Quarter 4 & Year End Painting Review

Quarter 4 minis

So 2013 draws to a close, and at this point I am confident I can present my summary, sure that nothing else will be finished before the New Year.

I set out at the start of the year with a strong intention to paint more than I did in 2012 (click for link); 2012 was a pretty poor year. I began to change my painting style at the end of 2009, and it has continued to evolve since. That has coincided with my interest in low-model count skirmish games. Prior to that my main gaming buddy Rob and me set out to try and play with painted minis as far as possible (something we headed towards in our WH40K days). So the numbers of models I painted each year dropped (not sure of the exact totals for 2010 and 2011) to the low-point of 2012 where I only painted 24 minis.

So I set a personal target of 48-50 minis for 2013 (I am not sure I actually published the target to begin with). It took until the end of July for me to start to open up any clear distance over that target and in the end after paining Sho on the Anima Tactician I have painted 63 minis across several ranges, as well as odds and ends of scenery. A much better year than the year before!

My 2013 minis; all 63

Quarter 1 - 13 minis
Anima Tactics: 7 minis
Pulp City: 3 minis
Supers: 2 minis
Zombies: 1 minis

Quarter 2 - 13 minis
Anima Tactics: 10 minis
Pulp City: 3 minis

Quarter 3 - 17 minis
Anima Tactics: 6 minis
Pulp City: 6 minis
Freebooter's Fate: 4 minis
MERCS: 1 mini

Quarter 4 - 20 minis
Anima Tactics: 13 minis
Pulp City: 2 minis
Batman Miniatures Game: 1 mini
Zombies: 4 minis

2013 totals - 63 minis
Anima Tactics: 36 minis
Pulp City: 14 minis
Freebooter's Fate: 4 minis
MERCS: 1 mini
Batman Miniatures Game: 1 mini
Supers: 2 minis
Zombies: 5 minis

So October was clearly my best month of the year with 10 minis and February my worst (although Giant Hadron was finally finished as the only mini of that month!).

As for 2014, well I have some thoughts on the year to come...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all readers; I hope you all enjoy a wonderful festive period.

For your enjoyment, there is a Christmas-themed Pulp City Battle Report over on the Pulp Citizen (click for link).

Batman Miniatures Game Rules Update

Knight Models have issued a free download updated rule book for the Batman Miniatures Game.

The English-language translation this time looks much better, thanks to the involvement of a couple of native speakers no doubt. This is a full update, with new layout and content. With the page count I think I will be waiting until a print version is available, but this is an excellent step forwards by Knight Models I reckon. I suggest heading over to their site and downloading this if you are interested in the game.

The Riddler (BMG)

The Riddler is my first finished mini for the Batman Miniatures game/DC Comics range of models from Knight Models.

As soon as I saw the first mini in the line (Batman, naturally) I was impressed, and when  I learned of the range I was in. I don't play the Arkham series of video games which much of the imagery and character design for this range is drawn, but I do like the minis range. A lot. So much so I can see myself collecting the loot given a chance. They have already begun to diversify the line to include DC Comics characters from outside the games (Deathstroke; Green Arrow), Watchmen characters, and other DC movie characters (some Dark Knight characters; Superman as seen in the Man of Steel), so it is an increasingly eclectic mix.

I don't know that I will ever actually play the game to be honest. The current English translation is in need of a lot of work I feel, although it clearly has a strong following among fans of the rules, and I have a much more established preference when it comes to super-powered gaming! But the minis are mostly great, although the metal is super-soft which is less than pleasing, and at least one mini (DKR Bane) is clearly out of the established scale, but they are tolerable issues.

The sculpting is exquisite in my humble opinion. Ultimately I struggled with this, simply because some parts to paint were so finely detailed. That said, I am fairly happy with the final result all told, and I will continue to add to my collection of the minis. I just expect to paint them occasionally, focusing more on other ranges I am more likely to game with right now (Pulp City; Anima Tactics; MERCS; and Freebooters Fate). Still, maybe another will be painted up before too long, just watch this space....

Zomtober 2013 Reflections

So another Zomtober draws to a close (for most; some die-hards are still adding to their walking dead and survivor stock-piles! Good on you guys!), and here are the four minis I managed for the project.

I am very happy because I hit all my planned deadlines (for me that is a 'big thing') plus I also managed to finish off another six minis for other games and ranges, so my most prolific month of the year so far!

Finally, if Zomtober participants want to add a comment below, then I will tally up everyone's undertakings in this post.

Zomtober Tallies (click names for links to blogs)
Rob & Charlie (Four Colour Super Minis): 30 Zombies and 11 Survivors
Brummie: 3 Survivors
Pulp Citizen: 4 Zombies
Dizbuster from BotLL: 2 Survivors and 4 Zombies
Blaidd Dwrg: 6 Zombies and 4 Survivors
Robert Audin: 2 Zombies and 1 Survivor
Kieron: 22 Zombies, 2 Survivors, 4 Cops, 8 Civilians who aren't meant to survive...
Colgar6: 4 survivors and 4 zombies
Michael Awdry: 9 Zombies
Shelldrake: 19 zombies and 18 commandos painted up for Zomtober
Panzer Kaput: 4 zombies and 2 survivors
Jon Shields: 12 zombies and 3 survivors.
Matt: 15 regular zombies, plus one giant super zombie!
Kasper: 4 Survivors
Rwwin: 14 survivors and 13 zeds
Modhail: 3 Survivors, 2 "Personality" Zombies (Waldo and Mime), 12 Lampposts, 1 Section of pavement, 9 Gas canisters, 4 Fire extinguishers, 1 "Soylent Green" vending machine, 9 Zombies*, And 1 Portolet....

Guys, if you add your name and Zomtober output to the comments I will update the list accordingly.

Zomtober 2013 (Week 4)

Posted with a day to spare, and finished 4 days early; get in!

The last of my Zombie Clowns  for now; I would like to find at least one more that fits well enough with the two smaller Tengu ones.

In Zomtober I have added 4 Zombies to the 'horde', and done enough work on at least one other Zombie to finish it quite quickly when I feel like doing so, and in all have painted 10 minis this month (so far: 4 Zombies; 4 Anima Tactics; 2 Pulp City), taking me to 53 minis painted for the year, and surpassing the target I set for myself at the beginning of 2013. Time to aim for 60 painted minis in 2013 now I think!

Anyway here is the last of my Zomtober entries, and I just wanted to take a moment to say 'very well done' to everyone who has taken part or offered encouragement.

In the next couple of days I will post a thread so people can comment their totals and we can track just how many extra Survivors and Zombies were added to the Zompocalypse in Zomtober 2013!

Another Undead Over On The Anima Tactician

This has been a very productive month for me - 10 minis so far and counting...

Zomtober has helped a lot to give me a boost with bother painting, including some Undead stuff for Anima Tactician. This stuff could have qualified for Zomtober, but I decided it should not deter me from painting some of the Zombie backlog, so I did not count them towards the targets.

Click here for the latest Anima Tactics Undead unit, another Type-005...