What's in the Box?

A little while back I picked up a storage unit in order to better organise my ongoing projects. The idea being part painted projects could be stored until finished, at which point they would go on a display shelf or in an army case for gaming etc. It was only going to be for projects I was actively working on... so my 3k guard penal legion that is little more than a list and a handful of models, that is so far on the back burner that it hasn't made the stack yet, it is tucked away in cardboard boxes under my bed. My Nagash that was going to be the centrepiece of an End Times Fantasy army... yeah, that too doesn't make the stack. Partly for the back burner reason, also because the bugger is too big to fit into the drawers. So with such restrictions, that it has to be a project I am actively working on, surely I must have plenty of space within those drawers, yes?

After all, there are quite a few of them.

Alas, no. The unit is currently full. There is one drawer I should probably move to the back burner in a box under the bed department, but I haven't got around to it yet.

So just how much stuff do I have crammed in there? Well let's take a closer look...

First up, my Orktober Revolution counts as Imperial Guard grot army. This force is two infantry platoons, 5 squads per platoon, a couple commissars, commissar lord and a counts as Yarrick. All backed up by a trio of Manticores and a trio of Deathstrike launchers.

In this project I blitzed my way through the infantry, and their support weapons. I built the manticores (converted to look like Katyusha rocket trucks) and built the first of three Tupov style ICBM vehicles. But then the project stalled... the ICBM vehicles required deodorant cans, and it took quite a while for me to use the deodorant up to continue the project. Also, I made the first one from 3mm thick plasticard... In all projects since I have used 2mm thick plasticard. The difference may not seem like much but let me tell you that 1mm is a hell of a difference to the ease of working.

I have since cut the components to build a second Tupov, then quit exhausted. At some point I shall cut the components to make the third, quite exhausted once again, then build the remaining two. Painting should be easy enough for all six vehicles, as I plan a very basic colour scheme in line with the theme of the army. My target is to complete all of this in time for THIS Orktober, and just fudge the details on when my Orktober revolution actually started...

In drawer number three we have the first phase of my CATCH challenge, all painted, awaiting brothers in arms. Once the full 2k is done I shall put them elsewhere, but for now they can stay together here, where they will be frequently taken out as reference for other models in the same project.

Next up (or down technically) we have my freebootaz project, with kaptin badruk, some pirate grots, and oh yes 20 flashgitz. I also picked up a small plane from kromlech, I assume it's a counts as deffkopta but as it will merely be scenery for me this is largely academic. Of course that gave me the tricky task of creating landing gear for the sucker, but I managed to make something I am reasonably happy with.

Next I have a drawer that really should be returned to underbed storage...these were my "pop-pods" counts as drop pods, the flesh tearers contingent to my skitarii force, until GW faq'd the idea out of existence. I can't complain as from a fluff perspective I hated the tagalong in other peoples transports and the shenanigans that ensued, it was just a little irritating that the first time I tried to use one of those loopholes, for a fluff effect no less (my skitarii were the garrison force of an ork occupied refinery world and they were going to be doing guerrilla warfare against my bad moons, taking advantage of the chaos sowed by the grots during their orktober revolution) and it swiftly closes on me.

There was formerly two drawers of skitarii with these, but I sold them on to Ken to bolster his CATCH forces when I came to the reluctant conclusion that in the year since the FAQ screwed my previous ideas, I had lost my enthusiasm for the project and hadn't come up with another way to actually complete it in a way I liked... so waste not...

In this drawer we have a few bits and bobs that I really should finish for my deffskulls army, namely a stolen goliath and a squad of boyz. My Grand Loot plan of only using vehicles after I've played someone and could feasibly have nicked one is currently waiting on me to actually play someone with GSC, which has not yet happened. Given how close I am to calling that army finished (barring GW releasing new vehicle kits for me to "salvage") I should probably ignore my rule and just paint the bloody thing, if only to get a project onto that barely occupied pedestal of "practically finished"

In the penultimate drawer I have the warboss and meganobz I plan to paint for this months CATCH, along with a few extra deffkoptas for my freebootaz force... I have something in mind for those guys...

In the final drawer I have a bunch of boyz and some stormboyz, for future CATCH phases.

Naturally there are then some things that just won't fit in the bloody drawers, like my truks and battlewagon for my steelrock tribe...

And my battlewagons and truck for my freebootaz...

Plus that prototype TUPOV launcher...

And of course, Nagash, the penal legion guard, the contents of Dreadfleet, Execution Force, Betrayal at Calth, Space Hulk, Overkill, a forge world flyer, about a dozen IG tanks just to match the others, the packed away into storage Empire army that I'll probably never finish but haven't the heart to get rid of, my long planned GW army chess sets, my long term plan to acquire replacement figures for all my old Talisman characters, the Battlefields worth of scenery for my Ork world, the several battlefields worth of scenery for my club, the starters sets for flames of war and DZC (again for the club) and of course a desire to do a shiny army of deathwath, a tzeentch force NOT lead by bigbird (the new model is an improvement but I'm still not a fan of how the creature looks at all, whereas I love the lesser daemons of that god) and now rumours about flashgitz on a collision course with Catachan, my first 40k army...

Suffice to say, I should probably concentrate on the grot revolution and the deffskulls last bits, in order to clear some drawer space for whatever next snatches my attention away from what I arguably should be working on...