The Final Push – Lawnor approaches 100% painted

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 8, 30mm Painters Pieces: 11 Luxury: 10, Modular: 53, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3058 Models since start of project: 751 out of 63 completed and still not done!

I’ve finished Fenra for Godtear, and I also got Glow for Kingdom Death built and primed.  I’m still watching a ship sail across the ocean with my next project onboard.  It docks at Poland tomorrow which should be its offload point and I could receive it a week later if I’m very VERY lucky.  I’ll probably have to wait longer.  I really want it here with enough time for me to paint the core 3 monsters and then complete the next cycle before 2025.  If I’d known it was going to be delayed this much longer at the final stage I’d have started another KDM campaign instead.  The Sunstalker is ready and itching to get to the table now the Dragon king has had his moment.

Good news though.  I’m expecting at least 39 models in this big box.  There’s probably more.  At 39 though, Fenra takes me to having painted 5 more models than I know I’ll receive this year.  There’s probably more in this big box, and KDM will probably get another box in my hands before Christmas so I can’t slow down.  I’m on target though.  Progress must be made!

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 14, 30mm Painters Pieces: 11 Luxury: 10, Modular: 53, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3052 Models since start of project: 745 out of 63 completed and still not done!

Painting has been a little slow recently as I’ve had serious and distracting PC issues.  Did you know Windows Update can actually break your motherboard?  It can!  If it ever offers to apply any firmware or BIOS updates do not let it!  These are not from the manufacturer.  They do not recognise them.  It can and will break your hardware.  After a long back and forth with ASUS, and posting it to Ebuyer for testing, my mobo has been replaced and I’ve still got some teething troubles I hope to make go away.  (Ebuyer could replicate the fault, but could not work out why it was happening, but chose not to send it to ASUS as originally planned)  This has eaten up a lot of the last month so I’ve been going slower than usual.

I then painted up a White Lion armoured fist fighter made from a modular kit while waiting for some deliveries.  Kingdom Death released some new toys and I got a Godtear warband discounted from Zatu.  I also attended a Godtear tournament and won Best painted.  My 3rd ever Best Painted award, but my first ever actual trophy.  Which was nice.

I’m slowly watching the cargo ship with Wave 2 of Aeon Trespass make it’s way to Gdansk (It arrives this Saturday in theory) so next up was the 5 new Titans I’d bought for the game.

In order; Corona Titan, Harbinger Titan, Meleager Titan, Porphyra Titan, and Zeno Titan.

My friends and I started Gloomhaven when Covid was just a sparkle in Nurgles eye and finally finished it earlier this year.  We’ve been playing smaller games since, but we are working towards getting lost in Frosthaven at some point soon, after a detour through Resident Evil 2, if we like it.  I was handed the starter heroes to get painted before we play.  I’ve prioritised them as I don’t want any distractions once ATO Wave 2 arrives, but I do want to play painted once we start.

With the Frosthaven minis done, I have started work on Fenra for Godtear.  Will 6 models tide me over until my big box arrives?

In order: Banner Spear, Blink Blade, Death Walker, Drifter, Geminate, and Boneshaper

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 5, 30mm Painters Pieces: 11 Luxury: 10, Modular: 54, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3046 Models since start of project: 732 out of 63 completed and still not done!

Having played another campaign of Kingdom Death, and having some time on my hands I thought I’d make some more terrain tiles for it.  I cut out some tiles from the back of an old wardrobe for all but the statue.  That tile was cut from a cork floor tile.  Turns out cutting a wardrobe back with a hand saw gives uneven edges, and the material doesn’t want to stick to blue tack while I’m painting it.  The edges are a little uneven and furry too.

Here are 8 Acanthus Herb patches, with the roll of acanthus being played by moss.  I found out the hard way that moss react exothermically to superglue.  Glue it with care and caution and only ever in small amounts.  There was smoke and some finger burning.  You have been warned.

Next up was some Tall Grass tiles.  I found an old hoover attachment I wasn’t convinced would look like grass so I made a test tile and was happy with the end result so I’m currently making the rest I’ll need.  The individual “tufts” were given a heavy ring of PVA before being cut from the attachment to help them hold together once removed.  it wasn’t perfect but it was better than nothing.  Do not think you can put a tuft down once it’s been harvested.  PVA was then applied to the tile and the underside of each tuft and it was held in place for a couple of minutes.  Supports were sometimes offered to stop them falling over.  Only one tuft was attached at a time, one a day, as I kept knocking them over.  Once 3 were on and dry, another ring of PVA was applied to help secure everything.  Then it was based as per normal, and airbrush base coated, then painted as normal.

The final piece is a Timeworn Statue, a terrain piece I unlocked by beating the Killennium Butcher Vignette for KDM.  It’s a failed 3D print, a random decorative base, and a piece of cork tile.

With the distracting terrain mostly out of the way, it’s on to the final model I want to start before deliveries arrive.  Kingdom Death released some stuff after GenCon and I’ve ordered 8 more models from them that are yet to arrive but could turn up any moment.  Wave 2 of Aeon Trespass is due to hit port early October and they’ve implied final mile shipping will start within a week.  I want to focus on getting that table ready ASAP so I’m avoiding any new big projects until that’s resolved.  If only deliveries would arrive to keep me going until then.

So that final model.  Father & Son is the final non-modular model I have from The Gamblers Chest from Kingdom Death.

After my recent KDM campaign there’s a few holes in my collection that need filling.  I’m waiting on the postman so it’s time to fill those gaps.

First up, is a Phoenix Armour fist fighter, converted from The Gladiator from Echoes of Death 2.  I ended up with a duplicate, so I swapped out her shield and weapon arm and now she’ll beat you to death with her bare hands, or her shield.  Both are valid options in the game.

Fist fighting was surprisingly awesome in my campaign, now I’ve unlocked the Armoured Fist fighting art so I’ve made a fist fighter for White Lion, Screaming Antelope, and Leather Armour kits.  The Leather is painted and I’m almost done on the White Lion brawler.  The goat kit can wait until a delivery arrives as there’s more goat armour in that box.

I think that’s this project finally back up to date.  Now I just need my deliveries to actually arrive (I got a good deal on a Godtear box too.  Fenra has been waiting to leave Zatu since last Thursday.  No idea why all my order from everyone refuse to dispatch), and some time at home to make more progress.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 5, 30mm Painters Pieces: 11 Luxury: 10, Modular: 56, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3043 Models since start of project: 729 out of 63 completed and still not done!

Apparently I’ve not updated this in over a month.  I’ve been busy painting, but not had time to spare to type here.  So it’s time for a catch up.  Lets see.  Last thing left on that tray was the Druid Mist Riders for Circle Orboros for Warmachine.

With the last of the Normal models in my house finished (Even now I’m still waiting for delivery on those ATO models I mentioned) it was time to raid the pile of Painter Pieces.  A while back I bought an Evangelion Gunpla kit and was surprised to find 2 50mm-ish humans inside.  I’ve got them painted and mounted them on MCP bases.  The plastic was a little rubbery and it reacted very badly to files and knives.  They are not very good models.  I do not recommend them.  Here’s Asuka Soraya Langley and her guardian, Ryoji Kaji from Neon Genesis Evangelion.  Despite using a light box, all my photos with my new camera appear to be coming out a little dark.  I’m going to have to start using an extra lamp.

Still no delivery so it was time for Sci-Fi Aya from Kingdom Death.  I decided to paint her based on Samus from Metroid, both in and out of her suit.  I suspect the colour scheme makes her look a little more like Bishop from the X-Men though.

I had a week off work and I was finally up to date with my painting so I threw myself in to my first playthrough of the People of the Star for Kingdom Death.  I beat it with only telling the dice I wasn’t listening to their unfair bullshit a few times, and some of them I remembered more rules that meant the bad luck wouldn’t have happened anyway.

With everything painted I was able to go to my display cupboard and extract a suitable model for almost every equipment build for the whole campaign, which was really rewarding.  I’ve since built a few models from the modular sprues to fill those gaps.  More on this later.

Here is every model I used while playing the campaign

This all leaves me with just 2 non-modular models left from the gamblers Chest.  Here’s Nightmare Adam

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 10, Luxury: 24, Modular: 56, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3034 Models since start of project: 720 out of 63 completed and still not done!

I’ve not updated in a few weeks, but I’ve made good progress in that time.  I’ve also found a few good bargains online so I’ve added to my backlog again too.

To start with, I’ve painted 6 Godtear warbands.  3 boxes, twice.  One copy of each is for friends I play against and don’t paint.  I was already painting mine so doing their at the same time barely slowed me down at all, so why not?  It’ll make my games prettier and will make them happy.  I painted the bases different for my friends copies, and tried to pick out another detail too, that wouldn’t add work.

First up, Skullbreaker The Dragon Slayer, and Tooth bearers

That’s 18 models done.  But then there’s the purchases.  They just released some new content for Aeon Trespass and I picked up the 5 new Titans.  They’ll work in both ATO and Sins of Herakles so I’ll get use out of them.  I also picked up Pinups of Death 5 from ebay.  I don’t really want or need most of the PoD models, but they are pretty and it was very cheap and no one else bid.  That’s 11 more luxury models.

None of this has arrived yet, and I’m making progress on the final 5 “Normal” models in the house so it’s time to look at the “Luxury” category and admit it’s really 2 grades of models.  There’s the bust level stuff which is real high end luxury stuff, and then there’s the 30mm-ish stuff that’s just there to paint for fun but probably won’t get the bust level of attention.  Lets split that category in two then: “30mm painters pieces” and “Luxury”

That brings my totals to this:

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 10, 30mm Painters Pieces: 15 Luxury: 10, Modular: 56, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3034 Models since start of project: 720 out of 63 completed and still not done!

Wave 2 of Aeon Trespass is due in September so I’m gonna finish up my Normals and move on to the 30mmPPs.  I don’t want to start anything big or demanding when I’m going to want to drop everything for that.  I’m also hoping to embrace playing Kingdom Death once my final unit is done and I’m “up to date”

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 23, Luxury: 13, Modular: 56, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3016 Models since start of project: 702 out of 63 completed and still not done!

I got the Frogdog finished this week.  I also got everything else primed, and an airbrush base coat.  I have a painting averse friend who plays Godtear with me so I offered to paint his warbands that match the ones I’m painting.  It shouldn’t take much longer to paint 2 identical warbands at the same time.  I also painted 5 double sided tokens, as they were hard to read when they were bare plastic. This means I put at least a basecoat on 60 subassemblies and 5 tokens this weekend.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 24, Luxury: 13, Modular: 56, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3015 Models since start of project: 701 out of 63 completed and still not done!

Frogdog has arrived ( +1 normal, +8 modulars), and eBay was good to me/mean to me, depending on your point of view and let me get 3 more Godtear warbands (18 more normals) so my totals have gone up.  However, I have painted the Killennium Butcher and his Wishseekers (-5 normals), and I’ve built and primed a bunch of what remains.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 10, Luxury: 13, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3015 Models since start of project: 701 out of 63 completed and still not done!

I’ve been looking at my master spreadsheet to see what’s left and it appears my totals here have gotten a bit wrong.  I seem to have painted 4 more model than I’ve tracked.  The master sheet has to be more accurate than my running total, although the running total includes models I’ve painted for others and models I’ve sold, when the master sheet does not.

So what do I have left from the Normal category?  Here’s the table I have showing everything I have left to paint, with guesses for model counts for stuff yet to arrive.

If I paint the following, then I have completely finished every game piece I own, and can move on to stuff to be painted purely for the fun of it.  At least until Aeon Trespass Wave 2 arrives August/September time.  This includes Frogdog, which I’m expecting a shipping notification for any day now (I think it’s 8 Modular models and 1 Normal model).

I’ve already started work on the 5 Normal models from Killenium Butcher (pic 1).

Can I get them done sufficiently before ATO arrives that I can complete a painters piece or two?  11 models isn’t much, and 5 of them are a unit which is always faster to paint than 5 solos.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 14, Luxury: 13, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3015 Models since start of project: 701 out of 63 completed and still not done!

I’ve just had a week of and got a lot of painting done.  I was supposed to be playing KDM, but once I started work on the Black Knight it all kinda just flowed and held my attention.

That’s 9 more models done, and at some point I’ve moved 3 models over from Normal to Luxury because they have no in game use, and are just there to paint.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 26, Luxury: 10, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3006 Models since start of project: 692 out of 63 completed and still not done!

This just leaves The gambler on my painting tray and I’ve already finished his one huge fleshy ball.  I’ve had to start building the Black Knight set so I can get them primed and ready before I run out of minis ready to paint.

The King: What even is it?

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 27, Luxury: 10, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3005 Models since start of project: 691 out of 63 completed and still not done!

Atnas, the Child Eater, from the Gamblers Chest for Kindgom Death.  This leaves 2 more models and I can call that box done for now.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 28, Luxury: 10, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3004 Models since start of project: 690 out of 63 completed and still not done!

With all that done, it’s back to finishing off the non-modular game content from The Gambler’s Chest, which is just Atnas, Crimson Crocodile, The Gambler, and The King.  Crimson Croc is done, and I’m currently working on Atnas, while playing a fresh KDM campaign against the Dragon King

With Aeon Trespass completed (Until wave 2 arrives) it was time to get Kingdom Death back to the table.  With the big box out, the first thing I did was sleeve up and put away all the cards from all the expansions I’d gathered.  Turns out, they don’t all fit in the core box so I decided to make my own deck boxes to store the excess.  I went online and found a box template generator and printed some to paper, then glued this to an old cereal box as a test piece.  It worked well, but I learned two things:

1: Measure the card dividers, not the cards
2: Make the lid 2mm wider and longer than the box.  This allows you to add extra card to the corners for reinforcement and still have the lid fit

The Gamblers Chest came in a very pretty sleeve you are meant to throw away.  It doesn’t fit any more once you’ve built the models and junked the cheap box they come in.  I’d put it on one side as I’ve been hoarding good card for craft projects.  It’s time had finally come.

Instructions:
1: Glue the templates to the inside of the card with a glue stick.  Cut them out first, but leave a healthy border so the glue goes beyond the edges you want to keep.
2: Score along the inside of the folds to preserve the pretty finish while encouraging folding
3: Fold everything before applying glue, then superglue the tabs together and use paperclips to hold everything in place.  Leave it longer than needed to dry.
4: Add some PVA glue over the tabs.  Trust gravity to have it run between the tabs and the walls.  it will pool and it will run, so be prepared to contain the mess, and rotate the box every so often so it gets in all the crevice’s.
5: Using the scraps, cut out some strips and fold them along the middle.  Use superglue to attach these over the outside of each corner of the box to help reinforce it.  Use paperclips to hold these in place.
6: Make 1000% percent everything is dry and fume free before any game content goes anywhere near it.

That was the end of the big bulk project.  I decided to paint the final model in the Aeon Trespass core box.  I’d finished the game so I thought I’d finish the last model, even if it’s not a game piece.  He was mostly flesh and I’d found a spare KDM base insert so I thought I’d paint the Grovelling Survivor from the Spidicules expansion.  Pretty sure he only exists because there was space on a sprue, so may as well use it.

While painting them I found another Godtear warband going cheap on ebay.  It was broken.  His arm had come off so it was clearly trash no one would buy so I bid him down as I would have to go to all the trouble of repairing the model.  If only I knew anything about building toy soldiers?  However will I cope?

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 28, Luxury: 10, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 3004 Models since start of project: 690 out of 63 completed and still not done!

It’s been a while since I updated this post.  I had the bright idea to bulk paint the remaining 28 KDM survivors together, and paint their bases and lanterns all at once, and then varnish together.  In theory it saves time.  In practise it means I don’t finish anything for months and my motivation suffers.  I was also distracted by playing a lot of Aeon Trespass, which I’ve now caught up to date with the releases, at last.  I also then ran in to the issue that I had a whole lot of photos to sort with and tidy up, and no time or motivation to do that, but it’s done now, so expect a whole lot of pics incoming.  I’ve also bought some stuff and had some preorders arrive:

Gained: 19 models
Painted: 34 models

Anyway, on to the pics.  Once again, I have tried to de-pornify models where I could.  I like looking at naked ladies as much as they next guy, but clothing and armour feel preferential when fighting monsters.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 42, Luxury: 11, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 2970 Models since start of project: 6556 out of 63 completed and still not done!

With 2023’s targets finally met, and a little time left of my Christmas holiday I set about building all the remaining non-modular playable survivor models I have, and got them primed.  In the process I noticed that the herb gatherer is a really annoying build.  Take a look at the pics below.  you see how you need to paint the base before gluing the “water” on?  Now you see those 3 bits of plant poking through?  Those are separate pieces that can only be glued to the base, through the water, once the water is glued on.  This means she needs to be painted with 3 sub-assemblies that are basically tiny blades of grass.  Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to be fired.  I painted them on the sprue and made her my first job to get it over with and make sure I didn’t throw the sprue away by accident.

Since taking those pics I have gone back and applied two more coats of gloss varnish to the water and it now looks a lot clearer and wet.

I have also fully painted the white lion fur on 7 models, applied a base coat to all the unattached bases, and started work on the only 3 Dragon King armour based survivors.

I’ve also got back to playing Aeon Trespass.  My Hobby Pledges for 2024 focus more on me playing games this year.  I’m buying all these expensive campaign games and I actually want to play them.  Cycles 4 and 5 are supposed to arrive Q1 this year and I want to finish Cycle 3 before they get here.  At my current rate it should take around 6 weekends of play to do that, so being done before the end of Q1 should be simple enough.  We all know no KS gets delivered on time, especially with Chinese New Year happening around the shipping date.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 43, Luxury: 11, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 2969 Models since start of project: 655 out of 63 completed and still not done!

That just leaves the Survivor minis for Kingdom Death.  That’s 35 models done in only 22 days.  One more than my target, and 2 days quicker.  Over a year I made a net dent in my pile of shame of one whole model.  Progress is progress, and my PoS almost grew instead.  Out of those 43 Normal models remaining I think I now have 30 built and primed, and have some paint on one of them.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 48, Luxury: 11, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 2964 Models since start of project: 650 out of 63 completed and still not done!

That’s the Godtear stuff done.  On to the monster minis from Kingdom Death.

Models remaining:
Batch: 0, Normal: 57, Luxury: 11, Modular: 48, Bits Box: 3, Terrain sets: 13, To Ship: ATO Wave 2, TSoH, KDM
Models Finished in Collection: 2955 Models since start of project: 641 out of 63 completed and still not done!

I’m posting this early new year, but I had everything finished with 2 whole days to spare.  I even had the next 27 models built and primed before returning to work on the 2nd.  It’s time to share some finished pics.

4 days left. I got the first 3 models finished today, and made progress on the reamining two in the 2nd pic. Then I got a game of Godtear against an almost 7 year old. The third pic is my freshly painted minis against his Christmas presents. He’s had then two days and they’re not even primed yet. Bloody slacker! He gave me a tough first 2 rounds, but I won out on rounds 3 and 4, but he made me work for it. He plays very well.