Here Goes 2025!

Over the last few days or so I've been trying to inventory my Pile of Opportunity. I'm not finished yet, and I'm up to 1,384 unpainted 28mm figures (including mounted models) and 11 tanks or monsters. It was 1,386 until I cracked out two more Pain Tokens today:

A Ral Partha (I think) executioner painted as some kind of alien with dark blue blood, and a GW Dire Avenger icon with some random skeleton bits done up like a dead Guard trooper

The gems on the Dire Avenger icon turned out alright in the end, and I quite like the dark blue blood you can see from the injuries on the executioner's legs

Those Cawdor figures are still sitting here, looking at me, but I have three small bases of giant (sort of) spiders to do up for Necromunda first... and then we'll look at those Cawdor figures.

Going back to that inventory, to put the number in context, I painted about 375 actual models last year. If I don't acquire any new models at all and just paint the ones I own, and maintain that rate of 375 figures painted a year (just over one a day) it'll take me three years and 256 days to finish just the 28mm figures I've counted so far. This doesn't include, off the top of my head, a Skaven army, a High Elf army, and a bunch of Bretonnians. Which is around about Friday 15th September 2028!

If I paint two figures a day every day on average that's a much more reasonable, um, year and 328 days to get all those 28mm minis I've counted so far done. Which is about the 26th of November 2026.

With that in mind, it makes quite a bit of sense that my partner P has strongly suggested that I don't acquire any new models for a while...

Which, of course, is just all the more reason to paint more fasterer!

Painting Points:
Today: 2
This Week: 2
2025: 2

Every Archon Needs Their Comforts

There's an artist - JetBlackRaider - who does wonderful Dark Eldar art, focussing primarily on the character Archon Malyss, and I have been inspired by her work an awful lot. 

Art by JetBlackRaider

 That said, I picked up the minis that I've been working on over the last couple of days a long time before I ever came across her artwork, so I think it's quite cool that a lot of how she envisages the Dark Eldar gels very nicely with how I do too. Anyway, here's some more Pain Tokens, in this instance being represented by servants for the Archon:

I think these are Wargames Foundry miniatures but might be from somewhere else. A terrible photo regardless

A better photo

There's one last pain token to go, which is made up of a few bits of fantasy skeleton and a Dire Avenger icon (I think). Then I'll get back to work on those Cawdor miniatures, surely.

Painting Points:
Today: 2
This Week: 12
2024: 242 (393)

Oh yes - and, of course: HAPPY NEW YEAR! May your 2025 be fruitful and pleasant!

Power From Pain

I got sidetracked. The Cawdor miniatures remain in the state they were in yesterday. Instead, I picked up my Dark Eldar Pain Tokens, which are now five editions out of date and not used in the edition I mostly aim to play (4th); however I do own the 5th Edition Dark Eldar codex and enough bits and units to field either a 4th Edition army or a 5th Edition one. And I do like the 5th Edition things, like the Archon's Court and the Venom, so who knows, maybe I'll play some 5th Edition some day. Anyway, some of them were already painted and just needed rebasing, but others needed finishing in their entirety:

Some of these are Ral Partha, some are Games Workshop, some are random bits, some are (I think) Wargames Foundry Roman servant-women

As is traditional, after I took the photos I noticed some bits that need touching up...

Pain Tokens were put next to units that had done certain things, like killed a unit or taken a certain amount of casualties, and the more tokens that unit had, the more cool things it could do. I took the opportunity to use some random figures I had kicking around, and they'll make interesting additions to the Dark Eldar army when it's eventually tackled.

One last day in the year, and I wonder what - if anything - I'll get done.

Painting Points: 
Today: 10
This Week: 10
2024: 240 (391)