AHPC9 Day 12 - HNY and 7th Blogiversary

...and my 1200th post!!

And what a year 2018 has been.  Despite withdrawing from AHPC8, I was still quite productive during the period it was running, albeit that my output was much less than if I had been taking part (I think it would have been about 650 points compared to my usual 2000+ points).  That period saw me finish (usual disclaimers apply) my Ming Chinese army and start on my Sea Peoples army - that was finished not long after the Challenge ended.  I also added a bunch of Choson Korean levy and finally painted some Scythians which had been hanging around for a good few years.

So, let's do a month-by-month round up of what I got up to.

January - Mostly painting Ming Chinese.

February - Painting Ming Chinese and Choson Koreans

March - Started painting Sea Peoples army;  finally painted those Scythian cataphracts and commanders.

April - Finished the Sea Peoples;  went to Salute;  caught the Gaslands bug...

May - Started painting WW2 Aussies;  went to Campaign in Milton Keynes;  Gaslands fever...

June - Painted more WW2 Aussies;  went to Broadside in Sittingbourne;  lots of playing around making tufts.

July - Still more WW2 Aussies

August - too darned hot to do very much

September - went to Colours in Newbury;  caught the Strontium Dog bug...

October - Back to painting WW2 Aussies;  caught the "What A Tanker!" bug;  went to SELWG show;

November - Even more WW2 Aussies!;  a bit of a 15mm tankfest for "What A Tanker!" (reminder to self - buy the bleedin' rules!);  worked on some Gaslands terrain;  started prep for AHPC9

December - Prep, prep, prep and prep.  Oh, a little bit of painting too.


I did get some gaming in at the club, but not as much as I could (or indeed, should) have.  Hopefully I will correct that this year.  I am definitely going to try to get one game a week in during the Challenge, if only to give me a sanity break from all that painting!


Looking forward to 2019, what are my plans?

AHPC9 - I have set myself quite a stretching target this year, but it should be achievable despite lots of my prep-pile being individual paint jobs (characters and irregular troops) rather than serried ranks of uniformed troops.  The three projects I really do want to get completed during this Challenge are my 28mm Wars of the Roses army, my 1942 Aussies and the Strontium Dog figures and terrain.

Shows - I managed to attend five shows in 2018.  This year I hope to get to a few more.  I just need to remember to leave my purse at home...

Gaming - I must knuckle down and get in more gaming in 2019.  ADLG, King of the Battlefield, Chain of Command, "What A Tanker!", Full Thrust, Gruntz, Gaslands

Terrain - I must get some jungle terrain made up.  I have a huge amount of plastic trees, aquarium plants etc just waiting to be painted and added to bases.

Figures - I will not buy any new...oooh!  Shiny!  Errmmm, yes.  Let's ignore that resolution as we all know that I won't keep to it.  And there are a few things that I do need to buy for ongoing projects.

15mm SYW Russians - there are nine more infantry regiments (plus the four that I already have the figures for) that I need to complete this army.  Oh, and the Observation Corps which at roughly double-strength of the regular infantry means 10 more regiments (2 grenadier, 8 musketeer). And some more artillery.  And more Cossacks.

28mm WW2 Aussies - I think I'll have the infantry well and truly covered by the end of AHPC9, so just tanks (another Matilda and some more Stuarts).

28mm WW2 Japanese - the Aussies will need an OpFor after all.

15mm Choson Koreans - you thought I was finished with that army?  So did I, then along come Essex Miniatures and they release a range which includes Hwatcha artillery - must have!  I could also add some more levy to take me to the maximum for FoGAM/FoGR.

15mm Sarmatians - it's about time I pulled my finger out and finished this army.  There are a lot of horses who have been waiting to have their riders painted.

15mm Buccaneers/Pirates - another army which has had primed figures languishing.


Escaping from London! - Part of my plan when quitting my job was to move out of London to somewhere cheaper.  Once I've recovered from AHPC9 I will start looking for a house, probably in the Newark/Nottingham area.  I should be able to buy a 3 bedroom (maybe even 4 bedroom) house which will give me space for a dedicated painting room/office and still have a room for guests.  Not to forget, space for a gaming table.

Quit Smoking - Yes, for those who don't know, I am one of those horrible puffers.  Since quitting my job I have been cutting down the amount I smoke and I am continuing to reduce it. Hopefully I will have stopped totally by my birthday in April.

Blogging - Yes, unfortunately for you, I have no intention of stopping my witterings in the blogosphere.  I think I have found the happy medium of two workbench/update posts per week, plus posts of finished figures, AARs and show reports.

Double-Spacing After Full Stops - I shall endeavour to ensure that I observe this "rule" in all my future posts.  I think I've managed it with this one.


Well, that's about it. I wish for you all that 2019 will see your dice roll high/low as required and that you get all the shinies you want.

Toodle-pip!

Tamsin

(my word!  That was a long post without any pictures!)