Traditionally, I have always been a no-deadlines wargamer. I take my time on projects by rotating between 2-3 in order to keep things fresh. I do try to paint efficiently but will sometimes take a week off from painting to do other things. This cangames tournament is one of the first times where I’ve taken on a deadline and am really sticking to it. It can be stressful, the line between ‘plenty of time left’ and ‘am I going to make it?’ slipped by un-noticed. I’m half-way through painting my army and have two weeks left before the tournament.
I haven’t had a chance to play any test games with this army, nor am I likely. The best I will be able to manage is to play some solo games with a GP Squad vs a Strike Squad. I have some old DP9 hex-maps and while the game isn’t suited for hex-based play anymore I will use them as flat terrain and measure normally.
Hexmaps make quick terrain, just ignore the hexes and measure normally.
This should at least help me get used to the rules of the game. I originally was disappointed that the advanced morale rules were not to be used. Now I’m grateful. It’ll be hard enough playing complete strangers in a very competitive environment, but I’d hate to do so and be unsure of rules. At least I’m generally a good study for this sort of thing, and will be bringing a heavily bookmarked rulebook to the tournament.
Marking important areas with Post-it flags will make them easier to find in the heat of battle.
Progress
The biggest time-consumer in this process is definately prepping the miniatures for painting. I’m a dis-interested modeler at times and can get very bored with fiddly filing and sanding to clean up mold lines. To compound the problem I’ve been unsatisfied with the castings coming out of DP9 lately. There’s a lot of pitting and rough surfaces to contend with. Not to mention that although the Grizzlies are sculpted and designed to have right and left rocket pods, only left rocket pods were produced. They are not symetrical in a way that I could mount one backwards without it being very noticable, especially since I paint the rocket pod front with hazard stripes.
The painting hasn’t been without problems as well. There’s a certain amount of frustration trying to paint detail that didn’t fill crisply in the mold, but my thick application of Gesso didn’t settle down in the normal way. I have put on a burst of speed and hope that if I don’t get held up too long prepping the next squad, I’ll be done in time. My weekly WIP posts will follow my normal schedule, however, so if it looks like I haven’t finished in time fear not, as I’m sure I will. I’ve started a 4×10 shift at work, giving me three consecutive days off in which to work on my army.
- Painted
- Un-based General Purpose Squad
- Half-finished Fire Support Squad
- Need to paint
- Northern General Purpose Squad
As you can see, I’ve reduced what I’m planning to paint. Some of it is because of lack of time, such as the LAC-armed Hunter to give me the option of a MBZK-armed Hunter or Grizzly with linked MRPs. The infantry squad I ordered was a confused mess. It came in a Northern Infantry blister, contained Northern Infantry Officers and Southern Infantry troopers. I’ve contacted DP9 for a replacement, but have yet to receive a response.
Everything so far. It seems so small.
Over the next two weeks I’m really going to put my nose to the grindstone in order to make sure everything is finished.
Tyler
