It was a day unlike any other...

...when I began posting again!

I'm not dead! News which should be a relief to my legions of adoring fans. No, I've just been a bit wrapped up in work for the past couple of months with it being coursework deadline season. It's now exam season which is when I've done my bit cajoling, motivating and marking and it's over to my students to deliver.

This means a bit more spare time for me and I can get back to the time consuming business of blogging.

And what have I been busy with?

This!

Gotham City is born!

As you can see, I'm perhaps in need of another couple of buildings and other features (I've got some chain link fences in process as I type) short of a real cityscape but I'm really happy the board is taking shape.

As you can see, there are people on the streets. I decided to take some pictures of my Batman miniatures. Not much new here, but you can see how my different gangs are getting on.

Btw - apologies for the quality of the pictures. I'm stuck with my phone and poor lighting.

First up, the Bat-Family on a day trip to the park.

Next, Joker's Crew piling out the van at Axis Chemicals (unfortunately the white faces don't play well with the flash). Observant readers will spot that I've done two new clowns so this crew with the addition of a free agent or two is probably ready to rumble.

And now, my motley League of Shadows featuring Talia Al Ghul, Killer Croc (who may not stay with this gang) and Scarecrow (who will). Bane (the Dark Knight Returns version) is currently on the painting table, which is why Croc may not be staying. But don't worry about him, I'm sure his talent will be of use to others.

Gotham's Finest (again with glare issues). This is a complete crew although I do need to address a couple of problems. I need to sort some decals for the cruiser, I need to convert one of the SWAT assault rifles into a shotgun and the police station needs a door!

And here's a motley collection of others. The Riddler, Mr Freeze and Firefly backed  by a couple of thugs who are destined to be part of my all-Heroclix-we've-got-nothing-to-do-with-movies-or-console-games Penguin Crew, the rest of whom are on the way.

Now, after all that, the more comic-booky amongst you may be wondering why I opened with a reference to Marvel's Avengers and the proceeded to discuss DC's Batman.

The reason is that I've begun another project...

Avengers Assemble! Iron Man! Hawkeye! (in purple Dame Edna glasses...that'll be a shock to those who've only seen the movie). Speed!

Who?

Speed.

Who?

Never mind.

I bought the Iron Man and Hawkeye models from Crossover a week before Knight Models released their own Iron Man and Wolverine miniatures at the start of a Marvel line in the same scale as their Batman stuff. This small purchase has served to defend me against. Buying another range of extremely expensive miniatures (although I have bought a mahoosive Hulk).

All this means that my own Marvel project will be conducted in 28mm and so won't be compatible with the Batman miniatures. So I've decided to base them differently as well and enable me to use the cops and civilians from my Zombie project with them. I've also decided to not use any Heroclix models as part if the project (Speed is the only one) as I don't already own them and I'm enjoying hunting through different manufacturers for models to use.

An example of this approach can be found in my HYDRA agents.

The HYDRA goons are from Crossover Miniatures. The Wrecker (yes, I know he's not with HYDRA) is a lightly converted Crossover mini. Viper is actually one of the plastic female survivors from Wargames Factory. And yes, this is the worst photo of the lot.

Well, that's what I've been painting, apart from a Bolt action Soviet force which I'll post pictures of when I've finished. In terms of gaming, my losing streak in Attack Wing continues unabated, and we've been playing lots of boardgames.

That's all for now. Triples beckons at the weekend and I sense that I may get a bit spendy this year...