Welcome to this year’s penultimate (that means second-last for the more germanicly minded of us) update for Hammer the Backlog, the weekly Warhammer mini painting, productivity and accountability blog. Seeing as this week was the second-last week of not only the quarter, but also the first full year of Hammer the Backlog, there was relatively little painting this week and lots and lots of prep for the year end review. Probably just like in real businesses. Next week will be a big week indeed, with a full review of the year passed and planning for the year to come, so it was nice to have a lacuna to get composed and ready to roll.
SCORECARD
The second last week of the year, and everything is in the green.
I did much, much less than 5 Hammer the Backlog points of painting this week, since I had got about 50% of the way through the guardian drone last week before realising that I couldn’t get both done on time. I probably did about 2 HtB points worth of actual painting. AS I said in the intro, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as there was plenty more to do with the end of the year coming up fast, as well as some unexpected snags to deal with working on the buildings.
The other big thing that happened this week was getting the final painting rock of the quarter ticked off. With Ascension painted, photographed and online, that is officially Blackstone Fortress and all of its expansions in the bag! Now, I know that some of you are out there thinking “But Mick, what about the solo characters? What about the extra retinue characters from White Dwarf and the 2019 Annual? What about the rules for the Lord of Possessed and his mates?” Well to you I say: Damn you! Why won’t you allow me this peace?
Joking aside, I would like to really completely finish off the Blackstone Fortress set with those optional extras some day, but for now, since I don’t have the models and have no intention of buying them, it is done.
As of writing this, the shelving for the buildings is due to be delivered tomorrow, and it is a long weekend, so all things going well, we will complete every Rock again this quarter.
THIS WEEK’S MODEL
This week’s model is the second and last of the Guardian Drones. Although I painted him using the exact same steps and recipes as I used last week, up to the point of getting them nearly half done together, to the naked eye they do look slightly different. Even with all of th progress in painting technology, white can still be a fickle fucked to get right.
This one proved to be slightly less work than last week’s due to the fact that he doesn’t have a second spindle drone in his creepy little crab repair arms.
I think they look rather smashing as a little family unit.
Please expect a full Blackstone Fortress Family Picture next week! If I can find a spot on my new desk to be able to photograph them all!
WORKING ON THE BUILDINGS
A great week on the buildings this week! Me and my lovely lady friend woke up early on Saturday and smashed out the full painting job by mid afternoon, leaving me to get the electrics all boxed in and finished on Sunday morning.
I don’t care what anyone says, painting the buildings isn’t as fun as painting the little men.
The garage really is starting to feel done now. It has come a very long way in the last 12 weeks, and is a lovely little comfortable spot that you wouldn’t hate having to spend time in now.
It won’t be fully kitted out with daylight lamps, heaters and air purifiers etc. by week 13, they will all have to be added over the next few weeks and months as time allows and as the budget recovers.
I’m going to call it there for this week! Like I said, next week is going to be the biggest week for the whole year, with the building project finished and an entire year’s worth of models to try to get on the table and photograph, as well as some bits and bobs to paint.
Thanks for reading this far, see you next week for the big one!
Hammer the Backlog 
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