A few quick photos from Quincy:

The main crag.

I set the anchors on top of the main crag...

... and no one died!

This is the second Crimson Fist test model I have painted. I tried to go with thinner highlight strokes on this model with a different color blue. I think the technical highlighting looks a lot better but I'm not sold on the color so I will probably make a third tester with the new style and old color of highlights. I'm also still deciding whether or not I like the all brown base (Test 1) or the brown and gray base (Test 2).

Test 2.

Test 2 and Test 1 side by side.

Last week I started training for the Bay State Marathon which runs on October 19th. Lisa and I will be training together again but this time we're looking to take the next step in our program. We're going to be doing the Intermediate II schedule from halhigdon.com (last time we did the Intermediate I) and also incorporating tempo runs, pace work, and possibly some core work as well.

This first week of training was pretty rough. I jumped right back into 5 days of running per week after not running for almost 4 weeks. My body is pretty tired and sore but I worked through it and after my 10 miles yesterday I am feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I think the hardest run I did was the 6 miler on Saturday because I pushed the pace pretty hard on the way home and paid for it. I toned it down for the 10 miles on Sunday and managed to run pretty evenly (somewhere between 8 and 9 minutes per mile) and strongly the whole time.

Runs: 5
Miles: 28.4
Time: 3:51:50

The other weekend Laura, Jason, and I took a trip out to Quincy for some climbing. I set the anchors and did a pretty good job. I was nervous about the whole thing but I think I was pretty successful. The climbs weren't very hard but there were some interesting ones.

Today is Laura and my two year anniversary. To celebrate, we went to the ICA on Saturday, had sushi for dinner, and saw Get Smart. Tonight we're going to a place called Shabu Zen in Allston. Neither one of us has been to a restaurant like this before but it looks pretty exciting. It's been a wonderful two years thus far, and I anticipate more of the same.

I haven't made a whole lot of progress on my Wood Elves in the past few weeks. I managed to paint up the last four Dryads in the army, which leaves 5 Wild Riders, 6 Waywatchers, and 1 Wild Rider Noble left for the army. Of that, I've made a start on one Wild Rider horse.

Branchwraith, Branchnymph, and two two Dryads

I've also made a discovery that is a bit disconcerting. Apparently, Games Workshop has stopped production of half of their Waywatcher models. Currently I have six models for the unit, but only three unique sculpts. I don't like having duplicate models in a single unit but I am not sure where I am going to get an additional three models with different sculpts. Games Workshop does make a Waywatcher Noble model, but that still leaves me two models short. The idea of hacking up and converting metal models is not appealing so hopefully ebay or the interwebs will provide a solution.

I have all the models I need for about 1000 points of Crimson Fists sitting on my desk. I'd like to get them assembled and play a game or two with Spoony. Once 5th edition and the new codex comes out I will buy some more models and take it up to 1500 or 2000 points. I've started a second test model to try a few different things out and I think I'm closing in on what the final scheme will be.

The other day Bannister, in what I can only assume was some sort of protest over the terrible way I've been treating him this winter, threw his chain as I was going into a busy intersection and nearly killed me. When I stopped to fix that problem I noticed that the rear hub is totally boned. I'm in negotiations with Woodrow now to purchase a set of wheels from him.

Work has been really stressing me out lately, so much so that I left sick halfway through yesterday. It was a good decision I think, because I'm a lot more motivated and focused today. I don't really know what it is about this week, but I was just not very happy here or enjoying what I've been doing lately. I'm hoping a solid weekend will get me back on track.

I'm approaching the end of my Wood Elf army. Yesterday I finished off the Dryads, and all that's left at this point is some Wild Riders and Waywatchers. I'm excited to have this project done. I've learned quite a bit about painting and had a lot of fun getting this army from concept to completion.

Once these guys are done I'm going to begin work on an army of Crimson Fists. Already have 5 tactical marines, 5 terminators, and a rhino assembled, and another 10 tactical, 5 terminators, and 1 rhino on the sprues awaiting some attention. I'm currently looking into purchasing an assault and devastator squad as well, which should get me somewhere between 1000 and 1500 points. The scheme will be pretty typical of Crimson Fists.

I was aiming for some bold highlights, but I think I overdid it just a little. I have a bunch of ideas on how to improve this scheme on the next test model which I think are going to work really well. Also, these models come out in October and I'm planning on picking up a set of each:

Veterans on foot (from Bell of Lost Souls)

Veterans with jump packs (from Bell of Lost Souls)

Climbing has been sporadic at best over the past few weeks. There was a period of time where I thought my new shoes were going to be too small and painful, but I believe that I have fixed the problem now. They are incredibly precise and powerful and I'm pretty pumped to see how they work out.