2018 recap & plans for 2019...

As I was trying to figure out what my goals will be for this year, I remembered one more thing I painted last year.

I have been getting into 15mm models in a big way over the past several months. It all started as I was trying to figure out a way to make my annual Mordheim campaign a little more "portable."

I usually host at least one big Mordheim campaign every year, but all of the terrain takes up a huge amount of space. I took the minis "on the road" one year and ran a campaign across the country at a friend's place but there was no way I could bring all the terrain.

This game came out on Kickstarter and I thought it would be an awesome way to get a collection of 15mm medieval fantasy minis all in one go. The idea was to buy this set and leave it at that:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1162110258/time-of-legends-joan-of-arc

But of course that wasn't going to happen.

I had been looking into using smaller minis and testing the idea of using paper terrain from Dave Graffam. I considered 10mm and 15mm... I love Pendraken 10mm models and they would give the best space savings, but as part of my "testing out" process I've totally gotten obsessed with 15mm models!

I first dug out some old models that had been sitting in my lead pile for many years. I bought them as Reaper models in their "Shadow Corps" line, but I guess they have sold the range because I see them listed on the Magister Militum site now an Reaper no longer sells 15mm.

Here were the first test models I painted - I included some Flames of War models for scale comparison:

An Orc, a Dwarf, and an Undead Skeleton champion. I liked painting them a lot, and decided to try my hand at painting one of the hundreds of ancient Greek era 15mm Xyston models that have also been sitting in my lead pile for years as a human fantasy barbarian type... He's a Thracian. I hadn't painted any 15mm models since doing a small airborne company for Flames of War a few (err... more than a few) years back.

Since I enjoyed it so much, I expanded the Orcs into a small warband. They are on round bases, so hopefully that wouldn't be a problem with using them in Mordheim. But if not, I can play some pocket sized games of Song of Blades & Heroes!

I almost finished a Dwarf warband before the end of the year too, but they are still off to the side of my painting desk right now.

And then, the REAL buying began. I can't help myself! I ended up researching all manner of 15mm manufacturers of 15mm models, and started piling up a collection from Battle Valor, Splintered Light, Venexia, Khurasan, and Copplestone. I'm still planning on getting a bunch of stuff from Blue Moon, and the old Demonworld models available from Ral Partha Europe!

And the sad part is... I still may end up getting a collection in 10mm too. I have a problem.

2018 painting recap & new stuff

Found a couple more models while digging through the display case to try to remember what I actually got painted last year... these two were the only others I could come up with for now. I feel like I painted more than this though! Maybe the others were all Zombicide models, which I currently don't have in the case. I'll dig them out of the basement next weekend.

First up is an old Citadel model called, quite aptly, "wizard with scrolls." I saw this guy unpainted on eBay years ago and liked him a lot, but got outbid on him. Then I regretted not bidding higher, and spent a long time trying to wait for one to come up for sale again!

When I finally saw another one for sale it was already partially painted, so I got him and just spruced up the paint job instead of stripping him. I thought he'd make an excellent apprentice for Frostgrave, so I based him on a lipped round base like the other models I use for FG.

Next up is another old board game piece, and a quickie paint job that I did for some reason... I think I just picked him out of the box because he looked like an easy one to paint up real quick, and looks like a perfect classic D&D troll. Not sure if I was planning on using him in Frostgrave or what.

Of course in addition to painting, I bought a ton of new stuff in 2018! Can't even remember all of it right now... but this just came today!

I got my Kickstarter for the original Stark & Lannister set and all of the bonus models and optional models last year. They are awesome models! So much so that I have been buying the other retail releases as they come out. I pre-ordered these months ago and finally got them today. The new Night's Watch and Free Folk starter sets:

I think there's been good coverage on pics of the Night's Watch on the web, but haven't seen many pics of the actual Free Folk models. Here they are:

2018 - painting recap, continued (again!)...

Found a few more random fantasy models and board game pieces that I did over the past year in the display case...

This fella is from one of the boxed D&D Board Games (The Legend of Drizzt, I think). Can't remember why I painted him to be honest!

This was a test model for the Zombicide: Green Horde game that I painted when my Kickstarter arrived. I ended up never painting any more of these for now, working on the original Black Plague set instead. I have actually almost completed the entire Zombicide: Black Plague set, all the heroes done, the Necromancer, and the Abomination. Just a few fatties, walkers, and runners left to go! But they are packed up in my basement so I'll have to take pics another time. I finished a couple of the guest boxes too. Gotta dig them up! Zombicide is a fun game, and the only one I really played at all last year. As a bonus I even got my wife & kids to play!

These were a few models that fit into the category of "I just NEED to get these things off my painting desk, they've been there forever!"

Not too happy with the paint jobs but at least they're done and have moved from the painting desk to the display case. I think I was on acid when I chose the color scheme for the wizard on the left.

The Lizardman is a Reaper Bones model that my son actually started to paint years ago. He's lost interest in painting now so I figured I would finish it off and get him done, and could use him for games of Ghost Archipelago. And he's special I guess, since he's the only model I own that was a team effort between me and my son!

This guy is another Reaper Bones wizard that I planned on using for Frostgrave. A bit happier with this paint job.

Another Bones model - I thought this guy would be perfect for the special "Pack Mule" character in Frostgrave!

2018 - painting recap, continued...

I did have one good victory story for 2018 - Dungeon Saga! I'm happy to say that I actually completed all of the troops from this game, both the heroes and villains. I still don't feel like it's "completely" done because I haven't painted all of the scenery items that the game with, but hey, it's something! Now I just have to paint the expansion sets that I bought to go with the starter set... haha.

I thought I might actually use them for Kings of War: Vanguard, but it turns out that this is a completely different game with new mechanics, and not based on KoW at all. I was hoping for something more like Mordheim was to WHFB. But it actually uses totally different rules, different dice, etc. Oh well! I'll still paint them for fun at some point. I got the Orc & Goblin set and the Abyssals set (can't remember what they're called).