Painted figures: January to May

I haven't been noting the figures that I have painted on this site this year, partly because there have been so few but mainly because it is very boring! However, I do find the review process helpful in seeing what I have been painting and find that it guides me in choosing what to do next.

So far this year we have managed:

January 33
February 20

March 1

April 7

May 9

So only 71 figures in 22 weeks that's 3.2 figures a week instead of my target 6. I can't see that I am going to catch up unless I have a very good session during my summer holiday. The types of figures I have painted are:

Normans 5

Lord of the Rings 19

Early Saxons 4

WW1 15

Great Northern War 13

Schleswig Wars 1

English Civil War 4

Ancient Germans 7

Louis XIV 3

Last June I only managed 5 figures so I hope to do better than that. Apart from my new Perry British plastics I am going to concentrate on figures I have already started in order to get them done quickly. Starting, I think with some more WW1 Germans and some more Uruk Hai.

My little boy tidied up the workbench for me in exchange for a lottery ticket (he didn't win anything) so I don't have to stare at the previous chaos and wonder where to start.

What I need are a couple of good weekends but this weekend it's Guy's paint-ball party all day on Saturday and I have to do something on Sunday too. I am also trying not to have to go to Singapore in a couple of weeks and that is looking fifty-fifty at the moment. Oh well, at least I want to paint again!

Painted figures for October

Probably equivalent to 8 normal figures!

Not a brilliant month again. Only 12 figures painted.

8 Zulus

4 Sudan highlanders

That's 191 figures in 43 weeks or 4.48 figures a week. Well short of my target of six a week: I should have painted 258 by now. I'd have to paint over a hundred between now and the end of the year to catch up.

Painted figures for September

The total was:
Great Northern War Swedes 1
Zulus 16

A total of 17, which was not brilliant as I was hoping to catch up a bit. So far this year I have painted 179 figures in 39 weeks; a total of 4.46 figures a week. I fly to the Gulf on Sunday for a week so that isn't a brilliant start to October either!

Painted Figures for August

Much better due to the fact that I cranked out a few on holiday.

The total was:

Sudan British 1
WW1 German 12
Great Northern War Swedes 6
Spartan Hoplites 4

A total of 23. So far this year I have painted 162 figures in 35 weeks a total of 4.6 figures a week and well under my target. I should have painted 210 so am over 50 adrift. Oh dear! Lets see what we can do this month!

Painted figures for July

Another bad month. One Spartan and five Great Northern War Swedes. Oh well.

Painted Figures for June

Oh dear! The total for this month was five gladiators.

Weekends have been busy, with one away in Jordan, but I have just sort of gone off painting for a bit. I lose another weekend this month as I will be in Washington DC. I have a lot of figures in progress but none really close to finishing. Oh well, maybe I will be inspired this weekend.

Painted figures for May

Quite a good and varied month (if varied is good, of course).

Total for the month was 39

Darkest Africa Ruga Ruga 5
Swashbuckler 1
Back of Beyond characters 2
Darkest Africa character 2
Darkets Africa Ngoni 5
Spartans 5
Sudan Beja 11
Gladiators 4
WW1 German Jaegers 4

I also got a couple of dozen German WW1 figures tidied up and based properly. Unfortunately, I am not happy with the colour of their jackets, following a visit to the Royal Army Museum in Brussels last month, so will have to re-do their jackets and trousers aagin.

So in 22 weeks I have painted 129 figures which brings my average back up to 5.9 figures a week, very close to my target of 6. I am now only three figures adrift of my target. However although I painted five gladiators this week I got nothing done last week as I was in the process of changing jobs. I am now no longer working in the City, for the first time, but am in the West End, which is a bit weird. Never mind I am only a few hundred yards from Forbidden Planet, Orc's Nest, Games Workshop and Foyles!

I am off to Jordan again on Friday so don't expect to finish anything this week although I am progressing quite well on another unit of WW1 Prussian Guards. I will also get some more Beja prepared as they are quite quick to paint. I have some more female Tuta archers to do to finish my bodyguard unit for my Mirambo force. I'd like to get on with some more Great Northern War Swedes as well.

Painted figures for April

April was a little better than March as I did get my 15 Egyptians done early in the month. The problem is that I have only had 2 free weekends out of the last seven and I sort of lost my interest in painting for a couple of weeks. I am now keen again and the lighter mornings mean I can even do a little before work (got some shading on my next batch of Ruga-Ruga done this morning).

Total for the month was 16:

Egyptian Infantry for the Sudan 15

Elizabethan sea dog 1

So in 17 weeks I have painted 90 figures which drops my average to 5.3 figures a week. I am now 12 figures adrift from where I should be but that isn't impossible to catch up. I have no more painting time until Saturday afternoon as I am off to Ankara and Istanbul tomorrow.

Painted figures for March

I've been so busy at work I haven't had time to put up the list of the figures I painted for March.

I only managed five Ruga-Ruga and a pulp figure, so a not very inspirational total of six. So in 13 weeks I painted 75 figures or 5.76 a week, slighly less than my target of 6 a week but still only 3 behind schedule for the quarter.

Painted Figures for February

Another good month, with 36 figures painted, much better than last year's 14. I have painted 69 figures in nine weeks which is 7.6 figures a week so I am 15 figures up on my target.

Sudan British 5
Gladiators 3
Pulp 1
English Civil War 7
Early Saxons 5
Darkest Africa 15

I didn't manage any Great Northern War figures this month but I guess the ECW ones count towards my Pike and Shot allowance. I was also pleased to finish my first unit of Early Saxons. The darkest Africa figures are a bit of a diversion but I am enjoying painting them even though they are quite time consuming.

This month is going to be difficult as I am in Libya, Egypt and Jordan from next week for ten days and then Poland at the end of the month. I am hopeful I will be able to finish five more Ruga-ruga before I fly to Tripoli on Saturday. When I get back I want to get on with some more GNW and progress my first four Sudan Highlanders.

Painted figures for January

Although it's not technically the end of the month I only count whole weeks so my month ended on Sunday.

A good start to the year with 33 figures painted compared with last year's 18. It was a four week month so I am 9 figures ahead of schedule.

Sudan British 8
Sudan Beja 6
Lord of the Rings Gondor 6
Byzantine archers 8
GNW Swedes 5

The Byzantines weren't in my 2008 plan but all the others were.


Looking forward I have seven ECW figures to finish this weekend as I am actually playing a game at Guildford. I have five Early Saxons to do which will finish my first unit and I want to finish my first three Gladiators. Then I want to finish some of the half done figures on the workbench. A few Lord of the Rings characters, some Copplestone cavemen and cavegirls, a couple of Foundry swashbucklers and a few Perry Napoleonics. Enough to keep me going through February.

Painted Figures for December and 2007

Greeks for Cynoscephalae: If I paint some pikemen I've got a Macedonian Army!

Well, my first year of logging my painted figures is over so now it's time to analyse it.

Firstly, though, the figures for December are as follows:

Sudan British RMLI 3
Cowboy 1
GnW Swedish 9
LotR Gondor archers 4
LotR Uruk hai beserker 1
LotR Dwarves 2
Dutch Napoleonic Jaegers 4
Total 24

This means that I have painted 312 figures this year which is, amazingly, exactly 6 a week, so I have achieved my target!

For 2008 I am going to aim to do 7 figures a week! Whether I achieve this or not will depend on how much travelling I have to do. Last year I was abroad on business 60 days, so in reality I actually painted 7 figures a week when I was at home, so it should be acheivable. Let's see how many I can do in my last week of holiday.

Next I need to look at my real problem: not being able to concentrate on any one army. With 300 figures I could have done two complete WAB armies if I was able to focus!

Actually, when I look at what I painted it could be worse:

Sudan 105
Ancient Greeks 104
Punic Romans 29
Middle Imperial Roman 15
Dark Ages 15
Great Northern War 14
Lord of the Rings 12
Darkest Africa 11
Napoleonic 4
Pulp 2
Old West 1

Other than the Sudan, my main period, it was mostly Greeks for Cynoscephalae. For 2008 I expect Great Northern Wars to be up there.

Painted Figures for November

This month's Darkest Africa character: makes a change from near-naked Beja.

I needed to paint 34 figures this month and just made it!

The yearly total is 288 in 48 weeks which is exactly six figures per week!

Sudan British 15

Sudan Beja 6

Sudan Egyptian 1

Darkest Africa 1

Great Northern War Swedes 3

Spartan Hoplites 3

WW1 German Askari 5

I missed the whole of this week as I was in Los Angeles (and Phoenix and Atlanta and Tallahassee and Miami!) but may still get a few finished tomorrow to start off December. This month's target is 24 to reach my six figures a week goal. I have a few days in Brussels the week after next and hope to get to the Military Museum there as they have some good Napoleonic and Belgian Colonial stuff.

Painted Figures for October

Early Saxons: 11 this month

A much better month despite a week in the US and a couple of days in Prague.

The score was 43 this month which is my second best of the year. The yearly total is 254 in 43 weeks or 5.90 figures per week. So I am now only four figures behind schedule! November will be a five week month as I only count whole weeks but I have to go to Ankara for five days so that will slow things down. So I need to paint 34 figures to get back on par. Difficult but not impossible.

Musketeer Miniatures Early Saxons: 11
Musketeer Miniatures Great North Wars Russian: 1
Games Workshop Lord of the Rings Rohan Captain: 1
A&A Miniatures Middle Imperial Roman ARchers: 15
Crusader Miniatures Dark Ages irish: 1
Foundry Darkest Africa character: 1
Perry Miniatures Sudan KRRC: 12
Foundry Spartan General: 1

It's an all Perry week: Sudan British and Beja, Dutch Jaegers and a cuirassier!

Next up are a few more Beja, the final batch of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and a few Perry Napolenics which are well on their way. It may be pushing it a bit as I am out quite a lot this week.

Painted Figures for September

It's late coming as I have been out of the country most of the month so far.

Well, it was eight, easily my worst month so far. The yearly total is 211 in 39 weeks or 5.41 figures per week. I am now 23 figures behind schedule. That is going to be difficult to make up unless..I paint more Beja!

Musketeer Miniatures Early Saxons 5

Musketeer Miniatures Great North War Swede 1

Artizan Spartan 1

Artizan Sky Pirate 1

Never mind October is looking better and I have just finished my first two figures for two weeks. One is another Spartan General, you can see him on my Spartan WAB blog.

The other is the first of my Musketeer Miniatures Russians from the Great North War.

Talking of Great Wars I ordered some of Great War Miniatures new early WW1 British today as they look very nice. This is pretty silly as I actually have quite a few of Renegade's WW1 figures painted and they are not compatible but they never finished the range with the figures I wanted and I am really interested in BEF period WW1 so might be willing to start again.

The other good news is that I had a good go at the first six Sudan KRRC and not only repainted the base shade rifle green but did the shading on the coats and trousers, repainted the helmets and got the base coat of the leatherwork done. Should finish them next weekend. I think its just these grey uniforms I don't like!

Painted Figures for August

A very disappointing month with only 12 figures painted. They did include finishing my Naval Brigade unit and the Gatling Gun which were pretty fiddly, I suppose. Too much sailing on holiday ate into the time I thought I was going to have and trips to Canada and Poland at the end of the month didn't help either. Also the light is now starting to fade in the evenings so I can really only paint at the weekend and that has been busy too with a trip to the Cowes Powerboat Festival with my little boy over the Bank Holiday weekend.

So the total was:

8 Sudan Royal Navy sailors
1 Gatling Gun
3 Beja on camels

..for a rather sad total of 12 figures. The yearly total is now 203 in 35 weeks or 5.8 figures per week. So I am now 7 figures down on my target for the year.

This month I have to go to Mexico City, Stockholm, Los Angeles and possibly Dubai so it is not looking too hopeful. At least I have about 15 figures well on the way.

Much better figures at the Cowes Powerboat Festival at least!

Painted Figures for July

A reasonable 27 figures this month.

9 Sudan Nile Arabs

2 Sudan Beja Camels

11 Sudan Beja
3 Darkest Africa Characters

1 Spartan Hoplite

1 Pulp Sky Pirate

So the total so far is 191 figures in 30 weeks or 6.36 figures a week so I am now 11 figures ahead of my target.

Painted figures for June

Only 23 this month, and that's for a five week month (by Shire reckoning). I had one week where I didn't get anything done due to a business trip and last week I only actually finished one figure. Annoyingly, I did get eleven completed tonight but they will have to go towards July's total.

So:

9 Royal Navy sailors for the Sudan
3 Beja on camels

4 Beja foot

5 Spartan Hoplites

1 Athenian Hoplite

1 Darkest Africa explorer

So that's 164 figures in 26 weeks which means that I am running 8 ahead of my six figures a week schedule.

Let's hope July will give me a big boost. No business trips for two months but it looks like they are stacking up for September and October (Canada, USA, Mexico, South Africa and Sweden).

Painted figures for May

It's not the end of May but I work on a whole week basis.

36 figures this month, 12 more than my target for four weeks. I have now painted 141 figures in 21 weeks which is 6.7 figures a week, so slightly ahead of my 6 per week target. I am 15 figures ahead of target.

This months are a mixture of finishing off Greeks for Cynoscephalae and getting going on my next major project the Sudan 1884.

6 Thracians
12 Greek Javelin men

1 British Naval Brigade figure
1 Royal Navy mounted officer
9 Beja rifleman
6 Beja Swordsmen
1 Beja Emir on camel

The British take ages to paint, the Beja are quick!

Painted figures for April

SIXTY!!

12 Cretan archers
6 Thracians infantry
16 Greek/Macedonian heavy cavalry
6 Greek light cavalry
6 Italian javelinmen
12 Greek light infantry
2 Macedonian generals

It has got to be a record! All for Cynoscephalae of course.

This brings me up to 105 for the year and I was aiming at 24 per month so I am now 9 figures ahead schedule!

I did take a couple of days off at Easter so had 8 days at home but then we were also doing a lot of decorating, dump runs, carpet removing etc.

Now can I get 18 more light infantry painted in 12 days befor the game on May 10th?