The 2013 11+1 Challenge. On a Zombie blog...

Yeah, so it's been a heluva long time since I posted here.  Last year was supposed to be a focus on my 15mm forays, but, well, a change in family circumstances put paid to that.  Bit more settled now, so, hopefully I can get my hobby mojo back in gear and get some shit done.

Now, the main purpose of this post is to detail my plans for the year, and elaborate on the 11+1 challenge.

I figured out a few things I wanted to do, foremost amongst them, to paint for the enjoyment of painting, rather than feeling forced too, and to generally just make the hobby my own again.  Saying that, I figured out a list of things I'd like to at least try and achieve.

1 - Get my Warhammer Fantasy Battle Ogre army up to 2400 points.  The reasons are twofold.  Firstly because that's the general size of the local games, and secondly, because I need a pure GW force if I want to head up the town and get a game in.  Chances are I won't be going to any tournaments, as they aren't really my thing, but if I do, I always have my Mantic Dwarf army to hand.  At the moment I have approximately 1000 points painted (Butcher, 6 Ogres with Ironfist, Full Command, 4 Ironguts with Full Command, and 4 Leadbelchers with Full Command)  I also have one of the Maneaters (the Ninja) painted up as a Bruiser with the Fencer's Blades.

2 - WARMAHORDES.  Been collecting/playing for about 9 years now, and other than my Merc's have never had a fully painted army, which is fucking shocking if you consider the amount of figures I have.  Or maybe that's the reason why...  Anyway, modest plans, so a 35pt army will suffice, probably Khador or Thornfall Minions.

3 - Empire of the Dead - In order to actually try and get some fully painted games in, it's probably best to start small.  Like a skirmish game.  So, being that I am currently in possession of the Brotherhood and Lycaon Werewolf starter bands, they'll do.

4 - Relics.  I picked up the Orcnar starter set from Maelstrom's haul our asses out of the fire sale, and have added a few extras to it to make it a 400 point army, in order to participate in the Paint along with Gav project over at Tor Gaming.  He's a cheeky cunt, but a good laugh, and he hasn't given me too hard a time yet for lagging behind...  Deadline, end of March.

5 - Reaper Bones - I'd picked up a few of these when they announced their kickstarter, and have continued to pick up all the releases so far.  What I'm hoping to do (eventually) is paint up one of each unique sculpt, on a circular base, just to have on display.  There are a few that I'll have on square bases, as I reckon I can shoe them in to Mighty Armies forces, and I have my eye on a few for my Alternative Angmar force too.  Deadline, end of March, because that is when a fucktonne of kickstarter figures will be released. 

6 - 15mm Fantasy - Speaking of Alternative Angmar, I'm planning on painting up the same army in 15mm.  So, that's another 50 or so figures to add to the backlog.

7 - 15mm Scifi - Towards the tail end of the year I actually managed to sit down and get some stuff done, namely 6 Rebel Minis Scourge figures.  I want to bump this up this year, and get a few more infantry squads done, as well as some vehicles and walkers if I can find anything suitable.

8 - Dystopian Legions - picked up the FSA starter set and the Infantry and support boxes, so, hope to get this done as it's another skirmish game.



Now the 11+1 Challenge is something I just recently heard about, and basically, you pick 12 figures that you plan to paint over the course of the year.  The kicker is, they must be personal ones.  You can't sell/swap/trade/lose them, or they have to be replaced and repainted, and they can't be gifts or commission work.  The figures must be in your possession come 2014.

Now being a silly bastard glutton for punishment, I figured 12 minis was piss easy, so, like most things in life, I figured I'd add my own spin to things.  Basically, I broke down the 11+1 into 3x4...

4 single figures, 4 small warbands/units of 2-5 figures, and 4 larger warbands/units of 6+ figures.  From here, I went over the plans I'd already made, and worked out how I could kill two birds with one paintjob, and came up with the following -

Single figures

Scibor's Big Fat Uncle - picked this up ages ago as an alt. Great Unclean One.  Recently been thinking about painting up my pile of Daemons for 40k, just to have an army, so he should be a good start.

Wargames Foundry Giant Troll - again, just something I picked up coz it was fucking cool.   I had hoped to shoe him in to a God of Battles force, but it looks like that has been canned...  Oh well.

Games Workshop Warhammer Fantasy Ogre Kingdoms BSB - A conversion of a maneater I did a while back, and am fairly proud of, considering the sculpting involved.  Nothing too spectacular, but I think I did a pretty bang-up job of the furs.  And he counts towards the deficit in the missing 1400 points of Ogres I wanna get done.

 

Warlord Games Bolt Action Weird War SS Werewolf - It's no secret I like werewolves, so the inclusion of one on the list shouldn't come as a surprise.  The real surprise is that there is only one on the list.  Nah, I'm kidding, there are more.  If you've been following closely, you'd know that because I listed them above.  Interestingly, this is the only thing on the list I don't already own.

Small Warbands/Units

Privateer Press Khador Battlebox, comprising of Sorscha, a Juggernaught and a Destroyer.  A mighty 3 figures.  I actually have a bunch of fully painted Khador 'jacks, done up in 5th Border Legion insignia, but I wanna go back to red with these.  Actually, that's a filthy lie.  I really wanna do a winter camo on them, similar to the really shitty looking whitewash paintjobs of WWII (he says, covering his own arse) and really go to town with weathering effects.  Also, helps towards the 35pt Warmahordes list I want to do.  They will be getting some sweet Ice World bases from Tiny Worlds, my newest lipped resin base supplier.

Wyrd Games Malifaux Zoraida starter box for the Neverborn faction.  The first Malifaux minis I ever picked up, and I still haven't built them yet.  Again, it's a skirmish game, so, hopefully playing fully painted before long.  5 figures in all, Zoraida, saggy titted auld witch, Bad Juju, the Mire Golem, and 3 Silurids (newtmen type things).  Plenty of scope for some funky, gunky swamp bases, which I've already picked up from Tiny Worlds.

40mm size shown to give you an idea.

Privateer Press Thornfall Minions suggested Battle box - consisting of Lord Carver, 2 Gun Boars and a War Hog.  Again, like werewolves, I love beastmen, or anything really that is symbolic of the bestial nature of man.  Should prove a balance to doing a Warmachine force, and if putting loads of effort into that gets to much, this is my fallback 35pt army in the making.

These will probably be going on the Rock/Slate scenic bases from Tiny Worlds (follow the link above), as I just love them.

Privateer Press Khador Man-O-War Shocktroopers, basically because it finishes off the Khador half of the Starter box, and adds a few more points to me hitting a 35pt army.

Larger Warbands/Units

Westwind Empire of the Dead Lycaon Warband - moar werewolves.  And half of number 3 on my original hitlist.  Again, aiming towards multiple fully painted skirmish forces, and at least if I have my own, I can get a game with someone else with one, or I'm at least half way there to having both forces done myself.

Tor Gaming Relics Orcnar Starter - because I've already committed to doing them, and have all the models sitting for a 400 point army.  Should technically have had these done last month, but luckily for me, with Christmas and all that general chaos, I didn't, so now they are sitting all built up and primed ready to go.

No, you aren't drunk, this just went all fuzzy when I enlarged it.

Spartan Games Dystopian Legions Federated States of America starter box.  The biggest offering, weighing in at 14 figures.  Another skirmish game, although, looking at the force organisation charts, and the fact it has fucking tanks, suggests this might end up being another mass battle game.  Still wondering how to paint these, either blue or grey for historical malarkey, or the same shitty brown as the ones on the packaging...

And finally, more Ogres in the shape of Mournfang Cavalry.  With full command, heavy armour and ironfists, as well as a magic flag, these guys should rock in about 500 points, turning an all your eggs in one basket into a huge chunk of the deficit in one fell swoop.

This.  Times Three.  With a flag.

So yeah, that about wraps it up.  Pretty sure that's enough shite from me to make up for the lack of posting anyway, I am considering another couple of revolutionary ideas, like no kickstarters in2013, or maybe seeing if I can go through the year only buying 12 or less miniatures...

Yeah, who the fuck am I kidding...



So, yeah, that's it all laid out, prepare for imminent dissapointment, and feel free to cajole, coerce or contribute over the coming 11.something months.  I've set up a googledoc spreadsheet of my list, which can be found here, for anyone interested in following some 'realtime' progress.  Basically when I remember/can be arsed to update it.

Cheers.