The Sisyphus 2026 Pile of Shame Invitational Challenge

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**hotsauceman1**

Oh lol, i should have mnetioned these are the things i want done. I might drop my HH, 3rd edition caused it to fizzle in the area.
But also ignore my entire Tau army and sister army un painterd that will be next. and Kahdor

**The Newman**

Finished the 30 small commission models. I'm still not sure what faction this stuff actually belongs to.

**Da Boss**

Spoiler:

Got the last of my Forge Fathers done. Up to 160 minis for the year so far. I picked up a Luke Skywalker mini for a friend's birthday present and this thread helped to prevent me from grabbing a whole big box of Landsknechts as well.

**UR-025**

Congratulations on your progress!

**hotsauceman1**

I cut my progress in half and deleted half my list......
Bu biting the bullet and selling my HH bar a few key units

**Da Boss**

Selling stuff is a totally legitimate way to tackle the Pile imo.

**hotsauceman1**

Da Boss wrote:
Selling stuff is a totally legitimate way to tackle the Pile imo.

its hard because it always feels like im admitting i made a mistake

**Easy E**

I painted two Yeti for Heroquest. Not even worth updating the big board with that yet.

**Da Boss**

Spoiler:

Got my last battlemechs and tanks primed, so they're added to the "working pile".

**LunarSol**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Da Boss wrote:
Selling stuff is a totally legitimate way to tackle the Pile imo.

its hard because it always feels like im admitting i made a mistake

Admitting I'd made mistakes was what let me avoid making those mistakes in the future. I've gotten to where I don't buy things unless I plan to paint them immediately and its largely helped keep the pile under control.

**The Newman**

I tend to buy stuff in big blocks because I want enough stuff to actually play with, that occasionally bites me when I don't like an army. Then again, I have no problem painting an entire army and then turning around and selling it.

Speaking of which, just finished up all the brute size models in this commission batch of Crypt Ghouls or whatever the heck these things are.

**boyd**

2026 has been a mixed bag for me and my health (specifically gut health due to Crohn’s disease). Started the year in the hospital and came home reinvigorated with my TOW High Elves. I painted up 32 spearmen, 2 chariots, 18 Phoenix Guards, 1 Prince and 1 BSB (last 2 models from the Phoenix Guard box, and assembled 32 archers. All of that was done in January. February was a good month as I based all of the models and painted a Lore Master. Got a couple of movement trays (check out Warsenal as they have some great stuff!) put together and then I assembled some 12 Silver Helms. Now it’s March and I’ve been back and forth in the Hospital again and am expecting surgery, again. I’ve primed my Archers and am finishing up painting my Silver Hems (did them in 2 batches of 6).

On the HH/40k front I bought, assembled, and primed the Huron box. I found a couple of boxes of Warp Talons in my pile of shame along with 2 forge fiends and the CSM dragon model. Working on them in the background too.

**Easy E**

I finished painting up all the Rise of the Dread Moon expansion, and now I am moving onto The Frozen Horror next......

I have more detailed and individual photos on my blog here:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2026/03/on-painting-desk-rise-of-dread-moon-for.html

**durecellrabbit**

I noticed some historical miniatures/companies closing, so I've been panic buying just in case. That's all I'm going to say about my unpainted pile.

Last year I only painted like 24 models. Starting this month I've been trying to get back into the hobby. So far this year I've painted 12 ashigaru, and am painting another 12. Got a plan for some samurai and then I'll have a sonae for Warlord's Samurai supplement. If I ever get it done I'll take a photo.

**Easy E**

Easy E wrote:
Stuff I owned in 2025 that Needed Paint

Heroquest: Spirit Queen's Torment - Full Box
Heroquest: Prophecy of Telor- Full Box
Heroquest: Jungles of Delthrak- Full Box
Heroquest: Frozen Horror- Full Box (I missed this one in my initial write-up)

Stuff I Painted in 2026 from 2025

Heroquest: Mage in the Mirror- Elves
Heroquest: Rise of the Dread Moon- Full Box

Stuff I purchased New for 2026

Heroscape: G.I. Joe- 18 Models

Stuff I painted New from 2026
None

Still working on the backlog from last year, but I am up to 30+ miniatures painted for the year?

**Easy E**

Made good progress on the Frozen Horror this weekend. Nothing "done" but painting happened.

**The Newman**

Finished up my commission work

**The Newman**

Two more battlemechs and a unit of Wardens.

**Ashiraya**

....Eesh. This will be ugly. I tend to avoid spontaneous purchases, but because I am obsessed with planning out everything in advance, to access conversion parts, to pre-empt stuff going OOP (have been burned on this before) and because price rises in Sweden have been greatly outpacing salary growth, I tend to stock up on my projects before I get going and run multiple projects at once for variety's sake, and I also tend to leave stuff on sprue until it gets its turn to be painted since assembly is a dopamine hit I like to save (and I do not want to get tempted into playing with unpainted stuff like in the past).

Alright, brace yourselves.

CURRENT UNPAINTED STUFF, MAY 2026

Spoiler:

STUFF PAINTED FROM THIS POST ON

Spoiler:

STUFF PURCHASED FROM THIS POST ON

Spoiler:

**LunarSol**

Not much to update for April, but not really buying things at the moment either so there isn't much need

LunarSol wrote:
Stuff I owned in 2025 that Needed Paint
Warmachine - Cephalyx - 2
40k - Orks - Battlewagon

Stuff I Painted in 2026 from 2025
Warmachine - Khador Old Umbrey Army - 17
Warmachine - Krueger3 - 1
Marvel - Inhumans - 4
40k - Deathwatch - Assault Terminators 6

Stuff I purchased New for 2026
None!

Stuff I painted New from 2026
Shatterpoint - Empire - Thrawn box 4
Marvel - Guardians of the Galaxy box - 3
Warmachine - Khador - Epic Caster Print 1
Warmachine - Khador - Another Epic Caster Print 1
Warmachine - Khador - Behemoth & Support Solos 3

Working on the Battlewagon now. June is going to hit HARD with the Armageddon box....

**Da Boss**

Spoiler:

Bought some Dwarfs and Goblins to finish off those armies, and painted 50 or so Veermyn. Next on the plate is 90-ish Mantic Plague, which I expect to really power through because the scheme is very simple.

**Dysartes**

Dysartes wrote:

Spoiler:

Goals
- Paint more than I buy
- Paint more than in 2025 (19)
- Reach 1 character & 2 units for Eldar (0/0), Talons of the Emperor (1/1), Mechanicum (1/0), Tyranids (1/1), Necrons (2/3) & Death Guard (0/0)
- Paint the contents of Warhammer Quest: Darkwater (8/49 complete)
Heroes
- Edmark Valoran
- Bren Tylis
- Inara Sion
- Drolf Ironhead
- Kelthannor
- Drashar Vorn
- Jacobus Vyne & Wisper

Villains
- Gelgus Pust
- Belga the Cystwitch
- Mulgoth the Cleaver
- Shaman Foulhoof
- 2 Cankerborn
- 3 Blight Templars
- 6 Mire Kelpies
- 8 Pestigors
- 14 Pox-Wretches
- 2 Living Rot markers
- 2 tokens

Colour coding
- 0 of 3 complete
- 1 of 3 complete (or assembled, for Darkwater)
- 2 of 3 complete (or WIP, for Darkwater)
- 3 of 3 complete (or completed, for Darkwater)
- Clear more off the "WIP at the start of the year" list than I add to it at the end of 2026 (start of 2025: 47)
Note - I'm just going to be tracking GW things here.

Things I owned January 1st, 2026, starting the year as WIP* - (11/47 completed)
- 2 small ruins from 40k Command Edition (undercoated)
- Thunderer Siege Tank (WIP)
- Convergence of Dominion (WIP)
- Firstborn Dark Angels Master (WIP, based)
- Lord Felthius (undercoated or WIP, based)
- Vostroyan Officer (WIP, based)
- Commissar (WIP, based)
- Chaplain with Jump Pack (WIP, based)
- Firstborn Mentor Legion Captain (WIP, based)
- Mentor Legion Primaris Lt. (WIP, Based)
- Bladeguard Lieutenant (WIP, based)
- 5 Assault Intercessors (WIP, based)
- Cadian Command Squad (4 models, WIP, based)
- 5 Infernus Marines (WIP, based)
- Aleya (undercoated)
- Generatorum Hub (undercoated)
- Arch-Magos Prime (WIP, based)
- Stilts McGee (Sydonian Skatros) (undercoated, based)
- 10 Necron Warriors with Gauss Reapers (completed)
- 3 Nurglings (undercoated)
- 10 Termagants (undercoated)
- Adeptus Custodes Blade-Champion (completed)
* - WIP is defined as at least undercoated, not just built. If I tried to include the unpainted stuff, the year would be over before the survey was done...
Note - this may expand as I find other WIP things I'd forgotten about.
Use of violet indicates they were also on the start-of-2025 list

Things I bought in 2026:
Q1
- MOTM Servitor
- Ursarax Cohort (6 Ursarax)
- Tech-thralls Covenant (20 Tech-Thralls)
- Chaos Sorcerer with Lore Familiar
- The Steel Rook
- Mechanicum Skitarii Battlegroup (8 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms, 8 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms, Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal, Vultarax Stratos-Automata)
- Lord of Virulence
- Ull Zuru, Daemonsmith
- 5 Necron Immortals
- 5 Hormagaunts + 5 Hormagaunts + 1 Ripper Swarm
- 2 Field Ordnance Batteries
- Spearhead #1 (Grey Seer, Warlock Engineer, Lord-Veritant, Gryph-Crow)
- MotM Darkoath Marauder
- Othar Half-King
- Catachan Colonel
- Tyranid Prime with Lash Whip
- Ferren Areios
- Store Anniversary Autarch
- Black Orc Big Boss
- Wood Elf Waywatcher
- Eldar Corsair Combat Patrol (Karseth, Wave Serpent, 5 Corsair Skyreavers, 10 Corsair Voidreavers/Voidscarred)

Q2
Q3
Q4
Italics means I've ordered them, but they've not gotten to me yet...

Things I owned in 2025, now WIP (at least undercoated)
- Neurotyrant
- 2 Cankerborn
- 2 Darkwater tokens
- 2 Ripper Swarm bases

Things I purchased in 2026, now WIP (at least undercoated)
- 5 Hormagaunts
- 1 Ripper Swarm base

Things I owned January 1st, 2026, now completed:
- 3 Canoptek Scarab Swarms
- Adeptus Custodes Blade Champion
- Technomancer Cryptek
- Hexmark Destroyer
- Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus
- 6 Mire Kelpies
- 10 Necron Warriors with Gauss Reapers
- 3 Zoanthropes
- 3 Custodes Allarus Terminators
- Parasite of Mortrex
- 2 Living Rot markers
- 2 Neuroloids

Things I bought (or acquired) in 2026, now completed:
- 5 Necron Immortals
- Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal
- 5 Hormagaunts

Net change to the Pile of Shame/Potential
94 bought, 3 acquired for free, 45 painted.
Net count of -49 (-52)

MMC Pledge Progress
34/50

Borrowed the template from The Newman, though tweaked it a bit

Not a bad Q1, all things considered - and I can probably thank GW for their #MillionMiniatureChallenge for the degree of progress made.

While they're still marked as WIP at time of writing, the 5 Hormagaunts and 3 Ripper Swarm bases are at ~90%, so will roll over to completed in the next couple of days. That will allow me to mark my goal for 1 Character/2 units for the 'Nids as completed. That will mean two factions in the green, two in progress, and two not yet started, which isn't bad after 1/4 of the year.

I do need to work on the Pile of Shame/Potential net change, though - even accounting for the 8 models I'm about to complete, being in the red by 40 ain't good, especially with the Armageddon box coming up.

I could probably do with cracking on with Darkwater a bit, too - 4 models from it WIP at the moment, but not actually moving forward. Time to change that.

Still, good to have completed far more than last year already. Will have to post a bingo card update when I update my plog this weekend. Now to see how Q2 goes - and make sure I hit my MMC goal...

**hotsauceman1**

I have gotten rid of my pile of shame, turns out if real realize there are no real deadlines for things, only imaginary ones, you are good!

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Speaking of 1,000,000 Miniatures?

I’ve completed 80 bases of Astartes Infantry for LI, and should have 20 Dark Angels Inductii done by the end of the weekend. So that’ll be my pledge complete.

**Easy E**

Big dent in the Frozen Horror expansion this week. If I am really lucky, I will have it all done by the end-of-the-week.

Than I can update my painting list and move onto the next Heroquest Expansion in my queue.

**The Newman**

Finished some more Battletech stuff.

**Easy E**

Easy E wrote:
Stuff I owned in 2025 that Needed Paint

Heroquest: Spirit Queen's Torment - Full Box
Heroquest: Prophecy of Telor- Full Box
Heroquest: Jungles of Delthrak- Full Box

Stuff I Painted in 2026 from 2025

Heroquest: Mage in the Mirror- Elves
Heroquest: Rise of the Dread Moon- Full Box
Heroquest: Frozen Horror- Full Box

Stuff I purchased New for 2026

Heroscape: G.I. Joe- 18 Models
Perry Miniatures: Travel Battle Set
Wizards of Morcar: 30 Models

Stuff I painted New from 2026
None

Over 55+ minis painted this year so far. All Heroquest at this point. I painted one expansion and am adding another.

However, I have a lot of "new stuff" inbound as I am about to kick-off a Late Roman Project and maybe some Thebans to add to my Greek armies too.

**Da Boss**

Spoiler:

Got all my Veermyn done and now powering through a bunch of Chaos stuff along with my Mantic Plague.
My steam is starting to run out for all this Sci Fi stuff, but it is tempting to just power on through and try to get my Tau and Genestealer cults done at least. I've got 4 more months of having a bit more free time left.
This is already the most I've ever painted in a single calender year and it's only April. I've been aiming for years to get 365 done in a year and if I get my Plague stuff done I'll pass that before the end of May I think. Genestealer Cults and Tau is around another 120 miniatures.
I'll see how I go. I've gotten really interested in WFB again and I'm thinking of making a Norse army for Warhammer Renaissance and fixing up my old Dwarves, Undead and Orcs which are mostly complete but could do with a couple of units here or there and some touch ups.

Edit: Got the Stage 3s and my Mortars done, so that makes 119 miniatures for April. Pretty damn good! 48 of those were fairly quick North Star Cultists and not my best painting ever, but the Plague Stage 3s, Plague Marines and Mutants were all a bit trickier and I'm very pleased with how they've all come out. I've got 40-ish Mantic Zombies and Zombie Dogs and 2 trucks to go before that's all done. I've got a bit of assembly and basing to do before I can start, but I'm very happy to be making a big dent in the pile so far.

**The Newman**

I took another commission job for some Pestigores and Rotmire Creed

**LunarSol**

May Update: Finished the Battlewagon. Picked up some Shatterpoint stuff I'd been wavering on:

LunarSol wrote:
Stuff I owned in 2025 that Needed Paint
Warmachine - Cephalyx - 2

Stuff I Painted in 2026 from 2025
Warmachine - Khador Old Umbrey Army - 17
Warmachine - Krueger3 - 1
Marvel - Inhumans - 4
40k - Deathwatch - Assault Terminators 6
40k - Orks - Battlewagon

Stuff I purchased New for 2026
Shatterpoint - Rebels - Rogue One and Spectres 14

Stuff I painted New from 2026
Shatterpoint - Empire - Thrawn box 4
Marvel - Guardians of the Galaxy box - 3
Warmachine - Khador - Epic Caster Print 1
Warmachine - Khador - Another Epic Caster Print 1
Warmachine - Khador - Behemoth & Support Solos 3

June is going to hit HARD with the Armageddon box....