2022 painting round-up

Happy New Year, everyone!

Ever since I started tracking my painting a couple of years ago, I like to assemble it all at the end of the year for a review. For 2022, I painted 239 figures in total, down a bit from the last couple of years. The biggest contingents were two new DBA armies, who have previously been featured (Tlaxcalans, Undead), but my Proxian imagi-nations armies also saw considerable expansion (spurred on by several battles being fought over the course of the year.)

(There are a few absent from the picture - some chariot runners I painted for my dad as part of a rebasing scheme prior to a game at our local convention, a Leonardo tank painted for a club project, and a Scythian lancer borrowed to paint for a contest over at Benno's Forum.)

A few other highlights that I never got around to posting about on the blog:

Occiterran Red Hussars (from the Emhar Light Brigade set), painted up after the Occiterran defeat in April.

A proper Pharaoh for my Egyptians (from the Caesar set), painted up in time to lead the Egyptian army in my Battle of Djahy game at Barrage.

Camp followers for various DBA armies - Aztec and Tlaxcalan at left, Bronze Age at right.

A selection of Reaper Bones adventurers.

As for 2023, no big plans yet - I'll just have to see what the year brings as far as painting and gaming! My brother stopped by yesterday for a couple of rounds and DBA and HotT, so we are off to a good start...

Getting adventurous

This is the second half of my post-Mycenaean painting spree; as mentioned in my previous post I got some work done on my Proxian 19th-century Imagi-nations armies, but I also had some fantasy odds and ends that I wanted to work on. In particular, I thought it was time to re-visit the Caesar Adventurers set. I've painted a number of the figures over the years, but I still had a few tucked away. 

First up, I selected a trio to base together as a stereotypical D&D adventuring party, with a fighter, a magic-user, and a rogue. I expect the three of them will feature in Hordes of the Things games as a Hero unit. (The fighter's coat of arms is actually an allusion to a long-running D&D game I'm in, where our guild's symbol is a phoenix.)

I've also been plotting to add a few fantasy elements to my Bronze Age Egyptians, to allow them to play as a HotT army as well. One of the female magic-users from the Adventurers set looked like she could serve as a priestess; I gave her a couple of retainers from the old Atlantic Pharaoh's Court set. This unit will probably be either a Cleric or Magician as required.

As another HotT element for the Egyptians, I had a couple of crocodiles to serve as Water Lurkers. These are from HaT's "Jungle Adventures" re-issue of the Airfix Tarzan set.

This next one is bit of an oddball; some years ago I picked up several boxes of MiniArt Germanic Warriors at a convention flea market, thinking I would use them as Riders of Rohan. Well, I got as far as painting one stand of them, then kind of lost interest. I sold off the bulk of them to a friend of mine, but I still had another unit that had started prepping. Well, I finally got around to painting that unit, so perhaps now they'll see some action in a future game of N.U.R.D, or as a little mercenary contingent in a HotT campaign.

Moving over to the 28mm side of things, I also got a few more Reaper Bones figures painted. This one is a Psychic from their Pathfinder range. I actually painted a version of this figure in a speed-painting contest at Gen Con a couple of years ago and I liked it enough to get a plastic Bones version when it became available.

Finally, I painted up a gang of lizardfolk to match some I did a couple of years back. They might see action as primitives in Stargrave, or if we return to the Ghost Archipelago some day.

Next up, it will be the Bronze Age once more... perhaps for the last time! (Though I've said that before, haven't I?)

Stargrave: The Mostly Harmless

For the past couple of years, I've been getting together with some folks from the HAWKs for monthly skirmish games - 2018 and 2019 were Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago, 2020 was going to be This Is Not A Test (a post-apocalyptic game that ended up getting preempted by an actual apocalypse), and this year we're giving Stargrave a try. Stargrave is set in a pretty vague science fiction setting that reminds me mostly of Firefly with a touch of Star Wars - lots of space pirates and not many responsible adults. In June we played a test game, and since then I have been busily painting up a crew in preparation for this month's game. I probably won't end up keeping a detailed account of the campaign, but I thought it might be fun to introduce the crew of the Mostly Harmless.

Our captain, Martya Mickiewicz, a Robotics Expert. During the Last War, she rescued the Adams-class robofreighter Mostly Harmless, and she and the ship basically ended up adopting each other. Since then, they have put together a "salvage & retrieval" business, and picked up various crew along the way, mostly for their particular skills. (Figure is "Rosie, Chronotechnician").

The first mate, Ken Mori, is a young technolyte from Kanto Station, who fled after the mysterious death of his sensei. He still tends to dress in the Cybertraditionalist garb that echoes the Dawn Age of Computers. However, despite his odd archaic appearance, his computer skills are second to none. (Figure is "Devo Ranks, Cyberist").

EM-1LY (left) and T1D-B1T (right) are Martya and MH's robotic "kids". EM-1LY is the solid, reliable one, while T1D-B1T tends to wander off and get into mischief. (Figures are Medium and Small XairBots)

Ani Hernandez (left) and Zeke Nwamu (right) are old comrades of Martya's from the War. Ani is a biologist and the closest thing to a ship's doctor; Zeke is a mechanic and also the ship's cook. (Figures are "Bonnie", somewhat modified, and "Chit Jubal, Arkos Chopper.")

Sezem ka' Tlon (left) and Gunnush (right) are a bit of an odd pair - their species are traditional enemies (and they fought on opposite sides of the Last War) but ever since the crew of the Mostly Harmless rescued the two of them from the prison of the Black Comet gang, they have started to build a grudging respect for each other. (Figures are Rach and Malvernis soldiers.)

Xander Ras (left) is another recent recruit. He lost both legs as a child during the War, but since he joined the crew, Zeke and Martya have been able to upgrade his prosthetics considerably. Sqwchgy (right) comes from a planet whose inhabitants spend most of their lives in a sessile, tuber-like form. Sqwchgy intends to spend its motile years experiencing as much of the galaxy as it can. (Also, it regards "potato head" as a deeply insulting form of address.) (Figures are "Rand" and "Space Henchman").

Finally, these are two of the ship's drones, Whiskey (left) and Romeo (right) - they function as the eyes and ears of Mostly Harmless itself while the crew is on a mission. (Figures are Sentry Drones with the large guns removed.)

The little things that count - wrapping up 2020

Well, I don't know quite what I expected from 2020, but this wasn't it. I do feel quite fortunate to have come through the past year unscathed, and with my family and friends generally still in good health. And for all that this was a terrible year for other things, it was a great year for me getting painting done - at some point early in January I realized I had finished an average of one figure a day, and I decided to see how long I could keep up that pace. The answer turned out to be all year - I finished yesterday with 400 figures completed. This was the first year I have kept detailed logs, but I am sure this exceeds whatever my previous record was - and it may prove to be a high-water mark for some time to come! For the fun of it, I decided to lay out everything I painted this year, all at once:

The bulk of this is my six DBA armies, but there are a number of Reaper Bones figures and a few other odds and ends for other projects in there as well. A few of the miscellaneous miniatures that rounded out the year for me:

As mentioned at the end of my last post, these are old chariots I had painted some years ago, but rebased on 60x80mm bases for DBA, and with some new chariot runners added. The runners are a couple of spares left over from my Assyrians, and a couple of Robin Hood conversions. The bowmen are more Caesar Mitannian Mariyannu Chariot archers, dismounted to use as 4Bw in DBA. Between them, these will let my Syro-Canaanite army double as list I/19 Mitanni.

The other item mentioned as forthcoming in a previous post - a second piece of artillery for Elabrün. These are Waterloo 1815's Austrian Artillery set - and in this case, Elabrüner uniforms don't diverge too much from historical Austrians...

Moving to the Reaper Bones side - at some point back in August or so, I actually ran out of the 1-inch washers usually I use for basing 28mm figures, so I switched to working on ones which went on either larger or smaller bases. These ones are all on the small side: two kobolds, and two halflings. (Or possibly a gnome and a halfling.) Alas, the kobold's mace remains bent despite repeated attempts at straightening it in boiling water. 

Some other assorted Reaper critters: the packrat had been sitting around primed but unpainted for at least a couple of years, but I finally got around to it this past month. The normal rats went much quicker. One of the things I enjoy painting most is animals (hence my delight at getting to paint some camelry earlier this year), so it was fun to paint up a couple of animal companions as a wolverine and a bald eagle. And as a Marylander, of course I had to paint the dire crab up as a blue crab!

This final one is a bit of an oddball - it's an old Mage Knight figure, carved off its original Clix base, repainted, and rebased onto one of the empty bases that had previously held a chariot. I still have several of these, so I will be on the lookout for more flying creatures or other ways I can put them to good use. And now with a giant eagle to hand, I find myself thinking about how to stage the Battle of the Five Armies, from the end of The Hobbit...

So that's it for 2020! Of course, one of the other silver linings of the past year has been the revival of this blog. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by, and especially those who have taken the time to leave comments. Hopefully this year's posts will include a few more games, but if not, I expect I will at least post pictures of whatever I decide to pain next! Happy New Year, and best wishes for 2021!

Bronze Age DBA Part 4 - Gods and Ends

Alongside my fantasy figures, I've been working on a few miscellaneous items related to the DBA armies I've been building this year. The first of these is a bit of a crossover, actually - it's a Reaper Bones miniature, their Avatar of Sekhmet, but based on a 60mm square base. For DBA, she can be used as a measurement tool to mark a unit's threat zone. For Hordes of the Things, she can be deployed as a God, if the Egyptians are in need of a little divine aid on the battlefield.

Next up are some camp followers for the armies I've completed. These were a fun opportunity to do some little vignettes, representing some of the people that might be tagging along in the wake of one of these armies, and featuring some of the few non-combatants I could put together. (Well, usually non-combatants - DBA does have rules for sending your camp followers out to fight.)

Here are the Egyptians. The waving woman and the man with the bag are included with the Caesar Ancient Egyptian Chariot set. The man with the jar is from the Atlantic Pharaoh's Court set, which someone kindly gifted me at Barrage a couple of years ago.

The Hittites were a little more difficult, since their garb is a little more distinctive. The woman on the left is borrowed from the Caesar Hebrews. The man in the center marching off to battle is part of the Caesar Hittite Chariot set. The woman on the right is actually a HaT figure, from their Gallic Chariot with Warrior Queen set. (This isn't the first time I've put that figure to use - they've shown up on this blog some years ago in a rather different capacity...)

The Syro-Canaanites got a similar group to the Egyptians. The portly fellow in the center is good old Friar Tuck from the Airfix Robin Hood set, done up as a priest, merchant, or other dignitary.

The Sea Peoples were the last ones I had an idea before, and in some ways the trickiest, but also the most fun. Here a couple of raiders are shown making off with someone's fatted calf. (Or maybe they obtained it by legitimate means - who can be sure?) The men are from the Caesar Sea Peoples set, modified to be carrying sticks and ropes instead of swords and shields; the cow is from the Atlantic Stampede set. The most difficult part was tying the tiny lassos...

As I was going through and putting together the camp followers, I realized I had some extra Egyptian archers that were also included in the chariot set. This meant that I could do a few extra units to deploy them as the earlier I/22a list. This has a slightly different mix of infantry than the I/22b list, with additional solid bow units and fast blade units. I am still technically short one bow unit, but they have the option of switching for solid blades, which I have plenty of.

Finally, these are not directly related to the DBA armies, but are a sort of by-product. I previously had some chariots which were mounted on 40x60mm bases, rather than the 60x80 called for by the rules. Due to how these were based, I was able to salvage the original bases and use them for something else - in this case, some plastic spiders that got a quick paint job! These may pop up as Beasts or Lurkers in a Hordes of the Things game some day.

Having a fantastic time

With the pandemic still ongoing, it hasn't been a great year for gaming, but it has been a pretty good year for painting. I find it helpful to have a couple of projects to shift around between - this year, it's been my 20mm Bronze Age DBA armies, and adding to my collection of Reaper Miniatures' Bones range of fantasy figures, for use in D&D or various skirmish games. Here's what I've been up to since finishing off the Sea Peoples:

First up was this warg, which I painted more or less to resemble a gray wolf. This turns out to be somewhat less gray than I expected - or at least, there are some other shades mixed in there as well.

Next was this clerical-looking fellow, who ended up being a bit of a study in shades of brown. I also had some fun trying to paint the bottle at his waist to look like glass.

I went for a much brighter color palette with this "cultist leader" - I also tried my hand at some sort of twisty tattoo design on the side of her head, but I'm not entirely satisfied with how that came out.

I'd had this rogue or assassin sitting around half-painted for a little while - I had started off trying some object source lighting with her daggers to make it look like they were glowing, but wasn't pleased with how it looked, so I put her aside. Picking her up again, I was able to do a bit more with the effect, and I'm happier with where she ended up. Figuring out how the light should affect the colors of her clothing was interesting.

This flute-playing bard I did in a bit of a rush - at least, I think it's supposed to be a flute. There's also the possibility that she's gnawing on a baguette instead.

I added another three orcs to my growing warband. Unlike the previous batch, these three all required some amount of assembly, gluing various limbs in place before painting.

This gnomish warrior was another quick one - my dad and I decided to have a little speed-painting contest, so this one was done in an hour with a limited palette of paints. I thought the shape of her shield looked kind of like a face in profile, so I took that as a starting point.

On the more formidable side, I painted a pair of yetis. Doing the white fur was an interesting change of pace from the more usual brown or shades of gray; I tried working in some yellow tones in the underlayers, but I'm not sure they really came through in the final results.

And on the less formidable side, I painted half a dozen goblins. I actually painted another set of these guys last year, with pale blue skin, but I decided to change up the colors and do these ones in pale purple instead. (Different tribes? Who knows!) I do have one more set of six around somewhere; maybe they'll get painted green.

Next month it will probably be back to the Bronze Age - I have a few odds and ends to finish up there...