ByronM - The madness is about to begin...

 "Well, it's almost that time of the year once more", I said merrily one morning over coffee a few weeks ago.  "Christmas vacation?" asked the wife.  "No, even better!" I replied quickly.

"What's better than that?", she inquired and then continued, "It's too cold for another motorcycle trip, and I am starting a new job soon so it's not a southern vacation".  If you were here, you could have heard that questioning worried tone in her voice that only a wife sensing impending financial disaster can have.

"Why it's time to prep for the painting challenge of course, and then to get more stuff painting as soon as holidays start!", I said cheerfully.

The reaction was immediate and terse....  "No more new projects this year!  You have more than enough that you started over the last several that are not done, and we are looking for a new house and need to keep minimalist so we can clean and move fast when we do." I am sure that there was more, as the next time I looked at my watch 30 minutes had past, but much like Charlie Brown sitting in his classroom (man, that dates me doesn't it) all I heard was wah, waah, wah.... 

(I expect to get smacked for this, but it's still funny and worth it)

So, with that warning in mind, what did I do?  Did I stop all plans of future expansion into new and exciting areas of miniature wargaming?  

Hell no!  

I immediately starting printing figures for Horus Heresy in 15mm that a few friends have started playing, saw that Malifaux had a 3rd edition out that I had not tried yet and had to get going on, starting printing a new 10mm Lizardman army for Kings of War, and printed some terrain to go with several games.

Then I went and visited Curt and got introduced to Turnip28...  That led to printing more models and terrain for the challenge.  

A unit of Fodder for Turnip28 printed and primed and ready to go!

 <I sense another smack incoming>

Now, in some far remote part of my brain, I know that Kim is correct (DON'T TELL HER THAT OR I WILL NEVER LIVE IT DOWN!!!!) that I have way too many unfinished projects kicking around and that I really do need to finish or get rid of some.  But, having a war gamer get rid of miniatures though as all of you know is as likely as Golem giving up the one ring willingly, NOT gonna happen even on a cold day in hell!!! 

So, with all of that in mind, and in an attempt to both appease the wife in some small way and to "Slay the Gray" I have made a list of just some of the projects I have on the go, and am going to endevour to get at least 3-4 of them finished this year, although I am going to try for more than that, but let's start out with reasonable expectations, unlike something like"No more new projects this year!" 

Byron's Projects of Shame and Impending Divorce if not Resolved

• Malifaux gremlins (assembled and primed last year but never touched)
  
• Malifaux ten thunders (started way back in challenge 8 or 9)
• Arena Rex Egyptians (started in challenge 10 )
• Arena Rex Collusium (planned in challenge 11 and never started)
• Kingdom Death (finish some survivors I assembled and based up for challenge 11)
• Western Commanche Indians ( started last year but only painted the mounted ones, not the infantry)
• Western Texas Rangers (primed and based last year but not touched)
• Ork Vehicles for chariot game (2 done, but 4 still sitting from challenge 10)
  
• Hagglethorn Hollow buildings for Frostgrave (printed and sitting for 2 years)
  
• Dwarf Frostgrave faction ( printed last year and not touched)
  
• Mierce vikings (primed last year then didn't touch)
• French 28mm Napoleonic unit (I assembled one last year and then didn't touch it, and I try to do one unit a year)
• Kings of War 10mm terrain (printed and primed last year)
• Gaslands terrain (printed but not even primed last year) 
• Gaslands Cars (want to finish at least 1 more faction)
  
• 6 or 8 Napoleonic tall ships to expand my fleet (way back from challenge 8 or 9)
• British WW2 army (started challenge 10 as part of the theme weeks and then left sitting)
• German WW1 unit (from my great war collection, I found 2 primed and ready to go units)
  
• MORE MORE MORE

Add to the above the new projects I have that include the following:

• Iron Warrios for Horus Heresy in 15mm
• 10mm Lizardman army for Kings of War
• At least 1 unit for Turnip28 with Curt 
• SEVERAL single models or units from various games that I just want to paint

As you can see I have a whole lot of crap to get at least started on this year....  The stuff in the image above is everything I have either primed or waiting to be primed that I could find quickly and dig out for a picture, I have WAY more stuffed away in boxes and cupboards.  

However, I am so far behind getting things done and even just getting things ready for this years challenge that I was not even going to write a starting blog post this year.  Curt however has shamed me into it, so I got to work the last few days cleaning up the painting area, priming a pile of figures, and (of course) printing more to add to the pile of grey.  Which led to this post.

Above is my painting area as it stands right now... Tidy, but still a mess as everything basically got stuffed randomly into drawers and cupboards, so there is much more to do! 

Part of the reason I am so behind this year (besides work being busy, and looking for a new house with shop) is the fact that we got a new puppy this year.  While he is so much fun, he is also a lot of time and effort (worth it, but still).  So, here is hoping that Kaiser will help with painting this year as he seems to like sleeping by my feet while I am painting, so that is a good thing so far!

Kaiser looking to see what I am doing

With all of that said, I hope everyone has everything all prepped and ready to go and that everyone has a blast this challenge!

Best of luck everyone,

Byron