What We Painted in 2014

We've gotten a bit out of the habit of doing a year-in-review post, and this year was no exception. The club is pretty much chugging along as before. We have a few new faces and A LOT of new painted minis and terrain. We wanted to give some idea what we've been doing so this year we've asked CSW members to submit a list and picture of what they produced in the year 2014. Figures, terrain and even rebased prepainted minis made the cut.

The results were surprising and impressive -- have a look!

Mike

• In the back there are three Knight Titans, one of which is a Cerastus Castigator pattern from Forge World
• The two fliers are a Valkyrie and a Vendetta
• In the middle we have Imperial Guard missile artillery, Hydra tank, three Leman Russ tanks, three Chimeras, and a Devil Dog lurking somewhere in the back row
• The four superheavy tanks are a standard Baneblade, a Titan-hunting Shadowsword, an infantry-shredding Stormlord, and the Forge World plasma-equipped Stormblade 
• A bunch of Sentinels 
• Forge World Contemptor Dreadnought 
• Two painting marines by the Leman Russes 
• Imperial Guard infantry and heavy weapons teams 
• The Necrons in the right corner
• Chaos Marines in the left corner
• More Imperial Guard special weapons, commanders, vox guys, standard-bearers, etc. 
• At the very front in purple is a custom Inquisitor 

Jon 

 

• DUST Axis Transport walker 
• Wreck Age Stitcher (not in photo) 
• Forgeworld Chaos Warhound Titan 
• Reaper Bones Fire Elemental (Painted, based and lit from within by an integral LED) 
• 5 Wargods of Aegyptus Basti models 

Mattias 

• 2 sci-fi/post-apocalyptic vehicles 
• 7 sci-fi characters plus a giant lobotomized machine-gun-wielding ape 
• 11 fantasy infantry 
• 8 fantasy cavalry 
• 2 monstrous creatures 
• 13-man human Blood Bowl team, including an ogre and turn/score counters 
• Also painted this year but not pictured was the Belle of Doom 28mm scale BattleTech Warhammer mech and 6 chaos knights

Tim 

• Descent board game figures on the left
• Neo-Soviets (a mix of reapainted AT-43, Warmachine, 1/100 Gundam kits, and other things) on the right 
• Uncharted Seas ships in the foreground
• Reaper Bones and assorted other minis in the rear

Steve 

• Iraqi National Guard from Elheim 
• Matchbox conversions with figures from Stan Johanson. 
• Insurgents and other converted matchbox items (not pictured)

Josh 

• 50 rebased Mechwarrior clix 
• 6 Wreck-Age Reclaimers 
• 1 Tau Broadside 
• 1 squad Tau Fire Warriors 
• 1 squad Tau Pathfinders 
• 1 squad Kroot (rebased) 
• 6 Tau Stealth suits 
• 4 Tau Crisis Suits 
• 2 Tau character models 
• 12 or so Tau drones 
• Hordes Circle Oroboros Shifting Stones 
• Hordes Circle Oroboros Sentry Stone and Mannekins 
• Hordes Circle Oroboros Cassius the Oath Keeper and Wurmwood, Tree of Fate 
• Mierce Miniatures were-bear in both bear and human form 
• Mechs for Karl 
• Converted O-scale factory building 
• Bomb in puddle terrain piece 
• Large pipe terrain pieces 
• Hatch terrain piece 
• Stone ruin terrain piece 
• Large graveyard terrain piece 
• 8 Wreck-Age Stakers 
• Tons of Deadzone terrain 
• Various bits of post-apocalyptic scatter terrain 
• 2 post apocalyptic vehicles 
• 15 Dark Angels terminators 
• 9 Dark Angels bikers 
• 3 Dark Angels character models (some of the Dark Angels and terrain wouldn't fit in the picture)
• 1 secret mini for gift exchange 

Karl 

• Back row
• Building "Under Construction" 
• Tenement High-Rise 
• Cathedral 
• Elevated Train Station 
• Second to last row 
• Gravel/Coal Tower 
• 14 Barb Wire Fence Sections 
• 2 Leman Russ tanks 
• Utility Building 
• Power Station 
• Second row
• 3 Rebased Trebuchets 
• 32 pieces of sci-fi/modern scatter terrain 
• Small sci-fi bridge 
• Subway entrance
• Front row 
• 10 Pavises 
• 18 Van Saar Necromunda gangers
• 9 Chicago Police 
• 3 Shadowrun 
• Tanker Truck 
• Rebased 6 foot soldiers and 2 mounted knights 
• 6 Khador Warjacks 
• Not Pictured: Post-Apoc Tuk-Tuk, Bug-Headed Giant, Mayan Statue, Necromunda Scummer 

Conspicuously absent from this lineup is the collected output of Pat, our esteemed blog editor, who at the moment has his hands full preparing for a new baby! We'll get him in the lineup next year, no matter how paltry his production rate is.

So there you have it! It was a very productive year for the club, and from what I've seen so far, 2015 will be no different! We're all looking forward to another year of great gaming and painting. Be looking out for an upcoming post where we bring back the painting pledge for February.

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Happy New Year from Chicago Skirmish Wargames

As Chicago Skirmish Wargames heads into 2012 — our first year as both a game club and game blog — we decided to pause and take stock of what our members have been able to enjoy as gamers.

In a gaming world dominated by just a few big sci-fi and fantasy wargames — designed to both limit a player's options and force him to buy certain products — we have created a club that focuses on just the opposite. Our primary games (Song of Blades & Heroes, WarEngine, Tomorrow's War, and more) encourage players to collect, paint, modify and game with whatever miniatures they want.

In the photo above, which shows a typical game of Song of Blades & Heroes, we've got the following miniature lines in action: Grenadier, MageKnight (repainted), Confrontation, Reaper, WarMachine and Alternative Armies, all slugging it out on the tabletop.

And for a hobby that seems more and more to feature hordes of unpainted toys being pushed across a table, our club has kept to simple but effective standards for painted miniatures and terrain — resulting in visually inspiring tabletop gaming experiences that, incidentally, make for great battle reports on this blog. We're not hard-nosed about painted miniatures; rather, we try to build enthusiasm in players (even mostly-non-painters) so they are swept up in the excitement of gaming and painting with us. It feels pretty damn good to bring your latest finished miniatures to a game night and watch as 4 or 5 other players ooooh and aaaaah over them.



Lastly — and most importantly to many club members — in a hobby that has very real barriers to entry, we have tried to foster an environment where complete strangers can come in with little or no gaming experience and enjoy the hobby with friendly gamers who are happy to share their time, figures and knowledge.

This mission reached its zenith at Little Wars, a convention outside Chicago last year, where we ran our first-ever convention game. Here's a photo, showing players of all ages having a great time.


We're set to run another game for Little Wars 2012, scheduled for April 27 to April 29.

As always, if you're ever in the Chicago area and want to stop by for a game, check out our mailing list (and associated game calendar) or post a comment here and we'll get back to you!

Thanks again for a great year — on to 2012!