2016: PAINT OR DIE!

This years goals are much more cut and dry.  I have too much unpainted crap, and too little of it is crossing my painting desk.  While I have painted a great deal of miniatures since starting this blog, most of them were purchased in the same year or nearly the same year as when they were painted.  This year I painted a total of 2623 castings, of which 1972 were purchased/acquired within the last 18 months.    That means only 25% of my efforts can really be attributed to reducing the lead pile.  I am willing to cut myself a little more slack as around 1000 of those castings were the 10mm ACW figs for which  I traded away my unpainted ECW collection.

So what is the scale of the problem?

This is my battlefield

This is the enemy:

Numerous scales and eras cued up 

More unpainted lead in boxes and bags

Bins of odds and ends that have gone through four moves....

Thus my primary goal for this year is to focus on painting or clearing out my backlog of figures.   To that end, I must do the unthinkable:  A moratorium on new purchases until this summer.  The only new models permitted are those I trade for in unpainted lead.  The only funds I permit myself to buy new models this summer will be the proceeds from those elements of the collection I manage to sell.

Thus my goals break out a little differently.

1.  Complete castings for the following ERAs.

• 6mm Fantasy - A few figures to complete to be ready for some mass battles.
• 6mm Moderns  - Complete my Modern and Early 90s  PLA Brigades 
• 6mm WWII - Finish my Early War French models and Late War Germans
• 6mm Napoleonics - Those Saxons are not going to paint themselves.  Also, I need to knock out the French Generals and Field Marshals. 
• 6mm WOTR - Lots of casualty figures still need completion. 
• 6mm Terrain  - I have too many boxes of unfinished work.   
• 28mm WWII - I have the models available to finish my Paratrooper Platoon and do a Waffen-SS Platoon to act as OPFOR.
• 28mm Han Chinese - This is definitely the new project for the year, as the Kickstarter I backed is finally shipping this month.  
• 28mm Fantasy - rehabilitate the rest of my old WHFB Bretonnian army as well as the few outstanding Empire figures that support my Renaissance project.
• 20mm WWII - Complete my UK Paras, US Paratroopers and German Panzergrenadiers.  Rehabilitate my Falschirmjaegers and Wehrmacht units.
• 10mm ACW - I need to finish painting about 400 castings to eliminate the backlog.  I don't wish to carry any more unpainted figures into 2017. 
• 15mm Sanurai - I have two regiments of peasants and three regiments of Cavalry still awaiting completion.  The rest will be surplus.
• 1/6000 Naval -These need to be completed or sold.  

2.  Eliminate the following:

• 6mm WWII - A lot of excess GHQ castings of bits and bobs to ellimate.
• 6mm Moderns - Get rid of the excess of BMP-3s, T-80s and other unpainted models that are excess to my needs.
• 6mm SciFi- I have more than enough painted Battlemechs, the rest need to go.  
• 20mm War in the Pacific  -Two under-strength USMC and Japanese units need to go.
• 15mm Romans and their enemies  -Most of of the unpainted Essex models are finally gone.  I have some old glory to police up as well as a few painted stands.
• 15mm Fantasy -already have models in 6mm (mass battles) and 28mm (Skirmish)  I want to finish painting the partially complete models and then bundle up and sell the Ork, Dwarf and Undead Armies.
• 15mm Early Renaissance and late Middle Ages - Lots of unpainted lead here from numerous manufacturers.  I already have sufficient stocks in 28mm and 6mm, they are now redundant.
• 15mm Colonial French and British -10 years on and I still haven't gotten to these.  Time to go. 
• 15mm ACW - I still have much to rehab and sell.  The cavalry went quickly, but not much interest in the Infantry.  
• 15mm ACW terrain - Too big for 10mm, to small for the 28mm skirmish.  Time to make some room for the rest of the collection. 
• 15mm Napoleonic - I have several French and British units languishing away.  My 6mm collection more than fits my needs.
• 28mm Fantasy -Lots of old GW lead needs to find a new home.  

So prepare for more eclectica, and a return to 6mm and 1/285 in the near future.