Robert – Project Update & Backlog

[The Backlog Project was a January 2023 Otherverse Games and Hobbies community project. As such, you may happen across references to Otherverse and see its logos. The goal of the project was to dig into our respective piles of “shame”, select some yet-to-be started/unfinished projects, and see how much we could knock out in one months time.]

So Quickly Can A Train Come Off Of The Tracks

While I wanted to start on January 1st, my foray into my backlog project pool started a couple days later because of IRL reasons. But as soon as I got going I was able to do some building. I started with the Heimdall & Skurge expansion for Marvel: Crisis Protocol, before moving on to my USS Yorktown scale model. After I finished that, not ready to start painting quite yet, I sat back in my chair and spun around a couple times. Coming into my periphery as I turned was a stack of small dark boxes. That appeared to be glowing and there was this HALO-esque chanting. But the glow was probably due to my lack of sleep and the HALO-esque chanting was probably because I was playing the HALO soundtrack at the time.

Instinctively I reached out and grabbed the stack of Marvel: Crisis Protocol expansions and started building. None of these were in my selected project pool for this month, as discussed in my project opening post. But, they were all in my backlog. So I guess it’s cool. Right?

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Building

Marvel: Crisis Protocol

While I only had one potential expansion in my original pool of potential projects for the month, I ended up with seven six. Because, why not? So here is what I built for Crisis Protocol:

These Marvel minis go together quite easily. So building is quick and almost painless. Zola was different though. His is the first model I have seen in this series to use clear plastic. In fact the whole front of his torso is clear. This is because his face is behind the glass. So given this information, I opted to leave his entire model on sprues. I’ll have to paint it all in assemblies. When the time comes, I am most likely going to have to mask the glass portion just so I can paint the rest of the front part of his torso. Having flashbacks to the Adepta Sororitas Immolator.

I ran into a big problem with Ghost Rider. As I was putting together his three part flaming head, the bottom 1/3 decided it wanted to fly out of my fingers, destined for points unknown. I searched on my hands and knees with a flashlight for long enough to make my knees ache for the rest of the day. But it is lost to the void. Defeated, I then tried to put it together without the missing piece, but it just didn’t look right at all. Particularly from the back and side. From the front, it looked ok. Any other direction though and you could see the assembly and missing puzzle piece. I went from defeated to pissed in a heartbeat.

It was here that I rage quit. I took the whole model, box, and paperwork and threw it in the garbage. So I am in the market for a new Ghost Rider… Guess we can cross that off of my backlog, eh?

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USS Yorktown

This was a trip down memory lane. I haven’t built a non-fantasy/sci-fi model in decades, and this Tamiya kit did not disappoint. It doesn’t have so many pieces and steps, but it was nevertheless challenging. For example; the masts are thin as a cats whiskers, and the larger anti-aircraft gun placements are all minuscule and are in multiple pieces. So care had to be taken with all of these.

And then there are the smaller AA guns. While their placements are built into the model, the barrels, on the other hand, were not. To complete the guns, you had three options:

1. Cut small pieces from supplied strips of thin plastic and glue them in place with tweezers
2. Cut small pieces from supplied copper wire and then clue them in place with tweezers
3. Say “fuck it” and do not mess with options 1 or 2.

While option 3 was wholly enticing, I opted for option 1. The copper wire that was supplied is incredibly malleable. Because of course it is, it is stupid thin. Honestly, I am not even sure why this was an option in the instructions. When I first opened the box and saw it, I thought it was for something else. I tried to use this wire for the AA guns exactly one time and promptly gave up. The plastic wire, while very thin and flimsy, does have some rigidity, particularly when cut into the barrel-sized pieces. This did not make it any less infuriating to accomplish, in terms of building. But I got it done, after losing a liter of sweat in the process.

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Painting

Victory At Sea

I had hoped to knock this core box set of models out quickly. Seeing as I had already built and primed the models about a year ago. And I say “built” loosely. These models are mostly one piece of resin. Only the larger ships have extra pieces. For those, the guns, conning towers, and cranes/seaplane catapults are all supplied on sprues. I primed all of these with Army Painter Uniform Grey to give a nice dark undertone to the lighter Navy Grey that would be painted over it.

As can be expected with naval vessels, a lot of grays were used. I had decided early on that I wanted a darker theme for the ocean waters of the bases. This was me being a history geek. The Imperial Japanese Navy were known for their night movements. And some of the battles that these two Navies participated in were some of the most chaotic night battles ever.

Project complete!! But I’ll delve more into that at a later date with a proper Project Complete writeup.

Misc

Shortly after finishing the Victory At Sea box life began to throw shit at me like a monkey at a zoo. And almost all project progress ground to a halt. I managed to pick up a brush again one particularly infuriating day, in hopes of calming down. I decided to try my already primed and shaded, kitbashed Warpsmith. I made some progress. But I don’t think I gave it the attention I really wanted considering.

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A Look Into My Backlog of “Projects”

I don’t feel that my accumulated projects fall into the category of “shame”. But I certainly have collected a small mountain of it since I returned to the hobby in late 2018. The bulk was purchased from then until the end of 2020. The pandemic lockdown induced shopping found me scrambling to find places to hid all of this shit. My closet being shit-hold, to the point of me now having any more space in there. I cut back my purchases significantly in the past two years. This was largely due to my hobby rut in 2021 and my tackling of new projects from start to finish in 2022. With that being said, my hobby area shelf/drawers and my closet were not in good shape. At least it was that way until I prepared this writeup.

In an absolute spur of the moment fashion, I decided to empty my closet, drag everything into the living room, and take stock. It took longer than expected, and I regretted it almost immediately. I devastated our living/dining/hobby room in the process. I began to aggressively sort stuff. I found boxes and boxes of leftover bits on sprues. As I was pawing through these relics from projects past, I found myself just saying, “trash them”. So I made a trash pile. I already have bits boxes that are brimming with shit I am not going to use.

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Projects

Iron Warriors

I legitimately have a fuck ton of Havocs. When they were released with the reaper chaincannon, I had to have a squad full of them. Well, there is only one per box, and finding them alone on eBay at that time was impossible. At least not for a reasonable price. So… I bought 4 boxes of Havocs. I have enough Havocs to make a loadout to match any army. All lascnannons, check. All Rocket Launchers, check. Heavy bolters and autocannons, yup. I also have a Heldrake that one day will see more than spray paint. It’s been built and magnetized for 4 years.

White Scars

Back in 2019 I had big plans for a 30K Scars army. But then I decided that I didn’t want that kind of burden. When I abandoned this project I had a lot of stuff built and primed. I bought a ton of Mk IV armored marines to convert the 25 bikes and 3 attack bikes I found in a lot on eBay. I also had some Forge World kits. I initially decided to make 40K Scars. But ultimately scrapped that as well. I am currently revisiting the idea of a 30K army, though.

*Abbadon obviously is a standalone project for a later date. The Vex Machinator is for my Iron Warriors. The Sicaran is most likely for 30K Scars. And the Defiler is just… there.

Deathwatch and Dark Angels(Fallen?)

I attempted to start Deathwatch in early 2021. That attempt came as a crippling hobby rut came over me, and I only completed a box of 5 Veterans plus one Dark Angels veteran to add to the squad. When I started digging stuff out of my closet, I was floored to find out that I had an entire Dark Angels force in there. Complete with characters. This started giving me ideas of doing a Dark Angels army instead of Fallen. Above, I mentioned my canceled 40K Scars. All of those vehicles could be used here. Hmm… There are also Chaos Marines in that box… Hmm…

Aeronautica Imperialis and Blackstone Fortress

I completed the Wings of Vengeance box set for Aeronautica some time ago. Then I bought some expansion models for the Orks and Imperial Navy’s fleets. A handful of those remain. Then the game fell off of my radar. In a completely impulsive move one day I bought the newest box set, Wrath of Angels, then proceeded to build a White Scars force. I even got the box set and the extra models primed. As for Blackstone Fortress. I own the core game and all expansions. Out of all of that I have painted two models. I also 3D printed all the terrain for the game. If I ever decided to work on this again, it will take some serious time.

Adepta Sororitas: Order of the Bloody Rose

Fantasy and Third Party Models

I am a big fan of Lord of the Rings, and have always wanted to try the game. But never ever got around to even building the models. In 2021 I bought a Dark Elves kit with a dragon. My plan was to make a diorama with it, and that fell through due to my aforementioned hobby rut. I have really wanted to paint a dragon since I was a kid. I will someday… The Stormdrake kit was bought when I got the idea to try to make a Dragonlance diorama. I really wanted to make Huma and Heart fighting Takhisis with the Dragonlance, but I still need to find a good multi-headed aspect dragon for the dark dragon queen.

When I first learned about Creature Caster, I was all about their stuff, and I proceeded to buy a lot. Which proceeded to get relegated to my closet. I’ve built and painted quite a few of their models. But sadly my backlog outweighs the output. Last year I found a Kickstarter with some really good looking models, and I backed them. They arrived, and never saw the light of day. I pulled one for this months project pool. But it will not happen.

Marvel: Crisis Protocol, Star Wars, Terrain and Scale Models

Crisis Protocol has quickly become one of my favorite platforms for models. I connect with the content a lot. Along with the expansions that I mentioned way above, I also have a ton of terrain, much was bought on eBay or 3D printed. But there is also the Apartment and the Fisk construction site. For Star Wars, I picked up much of this back last spring prior to our Star Wars month festivities. I finished exactly one model from that box set and two expansion boxes(totaling three models) on top of that.

The 40K terrain that I have is in a state of “don’t need” and “why did I buy this?” Seeing as I do not play this game. I think I was going with the idea of using the terrain in pictures. But I don’t know. Also, not pictured is the Necromunda terrain from the Underhive box. When it comes to scale models, the first one I have attempted in almost 30 years was talked about way above. The Yorktown. But I do have a few waiting in the wings.

Miscellany

This past year, on a whim I picked up a couple of boxes for games that peaked my interest. First was Bolt Action. A table top game set during World War II. Sold. I am all about it. I am probably going to be moving this to the top of my 2023 to-do list. Next is the Japanese contingent for Infinity. Tyson put the box in my hands when we went to one of his FLGS and I was sold as soon as I saw the models.

I have this box of random models in it. Most of which I have no idea why I bought them. A couple I picked up in Japan because they were rare in USA. Then there is the Space Marine Heroes models. I have both full sets. As well as many of the Warhammer Underworlds boxes. There are also two stand alone boxed games with miniatures, that I have as well not pictured. One was bought for the minis alone. The other, I have no idea why I bought it. It’s like a Gundam type thing.

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So there we are, that is my “shame”. But again, I don’t really think of it as “shame”, nor “awesome”. I am kind of a hoarder. That’s what it really boils down too. Every so often I go on these purges and offload or trash stuff. So, it’s not out of control. And I really am not buying much nowadays. And that really isn’t Copium. I have so many other hobbies that I dump money. So many… There are some small things that I overlooked, like my remaining Necromunda gangers. I may or may not ever do them. I am kind of happy where my Escher are as a painted unit. But who knows.

I hope you enjoyed this look into my backlog of projects, hopefully I can start to knock some of them ou…

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, CHAMP!

My First Backlogged Project: Space Orks

As I was putting my apartment back together in a hurry, I realized that I had forgotten the giant rifle case in the entryway closet. Not the closet where everything is stored. Contained inside this 25 year old Wal-Mart bought gun case is a shit ton of 2nd Edition Space Orks, Gorkamorka Boyz, and pewter models. I began chipping away at these guys back in 2020 as a palette cleaner, but as you can see, I am nowhere near close. Nor do I have ANY intentions on making a modern Ork army. But it is fun to occasionally paint up some of these old models.

So yeah, the Backlog Project will continue past January. Here’s hoping this month will be a catalyst to knock more out in 2023!