March forth!

Well after a week of accounts paperwork and bad health yesterday was unexpectedly productive.

Firstly we have the DreadBall ref. In person she looks a lot nicer than the photo would suggest.



Next up we have Frodo. Poor little chap has been stuck on my workbench for a very long time waiting for me to get the inspiration to finish him. Yesterday I tidies him up, gave him a few highlights and set him on his way.



And lastly some D&D Draconians. I think I've had this set for almost 20 years so it really was time to put some paint on them, especially as they're getting used on a weekly basis in out D&D sessions at the moment.



Once I have the final batch of Draconians done then I might get round to that Marauder DreadBall team I was meaning to work on.

Into the painted pile you go

My PNKD has been pretty bad recently so I've made a few changes to how I work. Instead of trying to find evenings when I am in full control of my limbs I've shifted my painting effort to the mornings when I usually don't have any problems. I've been trying to grab 15-20 minutes every morning when I can and 10-15 minutes at lunch time as well. So far it seems to be paying off as I have added a stack of stuff to the painted pile.



My corporation team for DreadBall. The orange is an homage to the Houston team in the original (not the remake) film version of Rollerball. They're not the best standard of painting that I could achieve but I just want to get them ready for some games. Now I need to do some opponents for them.



Here we have three command models to add to the unit I finished last year.



And some artillery crew. I actually painted the organ gun ages ago but I had been holding off claiming it until I had some crew painted up.



And finally some metal Mantic elf bowmen. I will be splitting these up and using them in the front ranks of my bowmen units as they are in firing poses - something which is a bit lacking amongst the bowmen plastics.

I have the Marauder Dreadball team on the workbench as well as a few more dwarves and some random stuff. So far this year things seem to be doing okay on the painting front, lets see if I can keep this up.

Workbench update

So what's on the workbench at the moment?

Lots of stuff! For starters here are some DreadBall players I've been working on.


There's plenty of other things on there in various stages of completion too, hopefully some if it will be hitting the painted pile over the next week.

One month down, 11 to go

I finally have something to show you. This weekend saw a flurry of activity as the photos below will attest. First up - I finished the basing on the dwarf unit I painted in 2012 so it was ready to be snapped and added to the gallery. I'm aiming to get more of these guys done during the course of the year as they are easy to paint.



Next up is the first completed figure of 2013. I finished her right at the beginning of the year but didn't want to add her to the gallery until I had the dwarves up there. She is a Reaper miniatures fairy I painted up for daughter number 3. As purple is her favourite colour she has gone down a storm.



This weekend saw me complete the extra figures I will need for the Clash of Kings tournament coming up next weekend. The five cav were ordered in Mantic's recent sale and were half their usual price! I bought them so that I could drop the command group on my two units of stormwind cavalry to save points. Having learned from my previous experiences, this time I glued the horses for the raised lance poses further back on the bases and at an angle so that they will rank up better. At some point later in the year I will be getting a lod more of these in restic from the KoW kickstarter, it will be interesting to see how they compare.



And finally I have some objective markers I made for KoW out of Warpath bases. They should be both easy to spot and easy to balance models and units on.



That's it for now but I have a load of stuff on the workbench right now including DreadBall teams, dungers and some more Reaper Bones. Hopefully I will have more stuff to show off later in the month.

Objective acquired

So I’ve already pointed out that 2013 might already be a write off from the perspective of the pledge, I simply have too many miniatures coming my way from KickStarters to be able to succeed unless I manage to pack in 2-3 years of painting effort into this year. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be able to paint that many models it’s just that life in general, heath and other things conspire to give me a lot less painting time than I would like.

So if failure on the pledge itself is the most likely outcome then what objectives can I set myself for 2013 to keep up my motivation?

1) Play more games

Okay so the sharp eyed amongst you have maybe spotted that this isn’t actually a painting objective but getting to use the miniatures I’ve painted does help with the motivation to play more. My good friend Mr Dale has been on at me about this one for a while and I did make more of an effort in 2012 having regular games against Daniel. Hopefully 2013 will see more games played with a variety of armies and possibly new opponents.

2) Don’t make any impulse purchases

With a stack load of minis heading my way already I really must avoid adding to the problem further with impulse purchases. Buying miniatures in general should be avoided unless I’m plugging a specific gap in an army or trying to make it legal for tournament restrictions.

3) Paint at least 4 DreadBall teams

Having bought DreadBall I’d like to play some games with it. At the very least I’d like to get the four teams from season 1 painted up and ready to play by the end of Q1.

4) Paint my Dwarf Army

At the beginning of almost every year I think to myself that I really need to finish my Dwarf army. This year I really need to put some serious effort into it. I now have the colour scheme and the techniques all sorted so all that’s required is for me to get on with it and not get SQUIRREL! distracted.

Of course there’s plenty more I’d like to do as well but we’ll just have to see if there’s time.

The scale of the problem (2013 edition)

As is tradition, here is a glimpse of what still remains in the lead pile.

28mm Scale Projects

Orcs and Goblins
System: Warhammer and KoW
Status: Several hundred figures painted, some more in the lead pile
Comments: Arachnarok and Orc spears painted in 2012.

Bretonnians
System: Warhammer
Status: 18 knights started, about 100 more models unpainted. No progress in 2012.

Dwarfs
System: Warhammer and KoW
Status: 75% unpainted, about 100-150 models in total.
Comments: One unit of Dwarf Warriors painted during 2012.

High Elves
System: Warhammer and KoW
Status: Almost all painted (if you don't count the 80 miniatures still shrink wrapped)
Comments: Magnetised (again) and slightly expanded (again) in 2012.

Blood Angels
System: Warhammer 40K
Status: Mostly finished.
Comments: Over 2500 points + options available for use. Not a bean painted or purchased this year.

Space Hulk
System: Space Hulk
Status: Completed!
Comments: Completed in 2012.

DreadBall
System: DreadBall
Status: Just arrived (Christmas 2012).
Comments: Full Striker package + extras. Colour scheme testers done for two teams.

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 2012.

10/15mm Scale Projects

Aliens and Marines, High Elves Undead, Dark Elves, Mongols, Later Muslim Indian, Later Achmeneid Persian
Systems: DBA, HOTT etc
Status: No progress during 2012.

2012 - Pass, Fail or Epic Fail?

So how did I do with the pledge in 2012? Surely not buying a miniature for the first half of 2012 must have helped?

Well it turns out it was a bit of a mixed bag. I managed to paint up a stack of stuff, some of which had been in the painting queue for ten years or so. The bad news can be summed up in a single word - Kickstarter! Oh dear. And not only has Kickstarter scuppered 2012, it has also doomed 2013 as well.

So without prolonging the agony further, by my reckoning I painted the equivalent of about 118 miniatures in 2012 ... but I bought the equivalent of 144. Aaarg! Fail.

Without the dreadball kickstarter that would have been 118 vs 93 which would have been much better. Even worse 2013 will see 70+ minis arrive from the Sedition Wars Battle for Alabaster KS and another cart load from the Kings of War KS (with more to come from elsewhere). Add to that the Mantic sale which caught me in a weak moment and I have a real mountain to climb in 2013.



I shall not despair! I think it is time to take stock and set some priorities for the coming year.