What have I done?

[maxxon]

Not quite sure if this is the right group for this, but here goes...

As you may know, I made a little New Year's Resolution back in January. Well, it's time to see how all that went:

http://www.smallcuts.net/photo/?pict=resolutions2013.jsp

What have you been up to this year? Has anyone else tried resolutions to clear their painting backlog?

[Lowtardog]

A fantastic and productive year. until late on this year I have ad 3 years of having to sell off most of my collection to pay bills, solicitor etc. It was a heart wrenching thing to do.

In the latter half of this year I have had some pennies im my pocket and have picked up a fair few items (ahem) to re-create the lead pile. My plan is for next year to avoid where possible to carry on the buying and clear like yourself the lead pile I have accumulated. I take my hat off to you sir

[von Lucky]

Nice one. Doing something every week/month helps. I still have to post my October and November achievements. Am only down one thing so far (28mm ECW army) and 28mm ACW skirmish (which I will get done over Christmas).

It's been great having one thing to do each month to attack that lead mountain.

[Vanvlak]

Maxxon, the pile of models you managed to clear is so depressing!
This year I think I finished 13 models, more than one a month and that's a record for my output in recent years....
The year began with a lull and followed with a flurry of activity. There was a lull in buying, until the blasted Kickstarters came on scene - Zombicide 2, Deadzone, Ramshackle's Brothers of Iron (all three of these delivered) and the rest...

My favourite models purchased this year have to be the Tobsen 77 Octotank and Treffas Wagen, and the Minairons Hispano-Suiza MC-36.

[joroas]

I admire your effort, I have become very lax over the last two years. 

Happily, I retire in the summer and then I'll have the time to clear my huge backlog. 

[maxxon]

Maxxon, the pile of models you managed to clear is so depressing!

Well, let's not talk about how many new figures I bought this year... curse you, Kickstarter!

[zizi666]

Well, let's not talk about how many new figures I bought this year... curse you, Kickstarter!

Hear, hear !
There should be a law against Kickstarter, to protect us from throwing all our money at it 

[spevna]

This year has been quite a productive one.

I have managed;

A Bolt Action German army - About 30 infantry, a halftrack, a couple of bazooka teams, and a Weird War walker and hover craft.
A 1500pt Blood Angels army - 2 HQ, 2 ten man squads, 2 tanks, and a dreadnought.
A few bits and bobs for my 1st ed orks - 2 Battlewagons, a fortification, and a couple of deff dreads.
A ten man RT era Space Marine tactical squad.

The plan for the New Year holidays is to finish;

30 Fallschirmjäger for Bolt Action.
10 BTD Squats.

[6milPhil]

Well done, I like the colours of your bugs - if you get a chance I'd be interested in how you did it, which colours etc. 

[beefcake]

Hear, hear !
There should be a law against Kickstarter, to protect us from throwing all our money at it 

Agreed.
I'm going to get onto a lot of my backlog during my summer break, which is now for me.

[FramFramson]

Not bloody much, so it's a good thing I didn't make any resolutions about it!

[Momotaro]

Painted in 2013

Don't do resolutions

Did my Sedition Wars figures, so about 80 there.  Really fond of the base set; couldn't face the wave 2 figures.  Sold the lot to pay some bills, but the buyer was a LAFer, so they've gone to a good home

Dreamforge stormtroopers - painted 50 or so at the start of the year.  Great models.  Finally got decals on them a fortnight ago...

Hobbit goblins - 40 of those.  Lovely diseased little mutants, useful for post-apoc tribesfolk, ghouls in an undead army, something nasty in a scifi setting, or a big block of Skaven slaves.  Just hopeless as high-fantasy goblins though.

20 Stonehaven Dwarfs.  Lovely cartoony scuplts.  Fantastic figures, put a lot of effort into them.

A couple of dozen pieces of sci-fi scenery from Ainsty, Antenociti and some scratchbuilds from bits from the local DIY shop.  To go with 10 scifi box-shaped rooms that I also built in a fit of madness - nothing spectacular, but they work.

So over 200 painted this year.

Next year

Thanks to Kickstarter, I actually have a lead pile - even if it is mostly plastic!  Working away from home during the week a lot next year, so I reckon I have a good chance to get some serious painting done.

Got a small force of 15mm dwarfs, which Gibby tells me is the first thing I have to get finished so he can beat them into the ground playing Armies of Arcana  

Skaven - got the 47 minis from Island of Blood to bulk out a skirmish force.  Nice minis.

Some 4A stuff I picked up at Recon.  Just 5 figures, four fantastic dwarfs and Alf, but I have my eye on the cold-weather troopers too, and a couple of Daemonforge vehicles for them on eBay.

Deadzone - about 90 minis to do, plus the scenery.  I'll take my time, and I want to chew over some ideas for the scenery.

Reaper Bones - I have the dozen big monsters primed and based, just ready to paint.  The bulk of the box - I'll see about painting some of the other nice models as and when I need them.

On the boardgame front, Battlelore 2nd edition and Level 7 Omega Protocol (has been described as the best dungeon-crawler ever, but it's an SF game) are calling.

Tempted by some Hasslefree characters, and if the 15mm dwarfs work out, I may think about a couple of Dark Ages forces in 15mm for Dux Brit.  And I have a handful of LotR figures and the like that have been lying around for a couple of years.

[Paddy649]

Yep!  My new year resolution was to average painting over three 15mm figures (or equivalents i.e. cavalry count as 2 etc.) painted per day for 2013 and to buy as few as possible.  I end 2013 with 1144 new figures added my collection.  This is a German infantry battalion in WW2, lots of tanks and two Prussian Corps and the guard Division from 1813 @1:90 figure scale.  Plus I have bought fewer than 150 figures this year!

My lead mountain is now slightly smaller but even at this rate I reckon it is still 7 years worth of unpainted lead in various boxes! 

Paddy

[maxxon]

Well done, I like the colours of your bugs - if you get a chance I'd be interested in how you did it, which colours etc. 

The bug scheme is really easy to do:

1. prime the figures in gray
2. apply a dark gray wash over the entire figure
3. pick out armor plates in black
4. apply light gray drybrush over the entire figure
5. pick out bony bits (claws, teeth) in white
6. light grey wash on white bits
7. dab random yellow dots all over black bits (no need to make them perfectly round)

DONE!

The one caveat is that you need a good strong yellow that covers black in one go.

[maxxon]

Well, 2013 is done and it's time to reflect a little bit. As I usually do, I wrote a little analysis of what I've been up to:

http://www.smallcuts.net/diary/2013.jsp

Here are the last figures I finished in 2013: