Mid-Year Painting Progress Report

Good tidings my fellow wargamers and welcome back!  For my American friends happy recent 4th of July, and for everyone else, I hope you have had equally fun times with friends, family, and hobby time.  These past 2 months have been pretty productive in terms of the hobby and I am very excited to show you some pics of my completed projects.  Hopefully, things have been equally productive for you all in whatever fashion it has been, but let's go ahead and get to business!

In my previous post, I already went over the new fad that is Contrast paints from GW, but I still attest to their usefulness.  They've become a quickly added tool in my overall repertoire and have helped me save a lot of time and energy on getting started with the basecoats.  One thing I have noticed, especially for skin/flesh, is that they've helped me figure out which areas to highlight and have helped take the guesswork I've been mostly operating on in the past.  I'm still figuring out how to best use them to not only get some pretty decent effects but also to just keep shaving time off my paint.  Speaking of time...

The progress over 6-months board

So it's the halfway point to the year and I have to see that I've been pleased with being able to stick with my goals of painting more models.  Comparatively, I would rarely paint anything but would always tell myself "I don't have time" or "I just wish I could."  Going along the idea that any progress is better than no progress at all I've now reached the 6-month mark and I've been recording models/units that I've finished painting.  Looking back it's been pretty amazing to see what I've been able to knock out, but also how long it took to finish each one.  As you can see around 6/15th when Contrast paints dropped I think my paint time went by considerably faster (please note I recorded when I felt like I was 'done' with that group so even if I painted a unit for let's say Infinity, I wouldn't feel like it was done until ALL that faction was painted up).

Sons of the XVth Legion

Not only did I spend a lot of time painting, but I also ended up getting some gaming done as well!  That's right sometimes I do actually play these games.  I've been making an effort to try and get into the communities more in my area.  I live where there are a lot of groups who play a lot of different games and yet I often have said the same thing I said to myself when I wanted to paint, "I'm too busy, I don't have time, blah blah blah."  Well, I'm trying to change that and before June was out I ended up playing in two events: a local Steamroller event and my first Blood Bowl tournament!  Both were great events, and great chances for me to get to meet new people, play with some familiar faces, and lose a lot of games!  Regardless of my ability to win, I am just happy to get out and engage in the community more.

So I've finished several projects these past 2 months.  As far as my goal for being ready for NoVA I am almost there.  I think I've got a couple of Aristeia! models to finish up (after I select my 4 fighter group that is) and I've got the Infinity event to also work on as well.  I finished my Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis event force and shortly after Contrast was released and I completed both starting warbands for Warhammer Underworlds shortly after my Malifaux crew was finished.  Suffice to say I've been pretty busy with painting to have reached these milestones!

Well, that's it for today and it's been a pleasure sharing with you my progress.  It's been a little surreal to look back over the past half-year and to think about how far I've progressed when before I painted like...never.  I hope to encourage you if you were in the same boat as I was with wanting to paint and not actually doing it, just do a little each day if you can.  Some progress is waaaaay better than none at all and if you just try daily then eventually you'll get that model done.  Or that unit, or army, or whatever it is.  Eventually, it'll get painted up with your efforts because even if it feels like it takes forever you're still doing something. 

I hope you're all making progress in your efforts whatever they may be and until next time happy gaming!