Ok. It sucks. Many tournaments are on hold and a lot of us are confined to our homes. But the bright side is that we are all finally given the opportunity to get some real hobby time in. Here are ways to really take advantage of the all the down time and get stuff done or at the bare minimum keep you preoccupied while you practice social distancing.
Figure out your next army’s paint scheme. Some people are fine with copying the box art, but others (myself included) insist on standing out and being special snowflakes with their own unique paint schemes. Figuring out just the right colors that coordinate beautifully can take a while to do. I will go through countless test runs until I find something that works and I am willing to replicate on an army-wide scale. This process is often times fun but almost always very time consuming … so it is a perfect way to burn though all this down time at home.
Build and paint terrain. Lets be honest with ourselves: we almost always prefer to work on getting new units on the tabletop then working on the tabletop itself. Terrain is not exactly something we all race to buy and build although it legitimately can be game changing. This is the perfect time to check out the beautiful and functional ITC sets that Frontline Gaming produces. I am a fan of the full sets that create a thematic battlefield that helps make the game even more engaging. Having a completed table of painted terrain at home with a matching mat, will pay dividends in the future and is something you will be so happy to have.
Industrial line assembly. You know all those troop units you have been dreading on tackling. Like that hoard of 30 Ork Boyz or the 60 Astra Militarum Guardsmen? Turn on a quality podcast or watch some Netflix and zone out as you just hammer through building and painting a pile of nearly identical minis. Ideally you focus on efficiency here and create an industrial line style process which speeds up the whole thing. I like to build/paint in batches of 10 minis. I clip out bits and trim them down and remove mold lines. Then assemble all the legs and torsos, then weapons and heads. Then go back and add the accessories. Painting for me, involves doing the same color on all 10 minis before moving on to the next color. Figure out whatever works best for you, and then stick to it so that the repetition makes you a master.
Update the old. You likely have become a bit of a better hobbiest since that first start collecting box that you eagerly purchased with your allowance. Over the years, new techniques have been learned, your ability to edge highlight has improved, and now you dutifully base every model. Take a few hours…or days…to go back and review your collection. Get them on par with your new standards or simply make touch ups and repairs to the minis that have been fighting alongside you for countless battles.
Crazy conversions. The time to show off your creative, Orky side is now. You can go through all your bits and make the most ridiculously awesome conversions you ever thought possible. Plenty of time on your hands means you can try out all sorts of ideas that you never bothered attempting before. Simple kitbashing and head swaps is a great way to get started and then once you find success there, you will likely want to push the envelope further and use Green Stuff or really start piecemealing together entirely new models from twenty different sets.
Build all the minis. Yes. All of them! You likely have at least a few boxes of unopened kits just sitting around in storage because you either forgot them or simply got sidetracked with something newer. Well, now is that time to finally revisit these unopened boxes and assemble all of them. If a model is assembled it will give you the opportunity to play test it- if you are simply testing out an army, no one will care if half the models are not painted. Plus, seeing a built model might encourage you then to get it painted eventually.
Apply those decals. Finally that decal sheet that you stashed away can see the light of day and be used to give those models the details they deserve. Decals are easy to apply and can look amazing if applied correctly. Take the time time to give each and every model in your army the unifying logo/icon it deserves and earn you those hobby points at the next tourney.
Add a side project. While you might be a diehard Imperium player in your “regular” life, maybe now you paint up a few Xenos and make a 1000 point army to play for fun. Or venture into the world of Age of Sigmar and give that a shot. GW also has so many boxed games that you likely never considered. I started a whole new army that is going to just be a passion project that I work on whenever I am tired of the uber competitive scene or want to just paint things that are more exciting to me.
Yea. We are all confined to our homes as we ride out this storm. Lets use this to our advantage to really get some serious hobby time in. When the clouds lift and we finally get to go out in public, we should all have something to show off!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
So real.
There will be 3 Thunder Hammer SM, Smash Captains left to build once done with my last few chaos termies, and harlie bikes.
I will kitbash another “Spawn” so that if I ever use that spell/psy power in my Chaos list, I’ll have one. I tore the other apart for its base (built in 8e’s infancy).
Paint bases for the SM list I’m starting. That’s painful. I’m building an SM list.
*facepalm*
Finish repainting my tau the shocking horror of white, green and pink. Good enough to make another player flinch from 3 tables away. True story, the last BAO when it was in the San Jose ballroom above a parking structure. 2014?
Dark times, everyone. Darkness.
Hey Casey! No judgment on the SM list—I built one too, but I PROMISE it was just because I like the new Primarius models! I actually have a box of SM Reavers for over a year now that has just been waiting to be built. I will likely get to them if lock-down keeps active.
Gotta see that Tau paint scheme! I am sure it get attention!!
Rebased my old Ghazkrull Traka model to the same size as the new version (all GW delivery is locked down for 3+ weeks).
Rebased my Terminators to 40mm.
Finished my six centurion devastators.
Now looking at the Build your own landraider / ork vehicles pages of Chapter Approved 2018 and 2019 for some fun builds.
Running out of glue and super glue – few places are now delivering.
Found four + boxes of lizardmen skinks and saurus from 20+ years ago (already got 5000 points on square bases.) If they don’t need glue I’ll be building them later.
Found boxes of Epic models (I was a playtester) so will build other Chapters besides IF and touch up the Orks into specific clans.
Bought “I am slaughter” from Black Library for 99 pence – always wanted to buy it but always too busy playing before.
Rob- you are being super productive and setting one hell of an example! Rebasing is never really fun. And yes! The struggle is real regarding glue. I am starting to get super conservative with my last bottle of plastic glue because I am not sure how long I am going to need it to last!
Yesterday, I was down to my last drops of glue … so dry-built the sixteen 1998 Lizardmen (slot together except for shields) and then found the sixteen 2002 Saurus needed glue for their arms.
So instead, added flock to SM bases. Then put my 10,000+ points of SM on a large table to pose for a photograph. This also allowed me to work out who’d lost an arm, shoulder pad, needed a bigger base. I also copied the Contents page of the SM Codex 2 and wrote down which units I’d got – noticing I had flyers or “modern” transport options. Then through back-catalogues to work out which metal SM miniatures I’d got.
Luckily Amazon had polystyrene glue and it should arrive tomorrow. Yet GW and Warlord Games are closed – the biggest suppliers in the country – so no new paint. So glue ordered but really it’s a non-essential product so it could easily be delayed for a few weeks.
Warhammer Tv “Hang out and Hobby” is keeping me going- 4pm – 7pm GMT. Three hours of the gang being silly and creative. “Sword and Steel”‘s SoB model painting yesterday was also though-provoking.
Man, Rob, you are getting a legit amount of stuff done despite running low on resources! I am really this close to teaching my 10 pound pup, Chewie, how to play 40K so I can finally get a game in!! I want to practice the new ITC missions and worry I am losing muscle memory!!