2009 Wrap Up

OK, so I meant to do this on the 1st, didn't take the pictures until yesterday, and then Dr. Who was on. So here we are, the beginning of a new year. Doing the end of year wrap for 2008 seemed like a good idea so I thought I'd make it a regular event. Overall, 2009 was a good year for me in regards of painting, I got a lot done. For gaming, not so much. I've picked up a few new games over the year, but of them I've only played Starmada, which seems to be my new obsession. I still like CAV, but Starmada is so much easier to pull out on a whim and play.

Over the course of 2009 I managed to paint 95 items, whether figures or terrain pieces, not bad considering that I pretty much wasn't home at all for the first four months and I spent November in a cast on my dominant arm. Toward the end of the year I was hoping to get 100 items done, but it didn't quite happen, not the end of the world. (Supposedly that's in 2012.)

Enough of me rambling on, yall want to see the pictures. Click on any picture for a larger version of the same.

First, the collective photos, a year in minis:





You'll notice later on that I forgot to take pictures of the Federation and Klingon ships. I did have pictures of them, the first batch were too dark, and apparently I forgot to get the Starfleet Universe ships out there. I'm not getting them back out for pictures, yesterday was bad luck for starship minis, I had to repair four stands with brass rod. I really need to change to the jewelry clasp fitting method or magnet stand adaptors.

So first, the two (count 'em to be sure) 28mm figs I painted this year. A Nova Corporate Security Guard (this one I received as a freebie in a class with Robert Cruse in 2006 when this was still a prototype AICOM miniature) and the newest version of Sara the Seeress. Both are from Reaper Miniatures.



Next up are the four CAV miniatures I painted. Seems odd that of the 95 items I painted this year, only four were for CAV. Probably due to the lack of a regular opponent and a general malaise regarding the game in general. I still think it's a great game, but the usual discussions about it on the discussion boards are getting tiresome. This year I painted a Gladiator II, a Centurion, a Regent, and a Kikyu. The Gladiator and Centurion were the beginning of a foray into a Templar force for my Rach to beat up on and the other two were an expansion of Aprile's Terran force.



Next up are the Silent Death fighters. I originally picked this game up for two reasons, to play Star Wars dogfights and Macross dogfights. Have yet to do either for various reasons. No real reason for the Star Wars fights yet, other than I haven't bought any minis to do so. Macross is more perplexing situation. Figures are difficult to come by. I could use Unseen Battletech figures for a the original Valkyries, but I have yet to find 1:300 or 1:285 Regult battle pods or Tri-fighters. For more accuracy I could go with gashapon, but that gets restrictive price wise and again, the focus is on the Veritechs and not so much the bad guys. If I'm looking in the wrong place please speak up and let me know. Anyway, I bought the game, painted the minis and have played it twice. Not really a complex game, I've just been really focused on trying to paint things. They will probably perform double duty as fighter flight markers for Starmada.



Ah, Dark Realm Miniatures. They are great little 6mm figures. Never finished painting the army like I was supposed to. The time frame I had originally planned to paint them was pre-empted by me needing to go on several extended trips. I got back, finished what stands I had started and that was it. I have about four times more what's shown to finish. Might get it done in 2010 might not. Don't really have an opponent so no big rush. Though it would be nice to have them done.



That brings me to my current obsession of starship combat gaming. I purchased Starmada in November and have been a happy geek since. I'd been looking for a starship game for a while and had been waffling back and forth between a couple different systems. When Klingon Armada was released it tipped my hand towards Starmada, which had been a strong contender from the beginning. Great game, easy to learn, easy to teach, my wife likes playing it (big bonus here, means I always have an opponent if she's not busy with school work), and it's sci-fi which means I'll actually get around to painting it. I've been working mostly with Ground Zero Games and Amarillo Design Bureau ships lately, but I have some more Mauridians from the Cold Navy line on the way, with further fleet expansions planned. Oh and another bonus to starships, if you're not planning an extravagant paint scheme, they paint up fast.

So here's the first of the GZG fleets, the Neu Swabian League. I don't know what it is with this fleet but I simply can not get a decent picture that accurately shows the coloring. It's a light gray with field green panels. There is a battleship, a battlecruiser, escort carrier, two escort cruisers, two missile destroyers, two destroyers, three corvettes, and one flight each of light and heavy fighters (all the new construction designs).



I've only finished two destroyers for the FSE, also the new designs. I have remaining (as seen in the sidebar) and almost identical fleet to the NSL, substituting heavy destroyers for missile destoryers. The main differences between the two fleets will be armament. The NSL used ranged-based ROF lasers while the FSE uses continuous beam types. Also, the NSL "heavy weapons" are energy torpedoes while the FSE relies more on physical warheads that track to the target (think SFB drones, but easier to keep track of).



Finally for the ships, this was a freebie with my last GZG order (part of their Christmas special). It's a Merrino livestock transport. I'll just be using it as a general merchant ship that for some reason is constantly being raided by one side or the other.



That does it for miniatures, now for the terrain. The first one has been posted here before, but I'm dang proud of it just because of how awesome it looks in games. I'll be able to do some proper urban fights using CAV with a few more similar buildings.



Next up are a bunch of 6mm buildings from JR miniatures. I think these are discontinued and rightly so. They are a poured stone of some sort and the molds are horrible. I've had these for a few years now, originally bought for CAV, but before I had any appreciable amount of 6mm figs. They work "OK" for CAV, but not really. Been working on them on and off just to get them done.



And finally, a trio of styrofoam ball planets I made for use with Starmada. Yes, I know gas giants are larger than their rocky brethren, but I see them as abstracts, the size will be denoted with a marker on the map.



So that's it, what I've done in 2009. The complete list is as follows:

1 Gladiator II (CAV)
2 Djinn (SD and FWC)
4 Jambiya (SD and FWC)
4 Blizzard (SD)
1 Square High Rise (CAV terrain)
4 Pit Viper (SD)
2 Salamander (SD)
1 Hellbender (SD)
2 Thunderbird (SD)
4 Spirit Rider (SD)
4 Dart (SD)
2 Fed light cruisers (FC)
1 Pax Arcadian CO stand (FWC)
1 Pax Arcadian HQ stand (FWC)
4 Pax Arcadian Infantry stands (FWC)
4 Pax Arcadian AT Weapons stands (FWC)
4 Pax Arcadian Buggies stands (FWC)
4 Pax Arcadian Jackhammers (FWC)
1 Centurion (CAV)
1 Sarah the Seeress (Reaper DHL)
14 JR Miniatures 6mm buildings
1 NOVA Corporate Security Guard (5150)
1 Kikyu (CAV)
1 Regent (CAV)
1 Lance Electra (SD)
2 Talon (SD)
2 Klingon F5 frigates (FC/SAE)
2 Klingon D6 heavy cruisers (FC/SAE)
2 Klingon D7 battlecruisers (FC/SAE)
2 GZG NSL (new) escort cruisers (SAE)
2 GZG NSL (new) Lutzow-class destroyers (SAE)
3 GZG NSL (new) corvettes (SAE)
1 GZG NSL (new) Battleship (SAE)
1 GZG NSL (new) Battlecruiser (SAE)
3 Planet (SAE)
1 GZG NSL (new) Escort Carrier (SAE)
1 GZG NSL Light Fighter (SAE)
1 GZG NSL Heavy Fighter (SAE)
2 GZG NSL (new) Missile Destroyer
1 GZG Merino Livestock Transport
2 GZG FSE Thetis Destroyer

Time to update the sidebar. Dang but doesn't it look depressing when all I have is the To-Do list up there.

Yall have a good year and may your paints not dry out and your dice come up 6's.