I'm a Union Man!

It's been nearly two years since I posted here! Wow.

I've been kind of keeping a foot in my miniatures hobby during that time, but recently my dear wife pointed out to me that now that my other main hobby has become a full-time career, I was rather in need of an actual hobby to occupy my precious few spare hours. And hey, what better way to unwind and relax than with a bit of minis painting of an evening, and even—gasp!—the occasional game!

So I'm firing up this blog again as a way to document my focused return to the miniatures hobby. Which is a bit ironic, since last year I decided I'd kind of had enough with the "hobby community" at large...but that's a subject, perhaps, for a future post.

No, this blog is pure self-indulgence. I'll post pics and talk about plans, but mostly just to create a record for myself so I can go back and look through my process in the months and years ahead. I'd like to make posting to this blog a semi-regular thing. We'll see how successful I am in that. Comments are, of course, welcome, but I'm mostly just here for myself.

Another motivational tool I've just picked up came in the form of joining the Brush Wielders Union Patreon. I'm a sucker for cool swag, and I'm a sucker for analog record keeping. The fact you get a little "dues booklet" with space to record what you've painted and what you're planning that month? I didn't stand a chance...

I have a few posts in the queue regarding current projects, but for right now I'm just going to list what's currently in my collection and where things stand in terms of painting; all collections are 28mm unless otherwise stated:

• WWII Skirmish: East Africa 1941
• 4/11th Sikhs (mostly painted)
• Italian Colonial Infantry and Blackshirts (mostly unpainted)
• WWII Skirmish: Gothic Line, Fall 1944
• Brazilian Expeditionary Force (mostly painted)
• German 148th Reserve Division (unpainted)
• RSI Italian "Monte Rosa" Alpini (unpainted)
• Warhammer 40K: Black Templars (about half painted)
• Warhammer 40K: Sisters of Battle (mostly unpainted)
• Warhammer 40K: Genestealer Cult (unpainted)
• American War of Independence: Patriot army (unpainted)
• American War of Independence: British army (unpainted)
• 6mm Sengoku-era Takeda and Uesugi clan samurai armies (unpainted and mostly unbased!)
• Gempei War-era Samurai skirmish forces (unpainted)
• 6mm Epic 40K: Titan Legion (painted)
• 6mm Epic 40K: Orks (painted)
• Malifaux crews
• Ortegas (painted, though I have an "alternate Perdita" model I'd like to paint up)
• Viktorias (painted)
• The Dreamer (painted, though I'm going to re-do Lord Chompy Bits)
• Yan Lo (mostly painted)
• Brewmaster (unpainted)
• Fantasy Warriors
• Human army (planning)
• Amazon army (planning)
• Goblin army (planning)
• Undead army (planning)
• DBA (1/72 plastics)
• Classical Indians (mostly unpainted)
• Later Achaemenid Persians (unpainted)
• Skythian (unpainted)
• Later Hoplite Greek, Athenian (planning)
• Later Hoplite Greek, Theban (planning)

Phew! That's a lot of projects, and with only a very small percentage of them actually complete, I've got a lot of painting ahead of me. I feel a bit like Utgar Skullcleaver here, facing down a lumbering Goblin War Giant...

Oh yes, more details on that little acquisition next post!