2024 was a weird year. I wanted to paint, play and blog more. And I had a pretty good start too! However, some troubles at home made it difficult for part of the year, and that was before we got flooded in August. Almost everything had to be put on pause until December. This was a rough and tiresome period, and it showcases how much this hobby, both the personal painting time and the social gaming part of it, are a core component of my mental health.
Luckily, we didn’t have that much damage, so it was mainly a time consuming endeavour, and the new basement is better separated. My son’s room is slightly bigger and will give him the space a growing teenager need. I also got myself a closed office and hobby room, which is a big upgrade from sharing the noisy and messy playroom with the kids and their visiting friends. Sure, with the added wall and the bigger bedroom, we are losing some storage space, but we were due for some cleaning and sorting anyway. I cannot say I’m happy it happened, but the final results are at least positive.
Looking back at 2024
As to be expected after an almost 4 months long drought, my hobby totals didn’t do well last year, but it wasn’t that bad either. All categories went down, and both sculpting and terrain building got nothing done at all. However, I did manage 64 models painted, which is over my model-a-week goal. It’s not too bad, and it’s only 11% less than 2023. Terrain painting could be explained by the drought, yes, but also by the size of the pieces, as I got my biggest Carnevale buildings painted.
For games, it’s all down too. My board games numbers are off though, as I don’t compile all plays with the family, and we are playing more games now, as the kids are getting older. My main minis group has taken to more board games in the past couple of years, as we often don’t have the energy for complex minis games, or we are too many those evenings for classic one-on-one minis games. The RPG sessions are also down, but not by much, and my drought for those was even longer, as we finished our long-running campaign just before summer, and I was able to join our newest one only on the New Year. Miniature games didn’t do too bad, but that’s probably because the number from last year was already quite poor…
Of my 2024 wish list, I did manage to check some items. On the models side, I painted both my Nemesis warbands, the Orphans and the Rocavivas (the second wave is not on the blog yet, but they are painted, I promise). For terrain, I now have enough venetian buildings for a full game of Carnevale (combined with Paul’s collection, we even had too much for the 4-player game we ran, and had to leave stuff in the bin). I also got myself a nice Mario themed mat for Gaslands, but I’m still lacking enough terrain accessories to properly run it yet. Getting there. I also ran a one shot of Havoc Brigade with my English D&D group, so I got half of my RPG wish list checked.
2025 and on!
My wish list for 2025 will mainly be an update of last year’s list, as I did not manage to complete that many items on it. There is some stuff that will change though, with interests and priorities moving, but the core of it is pretty close.
Painting
- Finish painting the models for the intro campaign of Twilight.
- Paint a playable force for one of those new games: Mythic Americas, Drowned Earth, Deep Wars, Wargods of Aegyptus, Rumbleslam, Blood & Plunder or Port Royal.
- Paint a small-scale force, probably Warmaster or Dropzone Commander.
Terrain
- Build and paint some scatter pieces and wooden docks for my Carnevale board.
- Complete the second half of my wild West buildings.
- Build some accessories for Mario Gaslands.
Roleplaying
- Run a short Wildsea intro campaign.
- Start a solo campaign with my son.
Gaming
In general, I want to play more miniatures games. I should be able to start attending our every other week group meetings this year (we have a session this very evening!), so this should help. In particular, I want to try out Nemesis, now that I have a couple warbands painted. I even built a reference sheet just to make it easier. Outside of that, I’m not too picky about which games, as long as some miniatures hit the table. I am looking forward to having more narrative focussed games in, but that’s less game-specific, and more about the prep and mindset while playing.
For roleplaying, I just joined back my old group, and they now run a scheduled streamed game. It should be less sessions than previously, but the campaign is more focussed than the last, and should be quite interesting. Also, my son has been asking to play for some time now, and I think it’s time I answer his call and get some dice on the table. Both of those projects are D&D focussed though, so hopefully I can get a one-shot or two of other systems in during the year.
Happy New Year!
