The Tally of 2024

The year is at its end, so let's see how we did.

For those who don't know, this is the idea behind "Project: Micawber"...

"Annual leadpile twenty Tomb Guard, annual painting nineteen Tomb Guard, nineteen Skeletons and a Scarab, result: stagnation.

Annual leadpile twenty Tomb Guard, annual painting twenty Tomb Guard, nought and a Scarab, result: progress."

Project: Micawber

The premise is simple: paint more models than I acquire, add them up at the end of the year and bring down that leadpile!

Looking back over a decade of this project, and observing that the pile of unfinished miniatures doesn't seem to be diminishing, I have spiced up this Mr Micawber's philosophy with Crankcase, the Marie Kondo of the G.I. Joe team:

And so going forward, I'm going to be less precious about painting everything in the queue, safe in the knowledge that, if I eventually decide that it doesn't bring me joy, I can move it along.

Bought

I've been quite well-behaved this year. Not only keeping the purchasing numbers within manageable amounts, but I've painted over 70% of the new acquisitions, which I'm taking as a positive indication that I actually wanted most of what I ended up buying.

Of course, these numbers are slightly massaged by me being gifted a whole heap of skeletons this year, but I can't help what falls into my lap. Crankcase would back me up on this, and unlike Mr Micawber, he drives a dune buggy with a roof-mounted cannon.

Acquisition total: 62 models.

Painted

• 5 x Chosen
• 20 x Dwarf Warriors
• 12 x Dwarf Rangers
• 2 x Dwarf Quarrellers
• 4 x Dwarf Cannon
• 4 x Dwarf Bolt Thrower
• 1 x Dwarf Gyrocopter
• 2 x Dwarf Engineers
• 1 x Dwarf Queen
• 1 x Runelord
• 1 x Night Goblin Battle Standard
• 6 x Stone Trolls
• 1 x Black Orc Warboss
• 5 x Elven Beastmasters
• 1 x Warpsmith 
• 1 x Sorcerer
• 1 x Roboute Gulliman (commission)
• 25 x Skeleton Warriors
• 25 x Skeleton Warriors
• 10 x Skeleton Archers
• 10 x Skeleton Skirmishers
• 5 x Skeleton Horse Archers
• 8 x Skeleton Horsemen
• 3 x Skeleton Chariots
• 1 x Liche Priest on steed
• 1 x Tomb King on chariot
• 3 x Sepulchral Stalkers 
• 16 x Imperial Nobility
• 2 x Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver
• 2 x Captain America & War Machine
• 2 x Vision & Winter Soldier
• 2 x Doctor Strange & Wong
• 2 x Black Panther & Killmonger
• 1 x Daredevil 
• 1 x Nick Fury, snr. & Howling Commandos
• 2 x Nick Fury, jnr. & S.H.I.E.L.D Agents
• 6 x Guardians of the Galaxy
• 1 x Spider-Man Noir
• 1 x Thanos 
• 4 x Electro, Shocker, Vulture, Sandman
• 1 x Luke Cage
• 2 x Ancient One and Baron Mordo
• 7 x Chaos Chosen 
• 1 x Loki, God of Mischief
• 1 x Storm
• 1 x Ghost Rider
• 1 x M’Baku
• 1 x Namor
• 1 x Enchantress 
• 3 x Carrion
• 6 x Tomb Swarm
• 1 x Tomb Scorpion
• 1 x Khemrian Warsphinx 
• 1 x Soundwave 
• 1 x Heimdall
• 1 x Skurge
• 1 x Thor, Prince of Asgard
• 1 x Valkyrie
• 1 x Liche Priest
• 1 x Tomb King
• 1 x Royal Warden
• 1 x Necrotect
• 1 x Casket of Souls
• 1 x Mephisto
• 7 x Chaos Chosen
• 1 x Chaos Sorcerer 
• 10 x Chaos Knights 
• 15 x Chaos Warriors
• 1 x Milton 
• 1 x Exalted Champion BSB
• 1 x Chaos Lord on Dragon 
• 1 x Chimera 
• 1 x Chaos Giant 
• 24 x Gors 
• 10 x Gors 
• 1 x Ghorgon 
• 1 x Beastlord 
• 1 x Razorgor 

Painted total: 312 models

Whoop! That tally is the second-best result I've ever had. And unlike the 2019 score, where I only broke even, this brings me a whopping total of 250 miniatures to my credit!

As you'll see from the units right at the bottom, I had a big push for a Warriors of Chaos/Beastmen army right at the end of the year (so much of a push, that I haven't had time to blog about all of them yet). I can thank The Old World for a lot of those numbers, since they favour big units. And, in fairness, some of these 'painted' models just involved rebasing (but I have to count them, since rebasing is a pain and I need the incentive to get them done).

Marvel Crisis Protocol was another big chunk of my hobby, which is impressive, as you only really paint one at a time. I think I painted more than I did last year (and can imagine improving on that the following year).

I only seem to be averaging one Blood Bowl team per year, and I'd like to improve on that. It's just so much easier to 'paint' miniatures on the PC game.

And finally, a very small turnout for Warhammer 40k, which fairly reflects the number of games I've played. There are still some models I want to paint from that range, so it will continue to press forward, but there are no new armies for me there.

Other notables of 2024

• 
  
  Favourite unit:
  The Kemperbad Cavaliers, my Imperial Nobility Blood Bowl team. I initially regarded this as just a 'came with the starter box' team, but as soon as I got their bright colours and bushy moustaches on them, I was dazzled. I just don't want to paint stripey socks again.
  
  
• Favourite model:
  
  I really had to pick a Marvel Crisis Protocol miniature, since I've lavished so much attention on each one. Which particular one is a harder pick, so I've just gone with Skurge the Executioner, because I had to push out of my comfort zone to paint his heavy metal axe (whereas I could have settled with just some metallic paint and a wash).
  
  
• Favourite battle: 
  After playing a run of 15 games, it was likely going to be an MCP battle, and the standout for me was the epilogue game between Mephisto's villains and the reigning champions, Guardians of the Galaxy - that one had everything.
  
  (Honourable mentions to an Old World game between Dwarves and Tomb Kings that really did fight to the finish; and my first online Blood Bowl game, where the Kemperband Cavaliers pulled off a Hail Mary to defeat the Dark Elves)


• Battles played: 
  I've kept pretty active with my games this year, thanks to an autumn SkypeBoot and two Weekend at Burnies' events: MCP (17), The Old World (14), Blood Bowl (14) and 40k (7). I've included online Blood Bowl games against other humans, but not against the computer (otherwise you could, in all honesty, add a zero to that).
  Adding them all up gets me to 52 - which hits an unspoken target to average one game per week.
  
  
• Blog posts: 
  If I'm picking my favourite blog post, it won't be one of mine, but the Necromunda campaign between Kraken and Bubonicus. I still don't understand what's going on in the game, but it's been thoroughly entertaining.

Goals from 2024

I can't believe I actually hit all these goals.

• Warhammer: The Old World
  Yep. Three new armies, several tutorial games with the Old World-curious, two YouTube battle reports and one weekend event. I'm living my fantasy.
  
  
• Keep on with Marvel Crisis Protocol
  It took me until the second half of the year, and one massive knockout campaign, but it's fair to say I gave plenty of time to MCP - and made a few new converts too.
  
  
• Play some small-board games
  I didn't expand my range much (although found a few nice card games), but my main goal was Blood Bowl and, thanks to Kraken pushing me onto the pitch, I've gotten into that in a big way. I can't believe it took me this long!

Goals for 2025

• Play at least one offline game per month
  For a confirmed Skype player, this is a spur to get me playing in-person.
• Paint up some more Blood Bowl teams
  I enjoy doing it, and they're in their boxes waiting, so there's no excuse.
• To me, my X-Men!
  Da-na-na-na-na-na, da-na-na-na-na-na, DA-NA-NA-NA! NA NA!

Have a great 2025, leadfellows! Don't quote me on this, but maybe it's not the darkest timeline after all?