Retrospective

Another year has come to an end so it’s time to look back on what we have achieved. It’s been an interesting year to say the least. Productive though, I got 363 new models painted this year. Nearly one model a day! More than one a day actually if you count the Horus Heresy and Putrid Blightkings models that I revamped. And it’s nearly double the models I painted last year, 182, which I’m quite proud of. 

I may have painted a lot more models but it was over a similar number of articles, 47 this year compared to 49 last year. I did have soft plans about doing the full 52 but I worked on so many big projects, amongst other things, this year I simply didn’t have the time or energy to publish an article every single week. 

Let’s see how I did on my actual goals from last year. 

Be in a position to start my narrative campaign.

I picked up the Hivestorm box and played a game with the Non-Player Op (NPO) rules. I’ve also written the narrative parts that I need so far so we’re pretty much there. I just need to get in a couple more practice games and maybe throw together a couple more bits of terrain and I will be good to go. 

Finish Zombicide Invader.

All 286 models for Zombicide Invader have been painted! Immensely proud of myself for getting them all done. Started with all the Xenos all the way back in 2022 and finished with the Driller Xenos.  

Make significant gains on Village Attacks.

I have indeed made significant gains on Village Attacks. And by that I mean all 139 models for Village Attacks have been painted! I actually started on the Village Attacks models before I started this blog using the newly released Citadel Contrast paints to do some very mediocre paint jobs on the villagers. And in fact, the very first article I ever posted was Village Attacks, so it feels a little poetic to bring it to a close. 

Paint all Commemorative Series models.

I’ve painted quite a few this year actually, more than I had realised at first. The trouble is, however, that I didn’t do all the Commemorative Series models that I own. Even worse, I’ve bought more over the course of the year. The only saving grace really, is that I couldn’t get my hands on the two Event exclusive Commemorative Series miniatures. And I’m not paying the ridiculous eBay prices. 

Review at least one book and one WarhammerTV show.

Unfortunately I’ve not done any. I was a bit too busy writing other things I’m afraid. Hopefully I’ll find some time this year.  

Stats and Numbers

It’s been a pretty good year for the numbers! This year we had twelve thousand visitors to the site, up from 8800 last year. An average of a thousand visitors a month is certainly an achievement, typically getting between 20 and 40 visitors each day. 

As with previous years, the Level 5 unlocks for Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion continues to be my top performing article with nearly thirteen hundred views. However, the other Gloomhaven and Frosthaven articles have mostly slid out the top ten most visited pages. They were replaced with the Sisters Novitiates assembly article, one of the Mansions of Madness articles and the Leman Russ Vanquisher article. 

For engagement, people spent the most time on Myphitic Blight-Hauler article averaging a little over 12 minutes on the page over 23 visits. This was followed by the Feculent Gnarlmaw with around ten minutes over 42 visits, and the Sisters Novitiates painting article average just under ten minutes over a whopping 81 visits.   

The Year Ahead

2024 was all about quantity, 2025 will be about quality. I have a couple of big projects to complete at the start of the year but after that it’s time for a change of pace. Rather than spending time slapping together twenty or more models at once I want to put that same time investment into a single miniature. It’s been a little while since I put in the maximum effort on a miniature. Fortunately I have that stack of Warhammer Commemorative Series boxes to work though. I also have one of Miniac’s 75mm scale miniatures and a Rogue Hobbies Goblin around somewhere that I need to paint as well. Both of which will involve learning new ways of painting, which I am looking forward to. 

But it’s not all about painting, I also have my narrative campaigns. Yes, campaigns plural. In addition to my Kill Team campaign I picked up the rulebook for Five Parsecs From Home. In fact, as Five Parsecs is simpler and more miniatures agnostic than Kill Team I’ve actually already played a couple of games. I actually had to stop myself and focus on writing the battle reports as I enjoyed it so much. So there’s that to look forward to. 

I also can’t forget about all the boardgame miniatures I have yet to paint. Just because I’m done with Zombicide Invader and Village Attacks doesn’t mean I don’t have a stack of other games with models to paint. 

With that in mind, let’s set up some goals for this year. 

• Paint all Commemorative Series models.

• Review at least one book and one WarhammerTV show.

• Publish at least six narrative campaign battle reports.

• Make a start on the next board game.

• Assemble and paint the Bandai A-Wing and B-Wing kits.

We’ll see how we go. I'm changing jobs this year so there’s a good chance I won’t have as much free time as I did with my old job. But they look like some very achievable goals. 

Bring it on!