As of this writing 2016 is only a mere few hours away. My fiance is currently halfway across the world, and I'd rather not deal with the headache of going out and dealing with abysmal crowds, thanks in part (read: mostly) to my misanthropic nature. I'm happy enough staying in, sipping on some good ale, and reminiscing about the last 365 days. A lot has happened in my personal life since December 31, 2014--getting engaged, moving back to the U.S., and starting grad school, for starters--, but as this is a blog dedicated to my adventures in painting little metal and plastic soldiers, I'll spare you, the reader, (if there even are any!) my contemplative meanderings outside of hobbying.
Aside from the craziness that is my life, the time I devote to painting and gaming has seen a bit of a paradigm shift this year. This can be summarized in five words: I'm done with Warhammer 40,000. Okay, okay, I know those are some pretty hefty words there. In all honesty, I'll more than likely keep painting GW models, at least. I got some Space Wolves for Christmas that are just too awesome to keep in the box, and I'll still play my beloved Orks every now and then. But the pay-to-win and keeping-up-with-the-Joneses aspect of the game has taken its toll on my sanity (and bank account!). I don't mind losing games, but when I lose with my Orks against Tau, Necrons, Daemons, or a plethora of other armies with a final score of 0-68, I know something's wrong. There are just so many better, balanced games out there. My more recent posts have hinted at the fact that I've gotten back into historical miniatures and games. SAGA has currently been my poison of choice, and I finished up two more Viking berserkers today, officially finishing my 4-point army; I still need to paint the Warlord, though. I'd like to expand the Vikings to a 6-point army, so I'm not completely done, however. I think I'll get another unit of Hearthguards, some Levies, and definitely a named Warlord. I've been watching Vikings and The Last Kingdom, so I'm partial to Ragnar Lothbrok, but Harald Hardrada is pretty bad-ass, too. And his ability to add a unit of Dane-axe-wielding Hearthguards sounds like too much fun to pass up.
Anyway, I'm already getting ahead of myself. I didn't get to paint this year as much as I'd have liked to, but I definitely enjoyed every stolen moment to do so. I worked on plenty of 40k Orks, a Reaper bard (who now currently has grown a beard; my painting/gaming pal Nils says he's a hipster.), an Age of Sigmar Retributor (I painted three but only posted a photo of one), a Reaper Bones Bugbear, which I'm calling my best work of 2015, and spent the last two months or so on these Vikings (while consuming much more time than the Bugbear, still coming in at a close second).
I'd like to continue this post, writing about my future plans for 2016, but the ale (Bootlegger's Golden Chaos) has started to take its effect, so I better wrap it up here. For now I'll post a picture of my Viking berserkers. A full shot of the entire 4-point army will be my first post of 2016.
Happy New Year!
I had a blast wrapping up 2015 by painting these guys. And, yes, the guy on the right IS straight out of Dragon Age! (He's a berserker; there's gotta be some blood here, c'mon.)
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