Lost in the Warp

As is so often the case for those of us invested in fantasy gaming, reality has pulled my attention away from hobby activity. I can't muster much enthusiasm for painting after 11 hours at the office. Thankfully, the worst is over now (all those 11-hour days ensured that my work was completed well ahead of the scheduled deadline) and I can get back to painting minis and blogging.

The Rogue Trader project has been coming along well, I currently have painted 9 orks and the great worm, and have started the pointy-hatted squad leader from the "Space Ork Raiders" boxed set. After that, I'm thinking of working on some human mercs or a giant deathworld spider. I'd like to get a bit more practice in before tackling my RT adventurers.

I've also been playing D&D 4E (totally not Oldhammer!) with some friends lately. It's my first time playing D&D since the late 90s, and while the current incarnation lacks the old school "pathetic aesthetic" that so many of us love, it's still pretty fun to roll dice and bullshit with friends on a Sunday afternoon (my character is a blustering first level fighter named Friedrich Mercurius, who, due to my terrible die rolling, struggles in combat against mere kobolds). Since 4E emphasizes combat being played out on a grid with counters or minis, the group has decided to purchase minis for their characters, and I've purchased some packs of monsters from Reaper's Bones line to provide us with adversaries. The Bones minis are obviously very economical, and I really like the larger monsters (like the great worm), but the smaller minis are a bit soft on detail (the giant rats) and thin weapons like spears invariably need to be straightened. My skeletons are leaning in various directions with floppy weapons, but at least they paint up quickly.

Painting my first fantasy models since 1998 has given me a bit of an urge to branch out from the 41st millennium. Some of my old 40k buddies have talked about organizing a Mordheim campaign and I've been rather taken by Whiskey Priest's "How Do You Start Oldhammer?" post at the Leadpile (and it's related topic on the Oldhammer Forum) as an exercise in building a small force on the cheap. I can definitely see a box of Perry Brothers plastics working well for both of these possibilities. Still, I'd like to focus on my Rogue Trader project and get a couple of small opposing forces (plus alien creatures) and some scenery finished before jumping too deeply into anything else.