Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Painting 1, XBox 0


The Vikings get a leg up on button-mashing

Only here at Mik's Minis would this post be applicable. Not that I get a true hard time from my buddies (both local and online) the issue has been raised that videogaming will sideline everything on the tabletop. The hobby side takes a backseat for sure, especially when you compare the 75+ hours I've put into Dragon Age compared to what 75+ hours spent at the painting desk could yield. Ugh, that's scary to even think about.

Well, a while back I wanted to solve two things. The first was to do more historic gaming, the second was to game more with my "moonlighting" group, and with my Viking project, I could kill two birds with one stone. But those very Vikings have been languishing on the work desk for a long time, woefully incomplete...until now.

We have a Pig Wars game scheduled for this Friday, and what did I have? Five complete archers and five "almost" complete warriors with hand weapons. I'm supposed to show up with that? I could, there's plenty of finished figs without me, but that defeats goal one above, actively taking part in more historic gaming. Key word being active. This week also coincides with the release of the anticipated Dragon Age expansion, Awakenings.


Now I could say that I'm abstaining, act all noble, and then secretly behind-the-scenes just be broke. But no, I have the cash in hand, specifically to go buy this. I even contemplated going to the midnight sale last night just to pick it up sooner than later. But then there's my Vikings, and they were about to play second fiddle...again. If you couldn't tell from the post title however, that's not the case. I've vowed to crank out some Vikings this week, and video games be damned. Let me pause now for dramatic effect onthat last statement.

I finished up those five 'nearly-complete' figs, wrapped up another five new warriors with hand weapons last night start to finish, and a, currently about halfway through five more berserker types. I'll be showing up with only twenty models this Friday, but "only" and "twenty" are relative in terms of my workbench, and I'll count that as success, hands down. Now, as for the forty bucks I set aside for Awakenings, well, maybe that money earmarked for video games could be better spent on more figs and/or rulebooks instead. Crazy talk.

9 comments:

  1. I have to pull out the paint kit and get a blood bowl team ready for an event in about a month. Also got a couple of 40K things to get together this weekend since 9K of marines is not enough.

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  2. I feel your pain, brother. I've been an "on-again, off-again" World of Warcraft player, and it can be difficult to juggle the instant gratification of a videogame with the real sense of satisfaction from freshly painted figs.

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  3. Outstanding! More the merrier for the Pig Wars games. 20 figures will be just right for a warband. It's always fun to lead your own troops in these sorts of games anyway.

    I'm personally trying to finish up enough of my Irish to run an Irish band on Friday.

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  4. @Brad: Get cracking brother! I've actually enjoyed this last round of painting, it hasn't felt like too much of a chore. Looking forward to seeing what you've got cooking.

    @Jonathan: It is a tough balance to maintain, especially with engrossing games like WoW and console RPGs. Looking at some real progress on my figs makes it worth it though.

    @Brian: I thought about trying to get even more ambitious and tackling five more by Friday, but I may hold off. I'll have twenty ready to go, and maybe a bonus leader type, but not the "big guy".

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  5. I feel your pain Mik, as you know. After playing Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, though, I felt as if my life had been sucked away by the 'Box for a while. After that, I, like you, swore off the X-Box for a while and went back to modeling. :)

    I think that's the best way to juggle everything. Spend some time with the computer games, and then take a break and then turn your attention to something else.

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  6. "Come on, puppy! Pick up the Ring of Regeneration! Come on, buddy! Right there, by Asidonhopo! No, not the tin can!! Ring! Pick up the ring! YAYY!!! Now, drop it over here by me! Over here! Over here! NOT THERE!! PICK UP THE F@%$ING RING!!! PICK IT UP! NOW DROP IT OVER HERE! OVER HERE! I HAVE TRIPE!!! OVER HERE! OVER HERE!!"

    Man, I love me some nethack...

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  7. I understand the whole painting VS xbox live. Last month I finished 11 minis (Flames of War) with each stand ranging 3 to 5 figures ... although small it was nice to see my company getting formed.

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  8. @Andy: Dude, is that really from Nethack?

    @Joe: I am really coming around to the idea of FoW, I've got a deal cooking with the Nethack nut up above, and the suspense has been KILLING ME! Ahem, anyway, I've enjoyed seeing your FoW troops come together and that last batrep was amazing.

    @Rucht: You know, our lives would be much easier, gamewise, if we didn't have consoles at all...

    I'm ahead of schedule, have all twenty good to go and decided to do a couple of bonus 'leader' models too. Especially since Brian called it a "warband", you can't have a warband without a chief.

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  9. Thanks for the kind words, I enjoy FOW ... nice rules and nothing too complicated. I am glad you like the troops ! 1st squad is almost done ...

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