The 2017 achievements completed

And there we have it, the very last post for this little corner of the internet, detailing the objectives I managed to complete on a Geeky level in 2017.

While I looked back at the failed ones two weeks ago, I have been adding to this list as recent as the past night as I finished *just another series* hehee.

The first objectives I reached this year where from the old LEGO days, as I managed to complete a bunch of MoCs that... barely came outside before I gave up on the hobby.  But from all the planned builds, The Shire, Buckleberry Ferry and the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone got finished.

So we moved onwards to wargaming, or better, returned, and I set myself some goals for that.  While some managed in failure, I did complete other ones succesfully.  The most important perhaps being to actually getting a force on the table, and my first game was on the 4th of august in a multi-player, where my 1000 points of Order took to the table.  And completing a 1000 point army was a target in itself as well.

That expanded further after the Dark Elves contignent had to be dropped from the list, as I rebuild and reworked my Empire forces to get it to a pure 1000 points of only brave men fighting for Karl Franz himself.

In the meantime, my flashy pink phalanx was planned to grow to 50 Power Level in size, and it went far beyond that number in the meantime, making that my most completed army at the moment in the cabinets, and still will be growing in 2018.

While for smaller games, I planned 1000 points of Future War Commander 6mm, painted as Emperor's Children as well, and a band for SAGA who has been fielded as an army in Dux Britanniarum so far.

Nice successes on the painting front as such...

On the backlog part of things, I had set some goals who at first I thought where steep, but ended up being blown totally out of the water.

For example, I aimed to watch 25 movies, but the final tally clocked out at 52, that`s like 1 movie a week, which might not seem much, but...

Instead of the 10 planned series, I benched through no less then 43.  Taking on average that a series these days is 12 episodes of about an hour... that`s a lot of episodes.

On the anime front, I planned to catch up on 10 series, but rounded it out at 17 instead, and a lot will be watched over the course of 2018 as that is my main "to watch" plan next year. 

Finally, I spend some time on busses and trains, as of the 25 books I planned to read (which comes down to finishing an on average 300 page novel every two weeks) I ended with having read 29 instead.  Not bad for a not daily reading session if you ask me...

Well, that`s it then, now 2017 closes off, the blog and files can be reset for 2018, and I`m off to shower as I`ll be spending New Years Eve at the club actually, while my poor Noshi has to work the night shift.

See you all next year!

The Haul report 114: Christmas and Canterbury

This weeks Haul Report is all about that jolly holiday season, and some of the fantastic gifts I received from my loved ones.

What started out on Christmas eve, as my parents and Noshi gathered for a sweet family dinner, and some fine additions to the collection.

Noshi presented me with some awesome boxes to expand my Emperor's Children legion with, in the form of a Start Collecting Chaos marines box and a set of Warp Talons to bring my unit up to 10, and very, very combat worthy that way.  Deep Striking demonically possessed mini-Wolverines incoming to a battlefield near you!

I also received a Bongo voucher, allowing us a nice and romatic dinner for 2 from a wide selection of restaurants.

Finally, Noshi also gave me this lovely mug from the best anime ever made...

A few days ago, I went on a trip to Canterbury, and there I obtained a heap more of great stuffsies.  Most imporatantly... new shoes.  I know, that isn`t the geeky stuff, but it is to prove a little point.  I opt to go right after christmas every time, as the sales have started then, and both pairs together came to 53 euro, as they where marked down 70% due to "Boxing Day sales".

In my regular tour through charity shops, I also obtained some nice books.  From the Children in Need store, I got both English Heritage books at 2 pounds each, while the novels where 2 for 1 pound in the Breast Cancer store.

And finally, I picked up a new calendar for 2018, which is usually why I go there to a store called Calendar King (he`s on eBay as well), but I saw this one at the local Games Workshop and it is just awesome in artwork.

A fine week indeed, and great items added to the collection.  Thanks all for the lovely gifts!

What I Painted in December... and in 2017

The last painting overview of the year, and it has been not only a good month, but let`s have a look at the amount of figures I churned out as well in this year of the great return.

But first, let`s take look at december itself, a month once again dominated by the colour pink, but also the start of the AHPC8.

The first model I finished this month was the Irish mounted noble, for use in the Dux campaign should I go for a cavalry approach... which means I should really get that new plastic Dark Age cavalry by Gripping Beast first.

The Emperor's Children saw a lot of reinforcements this month, and clicking me over the needed 3k mark for the big battle in may.  Dark Apostle, pre-heresy Havocs, 2 blocks of Cultists, the Knight and a second Helbrute all swelled the ranks of Slaanesh's favorite legion, as well as a troupe of Seekers of Slaanesh for the upcoming Daemon detachment.

The AHCP, in the 11 days it has been running, has already seen me enter a couple of units.  Two bands of 6mm models for Future Commander, a group of 10mm ECW cavalry, and a regiment of crossbowmen with a wizard from my Alpine Gnomes reinforced my Empire.

All together, that is a lovely 92 models that left lead mountain for their spaces in the cabinets.

So what did I do in 2017? 

As this has been the year of making great returns, I basically had to start from scratch.  All sorts of armies have been restored to at least "playable" numbers, like The Empire or my Irish, while others where rebuild from scratch, mainly my 40k force.  Check the Armies tab on the blog for a look at how the forces are currently, and apart from them, some like the Dark Elves are on their way out (see earlier posts on the why that is for example).

6mm Sci-fi Infantry:120
6mm Sci-fi Cavalry: 20
6mm Sci-fi Vehicles: 21
10mm Historical Cavalry: 16
28mm Historical Infantry: 163
28mm Historical Animals: 10
28mm Historical Cavalry: 5
28mm Scenery: 1
30mm Heroic Infantry: 246
30mm Heroic Cavalry: 16
30mm Heroic Monster:3
30mm Heroic Vehicle: 5

That's a massive amount of models, totalling no less then 626 models painted between april, when I decided to get back in, and now.  Granted, the 6mm and the relative ease of 28mm dark age warriors adds a lot to the tally rather quickly, but still...

Let`s see if we get to 1.000 models in 2018 now, won't we xD

The Bastard Executioner

The final series / movie / anime I`ll finish this year, as I just watched the final episode and won`t be home tomorrow night.

This series, cancelled after 1 season, was to be honest a struggle to get through though.

Set after the death of Edward Longshanks, one of his knights sought refuge in Wales.  When his unit was ambushed, he had a vision, and after his village and wife with unborn child get murdered, he sets out for revenge.
He slays the lord that led the ambush, and takes on the identity of an executioner killed in the battle to save his friends, but ends up in the service of the chamberlain of the slain lord.  He is forced to not only execute his grizzly trade, but also to work with the chamberlain to maintain the independance of the shire.

The series (which featurs Ed Sheeran btw for the fans) is a bit of a two fold though.  The action scenes and the writing of the overal story are fine, but the pace and the development of the non three main characters is virtually non existant. 

A bit of a hit and miss series, but for me personally, it leans more towards the miss part unfortunatly...

Rise of the Guardians

Neither me nor Noshi knew of this movie, while we both have watched a lot of animation films in our lives.

So yesterday, we sat down for this flick, which Noshi`s roommate told us was a great movie.

Amd what a fun ride it was!  The core of the movie is that legendary guardians (Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman) guard over the children and their dreams from the bad things in the world.

So when Picth Black, aka the Boogeyman, rises again, the Moon selects a fifth guardian: Jack Frost.  However, due to him not being a legend children "believe" him, he is invisible, and full of doubt if he is made of the right stuff to be a Guardian.  But he turns out to be the one that can resist the Boogeyman, who one by one ruins the faith in believing in the other Guardians, causing them to loose their powers.

So it is up to Jack, who learns his "core" is good honest fun, to stand up and defeat the darkness, and restore the faith in the other mythical guardians.

It`s a great fun movie, and it has some awesome funny moments in it.  Many a laugh was let out by all who where watching, and it is a perfect chrismas period movie.

Though I fear from now on I`ll always see Santa Claus as a sword-wielding Crazy Russian though...

On the Painting Desk 27

The last one for 2017, and as such I wish you all a happy new year and may all your painting goals come true in 2018!

This week, it`s more work and preparations for the AHPC8, as I think about the target I set myself and if it`s feasible.

And I decided on the "main" focus for 2018 while at it!

The Guardian Brothers

Originally called Little Door Ghosts, this chinese animation film was released as an english version on Netflix past september.

I never heard of it, nor did Noshi, so we settled in the "cuddlycouch" yesterday evening and watched what we expected was some B-movie quality animation film.

Boy, where we wrong.  When we saw the cast list pass by (Edward Norton, Mel Brooks, Nicole Kidman, Meryll Streep,...) this had some big names.

When Rain`s grandmother, who ran a soup shop, dies, she and her mom take over the business.  But while their neighbour tries to buy them out, they get the help from Yu Lei and Shen Tu, two ancient Guardian Spirits from the Han dynasty.  While the current day humans barely believe in spirits anymore, her grandmother did and kept a portal poster on her door, allowing them access.

Yu Lei, misguided by the Nian, tries to bring humanity and the spirit world back to each other and have faith in each other, but in doing so almost unleashes doom on both worlds.

It was a beautifully animated movie with a fun and lovingly story, and definitly worth a watch.  It has been going rather "under the radar" on Netflix, but look it up, sit back with a bag of crisps, and enjoy it!

Project "I won" in 2017

Well, if you are around on this blog for over a year, you might remember that at the end of 2016, I decided to have a look if all those "you win free LEGO etc etc" easily.

And as such, I entered a lot of YouTube contests, Facebook likes, blog giveaways and more during the past 12 months... and I must say it is actually true.

Down here is a selection of all the things I actually won as such, as well as some words of explanation where no YouTube video's are included...

This giveaway was for an unused set of Dimensions Scooby Doo set, and it swiftly arrived.

A big giveaway, and I had to luck to come up in third place, taking a nice stack of LEGO goodies.

This was a roulette that entered you if your bought from them on BrickLink.  It`s a custom fig with some lovely parts, and who am I to say no to additional freebies.

Through a Facebook contest I got a set of LEGO cards, not available in Belgium.  Nice little thingies to have.

My price from the yearly Eurobricks Christmas Raffle arrived as well the past year, granting a heap of ghostly themed models.

Through Owen`s Lab, I obtained a set of LEGO Batman Movie CMF figures this year.

And that is it for the LEGO side of things... but there where more contests, and more stuff I snatched up

Through the excellent flemish blog, 80sGeek, I won a digital copy of 8-Bit Kids, telling the lovestory of one man and his Commodore 64.  Expect a review during the coming year on this one for sure!

Greebo Games ran a "Price is right" contest for their limited edition Fang N Hood model, and I guessed the price, and won the draw.  The model is expected somewhere first half of 2018.

On the same note, as in under way in the post, is a Power Rangers Alpha-5 action figure, which I got through the Fo Real Toys Youtube channel.

The final free loot this year wasn`t a draw, but a gift for entering the AHCP8 just as recent as two weeks ago.  Barrage Miniatures sponsored all participants with their digital copy of Rattenkrieg, which if you count the vouchers in the book is a gift of 20 euro just for entering... mighty fine.

So that`s it, the heap of stuff I actually obtained for doing things like sharing and commenting on whatever social media platform it ran.  Barely any effort, but a nice pile of stuff, which if you count it all is easily a 100 - 150 euro value just for free.

So yes, the stories of winning free stuff... are true.  Tested it, and if I really, really wanted to push it, I could have reacted to a lot more of contests to be honest instead of those really intresting me.

Frozen

The holiday week is here, and me and Noshi settled down the past two days to watch some series (we`re currently into Frontier s2 and Musketeers s1), as well as some animation films.

And the first of three movies we saw over the past two evenings was Frozen.  Noshi is all into Disney, and while I like the movies, I can`t say i saw every one of them yet.

And that is including the hype movie of the past years, based on the fairytale The Snow Queen by Andersen. 

Elsa, princess of Arendelle, has ice controlling powers, and when she has a playaccident with her sister Anna, she is brought into isolation to prevent people of seeing her as a witch.  However, when her parents die in a shipwreck, she becomes the Queen.

However, her powers are accidentally revealed and she puts the land in an continious winter.  Anna is now the only one who can bring her sister to end the snow and ice, and she must overcome various obstacles to achieve this with the help of Kristoff, Sven and the living snowman Olaf.

To be honest, I don`t get it.  Sure, I understand that little girls wanted to be princesses, but I don`t get it how more adult people went, and are still going, nuts over this film.  Sure, it is a lovely made Disney film, but in all honesty I have seen better, both in story and in "taking you along". 
But, it isn`t a bad film at all, and worth an evening's watch in the christmas period.

And then it has that Demi Lovato earwurm...