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Quick update: I picked up my copy of Skaventide, which I am splitting with a friend (he's taking the Skaven and the Spearhead stuff, I'm keeping the Stormcast and the rulebook and GHB cards). Over the course of the last couple of days, I did get the whole Stormcast half assembled:

These models will be fun to paint, if I ever get around to them! I'm planning to do the Ruination Chamber guys' gold armor to look a little colder, which I might be able to achieve by shading them with Nuln Oil rather than the Reikland Fleshshade I usually use for a warm gold.

For those who are curious, I have gotten a couple of colors on my Tomb King on foot. No pics yet though, and I have yet to start on Ionus Cryptborn. I primed him by hand, after having a mishap trying to spray prime in this hot weather (a bunch of models I tried to prime, including the Tomb King that I'm painting, ended up a bit chalky ).

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, and I'll hopefully have more to share soon.

Oof. I live in dread of bad primes. I’ve only had a couple of them over the years, but one of them stalled out my eldar for years.

Egads, that's a bit of building, there. For getting a colder gold, you can also try shading with Drakenhof Nightshade. As far as the bad prime goes, first, condolences, second, I have heard that a coat of varnish can help. I haven't tried it, myself, but it could be worth looking into. On one mini, of course.

@Nev: In the words of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation: that's rough, buddy. I'll try not to let it kill my motivation too hard.

@YWS: Yeah, my fingers were sore from pushing stuff together, just like they were when I put Leviathan together. I might try the Drakenhof Nightshade, that sounds like a good idea for cold gold. As for the varnish on the chalky models, I might give it a try. I don't own any spray gloss varnish (never bothered with it despite many saying they use it on finished models to protect the paint), but maybe brush on matt varnish might work?

Time for a quick update on my Tomb King. I've gotten most of the base colors down on him, but I'm not sure how I should approach his skin (unlike the rank and file, the leadership of the Tomb Kings still have some flesh on their bones). I'll need to figure out something that'll look okay. Here's a WIP shot of where I've gotten to with him:

Sorry for the blurry photo, but as you can see he's starting to take shape. Mostly all contrast paint too, and the chalky prime isn't totally ruining things (but it's not helping matters any either). Naturally I'm figuring on a desert base scheme for my Tomb Kings, which shouldn't be too difficult.

Last night I fired up the 3D printer and managed to successfully print myself some Tomb Guard proxies from Highlands Miniatures:

These guys will do the job nicely. I subscribed to Highlands' patreon (might cancel soon as I only wanted this month since it was Tomb Kings stuff), and so for this month I got not only Tomb Guard with Halberds, but also full command (as seen here), Tomb Guard with hand weapons, 3 different Ushabti sculpts each with bows and hand weapons, 2 Tomb Swarms, a Screaming Skull Catapult, a Necrolith Colossus, and a couple of characters, plus some Tomb Guard chariot crew (to run the special Tomb Guard Chariots unit for the special Royal Guard army). The sculpts are all really cool and the models shown here printed nice and easily with no fails (one of them broke when I was removing the supports but that's probably my fault and I got it glued back together).

I really need to get started on Ionus Cryptborn soon. Got a basecoat done on the stonework on his base, but that's it so far. I should easily finish the Tomb King this month, and maybe, just maybe, the weather will be nice to me and I can get stuff primed. Until next time, stay classy everyone!

I've often wondered about their not-Empire range myself. Will be interested to see your TG painted up.

@Cap'n Facebeard: Welcome to the blog, friend! Highlands does a lot of good proxies for various Old World stuff, you should definitely consider them if you wanted to start an Old World army.

I finally finished the Tomb King (took me long enough to do one infantry figure, huh?). Nothing super exciting but here are the photos:



Army Painter Speedpaints were used for the majority of the model, although I did use some GW washes and metallics as well. Not sure how I feel about the Speedpaints metallics; they don't really get the "contrast" effect quite right IMO. Further testing on a model I didn't botch the primer on may be required. Overall I think I did okay, especially given the aforementioned bad primer job. Nothing super fancy and I definitely should have given some of the blues a second pass or something, but...eh. The model looks good from typical tabletop distance, so I'm happy to call it done. One new product (new to me, that is) I tried was the basing material, that being Monument Hobbies' Pro Acryl Golden Earth, which is basically like GW's Texture paints, but in a great color for desert sand. I'm definitely sold on it for use on all of my Tomb Kings bases, but I might grab some of their other texture colors as well considering they only cost about 15 bucks for a 120ml tub of the stuff (compare that to GW/Citadel's texture paints, which cost like 7-8 dollars for only 24ml, so 2.5x the unit price).

And now for something completely different. With the new edition for AoS now upon us, I decided to start putting paint on my Kruleboyz in earnest, starting with the contents of their Spearhead (I didn't buy the Spearhead box, but I have everything in it already). I've mainly been working on the Gutrippaz and they are nearly done, as can be seen in this pic:

Just a few details left to do plus some nice swampy bases. The only thing I'm just not sure about is the bright green skin, but honestly it contrasts okay with the drab colors of their clothing. I would add some brown shade to it to make them look dirty, but I wouldn't be able to readily fix it if I mess that up so I think I'll leave it be. These guys are perfect for painting with Speedpaints/Contrast. You may notice that I painted some of the base rims already; this is because I got way too much black paint out when I was doing the Tomb King's base rim and didn't want to waste the paint.

I started working on all the other models from the spearhead too, but didn't get nearly as far on those (I was bored one evening and decided to do as much as I could on all of them). Here's where they are at:

These models were also victims of the same bad primer job that messed up the Tomb King. Thankfully the Gutrippaz had been primed previously and so weren't affected. Lots more to do on these guys, as the focus recently has mainly been the Gutrippaz.

Next month's challenge theme is Beep Boop, and I think I'm going to keep it real simple and do the Iron Hands guy from Deathwatch Kill Team Cassius. I painted the jump pack guys from the squad back in like 2016 and haven't touched the rest of them since, so it'll be nice to get another one of them out of the pile of shame. At this point the models are for display only, as Deathwatch aren't an army anymore once Codex: Imperial Agents comes out. I'm sticking to one relatively easy model because I need to get Ionus Cryptborn done for the Centerpiece challenge. Only one month left to do him up, and I really haven't started yet. Maybe I better get on that, huh?

That TK model (is he a Tomb King or a Priest? I don't have that one in my little collection...). I like your take on the mummified skin.

TK came out looking quite cool. I like the swarm he's throwing out. New orcs seem to have come together quick. That's always nice

@Josh: The model is the Tomb King on foot that you get in the Necrosphinx kit if you build it as a Necrosphinx; the kit can also be built as a Tomb King on Khemrian Warsphinx. For the mummified skin, I just used Army Painter Speedpaints Brownish Decay, and it worked really well if I do say so myself. I'll probably use it on other mummified models for my Tomb Kings.

@YWS: Thank you! I'm a fan of the scarab swarm as well. As for the Kruleboyz, I'll just say that I love Contrast/Speedpaints for models like that. If I really could concentrate for long enough, I could probably knock out a unit like that in an afternoon, from bare primer to finished models except for the bases (which take time to dry).

Well, unfortunately I've let almost another whole month go by without updating my blog . I've really got to stop doing that, as it helps my motivation to stay posting regularly. I haven't done enough painting though, and so haven't had a whole lot of hobby progress to show, but then maybe what I've got is a vicious cycle where the less I paint, the less I blog, and the less I blog, the less I paint, and so on. I have, however, gotten some stuff done. Mainly, I've finished the Gutrippaz that I was working on. Here are the final pics of those:



I'm actually pretty proud of these guys, considering how much of a quick and dirty paintjob I gave them. My only real regret is not doing more water on their bases, as that's what really sells the whole swamp theme. The skin is almost a radioactive green, but honestly I like it; I'm not as big a fan of the more pale skin GW has been putting on the studio Orks and Orruks lately. Greenskinz iz suppozed ta be GREEN, ya zoggerz! I do also wonder if I should have put more blood on the weapons, but I didn't want to overdo it. I do enjoy any opportunity to use my Blood for the Blood God technical paint though; it's somehow satisfying to make models look like they've been doing some wet work recently.

As far as other painting goes, I managed to misplace my entry for the Beep Boop challenge. I have since found the model again, but at this point I'm not sure there's time to paint it, so I may just skip it and do something else in the meantime. As for my entry for the Centerpiece challenge, I have been doing some work on Ionus Cryptborn, but I seriously doubt he'll be ready in time as I've just kind of hit a wall with him. Here's where I've gotten to so far on him:

The red on his skin and scales is done, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I've also blocked in most of the colors on the base and even added some texture paint. There'll be plenty of water on it as well once I get to it. I haven't even touched the rider yet, and I'm stuck on doing the underside of the wings, as I want them to look good but I'm not sure how much shading to apply. I'm overthinking it of course, I should just add a liberal wash and then brighten it back up with some of the original color and then add some highlights with something brighter, but...eh. Even if I miss the challenge deadline, I do want to finish the model as it's really cool and I might actually display it with some of my other favorite models on the shelf in my living room.

I managed to find myself a set of the Kruleboyz Monsta Killaz Warcry warband and got them put together. I don't intend to ever play Warcry, but these guys have good rules for AoS and the models are amazing. Here they are in their gray plastic glory:

I really like all the dynamic poses on these models, and they'll be a joy to paint.

I also picked up some reinforcements for Hive Fleet Kukulkan, namely a Lictor and a couple of boxes of Tyranid Warriors that I built with the melee weapons:

I'm leaning more toward the Vanguard Onslaught detachment for my Tyranids collection currently, and these guys will help. Putting 6 melee Warriors with a Winged Prime makes a nasty little advance and charge threat, especially alongside the two bricks of 10 Genestealers with a Broodlord in each that I'm also rocking.

Sadly, those models might be the last new ones I pick up for a while unless I sell the rest of my MtG cards for store credit or something, because I recently had to get my car fixed (bad ignition coil, the engine was misfiring badly). Car repairs are expensive, kids, make sure you budget accordingly and don't be like me and grab all the new shinies. Thanks to a fair number of foolish purchases, I very nearly didn't have enough room on my credit card to cover the bill. Now I've got to dig myself out of debt, which means most likely no plastic crack for a while unless, as I said, I sell something to pay for it. I can still 3d print some stuff as needed, as I do have basically a full bottle of resin left. That'll most likely be used for more Tomb Kings stuff.

With those Gutrippaz done, that brings me to 25 miniatures painted for the year. Very disappointing, but still any progress is better than none. I've got some Termagants that are partly finished that I need to polish off that will also help pad out my numbers, so maybe I should just knuckle down and get those painted. Not sure what my block is with those either, it's not like they're hard to paint. I'll figure something out. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and I hope to have more progress to show soon.

Keep on cracking on Cryptborn. You could be struck with inspiration and get him done in time. The red is pretty rad already, I look forward to the finish.

Condolences for your financial woes. I, too, am grateful for access to a 3D printer for new toys at a mere fraction of the cost.

Lastly, you're right to be proud of the greenskins. They have turned out quite well. I hope the new recruits come together as quickly. You'll have a horde before you know it.

@YWS: Still haven't done much with Cryptborn; he's glaring at me from my desk. Not gonna rush him either; he deserves a good thoughtful paint job. I'm glad you like the Gutrippaz though. Thanks as always for the feedback!

Well, it's been a minute since I last posted, but in that time I have gotten some stuff done. Got a big photo dump incoming, and it's all finished stuff. I have other stuff that's WIP, but that's going to have to wait for another post.

First off, I finished the front half of a block of Skeleton Warriors for my Tomb Kings army. Now before you all start wondering why I didn't enter them into last month's painting comp, I had started them before October began, and they were already too far along by time October rolled around. I finished them only a couple of days ago, because hobby ADHD is a thing. Anyways, here's the photo evidence you're all waiting for by now:



Contrast paint/AP Speedpaint for the win, here. I didn't actually spend that much time on these guys; I just got distracted by other stuff. That said, I'm very happy with the results, and I'm glad I went with the deeper blue compared to the more teal color on the box art for these models. There's something very satisfying about seeing them fully painted and ranked up for battle; it'll be fun whenever I get around to actually playing some Old World. I still need to finish assembling the rest of my army for that.

I had a big Warhammer 40k tournament this past weekend, and for that I had to get a bunch of stuff painted (hence why I didn't finish those bone bois earlier). I mostly got everything to a minimum standard (played Dark Angels), and now this week I've been getting some of it more properly finished. I managed to get a whopping two models completely finished this week so far (on my Dark Angels list, that is). One of those is this Deathwing Champion, who has found a new lease on life as a Deathwing Knight Master:


He may not be a character anymore, and even the Command Squad has been removed from the game (unless you play Legends), but it's nice to actually get some use out of this model in some capacity. At least he's not stuck on shelf duty, he's too awesome for that.

The other Dark Angel I managed to finish is a character, and he's a key component of my current tournament list. The model in question is my Apothecary Biologis from the Leviathan box set, and here are his final photos:


While there are plenty of imperfections that I noticed while taking these pics, I'm really proud of this guy. It didn't take long to paint either, once again thanks to the magic of Contrast paint. I've said it before and I'll say it again, that stuff really is liquid talent, especially for lighter colored models like this. Painting this model also helps me on my "paint Leviathan" goal, which is also very nice. I love this sculpt, so I'm very glad it's useful in games.

Other than this I've got some Eradicators, some 3d printed Jump Intercessors, and some Deathwing Knights that are all WIP even if they are technically finished enough for tournaments. I've got an RTT this coming Sunday, so hopefully I can get a little more paint down before then. And hopefully I won't wait over 2 months to update this blog next time, eh?

Good to see you back!

Deathwing boys look very cool. Awesome work on the Undead, too. The shields and banner make for a striking appearance.

Love it all.

Having an easy scheme is needed for rank and file hordes like skeletons. Yours is looking good, I also like the blue.

Nice work on the marines. Both are looking sharp. How much Leviathan do you have left? I personally still got a chunk, but blame it on working both sides. Of course, I also have bits from the previous 2 starters in the to-do pile, but those are at least down to the dregs.

This month the comp topic is “Ancient” I know you have things you could enter. Pretty much any dusty old Tomb King mini would work. Even if it’s a stick of 5 skeletons to add a rank to that unit.

Good to see you still painting.

@YWS: Good to be back. I'm pretty happy with how my skelly bois turned out myself, particularly the blue details.

@Nev: Yeah thankfully my Tomb Kings scheme is pretty simple overall, at least for the rank and file guys. There's going to be a LOT of those to paint, so a quick and easy scheme is essential. As for Leviathan, I've got most of that box left to do. I haven't actually finished any of the Nids yet, and I'm less than half done with the Marines. Maybe over the winter I can knock out a good chunk of the Nids, as I was originally hoping to have my Nids army ready to go by next spring, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. So many projects, so little time as well as energy.

Proof of life update time. I haven't done a whole lot of painting, but also not zero. I've mainly been doing some assembly. I put together a brick of Skeleton Archers for my Tomb Kings project, so here those are (8x2, so 16 dudes total):

It's somehow satisfying to rank them all up in a unit, more so than in other games. These guys, if I can somehow get them primed (tricky to do in the winter), will be very quick to paint.

And now, as if I need YET ANOTHER PROJECT, I've gone and dove into a third AoS army, thanks to selling the last of my MtG cards. The army in question is Lumineth Realm-Lords, and my reason was that I got a fun idea in my head for how they'll ultimately be painted. I'm planning to theme the army's paint scheme(s) on the nations of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Vanari units will be Fire Nation, Alarith units will be Earth Kingdom, Hurakan units will be Air Nomads, and Ydrilan Riverblades will be Water Tribe. Characters will be done appropriate to whichever one they match the closest (pretty sure with a head swap I could make a Hurakan Windmage into a passable Airbender, as an example). So far all I've picked up are the Spearhead and a box of Riverblades, as that's all the money I got from selling my cards. Anyways, I got the Spearhead all assembled, so here they are:

Once I actually started building these guys, I really knew I'd be able to make them look like Fire Nation, as their armor does look somewhat Asian-inspired as do the uniforms seen in the Avatar shows. The Scinari Cathallar is going to be tricky, as I'm not sure how well she fits into any of the four nations. I'll figure it out. The army will at least be different, as most Lumineth armies I've seen are all in bright colors (whites, light pinks, blues) and mine will be mostly dark reds and orange and black. If I grab any Alarith units, they'll get the various green colors of the Earth Kingdom. Hurakan Windchargers (and their associated characters) will wear the red and yellow robes of the Air Nomads, although sadly their armor will prevent me from giving them the arrow tattoos of Airbenders. And once I get my Riverblades put together and painted, they'll be in blues, whites, and grays like the Water Tribe. The army will be a slow-grow project, as I've got other things with much higher priority.

I did get a tiny bit of paint done over the last three weeks or so, mainly in one or two short sessions. I worked on my Beast-skewer Killbow for my Kruleboyz, so here's the WIP shot of it:

Still lots of work to be done, but it's getting there. I had originally hoped to have the whole Kruleboyz spearhead force done by the end of the year, but I don't know if that's going to happen at this point. What's more, all of it is already started, so I can't use it for the December painting challenge either.

Speaking of the December challenge, it's the traditional open round, so I can pick anything in my collection to work on. I'm actually not sure what I want to do. I'm leaning towards either something Stormcast, or perhaps something from the world of Middle-Earth. We'll have to see what I'm in the mood for. Thanks as always for looking!

I like your Tomb Kings so far. TK were my favorite undead faction after the army was split into Vampires and Mummies.

Keep plugging away!

The Avatar themed army sounds fun. I vaguely know that the AoS elf range has elemental themes, but not enough to know who’s in what camp. Be sure that you keep enough elements consistent so the army as a whole looks cohesive. That should be doable, and the results should be fun!

Everything was going great until the Fire Nation attacked...

Awesome idea! Can't wait to see it take shape.

@Josh: Thanks! I was always interested in Tomb Kings back in the old WHFB days, but I never took the plunge and then they switched to AoS. Now I have a chance to actually make myself an army of them, and it's been fun so far.

@Nev: The elemental themes are stronger for certain units and more vague for others, but honestly I still think it'll be fun to interpret them in the colors of the four nations. Keeping elements consistent will be the hard part; I'm planning to do similar basing for all of them, but maybe that's not enough. Will need to have a long hard think.

@YWS: Yeah, ol' Firelord Sozin sure made a mess, didn't he? I'm looking forward to this project more eagerly than a lot of others, but it'll honestly probably be a slow-grow deal, as other things will have higher priority for my time and budget.

Mostly a quick proof of life post this time around. I chose to paint my Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows for the monthly challenge, and I'm actually mostly done with them. Here's where they are at currently:

Still some small details to pick out, and the bird on the leader's arm will be an interesting challenge, but we're definitely almost there. The really sad part is, if I get these done, I still only tie last year's tally of finished models. I wonder if I could squeeze out a few more of my currently WIP models just for the little win of painting more than I did last year. Not sure I'm gonna have time or energy for that though; working retail during the holidays has really been taking it out of me.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and have a good day to those who don't. Thanks as always for stopping by and looking!

Good stuff, ZergSmasher. Don't worry too much about numbers. Bare minimum, you didn't paint LESS than last year. And every finished model is a win in itself. Looking forward to seeing the Stormcast in the challenge.

Merry Xmas!

Some years have higher numbers then others, but progress is progress. And each year has it’s own challenges for getting through. Not all are created equal, so you can only compare them so much.

Good progress, keep at it.

I like those crossbow dudes so far. How are you shading the gold? I have never had a lot of success with TMM, which is part of why I'm doing NMM pretty much exclusively these days.

I wouldn't worry too much about yearly numbers. A few years back, I challenged myself to complete one model a day (365 for the year). I pulled it off, but a) I used up almost all of my storage space and b) I can't really say that was my best work. By all means, keep production up, but I think focusing on quality over quantity is the way to go.

@YWS: Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. Every model painted is a small victory.

@Nev: True story. I tend to look at raw stats without thinking about how each year went outside of my hobby. Thanks for the encouragement as always.

@Josh: The gold is shaded with Reikland Fleshshade, which helps to give a warm hue to the gold. For me, TMM is the way to go; NMM would drive me crazy trying to get the blending right to make it look good. As for my numbers, the reason I worry a bit about them is that my pile of shame is growing, not shrinking. While one seemingly logical solution is to just not buy anything, anyone who's been in this hobby more than five minutes knows that isn't going to happen. So the only way I'm going to make a dent in it is to just get stuff done, even if it isn't all totally amazing. Hence my 100 minis per year goal that I haven't come close to since 2021...

Sneaking across the finish line in the early hours of the last day of the year, here are my final minis for 2024, Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows for my AoS Stormcast Eternals:



These guys were fun to paint, no two ways about it. Not the most amazing models GW has ever made by a long shot, but I think they're cool, and I'm happy with how I was able to make them look. A decent way for me to close out the year.

In other news, I had already built all of this stuff before my last post, but now I'll show pictures. I had a little bit of Christmas money and snagged some Stormcast stuff. Here are some Reclusians that I can combine with the ones from the Skaventide box to make a full reinforced unit:

These ones came from the actual kit; possibly more expensive than sourcing the starter set ones on eBay or something but this way I get more variety of poses, plus the Memorians look different.

I also grabbed a box of Stormstrike Paladors and put them together:

I need to get a second box of these to build as regular dudes so I can run a reinforced squad; I'm not in a huge hurry on that front as they cost too many points for what they do in-game. The models are awesome though.

I also bought a second unit of Prosecutors from a friend who was selling some of his Stormcast stuff, but those look just like the starter set ones and so don't really need a picture. My Ruination Chamber is starting to come together. I might eventually want to add a Morrgryph (either the generic or the named character), as it's a cool model, but again it's kind of a low priority.

Finally, for Christmas I was given the Kickstarter edition of the Dune: War for Arrakis game by my father. He had backed the kickstarter for the game himself, but later realized he wasn't ever going to do anything with it so he gave it to me since he knows I like games with miniatures (and Dune!). Talk about a great Christmas haul! I even got the Smugglers and Spacing Guild expansions for a total of 150+ minis. Now I have three big box games like that: Dune, Ankh: Gods of Egypt, and Primal. I suspect my 2025 is going to be cut out for me, as I want to get busy on those games, and I might be taking a break from 40k for a bit.

My next post in this blog will be my customary year end review, so look forward to that in the next day or two. In any case, have a happy New Year if I don't see you all before then!

Sweet finish on the Stormcast. The bird makes for a nice splash of another color. If I ever got back into GW fantasy...I would probably play Undead or Witch Elves, honestly, but the Stormcast have always been tempting. Cool models. I look forward to seeing the Dune minis start rolling out. Spice must flow and all that. Happy New Year!

Is that a Norwegian Blue? Beautiful plumage…

Nice work on the stormcast, both painted and built. Sounds like you’ve got a lot of minis to look forward to in the new year!

@YWS: Thanks buddy! I wanted the bird to stand out, hence why I went with a different color from anything else on the model. Stormcast have the advantage of a wide range of models, so there's kind of something for everyone in the faction. Hopefully I can get working on Dune sooner rather than later, but we'll see.

@Nev: Not sure what a Norwegian Blue is, but thanks for the compliment. Yeah, I've got my work cut out for me in 2025...

And now for what we've all been waiting for, my annual year end review. It was another mediocre year in terms of raw numbers, but I'm pretty happy with the quality of what I'm pumping out. My numbers would have been higher if I had actually FINISHED stuff instead of stopping halfway on so many things; more on that later. Anyway, as with previous years, let's have a picture of all of this year's finished models:

Unlike the previous year, where I pretty much painted all one thing, this time I did a wide variety of things. Here's the breakdown:
WARHAMMER 40,000:
3 Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons
5 Dark Angels Infernus Marines
Dark Angels Apothecary Biologis
Dark Angels Deathwing Champion
Dark Angels Redemptor Dreadnought
Dark Angels Stormraven Gunship
WARHAMMER AGE OF SIGMAR:
3 Stormcast Eternals Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows
10 Kruleboyz Gutrippaz
WARHAMMER THE OLD WORLD:
Tomb King on Foot
10 Tomb Kings Skeleton Warriors
ALIENS: ANOTHER GLORIOUS DAY IN THE CORPS:
4 Xenomorphs
Models for 4 different game systems and multiple factions within two of them, so like I said the variety was there. So, how did I do on my goals? Here is what they are, or were:

1: As is tradition for me, my first goal is to paint 100 models, of any game system or combination thereof. 40 models in a year just isn't going to cut it. I really do need to keep knocking stuff out if I want to complete projects.
2: Get another army tournament-ready. This would mean having 2k points of either a 40k, AoS, or Kings of War army, or 500+ points of Middle-Earth, or a 300-point force of Infinity, etc. Ones I've already got to that level obviously don't count.
3: Gonna go ahead and repeat my goal of painting at least something that is not GW. I've got plenty of candidates these days. That kickstarter that has now been delayed for like 2 years past its original planned release is finally going to be delivered this year, unless something very odd happens, so maybe I'll get started on that.
4: Play a decent variety of games. Obviously I'll play more 40k as it's my main game, but I'm hoping to restart Middle-Earth locally as well (had a little bit of interest), and I hope to finally actually play some Age of Sigmar. Might even squeeze in some Kill Team as well.
5: Knock out more big models. Last year I only did one vehicle, and maybe you'd count a Primarch as a big model, but otherwise it was all infantry. I've got a decent motor pool for several of my 40k armies, as well as some decently big AoS things (like Stormdrakes), and even a few monsters for Middle-Earth (Mordor Trolls, Spider Queen).
6: Knock out a few things that are currently (as of this post) partially painted. Models shouldn't have to sit in painting purgatory forever, and I need to actually finish stuff.
7: Get back to working on clipping all my leftover bits and putting them into the bits boxes. This will help with my apartment clutter situation, as I've got boxes sitting around all over the place with mostly-empty sprues. One issue with this is that newer 40k kits have bits that are much more specific and can't just go with any old models, so it's harder to actually use leftover bits. We'll have to see.
8: As is tradition, I'll go with my old standby "paint more than I buy" goal. We all know this probably won't happen, as I tend to get new shiny syndrome pretty badly, but the attempt should be made.
Bonus: Paint a bunch of stuff for a boxed game. I've got several canditates, including Ankh, Aliens: AGDITC, and the upcoming Primal: The Awakening, and I might also count Guildball or Godtear for this. Might not get a whole game done, but as long as I get a good amount I'll be happy.

And the results on those goals:
1: Another massive failure; to quote King Theoden of Rohan: "Less than half of what I'd hoped for." I gotta quit letting real life get in the way. It's just an excuse at this point, my life isn't that complicated. I don't have kids or even a committed relationship currently, and my job, while stressful at times (I work retail), shouldn't be taking so much out of me that I can't hobby. I get not wanting to rush stuff and making nice models look like crap, but I do want to finish models and I'm not doing nearly enough of that.
2: This was also a failure, as I didn't paint enough of any one thing to accomplish this. This may not have been a good goal, as it pigeonholed me into needing to focus on one thing more than I wanted to.
3: I did paint some models from the Aliens game, so I guess that counts? I'll take it, a small win for the year.
4: I mainly played 40k, but I did also get my first small games of Age of Sigmar in (Spearhead is great for learning the game). I might count playing some Axis & Allies with friends too, so I'll go ahead and claim the win here.
5: I painted both a Redemptor and a mighty Stormraven, so this one did get done. I also partially painted a few more dreads, but sadly didn't finish them this year.
6: I'll take partial credit only here, as the only partially painted thing I finished was the Redemptor.
7: I didn't touch the bits, so this one's a fail.
8: Hahaha no. I let new shiny syndrome get the better of me. I don't think it was as bad as last year, as car trouble kept my spending in check mostly.
Bonus: I did four xenomorphs, and I don't consider that enough for this goal. Gonna have to call this one a fail.

So, 3.5/8 for the goals, not including the bonus. Better than last year, but still not great. But, if I made my goals too easy, I wouldn't have anything to strive for, would I? Anyways, time for some new goals for 2025:
1: As ever, my goal for the year is to finish 100 models, in any combination of games/systems/armies. Rules are the same, massive models still only count as one. Gotta pump my numbers up, we've been having rookie numbers for too long.
2: Paint some non-GW models. This year, this might actually be kind of a free space, so I'll set a specific goal of 30+ non-GW models done. This might seem kind of high, but to reach it I'll have to actually put some effort in towards my box games probably.
3: Continue to play some non-40k games. This could end up being another free space, as right now I'm planning to take at least a few months off of playing 40k. We'll see if I can stay away for that long. I'll make a specific goal of playing at least 6 games of stuff that isn't 40k.
4: Paint a variety of both leaders, mooks, and monsters/vehicles. I feel like I did okay with this last year, but I want to continue the trend. Not sure what specific numbers I'll aim for, so this one's perhaps a bit nebulous, but...eh.
5: Finish painting some stuff that is currently WIP. Minimum of 10 models that were partially painted at the end of 2024. I'm tired of leaving dregs behind; my numbers for 2024 would have been somewhat better if I had just made myself actually finish things instead of losing interest halfway through.
6: For a more specific and focused goal: Finish, or at least make good progress on, either the Leviathan starter set (40k 10th), Skaventide Stormcast half (AoS 4th), or the Dominion set (AoS 3rd). Maybe I should add the Pelennor Fields set as part of this (Middle-Earth), or the Tomb Kings of Khemri starter box (Old World). Starter boxes make nice easy project goals.
7: I'll repeat last year's goal of dealing with my bits box situation. Some stuff is going to go to the FLGS to donate to their own bits collection, but other stuff needs to be sorted by me into the appropriate boxes. It would really help with the clutter in my apartment.
8: Another repeat goal, and one I think most hobbyists should share: Paint more stuff than I buy. This is going to be a tall order this year, as I'm already planning on picking up both the Battle for Edoras box (the new Middle-Earth starter) and the Death Korps of Krieg army set whenever it drops, as well as a few other things. It's a tough goal, but the attempt must be made.
Bonus: Keep up with this blog better. Nevelon does a great job keeping up with his, and there's no reason I can't do the same. Hell, it might help me with motivation, as I'd hate to be due to make another blog post and have nothing to show for it, after all.

I'm trying to have more specific goals than I did last year, hence why I put actual numbers in some of them. Others are deliberately left a bit nebulous, because I don't know what a good number would be for them. Hopefully I can make some of them happen.

Finally, in keeping with years of tradition at this point, here are my top 5 favorite models I painted in 2024:

5: Stormraven Gunship

This thing was pretty beat up when I got it, so I was happy to not only fix it up but finally give it a decent paint job. I also love the model despite how silly it is.

4: Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows

I really had fun painting these guys, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out overall.

3: Gutrippaz

In spite of the fact that I think their armor ended up way too shiny, I really am happy with how they turned out. Lessons learned for the next batch of Kruleboyz.

2: Redemptor Dreadnought

I love these chonky bois, and I had a lot of fun painting this one. I still need to finish painting all his bros though.

1: Apothecary Biologis

This is probably the coolest of the Space Marines from the Leviathan set (although the Combi-weapon Lieutenant gives him a run for his money). I had a ton of fun painting this guy, and I couldn't be happier with how he turned out.

So there you have it. I have some new goals, and I've set a decently high bar for myself in terms of quality too. Happy New Year, DakkaDakka!

Do we live in a world where people don’t know the Monty Python dead parrot sketch? Sad times.

You did paint a good variety of things, and at a quality level. Sure, the volume might not have been where you wanted, but was still not too shabby. I did a poll a bit ago, and about half the respondents paint less then 50 models a year. Sure, there are people who bang out 300+ models a year, but your volume is actually pretty typical. Not that stretching is a bad thing. One perk about having a lot of half-finished projects is they should help boost your numbers! So get them off the back bench and to the finished shelf.

If you want to put some numbers on 4, I might go with “Two of each” for hero/mook/monster(tank). It’s a good idea, and one I also needed to set for 2025. I’m OK with mooks and HQs, but hate tanks. And they are piling up.

Your top 5 all look great! And a reminder that I forgot to pick my own...

@Nev: I know, I know, I'm my own worst critic. I am happy in general with the quality of my work. And thanks for the suggestion for doing two of each for the categories; I think I can do more than that, but that'll make a good benchmark. I can see why you'd hate tanks, given your usual method of painting models. They don't take contrast paint well at all (too many flat surfaces). Personally I find them a refreshing change from painting all the infantry. Bikes are what I don't enjoy painting, even though they're really cool when they're done.

Well, new year is upon us truly, so it's back to the painting bench. I've already gotten some progress done on my entry for the January painting challenge:

Having to work around the bad prime from last year is really becoming a nuisance, as I had to put down two coats of Speedpaints Tidal Wave on the blue shields to get them to look okay (considering adding a third to be honest). If you look close you can really see the graininess too. Oh well, at least these are basic troops and they will look okay from tabletop viewing distance. Next steps will be to drybrush the bone with Ushabti Bone and/or Screaming Skull, and then basecoat the metallics.

In other news, I picked up the new Middle-Earth starter set, Battle of Edoras. Seeing new plastic troop models for Middle-Earth is great; the old Warriors of Rohan kit came out in 2002 and has been showing its age for many years now. The new ones are going to be a bit fiddly to put together due to them being a smaller scale compared to Warhammer stuff, but I think I can handle it. I did get the two Rohan hero models put together though:

I went with the helmet option for Hama, but left Haleth's head bare. No real reason, I just wanted to do it that way. These models are really nice, and went together fairly easily although I will say that there are some pretty small parts so I was afraid of losing any on the carpet (didn't happen though). I'll probably work my way through assembling the rest of the box set over the next couple of weeks (or longer, depending on how fast I work).

I'm probably going to pick up the new Kruleboyz stuff when it drops, but I may in fact skip the Death Korps box. I'm just not sure I need what's in it, and despite some recent windfall around the holidays money is still a little bit tight. I have no nostalgia for Death Korps of Krieg or anything, and the more I look at the Death Rider models the less I like them (like wtf is up with those horses' feet?!). As much as I'm interested in getting my Astra Militarum army up to tournament standards, I'm not sure it's going to happen this edition. Of course, my whims are mercurial and later on I may change my mind of course. In the meantime, I'll just keep on painting, as always.

That's a fine spread of models for the year. Painting for numbers isn't all it's cracked up to be-- you run out of storage space fast that way.

You're making some fine progress on the skellies, as well.

@Josh: Thanks for the encouragement! I'm not worried about numbers just for my ego or anything-I just want to get stuff done! My pile of potential will never get smaller if I don't actually finish models. As for storage space, most of the unpainted models are already taking up space, in some cases more than they will take once painted as they are in subassemblies.

Quick proof-of-life post, progress has been made on the skelly bois:

Next steps will be to shade and highlight the metallics, then a quick cleanup pass if necessary, then do the bases. I might need to do another bone drybrush pass too, as the one I did isn't showing up very much.

In other news, work proceeds slowly on assembling the Middle-Earth dudes, and I did get some brush on primer on a handful of the Dune minis (just a few of the vehicles). Brush priming is kind of a pain in the butt on anything bigger than an infantry figure, or something with as many surfaces as an ornithopter! I may just have to wait for a window in the weather to prime the rest.

Tomorrow marks the end of yet another orbit around the day-star for me, my 38th, to be exact. I rarely celebrate; I didn't even take off of work or anything. I'll probably try to get some hobby done after work, as usual, and hang out with my brother on Saturday as my only real acknowledgment of the occasion (tomorrow is his birthday too, and we aren't twins-I'm exactly 3 years older than him). Until next time, stay classy!

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great one.