Now that we're nearing the end of 2021 and we can see 2022 just off the horizon, it's time for the Space Dinosaur Minis 2021 year in review. Obviously, 2021 was another Covid year, but unlike 2020 I wasn't locked in my house the entire time, so this year there's a little bit less accomplished, but still, I think I made a good run of the year.
Last year, I finished the year with almost 300 models completed. I track my hobby status in excel, and it looked like this at the end of 2021.
Now at the end of this year, the excel sheet looks like this:
Some things of note from this year: the Gloomspite Gitz are gone and are now replaced with the Kruleboyz from Dominion, the Stormcast have been split into normal chunky boyz and the new Thunderstrike variant, and there's been a few additions to armies, notably Cities of Sigmar and Legions...I mean Soulblight Gravelords getting models from Cursed City. This year I almost hit 150 models, which is about half of what I got last year, but I'm still pleased with this progress. Anyhow, on to the individual armies.
First up are the Stormcast Eternals, who got a pretty good boost with a converted Stardrake that almost broke me. They also got a unit of 5 Retributors and 5 Vanguard Hunters. To cap it off I converted a Lord Celestant on Foot from a Relictor model from the first starter set. I was originally approaching the end of this army at this point, and then thanks to Black Friday I secured two copies of Dominion for cheap. So now I have a bunch more Stormcast to work on, so expect to see them sticking around for a few more years.
Now come the Slaves to Darkness, with 3 units completed this year. I finished a unit of Iron Golems from the first Warcry starter set, and now I just have the Untamed Beasts, Furies and terrain to go to finish that off. The Slaughterpriest I enjoyed in particular, as it was a model that I had been looking for for a while. The Chaos Warriors took a lot of work due to all of the new detail, but I feel that they match my older ones quite well. This army is almost done, all that's left are the aforementioned Warcry models, a unit of 5 Chaos Knights, and a giant. I said this last year, but this next year might actually see the army to completion.
The Nighthaunt got lots of heroes to add to the army. Of course, the center piece is Lady Olynder, which was a refreshingly simple paint scheme for such an important character. I think GW models can have too many details sometimes, so models like this are very nice on occasion. Next is the limited Guardian of Souls, which I painted purple to match my other Guardian of Souls. I threw in a Soul Torment from the Soul Wars starter set. I also completed the Warhammer Underworlds Thorns of the Briar Queen warband. This was another really fun set, and the Nighthaunt have such a great range that gets exemplified in this set. Finally, I finished 10 Bladegheist Revenants to serve as more elite members of the army.
The human element of the Cities of Sigmar also got a heavy set of reinforcements, most notably the General on Griffon. I'm really happy to finally get this one done, it had been sitting around for quite a while. My favorite out of this bunch is the unit of Demigryph Knights. I just really love how clean the paint job came out. The 3D printed Steam Tank was an experiment with FDM printing models, and while not the best I'm glad I tried it. I also finished two volley guns and associated crews, as well as a unit of 10 freeguild guard with swords. I have a lot of freeguild guard left, but the bulk of the army's heavier units and heroes is complete.
Up next is the army that almost got cut, the Har'Kuron force. I elaborated on this army in a post about dealing with projects that take too long, and I'm glad I stuck with them. They've really popped with their own character, and I'm enjoying painting them a lot more. Only two units got completed this year, the Sorceress on Dragon and the unit of 5 Drakespawn Knights, but I'm proud of them regardless, and their colors go very well together.
For the namesakes of this blog, the Seraphon got a single model, the metal Scar Veteran on Cold One. The fabulous Lizardmen didn't get much this year because, well the army I play with is almost completely painted, so they don't get as much attention. I did however get the new Lord Kroak model, so expect to see that...eventually. No promises.
Meanwhile, the Legions of Nagash got a name change to Soulblight Gravelords and a unit of 20 skeletons rebased. I still haven't bought the new battletome, in fact I haven't got any for third edition. I'm waiting to see how GW handles the rules, or if I'm going to have to buy 3 separate books to have all of my rules. In that case I would skip out.
Bretonnia got a surprise 5 models this year, just a batch of crossbowmen. I wasn't planning to work on these, but I used these models to save some paint from my pallet. But just like last year, don't expect too much out of them this upcoming year either.
The Idoneth Deepkin, who are my second newest army after the new Kruleboyz, got their faction terrain painted up, the Gloomtide Shipwreck. This model was a blast to paint, and even if you don't have this army I would highly recommend it for some coastal terrain.
The ratmen wrap up the army section this year, as the Skaven got a unit of Skryre Acolytes, a Warlock Bombardier, a Master Moulder, two packmasters, and the Bell of Doom endless spell. The bombardier in particular was my favorite, as I put a lot of work into and tried a few new techniques like sponges to get some of the results. This army really does deserve more love from me, but there are so many freakin' rats to paint.
For the non-army items, I finished up the Malign Sorcery box. The only spells left were the Prismatic Palisade and the Geminids of Uhl-Gysh, which were quick, afternoon painting sessions.
To cap it all off, there's the terrain. I made a looot this year, enough to fill a table and not have it look empty. My favorite has to be the drawbridge from Reaper Miniatures, which was already an excellent model. I feel like I've elevated it (quite literally) and it makes for a great item to fight over.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I've had a great year and I hope all of my readers did as well. 2021 had lots of ups and downs, but this hobby has always helped me to have a creative outlet. I've put a lot of work into this blog, and I think this year was definitely better, with more variety, like the Dungeons & Dragons coverage, or looking at different manufacturers like Reaper Miniatures or Fireforge. Expect to see more of that into 2022. I also worked more on the Space Din-O-Pinions posts, which I think brought some much needed variety and injected some uniqueness into this blog.
As for the blog, this will be my last post of 2021 as I intend to take a break and spend time with family and friends. I have some big hobby plans for next year, but I'll talk more of that later when the time is appropriate. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I look forward to next year!
With cheer.
-The Space Dinosaur
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