Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Last of the Celts?

No, not the last of the Celts but the last of the warbands.  The warband mustering off the painting desk today is the last of the Crusader Miniatures' Celts in The Lead Pile. The BTD Celts were exhausted long ago.  The bad news is that having waited since May for a resupply from BTD, I cancelled my order.  The good news is that I received a refund and an apologetic note from the proprietor.  While no more warbands are in the offing, an order from Newline Designs is on its way containing a couple of chariots.  That will round out the Celtic collection nicely.
These dirty dozen Celts make up the 12th warband fielded in total and the 9th warband fielded in 2019.  With a dozen warbands, Telamon is not far off.  I sure would like to deploy a couple more chariots, though.  The chariots will be arriving any day.  Pushing them into the painting queue upon arrival, a year-end deployment is possible.  

Having painted a dozen Celtic/Gallic BMUs in 2019, I think it time for a parade to see the Celts en masse.  The Celtic component of my 28mm Ancients project has more than doubled in 2019.  Of course, a number of other projects saw progress in 2019 too.  Looking at the Painting Log, total figure count is approaching 1,600 that have crossed the painting desk in 2019.  At the beginning of the year, I marked out a goal of 900 painted figures.  I may reach 1,600 by year-end.  Still, The Lead Pile never seems to shrink. 

37 comments:

  1. Lovely variety within the base, keeping it interesting. The Newline sale should happily wipe out postage costs.

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    1. Thank you, Norm. Yes, the Newline sale wipes out postage costs to USA. I may pick up a few more items before the sale ends.

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  2. A wonderful looking unit, and an amazing number of figures painted this year.

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    1. Thanks on both counts, Peter! The total number of figures painted was a surprise even to me. It did help adding a few 10mm ACW troops into the painting queue this fall.

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  3. Great looking Celts, they've come up really well, looking forward to the chariots!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain! I have two chariots in the collection, thus far. Two more chariots from Newline Designs will be good additions. I think I will parade the Celts even before the last two chariots reach to the painting desk.

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  4. Lovely Celts, they look beautiful and determined!

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  5. Such a great mix of poses, armour, colours etc that these are a joy to behold. Can't wait to see the chariots as well as the army en masse:)

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    1. Thank you, Steve!

      These lads do offer a lot of variety in pose, costume, armor, etc.. I look forward to setting them up for a review.

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  6. Another fine unit of Celts, Jonathan. Never can have too many of these guys.

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  7. Very nice Jonathan, some frightening figures in there :)

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    1. Thanks. There are some frightening warriors in there, for sure.

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  8. " At the beginning of the year, I marked out a goal of 900 painted figures. I may reach 1,600 by year-end. "
    Amazing! Really incredible especially when you consider the basing and the quality of painting.

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    1. Far more figures crossed the painting desk than I imagined. Hopefully, I can get a few more across before year-end.

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  9. These lot seem like they'd be wealthier members of the tribe with all those armour pieces?

    Great addition sir. Can't wait to see the army en masse.

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    1. I believe a number of these figures were marketed as nobles hence more gear and affluence.

      Glad you like them and a group photo session will be forthcoming soon.

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  10. Ah.. another awesome unit Jonathan!
    warm regards

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  11. Great job Jonathan! Have also had trouble with BTD and seems to be a thing with them looking at forums. They refund or otherwise fix people up ok but their order processing seems rather chaotic!

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    1. Thanks, Mark! As for BTD USA, I have been a customer for many years and this is the first problem encountered. Sure, sometimes orders were slow but I always received the goods. The owner said he hoped I would return once he got everything sorted out.

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  12. Another great bunch of Celts. 1600 figures is quite an achievement, and we still have three and a half weeks left to go.

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    1. Thanks, Lawrence! I have not quite reached 1,600 yet but I should by year-end.

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  13. Well done Johnathan, thats quite a force you are putting together. I thought I could paint but clearly I cant live with your painting prowess. Well done.

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    1. Much appreciated, Robbie! The secret to churning out large numbers is trying to paint a little, often.

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  14. Lovely looking celts Jonathan and looking forward to the parade!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks, Christopher! Celt parade set for this weekend.

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  15. Very nice Jonathan...
    1,600 figures painted in a year... you are a machine sir...:-)
    I hope your wargames room has strong foundations...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you, Aly! Typically, I reach 1,000 figures per year but 2019 was a bit special, I guess. Putting 300 10mm ACW figures into the production line helped to pad the numbers.

      My game room is in the basement. Therefore, very solid foundation!

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  16. Great job on the celts! Now you have an army of sweaty barbaric hordes. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew! I now have enough of these barbarians to make a small horde.

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  17. What?! Planning a Parade without the full complement of Chariots present? What will the Chieftain say of such laxity?! :-)
    Your Warbands are a treat, Jon!

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    1. Thanks, Peter! We are having logistics issues in the supply chain.

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  18. It seems that you can never have to much of them. It's them same for me. I can't have enough of heavy French horse for the WAS, however they didn't performed well. But, hey! They were looking good.

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    1. I may have enough of them for now. As for the quality of the French WSS cavalry, quantity has a quality all of its own. If the horse good good, even better!

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