The Tally of 2018

And we're finally done with 2018. An experience not dissimilar to riding on that bus at the end of The Italian Job.

"We're going to need a bigger pen."

And this is the update to "Project: Micawber", let's all say it together...

"Annual leadpile twenty terminators, annual painting nineteen terminators nineteen marines and a cultist, result: stagnation.
Annual leadpile twenty terminators, annual painting twenty terminators nought and a cultist, result: progress."

Project: Micawber

The premise is simple: paint more models than I acquire, add them up at the end of the year and bring down that leadpile!

In 2017, I put myself just into the black, thanks to a truly brush-destroying advent-calendar painting session that put me 18 models over the line. And with my toe dipped lightly into 40k, and a few other armies to finish up, I was confident enough to set myself some easily achievable-goals for the coming year.

This was my 2018:

Bought

Oh, it's bad. It's really bad.

I've heaped up my leadpile like you would not believe. But in the words of all true addicts, I'm not to blame. I'll tell you who is to blame:

• Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition. I got me hooked, and hooked in a big way. In addition to the respectably-painted Thousand Sons army, I have models for another seven armies in various states of assembly.
• Those bargain 'campaign' boxes for 40k - I seem to have established a co-enabling pact with fellow WoffBooter Leofa to divide up all the contents and add to our respective unpainted heaps.
• I was careless enough to have a birthday this year, and Mrs Stylus got access to my Warhammer wish list - and I got everything on it.
• Warhammer Conquest magazine. Though not actually a subscriber, I seem to have bought at least half the published run - it's very hard to resist the temptation of grabbing a bargain model when you're picking up your latest copy of Grazia and Horse & Hounds. The newsagent is no longer a safe space.

Acquisition total: 491 models.

Four. Hundred. And ninety. One. Bloody. Models.

Painted

My painted tally is nothing to write home about either. I haven't stopped hobbying all year, but I have been doing as much assembling as painting (see above disastrous total).

• 1 x Empire Wizard
• 1 x Daemon Prince
• 1 x Thousand Sons Exalted Sorcerer
• 10 x Chaos Space Marines
• 10 x Chaos Space Marines
• 1 x Black Legion Helbrute
• 10 x Tzaangor
• 1 x Tzaangor Shaman
• 1 x Mutalith Vortex Beast
• 1 x Thousand Sons Helbrute
• 1 x Defiler
• 3 x Tzaangor Enlightened
• 1 x Thousand Sons Sorcerer
• 2 x Chaos Spawn
• 1 x Heldrake
• 2 x Chaos Cultists
• 1 x Sorcerer in Terminator Armour
• 1 x Exalted Sorcerer on Disc
• 1 x Mutalith Vortex Beast
• 1 x Exalted Sorcerer
• 7 x Ogryns (commission)
• 10 x Tzaangors
• 10 x Chaos Cultists
• 5 x Tzaangor Enlightened
• 1 x Tzaangor Shaman
• 1 x Magnus the Red
• 1 x Chaos Spawn
• 2 x Diorama

Painted total: 88 models
(-403 models)

Oh dear. Another year like this will finish me.

In my, rather shaky defence, this was my first full-blooded year into Warhammer 40,000, so I can be excused going a little nutso, as it's a game that I have really taken to. Also, I have been selling off as many old kits as I've been acquiring, so financial terms, it's practically cost-neutral (in case Mrs Stylus is reading this).

Also, as something of an achievement, I have managed to focus on, and stick with, completing a 3,500pt Thousand Sons army, including a Daemon Primarch no less. In fact, considering I've also done a Heldrake, Defiler and two Mutalith Vortex Beasts, I've painted some big damn models (for me, at least - I work at goblin scale).

It was probably not the best idea to begin with painting such a intricate and fiddly army, which is why I've done so few of them. But still, it's a win.

Other notables of 2018

• Favourite unit: It still breaks my heart to give them away, but I reckon I had the most fun painting the Bullgryns.


• Favourite model: There's a lot more competition here, given the amount of single-models I turned out. It really has to be Magnus the Red - it's hardly a singular interpretation of the character, but I was just so glad to take on something of that size and not stuff it up.


• Favourite battle: There's a been a few notables this year: a YouTube battle, a Tabletop Simulator battle, a shortlisted-award battle.
  But I think I'd have to pick the final battle of the Swedish Woffboot, not least because it delivered me the Cup, but it was a properly see-sawing match that had the victorious army huddling in the corner, desperately waiting for the bell.


• WoffBoot XII: I won! I mean, it's the participation that counts, but for the first time in six years, I bloody won! This was a memorable one too - taking place in the colds of Sweden (not to self: sneakers are not snow-proof) where we got a whole roomful of Kraken's lovely icy terrain. And let's draw a veil over getting stopped at airport security because my Chaos Defiler looked suspicious on the scanner.


• Battles played: 51 games played in total. A new record! (so let's just say the reason I've painted less is because I've played more).
  The majority of these have been 40k, as you'd expect - any many of them at the full-blooded 1750-2000pt scale, which is nice. A scattering of Shadespire, Necromunda, X-Wing and Zombicide - and then another big whack of games where I DM'd all the missions for HeroQuest with my eldest and nephew.
  I'm also counting the couple of Junior WoffBoot games, because I damn well earned them.
• Blog posts: What else could it be, but our entirely-weird and must-be-repeated experiment where Age of Sigmar met 40k

[Failed] Goals from 2018

Announcing your plans in advance is the best way to hear Tzeentch laugh.

• Paint Astra Militarum army
  Not even close. The models I painted in December 2017 remain my only ones. I really want to play with the army, I have enough models to get going, and I've devised a quick colour scheme to get them done. I just need to pull my finger out.


• Paint Khorne Bloodbound  / Stormcast Eternals
  Sorry guys, anything Age of Sigmar got completely sidelined this year. And I wouldn't get too optimistic about 2019 either.


• Paint Disciples of Tzeentch
  Ironically, because I did nothing by paint Thousand Sons this year, I managed to complete, then extend, then complete, then extend this goal again and again.
  I'm giving myself partial credit, as I now have a whacking load of Tzeentch Disciples, though I am half a dozen Tzaangor and ten Kairic Acolytes away from completion.


• Paint some scenery, any scenery
  I added this as a joke, and it turns out to be the only one I manged to achieve. Even if it was someone else's scenery.

Goals for 2019

I am not even going to pretend that I'll achieve these goals. These are just the 40k armies that I have at my disposal for 2019. Let's see which ones get lucky by the end of the year.

• Astra Militarum
• Adeptus Mechanicus
• Black Legion
• Death Guard
• Genestealer Cults
• Orks
• Thousand Sons
• Space Wolves

Have a great 2019, leadfellows. May you never fail morale your morale check!