Stuff on the table - October 2017 UPDATE

Updates to the October list:

• Zvezda 1/144th Ju-87 Stuka (2017) - no further progress
• Minicraft 1/144th Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero (2017) - underneath painted and shaded, top surfaces base coated and weathered. Just detail painting and decals to do.
• Privateer Press Hordes Ravagore (2016) - some further prep work done. 
• Battlefront Miniatures 15mm USA WW2 Parachute rifle platoon (2016) - COMPLETED

The priority for the month was to complete the parachute rile platoon which was achieved. And here's some shots of the lads on their snowy bases. 

Additional items worked on:

• Artizan Designs 28mm WW2 Maquis (2013) - cleaned, primed and varnished, awaiting basing.
• Newline Designs 10mm Greek Hoplites (2015) - shield designs started (9 of 32)

These are the oldest figures that are outstanding. The Maquis were picked up very cheap from a Wayland Games stall at the Writtle Wargames show in 2013, with a whole batch of other Artizan WW2 figures they were selling off. I think it averaged about £2 a pack. I sold most but kept these, some partisans and the LRDG and i didn't really know what to do with them for awhile. Recently though I began to mull over an idea I had  about 6 years ago when I started to collect towards a squad level, early WWW2 game set in Nazi occupied Britain using AE:WW2 rules. This didn't go far but I kept some of the figures so I think I may resurrect this idea and the Maquis will fit well into this - they could as easily be British as French!. 

Getting a grip

I don't like having a lot of stuff sitting there waiting to be done. After a while it begins to cause me some anxiety. Which let's face it is a bit pathetic if that's the worse thing that I've got to worry about. That aside, I've been starting to feel like that again lately. It's partly to do with my impending birthday. It's also because we're into Autumn and I can hear the clock ticking as the year disappears fast. 

To try and counter this I've decided to take the following steps:

1. Try very, very hard not to buy anything else that requires "doing". So no more kits, figures, terrain for the rest of the year. Must resist "bargains". Stop looking on eBay.
2. Focus on the oldest outstanding items and get these done first. My trusty spreadsheet  (extract below) helps with this.
3. Seek solace in the therapy of like minds. Not so easy when I'm a solo gamer.

Regarding point three I spent some time during my lunch hour yesterday reading TMP. I came across this thread, "How Big is Your Lead Mountain?" and read most of the 200 odd posts.I would recommend anyone who suffers from "Lead Mountain Blues" to have a read. There's quite a few fellow hobbyists out there who also feel like I do. And it helped me put my own feelings into perspective. My lead mountain is not even a hillock. I'm not smug about this, just relieved I don't have thousands of figures and hundred of kits sitting there. All scales taken into account I currently have 486 figures outstanding broken down as:

• 31 28mm figures (4 pre-2017 purchased in progress. The remaining 27 have only been added in the last few months from KickStarter projects so comfortable with these). 
• 132 15mm figures (52 in progress, another 40 pre-2017 purchased but I may sell these). 
• 323 10mm figures (32 pre-2017 purchased in progress, I haven't decided on whether 10mm is a viable scale yet so after finishing those in progress I may sell the rest)

Additionally there's:

• 18 1/144th plane kits (2 in progress, 10 pre-2017 purchased to do. One kit will definitely be sold as it was part of a job lot).
• 2 1/100th armour kits (both 2017 purchases so ok with these)

I also have some odds and sods of old kits and figures from the 80s and early 90s like MiniFigs ECW but I don't count these as they'll not get done. And there's half a dozen 20mm part painted Berlin buildings to do. And the 15mm Italian village. But terrain is different isn't it?  

Anyway all this aside, by focusing and stop buggering about I could get the majority of the stuff that's been hanging around pre-2017 cleared up and that would be a lovely position to start 2018 from.

Stuff on the table - October 2017

A mixed bag to kick off October:

• Zvezda 1/144th Ju-87 Stuka (2017)
• Minicraft 1/144th Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero (2017)
• Privateer Press Hordes Ravagore (2016)
• Battlefront Miniatures 15mm USA WW2 Parachute rifle platoon (2016)

The priority is the parachute rile platoon which is part of my North West Europe winter 1944/45 project.