Best of the Year

Although Duke of the Blood Keep is not quite a year old yet, I thought now would be a good time to look back and reminisce about what has been good about the year…

So we’ll start with a few awards…

Best Customer Service – Without a doubt this award goes to Richard at Otherworld (although Sally and Kate at Hasslefree are awesome too!). Absolutely outstanding!

Sculptor of the Year – While I make no secret of my love for Kev White’s miniatures, this year I have found myself falling head over heels in love with Matthew Bickley’s work. His debut miniature for Otherworld caused controversy of a kind I have never quite understood, but there was no doubt in my mind that Matt was going to be a huge hit! His second miniature, the Djinni which I painted a couple of weeks ago just simply blew me away and his upcoming third entry for OW, the beautiful centaurs, are simply astounding!

Miniature of the Year – I struggled to award this category. Part of me wants to give the award to Paul Muller for his Owlbear and an even bigger part of me wants to give it to Kev White for… well… it’s so hard to pick! But in the end, I decided to go with a model I actually held in my hand and admired it’s beauty, so this year’s Miniature of the Year goes to the Medusa!

Now it’s time to look inward, at what I feel I have achieved this year…

Biggest Success – Without a doubt the Sunless Citadel project has been the biggest success of the year. The project took a lot of patience, but it brought me back into painting for the sake of painting. The SC project reignited my interest in D&D miniatures and led me to discover Otherworld Miniatures among others.

Best Single Paint Job of the Year – Although since I started this blog my work has continued to improve almost daily, the real turning point for me came when I proved what I am capable of achieving with the Medusa. So, while the colours may be a little muted, this paintjob represents a turning point for me, a realisation of what I can achieve with time and patience.

Best Warband – Although other commitments and various paints running out (and the supplier not having replacements) have left these guys unfinished this band of Woes is the best Warband I’ve painted this year. So, although they are missing 3 members, here they are for their debut on the blog…

Best Addition to the Army of the Blood Keep – Although it was my Warhammer army that inspired me to create this blog, it has in no way been the focal point of my hobby activities this year. Of the additions I made this year, the best has to be finishing my Skeletons with Hand Weapons. The addition of the Red Lady and General Grimlock has really made this unit the core of my army, able to go toe-to-toe with the best my opponent can throw at me…

So that’s it… As I pointed out before Christmas you can expect a couple of really big projects this coming year… That may mean that the weekly updates will not be completely polished entries but most likely WIP pieces. Thank you to everyone for their continued support on this space, I hope you all had a great new year and I look forward to bringing you more of my “work” in the new year!