ReaperCon - an overview

Why an overview?  I'll tell you.  Too much to separate out into day-by-day.

I took four classes.  Three were painting, one was sculpting.  From the painting classes I learned

• While I could get the really smooth color transitions I like seeing I don't want to put that much effort into painting them.
• I'm doing pretty much everything right for painting armies.  Adding some colored washes to the armor makes a huge difference for very little effort.
• Demi-metallics are really the way to go (using both pigment paint and metallic paint) in order to get the best of both worlds.
• Sculpting can be fun, if you have someone who can hold your hand.

I did speed painting (lost), Sophie Says (like Simon Says but with paint) and was picking paint off for days, did some color theory tests using the reformulated Reaper Pro Paints, cashed in a lot of pewter in exchange for a lot of pewter, helped a friend get what he wanted from the auction on Sunday, chatted with lots and lots and lots of people, now have the only Urban Legend Starmaine (unicorn) in existence, and all kinds of other stuff.

The after convention convention was a hoot.  I learned that approaching 21 again from the other direction doesn't help you bounce back like you used to.  And that sleep is an overrated commodity when there is so much fun to be had.

I can't wait for the next ReaperCon but have an entire year before it can happen.  I'll have to use that time to apply the classes I took and paint up some of that pewter I brought home.

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ReaperCon - Preconvetion

OK - today was the day before the convention actually starts.  I flew into Dallas this morning.  I remember part of the beverage service and the landing.  I guess I needed sleep.  I purposely took the seat next to the engine so that:

A) The white noise from the engine would be soothing.
B) The noise from the engine would prevent people from talking.

Both worked.  At one point the noise got annoying so I put in my earbuds and listened to music.  I made it half-way through the second song before I was asleep again.  That helped me be slightly more alert.

The directions from Yahoo had me using the toll road when there was a perfectly good non-toll road alternative.   Luckily I knew this from previous trips.  So I made it to the hotel with very little fuss.

My buddy got here Tuesday so we met up at the hot tub for some catch-up and some relaxation.  Make a note of this - pools in Texas generally aren't heated.  This can be quite a surprise after sitting in a hot tub for a while.  We found it easier to use the ladder into the deep end instead of the stairs at the shallow end.  The stairs gave us too much of a chance to chicken out.

It started to rain a bit while we were in the pool but no storm so we just waited it out.  It worked.  A couple of rounds of hot tub - pool really relaxed the muscles kinked up from days of prep, hauling around heavy luggage and sleeping in an airplane.

Reaper is nice enough to do a "meet and greet" with food for all the early arrivals.  They also gave us our convention packets so we don't have to clog up the official registration tomorrow.  There were some really fun things in the packets this year.  Two of the reformulated Pro Paints, some CAV cards, some other surprises.  The new Casketworks is not in color which seems like a throwback to the early days but it makes sense.  Only a few pages were in color.  Most of the catalog was black and white anyway.  Doesn't help the color swatches they used to have tho.

Most everyone had left by around 10:00 or so.  Getting back to the hotel I changed into my comfy clothes, poured a margarita (darn these small hotel cups) and set about fixing the pieces that broke off the Hirst Arts piece I brought as a gift.  ReaperClark kindly provided me a tube of two part epoxy so I didn't have to hunt around for a store this late at night.  Unfortunately as I fixed it all back up I noticed a missing brick at the join of one of the sections.  A completely missing brick.  Argh.  I'll have to give it to the person this way and send them the missing brick and that annoys me.  But it should also teach me to leave things until last minute.

I stopped at the package store to get my contribution to ShinerCon later this weekend.  For those not informed a 'package store' is a liquor store and ShinerCon is one night when we all meet in someone's hotel room and indulge in Shiner beer.  Shiner is a local brand of beer.  There's a secret handshake and some of us attach Shiner bottle caps to our badges the next day.  It's all part of ReaperCon.

The convention officially opens at noon on Thursday.  That lets me sleep in a little and hopefully hit that hot tub again.  I won't have time after that because I'm going to be at Reaper from 9:00am until around 11:00pm if last year is any indication.  And Sunday I'll be going directly from Reaper to visit my dad.  And don't think I won't be hitting the hot tub once I get to that hotel.  But I get ahead of myself.

Tomorrow I have one class on painting army highlights.  The rest of the day is mine.  There's games to play, people to chat with, painting to do, shopping to do, and otherwise just hang out.

I'll report back on Official Day One tomorrow.  I would add pictures but I can't get them from the camera to the computer I'm using here.  I could probably have used one of the adapters from home but the one that would have been easiest is USB 2.0 and this is an older computer that doesn't support it.  Ditto on the media player - I can charge it using the computer but not transfer files.

Margarita number three is almost gone so it's time to toddle off to sleep.

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Anyone got time they can give me? Not help, time.

Too much to do and not enough time!  How many times (hah!) have you heard that?

I leave for ReaperCon next week and pretty much immediately after I return we go on our first camping trip of the season.  We haven't really dredged out the camper for this year, I only have half the linens washed, the icebox needs to be scrubbed, etc.  We don't have a way to hook up power to the camper where it is so I can only work during daylight hours.  And there's no way I'm getting the last two curtains made before the first trip but that's less of an issue since they're replacement curtains.

Our weekend is half-booked so I'm really hoping I can use the other half.  Reeeeally hoping.

I need to finish painting and landscaping a piece I'm bringing to ReaperCon as a gift so that's also going to have to get done this weekend so it has time to dry before being packed.

So, if anyone can toss a day my way it would be greatly appreciated.

PS - the dandylions have won this round.  I will resort to chemicals to win the battle.

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The Shelf of Shame got a little lighter

No, I didn't complete anything.  That would be silly.

Instead what I did was thin it out.  There's a whole lotta stuff there that somehow ended up on the Shelf and isn't really anything I want to paint.

Anyhoo.  I'm heading down to ReaperCon in a few weeks.  That's the one time of the year when you can cash your pewter in ounce for ounce.  So my poor unwanted minis are going back into the melt pot and I'll come home with happy new minis.  That will once again take up residence on the Shelf of Shame.

And I also got around to looking at all the various Warlord factions sitting around.  Using the new data cards I sat down and pointed out my armies.  I dropped three factions completely because I had so few figures that it didn't make sense to keep them.  Or I would have had to invest in a complete command structure.  Or because I just didn't like them.

That leaves me with five factions.  They all need figures to complete them but not nearly as many as the others.  Plus with all the scrap pewter I should make up the difference easily enough.  I also have a bunch of minis still in their blister packs that can be traded at face value so I have no doubt I can get all the minis I have listed along with parts from the boneyard I have on my want list.

And that's one reason why I'm bringing two suitcases on my trip.

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Exchange mini/diorama is done!

I am so late on this but my partner was understanding.

I believe I have explained how a mini exchange works previously but I'll summarize here.  You sign up, you get a name, you paint a mini, you send it off.  Someone else paints a mini and sends it to you.  Fun all around.

I like to research what the person receiving my mini prefers.  I do this by searching the forum for things they've posted or commented upon.  Normally they give some guidance when they sign up (elves, females, etc.) but I like to do my own research too.

This time around I was paired with someone who only likes display minis.  This means they're part of a diorama of some kind and not meant for game play.  Hmmm....

I picked up a couple of the cheap wooden bases at the hobby store and started stacking blocks.  I came up with a spiral staircase on a round base.  The mini is a wizard walking down stairs.  Of course, the stairs weren't the same height as the ones I made but that can be worked around.  I mangled my first attempt at getting him off his integral base and my friend Erin took pity on me and sent me one already de-based.

Exchange Wizard

So he's walking down the stairs on one side of the diorama.  I needed something to fill the space on the other side.  Meet Mr. Rat.

Rat with Sack

He's quite happily nibbling away at whatever is in the sack.  From what I painted, I think it is dried berries.  You can see other sacks piled behind him under the stairs and the wooden support for the stairs themselves.  They just didn't look right without some kind of support.  So I made one.

For the full effect, have a look at the 360 degree 'movie' I made.

Display Base 02

I really hope she likes it and I really hope my next exchange partner isn't into display bases.  But it's been fun.

Oh - the lantern is from an adventuring accessories pack and the hanger was made by my friends Abaroth and KeeblerOrc with their fun laser cutter.  That's actually a candle holder but I didn't put that part on it.  I needed a lantern hook.

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Little founts are finally done

I've been working on these off and on for a while.  I wanted some decorative little founts to toss around the dungeon (not literally toss but scatter decoratively) and I had some casts from the oh-so-wonderful Hirst Arts Cavern Accessories Mold so I decided to have a little fun.  Of course, this was after I decided on my 'no new projects' way of doing things.  Like anyone thought that was going to happen.

Alabaster Fount 02

This shows the fountain and the 'water' I used.  I tried something different this time.  Instead of using resin I tinted gloss varnish and used that to put in a layer of water.  As you can see, all the varnish went to the edges of the piece.  Not quite what I had in mind.  I still used 5 minute epoxy for the water from the spout but didn't really do a froth where it hit.

Alabaster Fount 01

This was my first attempt at alabaster.  I think it is decent enough for a first time.  The next time I do this I need to stipple the base coat so it isn't such a flat ivory.  So I'll probably stipple with something at least two shades darker and then work on the striations.

Backstory.  I have time to think whilst making and painting these things.  And that was a lot of marble to paint.  I actually made four of these founts so it was a lot of assembly line work.  Rastl doesn't like assembly line work.

I wasn't being particularly careful on painting the marble so it isn't the best quality.  And the lion heads all have some air bubbles.  Without the stippling the alabaster is certainly second rate.  So here's my explanation for all that.

The contractors building the dungeon must get pieces in the job lots that just aren't up to the standards needed in the BBEG's lair.  But they already paid for it and had it hauled down to the job site.  So rather than waste it they make up things that will be useful in various 'staff' areas of the dungeon and not really seen all the time by the guy who pays the bills.  Now, you would think that the contractors would be doing their very best not to cheese off the BBEG but there's a pretty strong dungeon builder's contractor's union and there are very steep penalties for turning the contractors into undead (sub-contractors need to work out their own arrangements) so it's just easier all around for the less-than-perfect pieces to go into the less visible areas of the dungeon.

And if you're wondering, acrylic paint really doesn't have fumes so I don't have that excuse for what I just wrote.

Note - BBEG is the abbreviation for Big Bad Evil Guy.  Essentially the reason for most quests and the fella you find in the center of the dungeon doing bad guy things.

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Army Exchange Work in Progress Shots - Continued Some More

Got the reds pretty much done and started on the metallics.  At least, figured out what will be silver and what will be gold and got the silver started.

I feel the red/orange went on a little chalky and I need to deepen the shadows just a tad but overall I think it will work.  This shot is a little dark so I hope to have a better one up in a day or so.

Metals will be a combination of silver and gold.  Technically both are neutrals so I'm good with having them both on there.  Then it's just cleanup and I can call them done.