The 2025 TFNation Manchester Mini-Con

So, for this mini-con, I was trying to do two things. 1) Minimise overall stress by making it a two-nighter, and 2) try to fit in a touch more socialising around the edges. I was again helping out Toy-Fu, so I was sure of my presence  being a net positive for the world, but I was mindful of how the last few conventions went. I.e. having a busy time, with endless travel difficulties on either side. So the plan was to take a direct lunchtime train to Manchester on the Friday, and return via Sheffield on the Sunday. I would enjoy buffet breakfasts, try to talk to people more, pull my weight on the stall, but not rush off on the Saturday.  I even got a new, bigger, backpack so I wouldn't have to faff with multiple bags. Did it work? Well...

Friday started with a quick haircut, and a breif walk through Nottingham town for supplies. Weather: lovely. Went to a chip shop too. Freshly made, also lovely. The train was however late to depart, they had to add carriages, which had me worried at first, but nothing major. I settled down to enjoy some super robot wars. After a brief battle with google maps, I found the Premier Inn, which was happily almost adjacent to the convention venue. I spent the evening with the Toy-Fu team, which would be a recurring theme of the weekend. They're good lads. We ended up in the hotel bar, and I ended up having an early night. It was noisey, and the bar was disorganised. I was then up in the night, yay.

Saturday was a pleasant but ultimately busy experience. My buffet breakfast was nice enough, and I joined the setup. Its always a bit of a blur with these events, but much good  was done for charity. I'm told that we took 2 grand in the course of the first 15 minutes, and generally shifted most of what we brought. I saw a couple of good friends, one of which I hadn't seen in person for a while. By the end of the day, things had gone sufficiently well, that packing the stall up was a stress free environment, and by about 5:20pm, we retired to the hotel bar. We were in a corner this time, so it was a nicer experience, at least to begin with. After comparing notes and indulgences, I called it a night 4 hours later, but I wasn't the first to do so. I was up in the night again, yay, but Sunday was a largely leisurely experience. I met someone for brekkie, and unfortunately the first train proved to be packed, but the second was quite chill.

So, did I manage to have a less stressful and more sociable time? Generally so, but I need to try harder. I'm still passive and shy, and this experience has reminded me how much I dislike noisy places, but I did try. The trains in England also remain a nuisance, although that's largely out of  my hands to influence. Going for two nights did take the pressure off though, so I can say its a success on that level.

So what toys did I get? Honestly not many. It's a small event, and the big retailers were not present. I did however get the following:

Transformers Studio Series Bumblebee Movie Ironhide: a somewhat unnecessary release, but I do like the design.

Dr.Whu Evil Dragon: a rare third party release for me, I picked this up as an expensive indulgence, and was honestly impressed by it. I mean, an unauthorized, cutesy Transformers toy that is also a Beastbox? Its surprisingly good for what it is.

Microman Kirrin: I like to buy at one random thing that I did not expect to see, and this defies easy description.

There may be articles in some of these, but I dunno.

Project Draftdodger: Part 10

See here for part 9.

Well, the convention went OK. I should have a write up on that posted on Sunday. In the main time: Pictures.

 

As I spoke a lot about the Artillery last week, I only have so much to add today. The gun barrels remain removable for ease of transport, and for potential use as a Heavy Mortar. My initial experiences suggest that might be the way to go, as while one of these did take down a War Walker in one go, its a fairly inconsistent weapon even if its the best looking one.

With the Artillery Teams done, I feel Project Draftdodger has come to a natural conclusion. I've expanded my forces, and built a few of the new units. I have 100+ assorted infantry, and a brace of vehicles. My guard force is complete enough that it is now a tactical experience more than a modelling experience. I will likely add to it further, but its no longer a weekly thing. What I need to do now is actually play a 2k game, but that will happen when it happens.

 

As to what I'll do next? At time of writing, I dunno. I've been tempted back to Orks again by that new More Dakka detachment. On both first impression and deeper analysis, its fucking broken in at least two ways, and somebody ran the numbers, so I'm not rushing to build models for it. I am however doing an inventory of my forces to see how easily I could field a 1k army. Its looking to be far easier than I thought, but there's a lot of stuff either obsolete or in need of repair. I've avoided doing this as I feared it would both be a slog and uninteresting from a modelling perspective, but there might something in this as an interim activity. Or as a trip to a charity shop.

 

But I also need to do real life stuff, so who knows?

Project Draftdodger: Part 9

See here for part 8.

OK, let's talk about these Artillery Teams, now that the missing parts have arrived. The models here are “Heavy Siege Artillery for 28mm Wargames” by Watcorp designs, a 3D print enterprise akin to the much-missed Culverin Models. They mostly do their own thing, designing seemingly in-house, but do more in the way of overt proxies and add-ons. These models are a well-timed alternative to the new GW Artillery Team, coming in at about 38% of the price. Admittedly, these lack crew and two of the weapon options, but those are the unpopular guns and you'll likely be kitbashing anyway. Its a mixed resin affair, and generally good in terms of detail, and basic design. Its somewhat less good with respects to parts fit and the brittleness of the resin. Think something close to Ramshackle Games' product, but 3d prints. You will have to do prepwork and work around imperfections, and I had a hard time trying to get things level. I've been back and forth as to where these sit on the "cheap & cheerful" versus "you get what you pay for" spectrum. Had these arrived complete the first time, I would have likely declared these to be 3 stars out of 5 and been more forgiving of production flaws.  At present, its been less fun than I might have liked. Would I buy again from Watcorp Designs? Possibly. They did make things right, and I think there's reason to keep an eye on them, but maybe try one of their vehicle kits first? As long as none of these start weeping uncured resin, they're probably fine.

Now, due to time constraints and complexity, I didn't quite get these finished in time for my cut-off. While the actual guns are done via the spraycan method, there's three crewmen, sandbags and other accoutrements that need to be painted separately. I used some leftover Bulldogs for the crew, and decided not to texture the bases as I needed flat surfaces, and there was gonna be enough crap on those as it was. I tried to get the sandbag looking like the same material as the rags I have on my infantry; the rationale is that it you're on a battlefield wearing hi-vis orange, you have to improvise a cloak from something. I hope to get these finished off next week, although I am away that weekend.

 

In other news, the March Balance Dataslate landed, and certain negative stereotypes are at play with respects to GW's rulings. There have been various changes to hamper the over-tuned and over-achieving Bridgehead Strike detachment, which would be fine if this didn't hamper the other detachments too. Like by making Heavy Weapon Teams more expensive. Oh, and Krieg Engineers got worse, but remained the same price. It was a very blunt experience from the Guard perspective, all stick, no carrot, and doesn't help with the impression that quality control was lacking for the codex. Still, these things happen, and suspiciously the new artillery teams I’m painting were untouched....

Up next: the home stretch.

Project Draftdodger: Part 8

See here for part 7.

 

This is gonna be a shorter update than usual. Partially because I was doing another unit of infantry, and partially because something went wrong.

I don’t have a huge amount to say about the infantry. I’ve done a lot lately. An odd thought stuck me though: painting and modelling a bunch of battleline infantry has given me a new perspective on the whole Super Prototype trope. You do inevitably simplify and streamline the process. Because, frankly, if you're doing a big number of something, fiddly bits that look good have severely diminishing returns. Thus this new Krieg blob is less impressive from a painting/modelling perspective, but they don't look worse for me omitting the hoses. They came out OK, and were much less of a slog than I feared. These are built to use the Death Korps of Krieg rules, and will probably see combat once I get around to playing a 2K game.

I would like to have talked about my new artillery teams today, but there was a problem. Certain bits were missing, to the point where one could not be assembled. This caught me on a bad day, and the seller is making it right, so I don't want to go off on one about it. I'll talk about them as actual models next week, by which time I'll be over the inconvenience and more pragmatic about the experience. As first impressions go though, its a little going to shake a man's hand, only to trip, fall, and headbutt him in the dick on the way down.

 

That wonderful image aside, these artillery units were intended to supplement or replace my existing indirect options by focusing on what is probably their most desirable weapon, the Siege Cannon. This splits the difference between an Earthshaker and a Lascannon, and should be a useful tool. Assuming the bits arrive soonish, I might be able to play test them in time for next week.

Cross your fingers.

Blog Update: March 2025

Well, as you may have noticed, I'm not posting on Sundays right now. How did that happen? Uhh. I had to think about why. Its tempting to point my finger at the Xmas period. I basically stopped writing for a month plus, in an attempt to get a better work/life balance. It was a mixed success, Xmas was a right old slog but I coped, and maybe I just got out if the habit of writing. And because I like to run with a buffer, and had quite a surplus now I think of it, its taken a while for the absence to be felt.  Some potential articles got trashed too, some just not working out. I had to return two(!) Transformers due to factory faults, it was shocking. In terms of mental health, I'm doing OK, trying to push on with Real Life, but I did find myself mildly surprised about my drop in output. Then again, Project Draftdodger has been a fine distraction and source of material. If one that demands regular-if-brief updates as opposed to deeper work. Its not so much that I’m not writing, its more that I’ve gone hard on the armymen, and I’ve not had much to say about Transformers as the new lines for this year aren’t out yet. I am a creature of habit, and a habit got broken.


Here’s what I’ve decided to do. At time of writing, Project Draftdodger is approaching a natural conclusion, so I'll use that as an opportunity for a soft relaunch. That will come on April 6th, hopefully giving me enough time to rebuild my buffer. This should also mean some more variation in blog content. Here’s a short list of what I’m considering currently.


I should have something to say about TFN Manchester.

A look at Legacy United Wheeljack (No, not that one.)

A Gaslands car. I’ve picked up the odd car on impulse, and its usually relaxing.

Possibly something on Super Robot Wars J, I’ve been playing it again recently.

The aftermath of Project Draftdodger.

Maybe some tactics articles, what the hell.

Or I could just pack it all in? Well, we’ll see.

Project Draftdodger: Part 7

See here for part 6.

With today's instalment, the end is in sight. I've deviated from my initial plan with respects to the Krieg Heavy Weapons, yes, but otherwise its largely done. This leaves me with the somewhat mundane matter of my new battleline unit that I last mentioned in part 4. Its not especially interesting as a model making experience, nor is it opening up anything new from a gameplay perspective. But, boys before toys. Or girls before toys, in this case. This unit will bring my basic infantry total to 90, or 9 battleline units, which is likely all I'll ever need. For these, I've opted for a simplified gasmask style that I’d previously used for my Stargrave Cadians, as well as some Iron Brother heads I had spare. This is to speed the process, as I'll likely spend two weeks on these as it is. There’s not much to say otherwise, its the dull part of the project, its not gonna be difficult, its just a matter of maintaining motivation. Doing the first four main colours on Sunday afternoon for example was an hour’s work, the tricky bit was getting going. And once they’re done, 2000 point battles will be within comfortable reach.

Providing most of today's actual pictures: I also finished off the quad guns, plus assorted hangers-on, from last week. My previous difficulty aside, the guns came out well. I even did up the assorted screens and sensors with a mix of technical and contrast paints. With the parts I have left, I can likely make a trio of flamethrowers as originally planned, although as I’ve yet to resolve the wheel issue, that’s still on hold. I did field this unit, along with the Ratlings, on Monday night to mixed success. The quad guns survived and dakka-ed some Swooping Hawks to death, while the Ratlings established a locus and then died. For that game, I played against type, and left all my tanks at home. Did it work? Short answer: I won the game so there's probably some potential there, but I want to see if I can repeat the experience before making any judgements. EDIT: Also I need to read up on reserves, I've gotten rather confused.

What I’m planning next is to move away from infantry a bit, and add more artillery. I’ve found a suitable proxy for the new Krieg Artillery, although at time of writing these models are still in the post. I'll talk about that more next week. All being well, Project Draftdodger will come to a natural conclusion circa part 10.

Then I have to figure out something new to do...

Project Draftdodger: Part 6

See here for part 5.

 

I did manage to get a game in last week, although that was after my cut-off so I didn't talk about last time. Having had a few days since to process, I'll talk about the experience a bit now.

This was a 1000 point battle against Aelderi, and we were both new to our armies, although we played against each other a lot previously. I lost 70ish to 50ish, forgot to note the precise number, but a result I can live with. This was a learning experience all-round, and if I were to highlight the area where I made a bad call, it would likely be playing as the attacker, in addition to not getting ideal missions. My army list is also in need of further refinement, as my list wasn't that different from my typical index list. Now, the trick here is to not overreact to a single game. Or indeed two games, as I managed to work in another the evening before this post went live, and in that one I tabled my foe and felt very bad about doing so. Its too small a sample size, and in the absence of something clearly unambiguous, its too soon to tell. I would however make some small observations. First off, the Siege Regiment is a more involved affair than the Index, you need to think a turn or so ahead, but the stratagems and enhancements are worth using. Krieg Combat Engineers seem pretty good. They do similar objective/mission work to Catachans, but with an aggressive number of mortal wounds dispensed. They die easily, but what’s new? I’m not super impressed with Krieg Command Squads, at least in conjunction with big Krieg blobs. There’s still things I want to try, but I’m beginning to suspect the new Krieg units in general haven’t been “pushed” as it were. That’s good, it helps with internal balance, but I suspect the meta hasn’t settled yet. That might mean me reworking my infantry again, <sigh>, although I have built in some redundancy, so that shouldn’t be too annoying.

 

Tactical musings aside, this week was characterised by real life taking priority, and a subsequent desire to catch up with painting. I worked on the Krieg Commands, where upon I had what I'm choosing to call a happy accident. I failed a spot check, and I used dark green where I should have used dark grey. This was an easy fix, but I decided to leave it as-is on places like the Officers great coats. Its not massively out of place to have green military fatigues, so we shall just assume that these were "liberated", plus it helps models stand out versus the rank and file. Speaking of fuck-ups, I also worked on the quad guns. I opted to use the same green there, but in doing so I noticed some assembly mistakes that were a nuisance to correct. I just seem to have had a hard time in getting these together, although I’m glad I didn’t paint these in sub-assemblies. Yes, it would have made some things easier, but I think I would have lost my temper trying to glue these only to find that things didn’t fit.

 

I managed to get the Krieg Commands finished, while the quad guns (plus a few hangers-on)  are a few steps behind.  I’m not 100% happy with the Grognard style heads, the lenses don’t really stand out, but they are entirely tableworthy.

Up next: finishing the quad guns, and that battleline squad, but I think I’ll need to mix things up soon for variety’s sake.