Projects for 2012

Okay, after much deliberation, I've decided on my projects for the year.  I broke them down into rough genres so that there will be room for a bit of variety in painting/gaming.

Fantasy

•   Blood Bowl Teams (Pro Elf, Goblin, Human, Vampire) - All in the process of being converted.  The aim is to complete the conversion and painting on at least two of these this year.  Really want to get to a tournament or two this year, but the timing for the local tournaments has been bad for me so far.  I may have to go for the NAF championship in May.
• Song of Blades and Heroes warbands in 15mm (Dungers, Barbarians).  The Dungers will be a case of completing what I have, and rounding out the selection, whilst the Barbarians will be started from scratch using the excellent 15mm models from Copplestone Castings.  One or two of the Barbarians will probably find themselves doing adventuring duty in my dungeon games, and the Dungers will also likely find themselves in games of 5150 or as big wandering dungeon monsters.  So, good value for money/time spent with these guys, I think!
• 15mm Dungeon Crawl - Don't know whether I'll use Song of Gold and Darkness or a different set of rules for this (open to recommendations if anyone would like to put any forward), but this is going to be quite a mixed bag.  This is something I've never done before, so my current thinking is 15-20 of each of the basic dungeon gribblies like Goblins/Skeletons etc., and 3-5 of the Ogre/Troll/Minotaur types.

Sci-Fi

• In The Emperor's Name (or ITEN as we started calling it) - Planning to build and paint Eldar Harlequin, Squat and Ork retinues for this. Harlequins will probably br first, since they need the least number of models painted, although they will require a lot of detail, which will slow down the painting.
   
• 5150 - I know I love my 15mm Greys, but it's probably time to stop now.  You know you have too many models painted already when you've started converting Greys into Star Trek characters.  So, I'll look at some opposition for them, and build a Star Army force, and maybe some suitably retro tanks/support or something for the Greys if I find anything on my travels.
   
• Zombie Apocalypse - Nuff said, really.  The usual stuff, scenery, survivors, npcs and an ongoing zombie horde.  My initial target will be 3 survivors, 4-5 npcs, 20-30 zombies and enough scenics to fill one 3' x 3' board.  Going to be trying out a number of different rule sets.  Initially, Dead Walk again and ATZ, but Undead States of America will also get an outing when things get really thick on the ground.  This is going to be a huge project, so it will be covered in it's own blog.
   
• Warmachine/Hordes - Got me the start of a Cygnar force, which will be the main focus of my Warmachine efforts, but I also want to add the battle box man-o-war models to my existing Khador force.  If I go with Hordes, I'll be looking at a Tharn-heavy Circle force.

Historical

• Warmaster Ancients - Sassanid (or Sassanian?  I prefer 'nid to 'ian) Persian army in 6mm.  My other choice of army would be Sumerian, but (correct me if I'm wrong here) I don't think they would be as colourful and interesting to paint.
• AK47 - Just need to get my backside in gear with this.  Love reading the rulebook, but just seem to lack the commitment to getting any models on the table.
• WOTR Mordheim - Great game, and some great Perry plastics donated to me by my good friend Deke.  It would be a sin not to get them painted up.

Misc

Basically, I'm aware that this is a lot to put on my plate, so these projects are "on standby".  If, for any reason, I should have to abandon any of the above projects, or I miraculously finish them all, I'll work on these:

• 7TV
• Warhammer ECW Montrose Scots
• Dystopian Wars

Okay.  Next step will be sorting out what I already have, and figuring out what I will need.  See you next time!

Here Goes....

Hi there, and welcome to my blog!  This is the first time I've tried making my own blog, so bear with me if things seem a little rough around the edges at first.

I figure that my first post ought to be something of a mission statement, so you can decide if this blog is something you're going to want to keep reading or not.

It all began toward the end of 2011, as I stared at my many boxes of wargaming models, collected over the past 23 years.  I was shocked by the sheer variety of models that I had purchased on impulse over the years, and even more shocked by the minute percentage that had been painted.  It was then  realised just how deserved my reputation as a wargaming butterfly really was.  So, I decided that 2012 would be a good time to apply a little discipline to my hobby.  I have identified the following goals (whether I can stick to them or not only time will tell):

1. Pick a few projects each year to work on (part of this is also to move from 28mm to 15mm and smaller models for all games other than skirmish games/specific tournament armies).
2. Finish what I start
3. Identify projects that will never be taken on/finished, and sell the models on to fund current projects.
4. Keep a record of what I have painted throughout the year
5. And, on a personal note: Attend more tournaments.

Any lessons/tips I learn, I'll share with you on this blog.  Likewise, if you have any useful tips to share with me, just feel free to make comments in the appropriate posts.

I'm going to go away and have a think now about which projects to work on in 2012.  They'll form the core of my next post, and I'll try to update the blog every Monday evening, real world events permitting.

 As a little taster of what is to come, here's the last model I painted in 2011, for the Frothers Unite UK forum's inaugural painting competition.  It's a Dunger from Ramshackle Games.  I've named it a King Dunger , as I wanted it to be a leader for my Dunger packs.  Some green stuff was used to bulk out the fur around the head and shoulders to make a lion-like mane.  Dungers are one of the projects I'm intending to run with this year, and there's a little back story to them .  I'll save that for a later post.

Thanks for sticking with me thus far.  I hope you'll enjoy this blog and will follow it from these humble beginnings for some time.