(Lead) Mountain Musings - Monster May(hem) 2024

'A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, and mythology.'

As I'm currently struggling with my hobby mojo somewhat, I felt it might be prudent to forgo trying to focus upon one (or two) specific manufacturers this month, and simply join the colossal carnage which is the Angry Piper's annual "Monster May(hem)" challenge over on his marvellously titled "Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging" blog. This will hopefully help recharge my ailing batteries and potentially make some big circular base-shaped holes on my painting table.

In addition, the move may jump-start my flagging interest in 3D printing, which has perhaps unsurprisingly stalled on account of all the STL (Standard Triangle Language) files I currently collect monthly from the various subscription services I support on both "Patreon" and "Tribes". Obviously as mere digital sculpts my backlog is effectively 'out of sight and out of mind' - at least until I visit my library on "MyMiniFactory". But I also have a few boxes stacked full of grey-coloured cured resin ready for a lick from my brush-tip as well - a visible deterrent if ever there was one for producing anything more.

"Big Mr Tong" WIPs - This Laputian Robot Trooper has been primed, base-layered and shaded

As a result I have already hooked out a few big beasties to pigment over the next four weeks. The rules for the challenge are quite simple in that "any monster will do", regardless of it being a non-fantasy figure or sized at any particular scale. To begin with I therefore thought I might see how quickly I can progress a couple more 28mm scale Laputian Robot Troopers by "Big Mr Tong". I first printed/painted one of these mechanical monstrosities back in November 2023, and have frankly been itching to get some more tabletop ready ever since.

I actually own various variants of the giant automatons which featured in Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film "Laputa: Castle in the Sky", so certainly wouldn't be adverse to working my through the rest of the range if, in the long run, it actually helps build up my motivation to chip away at my perilously tall pile of potential. Likewise, I have a thriving menagerie of creatures previously produced from the STL stalls of "Artisan Guild" and "Titan Forge Miniatures", which I aim to at least pick away at whenever the fancy takes me too.

April 2024 - "Black Tree Design" continues to dominant due to my interest in "Doctor Who"

To be fair April has traditionally always been a time of low productivity in my personal hobbying, as I've usually only just come off the back of a tiring three-month battle to attain my target tally in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC). However, as I left that event much earlier than usual this time round, I had hoped that there might have been a bit more air still left in my sails to finally finish off a few long-lingering projects, or at least get a couple more Napoleonics completed.

As for the future I don't sadly see anything particularly grabbing my attention and sending me into a furious paint-brush wielding frenzy. I have rather naughtily picked up some reinforcements for my "Horus Heresy" army, as well as a few more miniatures from the seemingly relentless figure factory known as "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". But all these models have been 'safely packed away' so they don't impinge upon the long line of "Games Workshop" and "7TV" inspired miniatures I already have snaking their way across my hobby table.