One small step for a painter ...

I've kicked off this year's painting effort with a small project, a very small project. I like the board game "Dungeon!" but I'm not keen on the cardboard stand-ups which come in the box so I painted up some replacements.



The squares on the board are very small so the miniatures had to be smaller than 28mm. Ideally I would have preferred to do this project in 15-20mm but instead opted to go for 10mm partly due to cost and partly for convenience (I happened to be placing an order for more aliens miniatures with Pendraken and needed to bulk out my order).

I've also made some progress on the xenomorph project and I should be able to show it off soon if I can come up with a colour scheme for the predators that works on such tiny miniatures.

2013 - Failing in style

Kickstarter and Indiegogo - you have a lot to answer for.

If you don't take into account crowdfunding campaigns then this year I didn't buy too much. Sadly though factoring in campaign "rewards" turns 2013 into a fail of epic proportions for my wargamers pledge.

On the bright side I did managed to paint up 286 28mm miniatures (and 90+ 10mm ones). That's probably my biggest tally in a single year so far. (Adjusting for cavalry, mosters etc as I have in previous year that's more like 340 miniatures.)

There have been some notable successes though :-

• I made a lot of progress on my RPG miniatures (prior to the arrival of half a tonne of Reaper Bones!).
• My Orcs and Goblins are now playable KoW armies.
• I have a new undead army I didn't have 6 months ago.
• My Xenomorph project is almost complete after years in the lead pile.
• I learned how to speed paint.

2014 will be different! (I really hope so anyway)

I now have such a large haul of minis from all the crowdfunding campaigns that I have become somewhat desensitised to sales and bargains which would previously have got me really excited. If I can muster some enthusiasm and dedication coupled with my new founf speed painting techniques then I should be able rack up some serious numbers on the painting front this year. Well it would be nice to think so anyway.

Of course I still have the second wave of Dead Zone miniatures heading my way but other than that I'm pretty much in the clear on the crowd funding front at the moment.

Maybe this will be the year my Dwarves get painted.

The scale of the problem (2014 edition)

As is tradition, here is a glimpse of what still remains in the lead pile. KoW KS = Kings of War KickStarter campaign.

28mm Scale Projects

Orcs and Goblins
System: KoW
Status: Several hundred figures painted, some more in the lead pile
Comments: The KoW KS added a load of figures to the unpainted pile as did GoblinAid. On the plus side I also painted up quite a lot too. Lets call it even.

Kingdoms of Men/Basileans
System: KoW
Status: 18 knights started, about 100 more models unpainted.
Comments: Again, the KoW KS added a load of figures to the unpainted pile as well as a couple of random purchases. I did paint up some Elohi as well as a phoenix but additions were more than I manage to paint.

Dwarfs
System: KoW
Status: 80% unpainted, about 150-200 models in total.
Comments: A handful of models painted and several handfuls added during 2013, mostly from the KoW KS.

High Elves
System: KoW
Status: Mostly painted (if you don't count the 80 miniatures still shrink wrapped)
Comments: I painted up some more archers and cavalry at the beginning of 2013 but as with the other projects the KoW KS added yet more. Misery.

Undead
System: KoW
Status: Mostly painted
Comments: A new project for 2013 and almost complete too. Started on a whim with KoW KS rewards and expanded into a tournament army.

Blood Angels
System: Warhammer 40K
Status: Mostly finished.
Comments: Over 2500 points + options available for use. Gathering dust.

DreadBall Teams
System: DreadBall
Status: 6 teams painted out of 10
Comments: Dreadball was looking pretty good on the painting front but I didn't keep pace with all the Kickstarter deliveries.

Dead Zone
System: Dead Zone
Status: Completely un-painted
Comments: A new project for 2014 - I've not yet had the time or inclination to start painting.

SWAT teams and Criminals
System: Officer Down!
Status: 80% painted, about 40 models in total.
Comments: The problem with this project is that it needs more scenery. Scenery is en route in 2014! Hopefully this will give the projects a major kick up the behind.

RPG miniatures
System: D&D etc
Status: Lots painted - even more arrived in 2014.
Comments: My collection of RPG miniatures was slowly and steadily getting painted until my Reapar Bones Kickstarter miniatures arrived. Late in 2014 they were also joined by 12 Otherworld female adventurers from their Indiegogo campaign. I now have plenty to keep me going for a long while.


10/15mm Scale Projects

Aliens and Marines,
System: Xenomorph
Status: 80% painted
Comments: After many years in the lead pile this project finally had its moment in the sun. Rules written and the majority of the miniatures are now painted and ready for play.

High Elves, Undead, Dark Elves, Mongols, Later Muslim Indian, Later Achmeneid Persian
Systems: DBA, HOTT etc
Status: No progress during 2013.

The dregs of 2013

Before I total up the scores for 2013 here are the last few things I painted up before the year drew to a close.

Here is the completed Xenomorph force including face huggers and nests. I'm not sure if I will ever come up with a scenario which involves all three queens!



And here are the colonial marines.


And showing up late for the battle are the Corporation Marines complete with acid suits.


If anyone is interested here are some close ups with a 1p piece for scale.







Now lets see what the damage is.

Me and my squad of ultimate bad-asses will protect you!

And the Colonial Marines are now painted. Painting 10mm models sure is quicker than 28mm ones.



Here's a bit of a closer shot.



And here's a squad deploying from the APC.



And of course they'll need some opposition too. The Aliens are almost complete - just the egg clusters to go.



And our final shot of the day are two colour scheme testers for the Wayland-Yutani corporation force.



The game itself is coming on nicely. Dan came over last night and we gave the rules a first shakedown. Noty only was the game quite playable but it also fun too. It still has plenty of rough edges and the balance needs a lot of work but it is a promising start.

Xenomorph project.

I have mentioned many times that I, just like may other wargamers, tend to flit between projects instead of seeing things to completion. I was suffering froma complete lack on inspiration to complete any of the projects on my workbench so I ended up starting a new one ... or more precisely digging out an old one to work on again.

Several years ago I had some ideas for coming up with my own board game based on the Aliens films. After mulling things over for a while I eventually took the plunge and bought a load of 10mm miniatures from the Pendraken Sci-Fi range in 2007. I then spent ages gathering images from the films for painting inspiration, textures for the tiles etc etc and then promptly put everything in a box and left it to gather dust.

One of the reasons for giving up was that I couldn't come up with a suitable way of basing the miniatures economically. I wanted to base them individually but nowhere seemed to produce bases small enough. thin enough or cheap enough for what I had planned. I experimented with washers but realised that it might cost more to base the miniatures than they had cost in the first place.
 
During the 'wilderness years' of the project I had occasionally added little bits here and there like PDFs of tiles etc but it was the recent Prodos AvP Kickstarter which started me thinking about my own project again and the basing problem. A solution finally came to me - tiddly winks would be the right size, shape and are nice and cheap. I checked eBay and bought a pack of 100 of them for a little over £2. With the basing issue resolved I could now make a proper start on the project.

Here are some of the miniatures based on tiddly winks.




I've added bits of aluminium mesh to the bases to make them look a bit nicer.




Here is the current state of the project - just a few more bases to finish.




And these are my colour scheme testers. They paint up pretty quickly so there is a chance I will actually finish this project.



And another look. I don't fancy those marines' chances.



Looks like I have plenty to be getting on with.

You got a killer scene there, man

Yesterday I decided to crack on with something else I have been putting off for a while - the scenery for my wargames table. To be honest I kept forgetting it needed doing until I would dig it out for a game. These are all based on terrain scatter bases from Fenris Games. The nice chap who runs it created these for me but you can also buy the from their store here and here.

I added some polyfilla, rocks and sand (sealed with PVA for for durability).




Here's a close up.



For practicality the trees are removable during play and are attached to the bases with magnets. Here is a wood base with the trees removed.



And lastly here is a quick bones mini I knocked up for inclusion in our D&D party. He is playing the part of Aaron Tallbow in the Dragonlance Classics campaign I am running at the moment.



And in other news I have finally made a start on those ghouls I have been putting off for a while.