Do not pass go, do not collect £200

Things are not going to plan and painting has come to a full stop. I've not lifted a paintbrush since the 17th, mainly because my right arm not working properly for most of the last 10 days or so.

Maybe February will be better, I certainly hope so anyway.

The eBay auction netted me £16 which will probably go on hobby stuff at some point but I'm not sure quite what as yet.

And there goes the duck

Well I had been doing well at not buying miniatures so far this year, well up until last Sunday anyway. I got a heads up about a sale on the Mantic ranges at Hobbycraft over in Stockport with boxes about 75% off.

Well that's just a red rag to a bull isn't it? So £14 later I'm the proud owner of another 80 Mantic elves. Not so good for the pledge really and just as I was almost about to finish painting every elf in the army too. I've decided to keep them in the boxes for now and maybe flog them on ebay later in the year if things don't go well.

Also on ebay at the moment is the Storm Raven I painted up for my Blood Angels last year. With the official model out shortly I decided it was time to try and flog the proxy model. If I get back what I paid for it I'll be happy but I'm not necessarily expecting to get that much.

Painting wise things haven't gone well as my movement disorder has been playing up. Hopefully it'll calm down enough for me to get some work done.

Lets get this party started

And here he is, Runt - the last member of the Thursday night D&D Party.



The mini is an Armoured Big Boris from Heresy Miniatures, a lovely piece and fun to paint.

On a roll

One more mini on the painted pile. I finished an armoured big boris from Heresy last night. I also have six more elves in progress and with no purchases things are looking good.

Do not feed the lions

Well here is the finished article. Eagle eyed viewers will spot that I've left off a lot of the decorative items that GW provide in the kit and swapped out the heads for some Mantic Palace Guard helmets.

One thing I realised when doing the final assembly is that the instructions which come with the kit appear to be wrong .. or I glues the yoke on at an odd angle. I ended up having to shave off parts of the reigns on the lions to get everything to fit on the base.

Anyway, here they are.


Now to get on with the remaining infantry.

What do you think of it so far?

Well, if things had gone according to plan I would have been heading off to a tournament in the morning with my newly painted HE chariots in my army case. So what went wrong? Well the chariots were painted in time but sadly something cropped up which ruled me out of the tournament.



Completed with hours to spare they look OK but you'll have to take my word for it until I can get a decent photo.

So far this year's pledge is going well - two chariots down and no purchases. The plan is to finish the High Elves and then to move on to something else.

The Scale of the Problem (2011 edition)

Carrying on the tradition I thought start the year with a look at what still remains in the lead pile.

28mm Scale Projects

Orcs and Goblins
System: Warhammer
Status: 300 or so figures painted, some more or so in the lead pile
Comments: Over 3000 points + options available for use. Bought more in 2010.

Bretonnians
System: Warhammer
Status: 18 knights started, about 100 more models unpainted. No progress in 2010.

Dwarfs
System: Warhammer
Status: 85% unpainted, about 100-150 models in total.
Comments: At least they're assembled. Should be 2500-3000 points easily when done. No progress in 2010.

High Elves
System: Warhammer
Status: 90% painted
Comments: Started project added during 2009. Lots bought and painted during 2010, only a few models left to go.

Blood Angels
System: Warhammer 40K
Status: Mostly finished.
Comments: Over 2500 points + options available for use. Lots of progress this year, but more models added to the unpainted pile too.

Space Hulk
System: Space Hulk
Status: About 2/3 finished. All of the Genestealers are completed, just the marines to go.
Comments: No progress in 2010.

SWAT teams and Criminals
System: Officer Down, about 40 models in total.
Status: 80% painted
Comments: The problem with this project is that it needs more scenery. No progress in 2010.

10/15mm Scale Projects

Aliens and Marines
System: Xenomorph
Status: In the post
Comment: A late 2007 purchase. About 40-60 models in total. No progress in 2010.

High Elves
System: HOTT
Status: Unpainted (48 points + options). No progress in 2010.

Undead
System: HOTT
Status: Unpainted. No progress in 2010.

Dark Elves
System: HOTT
Status: Unpainted (48 points + options). Bought January 2010 expanded December 2010 none of it painted.

Penguins
System: HOTT
Status: Unpainted (24 points + options). Bought and completed January 2010.

Mongols
System: DBA
Status: Unpainted. No progress in 2010.

Later Muslim Indian
System: DBA
Status: Unpainted. No progress in 2010.

Later Achmeneid Persian
System: DBA
Status: 30% Painted. No progress in 2010.

Summary - some progress but too many purchases.

2010's final efforts

Here are the elves I painted in such a hurry for the Autumn Showdown. I ended up fielding seaguard to make the minimum core points as I didn't have enough spear elves painted.



I've since fixed some of he painting errors shown off by that photo.

Next up we have some adventurers I painted up to represent 4 of the 5 members of the D&D party in my Thursday night campaign. From left to right we have Niamh (an ice wizard), Davven ( a monk), Leona (a thief) and Magnamous (a cleric).



And lastly we have some Ral Partha AD&D miniatures I got way back in 1994 with a starter set TSR put out called "First Quest". A mere 16 year wait in the painting queue - nothing unusual about that round here.

Happy New Year

Oh dear. From a pledge point of view 2010 was a FAIL.

Quite simply I focussed on new projects rather than clearing the decks and whilst I did paint a reasonable amount I bought more.

I still have some 2010 minis to photograph and then I'll try and crunch some numbers and work out how badly I failed.

Here's hoping 2011 turns out better.