How have I gone so long without doing a state of the crazy? Can you believe I haven’t written anything since February? This year has absolutely flown by and i’m utterly speechles.
Hello! I’m here, trying to get the cobwebs out and get back into the thick of it.
What has happened in 2022?
In short a lot has been happening here at the crazy household and I apologize for my absence. Every since February I have been on a long journey of re-entering the workforce full time in the video game industry. If any positive from the global chaos is that the game industry has drastically opened to be more remote friendly. This has resulted in so many more possibilities and opportunities for my background in game design. I have since been back into it for about 6 months and finally getting back into a routine. I’m really excited by this opportunity and it is an area of game development that is new and challenging.
I have also hung up my stay at home mom hat to put my tiny minions into daycare which has come with numerous colds, flu, and two rounds of covid… ugh. We are all fine and healthy but after spending two years in quarantine getting back out in the world has taken a toll. I have also lost a grandmother who was the one who opened the world of hobbying to me to be a lifelong pastime and something to be proud of. Picking back up the blog is something I know she would be proud of.
Beyond those major life events, construction on our home, expecting another player addition in our family early next year, and the general chaos life. Well it has drastically pulled me away from being able to write.
So now the real question…..
What have I been doing in my tabletop gaming in 2022?
Well that answer is not nearly that simple but yes I have never stopped hobbying and am still as in love with it as ever.
First of all I am currently no longer doing presupports for Tableflip Foundry due to having another job that keeps me busy. I love the gang over at Tableflip and will always support and endorse what they do. I loved participating and being a part of the community to help artists bring their models to the average every day consumer but now I have time to put some personal models onto my printers instead. I have resulted in gaining a ton of random models that I have extra and don’t really need. One day i’ll figure out what to do with all those prints I don’t really want….
Secondly I finished painting my snotling Bloodbowl team which I absolutely love. I have not dove into Bloodbowl as much as i’d like this year because I have been sidetracked.
The largest project and undertaking I’ve gone on this year is by starting and learning Age of Sigmar by Games Workshop. Starting with the Dominion box for 3rd edition. I have started playing the Kruelboyz from the Orruk Warclans. Painting has been on going slow much like all my projects this year but I love it.
Well maybe not the largest undertaking i’ve done this year. I’m still working on the largest 3d print I’ve ever attempted in my life. I am still not quite done but perhaps in a week I’ll share the final product!
Anyways I know this has been short and sweet but I am working on turning things around. Its great to see everyone. I hope you have been happy and hobbying,
For 2022’s benchmark I have decided to paint the giant model from December 2021’s CastnPlay release Adventurer’s Guild. This included a group of adventurers coming in from their days dungeon crawling and drinking at the tavern resting and relaxing. The models also include an amazing tavern bar build and a quest board which is on my painting agenda. The giant in question I do not think was sculpted with “Frost Giant” in mind but rather a friendly giant adventurer. However I painted a Hill Giant last year and wanted to accomplish something different. Applying one of my goals for the year of trying to paint in different skin tones I decided to approach the model with a blue skin for Frost Giant and do something I’ve never done before, apply paint to a model that wasn’t primer via a brand new tool in my arsenal.
Frost Giant printed and unassembled.
While painting this model I was faced with a few hurdles that I am sure you are familiar with.
psyching yourself out
burn out
being paralyzed from self imposed extreme expections
Well in my 2022 Benchmark Model I encountered all the above. I have had such a difficult time trying to articulate everything that I felt, did and aspired to do while painting this model that I even have been procrastinating in writing this post.
Regardless I am incredibly proud of this years benchmark model and can’t wait to see what I come up with in improvement for the year. But before I get ahead of myself, what the heck am I talking about?
What is a Benchmark Model?
A benchmark model is essentially a painted figure or model which you can use at a later time as a form of measure of standard to compare to. Therefore a benchmark model is my attempt at gauging my personal growth in the miniature painting hobby. The rules are simple I’ll paint a model to the best of my ability and then I will paint a second version of the same figure (thank you 3D printing) in one year to see how I’ve grown in that year.
Can I See My Growth Two years in a Row?
I did a benchmark model comparison for 2021 and it was actually really quite incredible as a way to Gauge my Growth in miniature painting. I never thought i’d be able to see my growth yet let alone have people actually comment guessing the areas of growth I focused on for that year. Interested? Read More from 2021’s Benchmark
Left 2021 Benchmark, Right 2022 Benchmark
Battling your Worst Enemy, Your Mind.
So if I successfully set a benchmark last year and could see my growth, why was it so intimidating this year? Well to put it simply I kinda felt surprised that I could see growth in the last year as I didn’t paint many models and put as much time into gaining skills as i’d like. My mind is my enemy married to my low self esteem that I could pull it off again.
I also suffered from burnout. Painting to the best of my ability two models in a row was exhausting. Sometimes not seeing much completed on your hobby table can make you feel like nothing will ever get accomplished. Spending so much time on these really exhausted my desire to paint and push through. It also didn’t help that I decided to paint one of the largest models I’ve ever tackled. A frost giant.
On top of that I have decided to focus on areas of painting that are difficult or out of my comfort zone. This has resulted in more anxiety in my color palette, techniques, etc.
So What am I working on this year?
2022 Painting Goals
While I did make a lengthy list of things I want to work on for my 2022 Hobby Goals. The goals for painting this year are simple….
Master the airbrush
Having just receiving an airbrush I have barely started utilizing it to the best of its ability or know how it can help me in painting. I am aiming to get started in airbrushing and making it a regularly used tool in my toolbox.
Learn more Skin Tones
Learn how to paint non Caucasian skin tones. This includes different colored skins like green, blue, purple, red etc. for monsters. I have recently started my airbrush journey and am still not confident in my knowledge.
Paint out of my comfort zone
I am tired of painting generic fantasy character with a green or blue cape. I need to stretch my imagination beyond and try more color schemes.
Gain a better understanding of volumes
I want to understand how light hits various shapes and be better at highlighting models. This will start with muscle groups but I hope to go beyond that and especially show in armor.
Color Theory?
Begin my long long journey into a greater usage of color theory.
Painting Hair & Fur
I am ready to build on the above statements and paint hair and fur to a more realistic mentality and result.
Utilization of Environment & Basing Methods
I deeply believe that a base can drastically change the story of the model, its tone and really elevate figures. I am going to try to improve my basing game while also improve model storytelling.
Setting the Standard: Benchmark 2022
Now lets get into the painting of the model.
Breaking Out the Airbrush
I received an airbrush for Christmas 2021 and up to this point have only primed a few miniatures with it. I have gotten better and have to say that I am immensely proud of the zenithal highlight of this model. It might be the best I’ve ever done.
Frost Giant Zenithal Highlight Frost Giant in airbrush booth primed
After priming I applied a blue contrast paint for the skin to see how contrast paint would go through an airbrush followed by various browns that make up the leather of the body. My goal was to try to go from largest areas of the model to smallest in the attempt to improve my aim via practice. I have never used my airbrush to apply base coats to a model before and am genuinely surprised and thrilled by how fast it was to get a model base coated.
Frost Giant SideFrost Giant frontFrost Giant back
Frost Giant leather frontFrost Giant leather side
The entire time I was doing this I was being supported by my friends of Goobertown hobbies as the continuously encouraged me to Paint Bravely. I pushed through and worked up the various layers of skin. I definitely feel like I should have pushed this highlight more but alas I did not get to it.
Frost Giant MidtoneFrost Giant Skin Highlight
To finish off my spray basecoats I painted the tree and did my best to not have too much overspray. An area of improvement is definitely improved aim, masking off areas of a model to prevent overspray, and gaining a better understanding of how to angle my airbrush to help me in highlights and volumes.
All in all I feel like this was a pretty strong showing and attempt for using an airbrush to paint for the first time. It definitely helps that I choose to paint a large model knowing that my aim was not going to be very great and wanted a place to practice before I paint a standard miniature.
The Devil is in the Details
Once I put my airbrush down I set to work on the details. Picking up a brush to paint the model was actually really exciting and I felt a significant sense of relief now that I am using tools that I am familiar with. I set forth to do colors and choices I have not used before, namely in trying to not use brown hair and fur. So I decided to go with a blonde head which was mostly a dirty blonde. I know air is on the agenda and perhaps i’ll learn how to do different colors better this year. I also wanted to try to contrast the bright blue of the skin and went with a dark black, grey fur for the areas of clothing that had fur.
Blonde hair additionPainting fur and textured hair
I then started to work on details such as leather work, skulls, pouches, etc but… I got worn out. I spent several nights at this point painting the figure and I walked away from it. And it sat on my shelf for probably about two weeks before coming back.
Just Calling it Done
Seeing that all motivation to keep pushing through the model and feeling a significant thread of diminishing returns I decided to base the model, varnish, and flock with snow to call it done. At this point I was truthfully disappointed with myself because I always feel like I can do better. I could catch more detail, improve a highlight but there is a point when you should just call it done.
Frost Giant final paint job
It all comes together!
Know how I mentioned that I want to improve my basing game and telling a story in my basing. Well I feel like this model is the perfect example for that. I felt for so long that the figure was missing something and that wasn’t until I added the snow. And oh boy did it feel great to see everything just slowly come to life. Adding the snow to this model and its base really had a great marriage between the two. However I couldn’t fully realize it until a friend recommended that I add snow heavier on the feet like he has been wading through the snow. Boy did it really make a difference. I think the snow was one of the most commented aspects of this paint job.
Added Snow Effect AddedHeavily applied snow on boots
Final Photoshoot
A benchmark would not be complete without a good ole photoshoot of the figure. And this has been an aspect of the hobby that I think is super important to capture the full detail of the model to convey to readers, inspire others, and capture mistakes. I worked on taking photos of this model in both black and white backdrops (poster paper). I think the black backdrop was the better choice in the final shots. What do you think?
Frost Giant Final Photo white backdropFrost Giant photoshootFrost Giant Final Photo Black backdropFrost Giant Final Photo Black backdrop
On to 2022
While I am happy with this model and would be a fantastic figure to put on my table I still desire to grow and improve. I tried many new things and even color choices on the figure such as the skin, fur and hair that were well outside my comfort zone. Now that the benchmark is set. Lets see what we can accomplish for the rest of 2022.
Happy Hobby, Carrie, Crazmadsci the crazy mad scientist
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…
Playing Bloodbowl is wacky and fun. But wouldn’t it be better with a fully fleshed out stadium to play in? Join my process of creating a 3D printed bloodbowl pitch.
Has a week gone by already? Where does the time go when you are having fun. This week was mostly focused on trying to eliminate the number of active projects on my desk. You see, the state of the crazy has been so chaotic that I am rapidly losing focus and losing track of what I have accomplished and completed. So instead of the organized categories lets show you some of the chaos in its raw form.
Let’s do a quick breakdown of the currently active projects on my workbench…
First thing first is that I have a friend interested in buying some of my old models from me and misprints which could be models with slight defects. I have been going through the stash and trying to cull out a lot to reduce the backlog to make space for new prints.
Zilvren Skyhold
Secondly I have been commissioned for a long term project to 3D print a game board from the models of a currently active kickstarter Zilvren Skyhold by Tired World Studios. This is their first kickstarter and I have to say I’m pretty impressed. Campaign will close next week and it will be about a month until I get my hands on the first batch of files but I have 3D printed a sample building for the board so my friend can practice and determine a color scheme. This is exciting because I have never done something like this in a collaboration with someone and am super excited to print which I love without hurting my own backlog.
Miners Shack front viewMiners Shack backviewKickstarter product image credit: Kickstarter.com
Broken Anvil Miniatures
I have also been mass printing the demon set from Broken Anvil Miniatures which was released this month. I do not own many demon based models and am super excited that they are also doing paint along streams with a commission painter Josh Davis. I hope to go back through some of the past broadcasts and paint along in hopes to learn and grow in my hobby. Some models have given me trouble in printing and even assembly. For example this bat has been significantly difficult and is even not in perfect shape now that he is assembled. It will take a little bit of work to clean him up but regardless this is an incredible sculpt and I can’t wait to put paint on him.
Collection of minis so far
Graveyard Golem
Inspired by our return to Frostgrave I have also assembled and built a new Graveyard Golem to play with for our Hunt for the Golem scenario. We are going to have one fun time trying to find and kill this guy.
Loot Studios Dragons
Did I say I needed more Dragons? Well…. this guy got printed too. He still needs clean up, glue and one of the wings tore with printing. I haven’t decided if I should reprint the wing.
Priming
I have also spent a good deal of time priming models and figures on my workbench in anticipation to paint including.
A goblin warband for my green skintone deep dive.
Class tokens from CastnPlay which are too big for my scale in use on a tabletop as they are about 32mm in diameter so I am magnetizing them to use as labels for my model storage. I’m actually pretty stoaked about the idea.
Also I have been putting primer on a bunch of Infinite Dimension tavern and banquet scatter terrain which is some of the best tavern content i’ve seen to date.
Oh I also primed my quest board! Super pumped about this.
Goblin warbandTavern and Banquet terrainClass tokensQuest board
Bloodbowl grows!
I have assembled a team of humans for Bloodbowl to take on my snotlings which now need gap filling for the slotted bases and dirt. I am also of course still painting my snotlings. Not much movement has happened to them this week.
I did actually buy a Blitz Bowl box this week which was on clearance at Barnes and Noble. This is a short skirmish version of Bloodbowl but was one of the best ways to get blood bowl dice and actually yet more teams at a crazy steal of a deal. We also can play shorter games for when we are limited on time!
Imperial Nobility teamGetting rules!
Wait another game?
So I have been flirting with jumping into Age of Sigmar by Games workshop so I purchased a “Getting Started with Age of Sigmar” Magazine. This comes with two models which are perfect for teasing the game.My husband and myself have been teasing buying a Dominion Box as one of the most affordable ways to get our hands on a full core rule book and armies to get started. I will however be building up a Cities of Sigmar army in the long term.
Age of Sigmar models
Forestlands Model Assembly
Since I was in the process of assembling and print clean up I decided to assemble and glue all my Frostlands Terrain as well. The trees came in multiple pieces and I am excited that this project will showcase the difference between resin and FDM pretty well.
FDM printed frost treeMultipiece caveFrost trees multipiece
For SCIENCE!
Because I want to see for myself I have decided to create a massive 100 model test for the new mega speedpaint set from army painter and need the models to get me there. This is only about half to he total Dragonborn count. This is the mascot for Tableflip Foundry and am currently about a month ahead of schedule!
And army of Puck
Conclusion
I think that is everything? Overall I have been making strides to continue work on all my many projects and am sincerely aiming to reduce the active projects, on my workbench. However what can I say this is truly a state of the crazy. Also as painful it is to admit these are the ones that were just actively worked on this week.
What do you think? What project are you most excited about seeing? Am I truly crazy or do you also have a million active projects to?
As always I hope to see you next week. Thanks for sharing my passion in the hobby with me! What are you working on?
I will admit I am not the largest of fans of Valentine’s day. Going the extra mile to show our loved ones we care I have always considered to be something that we do 365 days of the year rather than 1. With that being said I got a fantastic surprise last week when I received a text message stating….
“PST, wanna play some wargames for Valentine’s day?”
The Handsome Husband
Frostgrave Board Front View
This was an open statement to play and/or learn any wargame in my desired list of games I want to try. I considered several games but do not have any of the other games prepped and my perfectionist ways along with not owning some of the rules books yet prevented me from paying them. I prefer to build, paint, or plan for a game before playing or making an emotional investment first rather than just collecting books this means i’m more likely to play said game as opposed to having rule books sit on my shelves.
In the end we decided to pick up our past warbands that we started last September and continue on in our adventures of the Frozen City, Frostgrave. It has been hard for me to play Frostgrave ever since my warband fell to pieces on the floor (The Shattering Reality of My Miniature Collection). As I still have not had time to rebuild a new one I soldiered on and used the miniatures of what is left of them and a few I glued together.
Overall the Necromancer warband went pretty unscathed with the largest casualty of a zombie thief which was utterly destroyed, so I found a replacement that I already printed glued her on a base and kept moving. My dwarves however are in so many pieces. My wizard doesn’t have a spellbook, and the apprentice is missing a large chunk of his cape , wizard staff, and quite a few fingers. My crossbowmen didn’t have strings for their crossbows. Many were missing arms. It was quite pitiful. But you know what? That didn’t matter, we had an absolute blast and I hardly noticed while actively playing the game.
Some of the broken models of my Sigilist warband
The Setup
This has become one of my favorite times of playing the game as my husband and eldest son spend a considerable amount of time putting together the board. I love to see the configurations they choose and encouraging my 2 year olds imagination to go crazy is such a beautiful thing to watch. I’m going to make a gamer out of him yet! It might help that he is currently absolutely obsessed with dice and saying “Di” is one of his earliest words. He loves to place scatter terrain on things, in things, and sometimes depending on the mood smash things (we are working on that). My FDM printed terrain is so durable and cost effective I’m not worried about most of it breaking as it is an acceptable loss for the sake of including him and fostering a love of games and birth of imagination. I also never fully imagined how fulfilling it would be to see him play with things I made before he was born.
The Game
The intent of the board was to start the mini campaign, The Hunt for the Golem, from the Frostgrave Folio expansion and play the first scenario while simultaneously utilizing for the first time Ulterior Motives. Ulterior motives is a Frostgrave expansion which can provide a wizard an extra objective. In some cases this can be completely different than just capturing treasure and lead to magic items or experience as a reward.
Frostgrave Expansions
The game as a whole was an absolute blast and something that I needed. I did feel somewhat rushed due to the time of day and trying to get everything together that was scattered everywhere from traveling and of course the various project states. Overall it was a warm up back into our long casual campaign setting.
In the end we had an even split of treasure 3 to 3 and the Necromancers inched out a magic ring from the ulterior motive card capturing notes carried by a zombie they had to kill. Ironically in the excitement of playing again we completely forgot to do anything relating to the golem hunt campaign. I guess we are saving it for next time.
Frostgrave board side viewKnight trying to get into the fight on topThief trying to escape with treasure but being attacked by wondering monsterFrostgrave Board Front View
Game MVP was by far the zombie, Haggatha the necromancer summoned at the beginning of the game. Being not afraid to die again he bravely tanked a wraith and killed a bear and two wolves all on his own all while taking zero damage. I can’t believe those monsters rolled so low. Realizing the poor planning of our ways and being not prepared when stepping into the Frozen City. Between both warbands the Sigilist and Necromancer only had one ability which could apply magic damage to kill Wraiths that have been summoned, Explosive Rune. Having a zombie bravely avoid all attacks by the wraiths was an incredible feat that no one could have anticipated.
One single zombie fights off a Bear, Wolf, Two Rats and a Wraith
Feeling Inspired
After playing this game of Frostgrave I am so excited to create more minis and am really desiring to make my own spell, monster, and item cards for the table to attempt to eliminate excess papers on the table and need to flip through books. One of my goals this year is to paint a complete bestiary for the game and I think its about time to start!
I am also hoping to learn how to better write battle reports and showcase all the great games to read back.
An unexpected fan of miniature war gaming
I have also noticed a significant trend when playing wargames. My cat Turtle always wants to play. Who knew there would be such a large wandering monster. Its a pity he isn’t the most gentle when it comes to my models. As you can see however we tried to deter him off the battle field but the draw of fun was too strong.
Stay Tuned
This is not the last of our adventures into the Frozen City. I am super excited for some of the new things I’ve been working on and FINALLY our frozen battle mat is coming in the mail!
Please share with me your battle reports! I would love to see how others play their games of Frostgrave and document it.
Until next time. Happy Hobby as always.
Crazmadsci the crazy mad scientist
I will admit I am not the largest of fans of Valentine’s day. Going the extra mile to show our loved ones we care I have always considered to be something that we do 365 days of the year rather than 1. With that being said I got a fantastic surprise last week when I received a text message stating….
“PST, wanna play some wargames for Valentine’s day?”
The Handsome Husband
Frostgrave Board Front View
This was an open statement to play and/or learn any wargame in my desired list of games I want to try. I considered several games but do not have any of the other games prepped and my perfectionist ways along with not owning some of the rules books yet prevented me from paying them. I prefer to build, paint, or plan for a game before playing or making an emotional investment first rather than just collecting books this means i’m more likely to play said game as opposed to having rule books sit on my shelves.
In the end we decided to pick up our past warbands that we started last September and continue on in our adventures of the Frozen City, Frostgrave. It has been hard for me to play Frostgrave ever since my warband fell to pieces on the floor (The Shattering Reality of My Miniature Collection). As I still have not had time to rebuild a new one I soldiered on and used the miniatures of what is left of them and a few I glued together.
Overall the Necromancer warband went pretty unscathed with the largest casualty of a zombie thief which was utterly destroyed, so I found a replacement that I already printed glued her on a base and kept moving. My dwarves however are in so many pieces. My wizard doesn’t have a spellbook, and the apprentice is missing a large chunk of his cape , wizard staff, and quite a few fingers. My crossbowmen didn’t have strings for their crossbows. Many were missing arms. It was quite pitiful. But you know what? That didn’t matter, we had an absolute blast and I hardly noticed while actively playing the game.
Some of the broken models of my Sigilist warband
The Setup
This has become one of my favorite times of playing the game as my husband and eldest son spend a considerable amount of time putting together the board. I love to see the configurations they choose and encouraging my 2 year olds imagination to go crazy is such a beautiful thing to watch. I’m going to make a gamer out of him yet! It might help that he is currently absolutely obsessed with dice and saying “Di” is one of his earliest words. He loves to place scatter terrain on things, in things, and sometimes depending on the mood smash things (we are working on that). My FDM printed terrain is so durable and cost effective I’m not worried about most of it breaking as it is an acceptable loss for the sake of including him and fostering a love of games and birth of imagination. I also never fully imagined how fulfilling it would be to see him play with things I made before he was born.
The Game
The intent of the board was to start the mini campaign, The Hunt for the Golem, from the Frostgrave Folio expansion and play the first scenario while simultaneously utilizing for the first time Ulterior Motives. Ulterior motives is a Frostgrave expansion which can provide a wizard an extra objective. In some cases this can be completely different than just capturing treasure and lead to magic items or experience as a reward.
Frostgrave Expansions
The game as a whole was an absolute blast and something that I needed. I did feel somewhat rushed due to the time of day and trying to get everything together that was scattered everywhere from traveling and of course the various project states. Overall it was a warm up back into our long casual campaign setting.
In the end we had an even split of treasure 3 to 3 and the Necromancers inched out a magic ring from the ulterior motive card capturing notes carried by a zombie they had to kill. Ironically in the excitement of playing again we completely forgot to do anything relating to the golem hunt campaign. I guess we are saving it for next time.
Frostgrave board side viewKnight trying to get into the fight on topThief trying to escape with treasure but being attacked by wondering monsterFrostgrave Board Front View
Game MVP was by far the zombie, Haggatha the necromancer summoned at the beginning of the game. Being not afraid to die again he bravely tanked a wraith and killed a bear and two wolves all on his own all while taking zero damage. I can’t believe those monsters rolled so low. Realizing the poor planning of our ways and being not prepared when stepping into the Frozen City. Between both warbands the Sigilist and Necromancer only had one ability which could apply magic damage to kill Wraiths that have been summoned, Explosive Rune. Having a zombie bravely avoid all attacks by the wraiths was an incredible feat that no one could have anticipated.
One single zombie fights off a Bear, Wolf, Two Rats and a Wraith
Feeling Inspired
After playing this game of Frostgrave I am so excited to create more minis and am really desiring to make my own spell, monster, and item cards for the table to attempt to eliminate excess papers on the table and need to flip through books. One of my goals this year is to paint a complete bestiary for the game and I think its about time to start!
I am also hoping to learn how to better write battle reports and showcase all the great games to read back.
An unexpected fan of miniature war gaming
I have also noticed a significant trend when playing wargames. My cat Turtle always wants to play. Who knew there would be such a large wandering monster. Its a pity he isn’t the most gentle when it comes to my models. As you can see however we tried to deter him off the battle field but the draw of fun was too strong.
Stay Tuned
This is not the last of our adventures into the Frozen City. I am super excited for some of the new things I’ve been working on and FINALLY our frozen battle mat is coming in the mail!
Please share with me your battle reports! I would love to see how others play their games of Frostgrave and document it.
Wow so I have definitely been carried away in the last week. I know I’m pretty late for the state of the crazy because I was just having way too much fun. In summary the last week I would title as snotling filled. Both my sons suffered from colds with runny noses but I also have been having an absolute blast painting the Snotling bloodbowl team.
While I have been working on other things such as finishing up a presupporting job, getting started on a future mega printing commission for a Kickstarter, and begin printing a mega collection of models for a future deep dive into the Army Painter speed paint set. So lets get into it!
Painting
As I said above this week I have spent almost every day painting my snotlings. There are roughly 26 little snotlings which will be on 20 total models. There is a large pump wagon of which 4 ride on but I have decided to paint them in subassemblies. That way I can paint the pump wagons and all the snotlings separately without worrying about reaching to paint everything.
My goal is to try to finish a snotling a day to my “finished” standard and slowly batch paint some others to reduce burn out. Slowly they are all moving to completion with 6 out of the 20 waiting for varnish before I apply static grass so it seems like they are on a field. I am tempted to also litter mushrooms in the field base as well. Would that be too many mushrooms? It could tie the bases with the models really well but I haven’t decided yet. Also there is no place to put uniform numbers on these models and probably am going to look into 3d printable nameplates. I also can’t decide if I want to do magnetized rings so if a player is carrying the ball it can magentize to the base. What do you all think?
Here is a few of my finished models. Here is hoping I can get as many done before the end of February as I can. I am really trying to push myself to finish more models this year and this might make it so I could out pace my 2021 model number by the end of March!
One also major highlight is that I am teaching my 2 year old son how to paint. He has shown significant interest in my hobby space and I’ve decided to encourage it.
3D Printing
This week I have printed quite a few scatter terrain pieces from Infinite Dimensions tavern and banquet sets.
I also finally finished printing the Frostlands Core set from CastnPlay’s Terrain Essentials. This is a mix between filament FDM and resin prints and I am going to do a break down to fully show case the pros and cons of each different technology in 3d printing
I also have been struggling with a new resin called zMud by Uniz. I don’t know why but it has bee producing wildly inconsistent results and I cannot get an entire plate to have successful prints without one failing. I have been doing a ton of troubleshooting but I could just be a bad bottle of resin. I might start mixing it into other resin to slowly use it up. It isn’t always successful but we have to roll with the punches.
Website Updates & Changes
I have officially gotten to the point where I am crazy behind of documenting what I’ve been doing on my hobby bench and putting it on the website. I think this is going to lead to a March Madness for myself as I go crazy trying to play catchup. However that’s a great problem to have as it shows I’ve been having a ton of fun and hobbying. I have to keep reminding myself that this is something I’m doing purely for fun and there are no such things as deadlines. I am just too excited to share it with others and also truly appreciate the journey.
Conclusion
As always I hope to see you next week. Thanks for sharing my passion in the hobby with me! What are you working on?
Two weeks ago I did something in my miniature hobby I’ve never done before. I painted in a public setting, more specifically in my friendly local game store. I decided to join in the festivities of a paint night by painting the Boneclaw from Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures paint kit. These paint kits were made as a way to get the models before they go to mass retail and encourage people to gather show excitement and give people reasons to support their in person stores. Or rather that is at least what i’ve been told. What makes them special is that for $20 you receive a model, two wizkids paint brushes, and 12 paint samples from the Vallejo paint line.
Nolzurs Paint Kit box
However due to the last year many of these kits were unused and have been sitting around. So although this model is available for purchase my store just reently had theirpaint night. Slowly the painting nights have been happening and I really needed a night out and opportunity to meet new people. Over the course of the last decade I have known the tabletop gaming community I can count on one hand how many times I’ve spent a substantial amount of time in a store so this was a really big step for me. I still haven’t played in a store in over 10 years, but perhaps this is the year that changes. To put it lightly I was pretty nervous.
The Prep
When preparing for this paint night I had no idea what to expect and if I should come prepared. Would it look ridiculous if I brought my own wet pallet? What about brushes? I did not know if this was a class, an open paint night, or what really to expect. So I actually packed some things in my backpack to pull out what I needed without hopefully looking ridiculous after gauging the room around me. This turned out to be a great plan and know that next time I shouldn’t be so concerned.
What Comes in the Paint Kit?
So what does the kit comes with?
A Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures & Base
12 paint samples of Vallejo paints. (Mostly using Vallejo model color)
For the price this is an incredible way to see if you were interested in miniature painting and wanted a night to see if they were interested in painting or wanted to try a few paints out. The cost of the Nolzurs Paint Brushes ($10.99 via Miniature Market) and the miniature Boneclaw ($8.99 via Miniature Market) alone cost the same as the entire kit. The only thing missing from the Nolzurs Paint brushes is the dry brush. So having extra paint and more than you need on one model is a great deal.
Nolzurs Paint Brush setNolzurs Boneclaw Miniature
Overall the only primary thing I felt like I was missing was some of my mediums or a dropper bottle to help thin down my paint. Also most importantly I wish I had a paint handle to hold the miniature while I paint. I can’t believe how much paint I got on my hand while trying to paint this model. I really loved having my wet palette and was glad I was not the only one who brought some extra tools to paint night.
The Experience
Sitting at my table I got to meet a wide variety of hobbyists. I loved how we significantly ranged in age and experience from two high school siblings painting their first model. Older cosplayers including one who forgot his glasses so chatted instead. And of course someone who 3D prints as well! It was great to share experiences and feelings like everyone at the table was on an equal playing field. I did not get to meet and talk to everyone at the other tables as there were about 3 full tables and a 4th that was there for part of the time.
I realized quickly that I am not a speed painter and paint extremely slowly. That along the fact that I appeared to have chosen two of the worst paints in the collection; Violet and Skin Wash. Violet was not labeled as a wash but is definitely a wash which you can see was a choice for a good portion of the robes and took too long for coverage and in hindsight I should have abandoned the task and picked another color. After painting some of the skin I used the skin wash in attempt to just have a bit in the recesses darkened but instead turned my all of the skin on the model orange. Between attempting to clean up the violet that kept spreading like a plague around my hands and table and attempting to build my ghostly pale skin back up from the poor orange spray tan it received I did not get anywhere close to where I wanted to be with the model. I was also distracted trying to make connections with people and feeling out the community in hopes to find people to play games with in the future. After about two and a half hours I gave up for the night and just enjoyed the company chatting.
I have every “intention” to going back and finishing this model to my personal standard in the future but alas I have too many projects going on. Make sure you follow along the blog to see if I ever get to updating it.
“Final Paint” job after paint night.
What Would I do Differently?
There were definitely paints in the paint kit that did not age well in their sample pots and separated pretty significantly. Perhaps if I drop some mixing balls it could give me a better life in the paints provided. I think I will try that next time and bring some to drop in. If I know the model ahead of time I also want to prep with an image or two to gauge what paint scheme I should go with. Trying to decide how I want to paint the model is a pretty slow process to me.
As for the paint kit I definitely think that it is now one of my favorites to suggest as a way to get into the hobby and feel it out. While the paint range would be substantially limited to the colors directed towards the model getting a miniature and two paint brushes is worth the $20 alone.
I also fell in love with two colors from this kit and am currently using it for my Snotlings Bloodbowl team. Once I run out of these samples I absolutely plan on purchasing full bottles of them. Those colors are Dark Prussian Blue and Luftwaffe Unif. WWII. I appreciate the fact that the samples also include the product numbers for easier finding.
Boneclaw Paint kit favorite paints
Conclusion
Would I do this again? Absolutely. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to get to know my local game store more. Plus I was surrounded by a bunch of people who are a bad influence and encouraged me to not only buy a second Blood Bowl team but also a start collecting box from Age of Sigmar. I am so excited and definitely plan on trying to play a few games at the store.
Next in line for paint night in March is the Chimera Model! Have you ever used these paint kids what did you think?
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…
Playing Bloodbowl is wacky and fun. But wouldn’t it be better with a fully fleshed out stadium to play in? Join my process of creating a 3D printed bloodbowl pitch.
Another week has gone by and so much has happened! This week was so nice because every once in awhile you begin to see visible progress and this week was that week! Every aspect of my hobby I am moving forward!
Painting
I actually finally finished him! The Frost Giant from the Adventures Guild release by CastnPlay and set as my 2022 Benchmark Model is finally completed! Well minus the write up consisting of my mental state and aspects I wish to grow in the year but we are working on that….. Let me know what you think! Overall this week I mainly just varnished it and added a snow effect but I think the snow really brought him together.
I also finally started to put some paint on my snotling BloodBowl team! I primed and added a green basecoat to the models. It has been slow doing the base coats due to how many there are. I am starting to consider painting smaller batches. Time will tell.
Snotlings in Progress
3D Printing
The majority of my printing time this week has been dedicated to presupport work. However I have also decided to begin 3D printing the Terrain Essentials crowdfunded by CastnPlay which has scatter terrain for over 13 different biomes. I am excited to begin adding more than just buildings to my tabletop and increase the diversity. I have decided to start with of course frost related terrain to grow for my Frostgrave collection. This week I’ve been working on printing the core collection but with a twist. I am documenting my entire thought process in determining which type of 3D printer I should use and why. Many people talk about the two main forms of 3D printing Filament (FDM) and resin printing but not many discuss the real pros and cons of each type of technology. This I hope will lead to a bigger discussion of perhaps which type of printing is best for you and knowing the limitations and strengths of your choice. I should finish printing these core models in the next week and perhaps start into others.
Website Updates & Changes
Last week I also did a few big things for the website the first and biggest is that I’m jumping in and just releasing content as I create it for the 3D printing guides and tutorials. In order to release the volume of content at the quality of content I intend to it will take some time but making a 3D printing landing page will help you navigate faster to this content. If you wish to learn more check out “The Void of Knowledge in the 3D printing Tabletop Space“.
In the future if I write content that may not merit its own post but is rather a reference document or guide I will post in my weekly state of the crazy as to its existence. When I have content that I will create that is more of a discussion or teaching moment they will be posts which i’m commonly doing on Mondays in rotation with painting write ups as painting is an aspect I wish to see more personal growth in and document that journey as well.
Last but not least I have created a summary page to track the work that I accomplish each month in my hobby, mostly to see what I have been up to for future self to relive and enjoy. If you are interested in the summary of my January 2022 hobby: Read Here.
January 2022 daily hobby activity
Conclusion
While I think 2022 has been slow to start for me, the last week has really made me feel like we are gaining moment and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the future! How was your week and hobby? Are you looking forward to seeing something in particular for the new 3D printing section? Don’t hesitate to comment down below.
I started 3D printing for tabletop gaming in 2018 and every day I am blown away by how much the hobby has grown. The community of hobbyists is bigger than ever before, there is more art and creators than we can even fundamentally track, and new technologies and tools are hitting the market making the hobby more accessible. There is now more software to make, modify, and slice 3D printed models. Materials have evolved to have significantly more variety in color, additives for flexibility, transparency, hardness, etc. The list of how this hobby has grown in the past 4 years could go on and on.
Tennessee Tech makers space of Raise3D printersMy home printing setup 2022
However there is one aspect of the hobby that has not changed. The most elusive and coveted part of the 3D printing hobby is its knowledge. So much of the collective knowledge for tabletop gaming in the 3D printing community is spread out and only documented as a series of trial and error. Many of our communities of this collective knowledge are broken into sub groups and platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, Reddit, Discord, etc. This requires a lot of asking around for people to share their stories over the internet’s equivalent of a campfire. Much of the information is heard from the grapevine making that piece of information under scrutiny as to if it is really true or has just changed through each telling like a bad game of telephone.
As someone with a passion for learning, gathering that knowledge and does tests purely for the sake of deeper understanding. I have found the lack of knowledge repository, well frankly frustrating. While not everyone is like me and needs to answer the Where, What, How, and Why of every aspect of our 3D printing hobby I know that I am not the only one who has become frustrated when forced to try new things and not knowing where to start, troubleshooting a taxing issue, or even needing inspiration on how to go the next step.
We the collective community have made assumptions and sweeping statements such as “People cannot print miniatures on an FDM printer”. Layer lines are so terrible post processing for FDM printing requires sanding, gap filling, and even in some cases acetone smoothing. Why can’t resin be used in 3D printing terrain? I have made a career of exploring these declarative statements and providing people with the most information possible to let them come to their own conclusions.
FDM Miniature Figure, proving that FDM can indeed print supports.
What if we as a community banded together to curate a knowledge base of information to help not only brand new members of the hobby but veterans or even those who wish to purchase from 3D printing services. What kind of things should you look out for or ask when hiring others to 3D print files for you? What quality of print is standard? How much should you 3D print for your tabletop games? There are so many questions that I am seeking to answer.
Call to Action
I have made it my mission to be apart of the movement to close this gap in our knowledge, experiment & document often in order to search for answers to things that have not been tested yet, and assist those who wish to truly utilize all the things 3D printing has to offer. However this is something I cannot do on my own. I am looking for help, excitement to search more and those who have any questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question. If you have one regarding the 3D printing hobby for tabletop gaming just ask. I have been deep enough in the hobby that I have taken for granted the little questions that might plague those just getting started in the hobby. Having people ask questions really helps me make sure I can help answer it and those that might come in the future.
Most importantly. I am in need of troubleshooting photographs for your 3D printing issues!
What am I doing about it?
I have decided to step out and begin releasing content even if it may not completely fit the image of what I want it to be. So as of today I have officially released a brand new category to my website. As of now, we have a 3D printing navigation section. I have begun to curate the write ups I have done for 3D printing with a main home main and separate categories for resin and FDM printing. I am going to be posting a mix of information and guides to cover introductory subjects, topics I encounter in my hobby but most importantly information asked by my community and the communities I am a part of.
I have admittedly been nervous in posting only a portion of content that I desire to write and have it appear more empty leading to a poor new reader interaction. However recently I have had several people approach me on how different guides I have written helped them and have told me that writing more tutorials and guides would be useful without realizing that it was already my intent. Starting this main navigation panel and landing page will make it easier for people to find what I have written as well. This is still very much a work in progress but I am excited on where it will go. Not every thing written will end up in posts but will try to make notices in my weekly state of the crazy posts if anything has been added as a permanent page rather than a post.
I am working on adding content as fast as I can while also balancing all aspects of my hobby as well.
If you want to become apart of the discussion or just banter, ask questions or enjoy aspects of the community all are welcome through the Tableflip Foundry discord server. You are welcome to come say hi and interact with the community and is the best place to find me day to day hanging out! https://discord.gg/tableflipfoundry
