2009 Pledge results

Well, goodbye to all that. For reasons that have no place spoiling a blog about wargaming, I'm ecstatic to see the back of 2009, and only hope 2010 is a marked improvement. Of course the annual torture of enforced bonhomie that is Christmas and the new year, did this year at least provide a fair bit of time for painting (due to the being nothing else to do!)

Hence December was probably my best month of the year, pledge wise. The first thing to show for it today being the 79th Highlanders:

Mostly Essex metals earned in exchange for painting duties to Trevor. With the addition of a Giant of a man on foot and a childlike mounted officer (neither of whose manufacturers, I recognise). They've come out better than I expected, and add a useful elite element to my Anglo Portuguese army.

Next up was the skirmishing Voltigeurs from the Perry set. The plan had been to do them as straight Voltigeurs to accompany the 27th Ligne into battle, but when presented with the opportunity I succumbed to another pretty-pretty uniform, and after the Knotel illustration, did them as campaigning members of the Corsican Triallieurs.

The only change to the original models being the addition of a bugler arm from the Victrix French spares. I was particularly pleased with the heroic look of their commander; a french equivalent to Sharpe if ever I saw one!

In the lull after Xmas itself I was able to get the very last of my plastic Numidians turned into Spartan Helots. A couple hours to build, and thanks to a super simple paint scheme, they were painted and based in a day, with time to watch some TV to boot.

Putting these away provided an excuse to get the whole lot out for a quick pose in battle array. 207 figures in total:

So anyway; final scores on the doors? Well add to the above another commission job of a WW2 battalion finished on the 30th (for which I made my only figure purchase of the month, to get some artillery), and the results are:

Bought: 828
Painted: 992
Sold: 513

Pulled it back at the end of the year to a respectable result.

For 2010 I'm changing my rules a little, to reflect that I don't have access to much unpainted clutter now; and that I want to paint less models, but mainly for myself instead of for sale. With that in mind, I'm going to commit to paint an average of 50 figures a month; with at least half being for my own collections.

To be honest I imagine I might initially find that pretty easy to beat, until real life intrudes once again, but for now it seems a fair aim.

So here's to the future. I'm heartened that the blog has gone from strength to strength this year, and I appreciate all the followers and readers I seem to have accumulated. I hope I can keep you mildly entertained for another twelve months!