01 January 2015

Good bye 2014 here's 2015!

It's a nice habit throughout the world to use the arrival of a new year to cast a doleful eye over the goals and achievements of the last year and make new goals for the year ahead.

Plans and achievements in 2014:

What was I planning to do in 2014?

  • First and foremost I want to get all the stuff painted I prepared for Curt's Annual Analogue Hobby Challenge. This includes some Fallschirmjäger, British Paras for Bolt Action (500 pts. worth of), some more early Saxons, some republican Romans and some odds and ends. Well, I got quite some stuff prepped but only a little done so FAIL!
  • After the challenge I want to add to my Late Romans and the Early Saxons in order to have two well sized forces for Dux Bellorum and later on Impetus. Actually I think I could already field a 32 pts. Roman force for Dux with 5 or 6 points of allied Saxons. Though there are so much nice figures out there... Epic FAIL! I only got a unit of 10 foot and 2 mounted as well as some rebasing done but that's about it.
  •  And as my second big goal I'm aiming at completing a Great War Russian Army to fight my Germans. As an aside I want to use the Russians as Whites to attend to Partisan-Con in 2014. That's a small RCW/BoB Con in Mannheim Germany. You can find some nice pictures from the 2013 Con *here* (text in German). Well, this one  wasn't a complete fail as I got some command figures and 10 foot done but it's faaaaar from ready.
So what did I do in 2014 you may ask. Well, there were some things I previously haven't had on my radar. But let us have a look on the numbers first:

Over the year I painted:
28mm:
188 foot figures
5 mounted figures
7 Vehicles

15mm:
32 foot figures

Compared to a years total of 179 figures (all together) for 2013 I can feel quite satisfied I think. Especially considering a big amount of the figures was painted in the last three months of the year. All in all I painted and sold off far more figures than I managed to buy leading to my lead mountain melting like the arctic ice shelves in the summer. We'll see if the same is true for the new year.

But now let us have a quick look at what I really did in 2014 I haven't had on my radar before (only a selected few):

28mm Blitzkrieg Germans:


These really hit me without warning. I always enjoyed the later period of the war but didn't give much thought to the early years. But when I stumbled over the great plastic Pioneers set by Warlord Games I had to get them. And you won't believe it but I really painted up the whole box till sylvester.

28mm U.S. Army:


I came across a nicely painted and fairly priced U.S. Army for sale while browsing and so I made an old dream of mine come true. Of course I had to add to this force as soon as it arrived on my doorstep. This very force also helped me to overcome a lack of enthusiasm which plagued me for several months.

First Indochina in Greyscale:


Maybe the acquisition in 2014 that surprised myself most. I was pondering over the possibility to do something in Greyscale for quite some time but when inspiration finally struck I knew I had to do it.

15mm World War 2:


A topic I was interested in for quite some time but never really started before 2014. The Battlefront plastic U.S. Paras proofed to be a real treat to paint but at the moment their metal counterparts are sitting in my drawer as they're not even half as nice.

So now it's enough of 2014 and on to the plans for the year ahead!

Plans for 2015:

  • 'Completing' my early war German force for Bolt Action. This should be pretty straight forward as there are just a few things left to get to a point where I can call this force ready for battle i.e. the Leutnant and his aide, an Artillery or Air Observer, a PaK 36, a HMG and a 50mm Mortar as well as some bits and bobs. Of course a wargamers army is never really completed so I might maybe even add a second box of infantry as well as the odd vehicle, artillery piece to it-
  • Starting a British Expeditionary Force to oppose my Germans. In fact the first metal box from Warlord Games is already sitting on my desk right know awaiting the arrival of their missing heads.... why can't I ever get a complete set of figures from Warlord Games?
  • Enlarge my U.S. Force. Well no definite plans but I'd like to add a fourth squad and maybe even a second BAR to each squad.
  • Something in 15mm. Here I'm not totally certain about what to do. Maybe the Desert campaign?
  • Continue with my First Indochina in Greyscale project. Getting all the figures done I already have and maybe some more, depending on the releases from Red Star Miniatures. And maaaaaybe even do some terrain in Greyscale. The Sarissa Precision 'Far East' line of MDF buildings does look pretty decent and using my airbrush they should be quite easy to do.

So with these plans in my head and the firm knowledge that no battle plan survives the first contact with reality, I'm looking forward to the months ahead!

13 comments:

  1. A great year. You've painted some fantastic miniatures. I can't wait to see what you do in 2015.

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  2. More miniatures painted than you bought ???
    That´s startling: Do we have to worry...???

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  3. Looking forward to more of your fantastic Blitzkrieg stuff, and that grey scale terrain sounds interesting too! Happy 2015!

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  4. What a wonderful hobby where satisfaction comes from failure. :-D Seriously, don't bother too much, I keep visiting blogs like yours for unexpected ideas and new paths opening up. So, best of luck fulfilling your plans in 2015 – but also keeping the creative spirit of 2014. :-)

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  5. Sounds like a very interesting year ahead. I shall very much look forward to seeing whatever you decide to do with it :)

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  6. Well I have to say that you have produced some of my favourite miniatures of 2014, the Indochina in grey scale was a particular highlight for me. Really looking forward to what you produce this year.

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  7. I would not call your Late Romans and Early Saxons an epic fail as you did make pretty good progress and Romans are ready to play. Hmm that's an interesting concept where one actually paints more then they buy.:-) That's a great line up for 2015 and I look forward to watching this happen!

    Christopher

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  8. It was a great year and I can't wait to see what you have for us in 2015! Cheers!

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  9. I agree with Michael ... the Indochina minis in grey scale was spectacular!
    Can't wait to see what colour schemes you have up your sleeve for 2015.

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  10. Great accomplishments in 2014. Looking forward to seeing your work is the new year.

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  11. A great year, no doubt...difficult to do better in 2015!

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