Sunday 19 January 2020

A Whole Bunch of Uruk-Hai

I had quite productive weeks since I posted my look back at last year and my resolutions. I focused on getting paint on more Uruk-Hai and played two games with them as well. But I also got to some other odds and ends!

Uruk-Hai Army
Pict 807: Uruk-Hai Army
Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)
Pict 808: Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)
Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)
Pict 809: Uruk Hai Commanders (Lurtz, Captain, Scout Captain)
First up are the Uruk-Hai heroes I had started in the old year and that were quite quick to finish. I'm pretty happy with the faces and how the eyes turned out, especially with the two versions of Lurtz.
Uruk-Hai Siege Troops
Pict 810: Uruk-Hai Siege Troops
Uruk-Hai Siege Troops
Pict 811: Uruk-Hai Siege Troops

The next thing, I started were some Uruk-Hai siege troops. The models aremade from plastic and came out in January of 2003 (!). Painted up like this and in a group, they still look quite good. You do have to guess at some of the details however and while they painted up rather quickly, I'm not looking forward to painting more Uruk-Hai plastics.

Feral Uruk-Hai
Pict 812: Feral Uruk-Hai
Feral Uruk-Hai
Pict 813: Feral Uruk-Hai
Mauhur's Marauders Command
Pict 814: Mauhur's Marauders Command
Mauhur's Marauders Command
Pict 815: Mauhur's Marauders Command

I then started to work on the next six Feral Uruk-Hai as well as a Scout Uruk with Banner and an Uruk Drummer. Once they had the base colours and washed applied I got to play two games with my Isengard army as it stands right now. Of course those games went against Rohan armies styled for Helm's Deep! I found myself slaughtered both times since that Rohan / Lothlorien alliance with lots of throwing spears really dishes out shots that I couldn't respond to. I had fun nonetheless and the games got me pumped to expand my Uruk Collection with some bow-wielding Scouts. And of course I found the time to finish the models since that might have been an issue too – I'm sure I'd have had more luck if all my models were highlighted and based as well!

The Ringbearers (invisible)
Pict 816: The Ringbearers (invisible)
One fun little project I picked up while gaming are these invisible versions of some Ringbearers. The models are event exclusive by ForgeWorld and my opponent picked them up for me at the end of last year. Of course they were finished quite quickly since there is not much to be done exept for the bases, but they look quite nice and I look forward to using them in games when putting on the One Ring with the corresponding models.

Sekban, Naval Group (WIP)
Pict 817: Sekban, Naval Group (WIP)
And since I also want to get ahead with my painting in the Infinity universe, I started to work on the five Sekban. I really like the look of them even if I don't plan on using them in any games soon. Before putting them together, I didn't realise that (excluding the Rocket Launcher) there are only two types of bodies with differing weapons even though I had looked at pictures of them pretty much since I started playing the game!

Sunday 5 January 2020

The Butterfly's Tally 2019 - Haqqislam Army Showcase

This post will be mostly a look at the Haqqislam collection I managed to paint up last year. After that I will take a look back at what else I did for the hobby in 2019, adding in the last few models that managed to get added to the tally during the last two days of the year. And of course I will check back with my resolutions for 2019 and will formulate new ones for 2020.

Haqqislam Army 2019
Pict 796: Haqqislam Army 2019
Haqqislam Light Infantry 2019
Pict 797: Haqqislam Light Infantry 2019
Haqqislam Medium Infantry 2019
Pict 798: Haqqislam Medium Infantry 2019
Haqqislam Heavy Infantry 2019
Pict 799: Haqqislam Heavy Infantry 2019
Haqqislam Skirmishers 2019
Pict 800: Haqqislam Skirmishers 2019
Infinity Characters 2019
Pict 801: Infinity Characters 2019
Infinity Miscallaneous 2019
Pict 802: Infinity Miscallaneous 2019

For this Showcase of the miniatures I painted for Infinity I started with an overview. Always nice to get a whole army out and take a group photo. You can't really make out any details however so I picked out some of my favourites to photograph in groupings according to their troop types.

The Hobby Tally 2019
Pict 803: The Hobby Tally 2019

And with those all added I can happily declare the Tally for 2019: I painted 204 miniatures in total and bought 254 new ones. I still managed to put quite a dent in my to do pile because I sold a bunch of projects that did not excite me any longer as well as some miniatures that didn't see the battlefield in some time (mainly 40k...). Thus my tally will also include 481 models that I sold or gave away to friends.
Dungeons and Dragons / Critical Role Miniatures 2019
Pict 804: Dungeons and Dragons / Critical Role Miniatures 2019

I painted quite an array of miniatures for Dungeons and Dragons. Of course there are quite a few of Steam Forged Games' Critical Role Miniatures and Gale Force 9's Collector's Series. But the miniatures by Darksword are all pretty amazing and of course the Unicorn by Reaper was quite an achivement at the end of the year!

Middle-earth Miniatures 2019
Pict 805: Middle-earth Miniatures 2019

And here is a selection of Middle-earth models from last year. I had almost forgotten that I painted Tom Bombadil, Goldberry and the paralysed Hobbits, but the set is really quite nice. Golfimul and Grishnák will have to stand for the Mordor Orcs I painted and Halbarad for the Dúnedain. And of course one more picture from Arda that stands out is the new banner!


Infinity ToDo 2020
Pict 806: Infinity ToDo 2020

Well if I want to measure my success in accomplished resolutions, I have to say that 2019 was not that great. I only managed to fullfill two: I painted 32 D&D miniatures and I go ahead and count the Haqqislam army as a success as well. I did not paint the armies for the Middle-earth SBG I wanted to (Rivendell / Evil Men of the East / Osgiliath Ruins). And I once again bought more models than I painted... Still, I am quite happy with what I did this last year. I'm quite proud of my Infinity Collection and the varitey I painted for Dungeons and Dragons. ME SBG was not really my main system and thus I did not have the impetus to paint the models I thought were next on my to-do pile at the start of the year.

As for resolutions for 2020, I want to finish to paint all of the models I currently own for my Infinity armies (right now that's 40). For the Middle-earth SBG, I want to paint up some more Uruks, say to a playable level of 600 points. For my D&D collection I want to concentrate on the Critical Role miniatures and paint 25 overall. And of course I want to try again to paint more than I buy...

As far as blogging goes, last year I already had the idea to go for one post every two weeks. However I went for a more erratic schedule. Sometimes posting every week while other times missing three weeks in a row. For 2020 I want to stick to a regular schedule of a post every other week in order to not stress me out to much during those streches where there is little time for the hobby.

And with that I wish every reader a happy new year and a good year to do some hobbying!