The First in Lockdown

[G8Keeper]

So guys, I'm back working from home again for the second time. I've got a bit more time to dedicate to hobby thanks to less commute time (still have to take the snotling to his nursery) and have found myself diving into my painting. What I really miss is the gaming aspect as well as the friends I play against (don't tell them, they'll get big heads).

 

What are you all doing to stay sane and sate your hobby hunger? How are you maintaining contact with your gaming groups? How long have you spent gawking and the new Lion mini? Let's have it, all things lockdown mkII.

[UtariOnzo]

I admit I didn’t do a whole lot hobby wise during the main UK lockdown, but I have got on with the Liber Martial competition and my custom DA successors, along with finishing up some Dark Angels Primaris units lately I still have the SC:Vanguard box to finish up, the Elite starter SM contents (Sans captain/master) and my made to order Indomitus units when they arrive.

 

Gaming wise I’ve done the odd bit of Tabletop Sim while in store matches are still banned.

Edited September 25, 2020 by UtariOnzo

[bevulf]

I've been mostly working from home for about six months now. We do not have the second lockdown in Poland and it won't probably happen. I had some more time to work on my angels both in 30k and 40k. I started some more primaris and finally was able to finish my cenobium knight for 30k (will update my thread in minutes). I do not play any games with them so painting is the only aspect of the hobby that I am focused right now. 

 

As for the Lion I pre-ordered him on the first day the pre-orders were up but he still hasn't arrived. I am a little bit worried because two weeks have passed and normally it takes 5 days for any package to arrive from UK

 

Fingers crossed he shows up next week ! 

 

Stay healthy everyone !

Edited September 25, 2020 by bevulf

[Berzul]

I've been scouring the shops, online and offline, trying to find all the paints I need to start once more, with painting. Ive been at it for... Almost 4 months? Still can't find everything I need.

 

At this rate, it will be 2021 before I can pick up a brush, so considering time I nees to learn again how to even do this...? My 5th "Primaris" Company should begin indoctrination into the chapter, around July next year, I think.

 

In the meantime, my whatsapp group with my gaming buddies, this forum, and you guys, keep me happy and optimistic about the hobby as a whole :D

Edited September 25, 2020 by Berzul

[G8Keeper]

It seems like there's some similarities to people's situations worldwide. I've seen a lot of painting been done but only the wargame youtubers and the odd tournament still seem to actually be playing the game (tabletop sim not included).

[Fierce Bear]

The army building and painting has been both a great way to zone out from it all (kids to bed and a couple of hours with YouTube and the painting mat is a welcome end to the day. Worked on my Ravenwing mostly though there are also worrying rumours in my sector, a tendrill of Hive Fleet Kraken appears to have begun scouring nearby world's, my DA seem to struggle to reach the same battle grids before they have mysteriously left!?!).

 

RL work has actually been busier than ever (IT/Cloud computing is demand, who'd have thought) so no furlough sadly... What I mean is I still have a backlog

[FarFromSam]

Go play. Live your life, enjoy the extra time while you have it. And perhaps, get your own gaming table set up so you can have friends over.

[G8Keeper]

We have a local lockdown here (Birmingham UK) so sadly I can't have any of my usual opponents over for a game. I may well be getting a game in this evening vs the Mrs though so that should be fun.

 

My usual group of gamers is 6 strong so we were at one point looking at hiring out a hall, but everywhere was closed with no chance of any bookings. Hey ho!

 

My hobby time has vastly increased as I mentioned in the first post. I'm working from home too (semi IT, mainly producing catalogue content these days) but I do manage a sneaky bit of hobby, not just on the evenings. Now, my backlog is such that I haven't made an appreciable dent, even with managing around 2k points or so since lockdown, but I'm now onto Indomitus, which is good for me

[Berzul]

It's been hard with the lockdowns.

 

In my regular gaming group there are six of us players, and one guy who only paints, but enjoys the camaraderie of it all. We have a very varied group too! White Scars and Sisters of Battle, Necrons and Ravenguard, Tyranids and Genestealer Cults, T'au, Black Legion and Deathguard, and myself with my Dark Angels.

 

Thing is, even as the lockdowns where I live have been ending, our White Scars and Sororitas player and our Tyranid and Genestealer Cults player, both work at different government offices, so they are constantly exposed to the virus, and they can't really meet up. Our T'au player flies overseas every other week, so he is also way too exposed, so he is unable to meet up. The Necron and Ravenguard player is willing, but he is the one who lives the farthest from us all. That leaves my Chaos friend, with whom I have played a couple of times.

 

In our group, I am usually the host. I have the largest gaming table, and I have the most terrain (not to brag, because its like 70% unpainted, but I can fill two apocalypse sized boards all on my own, and perhaps even three), so I am used to having people over frequently. The situation has been tough... What makes it sadder is that I have a small gym set up for myself to train on week nights? And it is right by the closets and cabinets I keep my whole terrain collection, so every night I spend an hour training while staring at my terrain pieces, all dusty and unused... And I have nowhere else I can set this "gym" up in the apartment, so I am stuck watching it all gathering dust.

[G8Keeper]

I feel for you Berzul. It feels to me like a large part of my life has been put in hold. I know it's only a game etc etc, but this thing has helped me through some really tough times.

 

Maybe there's something to be done i this community? Like a kind of mutual support thing, even some form of informal painting or modelling challenge? Maybe even involving terrain, or even a mass data gathering session once we know what kind of rules DA get in the marine codex?

 

One good thing about what's going on at the moment is I have a fair bit of holiday time saved up, I may take some as purely hobby days.

[WrathOfTheLion]

I've been mainly working on Space Wolves over the past bit of time. I almost have everything for them completed, which will let me move on to other projects, which will be great.

 

A friend and I are also starting to get bigger into Horus Heresy, so we're both working on armies for that. The I Legion is going to be my main for that, but been doing a lot more with the XVII/Word Bearers, as he's starting with Ultramarines.

 

Going to have a good time making a dreadwing force though, already started working on making some MK III destroyers out of a despoiler kit.

Edited September 26, 2020 by WrathOfTheLion

[Sandalphon]

We're not locked down as hard as it was here in Sydney but my company is still playing at safe and have only recently returned to work after 6 months or so but i'm continue to work from home. Mainly being as painter/ collector I thought I'd find more time for this recent-ish hobby rebirth, and at first I managed to get a lot done, 30-40 RT beakies at tabletop level, stripped a bunch of 2nd ed. metal stuff ready to get going, but that ended around May.

 

3 months later and still in relative isolation we've sold our apartment, bought a house, have a second kid on the way, not to mention the increased workload, (working on project spilt between hemispheres makes it a 24hr thing :/) - it's screwed time to nearly zero.

 

With all my stuff between places/ in storage I stayed connected to the hobby by living vicariously through a lot of people's projects here on this and other B&C forums, trawling Pinterest for 40k and ebaying stuff "that I will one day paint." In a way it helped me refocus the projects I wanted to keep going with and also support people on theirs.

 

Now that we're settling in and unpacking everything I've finally got a hobby desk set up and have started up again (as of last weekend). It's not all there yet and half my stuff is still in my brothers garage but it will get there. I've got about 2 months until the new arrival so hopefully I can make the most of it!

 

Good to hear how others have been pushing through, I do miss the social side of the hobby but haven't really been part of a group like that since high school, I can see how how the lockdown would affect it but at least the hobby has enough aspects to keep engaged in solo mode. Good luck all and keep sharing!

[Berzul]

Over here, the social side has been replaced by Tabletop Simulator for some (though, aside from some kill team matches, I just cannot get on board with 40k on TTS... it just doesn't work for me, to be honest), and just general discussion and banter through whatsapp for the rest. With those who paint sharing their projects constantly.

 

Thing is, over here in Chile we are getting close to a big referendum to redo our constitution? And on October comes the anniversary of last years riots (which are the ones that led to this referendum). We have had a very politically tumultuous year, with political extremism wreaking havoc one way and the other. So, now my gaming group is becoming like 50% hobby, and 50% politics, and although we keep it polite and respectful, and even comical, it has drained a lot of the joy out of these procedures.

 

I can only hope I can find the paints I still lack, so that I can at long last begin to join the paint side of the hobby, and find some joy amidst the chaos.

 

But, for me, the game is about the game more than the painting, so not having who to play against is tough. Really tough.

 

This week it had happened that 3 other players from my gaming group had managed to be both in sufficient quarantine periods and free to meet up and play! So we planned a whole gaming day of 3 to 4 rounds of incursion matches, at my apartment. We planned a scenario structure, pre-determined boards, pre-determined and debated lists, snacks and alcohol, the whole thing! It was going to be GREAT!!!

 

... BUT THEN, life and parental responsibilities came into play last minute. One guy had an opening unlock for the vaccinations of his 6 month old daughter the day before our games, and the shots came attached with an obligation for family-wide isolation for a week and a half. So, the whole thing fell apart.

 

I just want to play...

[Angel of Solitude]

Awww Berzul - that's rubbish. Hope you manage to re-arrange it again soon. Nothing replaces playing in person, and while TTS plugs a gap, it's just not the same. I played two games on TTS during this time, and it just wasn't enough for me to want to do any more.

 

As for my lockdown experience, once our club shutdown in March, we quickly swapped 40k for board games with a weekly session on boardgamearena.com. Sure it wasn't 40k, but I think many at the club were fatigued with 8th ed. I wasn't so much, but I think I've benefited from painting more and playing less - I feel I'm a much better painter than I was 6 months ago.

 

At the start of September, the council gave the go-ahead for our club to open back up again, so I've managed 3 gamesof 9th ed so far. It's a bit odd having to wear a mask for the whole time, and continually sanitising your hands, but it's been good to see my club mates again, to push actual models around the table, and to also get to grips with 9th Ed!

 

As of last week, we're now subject to some increased local restrictions, as cases are on the rise. Our club can still continue due to the "COVID Secure" status of the venue, but I think I'll drop down to playing once every other week, to minimise my risk. I don't mind it so much, as I've just this evening base coated the marine half of the Indomitus box! I'm also reluctant to invest too much into 9th ed until at least the Space Marine codex, and possibly the Dark Angels supplement.

 

I've also agreed with some friends to play a 40k Crusade, so I'm going to try and organise that over the next few months, with a view to starting after Christmas.

[Brother Bahram]

In Sweden there is not realy a lock down.

We have this social distancing (1-2m) and no face mask

In my gaming group (6 to 8 persons) we play once a month.

We have played 1000pts. This is a fun amount of points to play with.

Like a lot.

 

On this sunday, we are starting an Escalation League.

This is good for me.

For a long time my regular DA has been in boxes several years, and now I have been "forced" to paint them.

 

I´m going to discuss if they are with me to start an Crusade.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Brother Bahram