Hobby Lookback 2019

23 Dec 2019

Oh, but I did paint a lot this year. 2019 prove me wrong about the extent to which hobby could take over my life and, coming to the end of it, I regret not having managed to do more. How is this possible? I should have blogged about it as I went, but I didn’t because apparently blogging is too much effort for me now? Fortunately I mostly did a decent job of documenting my progress on Twitter and on my portal-to-hell personal Trello board. So this post will mostly consist of links to those, otherwise it would have about 50 photos in it.

I began the year by working on some of North Star’s recent additions to their Frostgrave range, like this Barbarian, Templar, Apothecary and others.

I also made a boar! This lil’ guy is a spare who comes with the old Orc Chariot kit. There are two more piggies I could make out of that old kit, but they require a bit more work (their lower jaw pieces are attached to the chariot).

I based some old Warhammer models. I painted these in 2018, I think, but didn’t base them. They look great with decorated bases, each brimming with their own character. There are bats and snotlings. These were some of the first models I ever acquired, and it fills me with satisfaction every time I see them in their current well-painted, well-based state. I think I will make some Warcry rules for them.

February/March/stretching into April was goblin season. When Natalie’s parents discovered I was getting into the hobby, they were more than happy to foist her and her brother’s old collections upon me. This inundation of old, mostly-unpainted models included all the models from a copy of Battle for Skull Pass, the starter box for Warhammer Fantasy Battles 7th Edition. The Dwarf side of that box is still waiting for my attention, but I managed to paint my way through the whole Night Goblin half. This included:

40 spear-wielding gobbos and 20 bow-wielding gobbos. The biggest bunch of models I ever done.
A boss goblin with a pet squig
A shaman with a cauldron of mushrooms
10 Spider Riders
A troll. Sadly for this guy, there’s no analogous model in AoS for him anymore since Sourbreath Troggoths were discontinued.
Some small scenery pieces.

With these came a couple of metal goblin shamans. Lovely sculpts, painted them up later in the year after the goblinmania had passed. Here’s one of them.

Late March: I painted the Chosen Axes from Shadespire.

Needed some more Skinks as allies for my Stormcast Eternal army, so I did 5 of ‘em. I know how to paint these in my simple scheme very quickly. Personally, I think these models hold up a lot better than most of the Seraphon/Lizardmen range, and I hope they keep this kit when they do a refresh. (Saurus Warriors, on the other hand, could desperately do with a new kit in my opinion!)

April/May: With a £40 gift voucher to spend, and needing some more terrain for games of Frostgrave, I picked up the 3-box of Osgiliath Ruins and bashed them out, unlocking a newfound love of terrain painting. It’s so fast and simple!

May: Magore’s Fiends, Spiteclaw’s Swarm, Thorns of the Briar Queen.

May: Oldhammer Chaos Warrior. This guy was encased in about a centimetre of enamel paint, and it took a lot of time to strip it off him. Dark Elf Sorceress, acquired from a friend’s clearout. I think this model came free with a White Dwarf? Dark Elf Assassin, acquired from same friend. Probably contains lead, it’s that old.

June: Stormsire’s Cursebreakers. Judicators, and an Angharad I rescued by giving her a head and a shield, who I am very proud of.

July: Khorne. I painted the whole of the Khorne half of the OG AoS starter box. Contrast did a lot of heavy lifting here, letting me do the skin, the vibrant red and the bone-coloured trim on all of the mooks super quickly. Here is the Lord.

July: More Judicators, this time with big fat crossbows.

August, September, onwards: Warcry. The big box. Excellent game. Excellent big box. The terrain. Took until November to finish painting all the remaining Iron Golems, but here’s the whole gang. Furies, more Furies and chickens. Untamed Beasts in September.

October: Beastgrave! Grashrak’s Despoilers.

October: Corpsewrack Mausoleum. Spooky!

November: Skaeth’s Wild Hunt from Beastgrave.

November: Eowyn plus some Warriors of Rohan.

July-December: Lord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger. This model took ages because I started it and then left it unfinished for months. Don’t do this!

December: Celestar Ballista, Evocators.

Built some zombies from Fireforge games. I’ll paint these eventually. Good for when I finally get around to Rangers of Shadow Deep, or something else requiring zombie villagers.

I spent the last couple of days sprucing up some MDF buildings I inherited when my Frostgrave-playing friend moved away. It looks much nicer now, although I feel like it could still do with a bit more attention. They’re excellent kits, but I don’t know if I’ll get more MDF stuff in the future unless I have a clear idea of how to make it look less flat, thin and textureless. Mind you, TTCombat’s new Savage Domain kits look really nice…

And that wraps things up for 2019. Phew! I am extremely proud of how much I’ve painted and how much I’ve improved, tried new things and honed in on how to paint better and faster.

In 2020, I will try to document my progress on here, because in 2020: I’m going to clear my backlog.