Apologies foe the recent radio silence. Life has been pretty hectic of late. Not many hobby projects finished as something almost always came up. Even my planned Halloween miniatures for Little GG were late. But at least I am pleased with how they came out.
The Beholder type creature is an Overgourd, a Reaper Bones 5 kickstarter mini that I can not see us using in a game per se but makes for a great Halloween decoration. The painting was done with input from Little GG as it is for him. His decision for the red eye appears to have worked out nicely. Very scary!
Since Little GG likes spiders so much, I just had to create a spider themed Halloween decoration. He insisted on the webs. Can you read the sign?
The skeleton is from my bits box, an incomplete Games Workshop piece that I thought would make an atmospheric bit of scatter terrain in the spirit of the holiday. I like to see pieces that would normally go to waste put to good use.
The Games Workshop Dryads were won partially finished on EBay. I just gave them some finishing details to help them fit in with the Dryads we already have. They should be useful for a number of different games as well as making a nice haunted forest for future Halloweens.
I have not finished any of my Mantic Mars Attacks Martians yet but I did come across an interesting blog regarding the idea of putting those Martians to a different use than they were intended… along with some Mantic Walking Dead minis….
https://blog.untilsomebodylosesaneye.net/2017/04/the-martian-dead_3.html
To be honest I probably spend too much time surfing the internet looking for inspiration but I do find it incredibly enjoyable when I come across an interesting gaming project someone has been working on… such as the one above… or this one…
The world building and mixed genre kitbash conversions are quite clever!
How else have I spent my time? Basing and priming hundreds of minis as I gain experience with my airbrush. Most are destined to for other homes as I have had a change of plans….
…perhaps in part down to the excellent inspiration from long time commenter and fellow blog writer Kuribo, I am less inclined to spend my limited time on “salvaging” inexpensive, second hand eBay finds…. and….well… it may come as no surprise but….
….wait for it…..
…. Yes, there may also be some other very big changes coming to my future gaming project plans! A new obsession looms on the horizon. And it is beautiful! However, for now I am not quite ready to formally announce those plans.
Soon… very soon….
In other news, Mrs. GG and I watched Werewolf By Night on Halloween. It was considerably better than we expected, being much more interesting and entertaining than the trailer made it appear. I recommend giving it a chance if you have not already. 👍
We finished watching Inhumans. It was… disappointing.
Very disappointing. I do not recommend it. 👎
It felt like took quite awhile to get to, as I was looking forward to it, but when we finally watched Boundless I was quite disappointed.
Mrs. GG had lower expectations and therefore enjoyed it more. Mediocre but watchable. 🫳
While we are still waiting for The Orville Season Three to arrive in Germany, we finished Season Three of Star Trek: Lower Decks and it was pretty good.
I am glad we gave this show a chance. It is easy going, light hearted fun. A great way to end the evening before bed. Too bad there are not more shows like this one. 👍
She-Hulk however was disappointingly not the light hearted fun we were expecting. Petty, bitter and cynical. There were a few funny bits throughout the season but the best jokes were in the final episode. The 4th Wall was thoroughly smashed and the satire was laid on pretty thick but it made me laugh. “K.E.V.I.N” was the best takeaway for me in the entire show.
Overall though? I would recommend giving it a miss unless you have copious spare time. 👎
This month my experiment with using the paid service level of the blog ends. After a year now, I have found that it just is not worth the extra expense. I have culled a number of posts and photos from 2019 and 2020 in order to reduce the size of the blog back towards the free level. Interaction from readers, your comments, feedback, suggestions and advice are what keeps this blog going… without your involvement I would simply delete this blog and invest my time elsewhere. So thanks for keeping it going!
Home of the Grumpy Gnome 
As usual my friend your blog is informative and very refreshing is your new project in thought have any thing to do with “DDDaaar Ants” . The film reviews will make sure we do not waste any of our limited time, like your self we are talking of the Limitation of “Time” and my last two “Treasures” The complete Kickstarters of The original Resident Evil, and The Others, which up till know I was unable to part with, At this time however I`m considering it. Last Train as taken a twist we are exploring “Weird Nam” as a possibility, Marines and Army evacuate the civilians’ as the zombies and V,C push through the streets will the “Bridge stand. It could have been factual , but might be to PC. PS Love little GG addition’s to the painting of the Halloween Specials they are great.PPPs We introduced J-Tam to Dungeons’ and Doggies for his little one. He was delighted. Love Eileen and Geoff.
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You are correct my friend. I get some projects in my head and they take on a life of their own, pushing other previous projects down the priority list. It can be quite frustrating to be honest.
Weird War Nam sounds like it could be fun. I would like to paint some Nam era GIs and ARVN but not that keen on painting up VC and NVA. Same problem with my French Indochina project. Fascinated by the French forces but the Vietminh do not inspire my paintbrush.
I hope I do not go senile before Little GG is old enough to play these wargames with me!
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Fear not GG we will keep each other fit of mind, we`ve some years ahead of us yet, of that I`m sure. Bye my friend.
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Always like to read about what amounts to the behind the scene aspects of making minis and gaming and enjoy your reviews and thoughts on many shows and movies. Always helps to limit the bucket of things we might spend time watching, or not.
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Thanks for taking the time to comment and let me know. It really helps me feel like the work on the blog is time well spent. I am happy to answer any questions or hear any opinions of your own about topics I have raised.
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I’ve been thinking of you and wondering if all was well since you’ve been quiet. I hope that things settle down and you have more time to relax soon.
The dryads look great and if I were inclined to play AoS, the Sylvaneth would be a strong choice. I don’t love all their models but I figure you can paint them quickly and easily but still make a cool looking army. Those minis should be great for a variety of games too like you pointed out.
Well, I’m very curious to see where you’re going next! I’m surprised but not at all disappointed that you aren’t doing salvage jobs for the foreseeable future. I’m biased in several different ways but I tend to look at it like time = money and you should try to maximize doing what you enjoy with the time you have. Some people get a kick out of buying “junk” and fixing it up and making money from that work and more power to them. If you like completing your own projects (like I think we both do) then salvage jobs may make you money but also keep you from being able to accomplish something else that you enjoy and quite possibly value more. So that is why I’m thrilled to hear it and eagerly anticipating the new project. I’m sure it is going to be really cool!
Finally, I’m skipping She-Hulk as I don’t know the character well and I feel like I’m not the target audience for the show either. Inhumans was panned as being the worst Marvel TV show to come out in years but its still a bummer to hear it is as bad as its reputation would suggest. You’ll have to let me know if Andor is worth watching or not when you finish that. I’d be willing to check it out if you think its good. I’m being pretty selective with what I watch as I can’t keep up with everything any longer and don’t want to commit to watching any shows that are bad or even just average.
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As always mate, thanks for the kind words.
It really is the limitations on time that are causing me to refocus. Money is not quite as tight as it was previously but I am increasingly aware of how the sands are passing through the hourglass. Time is literally one of my most precious and very finite resources.
I am super exited about this new project. It is something that has been around awhile but I only just came across it and it is one of those… “Wow! That is a perfect fit to my tastes!” kind of things. It has almost totally preoccupied my mind the last week and I am conscious that I just do not have the time or money for everything I want to do so I will need to change my priorities again. I am trying to have the discipline to not flit around from project to project like some sort of butterfly but I have to be honest with myself and focus on what I really want to do since these projects are so resource and labor intensive. It is not like just downloading the latest PC game.
Skipping She-Hulk is a good call if I understand your tastes at all. Andor may be a bit grim and slow for you but it is excellent. Like, really excellent. I like it better than Rogue One but it definitely has a the feel of Rogue One… just slower. In a good way. Did you like Rogue One?
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You’re welcome and all of this sounds good. My curiosity is even more piqued to see what the new project is now!
I prefer stuff that is grim and gritty when I can get it so that won’t put me off at all. Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars movie outside of the original trilogy too so I’m going to guess that I should give Andor a shot!
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In that case I am confident you will like Andor. Just be prepared for a slow burn. It does require a little patience. But the world building and characterization is amazing. Almost Bladerunner levels. And amazingly, competent villains that are therefore much more interesting as well as threatening.
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Sounds good to me. I’ll try to get around to watching it when I have a bit of extra free time.
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Definitely worth your time mate. I would even suggest making it a priority if you liked Rogue One.
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Great to see you back and great post.
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Thanks mate!
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I have been wary to watch Lower Decks as I worried that it would poke too much fun at my beloved franchise. However, one of my favorite episodes of Next Generation was the one sharing the same title. I love the ‘lower ranks’, not the main heroes people who are just doing the daily toil. Just like Babylon 5’s episode of “A View from the Gallery” following two maintenance workers who are just doing their job while the station comes under attack.. I am finally going to get around to watching Lower Decks over the holidays as my work slows down then.
I love the artwork. I can see the constant improvement over time, though it has always been good to begin with.
I can’t wait to find out this new passion. Mine has somehow slipped into cosplay. Though it is more about building original concepts with functioning bits on it. I’m currently building for a larp a kit of a Cyberpunk Emperor Norton – an interesting figure in San Francisco history if you’d like to read about him. Besides the costume, it’s also about creating cyberware prosthetics that function (turn on LED’s, etc.) and seems to go against reality (wait. Did he just shove an eighth inch audio jack into his skull?).
Next, I’ve decided to travel more to check out cool things and my first stop will be at a Wild West Steampunk convention in Arizona. I’m going to create a Steampunk Jedi Sheriff – complete with long duster and a Tesla Coil backpack to power the saber. Not quite sure what beeps and boops that will have but exploring it is kinda fun.
My other outfit in my line is to create from DC the Scarecrow from the original animated Batman series. I have the physique for it and want to see about creating an articulating mouth that can handle the weird jaw design as well as having miniature fog machines (going to cannibalize a vape pen) for the Fear gas.
Sorry this post became a ‘mememe’ thing but I’m always happy when someone finds a new passion and felt like sharing mine. 🙂
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We found it felt like Lower Decks laughed with rather than at Star Trek. Although when it did do critical satire I tended to agree with their points, such as Starfleet can fight if it has to but that should not be the focus of the organization.
Thanks for the kind words on my painting.
Cosplay is cool. If I had more time I would enjoy getting into it. Your steampunk Jedi sheriff concept sounds great.
Do not apologize for sharing your interests on here mate. I am asking people like you, folks I respect and care about, to do exactly that. This is my virtual living room and I am as interested in hearing what is up with you as I am with sharing what is up with me.
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Such a tease. Looking forward to whatever is to come, I’m sure it will be fascinating.
I think it’s great that little GG is giving you ideas and what to paint, the next generation of wargamers!
Not much from me on the viewing front, caught the original Night of the Living Dead on Halloween. While I quite enjoyed Dawn of the Dead (both versions) I wish we could have seen more of the sheriff and the good people of Pennsylvania meeting up with the National Guard and seeing how they eventually were overcome.
Don’t keep us waiting too long for your reveal 🙂
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Do not worry, it will not be long… I just want to find the time to write a nice, comprehensive blog post about it as it will be something of an… expensive… change of long term plans. It is more of a 45 degree angle though than a 90 or 180 degree change of course.
It is awesome to see Little GG being enthusiastic about the minis. He is just not quite ready to begin actual gaming with them yet. A couple more years I think.
Night of the Living Dead is a Classic. Tragic but a classic. And I agree about wanting to see more.
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I believe that the undead took over much as it did in the remake of the Dawn, not by those fighting them, but by those left behind. While the National Guard and weapon holding civilians were out reducing the perceived threat, their families at home were being attacked and themselves were attacked when returning home. Still would be a great movie or at least a couple of episodes. Read where the last episode of the Walking Dead aired, don’t even know if I have enough curiosity to watch it.
Don’t know if you saw this conversion on Warlord Games, I went back to try and find the link there but was unable to do so, so here is the Instagram link instead.
He also did a Thompson weapon one.
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Yeah that sounds about right. With zombie apocalypse, or any apocalypse really, it personal stories that are the most interesting for me. How people deal with it. The moral decisions they make.
Good idea on the kitbashing.
The last season of the Walking Dead has been alright. Far from perfect but I felt like it was worth watching, especially the last episode. It reminded me that the show was atleast good enough to give me characters I could care about.
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Love the Pumpkin Beholder even if it isn’t a practical gaming mini. Excited to see wherever the hobby takes you next!
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Thanks mate! 👍
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That OverGourd is crazy, but you did a nice job on it! The spider, webs, and sign are pretty cool. Are the webs cotton or some other material? Loved Werewolf by Night. But also enjoyed She-Hulk as I read most of her comics the show is based on. The last episode was definitely the best. I’m hoping she will make it into the next ‘Avengers’. I’m pretty sure that’s where they are headed.
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Thanks for the kind words mate! I think the webs are synthetic. I took a small bit of a much larger Halloween spider webs decoration to make it. She-Hulk is cool as a character, we just found a lot of the humor of the series fell flat for us. It would be cool for us to see her in future MCU projects.
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