A Year in Review – A Pile of Miniatures

I set myself a goal early in 2016. That goal was to get enough miniatures painted to average three a week. For those keeping track, that's one hundred and fifty-six minis in a year.

The focus is bad, the lighting is dubious, and those grey wedges are to hide the detritus of the club basement. Let's just say my camera skills are adequate for up to five models, and this is almost thirty-two times that.

Those are all of them.

Most are for Warmachine and Hordes. A hundred and four of those minis are for one of those systems.

For Trollbloods and Cryx, I've just worked through some of the backlog and added things that were either missing or goy much better with Mk III. Which is why the Cryx crop is three warcasters, a warcaster attachment, six warjacks and a pair of solos, and the Trollbloods are three warlocks, a warlock attachment, two warbeasts and two Warders.

Khador is a bit more mixed. Those models are still mostly meant to complete what I finished when I got the army in 2015, but with Mk III making warjacks much more viable and the new officer and CA for Men-o-war, many of the minis shown here have seen considerable table time. The Behemoth, in particular, has missed very few of my Khador games. There's five warcasters in there, as well, and three of them have actually seen table time...

Hodor? Hodor...

The single largest chunk of minis is obviously the Cephalyx right behind the thin red line of Soviets. Clocking in at forty-one models (since one Drudge was painted in 2015 and has thus been left out), it amounts to over a quarter of the total. Which is in no way in proportion to the one game I have so far played with them, but what're you gonna do? Anyway, what is seen in the picture is the Cephalyx army box, sans Pistol Wraith and one Drudge, and some few extras.

The last chunk of Warmachine/Hordes minis is the one that can be recognized by the presence of a very green snake named Skarath. Yes, it's the non-Cephalyx Mercenaries (and Minions). Kell Bailoch, Alten Ashley, Gorman DiWulfe, Lady Aiyana and Master Holt (counting for 2016 only on a technicality concerning unfinished bases), a pair of Kayazy Eliminators and the quite frankly Mk III-gutted Tactical Arcanist Corps. You may notice the absence of the piece that would make Skarath legal to put on the table. Very observant of you. Have a cookie. I'll get to Dahlia. I will. Eventually.

That closes out the Warmachine and Hordes part of the post.

Next, the irrelevant.

Six Night Lords ostensibly for 30k, nine Skitarii in a similar position regarding 40k, Harry the Baby Hippo, who has no game to be even ostensibly part of, and a Lemure from a discounted Helldorado blister I got to experiment on. Those are what make up the top-middle of the image. This is probably the only way they'll get put on a table within the foreseeable future (though Harry has made a passable impression of a Frostgrave dog, and thus actually been in two whole game sessions).

There are also a bunch of already briefly mentioned Soviets for Flames of War whose future is only slightly brighter. Or maybe grimmer, depending on if miniatures want to go to war, or not. Does anyone have an in with Buzz Lightyear, so I can ask?

I Googled 'Soviet Buzz Lightyear', and while this was not the most relevant result, it was the most interesting.

Just two game systems to go.

The top left-hand corner contains all the Malifaux and Guild Ball miniatures from 2016.

I painted a grand total of six Malifaux minis, one of which actually saw the table. There are better picyures of some of them for any who want to dredge through last years (admittedly relatively few) posts.

Guild Ball, however, saw considerable activity on both sides of the hobby. The haul above is a nearly complete team for Alchemists and Fishermen, respectively, as well as four Union players and Bonesaw from the Morticians.

And there it is. A year's haul in painted minis. Some are paint jobs I'm proud of, others are no more than tabletop-standard. Some are studies in techniques I've never tried before, some are simple exercises in basecoats and washes. Some have been absolutely ruined by weather'sensitive 'Ardcoat (you may notice the different shades of green between different Men-o-war, for example).

For 2017, the goal is obviously to up the number from 2016, but most importantly, I have four huge-based models to finish. So maybe a hundred and sixty is more than I'll manage. We'll see.

And with that, dear children, ta, and DFTBA.