The Big Stocktake

Whilst cracking on with another project I haven’t forgotten that this is all about either.  It’s all well and good for me printing models and building terrain but I cannot lose sight of the fact that I am also at the same time trying to catalogue, complete and thin down my massive collection.

With that in mind, I set to the task of selling off my painted metal Battletech figures, of which I think I have so far sold about a quarter, and also painting up the newer plastic Battletech figures.

I have now completed all the Inner Sphere models that I currently have, although a small number of reinforcements are on their way as I type.

So, another 86 painted mechs to add to the 12 urban mechs already done for a total of 98 Mechs.  Bases will be done when I do the terrain, as will gun Barrels.

Whilst looking for something completely unrelated I stumbled upon another batch of Metal Battletech figures I had forgotten about.

20 Clan Mechs.

With the new plastic figures, I think I will stick to one colour scheme for the Inner Sphere and one colour scheme for the Clan.  That way I can mix and match Lance/Star composition without the figures looking like a complete mixture.

I going to aim for this as my chosen scheme for the Inner Sphere units.  A rather generic desert camouflage with grey accents.

290 Mechs and Vehicles Painted so far.  All metals.

My apologies for the massive time elapsed between updates on the project,

We went on a massive tour around Europe taking in England, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic and France.  All I can say about it was that it was absolutely awesome and after a 7-week holiday, it’s been really hard getting back into things.

We’ve been back a while now and I have been staring at these Walking Dead figures trying my best to will them to paint themselves.  At the moment I am just not feeling the love for them so need to put them aside and crack on with something else.  Once I get my Walking Dead mojo back, I will return to these.  I promise.

So, pushing forward.

I went in quite big on both the Battletech Clan invasion and Blood and Plunder Raise the Black campaigns.  Both have been sitting patiently waiting for their time to shine.  Shamefully the Battletech one has been sitting there for quite some time.

I first got into Battletech way back when I was at school, which is a long time ago.  It was a pretty new game at the time with little cardboard standees.  We played it all the time.  Over the years I have run several successful Tournaments, taken part in several tournaments and both run and taken part in long campaigns.  Then with the closure of my local club, it all stopped.  That was probably 10 years ago now and for some reason life got busy.

Anyway, it’s a game system that I love, but more than that I love the lore of it.  The stories and background.  The intrigue and politics.

So, it looks like I will make a start on these new plastic miniatures.

Sorry for the massive delay in updating this project.  It’s been a really slow slog getting these Walking Dead models done.

For some reason, these have had some absolutely horrendous mould lines.  I am not sure if have just been unlucky or if because these were a final run before the game was discontinued the quality control on them was not as high a standard as the earlier figures I got.   Whatever the cause, I struggled to get motivated to get these 16 done.

I still have more from the Walking Dead range to do, but these have really drained my motivation for them, so I may have to return to them later.  I don’t really want to, but I know that if I don’t move on and find something to reinvigorate me this project could face stalling, and I don’t want that.

Anyway, getting 16 done is better than nothing, and puts me 16 models closer to being 100% painted.

The decals arrived so it meant I could put this little collection to bed and tick it off as done.

I managed to locate the rest of my Walking Dead collection hidden in a box in our games room.

I have undercoated some of the plastic figures in brown, my preferred primer colour for these.  I also started to assemble some of the Resin figures.

Unfortunately, I now have to go away with work so it could be some time before I get the chance to assemble the rest.

The Walking Dead by Mantic Games is up next.  Sadly, the game is no longer in production, however it is still an excellent game if you can get hold of it.  This is my go-to game when I want a quick tabletop game with my kids.   The rules are pretty simple to pick up.

When I heard that Mantic were pulling the pin on this I jumped in and ordered all the bits I was missing for my collection.  The only model I couldn’t get was Abraham.  So, if anyone reading this has the Abraham model kicking around that they would be willing to part with, please let me know.

I do still have a bit left to paint for this collection.  I know the figures are in a box somewhere safe, but I have not managed to locate them yet.  I will dig them out over the next few days and do a quick tally of what’s left to do.

In the meantime, here is what I do have finished.

62 Survivors

108 Walkers

Total Painted so far 170 figures.

I have mostly finished these Saga figures.  Just waiting on some decals to arrive so I can finish the shields off.

Whilst waiting for them to arrive I may as well push on with something else.

Lastly an Anglo-Danish starter set.

1 x Warlord

4 x Huscarls with Two Handed Axes

4 x Huscarls with Axes

8 x Warriors with Spears

8 x Warriors with Spears

Total 25 models

Looks like I have some spears to straighten and a base to find but these are next in line for some paint.  That will complete all the models I have for Saga.

Continuing with Saga, this time Vikings.

1 x Warlord

4 x Hearthguard

4 x Hearthguard (Berserkers)

8 x Warriors with spears

8 x Warriors with Spears

Total 25 figures.

More Saga this time Milites Christi.

1 x Mounted Warlord

8 x Mounted Hearthguard

8 x Warriors on foot

8 x Warriors on foot with crossbows

25 models total.

Models from Gripping Beast Miniatures for use in Saga

1 x Warlord on foot.

4 x Hearthguard mounted on camels

4 x Heathguard mounted on horses

8 x Foot Warriors with bows.

Total 17 figures.

Judge Dredd collection.  Almost all the figures are from Mongoose Publishing.   I have added a few extras here and there to flesh it out a little.

140 Painted Figures

196(ish) Unpainted

Total 336 Figures.

(Not including the 250+ painted civilian figures)

Now this is a tough one for me because as much as I love Judge Dredd I’m not sure if I want to keep this collection or not.

Because of that I am going to hold off painting more of these whilst I decide what I want to do with them.

Well, that took a lot longer than I thought.  Obviously, Christmas on the New Year were factors but so was a lack of enthusiasm.  I just really struggle to get enthused by 40k and this rolled on to painting the models this time around too.  I find I really have to be in the mood to paint 40K stuff.

Anyway, got there in the end.

I kept the vehicles pretty basic, but I think they will look okay on the tabletop and have a different feel to them from the industrial look of the actual Cults stuff.

Managed to knock out these 20 Imperial Guard/Genestealer Cults infantry and 3 bases of support weapons.

The paint I use to do my base edges also arrived, so I tidied up all the Genestealers bases too.

I also stumbled across a couple of second-hand Imperial Guard tanks I had got my hands on some time ago and completely forgotten about, so those will be conscripted into this army too.  It’s funny what you find when tidying up.

So, because I now have a couple of tanks and a couple of Sentinels to paint up, I ended up ordering some spray paint to get the base colour down.  The thought of base coating them with a brush was just too horrible to consider.

With stuff arriving from the other side of the world quicker than they do from the other side of the country I’m in I have no idea when it will arrive, so I may have to come back to the vehicles at a later stage once I have the undercoat.

I have no idea what to tackle next on the list.  I am away with work for a few days now so that will give me a bit of time to give it some thought.

Almost completely finished the Genestealers, just the rims of the bases to do.  I unfortunately ran out of the paint I have been using around the rims so that will have to wait until I get a resupply from the UK.

All up that takes my Genestealers to 39 models, which is a bit of a weird number, but it is what it is.

I also dug out the Imperial Guard element for the Genestealer Cults and made a start on those too.  20 Infantry, 6 Sentinels, A tank of some sort and 3 support weapons.  Again, I ran out of the spray primer I was using so will have to undercoat the last two sentinels by hand.

All that will have to wait until sometime in the New Year now though as I have work and family commitments for a while now.

Well, it took a lot longer to upload these pictures than I had hoped and planned for, but we got there in the end.

137 models full painted

24 models to go

Once I find whatever I have for imperial guard I will paint them up to compliment this army.  I can’t recall exactly what I have but know there are a few Sentinels somewhere.

I do find the Genestealers really boring to paint, probably the reason why I gave up so long ago on finishing this army.  Anyway, were here now so it’s time to put the finishing touches on this army.

My apologies for letting this update drag on over numerous posts.  Unfortunately, the project system kept telling me there was an error, and before I knew it it had posted the same update 3 times.  Unable to find a way to delete a post I had to split the update into multiple sections.