Painting tracker 2015-01-29

Paint table snapshot: 

Khitari, Votari crystals and drop tokens.

I've also added some FSA SRS tokens, I'm tired of not having enough completed when I play.

Progress so far in 2015:

Models:

Aquired:
FSA: 2

Completed:
FSP:12
FSA: 0

Removed:
FSA: 6


So, I just sold off a blister of corvettes and some SRS, and completed my stingrays...
Not sure how to count Tokens, though. I'm leaning towards counting them as 0.5 models for painting purposes, and not count them at all for selling purposes.

I've also been working on 6 infantry stands, starting with the bases, here in three different stages:

Stage 1: Cavalry brown basecoat.
Stage 2: Parasite brown on top, flat areas (in this case the 'paving').
Stage 3: Khaki drybrush
Stage 4: Dark Tone Wash


After this it is going to be business as usual, another Khaki drybrush and two tones of flock.

So, now to try to find some more painting time...

Paint tracker update 15-01-23

Finished my four Stingray platforms today, that means that I've completed twelve models so far this year... 20 before the end of the month actually sounds feasible!

Painting tracker update 2015-01-20

Just a quick start for my paint tracker this year:

2015:

Models:

Aquired:
FSA: 2

Completed:
FSP: 8
FSA: 0

Removed: 0



The Definition of Done (or rather Completed) is that it should be varnished, and preferably put in the display at the game club.

Current WIP snapshot of my paintdesk:

Further Aquan reinforcements

Believe it or not, but another squad finished before my game tomorrow:

The full squadron (tentatively named Ocean Squall) :

Close up of a Lamana:

Close up of the Sirsir (specialist designator skimmer):

It'll be interesting to see how they perform, I'm not sure if I want the Sirsir in a medium squadron, or in a heavy squadron, but as the mediums probably will be closest to the enemy, the increased close range fighting abilities of the Sirsir will probably be of better use there.


Here is a WIP shot of the basing I'm using:

Regular Spartan base with added sand (very fine).
Vallejo Model Colour Cavalry Brown base, drybrushed with Vallejo Game Colour khaki and then washed with diluted Army Painter dark tone.

After this I usually drybrush with khaki again (very lightly), drybrush the sand with grey, wash the sand again, and drybrush with light grey (to get a spot colour for the different texture)

WIP - 150115

A snapshot of my current projects:

The paint tray is a Bandua Wargames Zel Paint Table, with mostly Vallejo Model and Game colours.
(Yes, that is a Dagon class Battlecarrier and a Ketenkarre tankette...)

As can be seen, mostly Planetfall at this point.

Completed - 4 Aquan recon skimmers

So, this Saturday I varnished my first official Planetfall squadron:

Not too bad, if I say so myself. 

Still need a better photo setup, though, I need to edit the white balance in the images.

MMXV - Plans and resolutions

So, what reasonable optimistic targets should this blog and its author set for the new year?

I've got a few in mind already:

• Clear out my backlog cupboard
• Document games, both with batrep here and at least one photo
• Hold some further demo events
• Detail my in- and outflow of models (how many gets completed, and how many gets purchased/sold off)
• Improve the photo-to-text ratio of this blog (let's face it, it's been sparse)
• Getting somewhere on my huge backlog of projects: 

 Firestorm Armada:

• Aquan Prime; 500+ pts of semi-finished stuff, and three times that in white resin
• Two boxes of Kedorians; Primed and battletested, but I need to nail down a paint scheme
• Unknown amount of Terrans; including the Valhalla box and a battlestation
• 8 Terquai Empire cruisers; 4 Torpedo Cruisers all but done, and 4 Assault cruisers still in blister
• Misc bits; Two RSN DDs and two Storm cruisers to be turned into debris, some old defense platforms and satelites, some civilians ships
• Incoming (in a month or so): Return of the Overseers, i.e two Aquan Heavy Cruisers, a Heavy Carrier, four frigates, and two Gunships.

 Firestorm Planetfall/Invasion:

• Aquan Prime; A full Core helix, of which one squad of Recon skimmers is finished, and two medium squadrons are all but finished
• Terran Tarxos Veterans: Too much.... still most of two of the old starters, so 10+ MBTs and assorted support... 
• Terrain; A box of paper Hawk Games terrain, one Spartan Terrainbox 1, and the stuff from the Proteus Prime box
• Incoming (in a month or so): Aquan Prime Heavy Helix (so three Tank Destroyers, a Support Heavy, a support Medium and two crystals)

        

 Dystopian Legions:

• Covenant of Antarctica from the Iron Scorpion box
• Any other CoA that pops up (any month now...)
• The remnants of my Prussians, including a Tankette, an APC and a Heavy Ironclad
• Terrain... Three ruined European houses, and what will become a North African mud house to complement the Iron Scorpion buildings.
 

Quite a backlog... And exclusively Spartan Games related.  

 

 Which brings me to my final point:

• Play more games, some of which should be non-Spartan games.... 

MMXIV - the year in review

With the year over, it's time to get this yearly review going.. (it's whats popular in the blogosphere these days, isn't it?)

So, this has been the year where I've officially stepped away from GW as a gamer (although I'll admit to painting half a model), not that I consider myself stopped playing their games, but with every year I find myself less and less interested in anything they have to offer.
I'll not go on to rant about what they do do right and wrong, suffice to say that there is a reason for no blog posts here with a GW label so far, not even Epic.

Instead, this has been the year where I've started playing Firestorm Armada seriously, getting almost twenty games in this year, which is slightly phenomenal as I've seldom got that much time for gaming, let alone painting a decent force** for a game, but which I've actually accomplished this year.
The reason I've actually got my behind in gear and done something this year is in no small part due to the launch of Firestorm: Armada 2.0 in late 2013, which took a decent rule system with some flaws and turned it into a well polished system with lots of options, and an overall balance that leaves a lot of larger games behind.
This relaunch inspired me and a lot of my clubmates to actually get our nascent fleets in order, and in a few cases start new ones, so I'm not alone in my Firestorm focus.

Inspired by this, I've also spent some time as a Spartan Vanguard, showcasing Armada at our local game store, (shameless plug: Alphaspel), generating a little bit of interest, and we're nearing the point where the game should be able to get on by its own, thanks to Orwellbo... Sorry, Facebook.

As Spartan has taken over as my main source of miniature addiction enabler, it should only be fair to mention the rest of their line up that I've dragged people in to:

Dystopian Legions :Victorian SciFi at it's best; large scale (~32 mm), nice ruleset and beautiful miniatures. I started playing a little short of two years ago, with the 1.0 rules, but this year it also got a 2.0 version, going from a small-scale platoon game to a company sized game.
The actual release leaves a bit to be desired, delays in manufacturing and a rulebook that was not really internally cohesive made the game a bit slow started, but with a FAQ released and the manufacturing issues sorted out I really think this game will take off... The new release has expanded the local player base with about 100%! (Ok, that wasn't hard, with only two to start with...)

Firestorm Planetfall : Once upon a time, back when Epic Armageddon had just started its descent into the abyss, I happened to stumble upon a small-scale game called Invasion, with beautiful sci-fi tanks and support vehicles. The game was made by a gang called Studio Sparta, and was the predecessor for what is currently known as Planetfall. I've been playing Invasion (full name: 'Firestorm Invasion: Planetfall') a dozen or so times the past years, and I look forward to the game line getting more support (and hope that the Terran MAW-09 makes a reappearance, that model really deserves some more table time...)

I've not gotten as many games in of Dystopian Legions 2.0 or Firestorm: Planetfall as I would have liked, but I played enough of both of their predecessors to be be able to recommend the games anyway, and once again I've got a decent amount painted.
A lot of my DL Prussians actually got their paint already last year, but this year I've finished up a lot of things lying semifinished, and moving forward the Covenant of Antarctica will probably be my main force.

I've also been seriously considering Infimity and Malifaux, but not gotten started on either of them. I've printed the Infinity 3d edition rulebook, so I'll probably give it a read-through if nothing else, and I really need to get my Hoffman box for Malifaux painted up as well, especially since his plastic incarnation has been released.

Malifaux is one of the games I've been seriously eying over the year, it has a nice combo of fast to play, different mechanics, and general weirdness (Victorian cyborgs? Yes please...)

A bit rambling, but suffice to say, 2014 has been a fairly good gaming year, and while the first half of 2015 looks like I'll have to concentrate on painting instead of gaming, it should leave me with a lot of things painted to try out on the table...

Stay tuned for some actual resolutions for the new year!

** Which reminds me, I need to do a proper fleet listing for my Armada fleets, both Terrans, Aquans and the minor fleets, but I do know that I've managed to paint ~2200 pts for my Aquan fleet, with a lot more lying around not even started...