What a year! I have painted 86 minis so far this year. I noticed that, over the course of the year, there were a number of changes going on with the hobby and I have seen some trends forming. Fewer companies make minis from different forms of white metal and more multipart styrene or thermoplastic. Then there is the growing number of 3D printed minis out there that are available online as .stl’s or fully printed minis out there. Most are comparable with the more traditional methods of miniature creation. It is also reflected in the number that I have painted this year and are waiting for their turn on the table. I bought new games and a ton of minis that you’ll see in later missives. It was also a year that the ‘Magic Bin’ was gotten into quite a bit.
Catalyst Game Labs. The most minis I painted this year came from Catalyst Game Labs for BattleTech. Only a few were from force box sets. Mostly were from Salvage Boxes of individual Mechs but I did buy the Wolf’s Dragoon Assault Star twice and got them all painted. Love the Timber Wolf from that box. They are organized into, depending on the faction, into Lances or Stars. I also bought the ‘Alpha Strike’ game and the Counters Pack expansion. I have written a couple blogs about the BT games and the minis. Love them and want more. The total is 33.
Games Workshop. Few of the 22 GW minis that got painted this year were ‘new’ as 21 came from the bin. I got a fever for finishing my dwarf army and painted all the crossbow dwarfs I had. The rest of the GW minis were, well, impulse painting. Two are really from Marauder but that goes without saying. So there was a hornsman for the old Bugman’s Rangers Regiment, the original one from 1984. Then eight pewter dwarf crossbows. Three for the WHFB Empire army, an ancient Man at Arms, a Fighter Command Champion and Citizen (from Marauder) and a fully armoured Captain. An old Goblin music that was sitting in the bin for decades. A WHQ Elf Ranger and a mounted Dark Elf with a crossbow. Six for 40K, two old Chaos Raptors (for the Night Lords) Two Veteran Sgts (Raven Guard and Scythes of the Emperor), One original Plastic Genestealer (First edition Space Hulk), and One Librarian in Phobos Armour for the Dark Angels army. Total of 22
Reaper Miniatures. Reaper is always on my list of minis. It is one of those ‘go to’ companies that still make a number of fantasy archetypes that you need in RPG and dungeon crawls. I know that I tend to go on about the casting, the customer service and the sculptors but this is a great company to work with. Eight of them were pewter castings (7 from the Dark Heaven line and one from WarLord) and the other eight are plastics from the numerous ‘Bones’ lines. Not all are fantasy, most are, but there are a couple that are not. I had the most fun with Tianalise the Bog Witch as I made a nice little diorama base. The ‘Dungeoneer Sophie’ was a close second. The Punkin’ Headed Bugbear was the longest on the table. Not keen on the figure once I started it. I was probably the most disappointed in Nasithe mini, well not the mini itself but rather the effort I put into painting her didn’t really satisfy. For fun though I painted the Rocky Dragon brush holder. Nothing like a little red dragon sitting on your paint table. Total Reaper 16
3D Printed minis. Well, this was a hard one to really quantify. I painted a ‘Black Widow’ but in the white costume. Just liked something different for her. I also played with some resin to fill the 50mm lipped base. Wanted it to look like she was in an office building of some sort. Two Captain Americas with the original shield. And three fantasy ‘office workers’. They were fun and a nice diversion from the norm. Total of 6.
Warlord Games. So, I bought a mystery box and a number of sprues this year from Warlord. Took me awhile to get any painted. I had a number of mini boxes from ‘Mystic Americas’ that I was sure what to do with. I bit the bullet and painted five Seneca archers and got them up to a table top level of paint. Just kept reminding myself of using them in a game of ‘Pulp!’ or Oathmark. I could probably use them in other games. They are nice minis but I have more that I have gotten excited to paint that will appear in next years review. Total of 5
Atomic Mass Games. I painted two. One, Captain America as he looked in the comics for almost 60 years for Marvel Crisis Protocol. One from Star Wars:Legions the NightSister Asajj Ventress. Now I understand that I used to love Marvel and Star Wars but I have some sort of mental block on painting the minis from both games. No Idea why. Maybe next year I’ll have more done. I was very frustrated while painting Ventress. Couldn’t get the face marking right. So I just finished her, based her and sealed her.
Foundry. There are those companies that you want to have in your collection and Foundry is one of them. I painted one of the last Valkyries in the bin; Rota, She Who Causes Turmoil. She painted herself as most Foundry minis seem to do. I need to find a place in the US that sells Foundry and get some of their minis. Total of 1.
Mantic Games. One, yep only one. From the Lilly Booster pack for The Walking Dead: All Out War comes Smitty. He is a denizen of the Woodbury group and killed Billy Greene during the Prison battle. He will also be appearing in any other game I can fit him into.
SO there you go. 86 minis done and on the shelf. A few more than last year but who’s counting? It was a decent year with minis that ran from fantasy to post-apoc and back again. I have been over long in writing this but I will probably break some of these into more detail in the future.
Happy New Year!