Top Charts Searches 2014

As most of you have been able to tell from watching the horde of miniatures coming in to my house I sometimes  have a hard time focusing on just a single project. Currently on the list are:

1) WWI US Marines - I have everything for this army but only 1 platoon of 15 is painted.
2) Modern US Marines - I have almost everything for this army either in hand or on the way. I may need a few more troops and I definitely need more HMMWVs and probably MRAPs (a 6x6 Cougar and a 4x4 Cougar are on the way).
3) ACW Union - Infantry and artillery are all finished, I need to get to the cavalry but that's a low priority for this army. Currently all my Generals are old Stone Mountain minis or Old Glory, I'm planning on replacing them with some from Peter Pig painted up to a much higher standard. The only other thing I would like to do is finish the Fire and Fury game markers that I also acquired from Peter Pig.
4) Napoleonic British - I may go through a re-basing exercise for this army. Currently mounted for LaSalle which I have now decided I don't like very much. I may go back to Napoleon's Battles basing or perhaps the Napoleon at War basing, actually for the British infantry it should work out to be the same, just the cavalry is mounted differently I think. So most likely the infantry component is finished, I need to work on artillery and cavalry at this point.
5) Flames of War DAK - This army is basically finished, there are a few odds an ends that need to be completed but it is a playable army. I am considering going back and stripping down vehicles and re-painting them with some new techniques that I have learned since I painted that one.
6) LoTR - I have one army based around the Knights of Dol Amroth that is about 1/2 done, but I'm unhappy with it. I may go ahead and just go with the Grey Company, or make a left turn and do Rohan. How can I pass up vikings on horseback?
7) SAGA - Still up in the air on this one but I already have a bunch of vikings painted up so really all I would need are a few leaders painted up and I would be done. I need to dig the miniatures out and see what I really have. Certainly more than what SAGA requires. My biggest issue is that these rules are irremediably expensive for being a paperback set. I have hardbound rules with considerably more content that cost less than SAGA.

So those are the armies that I have currently. I am contemplating an TYW army (Danes) and maybe a Confederate army for ACW.

Tons of Fantasy and Science Fiction stuff floating around the desk. This stuff is primarily intended for competition painting. I do need to pick out a piece or two to get ready for ReaperCon in May

NEWEST project. My Dad called last night and he has decided that he wants me to paint another one of his carvings. This one is not a carousel animal but more of a statue type piece that would be a decoration on a carousel. It was one I had considered painting when they went to Europe in 2011 but I painted the Hippocampus instead. Sounds like I made a good choice because he has something pretty definite in mind for this one. Its also small enough (about 2' tall) that I can bring it home and work on it rather than having to drive up to the shop. Since its for my dad everything else will probably come to a stop while I work on that. I think its time to break-out the airbrush and get used to using it again. Airbrushing is going to make this go much faster than working it with a brush.

Quite frankly, school is killing me right now. Its going to cut into my gaming and painting more than I anticipated. I got all my official transcripts in and it looks like I'm not as far along credit wise as I thought I was. 77 more to go to the degree. Ouch!

In the meantime though I have been casually searching for transports for my modern USMC troops. HMMWVs have been very hard to find but today I'm finally getting a chance to make a run to the local hobby shop that should have a reasonable selection. After going through the very thin stock of kits in the Ft Collins area I realized just how spoiled I was down in the Aurora area with quick access to places like Caboose Hobbies and Colpar Hobbies. Colpar has more kits down one side of one of their aisles than I found in two stores in Ft Collins. However, last night I found one of the things I was looking for online at a really good price; the USMC Tuna Boats at $9.00 each. So the order is in and now I'm just waiting for them to arrive. The military modeler in me says that I should go all out and pick up some aftermarket parts to really trick these out but the aftermarket kits are more expensive than the models themselves (at least in this case), so I didn't take that plunge last night. Hopefully sometime next week I'll have four AAVP7A1s to transport my Marines around.

These minis arrived a couple of weeks ago now, but since I was busy with the convention (actually still busy with the convention) I didn't have time to snap any photos of them. It does seem like I'm acquiring a lot more minis and not getting very many done, so I definitely need to increase my production. Of course Reaper Con is coming up in May and I do need to pick out some minis to work on for that competition. Anyway here are the Kingdom Death minis that I picked up and do intend to paint sometime in the future.

Today was a big day! The mailbox had one of those very interesting packages that come all the way from the UK. And yes, inside were the 20mm Marines I had ordered from Elhiem. Can't really say enough about the service. Ordered these on the 2/21 and here they just squeaked in on 2/29. So 8 days start to finish. Now if I could only get them painted up that fast. Well actually I suppose I could, they are pretty small compared to my WWI Marines. Small enough that I snapped a quick comparison picture. So a couple of pictures and I'll take them with me tonight and maybe starting working on them. I should be painting that bloody Zoave but he's hiding on my desk again. Now if I could find some HMMWV in 1/72 or 20mm scale that were reasonably priced I would be happy.