heavy armor and are shock immune from their years defending the wall.

Volunteers are cheap and bad; not the angry, scrappy survivors from a land rich with Tesium that I would expect. They should have armor 3, access to T2 weapons on base profiles, or even simply Frenzy and something like Natural Born Warrior.  Instead, they are the very definition of cheerleader, but in a faction that does not have good enough units to justify them.

#ResculptCaledonia2016

Volunteer complaints aside, I finally have a list painted that I think will be solid for most ITS missions.  It is formed around three Dog Warriors who are responsible for shredding link teams, and utilizes William Wallace to provide free Coordinated Orders to move up the table.  The list should be a blast to play, but has obvious weaknesses.  Sounds classically Caledonian.

The first Caledonian list.  Scylla is my Wardriver Hacker.  She certainly has the sass for it.