2018 hobby project: some ideas

And by that I mean a big project. Like a project I can work on and showcase throughout the year. It'll be something I can tinker with on the side of whatever else is occupying my attention at the time, something that can give me a constant sense of achievement throughout the year.

Hopefully, also something that it will be interesting for other people to read about.

And the nominees are...

Bretonnians

Ah, my white whale. Well, my white, red, yellow, black and blue whale. My first army back in the day and one that's tormented me ever since with the vision of how spectacular I could make them look. There's also the fact I recently discovered fantastic alternative Bretonnian miniatures from Norba Miniatures and a few others that would make for a) great showpieces and b) Bretonnian miniatures that are new to me and not something I've painted a dozen or more times before.

Honestly, choosing this one all comes down to how easily acquirable these alternative miniatures turn out to be.

Some Space Marine Thing

There are a couple of ideas I rather fancy trying out, perspectives on the old standard template Space Marine army I've never got around to. A First Company army appeals, probably in the form of a Deathwing force because there are so many nice Deathwing models now (not the Dark Angels themselves, maybe Angels of Vengeance or Guardians of the Covenant).

There's also the ever appealing but also terrifying to paint White Scars all-mounted army. All the difficulty of painting white armour with the difficulty of covering up mistakes made in red. This is an unlikely candidate.

Army of the Eternity King

Now, if I want variety what better to choose than an army made up of three whole elf armies? I have a small Wood Elves army already, though being me a lot of it remains unpainted or semi-painted as well as various High Elves models panic bought around the time of the early-AoS cull (it was a smart decision, as it turned out). I also spent a while earlier in the year scouring eBay for some of the old metal elf characters I always adored when I was younger but never thought I had the skill to paint.

Now, I feel I might have the skill having managed an almost semi-consistent coat of white on some Black Templars shoulder pads.

Imperial Guard in skirts

So, a long time ago a friend asked if I wanted to share postage on a large order from Victoria Miniatures, an Australian company that does fantastic conversion kits for Imperial Guard (“Astra Mili-what now?”). I got myself a nice job lot of their kilted legs. This would be a regiment I've had on the drawing board for some time now, my own Silvik 23^rd / Metellus 5^th Consolidated Logistics Regiment who have existed in our group's background for many years but only briefly existed as an army before I realised I just couldn't paint another unmodified Cadian because they are so boring!

Dothraki Chaos Warriors

Another idea that keeps popping into my head is an entirely cavalry based Warriors Of Chaos army. There are so many cool cavalry, monstrous cavalry and chariot based units in the army and I just don't get along with the infantry models, if we're being perfectly honest. It would be a hard army to play because in spite of their strength and resilience they'd be easily out-maneuvered and caught in combat res annihilating combats. So as well as being fun to paint (and hopefully to read about) it would have the benefit of being a gaming experience that would teach me new tactics.

*****

Some serious mulling is in order on this one. Not that any one of these are going to be the only thing I'll be working on next year, I'm too much of a magpie for that, but I do want one big thing to keep going back to.