Happy New Year 2025/2026

 Happy New Year. Somehow, it is now 2026. Linear time continues to surprise me.

 But I got quite a lot of done throughout the year (even if it didn't all end up here on the blog, the disadvantage of doing many smaller things). The total numbers:

• 293 Human Infantry-sized (incl. 1 Cannon & Crew, counting as 4)
• 30 Cavalry/Ogre (or equivalent)
• 3 Bigger beasties (at least 60mm round base)
• 9 Objectives
• 9 15mm tanks/AFVs

Not bad at all. Almost managed to hit 365 minis, aka a mini a day (somewhere in November, that looked quite possible, but then there came some slower projects). The absolute majority of these were in one way or another intended for SAGA, and other than the 9 tanks, all in 28mm. I had plans to branch out to smaller scales, but that obviously didn't happen. My massive pile of Epic Hail Caesar still lies untouched...

But what did I get finished, then? 

Beginning with the biggest: my Normans

These were a huge undertaking (mostly painted in 2024), and was a relief to get done (and to a quality that I am satisfied with). I then had the joy to bring them to my first international tournament in SAGA: The World Cup! A Team tournament, and my team was mostly there because Sweden needed some representation, and the A-team were busy organising the whole thing. Still, I did my part and we didn't end up last. We'll see if it happens again...

There were then the matter of the Undead horde. They began more or less by accident, but got finished over the summer (again, a significant part were painted earlier than 2025). Quite fun to paint (and very relaxing, a lot can be accomplished with washes, and gore hides the mistakes), especially the big dragon. Still, they haven't seen a game yet, so I guess I need to get to that in 2026

Last major SAGA army: the Irish. As expected, they were very fast to paint, especially as I nailed down my Speedpaint technique with these (and did a guide for it). They also got to see the table, and got to melt some opposition (reminding me that they are not a suitable opposition for someone playing their second game of SAGA... oops)

 There were also the barbarians I finished early in the year, for Frostgrave. However, that game has been quite calm since, so they remain in their box.

What else has been painted? Well...

There were some Texas Rangers, for Dead Mans Hand (that we play pretty much every summer, letting me have my own minis for it for the first time). And I just had to make them in two versions, both mounted and on foot (it even got relevant in the game, that I could mount up them!)

And also some uniformed Cavalry (amusingly enough, on foot), for the same. These are recently finished, so haven't had a game yet. Also, very old sculpts, and new plastic replacements arrived a few days ago... we'll see which ones get to see the table.

 

Also, I did mention some tiny tanks and AFVs. We'll see when I get around to doing the rest of the company...

And also a variety of smaller stuff and one-offs (incidentally, the collection of Lizardmen is starting to get up in size...)

And finally, I made what was, in hindsight, possibly a bad idea. I painted some samurai (from the ever loveable Bad Squiddo Games). Because I had an itch, and thought this would take care of that itch...

It did quite literally the opposite. So now I have a "samurai" army, that is rapidly expanding in scope to two, or possibly 3-4. With an initial idea to run these as counts-as SAGA: Age of Chivalry (several of the factions there could do quite well as various samurai clans). But it also got me looking into Test of Honour, and oh dear. At least it's a "true" skirmish ruleset, where you don't need too many minis. So we all know how that will end...

But what about 2026? 

I think my my  main goal for the year, will be to paint at least 6 "big things". Be it dragons, buildings, ships, mechs, or whatever comes in front of me. I have a fair amount of buildings that need to be assembled and painted, as well as several Blood & Plunder ships (no, I am not giving up hope about that game). And we'll see what else happens. I doubt I'll reach that 1 mini/day, since the big things will still only count as 1, as they say. I currently have 6 projects that are in focus, hopefully I manage to remain focused on those:

• Teutonic Order (possibly my most ambitious yet, in regards to already planned parts)
• French (I should be able to finish them relatively soon, I think... but I've said that before)
• The Samurai (I only count them as 1, but they could probably count for at least 2...)
•  Saxons (should be small and simple, even if I expand them into "generic Germanics" as it rolls along)
• Knights Templar (another small one, since they're an elite army... even if I consider doing some advanced basing on them)
• Arabs (I have big plans for them, but the immediate goal is a small 6 point warband for SAGA, with very few options... we'll see how that ends up going)

Then there will of course continue to be the various small stuff and cool minis I just had to paint... But that should be the gist of it.

Once again, Happy New Year

/Fool  

Happy New Year 2024/2025

 Happy New Year, where did 2024 go? It's been a busy year, both hobby and otherwise.

First up, last year in numbers. I managed to paint

• 181 infantry
• 63 cavalry
• 3 Bigger beasties
• 2 tiny ones
• 17 objectives and general scatter terrain
• 1 bigger piece of terrain
• 4 markers

Thus beating my stated goal of 240 models, with some margin (and a decent portion of those models were cavalry, which really should count for 2...). So how did the projects I had intended go? Well...

The French ran into a bit of a blockage, and I will have to pick them up once SAGA Age of Chivalry has finally arrived (tentative release: 12th of January), when I can take a look and figure out what they want for figures. (Still, I have painted almost all the figures I had assembled, so I count that as a win).

The Undead got down-prioritized, but still managed to acquire a decent start with 4 SAGA points worth of resurrected bodies (3 points of Warriors and 1 point of Mindless, the Undead special Levies). Not too bad, should get a decent speed going once things clear up.

The English got a severe case of feature creep, and are nominally not finished. But the only things missing are 12 infantrymen (Warriors, styled as Burgundian allies... that I need to figure out some good heraldry for) and 6 Mounted Knights. They already have 48 Archers (so I can run them as pure archers for SAGA) and 15 Men-at-Arms, as well as the Warlord, so are more than ready for play.

 The Italo-Normans are... not quite finished, but I've got 7 points and a Warlord ready, so once again, ready for play. The only thing missing is more ranged units (both Bows and Crossbows, for when they substitute in as Crusaders of Spanish), and a few armored infantry (just in case). Still, that's 33 figures in total. Thankfully, I found a good way to paint them that's fairly quick...

Also, they were finished as the Warband Challenge for SAGA Thorsday (excellent youtube-channel and SAGA community), so got painted as 1 point per month. With that done (and nailed), the last ones can hopefully be done in rapid succession.

 As for everything else... there were some big things (a Mammoth mech for Archon Studios, and a Slann from Games Workshop).

Some individual things (Ching Shih and Julie d'Aubigny, community miniatures from Bad Squiddo Games)

And even some uniformed things (after I had listened too much to Sabatons Field of Verdun) (Wargames Atlantic French Infantry)

 All in all, not bad, and I managed to avoid stalling out by switching around what I was painting.

 Now then, that was 2024. What forf 2025?

First up, no definite limit on how many minis I'm going to paint. Instead, I have plans to paint things that do not divy up into individual minis like that, in smaller scales (13.5mm Epic Hail Caesar, with 10-20 figures to a stand, for example, or Warmaster in 10mm, with 8-10). I also have many more larger models that I want to get to, and they obviously take longer than a single 28mm human (that Slann took forever...).

But of course, there are a few projects I intend to get to.

First up, the 4 from last year, since they're not quite finished: English and French for the 100 Years War, Undead, and Italo-Normans. Two of those should be fairly rapid, at least. The Undead have a dragon that I'm not sure quite how to paint...

Then, expand my actual SAGA collection into new ages with Saxons (for Age of Invasions) and the Teutonic Order (for Crusades), since they recently got a nice buff in the new FAQ... the Saxons should be easy and fast, but the Teutons... not so much (with all options, I'm going to need more than 100 models... I'll try to deal with them one unit at a time, and get them game-ready ASAP). Possibly, I'll also sneak in some Irish, once again on the theory that they "should be quick to paint".

 Outside of SAGA, there's some opponents for those Frenchmen (I've also been listening to Sabatons Stormtroopers...). Dead Mans Hand is a recurring game at the club during the summers, so at least one gang of cowboys (or close enough) seems appropriate. And the Pirate gene is itching again, so I might get to expanding my Blood & Plunder collection some more (just need to pressgang some people to play with). And somehow, I accidentally acquired some models for Flames of War, and the flame for it almost rekindled. We'll see what happens if those manage to get some paint.

And of course, there's going to be plenty of random and semi-random minis sprinkled throughout. I have some ideas for following more artsy theme-months (such as Smaugust, painting a dragon for August). We'll see how that works out.

Once again, Happy New Year.

/Fool, Out

SAGA Age of Chivalry English

 I should know better than to launch a load of big projects at the same time. Well, at least one of them's finally been "finished" (not quite, as always with me, but good enough to showcase at least). It did of course grow in the making. I am nothing if not consistently expansive. Anyway, some English (or "goddamns", as the French called them)

The English were initially intended as small secondary force against my main French force for Blood & Crowns, as well as SAGA Age of Chivalry. I should have known... this now compromises 10 points in SAGA, and god only knows how much for B&C.

First up is the big cheese (or perhaps the big fish), the Warlord/Noble leading this rabble. All the figures are mounted on individual 20x20mm bases, saboted into a bigger base for SAGA (but detached for B&C). Do note how he's also gotten an extra big flag, to make it a bit special (despite just being a George Cross).

If the Warlord's the big fish, these has to be the chips. The Men-at-Arms, in plate armor and with a variety of can openers (and some banners, because it's not a late medieval army if there's not a plethora of waving flags). The sharp eyed might notice that one of them has the same heraldry as the warlord. I might have gotten ideas for a new warlord after already having painted one. Which then got degraded to some kind of secondary hero (depending on what options will be available in Age of Chivalry).

And then there is the mainstay of the English. Ranks upon ranks (upon ranks, upon ranks...) of Longbowmen behind stakes. Age of Chivalry will even have rules for the Stakes, so I had to make some markers (50x25mm bases, so they're easy to transport, and can also allow for some modularity in case other games use different dimensions). Since the Perry kits these are all built from come with the stakes, these were quite simple to make.

And then some more Longbowmen, these in somewhat more skirmishing poses, serving as a bit of an elite (in case I need to make such a distinction).

And next-to-last, some more Longbowmen. Someone suggested that the English needed to be at least tried to be played with 6 SAGA points of archers. And I couldn't resist. These fellows are even more elite than the skirmishers, showcasing some Veterans with access to plate armor (for their legs, at least. Presumably, they want their arms free to work those bows).

For a fun alternative, I also did some mounted archers, carefully painted to correspond to the Veterans as close as possible, as if they had just jumped up on some nearby horses to ride off (English archers were often mounted for rapid movement, only dismounting once in position).

Some of the longbowmen have put back or laid down their bows and grabbed weapons for closer ranges, so if need be, I can field 12 men for melee (or they'll just fit in among the regular archers), giving some modularity.

But that's how I managed to get a full army, and then some, before the book was even released. Now to expand them with some burgundian mercenaries (as normal Warriors, and maybe some Mounted Men-at-Arms) for Blood & Crowns... and maybe so I can use them as Burgundians in Age of Chivalry, too.The "small, secondary" army just keeps growing. Oops?

/Fool Out