2016 Gaming Review and Ambitions for 2017

So, it's that time of year again and the blogosphere is filling up with yearly round ups and hobby resolutions. Yes, it's cliche but I find it a useful exercise, and I've surprised myself at how much I have actually produced in 2016 - although no where near the consistent standard of many Oldhammer luminaries.

I've followed the lead of some other bloggers and my 2016 round up focuses on those minis that did not get featured in a blog post - mostly for two reasons a) the standard is table top ready at best and/or b) they are intended for my D&D campaign, so I tend not to show them on line before they have actually debuted in our campaign and we only play once a month so that can take a little while. 

I've not kept an accurate count for 2016 (something I should try and remedy for 2017) but a conservative estimate is just over 100 minis, of varying quality and detail. You can check out the rest of my output by checking out my blog posts for 2016 :)

I also wanted to revisit my Hobby Ambitions for 2016 and see how I did, before deciding on my ambitions for the coming year. So lets start by taking a look back at what I wanted to achieve in 2016:


1. Finish painting my Caledor themed High Elf army.  Well, this was to be my major project this year and it got no where near the attention it required. I certainly didn't finish painting them all, and I may even have made an additional purchase in the shape of a very badly treated Prince Imrik on Dragon which will probably take years before it sees the light of day. I did however make some progress, adding a couple of basic troop units, a couple of bolt throwers, a fair sized unit of Silver Helms, and a couple of extra character models.

More importantly, I managed to play a couple more games of WFB4 with the ones I had painted - and this actually contributed to why more elves were not finished, because I felt the need to work on my Greenskin army in parallel, adding two units of Goblin archers and a few more lines of assorted Orc infantry along with the Goblin Doom Diver and Wolf Riders already shown on this blog.

Given my other projects I'm going to be more realistic, but am determined to keep up momentum with both WFB armies, so my 2017 ambition is going to be to add at least 2000 points spread across both armies by the end of the year.

The forces of Caledor - I have about the same again, plus more cavalry, still waiting to be painted.

Da Greenskin Horde - loads more in the lead pile to add to this mob, including some chariots if I muster the gumption.

2. Start work on my Rogue Quest project. This has definitely been my most successful ambition. Four out of six embers of the party finished and blog posts published, a couple of spin off projects thrown into the mix and a couple more lined up before the end, the next member of the party on the table and already base coated, the final member finally acquired after more than 12 months of searching!

It also spurred me on to bash out a few gangers that had been hanging around since before my 2015 painting revival.

Plastic Orlock Gangers from Necromunda and a metal 40K 2nd Ed Catachan match up well as general urban scumniks

You can review my progress on the main project by following the link: Rogue Quest

For 2017 this ambition becomes Finish the main Rogue Quest Project and any associated side projects currently planned.

3. Improve my basing technique.  OK, so as predicted I'm still working to complete existing forces so I still paint my bases a fair amount of the time, and use basic sand flocking or poorly textured putty most of the rest of the time, but at least these days I use putty to fill in the gaps, and the painted bases have got a bit better (in some cases).

There are however some genuine signs of improvement. I've taken to using lentils or small balls of putty or dried lentils to represent toadstools, and small stones as boulders etc. Really basic stuff, but it does make a difference. The Discworld models below are an example of what I mean.

I've seen the light with this one and I think it is going to improve naturally from here on, so I don't feel the need for a basing related ambition in 2017. I'm going to set myself a different challenge: Complete an all metal (or primarily metal) conversion. 

This should involve actually cutting into lead! Drilling and pinning, and filling with green stuff. All things which any hobbyist worth their salt should be proficient in, and which I've never had a huge amount of success with, prior to a half a decent fix on a broken Trolls leg earlier this year. I'm reasonably confident, though not very skilled with converting plastic, but working with metal will be pushing my modelling skills.

4. Collect, convert, and paint my first Frostgrave War band.  FAIL! I've certainly managed the collecting part in that I let myself free wheel and buy whatever minis I thought could fit in to any number of FG war bands, but I have not assembled any complete war bands.

I did build and paint a set of models from the Osprey Frost Grave Soldiers box set, which is a great set and one I will have to acquire again as I turned all of mine into D&D NPC types. I jumped at the chance to create a few unarmed farmer/merchant types as well as assorted town guards, watchmen, rogues, angry flaming brand wielding peasants, and foresters. I guess some of them could be used in FG, but that's not why I made them...

Now, if only someone was making a similarly diverse kit with fantasy female models, my D&D NPC needs would be so much easier to meet!

Night Watchmen (complete with a poor first attempt at Object Sourced Lighting)  - built from the Osprey Frostgrave Soldiers kit

Rogues - built from the Osprey Frostgrave Soldiers kit

Rogues (rear view) - loads of great bitz in the FG Soldiers kit!

Town Guard - built from the Osprey Frostgrave Soldiers kit

Angry peasants and Foresters - built from the Osprey Frostgrave Soldiers kit

Treasure token made from bits and bobs from Blacktree Miniatures - Farmers or Merchants (FG Soldiers kit again)

I also cobbled together some basic treasure tokens/scatter terrain for FG/D&D using some crates, chests, and urns from Blacktree Miniatures, and some press moulded quivers of arrows. So it wasn't a complete bust!

This ambition stays as it is, with one amendment - NO MORE COLLECTING - the war band has to be assembled from the minis I already own. Apart from the replacement set of FG Soldiers. Obvs.

5. Sell or trade more minis, games, and rule books. FAIL! I've not sold another thing all year. I have drastically reduced my purchasing however, and am making good progress at actually painting things from the lead pile and actually using them in games! I really need to pull my finger out with this one though. Did I mention the 28 KG of superfluous rule books? This ambition stays as it is, but maybe it moves up a few places in importance?

So what else did I manage to get painted in 2016?

Discworld Characters

Because I didn't have enough painting deadlines towards the end of the year, I decided to paint some Discworld characters from Micro Art Studio as presents for some members of my family, all of whom are big fans. It was only this year that I was able to bring myself to read his last book before he died, The Shepherd's Crown, and I painted these very shortly after finishing the book. A poignant moment for me.

These were finished the day before they were due to be given as gifts - luckily I managed to get some WIP shots, but sadly none of the fully finished versions.

WIP of the whole bunch - Granny Weatherwax was a popular choice with my family :)

Note the dried lentil toadstool :)

Basing with Rocks on it

The basing is part of the model on this one - so I can't claim the credit for this one ;)

More D&D NPCs & Monsters!

Most of my painting in 2016 focused on my D&D campaign, though with an emphasis on usability across a number of game systems such as WFB, Heroquest, FG etc...

I've shared lots of my recent work in my post of Mini-collecting driven D&D Campaigning (or vice versa?), so these pics focus on minis that I have not shown on the blog before (with a couple of reappearances). The minis come from a variety of producers, but many of them current - More from Blacktree, plus some from CP Miniatures, Hasslefree, a couple of Necron Scarabs from GW, a giant centipede floor tile (I can't remember who made this I'm afraid) and a Prince August noble for good measure.

Dungeon based NPCs and Bad Guys

Tavern/Village based NPCs

Religious NPCs

I find myself painting a lot of Bards etc. due to the nature of our D&D campaign, and one of my favourite models of the year was this chap, the One Man Band from CP Miniatures 28mm Victoriana range - who has now made his debut as Sparrow the Bard in our campaign, so can be shared here.

Sparrow the 'One-Man-Band' Bard

Heroquest Rescue Jobs + RPG PCs for Son #1

A combination of wanting a distraction from other painting projects, and the inspiration of the brilliant Heroquest Hero Quest over at Scalecreep, saw me work on some HQ models that AVP Shaun sent my way as extras, and the ones we mainly use when my son and I play (rather than the pristine set I paid ridiculous money for as one of my first key Oldhammer purchases!)

I started off with the handful of undead that had already been half painted by AVP Shaun, in 2017 I'll be moving on to the surviving greenskins who have suffered a bit more at the hands of a previous owner :(

HQ Undead - I'm not happy with either of the zombies, but they were a chance to experiment with dead/rotting flesh tones

 

Red Panda from Darksword Miniatures and a pimped up HQ Orc in a shiny Gold Leather jacket serve as Son #1's PC options

Shot of some of the extra bits added to the Orc Treasure Hunter - from the FG soldiers kit again!

The promise of more HQ and some creative genius from the 4year old mind of Son#1 has also spawned the first side project of the new year, and filled me with so much enthusiasm I rescued a can of spray undercoat from the near freezing garage and now have it inside a sock coming up to room temperature ready for action tomorrow!

So what are your hobby related ambitions or resolutions for 2017?

Rogue Quest Level 2 - Wyrd Beastmaster Druid

Hi everybody! Meet Doktor Boris Krackpotnik - Wyrd Beastmaster Druid, and his two pet Maw Beasts.

There is no StuntCat - only Zhuul!

Boris and his mutts are the second entry to my Rogue Quest project. What is Rogue Quest you ask? The idea is to produce a band of 6 Adventurers that match the classic D&D/Warhammer Quest character classes, but for the Rogue Trader universe!

I hasten to add this is not my brilliant idea! Check out my first post here for some more background, and be sure to follow the links to the three other blogs that inspired me to embark on this project:

LeadPlague
Magpie and Old Lead
Leadballoony

Although the Wyrd Beastmaster is a Necromunda model I felt the low-tech elements of the model fit well with the RT universe, and there was something that really appealed to me about the face in particular.

Strangely, in this picture (not my own) the white undercoat makes him look quite endearing, almost Santa Clause like...
This is not what the model conjured up in my mind!

As I sat looking at the model deciding on how I was going to tackle it, two characters were brought to mind. Firstly, Boris the Animal from Men in Black 3. A cracking villain for a family film, with a strong vibe of alien animal life running through him. Yes, Boris would be a good source of inspiration for my Druid, who I definitley didn't see as the benign tree huggng type.

Boris the Animal from Men in Black 3 - no spoliers in case you haven't seen it, but don't shake his hand.

The second figure the model reminded me of was Dr Robotnik from the Sonic the Hedgehog games. It's the hair and glasses again, but also the non-traditional approach to animal welfare that would bring a different slant on the Druid character class.

Dr Robotnik (aka Dr Eggman if you are Japanese, apparently)

So, with those two sources of inspiration Doktor Boris Krackpotnik was born.

One of the big attractions with choosing a Druid, along with it being quite outside the traditional character or troop types seen in RT/WH40K, was the chance to add some alien animal companions to the party. One of the things that really sets Rogue Trader apart from later versions of the game were the alien flora and fauna included in the rules for the enterprising games master to spice up his encounters. Now I could have sourced myself a Gyrinx, or found something suitable to use as a Catachan Devil, but I stumbled accross some Dungeon Saga Maw Beasts, which seemed to match what I had in mind for Boris.

Maw Beast WIP

I went for a contrasting Purple/Green colour scheme as the beasts are essentially canine I wanted to emphasise their natures by having an alien colour skin/hair tone. I've probably been too conservative with the purple higlights again though.

The plastic was more flexible than I'm used to, though not as wobbly as reaper bones, and the mini was pre attached to the base, a bit fiddly to paint because of those two issues, but once the undercoat was on the paint seemed to behave fairly well.

Cracked paving bases were part of the the model. In the end I've just chosen to keep the brown colour to tie them in to the rest of the group, but not try and flock them as that risked loosing detail around the feet.

Boris is going to have a hell of a time getting him off that roof now that he has got up there. Stupid Maw Beats...

For Boris himself I took the first prompt from the colour scheme I used on Sven Spielboard my Squat Bard, using the sea green and uniform grey on the overalls and webbing, and brown-red ink blend on the skin for that ruddy look. I also knew I was going to be using bright red as the spot colour, so wanted to make sure that would stand out on the final piece. One of the main features with this model is the patchwork animal hide coat, and again I wanted to emphasise some of the alien animals that might be included, so chose a dark red and a vibrant green to pick out those patches made of scales or lizard hide, the rest was kept fairly natural and muted, with plenty of inking to keep it looking dirty and lived in. I reckon Boris sleeps in that coat.

Doktor Boris Krackpotnik - not your average Druid

The oversized stub gun and shot gun shells provide a nice visual tie in accross the model, the shells in the webbing at the front gave a chance to use the bright red spot coour, as did the empty shells woven into his hair at the back, Edward Teach style. His hair is supposed to be black, with a few grey hairs showing through, but as we all know flat black looks terrible on most finished models, so I went with a very dark blue in the mix and worked up with blue-grey highlights. I'm really happy with the finished effect as it looks dark and oily, but not unnatural. A final flurry of bright red on the sash on his staff and he was ready.

Here you can see the ful range of animals that died so that Boris could have such an impressive jacket. If I was a Maw Beast I'd watch out.

So just who is Doktor Boris Krackpotnik? Well that remains something of a mystery. Known but also feared in the hunting and farming communities of the small frontier world where he made his home, as a man who could help as easily in the birthing or healing of a beast as he could in it's tracking and killing, he was accepted by the local population even though he was not one of them. His true place of origin remains unknown.

Perhaps he brought his two fearsome Maw Beasts with him? For they were not native to the frontier world where he was recruited by 'the Unit.' however, they cetainly proved useful in capturing the dangerous xenomorph which had escaped a secure shipment, which the Unit had been sent ot 'neutralise.'

Boris made himself invaluable to the team on that mission, proving his worth in combat as well as his extensive knowledge of xenobiology and practical survival skills. More than this, his potentially psychic link to his pet beasts, and with other animals, was not unnoticed by the Unit's tactiturn but enigmatic leader.

When the offer to join them on further missions involving the hunting and capture of dangerous alien creatures was put to him, Boris accepted, pocketing the considerable fee with a toothy smile, but keeping his true motivations to himself...

Boris and his beasts are on the hunt for some elusive alien quarry - stay tuned for Rogue Quest Level 3 to find out what they are hunting!

The next two models for this project are already based and undercoated on my painting table, but the next installment might also feature some of 'the Unit's' elusive alien quarry! I feel like these guys need something to chase after...

So, thanks for reading and look out for Rogue Quest Level Three coming soon!