crazmadsci Retrospective

Nova Open 2025 Recap

I am definitely riding the high from this year’s 2025 Nova open. And what a treat it has been to go to and see my friends. I always walk away full of inspiration, a bag full of goodies and a mind full of creative endeavors to do for next year.

Heading to the event I had a mix and a flurry of feelings. I’m was immensely excited to catch up with friends that I’ve made last year. And made new friends while experiencing new things. I always feel anxious and guilty to take time off, to be away from my family. The Nova Open is turning into being a very special time of year for me. Most of my year is spent focused on playing games and growing my local community specifically for Age of Sigmar. However, I approach the Nova open specifically to grow and listen to experts for painting my models.

I have never quite considered myself a creative person. I see myself as an optimizer. I struggle to see something in my mind’s eye and then recreate it visually. So I spend close to an entire week surrounding myself with painters who are better than me. Surrounding myself with experts to get constructive criticism and feedback helps me grow leaps and bounds faster than what I would have if I was aimlessly scrolling through YouTube hoping to find the video with the piece of feedback that I need. This is my second year going to the Nova Open volunteering to work the capital palette. This large-scale artistic painting competition allows me the opportunity to see close up all of the incredible, beautiful models that others have created. It is an incredibly humbling experience.

My Capital Palette Entry

I submit a model to the apprentice category where this year I will be submitting my very first bust I’ve ever painted, which is a Baba Yaga bust by abysmal alchemy. And was something that I found from a fellow community painter called Evans paints. I stumbled upon the model as he was trying to reduce his pile of shame or opportunity, depending on how you think of it, and I decided to tackle it. I’m really, really proud of what I have accomplished. I think that I have improved on feedback that I was given from the previous year, and I’m interested to see the feedback that I will get now, I definitely want to write its own post and where I started and where I’ve gone and what my dream for this piece has been. But before I get biased and the lens of my mind’s eye changes, I must write and note that while I have not painted much this year due to prioritizing other activities and life above my miniature painting and playing hobby, I have done enough where I am not embarrassed by the model I am submitting. I am trying to stay open minded about what feedback I will be giving, and I hope that the fact that I rushed it two weeks before the event does not quite show as much on the model (it definitely showed in feedback)

The Feedback

Below is the notes I captured from the feedback session with the judges.

It was really good, okay. The issue is a lot of this is pretty so we just need more.

  • Direction of the face itself needs some more.
  • Same with a hair we should see a halo up here, and a little lighter around here
  • The little ropes each one of those ropes has a texture you want to, like, go in and find that texture, that stuff out.
  • With things like the necklace, you can bring that up a little bit
  • Make sure with your skin tone, you’ve got to just add more

Generic Bust Feedback:

With busts is you just have to go so much farther than you do with the normal model. Like the baseline fork is so much higher because everything is zoomed in.

The Positives

The little birdie looks great. He’s absolutely fantastic. That’s really nice.

Fedback Conclusion

“I have a feeling you’re like, you’re you’re gonna rock and roll it next year” – Vincey V

Classes

One thing I’m most proud of myself this year is that already knew the areas I needed to grow on specifically with color and doing “more” with my model. That I took some fantastic classes from some phenomenal painters. Overall I feel like I grew as a painter but it will definitely take a considerable amount of time to fully absorb the information.

Understanding light and color composition by Krzysztof Kobalczyk

This was by far my favorite class and we worked on color theory from just three primary colors. I selected Orange, A teal green and Magenta.

The Hidden Layer: Fast Underpainting Techniques by Francesco Farabi – Kimera

This was essentially teaching that using hues of grey helps reinforce highlights and adding color for improved volumes. Of which was applied as essentially a study of non metallic metal which I’ve never done before.

Deciding Color Composition & Palette Selection by KAHA – Katarzyna Gorska

This was the most interesting class for theory but the most frustrating for paint. I found myself struggling with a hydrophobic primed model and couldn’t put paint on the model. This was really fascinating as it was sketching out colors on the model before really applying the paint to see how you want to finally set the tone and composition of color on the model.

Composition in Miniature Art with Chris Suhre

Suhre just gave a lecture here with no paint. We listened to theory of art and compoisition of dioramas. A lot of the information is similar to that from his book “The Art of Chris Suhre” made with Dave Taylor but talking about it in the class really helped reinforce the information I started to absorb reading the book.

Shopping

One thing I know for certain, going to Nova is that I definitely could not go into the exhibitor Hall without walking away with something new and inspiring. Some things I’ve been waiting for years to buy and waiting for the perfect opportunity. Other situations were well more spontaneous.

One of the largest purchases that I acquired at this year’s exhibitor Hall is not one, but two, A-cases for my miniature hobby. I have had plastic totes with cut metal and epoxy carrying cases for a long time, but I have considered consistently encountered issues with different size pieces, damaging those models, and I want something that I can carry on my back, walk into an event and not have my hands completely full. Getting the A-case also allows me to put my books and my dice inside the backpack to reduce the overall load of what I have to carry. My giant backpack doesn’t necessarily have to be as giant anymore, and I’m, frankly, really, really excited. I also ended up purchasing a carry case from a case, it’s one of its smallest bags to provide an alternative if I’m just doing a small war band for frost grave, you know, Blood Bowl teams and those types of things to not have to require carrying something absolutely massive. This was such an exciting purchase for me, as I have been trying to purchase one for quite some time. I even went to a case last year at NOVA, and they were completely sold out. So, I’m excited to walk away with something that I know I have been really, really thinking hard and long about for quite some time. I’ve kind of really fallen in love with the brand after listening to the interview of the founder of a case and what he was trying to achieve on the listening to paint dry podcast.

Another big purchase that I ended up making for this year was P3 paint I have been a long-time user of P3 paint. It is one of the first brands of paint I have ever used for my miniature painting hobby going back to 2018. It’s been really hard to buy P3 paint over the course of the years, since Privateer Press has sold and edited the line and gone out of business, but seeing Steam Forge games bring this paint back to life with a Kickstarter last year, it was the first time I’ve ever seen the paint for sale in retail. I decided not to back the entire Kickstarter last year because I told myself I didn’t need the whole line and I only wanted a few paint, but going to the booth, talking to them about the colors, the pigments, what’s new, what’s different, I found myself wanting to replace some of my favorite paints, but also I wanted to try new things, and before I knew it, I had way too much paint, and I ended up buying the whole line because it knew it was cheaper in the long run. Yes, do I potentially need intervention because I already have too much paint? Do I even have the storage capacity for this paint? Yes most likely need the intervention and definitely don’t have the space.

I’ve also purchased long needed upgrades like a new wet palette and several art books.

I have also been always looking for new models, new experiences and new challenges. ZabaArt is one person who has such an incredible, enthusiastic and positive personality. I just had to support him. I bought not one, but two of his models. I’m so excited to get the opportunity to paint them. One will be a large scale model, and one will be a bust. It was very cool to see them in the cabinets, as well as he paints and sculpts his own models to submit for competition, which is really cool. And I’ve also gotten a few models from other sculptors and companies as well.

Where have I been?

This year, I struggle to make time for myself. Make time for my hobby and everything in life always took precedence, taking care of the family, doing house chores, with the added stress from work. There’s always something, some reason, some excuse that takes over, and I found myself in a state of life, survival mode. And in doing so, I sacrificed time for myself, in painting, in models and playing table top games. I even stopped going out and seeing my friends and talking to my friends online. Which they are endlessly giving me crap about as good friends should.

All these areas, I found myself lacking, and it was definitely very evident when I traveled to Nova this year, only submitted one piece. I think it’s the only model I finished for the entirety of the 2025 year so far, it was rushed. It was not finished in most places. And I acknowledge that I have lots of room for improvement for myself and desire to hold myself accountable for my projects, hobbies, dreams and so on.

I found myself struggling and not being as caught up or well versed in what was going on with my friends and what they’re experiencing in their life, checking in on them, and I’m ready to be better.

I’m ready to make myself a priority. And in doing so, I found myself really thinking and processing and deciding that in writing these things down, I have a significantly increased likelihood chance of following through with it. I like looking back at my mental state throughout the years as I hobby, it shows a lot of self-growth, where I’m at and how I perceive and think about each and every project. And part of me really considered, do I need to continue to write this blog down. Do I need to publish for the world to see and the world to read? So much of our consumption and media these days are videos? For me, I enjoy being able to go back look at my things, look at my thoughts, look at my write ups, no matter where I’m at in the world, I can Google and pull it up. I can see it on any device, and I can also be dynamic in what I post and how I organize it, as opposed to a very linear book, like a journal. I have so many things that I link and embed and cross reference to let myself dynamically consume my own projects and publications, and so after coming back from Nova, I’ve decided to really try to resurrect the site, resurrect who I am and how I choose to become an artist and an analysis, analyst and observer of what I am.

Thank you for taking the time to catch up with me and I’m looking forward to all the projects to come.

Happy Hobby,

crazmadsci

Image of finalized hobby space 1/8/24 using the MixRack Paint solution.
crazmadsci hobby space, Review

A New Way to Organize your Paint: MixRack Modular Paint Storage Review

I have recently rebuilt and reorganized my home hobby space coming close to completing the vision. In June 2023, when I moved to my new home and had the had a clean slate for my hobby. The largest and latest component of that vision is the MixRack Paint Storage system that I have recently received. This is such an interesting product I thought it deserved a write up and review of the system.

As a brand new product which has been crowdfunded on gamefound July 2023 and begun shipment to backers. I’m writing my experiences, provide feedback, and give people insight of a product. This will be sold to all hobbyists further in the 2025 year.

My Hobby Space Background 

I have always been a believer that your hobby space is a reflection of the mind space of an individual. The way they think, the way they organize and how they operate as a person. I have always enjoyed Facebook threads of people showing their hobby space. I also follow tags like #hobbyspace and #paintdesk on Instagram. One of my weaknesses is taking the time to watch the various YouTube videos of people rebuilding their areas.

In June of 2023 I moved into a brand new home, and therefore had the opportunity for a whole new hobby space. The stars were aligned enough to synergize with the Gamefound crowdfunding project of MixRack Modular Paint Station. I absolutely loved the concept presented and the early marketing was spot on and I decided to follow it from the very beginning, roughly around March of 2023.

Early prototype of the MixRack Paint storage solution.
First prototype of Mixrack found on the shopmixrack Instagram

The biggest issue with my hobby desk was trying to maintain being organized. Also needing to limit access to the tiny hands of my children who are curious about mommy’s toys and hobbies. The concept of having drawers to pull out paint would fundamentally push the paint far enough away to reduce that lone bottle of paint stolen by a child.

As a 3D printing enthusiast I have made my fair share of 3D printable hobby desk organizers, paint racks, and tools. However, there has always been something that I have not loved about them and not been a perfect fit.  So I decided to back the MixRack project. 

MixRack Development and Evolution

When first seeing Mixrack’s idea and project it was evident that the company of Grim Rabbit games developed a solution to a personal problem and desired to share it with others. What has been the most fascinating part of supporting the project has been watching the evolution of the product itself. From trying to account for everyone’s individualized needs, the large variety of products and usage of the product while constantly improving in communication of the significant amount of complexity of ways to build your MixRack.

Overall there are 5 primary sizes of MixRacks with the Cave variant going standard Cave, Cave XL and Cave XXL which increase the spacing of the center area.

Drawers can come in several variants: Short, Tall, and high Capacity. There are also Wall Mounted MixRacks as well as shelves that can mount to Billy Bookcases and Kallax Cubes. The depth of drawers also account for standard or Large bottles. An example of how many bottles of paint can be held in each drawer is shown in this table below.

A breakdown of how much paint each type of Drawer can hold. Graphic from the gamefound campaign of MixRack.

Improvements I’ve Noticed in the Design

Now that I have built and received my own Mixrack I can now see how the project has evolved significantly. Since the launch of the project it is obvious that Grim Rabbit has not been idle.Many of the original prototype of Mixrack used exclusively MDF to cut out and build its ideas. But since that time the polish and sophistication of the design is evident.

Note: I am comparing my final project to the YouTube Video: Grimrack Introduction with images grabbed from the video itself.

This list is in no order of significance.

**Author late edit** If you would to see a video of these design improvements they also made a video talking about many of these updates found: Mixrack Early Janurary Update. Admittedly at the time of writing I forgot this video existed so enjoy the side by side comparisons.

Drawer Design

The individual drawer that holds the paint I have observed significant improvement than its original design. Here are a few examples I’ve noticed.

Drawer design has the handles as apart of the drawer instead of an extra MDF cut piece. This ends up looking more polished and uses less overall hardware. They have even designed front and back spines for a more polished final look. This also has the secondary benefit of helping the product bowing.

Original Drawer (left) with extra piece and hardware, New Drawer design (right) with solid MDF piece for drawer handle
Fully Assembled Drawer of final design

The option of drawers in black acrylic over MDF cut was added after the campaign closed and available for backers to pick. While I didn’t get black acrylic it is great to see that they were willing to continue to provide other materials.

Black Acrylic Drawer Option Added Later

Drawer Slides are now a formed from injected molded plastic instead of wood, shown in the red arrow.

Old Design (Left), New Design (Right). Boxes represent the sizing of shelves which grew in the new design. Arrows show the improve slider for the drawers from MDF to injected Plastic

Shelves now have variable widths which are capable to change based on your need and width of the bottles to be held more securely. The original design only had one hole, shown in the red box)

Tool Holder, Paint brush holder, cup holder etc. is now made out of plastic instead of multiple wood pieces. Observation is that not all pieces are injected plastic molded and the tool holder was 3D printed. My assumption is that it is a desire for this to be injected plastic in the future.

  • Before and After brush holder for Mixrack
    Left old MDF brush holder, Right new injected molded brush holder.
  • Before and After tool holder for Mixrack
    Left old MDF tool holder, Right new 3D printed tool holder.

Shelves can also now have paint samples for improved organization. While I did not opt into adding this to my system it is an improvement added as an option for backers.

Bears can be added for swatching your paint for your Mixrack. Picture from Gamefound MixRack

Side panels are also slot into the aliminium instead of fixed on the side which I like a lot.

Crowdfunding Communication

Since the announcement of the project in March 2023 there have been a total of 54 campaign updates since the time of this writing. This comes out to be approximately 2 updates a month given to backers. Each and every update has been to assist in the consumer understanding the product as well as be transparent about the learning process of trying to take a singular prototype into a manufactured project that can be sent to the masses and all of the logistics involved. 

In my opinion I think the transparency and sharing of the trials and tribulations of this product has been the absolute best I’ve ever seen in any crowdfunding project. While the it did not ship on its original estimated time much of the issues were out of the control of the team. Each hiccup was professionally communicated with information and updated estimates to the best of the ability of the team. Trust me I was eagerly anticipating more information and getting my product I admit rather impatiently but it was well worth the wait.

To help answer questions, and have community support there is also a fantastic discord community. I know that before packing Nikki and Jack the original two person team at Grim Rabbit check each order and will email people if they believe something is wrong for clarification. Customer support and communication is one of the most tricky things to do for any company and it is a job I do not desire to do again. I think that Grim Rabbit has personally smashed it out of the park and easily for this reason alone i’m going to be a loyal customer for some time to come.

My Order and Assembly

As an early backer I have been lucky enough to already receive my order right before my work holiday break of December 18th. I decided to use my MixRack system as more long term storage and using my current paint racks for the “currently used paint”. That way it is easier to get things up and off my desk. I ended up purchasing a Badger and Grizzly as my primary builds with two standard sets of shelves and 1 large bottle set of shelves. I’ve added an extra shelf, three side panels and various miscellaneous pieces like tool holders, brush holders, and an Organizer Drawer this totaled out to be around $340 including shipping.

My immediate first impression was genuinely how impressively wrapped everything was to protect the product in shipment. Directions and information was right on top with a large bag of hardware easy to find. My kids ended up playing with all the packing peanuts to pretend it “snowed” in the basement. That was an interesting mess to clean up but we had a blast. 

  • Box that my mixrack game in.
    Mixrack box, weighed about 25 lbs
  • Bag of Hardware for the mixrack
    Bag of Hardware for the mixrack
  • Slightly Opened MDF wrapped bundle
    Slightly Opened MDF wrapped bundle
  • Example fo pacakaging for mixrack
    Mixrack shelves securely bundled
  • Photo of what instructions look like for mixrack paint storage
    Photo of what instructions look like for mixrack paint storage

The first step I took was to set up an assemble my MixRack was to setup a staining table which couldn’t be too big due to limited space so I knew the staining would take the longest. I ended up using the stain recommended by GrimRabbit in one of their updates. The product used was Littlefair’s Interior Wood Dye Dark Walnut.

Paint swatch samples of different stains, Image from MixRack Updates suggesting stains to use.

Overall I was very happy and ended up going with two coats. However, I did end up running out of stain since I experimented with it on a project before my MixRack arrived and had to pause assembly operations for about a week due to ordering more and the holidays themselves. My hobby space ended up becoming Santa’s workshop and therefore a disaster space requiring me to pause the project.

  • My first piece of MDF stained with one layer of stain. Unstained MDF shown above.
    My first piece of MDF stained with one layer of stain. Unstained MDF shown above.
  • One layer of stain on multiple variable pieces of MDF for mixrack
    One layer of stain on multiple variable pieces of MDF for mixrack
  • Staining 2nd layer on Mixrack Drawers
    2nd layer of stain on Mixrack Drawers
  • Staining the shelves of the mixrack
    Staining the shelves of the mixrack

While I did also varnish my pieces I admit I regret doing so. Due to the many holes of the MDF cut out while painting it on I would inevitably end up with with varnish seeping through the holes causing a non ideal stain of varnish on the other side. No matter what I tried with wiping off the other side, being incredibly careful, etc the varnish did not quite turn out the way I hoped. I did use the recommended Zinsser Bulls Eye SealCoat, also I was terrible at cleaning my brush and any brush I ended up using for the sealer I threw away. Long term these spots are hidden by the shelves themselves and are minor cosmetic things. If anyone knows of how to apply this better to avoid the issue please mention in the comments below.

Drawer that was varnished and shows staining of inconsistent coverage.

Admittedly while I was waiting on more stain I was not idle. I was itching to see if the Mixrack would fit into my vision and fit on my hobbydesk inside the window ledge shelf I built for it. Turns out the Mixrack was much deeper than I thought it would be (oops). This was definitely poor measurements on my end. Don’t worry I find a solution. 

Badger Mixrack sitting in its home but obviously larger than the allocated space allows.

While assembling I started to discover themes and ways to make assembly easier which I recommend for all.

  • When in doubt try to put as much of the hardware together before as you can. An example of that is to add the L bracket screws to the L brackets before putting into the aluminum. Add the Screw and T nut on the plastic drawer slides before putting on the aluminum.
  • Side panels should be checked for direction BEFORE finalizing and screwing it in. What I didn’t know is that the side panels have directionality for the shelves so which way they are facing is important. So if you are not careful you will have to unscrew your Mixrack to fix the side panels.

Issues and Confusion while Assembling

 I did run into a few issues while assembling my Mixrack and my questions were quickly answered on the discord. 

One example which might happen for some but I have told will be fixed for future orders is that the side panels were not cut to accommodate for the L brackets and required an easy snip to cut away the excess material.

Side Panel of Mixrack extra material preventing flush finish of Aluminum bars

I have also been confused as to the spacing of the badger since there is a gap in the center to accommodate an aluminum bar if desired. I wish there was a dedicated spacer provided to accommodate for even spacing of the badger. There was a little bit of trail and error.

Badger irregular spacing of sliders

I did also receive excess parts and were short others. With a quick email to the Grim Rabbit team I did get sorted and shipped new parts. I am currently waiting for the final pieces but was very happy to how receptive they were. I still have not received my package but should arrive today or tomorrow.

Possible ways for Improvement

As a product that is early in the hands of the consumer, I am sure that the team is going to get flooded with ideas for improvement.

  • I think that the 3D printed provided spacers Standard (S) and Large Bottle (LB) could actually be one 3D printed part rather than two which would save on 3D printing time. Printing one rectangle with short side being Standard spacing and long ways being Large Bottle would be really slick. The Large bottle spacer is skinny to work in this function.
  • I’d love to be able to purchase 3D printed or laser cut designs for replacement pieces. I have already broken some MDF shelf brackets and if I could 3D print ones to keep them more sturdy in the long run that would be amazing. Or being able to purchase them in acrylic to go with my MDF shelves.
  • I admittedly forgot what all I ordered and had to have my gamefound order open to figure out what I had available to assemble. I also looked up product images to try to imagine how things should look when I’m done. I would have loved to have an order overview summary with my order and perhaps a product image or two of what they were.
  • Some bags such as aluminum bars were labeled with Sizes. I wish that other pieces such as MDF bags were labeled as well. It wasn’t until after I assembled that I figured out what I was looking out through some trial and error.
  • Better transparency of when to use a 9 mm vs an 11 mm screw. I started to use them interchangeably and don’t know when it is better to use a 9 mm or an 11 mm screw.

Overall things were very straight forward but there are minor improvements to overall documentation that could be made. The product itself is spot on.

Current Final Build!

While I am still waiting on parts for finalizing my Grizzly Drawers this is my finalized build so far. My kids loved helping me put paint into my paint racks. I’ll make sure to post absolutely final photos when I have them.

Finalized Builds from Other MixRacks

I have been given permission to also share other’s MixRack builds from the discord community. So to get an idea of how Mixrack and look on other’s hobby spaces check it out!

  • Mixrack final build for ElTrashBanana87
    FInal Mixrack build featuring a cub with large bottle holders. User ElTrashBanana87
  • Final assembled picture of Mixrack from Daishi00
    Final assembled photo of Daishi00’s mixrack build. It appears to be two badgers stacked on top of eachother perhaps a Cave?
  • Mixrack MDF wall mounted Racks
    Mixrack Wall mounted racks by Daishi00
  • Mixrack Acrylic Wall Mounted Racks by Spider J2
    Mixrack Acrylic Wall Mounted Racks by Spider J2
  • Mixrack Acrylic Cub by Spider J2
    Mixrack Acrylic Cub by Spider J2
  • Mixrack Acrylic Badger by Magog29
    Mixrack Acrylic Badger by Magog29
  • Mixrack Grizzly by Ubermug
    Mixrack Grizzly by Ubermug
  • Hobby space of ubermug with Mixrack proudly on display.
    Hobby space of ubermug with Mixrack proudly on display.

Conclusion

Overall I am extremely happy with my Mixrack and surprised just how much these systems hold paint. I have consolidated most if not all of my collection into just the two racks and can easily see how simple it would be to expand and add more shelves. I find the system to be of incredible make with small tweaks to be made to improve the product long term. The customer service as been one of the best I’ve ever seen and that alone would make me a loyal customer for years to come.

I do think that the current Mixrack system is expensive within good reason but the price point would make this comparable of a dream setup similar to HobbyZone and I personally prefer it. The only thing that HobbyZone hobby organizations have over the MixRack is drawer solutions with enclosed spaces not just paint.

I definitely look forward to buying more and perhaps will include a small organizer, cub for tabletop wargaming prize support in the future as I do run events in my region.

To my knowledge the storefront to buy your own Mixrack will be open once all backers of the gamefound have been shipped. Currently the original backers Wave 1 is in shipping followed by Wave 2 & 3 backers. Once I have a link to final store front I’ll post a link here.

Go check out the MixRack Paint Solution Gamefound for more information!

If there are any questions about this or myself please do not hesitate to ask in the comments below.

I look forward to painting more in my new hobby space. Keep painting,

Crazmadsci “Carrie”

Subscribe

Like what you see. Subscribe to read more hobby related content as I journey through my painting, 3D printing and gaming adventures.

9 responses to “A New Way to Organize your Paint: MixRack Modular Paint Storage Review”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I absolutely love mine, it has made finding stuff sooooo much easier, instead of having to scavenge through multiple little mdf risers in my old setup. And it gave me a reason to be happy that I started with citadel paints, because without the dropper you can fit more on a drawer lol

    Reply
    1. crazmadsci Avatar
      crazmadsci

      I actually have a swatch book so organize by color hue but already know what i’m looking for because I essentially made a catalog of my collection I use as reference. Citadel can hold more but I love my dropper bottles I always move Citadel paints into bottles.

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        I AM eagerly awaiting mine. whats the best way to move ciatdel pain to droppers and what droppers do you recommend?

        nICE article. thank you

  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Awesome review! Very thorough.

    Reply
  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I am considering placing an order when/if they fulfill the orders. I know there is a new Kickstarter but I don’t think it will fund as they are less than 30% funded… Thanks for the detailed review!

    ArrOOoo!

    Reply
  4. pearlstone123022 Avatar
    pearlstone123022

    Wow, what a clever way to keep paints neat and safe from little hands. The MixRack sounds like a total game-changer. Thanks for sharing dear.

    Reply
  5. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I did find a way to keep the stain from causing the issues on the other side. When staining, just put a paper towel underneath any area you’re going over with a brush. When the stain floods out of the brush and through the hole, it gets soaked up by the paper towel rather than pooling underneath. Hopefully this helps anyone else looking for a clean stain job, but I do agree that overall it ends up being a very minor cosmetic issue in the face of a massive staining, sealing, and assembly job that one should be proud of getting through, especially if they ordered a cave or larger!

    Reply
  6. Avatar
    Anonymous

    There are still hundreds of backers who still haven’t received their mixracks yet a whole 14 months after expected ship date. As of right now their average ship rate is less than 2 orders per day. As far as their communication goes there were some initial setbacks that were understandable but that was 6-9 months and 20 excuses ago bud. Does the product seem great sure does and thats one of the reasons so many people are pissed at the creators. Imagine waiting a whole year after you should have gotten something you paid for only for them to not send all the parts you need to build your dream paint setup or else parts are broken or bent. Then waiting another month to get replacements. Anyway my reasons for writing this reply is it seems your review is straight up not telling the whole truth at times and at others lying straight out. If you got paid for this just say that bro.

    Reply
    1. crazmadsci Avatar
      crazmadsci

      I have not recieved any free product nor swayed to say positive things. While I wrote this 8 months ago I saw and healthy shipping rate and a company truly passionate about a product they made and trying to share with others. I do not know every speedbump happening as to why not everyone has recieved their orders. But I do know many happy people who have a product. I am sorry you are frustrated and trust me i’ve been there with kickstarters/gamefound products that never got sent to me. But I truly believe it will get to you and they do their best.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

crazmadsci Games

Kick-Off Event: 3D Printed Bloodbowl Pitch Part 1

“Every kick-off is a unique event. Almost anything can happen and often does!”

-Bloodbowl The Game of Fantasy Football

The crowd is roaring, players are in position and the anticipation of the game to come has built to an incredible amount. The whistle blows, the opposing team grabs the ball, it falls and woosh away the kick. The ball soars into the receivers end and before it lands a KICKOFF EVENT occurs. 

If you have no idea what i’m talking about I guess I am getting ahead of myself. The events I just described are how I imagine any game of Bloodbowl begins. Bloodbowl is a miniatures board game created by Games Workshop and first released in 1986. This game is every way you imagine a true game of Fantasy Football is played, sporting races and characteristics of humans, goblins, dwarves, elves, orcs, undead and much much work. 

This tabletop game has all the elements of which I love, miniatures, dice, terrain and most important silliness. Ever since I got my first bloodbowl models from the snotling team in early 2021 I have wanted to play, however I had one big problem. No one I knew or anyone in my region played Bloodbowl.

Knowing that I knew I had to embrace a piece of advice I’ve heard often but not always taken to heart. Being an advocate. “Its hard to find people to find other games”. So I as a player needs to inspire and recruit other people to play the game I enjoy. 

A recent video of one of my favorite miniature gaming youtube channels, Tabletop Minions, recently refreshed one of their original videos on the subject. It is definitely worth a watch: Get Games Besides Warhammer on the Table

So over the years I have felt tempted to pull a field of dreams… “If you build it they will come.” Perhaps if I build and paint all the things needed to play Bloodbowl ot make it the most engaging thing then people will play with me. In order to play bloodbowl a player needs a few things.

  1. A Bloodbowl Pitch
  2. Two Dugouts (team sidelines)
  3. Two Teams to play with of 11 players minimum
  4. Team Tokens
  5. Dice
  6. Rulers and Templates
  7. The Rules

All of these things I have acquired but they are missing a WOW factor. Something that will truly bring them in. Paint on the teams and a Pitch that will pull in people from across the room. Currently bloodbowl pitches are sold as printed cardboard. Although I own one it isn’t very fun to use or look at.

The official halfling printed cardboard pitch and dugout.

A dream has formed and something happened. I found the Kraken 3D Studios “Kraken Fantasy Stadium” digital STL files. This was originally a kickstarter in 2020 that I have been watching and waiting to pull the trigger on for a few years now. However this most recent cyber monday season I decided to jump in and buy the files to 3D print my very own Bloodbowl Pitch. 

Current work in progress layout of my 3D printed bloodbowl pitch.

Fast forward to today, I have now printed a sizable amount of the board and it’s finally time to assemble and paint my dream pitch. However, what fun would it actually be if I didn’t make my bloodbowl pitch project as goofy and silly as the game itself? So in honor of that I have created a KickOff Event table of my own for the sake of hobby creation. In the game of Bloodbowl the kicking team will roll on a table after the ball has been kicked but still in the air. Random events can occur that could dictate the events of the next drive. I have taken the highlights as follows. 

Hobby Kick off Event table

RollResultRoll Result
2Get the Ref: my husband has to pick what is done next on the pitch8Changing Weather: Weather station painted
3Time Out: Sideline turn tracker/ scoreboard completed9Quick Snap: receiving team model painted
4Solid Defense: the kicking team  must get a painted model, including nameplate10Blitz: kicking team model painted
5High Kick: player in receiving team must be painted11Officious Ref: Nameplates and skill templates created
6Cheering Fans: a fan on the sidelines must be painted12Pitch Invasion: Paint and create the pitch
7Brilliant Coaching: Dugout paintedRecieving Team: Imperial Nobility
Kicking Team: Shambling Undead

Two 2d6 are rolled whatever the result is what the next post will be for completed projects. 

  • Receiving team: Imperial Nobility Team
  • Kicking Team: Undead

Once a category is completely completed it will be replaced with other components to finish the stadium until it is all completed. 

Complete List of components needed to be completed for pitch:

  • Scoreboard
  • Fans/stands
  • Reroll Tracker
  • Weather Station
  • Field
  • Camera crew/Kraken TV
  • Stadium Spotlights x4
  • Dugouts x2
  • Field Goals
  • Sidelines/billboards
  • Carry case/box for the project

Kickoff Event Results!

Kickoff Event 3-12, Solid Defense

It looks like my very first task is to paint up a recieving team, Shambling Undead player!

Stay with me as I begin this journey to learn, explore and create the Bloodbowl Pitch of my dreams along with all the components to become so enticing my family is going to have to play with me!

Printing for the project began around October 2023 in earnest and I am excited to see where this project takes me. Join me and comment down below what you are looking forward to seeing or have suggestions.

-Crazmadsci

crazmadsci Age of Sigmar

What Kind of Wargamer am I? 2024 Age of Sigmar Nashville Teams Event

People who have been reading this blog have known that I am slowly but surely diving deeper and deeper into both the world of miniature painting and tabletop wargaming albeit slowly.

The first weekend of February was one of those pivotal moments for me where I took a leap deeper in my tabletop gaming journey. My goals for the endeavor was to determine, what kind of gamer am I? Am I casual player? Do I like the competitive scene? How competitive am I? Do I lean more narratively ? Also and most importantly do I find myself welcomed in the community as a female gamer? But i’m getting ahead of myself….

Tough Crowd, Nashville Teams 2024

I had the opportunity to be an assistant Tournament Organizer to my good friend Jacob Berry from the Rage of Sigmar Podcast and member of the Sigmar Competitive Team Tough Crowd. We have gotten to know each other while I played at the same local store in Nashville Tennessee when I lived there. Not being prepared to play in the teams event myself I offered my assistance. As an expert data spreadsheet nerd my skills were gladly welcomed. Assisting the organization of the event via predominately maintaining the score documents, etc. was the perfect opportunity to watch and interact with the community.

I also felt strongly that I did not have enough game mastery to truly compete at that level nor do I have a fully painted army yet for events like this. My largest weakness is that sneaky devil, time. Mastery comes with practice and limited time makes that slower.

This event consisted of 20 teams of 4 for a total of 80 players. With the help of the Georgia Warband, Dillion from Nashcon and Adepticon there were 40 total tables of terrain and game mats to go around. If anything going to this event was worth it for the sake of seeing and being inspired by all the terrain. For context Dillion Griffin the organizer of Nashcon and Anthony Pulcastro who 3D printed the vast majority of the terrain have been commonly noted to rewrite the script of the standard for Sigmar’s wargaming tables.

There was also another goal with going to this event, evaluate how comfortable I can be as most likely the only female gamer in the room. If I decide to be more committed to this aspect of Sigmar I significantly have to decide that I will have to join some of the incredible women at being a trail blazer to break stereotypes. As a female in games both tabletop and video games, I acknowledge that I am a minority and those communities are not necessarily the most friendly, supportive, and welcoming. In video games it is often that women play but do not use online voice chat or use user names that would identify them as she/her. In tabletop games however it is significantly more difficult as there is no hiding. It is just you and your opponent talking for several hours.

While I did eventually become welcomed in the community it did result in making an announcement that I was indeed NOT the wife of the tournament organizer and anyone who assumed so had to buy me a beer. To be honest the fact that it did require us to start this “game” was disappointing and I received about 10 beers over the course of the weekend. The original beers were for the assumption but as the weekend progressed it was more of a free drink as accepting me into the community. This opened doors for me to get to know new people and have conversations. While not ideal I do think there were productive conversations that have come out of this, exercise.

The Results

For the full overview of the tournament results you can see the list and pictures of the winners here: https://x.com/bigjables/status/1757176415118631196?s=20
Summary:

  • Best Sports: Wes Witherow
  • Tough Act to Follow (Best Sports Team): Muletown BuffBoys
  • Golden Drop Pod (wooden spoon): Coy Barron
  • You Deserved This (lowest battle with Belakor, Morathi, Gotrek): Cody Bates
  • Best Teammate (no wins on the highest scoring Team): Patrick Shepard
  • Reckless in the Face of Danger (lost the most friendly wizards due to miscasts/spell effects): Josh Hankin & Nick Raverty
  • Players Choice: David Griffin
  • Crowd Pleasers (best Team Spirit): Fungal Fanclub
  • Tough Mode (highest combined score with only 1 faction): Getting Khorney
  • MVP (best single overall): Scooter Walters
  • Coalition of Toughies (best Team balttle): Run it down for Harambe
  • Toughest Crowd (best overall team): OG Southern Slayers

How Did I Do?

Well last but not least, I also functioned as a ringer for the tournament. Meaning that if anyone was sick and needed a sub in I was there at the ready. Well as it turned out I was needed, ironically enough with my friends from my old store in Nashville Tennessee and the team I probably would have been on if I played. While I did not win a single game the entire weekend I played I did have a lot of fun.
Well last but not least, I also functioned as a ringer for the tournament. Meaning that if anyone was sick and needed a sub in I was there at the ready. Well as it turned out I was needed, ironically enough with my friends from my old store in Nashville Tennessee and the team I probably would have been on if I played. While I did not win a single game the entire weekend I played I did have a lot of fun. My team was incredibly supportive and glad that they had someone make sure that all players had a match up. I did end up getting paired into some skewed matches but that is ok I did learn a lot such as a 3d6 Charge from Slaves to Darkness prayer which killed me almost entirely top of turn 1.

Here are some pictures from my games.

I have so many take away’s from the event both on a personal and gaming level. While this is still sinking in overall my original investitive questions of if I wanted to dive deeper were answered.

Yes, I definitely want to play more competitive games and push my skills as a gamer to their absolute limits. While I do not aspire to go for a national title or be regionally ranked. I want to be confident and have a large chance of success going to local tournaments. One day i’ll win some trophies not just for best general but perhaps also best painted? I am walking away wanting to roll more dice not less and I call that a win.

I also walked away with an awesome gauntlet as a gift for being a “Right Hand” to the event organizer Jacob.

I am starting to find a theme that 2024 is going to be a massive year on my evolution as a gamer as I continuously push myself. There are already some fun things cooking and I can’t wait to share them.

Crazmadsci 

Previous Posts

crazmadsci Goals, Retrospective

Janurary 2024: Hobby Roundup

,

Can you believe that 1/12th of 2024 is already over? Where does time truly go? Since i’m trying to become better at documenting my hobby collection, I have decided to attempt to create a “Hobby Roundup” summary and overview of each month of my hobby. This will include notable collection changes, painting project, and my goals for the next month. While this is something very methodical, I am testing to see if it helps me be more self aware of how I am hobbying and my overall pile of potential changes over the course of the year.

This year I have two primary goal.

  1. Be mindful of my collection growth.

While I want to grow my collection I want to grow it with models that I deeply desire to paint and play with. The goal is to remove models from the collection that will not be loved by me and give them to another home which will be loved. Using those shifted models I’ll sell off or trade for other models that I will use.

  1. Significantly reduce the overall “In Progress” project list to Painted.

One of the most insightful things i’ve noticed about cataloging my collection (iCollect Everything Minaitures Edition) is that I have as many if not more in progress models than I do completed models. This is both due to lack of confidence in having the final model not living up to its potential as well as getting distracted.

Collection Additions

For this month I have been adding a significant number of models to my collection as i’ve started the Escalation League (2024 New Year, New Army: Escalation League Begins) with one of my local friendly game stores. Finally starting my Cities of Sigmar army I have always dreamt of.

I have also decided to subscribe to the Stormbringer magazine which delivers 4 weekly issues a month and often paired with models to help you grow your collection. I intended to share more about this magazine in the future to be sure to stay tuned.

New Additions to the Collection

UnitModel CountSource
Daggok’s Stab Lads4Purchase, new underworld warband for Kruelboyz
Wildercorp Hunters11Purchase, split Warcry box with a friend
Lord Imperatant2Stormbringer Issue #8
Swampcalla Shaman2Stormbringer Issue #9
Xandire’s Truthseekers4Stormbringer Issue #10
Total23two purchases and subscription
Xandire’s Truthseekers- Stormbringer Magnazine
Swampcalla Shaman with Pot Grot
Lord Imperatant
Wildercorps Hunters
DeathGorge Daggok’s Stab Lads

Photo Credit: Product Images shown above from the Warhammer community/store pages.

Models Sold off

To help pay for the models i’ve added this month and try to keep my total model count down, i’ve been trading models and selling them to other people in my local community.

Gutrippaz X 10, Killaboss with stab grot x2, Hobgrot Slittaz 10x, Kunnin Crew x6, Shaman & Pot grow x2 (gained this month).
Total model count: 30d

Overall I am really proud of the fact i’ve kept pretty event with my total models coming in and out. I have even been on top of selling off models from the Stormbringer magazine off as they come in. Since my current primary army is Kruelboyz many of the models are duplicates and therefore unneeded.

Janruary Model Net= -7

Paint Projects

While for Janruary I have not finished many models I have certaintly started them. Starting with my Cities of Sigmar army I am definitely doing what I can to get as much dones as I can before the end of Phase 1 (February 18th) for the league. Stay tuned or follow along on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/crazmadsci/ for periodic updates.

Models Completed: 2

  • Scatter Terrain Portal
  • Dwarf Ref Bloodbowl

OnWards to February

The month of February will probably be my most ambitious month ever. If I accomplish it then it will gain a significant amount of momentum for throughout the year. We are almost halfway through and i’m starting to get nervous.

However this weekend I am giong to be stretching my tabletop experiences further than ever before and be heading to Nashville for an Age of Sigmar teams tournament i’m going to help run as their designiated score keeper. I have a feeling that this could impact my game and how I am as a miniature painter for some time to come.

Are you keeping up with your goals this year so far?

Crazmadsci 

Previous Posts

crazmadsci Goals, Retrospective, Review

iCollect Everything: Miniatures Edition, A Review

Have you ever gotten to a stage in your hobby journey where, you have forgotten what models you have? What about where they are located? How much do you have painted vs new in box? What about the giant pile of grey plastic you are too afraid to look at closely?

January 2023 I realized that I have hit the peak of my problem. Models were in my shed spread out in boxes, thrown together and were resulting in getting damaged, shattered and broken miniatures. Something had to change. I have always dreamed of a good way to organize and catalog my model collection but only had only a few failed spreadsheets to show for it. I needed something more robust than a spreadsheet.

Since I’ve started 3D printing and especially since I’ve started collecting models for Age of Sigmar I realized that I had no idea what was truly in my collection. I decided to figure out what I truly own and am working on.

When you cannot remember everything you own to be able to play with things without accidently buying or 3D printing more then there is a problem.

How my collection was stored in Janurary 2023

What I needed

I came up with a list of things I needed or desired in my database collection of my models. I also realized that I most likely would have to find something to fit my needs and not build my own. My time was limited.

My Needs:

  • A consistent catalogging system
  • Something that will display an image of the model
  • Filter searching
  • Capability to set my own catalog parameters
  • Cross platform compatability
  • Sharable with friends and family
  • If a product such as an app, have ongoing development and not a project that is half finished.

Searching for apps, I tried several different things with the closest to what I was looking for is Figure Case, Hobby Progress. However it did not appear robust enough to sustain all the data I was looking for. It could be an opportunity for some if they want something more straight forward.

The Long story short…. my Winner

Overview:

iCollect Everything is an app on Apple, Mac, Android and PC products as a way to catalog and collect all your collectibles. While there is capabilities for barcode scanning and pre-generated collections such as Legos, Wine, Movies, Games, Puzzles, Shoes, Model Trains, etc. There is not a category yet for Miniature Figures in tabletop gaming.

However the real power and utility in this app is in its custom collections section. I have begun using this app for over a year now and have had the time to really consider the pros and cons of the system, I believe that this is a tool that could make a major difference for other miniature hobbyists out there and is currently flying under the radar. This is providing so much utility and tools that other companies have attempted at but lets you cross until multiple brands, platforms, and more.

The Setup

Before I go into more of the pros and cons of this app and how I have made it work for my immediate needs let me give you a glimpse of what it looks like.

Left: PC desktop computer UI, Right: Android Mobile phone UI

Example Entry: Kruelboyz Killbow (Android perspective)

The Full Breakdown

Overall I am really happy with the app but understand that there are definitely growing pains associated to this app. With a very limited development team progress is slow. However credit must be given to the designers as it is extremely obvious of their commitment to their endeavor.

Lets start with the first obvious question. How much does it cost?

Con: iCollect everything does have a higher barrier to entry for the full app than almost any other app in its category I could find. Although advertised as free. It is extremely easy to fill up your “free entries” resulting in needing to fully purchase the app. From last glance I believe the pricing is as follows but is subject to change as the app further develops. I believe when I started using the app it was a one time purchase of $10 or so, for transparency.

1 collection fully unlocked: $30, Completely Unlocked App: $60

  • Note: I did have to purchase for each platform Android & PC as PC was not released when I started using iCollect. I do not know if this is still the case

Pro: Using the custom collection I can set my collection anyway I want. Any order I want and with any field I want. There are limited rules such as only allowing one quantity field and value. I’ll do a full breakdown of my collection setup at the end.

Con: To input all your data it is a massive time commitment. There is no bulk editing, no bulk copying and uploading from your own csv is currently not functional for custom collections. This was probably the largest reason why it took me a year to input all my data so far. I have found it significantly easier to input from a computer than a mobile phone. My data entry skyrocketed once desktop on PC was released. Also a major pain point is that every data field required a value even if I didn’t have any data associated to that field.

For example there are several fields in my collection to mention if the model was 3D printed and data associated to that such as material volume and print cost. If the model was purchased from a manufacturer I am required to input any value and $0.00 was not allowed. Almost all fields with 0.01 are desired blank fields for my collection.

Pro: With embedded images associated to each entry on my collection it is incredibly satisfying to see the images associated to each thing. Currently most of my images are product renders or photographs but one day I hope to replace all with images of my personal stuff. You can currently associate up to 4 images per entry.

Pro/Con While iCollect Everything will let you export your collection to .csv, it currently does not let you import your spreadsheet to iCollect for custom collections. Even though there is no statement in the app that this functionality does not work for custom collections. I only found out by attempting to import collections and was told via email that the functionality is not supported.

To Summarize:

ProsCons
* Complete Customizable Catalog
* Visualization of your collection for easy scrolling
* Filtered Search on Every Category
* Can export collection to .csv		* High Cost
* Large Time Commitment for entry
* Require Data for every field
* No multi tagging system
* No Import functionality for custom collections
* Limited sharing visibility for custom collections
* Have to buy Android and PC separately

My Wishlist:

1) Of my largest desires the capability to add multiple searchable tags to each entry in the same data would be by far the largest one. Being able to search for models in the collection by potential D&D class, weapon, race, etc. And with multiple parameters would be an incredible boon to help me dynamically pull models out of the collection for player characters and things like Dungeons and Dragons.

2) Improved sharing visibility for custom collections. On the Android app you are capable of generating a URL of your collection to share with others but I have never been able to have it work for me with custom collections. I am hoping that this utility would be improved in the future.

Summary

All in all I’d rate this app a 4 out of 5 stars.

While there are a good number of cons I cannot overlook and could turn off others and/or be current growing pains in regards to the app being in active development. I do not think that this app can be overlooked in its power and capability to help catalog and organize your miniature collection. While there are smaller features and sites to help track your model journey being able to have such robust capability to give an incredible perspective into my collection. Check out my 2023 summary below! All data was pulled from my custom collection.

Do you catalog your models? If so how do to catalog your models? What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

I also will write up all the fields and data types I use in my custom collection if you’d like an idea of where to start if you decide to use iCollect Everything.

My Custom Collection Parameters

Here is the settings and parameters i’ve used to setup my custom collection.

Field NameData Field TypeDescription
TitleTitlename of the model
CategoryText ListMiniature, Bust
Terrain, Scatter
Model CountQuantityThe quantity of how many of that model I have. Can only Have 1
Model NumberText Fieldused for personal library reference
Damaged CountText Fieldlog if that model needs repairing
StatusText ListModel progress; New, In Progress, Painted etc
Army, Team, CategoryText Listsubcategorization such as army name
Game SystemText ListWhat game the model is used for
Total ValueValueEstimated Value
Digital LocationText Fieldfile path of STL location for 3D printing
Storage LocationText Fieldlocation of model in physical storage
MagnetizedToggleTrue/False
Date Added/CreatedDate PickerDate of model purchased or 3D printed
Date FinishedDate PickerDate of when model was finished (or 2030 as a palceholder)
ManufacturerText ListName of producer of the model
SculptorText ListName of who sculpted the model if known
Source URLText FieldURL of where to find reference to the model
MaterialText ListWhat is the model made out of
Amount Material UsedText FieldIf printed how much material was used
Model CostText FieldIf STL how much did the digital file cost
Print CostText FieldHow much the print cost (based on material used)
NotesLong Textadd misc. notes
Hours InvestedText Fieldestimate of hours invested in model
crazmadsci Age of Sigmar, Goals

2024 New Year, New Army: Escalation Leage Begins

Who would have thought almost three years ago this week my future in tabletop gaming would be changed forever. I mean it isn’t that dramatic but sometimes it makes me not so sure.


I have since started diving into the massive world of tabletop Wargaming specifically Age of Sigmar and it completely changed my confidence in an entirely new area of gaming. Flashback, I was at my friendly local game store for a paint hobby night and saw that they had several boxes of Games Workshop boxes at 80% off! To date I have always felt priced out of Games Workshop products and intimidated. The price of entry was to steep to see if it was something that interested me. I’ve always wanted to see what these fancy Games Workshop models were all about and at 80% off I couldn’t resist. I decided to bite the bullet for less than $30 and purchased both Greywater Fastness Start Collecting box of dwarves and the Bloodbowl team of the Imperial Nobility. I was absolutely stoked.

Little did I know that I purchased the absolutely worst thing to buy in order to try and learn Age of Sigmar. You see to start a Cities of Sigmar army which contains Greywater Fastness box I purchased has more choice and options to build an army than any other army in the game, with perhaps the iconic Stormcast Eternals. Cities of Sigmar was one of the oldest, most out of date and complicated armies to attempt to learn how to play Age of Sigmar since it contained almost the entirity of the now retired Warhammer Fantasy game. To shorten the story, I ended up shelving the dream of fielding the mortals of men, dwarves and elves against the large monsters and creatures of the Mortal Realms and picked up a beginner and more affordable army of Orruks, Kruelboyz as my army with training wheels.

Waiting, impatiently like a child waiting for Christmas morning I eagerly waited the day for the promised new 3rd edition Battletome and updated model range of which to kit out my army. Now the time is primed for me to bring this long awaited dream to reality.

I mean check out this beautiful model range (credit Games Workshop youtube)!

NEW YEAR, NEW HOBBY

Fast forward to today. I have joined forces with my friendly local game store. Together as a community we have decided to start a local escalation league of which to encourage others to collect, build, and paint new armies of which to play Age of Sigmar. This is one of the best opportunities to get started in the game as games start small, less financial investment and moving pieces to learn the rules. It is also the perfect opportunity of which to learn a new army. We all suffer the torment of endless hours of building the army of our dreams together.

Coordinating with the store who is doing a fantastic financial incentive of “New Hobby, New Year” any models purchased from November 1st, 2023 til March 1st, 2024 and are painted by the 1st of March will receive 25% of that boxes purchased value in store credit. This is my time to purchase the new model line and build my army. Since so many of the models are brand new there is not really a second hand market in existence yet so buying full price will have to happen more often than I’d like to be able to play the army I want.

Getting Encouragement from my peers

The escalation leauge is broken into 4 phases and an introductory painting phase. We are currenting in Phase 0.

Phase 0 January 1st 2024 to January 28st, 2024 

  • Painting Phase
  • Minimum:
  • 1 Hero 
  • 1 Battle Line Unit (Minimum unit size)
  • No Monsters (To help keep the 500 pt skirmish game balanced)

Phase 1 January 29nd, 2024 to February 18th, 2024 

  • 500 Points Game
  • Minimum:
  • 1 Hero 
  • 1 Battle Line Unit (Minimum unit size)
  • No Monsters (To help keep the 500 pt skirmish game balanced)

Phase 2 February 19th, 2024 to March 10rd, 2024 

  • 1,000 Points Game
    Minimum:
  • 1 Hero 
  • 2 Battle Line Unit (Minimum unit size)

Phase 3 March 11th, 2024 to March 31st, 2024 

  • 1,500 Points Game
    Minimum:
  • 1 Hero 
  • 3 Battle Line Unit (Minimum unit size)

Phase 4 April 1st to April 22th, 2024 

  • 2,000 Points Game
  • Makeup painting

Scoring System

ActivityPointsBonus
Build a new unit (Non Hero/+3+1 for Conversions
Paint a new unit+3+2 Diorama Display / +1 extra details
Complete 500 Pts every 3 Weeks+15
Build/Paint a Hero Unit+5+1 Conversions / +1 Diorama Display
Huge “mini”+5+1 Conversions / +1 Diorama Display
Play 1st Game+3+2 Play for 1+ additional Games
Sportsmanship +5Great Opponent +3
Game Results+3 (1/Phase)+5 Narrative write up(Max 1/Phase)

Painted models will need to meet the following minimum standard:

  • All base colors as applicable to specific miniatures (Armor, Weapons, Skin, Cloth, etc.)
  • Must be based (Minimum of a color sand)
  • Extra details include: Washes/Shadows, highlights, high quality basing

Status Check

With Phase 0 ending on Monday January 1st I admit I’m significantly behind where I’d like to be. Currently the only points I have accumulated in this phase for the league are related to building the models. I might be able to squeak a unit completed by Monday but my hopes are not so great.

Assembled Units:

  • +3 Steelhelms
  • Alchemite Warforger (hero), no points until painted
  • +3 Freeguild Command Corps
  • +3 Wildercorps Hunters

Onwards!!!

I am so excited to see where this army is going to go but admittedly intimidated. Can I paint up my collection? How am I going to afford some new models I need for my list without hurting the bank? Next phase I have quite a few deals lined up and print commissions to help lessen the burden and I can’t wait to talk about it.

Now the decision I will have to make is do I decide to have a mixed army of Humans, Dwarves and Elfs or purely focused on one race…. I currently own quite a bit of all 3.

crazmadsci Retrospective

State of the Crazy: Happy New Year? Jan 22, 2024

Where in the world has time gone? I cannot believe it is already 2024. Another year is gone. The last year has been such a blur I almost can’t remember everything that happened. Also to be honest I don’t nearly have the data and understanding of the last year as I did in my 2023 and 2022 New Year posts.

So what did I accomplish of my goals for the 2023 year?

  • Finish more projects than I start
  • Finish more models than I buy/print
  • Limit the amount I print for others and focus on my own hobby
  • Paint more models in 2023 than I did in 2022 (42 in 2022)
  • Focus on improving the skills of my painting

Overall for the year I think I accomplished more goals than I failed. I painted more models in 2023 than 2022 >42. While I don’t have the precise number I definitely know there was more than 42 as I did complete a set of 60 hobgrotz for my Kruelboyz army. However the goals that I repeatedly didn’t succeed is a problem I have started to see year after year…. finishing projects and models. I appear to keep starting new things and not finishing what I start.

I have seriously improved in my painting and think that army painting actually has helped me a bit by improving brush control of doing the same model over and over again. So instead of learning the model I focus on my brushwork. It is amazing because I have had friends and family actually be able to separate painted models in the historical order of which I’ve painted them simply due to visually looking better over the years. It is a great feeling every time seeing them comment even as someone who doesn’t know miniature gaming or painting.

Post: How To Gauge Growth in Miniature Painting

The other large victory of my year is that I have significantly pulled back in my commission printing for other people and focused on my own hobby. This has been incredible for my mental load and allowed me to really focus on my own self.

So what are the highlights of my 2023 year?

One of my largest highlights from the 2023 year was going to my very first Age of Sigmar tournament at my old game store in Nashville Tennessee. It was an absolute blast and although I didn’t finish painting my army and went 1 – 2 I felt proud of my gameplay. I did win best opponent which made me feel good that people really enjoyed playing against me.

Post: Trying New Things: My First Warhammer Tournament

I have also returned to playing Dungeons and Dragons and am hosting a game at my house. It has been a blast and I have really missed the experience. Plus our games have been looking amazing with the amount of detail we are putting on the tabletop.

Also the Carrie of several years ago would never have had the confidence to join not one but two new game store communities to play tabletop games along with joining several leagues of games for both BloodBowl and Age of Sigmar. It has been a blast and I’m making new friends in my new home and learning new games.

Lastly I have finally accomplished a multiple gear goal of mine. I cannot wait to share the project and all the work that went into accomplishing it. I have successfully cataloged my ENTIRE miniature model collection (well 99%). I have a working database, app integration, search functionality and so much more. I think I found my permanent method to share what I have with others and maintain what I own. Before I show it how do you keep track of your collections?

As for the upcoming year…. well my primary goal for this year is going to be the blog. I am ready to keep writing again and maintain a journal of my projects and goals. I really look forward to the up coming year and hope you are as well.

I know its late in January but how did your 2023 go? Do you have any goals for the upcoming year?

Crazmadsci 

Previous Posts

Old corner hobby space 2022 to 2023
crazmadsci hobby space

The 2023 Hobby Space Revolution: The Beginnings of my Ultimate Dream Workspace

This year has been the ultimate struggle for me with the prioritization of my time, writing on the site and spending time in my hobby. However one thing was certain. When we moved earlier this year, 2023, there was one new requirement in our house shopping; a dedicated office and hobby space for me.

When I heard the words from my husband that when we moved I’d have a dedicated office for both my remote job as well as my hobby I was absolutely thrilled and frankly shocked. It has been a dream to combine all my loves into one place. I’ve wanted a way to creatively express myself, have doors that close to keep children out if I wanted to. I think my husband just wanted to keep me “contained” and stop spreading all over the house.

To fully understand the epic awesomeness of my new hobby space you have to see my setup in our previous home. My office and hobby stuff lived in three primary places;

  1. My “Office”

Since I work full time remotely a dedicated work PC and desk was required. When I went back to working full time after having two incredibly children we decided for the best mental health having my work area separate from my hobby area would allow me to still enjoy my hobby time in the evenings. While this has been all too true. Being realistic to myself I noticed that I would bring models to my work desk to organize, catalog, sort, etc. and it would just look like a normal hobby desk minus the paint. It was also next to the location of where I stored most of my models inside the house in an old TV stand. It looked nice but started to get incredibly disorganized.

Computer desk covered in boxes of miniature figures
My work desk covered in models and boxes of figures
Old wardrobe storage of miniatures
The old wardrobe that stored the miniatures
  1. Storage Shed

Since we did not have an area to display any of my work minus a single shelf. Most of what I’ve made and painted ended up in an outdoor shed. Since I’d go out there often to grab something, move things around the collection started to rapidly expand and get messy. I’d have completely painted buildings just sitting around, boxes half filled and I am apparently terrible at closing lids. For anyone but me these boxes also couldn’t be distinguished from the other things which are pure storage. The temperature was not ideal in the summer and things could warp due to heat or break since others who put things in there would just put things on the models.

My storage shed, its hard to tell what is models and projects so I circled it in red.
  1. The actual Hobby Space

Lastly and most importantly is my actual painting and printing space. This corner of paradise was located in our den. I took up approximately half of the room and shared the same room with our entertainment TV & sofa along with the laundry and liter box. If you look closely at many of my work in progress pictures you will see the laundry machines in the backdrop.

I absolutely made this space work and has been an oasis for me during the last several years. I just had to build vertically to avoid kids grabbing things and reduce the foot print. Next to the painting desk was my DIY 3D printing enclosure. It contained resin printing and FDM on top, a drawer for tools and below a cabinet for curing and materials. The enclosure also vented out the house through a window since it was in a highly trafficked area of the house.

Full view of the 3D printing enclosure including a perspective to the materials cabinet
Full view of the enclosure including a view to my materials cabinet.
3D printing enclosure, view of resin and FDM printer
my 3D printing enclosure. This thing was a work horse.
Old corner hobby space 2022 to 2023
The old hobby space 2022 to February 2023

The New Space

Fast forward to late May 2023 and we finally found our dream home. Including my dream space. It felt so great to start with a clean slate. Although i’m sure and admittedly already messed the place up. I can’t wait to show you all that i’ve done with this space since late May but due to its size and the vast amount of goals I have for the space I think its best if this becomes a multipart series. Including my storage solutions, painting desk, gaming area and display. Check out the before photos below!

There are double doors going into the room!
The corner where iI set up my paint desk.
There are deep closets for storage out of the way.
The natural light and views out the window are some of my favorite things.
Holy moly, there are shelves to store my stuff. I’m so excited.

What would have you done with this space? Are you happy with your work/hobby space? What are you interested in seeing first?

As always happy hobby,

Crazmadsci

Nova Open 2025 Recap
I am definitely riding the high from this year's 2025 Nova open. …
A New Way to Organize your Paint: MixRack Modular Paint Storage Review
I've finally recieved my MixRack Paint Storage solution and writing my opinions …
Family bonding time painting miniature figures
crazmadsci Retrospective

State of the Crazy: When You Get in Your Own Way, October 23, 2023

I have been struggling to come up with a good way to write this post for a long time, which is inevitably made the frustration and procrastination of this post even worse. So let me get the worst out of the way and say it….

Life is constantly getting away from me and has made it incredibly hard to post and work towards my hobby goals. But lately its been worse than just life. I’ve been getting in the way of myself.

Between all of the major life events this year including but not limited to; having a baby and moving 500 miles. Everything has been incredibly overwhelming, all the way down to the day to day scheduling and activities. I’ve yet to set a consistent daily routine for myself to help which I desperately need to pursue my own hobbies, mental & physical health. I’ve started to see my own family begin to thrive and succeed in their new environments and yet I am still struggling.

Over the last several months and even years I’ve seen people self advocating, pushing themselves, putting themselves out there and not afraid to talk about their own mental health.

So here I go. I discovered late and as an young adult that I struggle with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Discorder (ADHD) along with extreme anxiety. This has been apart of my entity my entire life and has lead to me feeling broken and that something is wrong with me. You see as a female ADHD can exhibit differently than the classic jumping around the walls then boys and was often undiagnosed. While I can certainly be easily distracted, bored, and impulsive I have found that my ADHD comes with so many positives. I have learned that along with the negatives it has been crucial to every aspect of who I am and what I have called a success in my life. While my ADHD can be used sometimes as a super power it does lead to a few downsides. This includes but not limited to perfectionism and the need to understand everything at a foundational level. Also and most importantly the marriage of my ADHD to imposter syndrome.

For those who are not aware of imposter syndrome:

“It’s characterized by chronic feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and fraudulence despite objective success. It’s hard to internalize success and genuinely hold the belief that you’re competent and capable.”

Audrey Ervin, Delaware Valley University

I never endingly feel that I am not good enough in my actions, don’t deserve the victories I have and hold myself back from truly embracing the positives I have done myself. My frustration with myself, questioning the validity of any advice I could provide other hobbyists has prevented me from being able to move forward in my goals and even posting regularly. I want to change that.

Finding My Self Care

I created this blog as a way for me to work through my personal mental health issues and create a digital journal to look back on my journey. In my life I have learned a few things that can significantly helped with my imposter syndrome. But are also things I must be diligent to continue working on.

  1. Being Self Aware

Being aware that I struggle with impostor syndrome has helped me navigate what is actually true and what is irrational doubt. Although I still struggle everyday I know that a good amount of it is unwarranted concern.

  1. Writing It Out

The reason I created this site is to document my journey and growth. Writing it down and going back on my thoughts and feelings of the past have helped me see how far I’ve come. Seeing how I grew in the hobby, improved my skills and tried new things brings immeasurable joy. This is the primary reason that this blog exists

  1. Embrace All of Me

This I need to be better about doing. I tend to hate the “messy” stage or partial stage and get distracted and never finish my immeasurable projects. This leads to beating myself down about not finishing things and increased negative feelings. However, embracing the messy stages and documenting it out is immensely therapeutic for me. I need to do this more.

The tabletop gaming hobby has been the outlet I’ve needed both for getting out of my comfort zone along with meditative time to think about everything that has happened in my day and find a way to settle down from the hyperactivity and over stimulation.

The miniature tabletop hobby and painting has also helped in several key ways that I plan to continue.

Finding Self Expression

Printing, Painting, and Assembling miniatures is one of my favorite ways to settle down from the day and learn how to express myself in how I view the world all around me. Every day is better if I spend time to paint or work on models, I need to keep reminding myself that every time I don’t. I feel like I am better at tackling projects & problems if I’ve had sometime to sit at my incredible new painting desk.

For My Isolation

Since graduating college and “settling down” I have found myself becoming increasingly isolated. With small kids, a global pandemic, and a variety of at home jobs working remotely or being a stay at home mother to three children its increasingly difficult to interact with other people. This hobby through gaming has provided me more friends in my adult life than any other activity. It is also one of the only ways to engage with people that I see some of their most authentic selves.

I want to make sure I am capturing all the memories that I do not want to forget.

Community picture of most recent RTT at the Game Keep, Nashville TN September 2023
Games are bringing together a community of friends. My first RTT in Nashville TN September 2023
My first in person D&D game since early 2019!

For My Kids

Lastly, I need to get out of my own way and continue on my journey here on the blog for the most important thing in my world, my kids. As someone who works on a computer I know that screens and doing things digitally does not have the same permanence or rewarding feeling as the tactile nature of the art of painting and feeling of playing games.

I am doing my best to show my children that they should embrace their passions. Explore their creativity and not be afraid to have fun, or get a little paint on their shirt. Perfect is overrated and the act of doing is just as much fun as the end result. Some of these messages I’m still trying to learn myself but they do not need to know that, yet.

Son learning about dungeons and dragons models
Hobby with the whole family.
Family bonding time painting miniature figures

My Personal Call to Action

This week I have decided to pull off the band-aid and attempt to get back into the routine of not only doing stuff for the hobby but also writing on the site. I am writing for the one day my kids want to see their mom’s personal growth and perhaps I can touch someone else out there too who stumbles and finds my ramblings.

Picture of the messy hobby desk
My hobby desk is a true reflection of the status of my mind. Too many projects going on at one time.

Overall, I feel like in many ways my hobby is a direct reflection of my mental state in life. When my life becomes chaos in the hecticness of doctors appointments, sickness, repair work, jobs, being a parent etc. I feel pulled in so many directions and it visibly shows on my hobby table with partially finished projects all over the place. However, lately it has lead to a deeper and deeper rut where I can’t find time in the chaos to organize my mind and finish the projects which would make the life easier to handle. My hobby is my meditative time and yet even at that I’m torn. I feel so split in my goal at the table. Am I painting for the joy of painting, collecting or just get models on the table to play. I am feeling so lost and overwhelmed leading to a state of exhaustion. I wish I knew how to tackle it.

-myself, crazmadsci

I am ready to attempt to do what I can and begin the process of moving forward. I don’t know what that looks like yet but we are going to find out. For those of you that put up with my cathartic self lecture/teaching, thank you. Even though the community is small I appreciate every one of you.

How are you really doing today?

Crazmadsci 

Previous Posts