6077

Welcome to 2018! It is time for my sixth year in review since starting this little blog, and once again my year end status is a mixed bag of successes and failures.  I will save the statistical analysis and pie charts for the 2018 objectives post. Instead this post is my summary of the major items that crossed the paint table.

That said here are the overall numbers:

• 6077 points
• 3148 castings
• 193 line items (units, command stands, etc.)

Games Played

Probably the biggest change this year has been significantly more gaming, though mostly with Jon's collection. (I really need to host some people down for some games.)  Jon and I continued with our Friday Night Fights on an almost monthly basis, allowing us to play a variety of games.  Mason and I played a large number of board and card games with some infrequent games using Commands and Colours, Samurai Battles, and Lion Rampant.  Lately, we are playing a great deal of Pandemic and Chess.   I also worked on my own Cold-War era Brigade Level game: Brigade Combat Team.   Some of the highlights for this year were:

• Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima 1561- 15mm Samurai using Samurai Battles
• Mollwitz 1741 - 18mm Seven Years War using Honours of War
• Kolin 1757 -18mm Seven Years War using Honours of War
• Kolin 1757 -18mm Seven Years War using Honours of War again....
• Montebello 1800 - 15mm Napoleonics using Risorgemento
• Razyn 1809 -6mm Napoleonics using Honours of War
• Montebello 1859  -15mm Second Italian War of Independence using Risorgemento
• Montebello 1859  -15mm Second Italian War of Independence using Risorgemento again..
• Montebello 1859  -15mm Second Italian War of Independence using Risorgemento again...
• Action at Mill Creek - 10mm ACW using Two-Flags One Nation.
• WWI Aerial Combat - 1/100 scale using Canvas Eagles
• US versus Wehrmacht 1944 - 28mm using Chain of Command
• Defense of Hill 1021 1986  -3mm Cold War US vs USSR using Brigade Combat Team

Moving on to the painting table here is how I did compared to my initially stated goals...

Successes 

6mm Fantasy - I managed to complete the last of the units I had leftover.  There are some odds and ends, but all the major components are complete.

6mm Renaissance - Complete 4 Pike squares, units of Halberds, Cross-bows, and Handguns.

All the on-hand castings were completed.  I have a long term goal to get some Gendarmes and other cavalry, although the 28mm backlog in the same era needs to take precedence for the next year.

6mm Napoleonics - Paint the %$&! Saxons. 

Wahoo, I painted the %$&!ing  Saxons.  This means that the entire 6mm Napoleonics collection is now complete after seven years of work off- and- on.  I still have plans to increase the figure density on my cavalry stands, but otherwise we are coding this project GREEN in the project journal. 

28mm Imjin War - Complete 2 units each of Korean Cavalry, Heavy Infantry and Armored Archers

I managed 10 units for this collection, although only one of them was cavalry.  However, I am currently finishing off the last details on a unit of mounted twin swordsmen, so I am calling this a win.

Pushes...

6mm Moderns - Complete INF BDE for PLA and cold war USSR. 

I am modified this one some-what as I intend to simply purge my partial collection of PLA units and wrap up the USSR force with some Infantry Stands. I have a sufficient collection to play any size scenario I want, and frankly the larger ones are better served with 3mm now. 

Behold the future!

 10mm ACW - Complete 2 Brigades of CSA Infantry and round out my last three Brigades of US Infantry. Complete the Limbers necessary to provide status markers for 10 field pieces per side.

I managed to complete the limbers and one more brigade of CSA infantry.  I have the last figures necessary to round out two of my US infantry brigades awaiting basing, so fairly close on this one.

15mm Samurai Battles - 2 units of cavalry, 2 units of Peasants and the Command tents.

I at least got the command tent done, and the collection has more than enough units to fight.  With a great deal of work on the 28mm front, the 15mm collection has taken a distinct back-seat.

28mm Samurai - Paint four generals including Kato Kiymasa, Uesegi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen; Complete teppo for the Kato's division, complete teppo for Sohei; complete Pallisades for two sides.

None of the generals got completed, but the teppo and Pallisades were completed.  That and several units were added, including expanding the Imjin collection with both 1st and 2nd division contingents.

28mm Renaissance - Complete another unit of Gendarmes, 2 units of Jinettes, and another Imperial Pike Square.

No Gendarmes completed, but I did get five units completed including Jinettes, Pikes, Handguns, and handbuchse.  I am still awaiting shipment of my 28mm Landsknechts Kickstarter figures, so I should get some more completed in 2018.

Utter and complete failures...

Not all sunshine and roses here at the website.....

1/6000 Naval - Complete the US Carriers and Capitol Ships.

Not a lick of work here, I didn't even move the box.

15mm Halo - Paint the rest of the box set, and enough additional figures to get the game on the table this year.

The death of Spartan Games coincided with the cancellation of a planned family visit.  I am thinking about boxing up what I have and throwing it on E-Bay.

New projects

Four new projects entered the collection this year, decreasing the potential dent in the lead pile for this year.

28mm Kushite Egyptians

While not even close to matching Jon's progress on his Assyrian project, I did manage to complete the lions share of a small opposition force to face them.  I still have more missile troops and some light cavalry to complete, but the core of the army is complete.

3mm Cold War Armor

 A renewed interest in modern armored combat resulted in a significant expansion of my 3mm "Test Armies" to a full-fledged game ready collection.  I have almost a division worth of Soviet Tanks completed and a US and West German armor brigade to face them.  I still need to complete the aviation and engineer elements, but most of this impromptu project is complete.  (With a mere 800 

10mm Seven Years War

A late addition to the year's collection, but I've finally succumb to the allure of the Seven Years War.  The first few units of the planned Prussian and Austrian forces are done.  I expect they will be a large part of my efforts in at least the first quarter of 2018.

18mm SYW Russian Army

Finally, I have agreed to build the Russian contingent for a planned Battle of Zorndorf on its anniversary this August.  Having a set OOB with a known timeline is providing the necessary Impetus to tackle this project quickly.  I have the first 6 of 24 infantry regiments completed as well as half of the artillery.  I hope to get at least another 4 infantry regiments done in January.

Overall here is the final tally:

2017 Painting Totals

• 10mm ACW Limbers -10
• 10mm Austrian Cavalry/Command -6
• 10mm Austrian Infantry - 100
• 10mm CSA Infantry -192
• 10mm FPW Infantry -100
• 10mm SYW Prussian Artillery - 24
• 10mm SYW Prussian Command/Cavalry -9
• 10mm SYW Prussian Infantry - 161
• 15mm Halo Scatter Terrain - 7
• 15mm Japanese Infantry - 5
• 18mm SYW Russian Artillery -15
• 18mm SYW Russian Command/Cavalry - 44
• 18mm SYW Russian Infantry - 120
• 18mm SYW Russian Limbers -2
• 25mm SAW Cavalry - 4
• 25mm SAW Infantry -14
• 28mm Ancient Egyptian Infantry -100
• 28mm Civilians -7
• 28mm Egyptian Chariots -5
• 28mm Greek Infantry -2
• 28mm Imjin War Korean Cavalry -8
• 28mm Imjin War Korean Infantry -108
• 28mm Renaissance Artillery -1
• 28mm Renaissance Cavalry -6
• 28mm Renaissance Infantry -24
• 28mm Samurai Era Infantry -90
• 28mm Skeletons -34
• 28mm Skirmish Trays -30
• 28mm Terrain -32
• 28mm WWII Infantry - 43
• 3mm Armored Vehicles - 801
• 3mm Modern Infantry - 468
• 6mm Fantasy Elves - 15
• 6mm Microarmor -7
• 6mm Napoleonic Artillery -4
• 6mm Napoleonic Cavalry -30
• 6mm Napoleonic Infantry -212
• 6mm Renaissance Infantry -424
• 6mm Sci Fi Infantry -20

Reconditioned Figure Totals

• 20mm USMC - 17
• 25mm SAW US Cavalry - 5

Next up, the obligatory goal setting update!  Or maybe just some more SYW figs...