2015 in review

So that's 2015. One hundred and one painted miniatures (plus scenery). Nineteen games. Sixty four blog posts. I started posting to the blog New Year's Day, and I'm happy I'm still at it.

Here's the painted stuff: smallest to largest amount.

One solitary warrior monk (Northstar).

Two Gripping Beast knights.

Vikings (Khurasan Miniatures).

Three figures, a hill and ocean views for Pulp Alley.

A stand of Napoleonic Austrians (AB).

A unit of byzantine kavallarioi (Old Glory).

Some FIW Provincials (Galloping Major).

Reds for the Russian Civil War (Peter Pig).

And a decent array of goodies for Pulp 40k!

And here's the pile of shame - purchased but not painted for the year. I'd really like this to be a lot smaller next year.

2015 was, like 2014, the year of Pulp Alley in terms of games played.

• Pulp Alley - fourteen games
• Red Actions - two
• Force on Force - one
• Lion Rampant - one
• Muskets & Tomahawks - one

2016? I expect to see a lot more Pulp Alley - painting and playing. I think I'll have a couple of Pulp 40k campaigns on the go, and it's an easy game to pull out at the club as well. Besides that, I'll see what the kids end up wanting to play - they do tend to hop from one thing to another.

Happy new year to you all!

Provincials' Officer

The captain for my FIW provincials.

A 28mm Galloping Major figure.

Leading his men: hopefully to victory, although with provincials you can never be too sure!

Massachusetts Provincials

I've finally finished painting my provincial unit for Muskets and Tomahawks. Provincials aren't great in M&T, so I'm not sure they'll ever quite reward the time they took!

Why paint provincials then? One of the better books I've read in the last few years was George Marsden's enormous biography of Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan preacher. One of Edwards' contemporaries (and opponents) Ephraim Williams Jr, was a colonel in the Massachusetts provincials. Williams was killed in a French ambush during the battle of Lake George (1755). This was an unexpected connection between two spheres of interest, so I thought I'd paint something up. The provincials were not uniformed at this early stage of the war, so the link is all a bit tenuous, but there you have it!

The figures are 28mm from Galloping Major.

Latest Painting

I'm a slooooooow painter, here's the last couple of weeks' work.

A knight for Lion Rampant. I'm doing a retinue for the Second Baron's War. This is Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford.

The rampant lions were a serious pain to paint. Most were done more than once. They look passable from a distance.

The figure is from Gripping Beast.

A sea captain for Pulp Alley. The face didn't come out quite as I'd hoped. More shrew than siren! Any ideas for a name?

She's from the Pulp Figures Captains Courageous pack.

And lastly, a Provincial for the French Indians Wars. Galloping Major is responsible for this one.

Captain Courageous

A rollicking game of Muskets & Tomahawks with Mark today. Sadly, less than half my stuff is painted, so just a few close up shots. You can see some of the dubious terrain in the background!

French Indians skulking.

For most of the game, my English monstered Mark's French. My Indians took apart his Marines in melee, my Provincials broke his militia with a thunderous volley.

French militia on the way to their doom

Then Mark's captain moved from providing moral support to lending a hand in combat (mainly because most of his troops had disappeared!) He proceeded to drive off my Indians and snipe the Provincials. Eventually, my morale card came out before Mark's and my remaining troops fled. Victory to the French!

Civilians sallying against their opponents

2014 in review

Games-wise, 2014 was the year of Pulp Alley.

• Pulp Alley, 15 games 
• Sci fi Pulp Alley, 4 games 
• Samurai Pulp Alley, 1 game 

Then:

• Force on Force, 2 games 
• Saga, 2 games 
• Muskets and Tomahawks, 2 games 
• Songs of Blades and Heroes, 1 game 
• Impetus Fantasy, 1 game

Painting - not a heap, but a good year for me.

A piratical minotaur by Reaper Miniatures.

 Khurusan's 15mm Control Battalion troopers

Khurusan's 15mm special forces for Force on Force.

Some gothic bits and pieces for Pulp Alley sci fi. 

A Reaper assassin, a Warhammer Quest rat with bonus bionics, a kid's toy drum and a homemade terrain tyle.

A unit of 10mm Warmaster boar riders. For Impetus Fantasy.

28mm samurai, et al. A mix of Black Hat, Black Cat and Northstar. 

Gripping Beast Anglo Danes for Saga.

Pulp Alley bits. 

Goat by Empress Miniatures, temptress by Black Army Productions, other figures by Pulp Figures. The Car is a Lledo diecast. Buildings scratchbuilt from cork.

Muskets & Tomahawks. Northstar French, Galloping Major civilians and Provincials.

So that's 2014. The New Year? I've dragged out some 15mm Napoleonics. I'd like to get some more samurai stuff done. Other than that, we'll see what hits the table.