Using your Sloth

What a life - hanging upside down in a tree eating and sleeping most of the day....

It has been a rather strange couple of months since my last contract ended in early March. Even allowing for the inevitable job hunting via the internet and agencies; the endless amount of paperwork that has needed completion and not forgetting the rather large (and mostly completed) DIY list that SWMBO kindly provided I fully expected to have rather more time available for gaming related stuff than when I was at work.

This has been true, up to a point.

The problem is though is that I have found it really difficult to get motivated towards undertaking anything that would require a sustained effort. I often suffer from these periodic bouts of lethargy but this one seems to lasting longer than usual. So with this in mind and following on from an email exchange with Bob Cordery I have finally decided to get my act together and start something - or rather start something and finish a couple of things off.

The repaint of the Angels 20 Battle of Britain aircraft can be started but I am waiting on ordering some decals first of all. In the meantime though, I have managed to acquire all the paints I shall need and some rather nice modelling masking tape as well. To tell the truth I am looking forward to getting cracking on this but there is no urgency as the models are usable as they are.

I am visiting my joiner/carpenter chap tomorrow in order to get the last of the blocks chopped into halves - this will mean I can press on and get the remainder finished to the new standard. I also have to mess around with the rules to accompany them but that falls into the realm of a cerebral 'while-the-TV-is-on-with-nothing-in-particular-so-I-can-use-my-netbook' moment and thus does not count as time usage as such.

The other project that has pricked my conscience sufficiently to warrant a concerted effort to complete is of course my ACW river collection. I STILL have some 32 models to paint of which half have been started and I still have a couple of cat related damages to repair (the General Bragg, times two). I duly got the collection out to take another look at them in order to goad myself into action and I have to say that whilst it has not ignited my creative juices with a bang at least there is a flicker of enthusiasm there!

Scratchbuilt ACW City class river gunboats - all of 'em!

You will note that there has been no mention of anything naval related (at least not of the blue water variety) nor the 54mm North West Frontier set up. Of the former this is simply because I feel like I need a break from it and for the latter I have come up with a short term idea involving an old set of grid based rules designed for larger scale figures called Volley Fire. These used to be available from Irregular Miniatures and although abstract and very stylised do give a challenging game.

The best description of my current frame of mind is not unlike that of somebody whom has first gone to the local gym after a long absence. Everything seems to take twice as long and the pain afterwards seems quite severe with aches in places you had forgotten you had. Still after a few sessions you soon get back into the swing of it and I am sure that once I have shaken off my circumstantial sloth I will also be in fine fettle; lean, trim and hungry (in spirit if not in body!) and ready to dive in to which ever distraction trips me up first!