The last post of 2025

Hello everybody, as usual, on the last day of the year I like to post about the year and tally up how many figures I painted.

I'll start by saying that this was kind of a strange one, after 9 years spent in Canada, I decided to move back to Italy, mostly to help my aging parents.

This meant a move across the Atlantic, an experience I would not wish to anyone.

I moved at the beginning of August, which meant I stopped painting figures of my own few months before that, since it is much easier to move unpainted models, I tried not to add any more to the ones I already had.

So the total of painted miniatures for myself in 2025, is quite a bit lower than that of the last few years.

I painted a lot of stuff for friends before leaving Canada, so that brought the grand total up quite a bit, but as usual, I am more concerned about my own stuff. 

After all these considerations, it is time to get to the numbers:

Things that I painted for myself:

- 28mm fantasy RPG large creatures: 3

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer infantry models: 36

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer mounted models: 3

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer large creatures: 2

- 28mm historical infantry models: 11

- 28mm Sci-fi Warhammer 40,000/Warzone infantry models: 5

- 28mm Sci-fi Warhammer 40,000/Warzone large creatures: 5

- 28mm Sci-fi RPG infantry models: 5

- Epic scale 40,000 infantry stands: 51

- 1/285 Battletech mechs: 12

- 1/285 Battletech vehicles: 3

- 1/72 historical infantry models: 50

- 1/72 WWII vehicles: 2

- 1/72 WWII guns: 2

- 1/35 WWII infantry: 6

- 75mm historical figurines: 1

- various scales terrain pieces: 21

This adds up to a total of 218 models, about half of what I managed last year. Compared to the production of the last few years if is a vary small number, but given the situation I guess it's still decent.

For other people I painted the following models:

- 28mm fantasy RPG infantry models: 69

- 28mm fantasy RPG large creatures: 10

- 28mm fantasy RPG small creatures: 4

- 28mm fantasy RPG mounted models: 3

- 28mm fantasy Warmachines/Hordes infantry models: 6

- 28mm historical infantry models: 42

- 28mm sci-fi/40K large models: 3

- 15mm WWII infantry stands: 6

- 15mm WWII guns: 30

- 15mm WWII tanks: 161 

- no scale Warhammer Man'O'War ships: 6

- 28mm fantasy historical Silver Bayonet infantry: 19

- 1/285 Battletech mechs: 12

This adds up to a total of 371 models, about 15 more than last year.

The grand total for 2025 is then 589 models, roughly 25% less than last year, overall an acceptable loss due to months of inactivity due to the move.

Let's see what 2026 will bring.

A very happy new year to all my readers and I'll see you in January with new posts of painted miniatures.

Cheers!

75mm figure

 This week I have something unusual, a 75mm historical figure.

Once in a while it is fun to do something different from the usual. This is a XV century jousting knight (minus the horse).

It is from Amati Models, a good friend of mine used to work there as a sculptor and designer and got a whole bunch of old models as samples and examples for future works.

I ended up with a few of them and when I feel I need a palate cleanser I can paint one.

This was relatively simple, but the striped lance was very challenging. I took it as an exercise to practice straight lines, the result is not the best, but good enough for what I'm concerned, looking at the model from a few feet distance it looks good.

XV century knight. 75mm, Amati Models, painted by Ginzio

Another forgotten mini

 With me in Canada and IlVJ in Japan for many years and models brought back to Italy on a regular basis, it is not surprising that some of them were forgotten and never got pictures taken.

Here is another odd one, an Iron Maiden Eddie, the one from the Killers cover, that IlVJ bought in a herocliks pack and repainted.

It is really just a fun figure, not intended for any game, but it might see some action as a zombie or in a Cyberpunk/Shadowrun kind of RPG.

Iron Maiden Killers Eddie. roughly 28mm, WizKidz, painted by IlVJ

First post from Italy

 Hi all, I am back in Italy.

The move is not complete yet, I have a whole pallet of stuff that has just been picked up in Canada and will get here somewhere around mid October.

In the meantime I tried to do a bit of painting, but without my trusty lens, at almost 50, I am struggling a bit, so that is slow going.

I took the opportunity to sort through some figures and reorganize something and I found I had a few models that needed to be photographed and posted.

I will try to stretch this into two posts, just to have something to share over a couple of weeks.

As some of you might remember, my brother got together with our old friend Tino last year and was very kindly gifted some old stuff. Tino also gave my brother some pieces he had painted for display, Tino was never much of a gamer, but always had an artistic streak and preferred painting over gaming.

These are a few of his works from high school (late 80s, very early 90s). Very typical of those years.

Champion of Nurgle with the arm of a Great Unclean One. 28mm, Citadel, converted and painted by Tino.

Champion of Nurgle with defeated enemy vignette. 28mm, Citadel, converted and painted by Tino.

Troll drummer. 28mm, Heartbreaker, converted and painted by Tino.

A little break

The time has finally come for me to move back to Italy.

I am currently packing all my stuff and getting ready to fly back in august. For this reason I'm not going to be painting any more of my stuff, it is much easier to move unpainted models than painted ones, so I'll still be painting for my friends, but not for myself.

If IlVJ finishes something I will surely post it, but on my end there will probably be nothing until September.

I hopepeople won't loose interest and still come to visit the Owl Bear's Lair when I get back to posting.

Cheers everyone, see you soon

Final post of 2024 with tally of painted figures.

 Here we are again, another year is ending and it's time to do some math and see how much stuff has been painted in 2024.

It was overall a good year for painting, I completed a few projects, I started a couple new ones and I got a step closer to painting all I have, even though I did acquire some new stuff through trades and painting, but I did not buy any new model, which is a good thing.

Let's get on with the count:

Things that I painted for myself:

- 28mm fantasy RPG infantry models: 8

- 28mm fantasy RPG small creatures: 2

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer infantry models: 89

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer mounted models: 2

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer large creatures: 1

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer chariots and wagons: 4

- 28mm historical infantry models: 1

- 28mm historical mounted models: 3

- 28mm Sci-fi Warhammer 40,000/Warzone infantry models: 80

- 28mm Sci-fi Warhammer 40,000/Warzone large creatures: 3

- Epic scale 40,000 infantry stands: 6

- Epic scale 40,000 vehicles: 6

- 1/285 Battletech mechs: 6

- 1/72 historical infantry models: 168

- 1/72 historical mounted models: 10

- 1/72 WWII infantry models: 65

- 1/72 WWII vehicles: 17

- 1/72 WWII guns: 1

- 1/48 WWII vehicles: 3

- 1/35 WWII vehicles: 1

- 1/72 Cold war era vehicles: 3

- 1/48 modern vehicles: 1

- various scales terrain pieces: 5

- non scale Japanese character: 1

This adds up to a total of 485 models, this is quite a bit less than last year, but since I decided to move back to Italy in the summer on 2025, I decided I could paint more for my friends and less for myself, that will help make the move less traumatic, I hope...

For other people I painted the following models:

- 28mm fantasy RPG infantry models: 100

- 28mm fantasy RPG large creatures: 29

- 28mm fantasy RPG small creatures: 8

- 28mm fantasy RPG mounted models: 1

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer infantry models: 5

- 28mm fantasy Warmachines/Hordes infantry models: 6

- 28mm fantasy Warmachines/Hordes large models: 12

- 28mm historical infantry models: 60

- 28mm historical mounted models: 30

- 28mm WWII infantry models: 10

- 15mm WWII infantry stands: 76

- 15mm WWII guns: 6

- 32mm Star Wars legion infantry models: 2

- various scale terrain pieces: 11

This adds up to a total of 356 models, which, added to my personal total is a grand total of 841 models painted in 2024, this is about 20 less than last year, so I'd consider it the same, it is less than a 3% difference, so I still consider it a very good year.

2025, with an intercontinental move will probably be less productive, but we will see. All in all I'm happy about this year's production, I put another big dent in the collection and the idea of painting everything I own within the next 10-15 years appears plausible, wish me luck.

WWI British Mk I tank

 This is a model I bought some thirteen years ago and just sat there waiting to finally be completed.

the Mk I tank is a classic model and it represent the first step in tank development, on top of that, it was a lot of fun to paint.

British Male Mk I tank. 1/76, Airfix, painted by Ginzio

Something unusual

 This week I have a weird model for you, a Japanese ghost that I got during one of the very first trips to Japan, over 15 years ago.

It sat unpainted on a shelf for a very log time, I finally decided to rectify the situation and gave it a few coats of paint.

Now it will go back on a shelf, but with some colours on it.

Japanese ghost. No scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

The end of the year has come

 Hello everyone, here we are again, the last post of the year with the tallying up of what I painted in 2023.

It has been a very productive year, mostly due to the fact that I decided to work on a lot of 1/72 models that, since I use the Quick Shade from Army Painter, get done very quickly.

Let's get on with the count:

Things that I painted for myself:

- 28mm fantasy RPG infantry models: 4

- 28mm fantasy RPG large creatures: 2

- 28mm fantasy RPG mounted models: 2

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer infantry models: 73

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer mounted models: 8

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer large creatures: 5

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer war machines: 1

- 28mm historical infantry models: 63

- 28mm historical mounted models: 25

- 28mm historical chariot: 1

- 28mm Sci-fi Warhammer 40,000/Warzone infantry models: 31

- 28mm Sci-fi Warhammer 40,000/Warzone large creatures: 2

- 28mm Sci-fi RPG infantry models: 10

- 28mm Sci-fi RPG vehicles and robots: 4

- no scale Sci-fi starships and star fighters: 16

- 1/285 Battletech mechs: 13

- 1/285 Battletech vehicles: 2

- 1/72 historical infantry models: 293

- 1/72 historical mounted models: 44

- 1/72 WWII infantry models: 63

- 1/35 WWII infantry models: 2

- various scales terrain pieces: 10

This adds up to a total of 674 models, again, big numbers thanks to a very simple painting method, but I am very satisfied.

For other people I painted the following models:

- 28mm fantasy RPG infantry models: 11

- 28mm fantasy RPG large creatures: 6

- 28mm fantasy RPG small creatures: 9

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer infantry models: 21

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer mounted models: 4

- 28mm fantasy Warhammer large creatures: 7

- 28mm fantasy Warmachines/Hordes infantry models: 6

- 28mm fantasy Warmachines/Hordes: 6

- 28mm historical infantry models: 4

- 28mm WWII infantry models: 57

- 28mm WWII vehicles: 3

- 15mm WWII vehicles: 22

- 15mm WWII guns: 4

- 32mm Star Wars legion infantry models: 4

- 32mm Star Wars legion vehicles: 3

- various scale terrain pieces: 27

This adds up to a total of 194 models, which, added to my personal total is a grand total of 868 models painted in 2023, my absolute record, which I will probably struggle to even match in 2024, but I will definitely try.

Finally, I will leave you with a teaser of things to come, I will start working on some 1/72 napoleonics in 2024, wish me luck.

French Polish lancer. 1/72, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Starships/Astronavi

 These are a bunch of starships and star fighters from a sci-fi board game based on chess set that a friend gave me. They have no real scale and do not really match any existing game, but could be used as tokens or something similar for campaign maps. 

They might never see any use, but I enjoyed painting them.  

Queste sono alcune astronavi e caccia provenientid a un gioco di fantascienza simile agli scacchi. Mi furono regalate da un amico tempofa. Non hanno una scala ben definita e non sembrano adatte ad alcun gioco esistente, ma penso di poterle usare per come segnalini per qualche campagna su mappa o cose simili.

Probabilmente non saranno mai utilizzate, ma mi sono divertito a dipingerle.

Freighter and cargo ships/Navi da trasporto e da cargo. No scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio 

Star destroyers/Cacciatorpedinieri stellari. No scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

Star fighters/Caccia spaziali. No scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

Star fighters/Caccia spaziali. No scale, unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

A quick little post/Un piccolo post veloce

 This is the latest addition to our collection, it is a joke piece that our friend James made to make fun of IlVJ's always mentioning that Torino, our hometown, was founded by the Galli Taurinii, a gallic tribe of northern italy.

He modelled the Gaul with glasses and hairy chest, back and buttocks, he gave it an He-Man shield (another of IlVJ's obsession) and oversized equipment and named it Terroni Taurinii.

Questo pezzo e' l'ultima aggiunta alla nostra collezione, e' uno scherzo fatto dal nostro amico James per sfottere IlVJ che ripete sempre che Torino, la nostra citta' d'origine, fu fondata dai Galli Taurini, una tribu' gallica del nord Italia.

Ha modificato il Gallo aggiungendogli un paio d'occhiali, petto, schiena e chiappe villose, lo scudo di He-Man (un'altra delle ossessioni del VJ) ed un equipaggiamento sproporzionatamente grosso, l'ha nominato Terroni Taurinii.

Terroni Taurinii, 28mm, Victrix, converted and painted by James

Back from Japan/Di ritorno dal Giappone

 I've been back from my trip to Japan for a few days, but with jet-lag, being stranded in Vancouver for a day due to bad weather and going back to work the following day I couldn't really think of posting on the blog.

Similarly to last time I was over there (3 years ago) I will make a little post showing the gaming, modelling or related activities that we had during the two weeks.

This time around, as the trip was much shorter, we had less chance to indulge in our favorite pastimes, but we still managed a decent amount.

Here are, in non chronological order, the activities we had:

Sono tornato dal Giappone da qualche giorno, ma tra fuso orario, ritardi aerei e l'esser tornato a lavorare il giorno dopo essere atterrato, non ho neanche pensato di fare un post sul blog fino adesso.

Come dopo il mio precedente viaggio (3 anni fa) ho deciso di fare un post per raccontare le attivita' ludiche, modellistiche e adiacenti a cui ci siamo dedicati nelle due settimane in cui sono stato dal VJ.

Questa volta il viaggio e' stato molto piu' corto del precedente, quindi abbiamo potuto dedicarci meno ai nostri passatempi preferiti, ma siamo comunque soddisfatti del risultato.

Di seguito un po' di foto in ordine non necessariamente cronologico: 

We had a couple of games of One Hour Wargames, it is actually a very interesting system that plays very well and has a huge amount of brilliant scenarios that can also be used with other systems. Strongly suggested

Abbiamo giuocato un paio di volte a One Hour Wargames, un sistema molto interessante che si gioca molto facilmente e cha ha una tonnellata di scenari molto ben fatti che si possono anche usare per altri regolamenti. Fortemente consigliato

We visited the war memorial museum at the Yasukuni-Jinja temple in Tokyo, a very interesting collection gathering stuff from Samurai armours to guns, fighter planes, tanks, a locomotive, etc

Abbiamo visitato il museo ai caduti al tempio Yasukuni-Jinja di Tokyo, una collezione molto interessante che va dalle armature da Samurai, ai caccia della seconda guerra mondiale, un carrarmato, una locomotiva, ecc.

And we played some boardgames, Zombies, always a lot of fun and Highlander from River Horse Games, of which I painted 4 figures and IlVJ will paint the remaining 3 (better pictures will be posted when they are complete)

Overall it was great to go visit IlVJ and his family, we had not met in 3 years, due to Covid and other reasons, I hope we will be able to meet again in Italy this summer.

E siamo anche riusciti a giocare a qualche gioco in scatola, Zombies, sempre divertente e Highlander della River Horse Games, del quale io ho dipinto 4 miniature e IlVJ dipingera' le 3 rimanente (foto decenti saranno postate a tempo debito)

Nel complesso e' stato fantastico andare a trovare mio fratello e famiglia, tra Covid e cose varie, non ci vedevamo da 3 anni, speriamo di poter ripetere quest'estate in Italia.