Well, I'm not going to finish anything in the next 27 hours, so let's wrap it up.
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| currently on the mat |
My son's beautiful eyes still glow in the daylight, don't you worry about that, but now that he's running around and not a little potato baby I am less willing to post photos on the blog. Other than that, this has been as crazy a year as everyone always complains in these things - changed roles at work, juggling parenting and a far more stressful role (and for less pay, thanks inflation) without the ability to work as flexibly (see parenting) has meant that finding time for hobby things is very hard.
Only two pieces, but big, army centrepiece type guys. People responded really well to ꙮ, which I found surprising and delightful. thanks, everyone
I also got a tattoo.
Miniature Count: 2
February 2025
February saw the discipline pay off, with the corrupted Death Guard project (mortem tyrannis) completed - well, except the forthcoming-at-the-time Lord of Poxes, who had to wait until October - which is a huge huge huge achievement for me. This was an accidental project that I stumbled into by doing a 'oh wouldn't it be fun if ---' that then turned into an actual army. It's also the one of the only army project I've ever actually regarded as complete. I'm forty-one.
Defilers are meant to be based now, but I hate tenth edition anyway so I will only get around to doing that if I can be bothered. Similarly, Nurglings are in a bit of a weird place now, but those bases were so fun to do that I have no regreats.
...hrm, I did a photoshoot with my partner, but I can't find the whole-of-army shot except on Instagram. I'll have to ask her. Anyway, go to my Instagram to see it.
I also did some noodling with Middle Earth-esque miniatures, but they don't really count.... yet.
Miniature Count: 13 (bases count as 1!)
I also got a tattoo.
March 2025
Bit of a strange one. I took a little break from the Discipline and did a couple tiny side projects. This has actually been pretty healthy this year and helped keep me motivated even during slumps, which is really good! But it also makes discipline way harder, because 'oh it's just a little break, go on' is so hard to resist.
- Project: Kúrekar - ridiculous Viking cowboys
- Fantasy roller derby - I didn't post these folks here because I want to also do a review of the game my friend wrote at the same time. This is a casualty of Arthur, as it's been hard to find time to play the fantasy roller derby game!
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| also i haven't come up with a good team name |
Somewhat ironically, I also managed three games this month! I'd had a chat with the manager of the local GW, who has kids himself. He pointed out that the way to actually play games is to just schedule them and then work toward playing the game. You can always cancel!
- 500-point Horus Heresy 2 (Blood Angels vs Death Guard); Victory.
- 1000-credit Necromunda 2018* (Slave Ogryns vs Escher); Victory.
- 1000-point Horus Heresy 2 (Adeptus Custodes vs Death Guard); Loss.
I also painted some terrain, but that all got wrapped up in June so let's count it there...
Miniature Count: 26
Game Count: 3 (2-0-1)
April 2025
Arthur's birthday (and mine). Actually an incredibly productive month, but it all has to wait until June...
May 2025
Still working on that terrain, but I did also finish
- A new recon lance for Goblin's Paladins:
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| Recon Lance, mercenary company Goblin's Paladins |
I haven't posted them here because I'm planning on a whole refit for the Battletech stuff I own, and I anticipated this being the 'next big project' following the one I finished in June - but then a different project became a priority, and it's still being worked on. I'll talk more about this below.
- Infinity demo game (Bakunin Nomads vs Yu Jing); Victory**
- 400PV Battletech Alpha Strike (Magistcracy/mercenary vs pirates); Loss
- 3-officer Turnip28 (both vanilla); Victory
Miniature Count: 30
Game Count: 6 (4-0-2)
I put together a list of core terrain and a few would-like-to-haves. Some of those haven't eventuated (I wanted to build a sunken windmill and a few terrace houses), but I did finish:
Impassable Terrain (6x6")
- Rotting Fish
- Drowned Tower
Defensible Terrain (6 x 6")
- Sunken House
- Ruin
Dangerous Terrain (9x 9")
- Finger Forest
- Tooth Pits (in three pieces)
- Tooth Bog
- Normal Swamps but with Weird Guys (in three pieces)
Walls/Cover (6x1")
- Regular wattle fences x2
- Tooth walls x2
I rarely build and paint terrain (I have a huge intimidating mountain for the desert project...), so this is huge for me. Very pleased with myself. Made a plan, stuck to it, it took two months longer than planned, way to go me. Counting each piece as a miniature.
Looking at the table in front of me and my instagram, there are at least three Battletech 'Mechs that I haven't posted anywhere... I may have been waiting until I finished another lance. Hm. Well, get a preview here.
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| am pleased with the camo though |
It's the only one that I can find in my photo reel, so now I'm not sure when I painted the other two. I won't count it for now; they can count next year, I suppose? I hope.
Miniature Count: 46
Game Count: 6 (4-0-2)
July 2025
I 100% confess that I hit a bit of a wall after all that Turnip28 terrain. It was a lot of pushing out of my comfort zone, a lot of painting mud, and a lot of stress when things didn't work. I also was so focused on being Disciplined that I didn't.... undercoat anything... and then winter came, and I couldn't undercoat anything. So July saw me work on a lot of already undercoated things:
- Civilians for several game systems/settings
- Necromunda Escher gang from a failed Old World Army Challenge
- Hag28 warband
- Imjin War Koreans for Ronin
- Unposted - three characters for my Age of Sigmar Flesh Eater Courts project. I'll be posting here when this (again, accidental, sprawling, years-long, sigh) project gets finished - it's on The List - but in the meantime I don't post about it here:
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| the executioner of the King-Who-Heals; her hands are clean |
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| the white-robed diplomat; the open book |
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| the one who rules in place, the Arch-Regent |
6. I also haven't posted some terrain I've done for Scabz. I've frozen in indecision about how to do the actual ships for Scabz, so this project hasn't moved since July 2025. It was meant to be a quick, easy one while still on a roll from the Turnip terrain but I got all jammed up.
Here's a sampler though:
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| this used to be a dog toy (: |
Now that I'm posting this, that's a lot of models, god damn.
Miniature Count: 86
Game Count: 6 (4-0-2)
August 2025
August saw the 'undercoated stuff' pile continue to diminish. Not really Disciplined but it reduces the pile of shame (and 'undercoated and forgotten' is way more shameful than 'purchased and shelved', lemme tell ya).
- I finished this awful graveyard complex which was only tolerable because of some fun bits from Gardens of Hecate tutorials
- I also finished off two Heresy-era Death Guard models. I don't blog those here, so here you go:
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| pre-Heresy Death Guard Spartan (yes that's been on the undercoated pile a while) |
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| pre-Heresy Death Guard Centurion |
- Blade and Rifle playtest; Victory
- 1500-point Heresy 3 (Custodes vs Death Guard); Victory
Miniature Count: 89 (counting that graveyard complex as 1 because I'm not counting the bits)
Game Count: 8 (6-0-2)
September 2025
I merged the two folk horror warbands I painted across late August-October into one post here, so this will appear twice, but, yes, my 'break' of undercoated miniatures got distracted with two miniature projects - but these had sat in a drawer for years and years, so this is another big win as far as I'm concerned.
do not note that i haven't posted here about all the new indie rulesets i have bought tho
- Sylvan Warband
- Unposted - Death Guard veterans
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| Death Guard veterans |
Miniature Count: 110
Game Count: 8 (6-0-2)
October 2025
October was also productive, especially in a 'finishing bits' way.
- The other folk horror warband
- The actual last miniature of corrupted Death Guard (pending new releases with 11th edition)
- Heresy Death Guard:
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| Cataphractii squad |
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| Grave Warden |
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| Grave Warden |
Being kicked in the teeth by Heresy 3 meant that I finally ordered the bits to make the Cataphractii and finish the Grave Warden squad (bringing it to 7-strong). See, still Disciplined!!!
Also, the folk horror band were done as a reward after the Cataphractii squad. So there.
Miniature Count: 137
Game Count: 8 (6-0-2)
November 2025
Oof, November was rough for painting. I hurt my back and work really ramped up the interpersonal stress, with a colleague who treated me and my team quite terribly. Not a pleasant time, and corresponding inefficiencies in the hobby department!
- Heresy Death Guard:
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| Siegemaster, Legio XIV |
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| Rhino, Legio XIV |
I had to paint up a new siegemaster - well, I didn't have to, as I doubt my regular opponents would object to me giving mine different equipment, but I like this sculpt - and I wanted a rhino to transport the heavy flamer squad (who have an annoying tendency to just die immediately), so here we go. I still hate painting tanks, by the way, but this one did go pretty quickly. Probably helps that I fucked up the rear hatch and so had to glue it closed.
I did famously get a few games in this month though, even if our car did die (sorry again, Musterkrux):
- 1500-point Heresy 2/Badab War; (Space Sharks vs Mantis Warriors); Victory
- 1500-point Heresy 2/Badab War; (Imperial Guard vs Mantis Warriors); Victory
- 1500-point Heresy 2/Badab War; (Salamanders vs Mantis Warriors); Defeat
- 1500-point Heresy 2/Badab War; (Howling Griffons vs Mantis Warriors); Defeat
Miniature Count: 139
Game Count: 12 (8-0-4)
December 2025
Between the ends of my mediocre work year, weirdo back pain, and Christmas Itself, I have dragged myself to the end of the year in the hobby.
- I finally finished the rapier squadron (the original has been in the cabinet for years), and while I really love the new plastic kit I do not feel like I even came close to doing it justice.
Rapier squadron, Legio XIV - I did knock over a mini-project in three days, which is a Nice Feeling.
No games, of course. This might be a place to mention that I did play in the Goonhammer over-Discord Online Battletech Tournament -- and lost all three games soundly. It was a lot of fun! But online gaming doesn't count,**** so therefore my final record is:
Miniature Count: 154
Game Count: 12 (8-0-4)
That's... pretty good, actually. I didn't count last year, but I think I can comfortably say that I painted at least triple what got finished in 2024! Wow! Now I see why everyone does these year-in-review posts!
As for what I vaguely planned last year:
For 2025, I am trying to stay focused. As you can probably tell, early in 2024 I decided to pivot to staying as project-focused as possible. While I have lots of ideas for armies or skirmish forces or Blood Bowl teams or entire re-enactment scenarios or campaigns or --- ahem --- if I stay focused, I can not only get more done, but I can knock some things away. Which is very satisfying.
Death Guard soon. Then a distraction project. (I'm only mortal!) Then hopefully finishing another big project. The irony, of course, is that the 40k Death Guard were themselves originally a minor distraction project - "I'd like to paint those old plastics," I said to myself...
Okay, fine. Enough. Time to work on that Plagueburst Crawler.... ooh, what's this over here...
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| Here's Arthur looking at a neighbourhood cat (November 2025) |
**I don't care that Monsterkrux was being nice, it counts.
***The double turn is incredibly bad game design.
****Would it count if I had done better? We'll never know.
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