2022 in Review

To those few who actually read this blog, thank you and I hope you and your families have a great New Year. So how did 2022 go on a wargaming front. Well I did just fall short of hitting my aim of 1000 painted figures in a year. It did start well but tailed off as the darker nights closed in and I found the enthusiasm for painting deserted me. So numbers of what I actually painted:

• 6mm Foot - 108
• 6mm Artillery - 4
• 6mm Vehicles - 33
• 10mm Foot - 136
• 10mm Vehicles - 23
• 10mm Mounted - 15
• 28mm Artillery - 2
• 28mm Foot - 500
• 28mm Monster - 10
• 28mm Mounted - 27
• 28mm Vehicles - 8
• 28mm Scenery - 60

I am a bit alarmed that 15mm figures are absent from the list. This is actually may favourite scale. Think I will need to rectify that in 2023. Once again a large number of 28mm completed again (this does bring storage issues).  So what did I actually paint? The year started off completing my Colonial troops for The Men who would be Kings, really need to play more of this. I also dusted off some 10mm Warmaster figures which had sat in a box for too many years. My SCW collection also got a few more additions, before I kicked off the main project for the year with The Back of Beyond. I now have Brits, Turks and Bolsheviks at a playable level. Hopefully Wargames Atlantic will release their Russians this year and I can start on the Whites. I also added some US Cavalry and Indians to the Old West collection, then a slight divergence into Epic scale to have some fun gaming with Mechs. At the end of the year I saw a return to Blood Bowl, I managed to complete 7 new teams to give me plenty of choice. Rounding the year off by expanding my 10mm Modern collection.

My aim had been to start no new projects in 2022. I did so well until December, until picking up a team for Striker and some 10mm Seven Years war figures from Pendraken ready for 2023.

Gaming wise, I feel quite lucky being part of a club which allows me to get regular games each week. There is quite an eclectic mix of members always willing to give any period or rules at least a go. Membership also increased to 8 full time members and a couple of part timers.

I haven't made any concrete plans yet for 2023 apart from the Seven Years War. I do have a hankering for some Trojan wars skirmish, but no doubt when I attend the York show something will catch my eye and I'll over indulge as usual.

Hopefully see you all again in 2023, Have a Happy New Year.

Final Game of 2022

Last night I managed to play my last game of 2022. Bit of a rushed affair as Mitch couldn't find his rules for the game of Mechs so we switched last minute to a Back of Beyond game. Pitting the Brits against the Turks and German allies, somewhere in Russia???

I could try to give a drawn out commentary of the game, but not much point as it didn't last very long. The Brits launched a full frontal assault on the village which was defended by a handful of Germans and auxiliaries. The Turks to my right were tasked with a sweeping advance across the hill to fall on the flank of the Brits.

The Turkish sweeping advance failed to materialise. We celebrated when Mitch rolled above 4 on 2d6 for movement as it was such a rare occurrence. meanwhile, my plucky defenders outclassed and outnumbered 2 to 1 were quickly dispatched by the Brits before the Turks had managed to reach the summit of the hill.

Game over. Despite the shortness of the game it was fun. Much cursing directed at the Turks for their slovenly advance. Hopefully Next week the Brits get a harder time against the Bolsheviks. A few photos from the game.

There's a lot of em

Did someone say advance

Brits storming the village

The assault continues

Are we nearly there yet?

Last of the Auxiliaries go down fighting

I say some Turks have turned up

The village is ours

We reached the top of the hill

Next week will likely be a 4 player game so we will have to come up with a suitable scenario.

Last of my Soviet armour

Finally got the last 2 T80bs completed. This rounds out my Soviet armour. Once again I went with the Tri-colour camo scheme.

I think I'll field these with the T72s as a seperate, front line Soviet force. So all 11 tanks together.

At some point I will need to add some infantry and support vehicles to the force.

T80B Test model

To add some extra fire power to my Russian forces, Mitch printed off 3 T80Bs for me. As these are the 'elite' of the army I wanted something different to just a shade of green. A quick browse on the internet came up with a tri-colour camo scheme of green, brown and blue. Rather eye catching so I decided to try and replicate it. These are the results.

I'm very happy with the results and have already started on the remaining 2 tanks. I may even ask Mitch for a few support vehicles to add to the force.

2 x T72b's

Just a quick post as I try to clear the painting table. We have 2 more T72Bs, both are 3d prints provided by Mitch. I've also got 3 T80s I am trying to get finished.

So I might squeeze one more post in before the New Year.

10mm Soviets and Festive Greetings

Firstly I would just like to wish all my followers and there families a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

So back to painting eventually. I managed to add some more tanks to my 10mm Soviets for SDTTRR. These are 3d prints I obtained from Mitch. First up is 4 T72As

There were also 2 T72Bs and a wrecked model to use as either scenery or an objective.

I did realise a mistake after I completed the models, I had used a lighter shade of green. Quite noticeable against the others I've done. Just have to use as a different regiment.

WW1 Turks

I finally got around to completing another unit for my WW1 Turkish force. This will bring me up to 4 units of 10 riflemen. Like the rest, these are from Copplestone Castings.

I now have a command pavk and HMG teams from Copplestone to do. I just need to brave the artic conditions to venture to the shed to get them started.

The only other painting I've done is a few more blood bowl figures to complete two more teams. I do have some modern 10mm Russian tanks undercoated that I want to get completed to finish that army before I start on the Seven years war project in the New year.

Blood Bowl progress

As the clubs' Blood Bowl league continues (sitting top of the table for now) I decided to progress a couple of old teams I had sitting in the lead pile. Still need a bit of work to complete both teams, the requires figures are on the painting table.

First up is some Dwarves, these are all 1st and 2nd edition figures with the 3rd edition star player Grim Ironjaw.

Naugrim Ironfists

I have 2 more linemen (2nd edition), 2 troll slayers and 2 blitzers (3rd edition) currently being painted. The colour scheme is heather pink and blue. They were originally pink and grey as chosen by my wife many years ago. I much prefer the blue.

The next batch of figures are part of a second Skaven team. They are a mix of 2nd and 3rd edition figures. I also added my original Rat Ogre and a surplus blitzer to the team. I do have another lineman, blitzer and 3 Gutter Runners to complete.

Scuttleton Rats

I went for a dark green and yellow colour scheme for this team.

I now have a few WW1 Turks undercoated, hopefully get them painted before Christmas. THey are a mix of officers, riflemen and HMG teams. I also picked up a unit of muslim infantry for my WW1 Brits. Now 1 promise I made to myself was not to start any new projects this year. Well I managed to get to December and then purchased some 10mm Seven years War figures from Pendraken. I looking to field these as single base battalions of approx 10-12 infantry figures, the idea being fighting some of the larger battles of the war with limited table space.