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!

Red Artillery

A battery of field guns ready to support my red force. A little blurry, sorry.

 Once again, these 76mm field guns are produced by Peter Pig. Nice figures, as always, although I was a little unsure what the guy nearest the breech was supposed to be doing. I positioned him as if he's shutting the breech because I didn't have any better ideas!

I just need to paint up a base of officers and hangers-on, and I'll have a starter force ready to go for Red Actions. Once they're done. I'll try to snag a picture of the whole force.

Red Machine Guns

A teeny tiny update this time, which is mainly the result of a teeny tiny person arriving in our household! She is going well; my painting and blogging slightly less so. But that's as it should be!

Anyway, some machine gun support for my Red infantry.

15mm Peter Pig as usual.

Red Infantry Company #3

The red horde is growing slowly. These guys are are a little more uniform than the last unit. They'll be my higher quality infantry.

Once again, 15mm Peter Pig figures. Once again, quick and easy to paint.

Reds without a red banner may be confusing, but a bit of variety is nice. And there is a hammer and sickle on there!

Red Infantry Company #2

Another unit of red infantry for Red Actions. I've painted these guys a little more motley - if I need a mob or a conscript unit these guys will do the trick.

I'm particularly happy with the way the banner turned out on these guys (remember they are 15mm figures).

Fifty Shades of Greenish Grey

Here is my first unit of Red infantry for the Russian Civil War. I've worked out the basing for them, so I can show a few close-up pictures.

The figures are from Peter Pig's excellent range, and they're good fun to paint up. With the drab uniforms, you could finish them off quickly with a really basic paint job, but they also reward a bit more time and effort.

Here's the banner. It's a design I've printed from the internet then painted over. The star is a little wonky - I've since discovered a better technique that let's me get those kinds of details more precise. But you'll have to wait for the next unit to see the results!

If you've been viewing the blog for a little while, you'll have noticed the backgrounds for my photos have been all over the shop. I was getting a bit sick of this, so thought I should get a better quality set up. Here it is...

A copy-paper box, with white paper sticky-taped to the insides. It's not perfect but it does alright, as the above photos show.

A revolutionary new project, comrades!

I started painting for a new project this year, and got the first game in today. Russian Civil War and the back of beyond.

Andrew and I had our first experimental game. We used cardboard pieces, so no in-game shots here. These are the guys I've painted so far, along with some untreated teddy bear fur purchased for the project.

The figures are 15mm, from Peter Pig's wonderful range for the period. 

 We used the Red Actions rules. They're free, although the authors encourage a donation if you like them. We found the rules really interesting. It's hard to kill anything. Units will more often be pushed back and break as a result of poor morale. The push-backs can really break up an assault.

We used just three infantry units, an MG unit and a field gun each and still had an interesting game. We voted them worth keeping!