Quarter 4 & Year End Painting Review 2014

Quarter 4 2014

An up and down year to be sure on the painting front. I knew at the outset that other commitments would curtail my painting opportunities, but what surprised me was to what degree that would happen, and late, how I would be able to get a significant amount more painting done by comparison once those commitments were out of the way.

I initially started with an objective for 50 minis, but that quickly changed when I knew it wasn't realistic based on the first few months, especially when I did not paint anything at all in February. The target was revised to 40 and at least I managed to achieve that. Quite a drop from 2013 when I painted 63 minis, but still better than I thought early this year.

Quarter 1: 10 minis (-3 from Q1 2013)
Anima Tactics: 7 minis
Pulp City: 2 minis
Supers: 1 mini

Quarter 2: 10 minis (-3 from Q2 2013)
Anima Tactics: 8 minis
Pulp City: 1 mini
Batman Miniatures Game: 1 mini

Quarter 3: 8 minis (-9 from Q3 2013)
Anima Tactics: 7 minis (well 7 units, technically 11 minis as 1 of the units comprises 5 models, but I count it as 7 based on units)
Batman Miniatures Game: 1 mini

Quarter 4: 17 minis (-3 from Q4 2013)
Anima Tactics: 7 minis
Zombies: 5 minis
SDZA: 2 minis
Pulp City: 1 mini
Batman Miniatures Game: 1 mini
Freebooter's Fate: 1 mini

My 2014 minis - 45 units/49 minis

2014 totals - 45 minis/units
Anima Tactics: 29 units
Pulp City: 4 minis
Freebooter's Fate: 1 mini
Batman Miniatures Game: 3 minis
Supers: 1 mini
Zombies: 5 minis
SDZA: 2 minis

October, November and December gave me a strong finish to the year, and February was a write-off (the Pulp City Kickstarter ran then, and so occupied a lot of time). I had hoped to finish one or two more in December, but was laid low with a heavy cold for a couple of days when I had time set aside for painting, and just didn't feel up to slapping the hairy sticks around.

As for next year, right now I think a target of 50 is do-able, but only time will tell.

In the year ahead I want to try and paint at least 30 Anima Tactics units, and get into a good chunk of Pulp City Supremes that I have not yet painted. I would like to paint to some more BMG/Knight Models stuff, maybe to play in a tournament if I get the chance. In fact, I have set myself some targets for specific minis ranges, and if I met all of those, then that would be more than 50 minis next year, closer to 60, so who knows how things will end up!

Next year I also plan to start Warmachine/Hordes; I have been interested and considering the game(s) for years without pursuing them, and recently thought I may take the plunge. Which has meant getting some new bits and pieces as well as digging out some minis I already had from the previous edition. I have been prepping a few minis for both in the last few days.

Rob and I also want to finally play Freebooter's Fate as we both have playable Crews, and have both started acquiring potential terrain options.

And as for everything else, I assume 2015 will see my usual ad hoc approach to getting stuff done, although Zomtober 2015 is already pencilled in.

Oculus (SHOC Force)

Oculus is the name I have given this model, which is another from Nexus Miniatures (click for link to the Nexus site), from their SDZA (Super Dinosaur Zombie Apocalypse) range.

Like Razorclaw, Oculus is a member of SHOC Force, and often acts as de-facto field leader for the team. His powers allow him to see across the range of the electro-magnetic spectrum as well allowing him to project devastating short range line-of-sight electro-magnetic blasts using specially developed goggles. There is friction between the straight-laced Oculus and the abrasive wild-man Razorclaw, which causes tension in the team.

I started painting this mini at the same time as the first one, painting the bulk of each in tandem, although focusing on one at a time when it came to the finishing details of each. I struggled with painting the face, but I am leaving it as it is so I can keep momentum for other minis.

Having painted these two, I am looking forward to more SDZA releases using the same uniform motifs so I can add to the ranks of SHOC Force. More generally, I am really happy to have painted a couple more minis, my first two this month, especially after struggling to get stuff painted for so much of the year.

Razorclaw (SHOC Force)

While on my recent painting roll (a pretty unprecedented-for-me 14 minis in two months - not the kind of output I have managed since giving up bulk painting GW stuff), I decided to get some work done on a few minis that would all include a lot of red.

This is the first mini finished of a small handful of minis that I started in the past week. The model is from a new company by the name of Nexus Miniatures (click for link to the Nexus site), from their SDZA (Super Dinosaur Zombie Apocalypse) range. Nexus and SDZA is the brainchild of my friend Drew, aka Doctor Warlock.

As soon as I saw the FON (Freaks Of Nature) Agents for the SDZA range I knew I wanted them, what I wanted them for, and how I wanted to paint them. So I bought the first two, which will be joined by others as soon they are released, and which I will be using for a secret project over the next year or so, and with all to be painted in a matching colour scheme.

For my secret project the mini will become Razorclaw, a scrappy bad-ass feral superhuman who has been recruited as part of a clandestine team code-named SHOC Force (Super Human Operations Covert Force) in homage to 90's comic book super teams with names such as WildC.A.T.s and H.A.R.D. Corps. Razorclaw is fast, strong and tough, and since his recruitment into the ranks of SHOC Force is just beginning to learn of his true heritage as an Unhuman, a secret race of super-powered beings.

Razorclaw is the first of several minis I want in the group, as the secret project I mentioned involves testing as many combinations of 'rules stuff' to destruction as possible, and I would like a selection of minis to help me focus on that, that are not too specifically tied in my on head to anything in particular.

The colour scheme was inspired by VALIANT Entertainment Inc.'s comic book anti-heroes known as HARDCorps (see image right for an example). While I have not copied the scheme wholly, I have used the predominant placement of red, black and white in the best-fit parts of the mini as I saw it, and I am pretty happy with the outcome, even if it isn't my best painting (I have not been painting much red lately so it was a struggle). The next ShOC Force mini should be posted in the next few days.

Meridian Miniatures Webstore Opens

I just wanted to draw attention to this, the launch of Meridian Miniatures new web-store (click for link), as I have backed two of Meridian Miniature's Kickstarter campaigns. It looks like Meridian will initially have 3 ranges:

Steam & Aether: 'Steampunk armies in post-apocalyptic Europe' - now available.

Tooth & Sword: 'Anthropomorphic adventurers of the Chibi kind' - coming early next year.

Terramortis: 'Grim battles in our darkest future' - coming soon.

I am really looking forward to painting my KS Tooth & Sword minis sometime soon, and just wanted to flag up the launch of the Meridian Miniatures store.