DISCUSSION: Progress review, 2015 Q1

We're now three months into the year so I thought I'd take a quick break from my regular posts to have a look at what I've achieved so far. The purpose of this blog is, after all, to keep the ball rolling on the various projects I'm working on. So how have I done...?

At the beginning of the year, I declared my main goal to be to focus on three factions: Blood Angels and Space Wolves for Warhammer 40,000 and Imperial Fists for the Horus Heresy range. Blood Angels were a brand new army for 2015. I'd never painted a Blood Angel before that, at least not seriously. All three armies have seen some attention so far this year, but it's fair to say the Space Wolves have been largely neglected. So let's look at how I got on...

January

Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels tactical space marine

I spent much of the start of the year working on the Imperial Knight I got for Christmas. This project ran into the first half of January, where the majority of my painting was limited to weekends. Having worked so hard on it, I eventually decided to take a break before I risked getting bored of it and lowering my standards. In the end, I went on to a handful of other projects. Sad to say, the only model I finished this month was a single test piece for my Blood Angels: a space marine from my first tactical squad.

February

In February I was a lot more productive. With the blog starting to get a few more hits, I found some extra motivation to do more to get models on it.

Horus Heresy: Imperial Fists tactical space marines

This month saw some advance on my Horus Heresy era Imperial Fists, with the first few models for a tactical squad painted to completion, battle damage and all. I also managed to finish my Imperial Knight at long last, having at last plucked up the courage to work on the freehand bits I'd been putting off for so long.

Warhammer 40,000: Imperial Knight

This will be an ally to my various space marine armies from time to time. Initially it'll stand alongside my Blood Angels force as it continues to grow. Speaking of Blood Angels, I added another four finished space marines to the one I finished in January, taking the tactical squad up to half strength.

Warhammer: undead necromancer

As a complete change of pace, I also allowed myself a brief distraction in the form of this necromancer for the very small undead force I've been tempted to work on for some time. The End Times have been calling to me for a while and as I'd had this model ready to paint since it was released, I decided to get him done.

March

March has been a difficult month for various reasons. I've had lots of distractions that have kept my hobby time to a minimum. Even so, I've been plucking away on a handful of projects whenever I can.

Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels sanguinary priest

Of the two models I have finished this month, both have been characters. The sanguinary priest above is the first HQ selection for my Blood Angels force. It's also the model that convinced me to work on the army. The manager of my local Games Workshop store showed it to me when it was released and I bought one there and then. Soon afterwards I had a tactical squad too and regular readers will know well how that's going.

Warhammer: skaven warlord

The second character I finished was this skaven warlord, again from the End Times range. I have a lot of skaven models awaiting paint and I've felt bad that I haven't made them a major project before now. Chances are they'll get a promotion in the near future, though I would like to get a bit more done on my original planned projects first (else I'll never finish anything). I'm quite happy with this guy as my army general though... even if he doesn't yet have an army to lead.

Review

Last year I managed to paint 42 models all year. In the first quarter of this one, I've painted 11. If I'm honest I'd have liked to have painted more by now, but this is a decent starting point. I spent most of January working on one huge and time-consuming model and a good chunk of March went on other things. I'd like to think I could have done better if not for those, but even so I've done okay. I never said I worked fast. Anyway, now the ball is rolling, I look forward to seeing what I can do in the next quarter.