It’s one thing to set resolutions, and quite another to hold oneself to them. I intend to review my progress monthly towards each of the resolutions. Welcome, then, to our roundup for July 2023. Let’s start with a reminder of the resolutions and where we were at the end of June:
Painting
- Finish 3 army-sized Warhammer projects (~2,000 points). (June Status: 0/3
- Finish 2 starting forces for smaller, non-GW games. (June Status: 1/2 complete)
- Paint a Warhammer Underworlds Warband. (June Status: no progress)
- Paint a Blood Bowl Team. (June Status: no progress)
- Paint 6 miniatures unrelated to current projects. (June Status: 12/6)
- Paint 365 miniatures this year. (June Status: 196/365)
Gaming
- Play 40 different games. (June Status: 33/40)
- Play a new (to me) skirmish game. (June Status: no progress)
- Play 3 non-D&D Roleplaying games (June Status: 3/3 complete)
Writing
- Complete 12 book/game/media reviews. (June Status: 7/12)
- Release 3 titles on DriveThruRPG. (June Status: 3/3)
Painting
It’s been a good month of the painting front!
I’ve previously enjoyed painting up D&D characters for friends, and my first completed miniature for July was another of these in the form of this wee pixie from Heroes Infinite:
The model is fantastic. I did keep breaking it, which was less than ideal. Once I got over my clumsy, brutish self, it was a pleasure to paint.
Next up was another Gloomspite Gitz model; a wee Webspinner Shaman:
Fantastic mini! I wish I could find the old Forest Goblin Shaman I painted years ago. He was one of the old metal ones and I’d love to strip him down and repaint him. This one turned out fine, though. Again, it was a fun, quick mini to paint.
I then headed south to visit family for a couple of weeks and stuffed a bunch of miniatures into a box to take with me. The first stuff I did was (finally) my big batch of 80 Gloomspite Shootas:
The challenge of doing a big batch like this is how long certain steps take. The first layer of Zandri Dust on the bases and the black of the robes both took so long. Other layers, like the skin, were quicker and more fun. It did feel good at the end to finish off the command models and step back to see a carpet of finished gobbos.
With a view to fielding a Big Waaagh list In this new GHB, the next item on the slate was this rather fetching Wurrgog Prophet from the Underworlds range:
He was an absolute joy to paint; so fun! I like trotting out a load of colours, and I certainly did that here.
The same morning I painted the Wurrgog, I also painted the Magus for my Genestealer Cults army. That was a productive morning!
I do like the Irn Bru colours! I’m not sure that I actually intend to use a magus in my ‘full’ army list, but I do need to build one for my plan of doing the Combat patrol. So that’s him done!
Next up, I went back to batch work with this big block of 40 Blue Horrors of Tzeentch:
I’ve had the Pink Horrors and Brimstone Horrors finished for some time, so it’s good to finally get this middle step done. The blue looks good, and it contrasts really well with the yellow-orange flames.
Next up, I did the first models for my Ogors (well, the first proper models, following on from the Mawpot) in the form of these Mournfang riders:
They are a bit less vibrant than my models usually are. This army uses somewhat more muted tones and metallics, so it’s got a different feel to many of my other forces.
The next morning, I threw some contrasts at a Gloomspite Gitz Endless Spell:
It’s fine, but I’m thinking the lips were a mistake. Yeah, they look a bit goofy…
Keeping the purple paint out, I also did a D&D character for a friend. He’s playing as a Satyr in our Faewild campaign, so I thought I’d make him a little gift:
I wasn’t sure what colours to go for, so I based it on the Satyrs from World of Warcraft. It turned out pretty well, I reckon! I hope he’ll like it.
My final models of the month were these Hybrid Acolytes for my Genestealer Cults:
The Bru boys turned out alright! I’m making okay – if slow – progress on the ol’ culty lads. Next up will likely be 20 Neophytes. That’s a bigger time investment, of course…
As I said, it was a good month!
Total: 135
I’m calling one of my three targeted armies finished. I’ll probably do more, but I’ve painted significantly more than 2,000 points of Gitz this year and can basically field a whole Moonclan-themed army based on what I’ve done.
Gaming
Here’s a reminder of the games I had played at least once already this year:
- Ticket to Ride
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Star Wars: Rebellion
- Galaxy Trucker
- Century: Golem Edition
- Root
- Age of War
- Malifaux
- Call of Cthulhu
- Warhammer 40,000
- Blitzkrieg
- Cyberpunk Red
- Avatar Legends RPG
- Twilight Struggle
- Quadropolis
- Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
- New York Zoo
- King of Tokyo
- Quirkle
- Clank! Catacombs
- King of New York
- Tiny Towns
- Dice Miner
- Monopoly
- Codenames
- Santorini
- Lords of Waterdeep
- Sushi Go!
- DC Comics Deckbuilding Game
- Euphoria
- Zombie Dice
In July, I managed to add three more games to the list:
- Endangered Orphans: House of Rath
- Isle of Skye
- Hive
I also went back and added Dice Miner to the played list, as I forgot to add it a couple of months ago.
Hive is our Game of the Month for July. It’s not a new game to me, but I loved getting back into it. It’s just a great game.
I bought Tiny Towns this month, and got it back to the table immediately. I’m a big fan of this game and, if I can get to the table a bit more, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it as a future game of the month. Just need to get some more plays in to really get my head around it.
I also grabbed Everdell, but haven’t been able to play it yet.
As usual, I played other games that just weren’t to me for this year. I still haven’t played any new skirmish games. I need to do this. Maybe Necromunda would be a good shout; I still haven’t gotten to that.
Writing
My favourite recent posts have been the series on detective-themed RPGs that will conclude this weekend. I think I’m going to try to maintain Saturday as dedicated RPG time. We’ll see if that’s sustainable.
I’ve also done some posts on the ENnie Awards (part 1 and part 2) that I really enjoyed putting together. Beyond that, it’s been a month of largely shorter posts, with lots of completed minis and some highlights from other sites I enjoy.
I’ve not released anything new on DTRPG, but I will definitely have something out in August!
July 2023 Summary
Painting
- Finish 3 army-sized Warhammer projects (~2,000 points). (July Status: 1/3 complete)
- Finish 2 starting forces each for 2 smaller, non-GW games. (July Status: 1/2 complete)
- Paint a Warhammer Underworlds Warband. (July Status: no progress)
- Paint a Blood Bowl Team. (July Status: no progress)
- Paint 6 miniatures unrelated to current projects. (July Status: 14/6)
- Paint 365 miniatures this year. (July Status: 331/365)
Gaming
- Play 40 different games. (July Status: 36/40)
- Play a new (to me) skirmish game. (July Status: no progress)
- Play 3 non-D&D Roleplaying games (July Status: 3/3 complete)
Writing
- Complete 12 book/game/media reviews. (July Status: 8/12)
- Release 3 titles on DriveThruRPG. (July Status: 3/3)
Onward, to August!
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