I managed my timing pretty poorly this year so this post arrives at about a month later than I would have liked but I really had to finish the mega batch of nord-saxon-viking-barbarians. Since I just got done with a giant batch, I thought it'd be fun to see the difference between big batches over the years. It's worth noting that the cleanup quality also changes through this sequence so it's not just the painting.
Week 33 of 2019 presents a danger of kobolds (installment #1). Installment #2 would cover many of the same figures as a batch from Bones 5 starting in
Week 5 2022. I didn't record times for the first danger (top) but I recall it being pretty grindy. The second batch was just over 65 minutes per fig. When I was doing the 2019 batch I was in a real hurry and even noted that they really wanted more effort. Luckily, I got that opportunity with Bones 5.
Week 41 of 2020 presents
Stark Sworn Swords from ASOIAF.
Week 48 of 2021 ended the not-award winning theme
A Song of Ice and Paint with these four
Sword Bothers.
Apparently there's a lot of swearing going on in that game. The former (top) was done in about 68 minutes per fig including prep and basing which at the time felt
really fast. The latter completed in about 75 minutes per fig not including prep and basing so no speedup here but the quality is pretty different. I mean, I barely painted the Sworn Swords' shields for crying out loud. As a random note, I really wish these guys were quite so big. They tower over most of my figs at 40mm or so.
And now a three-for. The figs in question are Saxon Fyrd Warriors painted somewhere in the Fall of 2018 (no records) on top, the identical Viking Bondi in teal from Week 42 2020 in the middle, and from the mega batch on Week 22 2022 we have 4x Viking Hirdmen. The first batch has no records and were among the first figs I assembled and painted. The teal guys are around 105 minutes per fig including assembly, cleanup, and basing. The mega batch guys clocked in at around 45 minutes per sans assembly, cleanup, and basing which I don't count anymore so likely right around the same mark. If memory serves, the first guys were awful grindy and I ended the batch by slapping a wash on everything which looks pretty awful. I didn't slop a heavy wash on the teal guys (I was far more judicious with it) and on inspection, probably the wrapping and sleeves could have been better handled. Also, the belts are a little garish. I'm pretty happy with the last batch though their shields are a little plain (note: meant for decals). It doesn't super well show from the photos, but everything is just a little bit better on them. Non-painters could probably spot the difference in quality but likely not the details.
Last comparison:
Frostrave Soldiers. I painted the first ten of these in the fall of 2018 (top) which seems like a completely other age. They've gotten a lot of screen time as mooks, bandits, and other ne'er do wells and I distinctly remember being very impressed with their configurability and very confused by the many (many) layers of their clothing. I don't have any records for them but I recall the batch taking several weeks of effort. Below, we have five of the rest of the box of 20 done
Week 51 2021 and I did more with these guys than I might have earlier in the year. These figs are great and three years and many hundreds of figs' experience between, I think they show a marked improvement.
Ultimately, we paint for all kinds of reasons. I want to play fully painted for in-person games from here on out. I've got enough figs, the flexibility of 3d printing, and a process that completes reasonable figs in a few hours to make this realistic. Somewhere along the line I started to enjoy the process which makes it even easier to push to higher quality levels and part of that is seeing how I'm progressing. I'm not a world class painter and I may never be, but that's where I'm setting my sights. Tune in next year for my half decade update!
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