To say that this year has been a bumpy ride, with lots of things going on is an understatement.
So before I start on the mayhem that was 2020 take a moment to think about what you did to make the differance and give yourself a pat on the back as we didn't all make it to the end game without loss either career, mentally or friendship.
So the blog was very very quite at the start of the year and only when I got my arse into gear and canback after a 7 month break did the posts start reappearing on a monthly (ish) basis.
However despite this its been a very productive year painting and personal wise. I have been focusing more on my instergram and facebook page than the blog due to the fact that its alot quicker to update and I need to make more time for myself. So that I'm able to spend a few hours a months typing up the blog for your reading pleasure.
Right grab your brew and here we go!
Jan
As the previous year was quite a lot of time spent on the world eaters I decided it was about time that I painted the boss man up, I was pondering over the cape for a while and decided to get rid of it as I wanted angry Ron in go mode!
I also thought about his body guard and did a test paint of a necro model that I had picked up in a trade, I had planned to add another 2 to make a unit but never got round to looking any futher really.
Towards to the end of Jan it was off to a doubles narrative games day hosted by the awsome guys over at the herlds of heresy, Unknown to us all that would be the only chance I would get to play outside the club with the world eaters and myself and day teamed up for a drop pod / deepstriking force that caused mayhem throughout the day!
Team Phat Cats representing, (L-R Front to back) Ross, Spencer, Kurt, Luke, Myself and Dan
I also started to work on revamping my orks and much discussion with Kris and grots where all over the painting table, doing them in batches of 30 is not a recommended amount!
I also started on some Dredd models from warlord games and get these entered into the Dredd openday compo.
Feb
Painting wise I really lost my mojo and didn't get anything finished all due to real life work shite going on.
However I did manage to take the GC and Jake over to warhammer world and after a quick breakdown of the rules we were away!
Watching a Grey Knights commander chap hack his was through most of Jakes army was mind blowing until he got cut down by a bunch on rapid firing scouts!
Dan as always was running a big game with regards to 30k campaign and this is where we bought our personal hero and battled it out for the superduper prize at the top of the aztec temple. Sadly this was the last game at the club for myself however what a game to finish off the year in Feb!
March
Well with lockdown in effect however for me as a key worker it was busier than ever and my mojo was still at a record low with only one unit done for the whole of the month,
However what a unit to complete, this was a real labour of love and something that I hadn't done for a while conversion wise.
Also from a "fluff" perspective these guys are brillant in the Angron primarch book.
April
It seemed that that one unit of breachers sparked a fire in me and I went on a white and blue rampage thoughout the month of April, nearly finishing off all my odds and sods that I've had kicking around for a while!
The Butchers were fun to paint and I carn't wait to get these jumping out of the mega spartan
The commander for the campaign I finally got round to sorting out and did another conversion abd was really happy how this guy came out, the pose I really liked as it was completely differant to most world eater poses.
I also sorted out the heavy support choices for the deathwind drop pods, this brings me to a total of 13 drop pods that I can deploy, however a couple of dreadnought drop pods are on the list for the future.
As I was making some really good progress on the pile of shame, I added another dreadnought to the completed pile and as I have a thing for autocannons it would be rude not to!
The World Eaters in all the glory points wise I've no idea what I've got but I'm looking to use this lot at warhammer world when the chance presents itself.
May
After a lot of time spent on this in the background I managed to get this badboy done and give Winston a partner in crime for Legio Mortis.
The pose is a bit poor so will need to pin the upper body.
I also decided to come up with a chaos cult necro gang using the blackstone fortress models and these were a real joy to paint.
Another moment of madness saw me start on a traitor knight army for 30k, I managed to get three basic guys done who were then named the Butcher Gang by the GC.
I also got the command element in the form of a lancer done as well.
The size of the lancer compared to the other knights is huge, no hiding behind terrain for these guys!
Whilst digging though the room of doom I also came across a game that I've been sitting on for a while but didn't do anything with and started on painting some random beasties from the game.
Within the 30K whatsapp group we had a discussion with regards to the badab wars and I decided to go own the route of the Raptors, mainly because they were Russian Green!
Ironically 9th Ed 40k was announced when I'd finished the Chaplain.
June
Most of june was painting green, and lots of it!
The Raptors were good to go... Just needed to wait for a game!
July
I was asked to do a commission peice for a chap at work and this was the peice, a huge model and it took a while to complete but it was well worth it in the long run.
As I swept up in the new 40k new army fever I decided rather than dropping a couple of hundred quid on a new force I would revamp an old force and stripped my old nids from about 15ish years ago.
After much pondering I decided to go real old school with the OG hivefleet that kicked it all off.
August
I continued the work on the nids and completed a few more elements the most important being the ripper swarms being the back bone of the army and all that jazz!
Apart from that it was a fairly quite month.
September
I managed to snag a copy of the new 40k box set and jesus it had alot of toys in it! I decided to let the GC have the marines as a way of testing the water and see if I could get her involved in the hobby and much to my surprise the GC was well up for it so lets see what happens on this front.
as part of operation finish that fucker I blatted out the orks for the AI game so once again waiting to get this airborne and cause mayhem!
Once again in the 30k chat epic 30k was mentioned so I did a quick test paint of some odds and sods that I got my hands on a while back and was quite happy with how they came out.
To add some transport options to the Raptors I did a couple of 3D printed rhinos and these came out way better than I expected.
Still on the mission of paint random models I did a hellblade model in 30k world eaters colours and this went down a storm with the guys on the chat and also got another model out of the pile of shame!
Continuing on the pile of unpainted stuff and also because I had been playing the buggy as hell necromunda I splashed some paint on the goliaths and kept them quite grimy colour wise.
I was very happy with how these came out in the end.
October
It was becoming quite obvious that without any demo's for shows and playing any actual games was giving me a lack of direction and I was in the wildwest painting mode wise.
Hence a load of barriers for starwars legion!
However I was slowly chugging though the knights at a reasonable rate and getting closer to a completed force.
I also got my hands on a copy of Victory at sea, the orginal mongoose system rejigged and new shiney ships, I wasn't a massive fan of the models to start off with however after 6 hours worth of painting these I was sold, really nice to paint up.
In the same month I decided to start a slow grow K47 army and went down the British AI route and will look forward to stomping with these around the table as the amount of firepower that these pump out is bonkers!
November
Well the World Eaters came back out for one last round and as bonkers as it may seem, I've painted all the World Eaters in my collection!
So no more white and blue for a while!
I've never seen anyone use tarantula's so I figured why not!
Well every army needs a hardhitter and this will no doubt cause some mayhem when he hits the lines!
As part of the get stuff finished quest I finished off a 3D printed warhound, Since this one I've printed a second one off and will be getting that done at some point soon.
A consol for the legion so just need some dirty robots to walk along side with him.
Another rare spotted unit for the World Eaters in the form of a heavy support squad!
And a cheeky fast attack option for the legion.
A second commisson sorted out and this was a lot quicker than the previous one.
December
So into the final stretch and one again I was finishing off random stuff kicking around, as these are quite universal I'll mainly be using these for burrows and badgers.
I finished off the AI force that I picked up so just waiting to get my hands on some other bits and bobs once I can get over to sunny Nottingham.
I also decided to treat myself and picked up a resin 3D printer, more on this later in the year once I've got my head around it!
Another knight sorted out, only one left now!
I got quite frothy for necromunda and did both an orlock and cawdor gang as well as some hired guns that I've had kicking around for a while,
so with most of the necro stuff now painted I'll be looking forward to getting to a campaign underway in the future when ever that is going to be!
I was invoved in a local online challange with regards to painting a inquistor model however I didn't like the model and converted her to be a world eater double handed chainsaw welding nutcase for good measure!
So for a week of christmas I had the GC and it was a good educational week with a few games of 40k and maths lessons involving the shooting phase!
And thats your lot 2020 in a nutshell, weridly enough I only picked up one new system in the form of Victory at sea and I managed to paint the starter set up really quick.
Painting wise its been all over the place as I've had no real focus, however I've had time to reflect on this and I'm quite confident that I'll be able to stay the course for 2021.
So lets have a look at the "pledge"
Bought - 173
Painted - 414
Differance + 241
An excellent result and its been a real low model count buying wise but thats to be expected with everything that has been going on and the drive from myself to finish off stuff and not pick up too much new kit which I consider a success.
Keep an eye out for the 2021 master plan, its gonna be fun!
