The Hobby Table: August 2020

Hi folks,

It has been a while since I sat back and took stock of my hobby efforts. With one month left in the 2019/2020 Hobby Season, things on my hobby table are looking chaotic; it has basically become a dumping ground. 

Over the past couple of months I have entered two painting competitions at my local Games Workshop, both for Age of Sigmar projects that were not on my to To-Do list. At the same time, I have been trying to construct, prime and undercoat my remaining Space Hulk units, as well as prepare for a 2nd Edition army painting challenge. With all of that going on, my stuff has slowly been encroaching on family spaces. The grey tide has been eroding the shores of the wifey's patience! So, starting yesterday, I began sorting and tidying my gear in both the family/games room and the garage. In doing so I discovered some of my 40K books were on the verge of being damaged due to the conditions in the garage, so I moved them and their bookcase upstairs. It has also given me another space to display some 40K artwork (Captain Mikos of Lakodeme, by D Power, and a large version of my Hawk Talon/Barakiel Banner), as well as my two awards for the Age of Sigmar painting competitions.

To keep progressing through my 2019/20 To-Do list, I have moved some Terminators to the layering stage. I have also put together an extra six Deathwing Terminators, so that I can combine what I have to build up my 9th Edition Dark Angels list (10 Deathwing Terminators and an Apothecary). I am really hoping to knock over a lot of the Space Hulk painting this month, so that I am ready to go with a fresh To-Do list at the end of August, which will include a 9th Edition army and a 2nd Edition army!

The 2nd Edition army project I am going to work on started on the 1st of August, so there is a bit of overlap to complicate things. I have always included 2nd Edition models in my later edition armies, simply because Dark Angels have received very few new models for their principal characters for 25 years. I have taken a close look and made some hard decisions to shift some of the more rare models from one collection to another. It sounds like a very first-world problem; let's just say those in the 2nd Ed. collection will need some changes done to the bases. To really nail that project, I have purchased two models locally from Ebay, that I would have loved to have owned back in the day: a Dark Angels sergeant and a techmarine. Let's hope I actually get them sometime this week. The first model I will be painting is a Master of Deathwing (parts at bottom of photo!). If I get him done I am fairly well covered in terms of the challenge, which is aiming for 200 points a month, because the Deathwing squad I will do next month is closer to 400 points!

So, busy busy busy on the hobby front. In terms of blogging, I have been posting my #hobbystreak every day on both Instagram and Twitter. As I mentioned at the start of the year, I was hoping to post some really brief, diary type entries on these platforms to have a record of the little things I wouldn't usually include in this blog. Overall it has been a positive experience to get those things off my chest and I have met some great new (and old!) friends. The platforms themselves have deep faults though. Instagram really is a very shallow experience most of the time; it is much like flicking through a magazine. I did find an interesting group of folks on there, though, which I joined. I then discovered that they operate mostly through Discord, which has introduced me to a whole different society of positive hobbyists. 

Twitter is... unstable; a room full of mood swings. There are people who are really positive and doing great things. There are people really hurting and crying out for help. There are people waging war. There are people doing all of the above. I have lost count of the number of posts from people I just started following saying "I need a break from this: I am dying in a black current of molten tears" followed shortly by "hey I'm back: check out my new Primaris Marine Lieutenant".  I'm just going to make my little posts and be a port in the storm, come and find me if you will. 

Blog-wise, viewing numbers seem to be stabilising at around 3000 a month, though that has only ever been a secondary (tertiary?) concern of mine. At some point over the past couple of months, I passed the 200 000 blog views mark. Something I should celebrate, as I wouldn't have dreamt of that when I started. I'll keep posting for me and, if you are reading this, for you to enjoy.

See you across the table,

Marc