2015 Hobby Wrapup and 2016 January Goals

2015 is done! Hooray! But before we put last year completely in the rear view mirror let's spend a bit of time in reflection.

Everything I painted in 2015

I managed to play only a handful of 40K games. They were all fun, but difficult to arrange and took much too long for the points values (many hours for 1500 points to a side).  All but one were also four player games which is probably why they took a bit longer.

Fantasy suffered a bit of a blow with the introduction of Age of Sigmar.  A buddy and I had been collaborating on an empire army themed around witch hunters, and even had a plan to run something like a campaign with them. With no more GW support for proper Warhammer Fantasy we're not likely to do that anymore.  We've played the Age of Sigmar rules but we're not terribly impressed with them. We're just not sure how best to organize a battle so the fight isn't lopsided. We did play around with counting wounds and whatnot but it's just not the same as having points values and force org charts.  We'll see.  I think the rules themselves play fine, but I'm not sure I want to spend a bunch of money for scenario rules or that it has legs enough to keep me interested.

In Warmachine territory I only played a single game even though most of my painting time was put into Privateer Press models. So that's a bit lopsided.  I'm sure I can arrange some more battles this year.

Hobby Scorecard! A lot of this year's hobby was spent finishing models that had been started a long time ago. This is another trend I expect to continue in 2016.  I'm resolved to make a dent in the pile of half finished miniatures I have lying around.

Here are the models I completed in 2015. Twenty-nine total, which comes out to about one model every two weeks.

     12 Empire Swordsmen

     Dark Angels Azrael

     Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
     Rask, Hordes Warlock

     6 Tau Stealthsuits

     2 Tau Drones
     3 Tau Battlesuits
     Bull Snapper, Hordes Warbeast

     Journeyman Warcaster
     Harlan Versh

Looking into 2016, I'd like to do more one on one combats across all the rule sets that I have armies for, even Infinity. I'm also looking to expand my Tau collection and finish up a few of the half-started armies that are lying around. Setting a goal for the month seemed to work well leading up to the new year, so I think I'll keep that around and try to make it a thing.

Here's a picture of the January goal:

In the front there is a half-finished Cairn Wraith and an assembled and primed Empire Master Engineer. Then of course there's a Tau Riptide taking up most of the picture. I'm building my Tau force very deliberately, only adding a new model to the army once all the other models are assembled and painted.  The only exception I'm making is for drones.  Drones will be saved up to be assembled and painted once I have a sufficient number of them.

Painted: Harlan Versh

Harlan Versh is done. He was the last model on my 2015 list. I guess I'm a day late to have completely met my goal but since I set the goals and hold myself to them I'm going to go ahead and give myself a "Job well done."

I don't really like the model now that I've painted it. He's supposed to be a formidable witch hunter but his pose doesn't speak to this. It's very stiff and wooden.  He's standing with his knees locked. There's very little dynamism to his pose. The cloak on his back is a wide expanse of flat metal that practically requires freehand work just to make it look decent.

Whatever the case, he's done and ready to rain hot lead on enemy witches and warlocks. So along with my Journeyman Warcaster, Bull Snapper, Tau weapons and Sorcha with her Devastator I managed to make the hobby year go out on a high note.

Next up is to look through my list of projects and pick a few for January. Onward and upward.

Painted: Battlesuits and Weapons

Last night I finished up the weapons for my Tau Battlesuit squad.

I magnetized all the weapon options that come in the kit so it took a little while to do all the fiddly line highlighting on each weapon.  Still, I think the overall effect is pretty good.

The magnets I used are a little bit small, and even though I doubled up the connection still feels a little wobbly.  I'm worried about the weapons coming off during gameplay and losing them. I'm not sure what I'd do differently if I were to do it all over again since the magnets were the largest I could possibly use on the small weapons.

One day left and one project to go to get my project list done for the new year. Harlan Versh here I come!

Painted: Bull Snapper

2016 is rapidly approaching and I've got the Bull Snapper checked off my project list.

I don't have much use for him in a game of Warmahordes. I simply don't have enough Minions models to put together a worthwhile force. Bull Snappers aren't one of my favorite units anyways. Why take a light warbeast when you can have a heavy for twice the price? But he does look good next to Rask, and if/when I get a chance to play the Hordes version of the Iron Kingdoms RPG I'll be rocking a fish man character with attendant hungry crocodile.

Now to close out the year I just need to wrap up the Tau battlesuit weapons and finish Harlan Versh.  Versh is starting too look like a stretch goal at this point, but the battlesuit weapons just need one more line highlighting pass and they'll be set.