We’ve all got one. Some are bigger than others, some are older than others. Mine is relatively small. I started collecting and painting minis about seven years ago at this point, selling off a bunch of RPG books in anticipation of a move gave me some extra cash and I got into 15mm sci-fi. The pile of shame started on day one, I still have some Combat Wombat vehicles that need to be finished!
The pandemic has ramped up my painting output dramatically, being home all day and night gives me little bits of time throughout the work day to slap down some paint or assemble while my computer is chugging away rendering images. It also gives me a lot of time to browse miniature stores and order stuff unfortunately. As we’re getting ready for another move hopefully within the next six months I have been going through my collections and selling off more stuff and deciding what to keep, and it’s time to start painting the old stuff!
Since I’ve already met my goal of 350 minis painted this year and I’m cranking out figures for Rangers of Shadow Deep pretty quick I’ve decided to make an effort to concentrate on knocking down my lead pile of shame! First up will be an order I picked up when Critical Mass Games was closing up shop. At that point RPE hadn’t picked up the line and I grabbed five or six platoons worth of figures and some extras. I’m almost done with the Arc Fleet Trooper scouts, with two more platoons of their heavy troopers up next. Of course this is just going to make me put in an order to RPE to fill out the forces…
I also have a couple boxes worth of Reaper Bones figures that were picked up for both D&D and Frostgrave that never got painted. I’ve been slipping those into my regular painting queue for a couple years now but I still have dozens of unpainted Bones, not including the rest of the 4th Kickstarter and a pledge in for the 5th that will deliver sooner or later plus the Battletech Kickstarter that is shipping its first wave right now and two Kickstarters I just pledged for this week. I haven’t even played Battletech in 20 years….
Rangers of Shadow Deep inspired me to go on another buying spree, adding almost 100 figures to the ‘lead pile’. I’m cranking through them pretty quick but it’s not helping me get through the back log. Thankfully I’m able to batch paint 5 to 10 at a time, grabbing a couple from each box and using the same paint scheme for different figures speeds it up and adds a lot of variety to each box of figures.
With about 10 weeks left in the year and my 2020 painting goal of 350 figures long since finished I am going to attempt to knock down the lead pile of shame. I’m going to finish 100 15mm infantry figures and 50 28mm figures that are all over a year old, in addition to working on the new figures I picked up for Rangers of Shadow Deep.
I’m wrapping up a platoon of Critical Mass Games Arc Fleet scout troopers and vehicles now, plus a bunch of Skaven I picked up for D&D to use as wererats. I just found a pile (literally, just dumped in a box) of WWII Germans primed and ready for a base coat, and lord knows I have enough Rebel Minis Titan Marines alone to fill up that 100 figure quota. I’ll be busy through the end of the year, it’s not like I’m doing anything else while I’m hiding in my basement.
Great painting Nate. I think there’s a rule some where that says paint one buy two. Not sure how it happens but those little purchases of just a few figures or only this small project keep adding up. Hope to game with you soon.