The Easy Stuff

Ok, well I made a little progress already on the list, and set myself backwards a little as well.

The Slag Troll is done, even thought I'm not super pleased with him. I don't really care for the model, so it's not a big deal, but I'll probably want to go back and fix him some day.

On the other hand, I painted Gunbjorn up, and he's looking mighty sexy (I should really take pics before I do these posts. Next time!). I really like the color scheme I worked out for him. It's got a military drab look to it, with a little Confederate grey-ish thrown in, but it's got a lot of spots of color so it doesn't look flat. His skin is a good blue color (the one I started with Borka and will now be my whole force's), he's got little brass buckles all over him, and his rockets are white, with yellow tips and red fins. I'm really pleased with him.

I also bought some new stuff from Brookhurst, which I'll have to fit into the schedule. I bought another blister to max out my Scattergunners, bought another Thumper Crew, bought another pack of Welps, the Runebearer (Troll Moses), and a Swamp Troll. The Scattergunners will get added to the rest of the unit when they get painted, and the Thumper will be a priority, not just because I friggin' LOVE that model, but also because it's needed for Gunbjorn's tier lists. I'm really looking forward to running a Troll ranged army with AD Thumpers and trenches.

I need to set an order I'm going to do the rest of these in, however flexible, so that I don't get paralyzed with indecision:
- Krielstone Bearer + UA (7 models)
- Pyg Bushwackers (10 models)
- Troll Impaler (1 model)
- Dire Troll Bomber (1 model)
- Scattergunners (10 models)
- Thumper Crew (3 models)
- Champions (5 models)
- Fennblades (10 models)
- Calandra (1 model)
- Pyg Burrowers (6 models)
- Runebearer (1 model)
- Welps (5 models)
- Swamp Troll (1 model)

Anyway, pics to follow.

Impossible Dream Challenge

Ok, so Privateer Press's Will Schick has proposed the IMPOSSIBLE DREAM challenge - 100 points of models painted in 4 weeks in November. That's pretty ridiculous, but it's some pretty damn good motivation. I have so many Trollbloods that need painting, and I think having a time table for it makes the impossible seem feasible, especially now that the move is done.

Here are the models that need painting, as well as their point costs, to my knowledge:

Impossible Dream Challenge

• Gunbjorn +5

• Calandra +5

• Slag Troll -6

• Dire Troll Bomber -10

• Troll Impaler -5

• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes (6) -3

  • Stone Scribe Elder -1

• Trollkin Champions (5) -10

• Scattergunners (6) -5

• Pyg Bushwackers (10) -8

• Pyg Burrowers (6) -4

• Fennblades (10) -8

Number of Models: 49

Days in November: 30

Models painted each day: 1.63

Points to be painted: 50 (after adding in Warlock points)

Some of these are partially painted, and some have been partially painted for months or even years. Regardless, this is a chance to make my force complete. There are certain models, like the Scatter gunners, where I actually have 8 (good ol' Mark I holdovers), and I'd like to buy 2 more and then paint all 10. Likewise, I'd like to get the Trollkin Scouts, another Thumper Crew, another Winter Troll, and plenty of other models that I simply don't have money for right now. If I paint up the majority of my Trolls, then I will feel not only less bad buying more models, but also more motivated to do things like complete some of the Tier Lists I'm very close to (Especially Gunbjorn's, Calandra's, and Borka's) with a few more models, which I can paint up when I get them and then have a largely completed and painted force. I'll also be free to do things like repaint my Mauler and some of my other stuff that simply hasn't held up to my more recent paint jobs as well as some other things.

Plus, then Jackie will give me less crap about all my unpainted models. And I gotta be honest - she's been a pretty huge motivation to paint. I'd like to have the kind of ability to run a fully painted army when I put models on the table that she has. I'm not sure I'll ever be as hard-lined about it as she is, but being able to play a fully painted 35 points in Hardcore at SoCal Smackdown was absolutely thrilling.

It's not even kind of 100 points, but it's far more important for me than an arbitrary army size. It may be an impossible dream, but it's one I'm going to try for.

That Old Pub Idea

Heh, I gotta say, an idea like this future pub is really tenacious. I've been thinking about it a lot, and getting some good ideas from people I talk to. This is mainly just for writing some of them down.

Drink Specials

- Stuff with cool names

-- "It comes in Pints?!"

- Wide selection of beers/drinks

- Home-brewed beers

Specialty Nights

- Pirate Night

-- Discounted drinks for talking/dressing like a pirate

- Fright Night

-- Cheesy old horror films

-- Zombie/monster themed drinks

- Star Wars Night

- Mostly just an excuse to have a cantina band

- Lady's Night

-- Costume contests

-- Dancers

-- Impressions?

- Game Night

-- Magic cards

-- Board games

-- RPGs

-- Specials for coming in costume/character

Contests

- Eating Contests

-- Pie eating

-- Wing eating

-- Hot dog eating

- Drinking contests

-- Oktoberfest style

-- Fastest downing of a pint

-- Holding up the beer mug?

Important Features

- Atmosphere

-- Needs to be relaxing, more than anything

-- A place for people to hang out, not to get smashed and yell at a TV/each other

-- Fun, casual

-- Nerdy/Geeky

- Drink Selection

-- Lots of beers

-- Soda fountain

-- Specialty drinks

-- Drink specials

-- Non-alcoholic drink specials (So the DD doesn't feel entirely left out)

- Food selection

-- Actively promoted, especially in conjunction with drinks

-- Relatively cheap

-- Hobbit style - 1st breakfast special, second breakfast special, first lunch special, etc

-- Themed foods

-- Also traditional bar foods (wings, etc)

- Few or no TVs

-- Maybe no TVs at all

-- Projector in the ceiling with pull-down screen

-- Or maybe just 1 TV

-- Possible video game nights?

-- Not focussed on sports

-- Trying to not have bros

- Stage

-- Small, but enough for a band

-- Live music should be important, even if only on weekends or something

-- Also used for contests

-- Big enough for a long table, at least

The Name

- Not entirely sure yet

-- Probably have "Tavern" in it

-- Maybe "Inn"

Anyway, these are just some ideas I've had, and other people have added to. The main idea is to make a place I would want to go to and hang out, and hopefully it'll attract more like-minded people. It might flop horribly, but it'll be years before I am able to bring enough capital and experience together to actually be able to make this a reality. So many people have told me how awesome it sounds, I'm hoping that with a little help from my friends building a fanbase, as well as some luck, and especially a good location (Right now it's seeming that it'll be either New York, Seattle, or SoCal) it could work.

I suppose in time I'll reach critical mass of ideas and it'll start planning itself. I'm not there yet, but hopefully some day all the little bits of thinking along the way will pay off and I'll have a great, detailed idea that just needs implementation.

Mostly I think I just want a drink special called "It comes in Pints?!"