So that was 2011

Another year gone by, more miniatures bought, sold and some even painted. A quick look at my painting log for 2011 shows that it was a patchy year. I started by painting a couple of units and a character for my chaos army, then switched to orcs and goblins when the new book was announced. I bought and started two boxes of savage orcs, but never really got the urge to finish them, then switched to building war machines, which again never got finished. In fact, the only painted figure added to the army was a lone night goblin shaman. Not a good start then.

Things improved in the middle of the year. The release of the Avatars of War dwarf berserkers put the fire back in my belly and I rattled off  a unit of them, converted one to an engineer and even painted a unit of dwarf rangers. That's a good 500-600 points added to the dwarf army, the high point of the year.

Reflecting my waning interest in fantasy, I then switched to painting some 40k figures, a squad of plaguebearers, a squad of Nurgle marines and a rhino. These were probably my best paint jobs of the year. I can fully understand why 40k is more popular than fantasy, painting these seemed like a holiday compared to the slog of the endless rank and file of fantasy figures. I never actually played with them, maybe I will get to do that this year.

The latter part of the year had me in planning mode, as I contemplated about how to celebrate my upcoming 20 year anniversary of playing the game of fantasy. I managed to find some old photos of one of my undead armies, which sealed the deal. Project XX was born, my plan to build and paint a complete Vampire Counts army in about a year. Determined to get a good start, I painted up 30 zombies and a couple of necromancers, before my enthusiasm drained, mostly it has to be said as I came to dislike more and more some of the aspects of 8th edition.

The last couple of months I have played mostly WWII games, the excellent Blitzkrieg Commander at 6mm is a breath of fresh air. Simple rules but complex tactical decisions, gaming for the thinking man. But as they say, a change is as good as a rest, and recently I have got the urge to paint fantasy figures once more. All it took was a simple random painting table based on my chaos collection and the spark was ignited. The new year will be started with additions to my Chaos Warriors army.

The new book release in January should inspire me to crack on with the Vampire Counts, though I have been less than impressed with GW this year, they really need to do something special to win me over again. I will get the Vampire army done, as I have already collected most of the bits needed, a real eclectic mix they are too. Whether it will contain any of the new releases is the big question in my mind at the moment.

I reckon 2012 will be a year of uncertainty for me. The price rises, bad products and dubious antics of GW have really left a sour taste this past year, freshened mostly by the efforts of the many smaller companies that are really improving in leaps and bounds. While I am committed to completing my 20 year Warhammer anniversary project, it may well be the year when I turn my back on the company that has given me so much pleasure over the past two decades. Or maybe I will take a greater interest in 40k? There is also the possibility of a move into 1/72 WWII gaming. I still love the painting, I am looking forward to tackling a wider variety of new projects on this front.

The only thing I can say with any certainty, is that I am completely unsure how the year will turn out.