Goodbye 2014.....A year in review....

Well folks...here it is...12.31.2014....
And the end of another year of this blog.
I started this blog in August of 2008, and really didn't go as far or as much with it, as I wanted to. It hit pretty decent marks until 2011, and then 2012 really sucked, and 2013 it started picking up again.
And now here it is 2014 slipping away into history and 2015 coming in....
This blog currently has 27 followers and 23, 800+ page views. I need to add more and get more content in, so I can increase my subscribers.
But enough about that.

2014 was a pretty decent year for me and my wife (Gawd bless her!).....
Gaming wise, it was more of a year of painting, building, and prepping than actual playing.

The highlights in gaming this year was my Call of Cthulhu game and our attendance of Little Wars in which I got to play in Uncle Dukes Alamo game only to end up leaving due to a cheating opponent. But it was a good convention and convinced me to prep a 28mm Pulp Game for it next year.

The Call of Cthulhu game was a good hit, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I need to start looking at trying to get a good gaming group together, and make this at least a semi regular occurrence.

On the whole though most of my gaming stuff was "acquiring" and painting....

And then I realized during the year I have painted approx. 177 28mm figs, and oddly enough, my 15mm stuff all took a back-burner for the year.
I have to change this and do a little of each, as I am now starting to make a dent in the 28mm pile, (under 850 figures), and there's so much more Bongolesia and stuff I need to do....

Next year I am hoping I can get some real work done on getting my "man cave" going. Perhaps look at a building loan for a 3 car garage but turn it into a hobby/gaming room. Then I can have all my toys in one area...help dejunk the garage....and get all of this "stuff" out of boxes, (some of it has been in there for almost 20 years)....sigh....I miss all of my gaming stuff...

And then with display cases, and shelves full...and a shelf for my picklehaub, and bust of Mussolini, we can game....

"We can game if we want to.
We can leave your friends behind....
Cuz your friends won't game, and if they don't game, well,
They're no friends of mine..."

But tonight, I decided to chuck out a few more paint jobs....and all in all for December 2014, I got 17 figures painted.

   

Any resemblance to a Disney Character is entirely coincidental....*whistles innocently*.....

  

Graves and Gunmen.....kind of a fit don't you think???...

"Putting on the Ritz...."
(Admit it now...you have that song going through your head now...)

        

Toadies, Pretty Dames on Desert Islands and Exploring Fellows and Ne'er do wells...all in the final stages of being done...

Some of the projects to finish tomorrow...(ie: "Next year"...)

(As well as these....)

But perhaps the best part of it all was one of my Christmas presents.....

YES!!!! More figures for the lead mountain!
Oh wait...I mean....NO!...errr.....wait...I mean....yes....errrr.....I mean.....

Toss in another 100 bucks and I will have ALL the packs that I need from Pulp Figures...(for now)....

That will be changing soon though....

And so on this evening, I place a picture of my current "Miniature Alter Ego", (Colonel Horatio Hieronymus Mustard, (Sandhurst, Class of 1880)....Who was the winner of the 2006 "Big Game Hunt" in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the scoring of TWO Lions....(courtesy of the Imperial Russian Hunting Party...heh heh heh...)

"Harrumph...harrumph...Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a good future to be had for all, and God bless us....everyone!"

Thanks to everyone that has followed this blog and commented on it for this year. Please let me know what you would like to see more of in 2015 and I shall do my best to accommodate you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

December Update, (WIP's, Animals, and Failing My Goals)....

December already??...Holy crikey!

So November is now history, and December is upon us and winding down and I am not happy, (but more on that later)....
First the updates....

#1: WIPS:

I've gotten very little painted this month, (3 figures), as opposed to the last two months. This is simply due to the fact that I have had to travel to multiple states for work and take weekends with dental appointments, or coming back from work, so my paint time has been severely limited. So in essence, I got three figures done...

#1: Professor Elliot Rogers Witherspoon:

"Professor Witherspoon is an impatient man. When he's on land, he wants to be on the ship steaming towards his destination. When he is on the ship, he wants his meals...When he has his meals, he wants his tea...When he is on deck, he wants to be at the port...and so on... 
His personal motto is "To be on-time is to be late....To be early is to be on-time..."
This often causes frustration with his supporters and fellow explorers and scientists as he is commonly seen checking the time using his grandfathers watch, and tapping his foot impatiently."

#2: Seaman Billy Bartlett:

"Billy Bartlett has sailed the waters for a few years now. He has a steady hand, and a cool manner on deck in a situation, but a hot head with an even hotter temper when he thinks "Someone has wronged him". He's wanted in four foreign ports for disemboweling people who disagreed with him with the help of that razor sharp knife he carries with him all the time...."

#3: Dr. Stanley Cavendish - Semi-Famous Explorer of Somewhat World Renown....

"In this world of ours there are those people that are "there" (wherever that may be), at just the right time and moment, or just in the nick of time...

Unfortunately Dr. Stanley Cavendish is neither of those....

A determined and dedicated explorer of parts unknown, Stanley has a horrible habit of being fashionably late, (or unfashionably late), for just about everything. He is dedicated in his undertakings, but time management seems to evade him elusively, as does fame and fortune. Perhaps it's due to this issue with time that has kept him from becoming a world class famous explorer. Due to his two hour afternoon nap (which was extended to six hours), he lost out on being credited with the discovery of the Bologonia River in Central Africa, and with it the Bologonian Tribesmen, (which in it's way was a mixed blessing as they are ferocious cannibals and quite quickly devoured the party that actually discovered them).

He is quite a shot with his trusty revolver though, and often finds himself at odds with Professor Witherspoon."

#2: Animals, Animals, Animals! 

So there I was...Christmas shopping.....
I was at a local department store when I saw them for sale.

See, that's one of the things about us mini gamers. We go to a store and suddenly while we are shopping for others, we are confronted with opportunity for gaming goodies...and the next thing you know half of our cart is filled with "stuff" for our table...
And that's how it happened...
I bought a jumbo lion, (he will soon become a statue), an alligator...(to eat native baggage handles, and careless explorers with), a large poorly made eagle, (which will be turned into gold and placed on a 15mm Government building in Bongolesia), and 2 Elephants....

 

 

Quite the menagerie wouldn't you say? Marlin Perkins would be proud...


#3  Toy soldier porn!!!!

Yes, while out, I stopped by my LGS, and in the spirit of Christmas, I picked up three back issues of WI, (313, 314, and 323), and unlike guys who buy Penthouse and Playboy for the articles, I do get them for the articles..but for the pictures also!
So..I have three new issues of "Toy Soldier Porn" to look at....
*drool*

Now THAT is good reading material......oooooohhhhh shiny.....

#4: Failing a goal....

We all do it but I hate it....
Earlier in the year I had made it a goal to get a batch of approximately 100-115 28mm figures painted by the EOY ("End Of The Year).
I was doing well until the last half of November, (my moms death, Thanksgiving and two out of state work trips, ate up my painting time like a box of Crunch 'N Munch...)
So I will continue to try to get them done, but all in all...this goal was not reach. I would say that right now it's at about the 50% mark, and with that, I am still kind of proud because I did get a lot painted over the last few months and I think I got more painted during that time than in the rest of the year.  I've slacked off tremendously on my purchases, however I need to get some Mexican Federales, from Brigade Games real soon, and some new figs from Bob Murch at Pulp Figures.

This is the last batch in my "to be painted by the end of the year. Just too many to get done....but I will keep going...and see what I can do....Onward!!!!

This is what is in my "immediate queue". If I could get these 20 done..I'd be much closer... Here's hoping...

So essentially that is it dear reader....December 2014 is wrapping up....I am still way behind on my 15mm stuff, and my 28mm stuff... Boss Callaghan's Office needs to be finished as well as so many other projects...

But that's what keeps us going right?

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....