Sunday 30 January 2011

(Ancients Month) Where Did the Days Go?

Ok, so there is still just over a day left of "Ancients Month" and I should have a 40 strong warband and 8 additional skirmishers finished by then (dip was painted on tonight) or maybe a day or two after. Obviously this was not as much progress as I expected to make...

After the initial burst of skirmishers I thought getting most of the 186 infantry done would be a breeze.  However I forgot about work which sent me to such diverse places as Haverhill, Bolton and Basingstoke this month, seriously impacting my available painting time. That said, despite this I should have 64 done by the end of January (or as near as).


So was is the idea of a dedicated month a good idea or a bust?

I think it's a good idea and may have worked better if real-life work hadn't had such an impact. I certainly found it helped discipline me from starting new units/projects (I had such a craving to paint some Wargames Factory Shock Troops up it was untrue!). Perhaps my 186 target was too ambitious given my lack of familiarity with the subject (the irregular nature of the clothing is taxing) but I'll still have painted more figures this month than I have done in many years previous so that isn't bad.

I have decided that once the figures on the workbench are finished that I will put the bulk of the remaining Celts away for a month or two before having another "Ancients Month" (I may keep the chariots out and make them up). Next month will be something different period wise and scale...

Celt painted running total:

16/186 infantry
0/24 cavalry
0/3 chariots

3 comments:

  1. Happens to us all mate - darned real life!
    I've tried to have the theme last two months, but I usually find soemthing "shiny" to distract me if I have that long!

    I like your idea of revisitng the themes a few times during the year. Maybe with limited objectives each month this would be more effective and avoid fatigue too. It would also allow time for those important purchases to arrive by post!

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  2. I've switched from a month to six weeks, or half a term, as this fits with my job in the wonderful world of education.

    It gives you that extra bit of leeway to get things finished and helps to make up for the annoying 'work getting in the way of painting' problem.

    Not much good at defelcting the shiny stuff though. On the other hand, I do get a holiday to look forward to at the end.

    Nice :O)

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  3. Well I haven't quite finished the warband, but all that is left is a bit of tidying up on the shield edges, drybrush and flock on the bases and spray woth matt varnish. The final push has brought them together more than I thought they would before I put the dip on.

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