New Year Workbench Retrospective and Commitments

Of course, with a year full of hobby, it was inevitable that I'd start 2016 with a hobby retrospective and set the path for the year to come.

2015 Completed Projects

January and February: Last Frontline Commissions

I had a great time painting for Frontline Gaming, but it was too much additional work to add to my daily routine. I appreciate the company for giving me the projects they did and I recommend trying it out to anyone interested in making a few bucks participating in the hobby they love, if only to learn a few things!

February - December: WAAGH! Tuska

I've been threatening to build this army for years and I've finally found the time and resources to devote to it. This is clearly this year's main hobby project. Or, at least, the one I'm most proud of. The army uses the Khorne Daemonkin rules to represent the Ork Warlord Tuska emerging back into the Materium having "fallen" to Khorne.

March: Frank

A listener sent me a wonderful gift of a Runtbot from Forgeworld. I use him as a Big Mek with Mega Armor. In the story of my WAAGH! he is the creation of Big Mek Dreadnutz and acts as his personal bodyguard.

April: Big Mek Dreadnutz

Here we have the Warlord of the Pakeshi IV Campaign himself. He is supposedly the mastermind behind most of WAAGH! Drillteef's stopmy-est creations! This is easily one of my favorite Ork sculpts.

May: Grubshine the Lucky and the Spoils of Shatara

Grubshine is the name of a lucky Grot which is passed from Warlord to Warlord in the hopes that he will make every engagement successful. Da Lukky Stikk manifests itself as this magnetized bosspole which I use for my various HQs.

The Kill Blasta tank I picked up at Adepticon in March is painted blue to represent the lucky Grots who pilot the machine. In the story of my WAAGH!, the machine was built from a Land Raider looted from the occupation of Shatara.

June: Reaver Titan Commission

I finally finished the Reaver Titan kitbash commission. It was a lot of work and taught me a very powerful lesson in not biting off more than I can chew.

August: The Guardians of S'val, or 161 Necrons

My reward for finishing the Titans was to build and paint 161 Necrons in a single long weekend. Some reward! Fortunately, I had a lot of moral support.

Points Total?

How much 40k is that, exactly?  Well, I wouldn't include the Reavers in that because they weren't really painted. Also, the Scouts were mostly painted in 2014, so we won't count those either.

Legion of the Damned: 500
WAAGH! Tuska: 2608
WAAGH! Drillteef: 525
The Guardians of S'val: 2520

So, I painted  6153 points this year. Not as much as some folks I've seen, but not bad for someone who has a bi-monthly podcast and gets games in every week.

2016 Commitments

Remaining DOrks

I need to paint 16 more Helboars (Flesh Hounds) and 17 more Risen Khorne Warriors (Cultists) and a Lord on foot to "complete" my DOrks.

Looted Thunerhawk and Killbursta

I have a Thunderhawk Transporter that the players of my local club bought for me a while back. I really want to get this painted up. I plan on using Ultramarines colors to start, then transition to Blood Ravens. After that, I'll have an unfinished Ork paintjob. The idea is that the Bloodravens "acquired" it from the Ultras and the Orks stole it when they weren't even done repainting it. The Killbursta will be designed to be clamped underneath and contain the model's flight base support.

Rogue Trader Shoota Boyz

I've always loved these models. They remind me of Ralph Bakshi art. I really want to get these done this year. They will represent a proper unit of Freebootaz who have joined WAAGH! Drillteef for a fee. I'm sure they'll feature sometime in the next campaign. There are 20 of them, so I expect they will be deployed in my golden Battlewagon.

Various WAAGH! Drillteef Projects

I have all the parts for a full, uniform Green Tide which I really want to do in a blue scheme. I also have a squad of about 7 Meganobz to add to the 10 I already have. In addition, my squad of 8 Flash Gitz really deserve to get finished along with the remaining 3 Mek Gunz I bought right after the last Orks release. I also have a smattering of other models to bolster the numbers of a few Elite units such as Tankbustas and Burnas.

Diggaz Allies

If there's still time, I'll try to close out 2016 with an allied detachment of Renegade Astra Militarum. It'll just be 2 Renegade Infantry Squads, a Renegade Platoon Command Squad, a unit of 2 Rogue Psykers, and a squad of Leman Russ, but it will be a cool addition to the allied forces of Drillteef.

Points for Commitments

DOrks: 542

Looted Thunderhawk: 500

Green Tide: 895

WAAGH! Drillteef: 1167

Diggaz: 777

Total points for 2016 seem to be about 3881 which is a lot less than 2015, but I think they'll also be more difficult projects. There's a lot of Ork infantry in there and they are a real bear.

Other Unfinished Business

If I do manage to finish all of this, then I do have other projects on hold. I do still have a few Sisters of Battle I'm keeping for a Killzone or Combat Patrol list. I also want to do a re-paint of all my early work with my Star Eagles Space Marines chapter.  Some of those models are in desperate need of new paint and, while I'm at it, I may as well give them 32mm bases.

I'm also strongly considering buying a crapload of resin MkVI armour for a Horus Heresy army of Ravenguard. We'll see.

Stay tuned here for the progress, of course.