The Tally of 2014

I've noticed quite a few '2014 In Review' posts popping up over the past few days, but this one has something special. This one is about "Project: Micawber"...

Old Father Time shows no mercy.

"Annual leadpile twenty orcs, annual painting nineteen orcs nineteen goblins and a snotling, result: stagnation.
Annual leadpile twenty orcs, annual painting twenty orcs nought and a snotling, result: progress."

(I may be misquoting Mr Micawber here ... our enforced Sixth Form reading of David Copperfield was a long time ago.)

Project: Micawber

Upon considering my ever-increasing leadpile of unpainted miniatures, I hit upon a resolution at the start of this year: I can buy whatever I like, as long as I paint more than I acquire.

The results are to be tallied up at the close of the year, and if I'm in credit, eventually - surely - that means I'm making progress.

The view from my painting desk.

Some new miniatures got painted up right away - whether sourcing particular Savage Orcs for conversion, or recruiting new winds of magic for my collegiate.

Some miniatures, I admit, were picked up on a whim, and are destined to spend a very long time in a drawer - I'm looking at you Pirate Space Ork With The Bionik Body.

Rebasing doesn't count; repaints don't count (unless they're extensive); no bonus points for cavalry or monsters - a miniature is a miniature. All that matters is that a once-unpainted model in my collection has been moved off the painting table to a state of completion.

As a benchmark: in 2013, I bought 103 miniatures (mostly Greenskins or Necromunda) and painted only 60. I ended the year with a total of -43. Let's just say that gave me scope for improvement.

So, if you'll indulge me. This was my 2014:

Bought

I thought I was rather restrained this year, picking up only individual models that really appealed to me. Unfortunately, on top of that, I also grabbed a whole mass of troops to fill out existing units, and that accounted for half my tally.

I won't list them all here, partly because it's dull, and also because I get to keep my surprises for 2015.

Acquisition total: 104 models.
(one higher than last year - dang!)

Painted

• 13 x Savage Orc Boar Boyz 
• 1 x Savage Orc Big Boss on boar
• 1 x Savage Orc Shaman on boar
• 1 x Savage Orc Great Shaman
• 1 x Savage Orc Big Boss with Battle Standard
• 25 x Savage Orc Arrer Boyz
• 3 x Savage Orc Big Stabbas
• 1 x Savage Orc Big ‘Un Unit Filler
• 3 x River Trolls
• 1 x Witch Hunter
• 12 x Alcatani Fellowship
• 1 x Shadow Wizard
• 1 x Amber Wizard on horse
• 2 x Light Acolytes
• 1 x Jade Wizard
• 1 x Celestial Wizard
• 11 x Glade Guard
• 1 x Wardancer Musician
• 1 x Glade Lord on Great Bear
• 5 x Wild Riders
• 14 x Cave Squigs
• 10 x Squig Herders

Painted total: 110 models
(wow, do I paint slow)

So I achieve my goal by 6 whole models. At this rate, I'll be getting the leadpile under control in 160 years or so, but at least it's progress.

Other notables of 2014

• Favourite unit: I suppose I should give it to one of the cavalry units, as both the Boar Boyz and the Wild Riders took a considerable amount of time to convert and paint. But I've had the most fun painting the final unit of the year, so I'm giving it to the Squig Herd.
• Favourite model: I've been inching forward with my painting skills, and I'm giving this one to the Celestial Wizard. I may have done better paint jobs, and the magic carpet looks a bit threadbare, but I just love the cosmos cummerbund.
• Favourite battle: The Witch Hunter's 'Kill Smaug' pistol shot runs a very close second, but I'm going to have to pick the Shadow Wizard's three-game run to claim the Wizards' Cup (through dirty tricks, undeserved luck and even a little bit of generalship).
• WoffBoot VIII: 5th place out of 6, an indictment of running an over-fluffed dual list with not enough practice. Next year, my ambition is to claw my way back to the comfort zone of mid-table 4th.
• Battles played: 19 - more than I've managed in a year for a very, very long time (and more than half due to the wonders of modern telecommunications - thank you Skype!)
• Blog posts: This has been our most prolific year, with 158 posts (almost as many as the two previous years put together). We even got a Liebster Award , and some rather appreciative scores from Sigmar's Fantasy Battles.
  Our audience appears to be growing strong (if the little blue lines on Google Analytics are any indication) - so thank you to everyone for taking the time to read and comment.

Speaking of traffic, our number of visits recently exceeded 50,000 - no great shakes in web terms, but it does allow me to close with this gag:

"FIFTY THOUSAND!"

Have a great 2015. May you never roll ones.*

*with the exception of leadership tests.