2016 Year in Review

This was an exciting year for me with a lot of completion on a lot of projects. Very productive. So here is a wrap-up for the year, as well as an update on my many projects.

Zone Mortalis Tiles
I spent countless hours casting the bits, gluing them together, and painting these tiles. It's a total of 18 tiles with doodads, and they have gotten some play time. Our local game store had an event where my tiles handled about 4,000 points between 4 players. I am surprised at how well they handled the punishment, and the players were all impressed with the table. They are a little brittle, but that is due to the material used, where I went a little cheap. A lofty goal in the future will be to create a fantasy themed set of tiles, but I may splurge for the good dental plaster if I can find out where to get a hold of some nearby.

The Coven of Verminlord Skrax (Warhammer 40,000 - Dark Eldar Haemonculus Covens)
This was quite a project that yielded a proud achievement for me. A lot of effort when into the modeling and painting and display board, not to mention the wonderful comic illustrated by my brother. It was all paid off when I won Best in Appearance at the 40k GT Harvester of Souls. A trophy which is still proudly displayed in our living room.

Jarom's Orks Commission Here and Here
The undertaking for illustrating my comic was no small feat, so I gladly paid in painting small portion of Jarom's Orks in exchange. Jarom also took Best in Orks at the same tournament.

Gorkamorka
My brother and I haven't really acted on our plans to run a little Gorkamorka campaign yet. Both of us live a distance from each other, and he has been busy with a job enough as it is. So Gogmagog's Questing Knights (Mutiez) and Da 'ard 'eads (Gorkers) will remain unpainted for now. I am looking forward to fielding Da Hukka Trukka on the table sometime in the near future.

Heavy Gear Blitz!
My Heavy Gear plastics kickstarter delivered this year. I now have a lot of plastic sprues of tiny mecha. I have been a very long fan of Heavy Gear's setting, but never got a chance to play it in any form. This game seems pretty solid, and my brother has expressed a desire to give it a shot. I look forward to that sometime next year.

Deadzone
My addiction to small skirmish games continues even still. Deadzone is an example of my enthusiasm that builds in a game in intense bursts. Then it dies out. I am still up for playing games with it though. So I have several small armies built for this game, but the beauty of most small skirmish games I own, a lot of the figures can be used interchangeably. So even when I am not playing Deadzone, I can still use the terrain and minis for something; like Rogue Stars... but that's another post for another day.

Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower
The three of us (Jarom, Timo, and I) have been slowly working our way through the trials of the Silver Tower, and watching the story unfold and our characters progress. Jarom is playing an Orruk Warchanter, Timo is playing a Chaos Lord, and I am controlling the Order side with a Cogsmith and Lord-Relictor. What's even sweeter about this is how little money I have invested in this game and we are getting a lot out of it.

Censers and Tocsins (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Nurgle Rotbringers and Clan Pestilens)
This project will likely be set on the back burner. I love the idea of a Nurgle themed fantasy army, but until I get that burst of inspiration for it going again, I won't be doing much with it for now. I do believe I have some good ideas for the Nurgle Rotbringers at least. The Skaven, however, I can only think to make everything as-is. Which is fine for most, but I become passionate about something when I can think of a unique angle to take with it.

Forgesworn Eternals (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Stormcast Eternals)
I am proud to say my entire Forgesworn Eternal army is completely painted (barring some basing I still have left to do). Not something I can say much of for my big armies. I really don't plan on adding anything to this. I feel I have gotten all the minis I am interested in. I was considering some Dracoth Cavalry to make more dire bear riders, but the problem is finding variations of suitable bear heads, of which I have only really found the one. But for now I'm good.

Forthammer Clan Throng (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Dispossessed and Ironweld Arsenal)
Not all of my Warhammer Duardin are among the ranks of the painted, but a good portion of them are. I experimented with a unique paint scheme for dwarfs that I think has paid off to a color that complements my Forgesworn Eternals. All I have left for this LVO army is some basing, and maybe a display board. Carry-on luggage restrictions are becoming an issue.

That sums up this very awesome year. In the new year I will outline my goals for 2017.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Warden King in Steamsuit (Painted)

The master of the duardin clan, Dunhill Forthammer, is complete. It is this Warden King who will lead the throng, and with the aide of the Forgesworn Eternals, will reclaim their lost holds in Chamon.

This marks the last miniature in my army to be painted. All that's left are the bases (which I will be putting this guy on a bigger base) and the display board if I can manage it. This is going to be tight because I have to make sure this all fits merely in a carry-on piece of luggage, which may mean my board will be too small. I'll have to see what I can manage. I also need to build miniature storage trays that fit in that same carry-on. There is no way I am putting this stuff through checked luggage.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Cannon and Organ Gun (Painted)

The cannonade is complete. These are the thundering guns of my force. With the Cogsmith backing them up, it's especially potent.

And a shot of the whole cannonade.

All this leaves for painting (besides the basing and display board if I do one) is the Warden King in Steamsuit. An especially daunting task because I want to make sure he looks good.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Thane with Battle Standard (Painted)

I realize now that I never showed this mini off as a WIP. He is my Thane with Battle Standard I made from various leftover bits and kits.The main body is actually the Runelord. I already had a Runelord model planned, and figured this model could make a good hero for something else. The Thane warscroll has some good advantages, such as being anti-magic and making Dispossessed nearby immune to battleshock.

Most of the kitbashing is on the banner itself. The goal is to make a really tall magnificent standard that is higher than the other unit's. The main banner body is from the Hammerer kit, then some rune bits hanging off the sides (these are from the Warriors kit), then it is topped with an icon (also from the Warriors) but having the wings shaved off and adding the forge and engineering tools from the Cannon kit. Cresting the head at the top is from the Cogsmith kit. These three elements show the forging and engineering nature of the throng. The banner painting is very similar to that of my Longbeard's.

There is also another element to this model that should be mentioned. Its warscroll has one of those 'silly' rules in it. If I have a longer or more magnificent beard than my opponent's, then the Thane can re-roll failed to-hit rolls in combat. This may hardly ever come up, but just in case it does...

I have been planning this beard growth for quite some time because I know I could be fielding this model. It will primarily be in my side-board during the tournament, but this is a just in case thing, and I just wanted an excuse, no matter how small, to try growing a long chin-beard. It's kind of annoying though, so I will be shaving it short after the LVO (which my wife looks forward to). I really have some appreciation for the dwarfs and their dedication to their facial hair.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Unforged (Painted)

The decision to make my Unforged's hair blonde was not tied to anything. Nowhere are the new Unforged mentioned to be orange hair only like the Slayers of old, so I felt I had some more liberty with them. I like the idea of a crazed deadly blonde fighting duardin.

If you may notice, I also shortened the axes he was holding, because I found them a little too comically long from my WIP shot here. I think the overall balance of the figure is better for it.

Forthammer Clan Throng - Drake Dunsson (Cogsmith) (Painted)

My son of the Warden King has been completed. I also decided to give him a companion gryph-hound. My army list may make use of him for some overwatch against anything being summoned or deep striking near my 2 big guns. So I decided to paint it in the general color of the clan throng, instead of painting the hound the colors of my stormhost.

This gryph-hound mini is from the Silver Tower box, and normally accompanies the Excelsior Warpriest. I figured since it's apparent that gryph-hounds don't only accompany the Stormcast Eternals, and are natives of Azyr, Drake could have picked one up at some point. The hammer on its collar still fits with the faction.