2021 Wargaming Retrospective
This is the first year I've tracked my painting progress, balancing new models gotten against those painted. I'm happy to say I ended up in the black this year, which I don't think has ever been the case.
First, some numbers:
- Figures: 181
- Support Weapons*: 5
- Vehicles: 14
- Buildings: 4
- Scatter Terrain**: 2
- Animals: 2
2021 Models Painted:
- Figures: 200
- Support Weapons: 5
- Vehicles: 11
- Buildings: 5
- Scatter Terrain: 50
- Animals: 6
* Artillery, tripod machine guns, etc. Anything not handheld.
** Entrenchments, tree bases, rubble patches, etc. I almost forgot to include my winter tree bases here, which boosted my numbers quite a lot.
I nearly broke even with about 40 new figures and a tank gifted for Christmas, but still managed to come out ahead.
The bulk of the painted figures came from my WWII Germans, both summer and winter, and Soviets, both summer and winter. These projects alone contributed at least 150 models to my total, and the winter platoons for each side aren't even complete yet...
Vehicles mostly consisted of German halftracks, Soviet tanks, and of course some German armor. I didn't make as much of a dent in my vehicle pile as I wanted to this year, but that can be a goal for next year.
I wanted my last figure of the year to be something a little special, so while I was ordering gifts for some wargaming friends, I ordered a metal German officer figure made by Heer46. I have wanted to try out their figures for a while now, and honestly, my opinion is somewhat middling. He painted up incredibly well, but I have some gripes about the sculpt.
I thought the original head was very small and somewhat lacking in detail. I ended up hacking it off and replacing it with a plastic head in a Waffen SS 'crusher' cap from a Warlord kit, with a scarf I sculpted on.
The submachine gun he's got is also fairly low detail. I had to fill some sink holes in the stock and bend it back into shape. I almost replaced it with a plastic model too, but decided against it.
What I did like, however, is the pose and the sculpted detail on the fur of his coat. I know I will always be more critical of my models than the average wargamer, and so I'm still quite happy with the results here. He's going to make a great Senior Leader for my winter Germans.
I came very close to painting the fabric of his coat in the Italian m/29 pattern camoflauge, as the Germans got ahold of large amounts of the cloth and used it for uniforms. However, that seems to be more common later in the war, especially after the Italian capitulation, and I wanted this guy to look correct in various periods of the war.
A brief word on games this year: I feel very fortunate to have gotten in a lot of games despite the situation, and I have been super happy to share some of them here. I look forward to continuing to do that, and even bringing some linked campaign games to the blog in 2022.
Finally, a word on my plans for next year.
I will still be working mainly in WWII, although I do have a new project from an entirely different historical period in the works. I'll just give you a teaser for now...
Aside from that project, I still have quite a few Soviets to paint up, mostly submachine gunners, as well as a good amount of late-war German armor that has been gathering dust while I paint up weak early-war stuff that better suits my tastes. And then of course I always have more German infantry.
I also have a good amount of stuff for North Africa and Normandy that is either partly painted or not painted at all. I mean, I have whole platoons sitting around primed that haven't seen the light of day all year... So expect some of those to hit the painting table next year, even if they don't make it to a game.
Hopefully you'll come along as I try to find time for all of that stuff in 2022. I've enjoyed having the blog here to keep me motivated and share my progress, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it.
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