Good bye to 2014, and hello 2015.  Last year was full of interesting personal events.  The highlight being my engagement to a wonderful woman.  I purposely reigned back my hobby time, to give more attention to my relationship.  I enjoy my hobby, but love my woman.  We are looking forward to getting married in early 2015.

I had a good hobby year.  Spent the majority of 2014 painting up a Tau army for the Independent Character's Hobby Progress Challenge 2014.  I pushed myself to complete the challenge, even when things got busy.  This year I plan to do a personal 1 hour a night hobby commitment.  'From small beginnings come great things'.  

I had another successful run of the West Coast Podcast Alliance T-shirt.  The first WCPA T-shirt had a Independence Day feel to it.  I wanted a complete departure from that theme for my second shirt.  I wanted to be bold with the design, and understand if people feel it has dark undertones.  This time I went with a revolutionary theme for the shirt. 

   

I dabbled in other game systems, even going as far as challenging Juston TSB to see who could paint up a small group for Warhmachine and Hordes.  I lost that challenge, because I could not find the extra time to finish the miniatures.  I did complete a Malifaux Ten Thunders crew for a friend of mine.  I thought the Wyrd miniatures are a pain to put together.  They are full of detail, and look good once they are painted up.  

I was able to finish another squad of jump marines for Blake of Life After the Cover Save fame.  

I don't know what 2015 will hold for me hobby wise.  I am ready to jump into putting together some of my many plastic kits which are collecting dust in my hobby closet.  I am also going to jump into some new game systems, and expand my gaming options for 2015.  Right now I'm ready to try some of the games I backed on Kickstarter, among those games are Relic Knights, Rivet Wars, and Dead Zone.  I also have miniatures ready to go for Infinity, Warmachine, and Dark Age.  

It's the beginning of the year and I'm ready to get started with my hobby.  I'm optimistic on where 2015 will lead me.  Two things I am going to try out for the first time are a Kanban Board, and resin casting.  I have 12 months to figure that out.  Cheers to everyone, and see you soon (ish).  

Last Month I was busy taking care of things at work, that my hobby blog was neglected.  I did get around to do some hobby work for the Independent Characters podcast for their Hobby Progress Challenge.  Last, I attended the LA Battle Bunker (RIP) the week it was down sized by Games Workshop.

 



With the economy being in such bad shape, it was only a matter of time before Games Workshop started to close its Battle Bunkers around the country.  I managed to get in a game with Blake 'Big Nasty B' of Life After the Cover Save fame, before the Bunker was closed down for good. Blake just so happens to stand as tall as a Space Marine in full power armor, interesting.     

 

IC Hobby Progress Challenge '13

It's a new year and I'm up and running.  This year begins with me accepting the The Independent Characters 2013 Hobby Progress Challenge.  It's a contest held by Carl Tuttle and Geoff Hummel on their podcast website The Independent Characters.  The challenge is simple, create a 1850 competitive list, then build and paint your army to match.  You can also forgo starting an army from scratch, and instead do additions to your existing army.  Every month you have to finish a unit or character and submit before and after pictures of the miniatures you are entering.  For every entry you put in, you get a chance to win a prize.  For the full details visit the IC's on their site and read the contest rules there. 

My first entry will be my Vulcan He'stan, who has been sitting around primed and ready for months. 

 

 

 

 

My second entry is a unit of Sternguard with combi-meltas and heavy flamers.  This unit takes parts from several different sources.  The marines helmets are from Maxmini, while the sergeant's helmet is from Forgeworld.  The weapons are from Custom Minis.  I put everything together with Gorilla Super Glue and some green stuff. 

 

 





 

 



 

Here's an Sternguard update.  I finished adding Dhener Stone on the white area of five of my Sternguard.  I still have to finish the rest of them, and paint up Vulkan He'stan before the end of the month.  The pressure is on. 

 



 

 

The finished Sternguard squad.  I still need to find some cross decals so I can use them for the right shoulder pad markings.