Hobby Matrix - January 2012

This year I would like to get back on track with some of my regular monthly posts.  Somehow I got busy last year and dropped the ball and never recovered.  Although they may not have been terribly exciting features for others to read, the monthly columns such as On the Horizon, Recalling the Past, and Hobby Matrix helped keep me both focused on looming projects and savoring those of the past.

Now is as good a time as any to start again, so here we go.

This month features some fairly big changes but that's not to be unexpected since I have not posted one since spring of last year.  My hobby ADD has been in full swing over the last eight months and it's a shame that I did not track the changes from month to month.  Or maybe it's a good thing.....

A copy of my Adventurer's Book

The big news is the acquisition of The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild from Cubicle7 games.  I had been watching this develop since early last year and eagerly awaited a chance to snag a copy.  Options for getting a physical copy (PDF's were available) were few in the early days after release but Amazon eventually started carrying them and that's when I jumped.

I have to admit that I am still in the process of reading the Adventurer's Book and have not had time to delve deeper into the mechanics with the Loremaster's Book, but so far I am VERY impressed.  Cubicle7 has been able to fully capture the theme and essence of Middle-earth unlike any previous attempt.  MERP was good and will always be one of my favorites but the system was clunky and cumbersome while Decipher's version was, well.....at least it had good artwork since it was based mainly off the movies.  The One Ring may very well be the one Middle-earth RPG to rule them all.  Once I finish reading both books and play testing a bit, I will write a full review.

While ToR may be the current obsession, there is a very real possibility that Legends of the Old West may figure prominently in my future.  Confession:  I have never been a big fan of US history.  Even the Civil War fails to grab my interest the way that the history of the old world does.  But something clicked recently.  Perhaps it was the Clint Eastwood old west movie marathon I watched over the holidays or maybe the great miniatures I stumbled upon, but I have a bit of a Wild West bug right now.  Visions of dusters, cowboy hats, and gunfights obscure my vision so I have to test it out.  I've been reading the rulebooks and I'm getting ready to paint my first two miniatures.  We'll see how it goes from there...

My first two LotOW miniatures.  Both are from Black Scorpion.

Most ever other category has suffered a loss in interest lately except for LotR SBG and MERP.  I suspect that both benefited from the general Tolkien increase brought about by reading the ToR manuals.  As a direct result, my backlog of Middle-earth minis are finally seeing some attention and I may actually purchase a few new ones from GW soon.....something I have not done in several years.

Anyhow, without further delay, here is the matrix for January 2012.




Current Obsession - The One Ring
Past Obsession - Legends of the High Seas
Looming Obsession - Legends of the Old West


Lord of the Rings SBG = 9+
Warhammer Fantasy = 2-
Warhammer 40K = 5*
Pathfinder RPG = 6+
A Song of Ice and Fire RPG = 8*
Flames of War = 1-
Wings of War = 5-
D&D 4ed = 1-
D&D 3.5 = 1-
D&D old school = 7*
Axis and Allies War at Sea = 3-
Legends of the High Seas =9*
Terrain and Scenery Design = 8*
Miniature Painting (general) = 10+
Lord of the Rings Online = 1-
Pirates of the Burning Sea = 1-
Pirates of the Spanish Main = 3-
Pirates of the Spanish Main RPG = 3-
Ambush Alley = 5*
Age of Blood = 6+ 
The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild = 8+
Legends of the Old West = 7+
MERP = 5+



(The scale is 1-10 with one being the lowest on the current interest scale and ten being the highest.  "-" indicates a negative trend and "+" indicates a positive while "*" signifies no change from the previous month.)

Batch Painting or My Inability to Complete Miniatures

To most miniature painters, batch painting is an incredibly efficient method of turning out large numbers of miniatures in minimal time.  A favorite of the wargaming crowd, entire units of spearmen or squads of infantrymen can progress from bare metal to tabletop gaming quality in short order using batch painting methods. Painting all similar items of a similar group of miniatures at once saves vast amounts of time and allows for impressive forces to be fielded with minimal effort.

Being more of a collector (or miniature hoarder rather), batch painting means something entirely different to me.  And my personal definition certainly does not include the words efficient, timely, nor any remotely similar verbiage.  Since I rarely paint more than one type of miniature at a time, batch painting to me simply means painting an unrelated group of miniatures (usually comprised of what can fit on my painting desk) during a common period.  For example, my current "batch" is comprised of a motley assortment of pirates, townsfolk, rangers, wizards, wildings, and Cadians.  The paint scheme of each could not be more different nor the assortment less appropriate for batch painting.  But hey, that's how I roll.

My current "batch".

My method of batch painting is incredibly slow and commonly delays a miniature from moving to a completed state for weeks or months at a time - hardly a model for efficiency.  Quite often I'll pick up a miniature with full intentions of finally finishing off the poor lingering half-completed model only to be sidetracked after completing one small detail.  Usually, the process goes something like this:

1. Mix a really great shade to highlight an existing basecoat on a model.
2. Finish said highlight with paint to spare.
3. Notice that the spare paint would make an interesting basecoat on a different part of a different model.
4. Paint new model with spare paint or until the paint is no longer spare.
5. Either the remix paint to complete the unfinished part on the current model or more likely proceed to step 7.
6. Complete the part on the new model then begin with highlights and decide that the new color would look nice on another miniature .  Repeat process starting with step 2.
7. Remember that several miniatures needed flesh highlights.  No need to waste paint though.  Before highlighting minis that are ready, why not bring up a few more models and highlight them all at once?
8. Begin several new miniatures.
9. Ooooh, pretty color.  I wonder what it would look like on that model?
10. Wash, rinse, repeat......

Meanwhile, during this viscous cycle, a miniature that is 99% complete lingers in the painting queue, forlorn and forgotten until another mini needing a similar quick step to finish comes due.  As I write this I am turning my head towards my hobby desk and counting no less than three figures that could be completed in less than a half hour's worth of work.  But why do that when I have about twenty-five other miniatures that I could "batch paint"?

Perhaps this is simply another facet of my Hobby A.D.D. or another defect that has not yet been discovered or documented.  Either way, it's no small wonder that I have loads of unpainted miniatures and numerous unfinished projects that are always just on the horizon.

So is this seemingly incurable ailment specific to me or do others suffer from a similar syndrome?  Am I the only painter with a totally incorrect notion of batch painting?  Please do discuss...

March Hobby Matrix - Hobby ADD

It's that time of the month again when I get to plot my hobby flights of fancy.  Fortunately, this month was fairly easy due to the lack of change on most items.  March is historically a very busy month for me and this one has certainly lived up to expectations.  It seems like every spring-breaker in the world has come to the Keys to escape the winter blues and I feel like I have somehow taken every single one of them offshore to dive or snorkel.  With little free time available for hobbies, not much could possibly change... or could it?


Looking at the matrix, most everything dropped or remained the same.  I am not sure if the lack of upward movement was due to the changing winds of fortune or simply the fact that I was so busy and tired during the last thirty days.  Almost half of the original nineteen categories saw decreases with LotRO dropping the most.  I have not been online the entire month and do not foresee doing so for another week or two at least.  While I would like to blame my absence in Middle-earth completely on work, I would be dishonest with myself if I did so.  The truth of the matter is that I have been burned out for quite some time on the game.  While I've never logged more than a few hours a week behind the keyboard, even that has been a burden.  I hope my hiatus from the rapidly deteriorating RP on Landroval refuels my love of the game and my kinship.

Only two items saw gains this month and both were big winners.  With the long awaited start to HBO's adaptation of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series less than a month away, anything and everything related to Westeros is finding favor with me.  Not only have my Wildings and Jon Snow miniatures finally moved forward in the painting queue, I have also dusted off both versions of RPG's based in Martin's world - the out of print A Game of Thrones from Guardians of Order and A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying from Green Ronin.  If the series is anything like the trailers, I can only see this category continuing to rise in the rankings.  

Starts April 17th on HBO.

 The other gain is actually a new item and could quite possibly become a new obsession.  I have been reading about one gamer's creation of a viking raiding party for several days now and have been green with envy over the miniatures.  Those that know me well are aware of my love for all things viking and anglo-saxon. They also know my tendency to favor skirmish style wargaming over larger set piece affairs.  Well, when said gamer posted the rule set he was using with his viking warband, I was suddenly caught in a perfect storm of dark age bliss.  Age of Blood will no doubt become a favorite of mine in short order.  I have already ordered small warbands of Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and have started the planning process for a model longship. Damn that fateful post!  

Without further ado, here is this month's hobby matrix:
 

Current Obsession - Scenery and Terrain
Past Obsession - Legends of the High Seas
Looming Obsession - Age of Blood


Lord of the Rings SBG = 7*
Warhammer Fantasy = 4-
Warhammer 40K = 5-
Pathfinder RPG = 4*
A Song of Ice and Fire RPG = 8+
Flames of War = 3-
Wings of War = 6-
D&D 4ed = 2*
D&D 3.5 = 4-
D&D old school = 7*
Axis and Allies War at Sea = 5-
Legends of the High Seas =9*
Terrain and Scenery Design = 8*
Miniature Painting (general) = 8*
Lord of the Rings Online = 3-
Pirates of the Burning Sea = 3-
Pirates of the Spanish Main = 5*
Pirates of the Spanish Main RPG = 6*
Ambush Alley = 5*
Age of Blood = 5+

(The scale is 1-10 with one being the lowest on the current interest scale and ten being the highest.  "-" indicates a negative trend and "+" indicates a positive while "*" signifies no change from the previous month.)