Year in Review 2018

'Tis that time of year again. So, what all happened here in 2018?

Gaming!
First up, games! Like 2017, I had a pretty modest goal of playing 12 games in 2018. Like 2017, I fell short of that goal. Shucks.

That said, I have gotten a few games in recently, and with a good start on the terrain for my gaming table, I'm hoping I can fit in some home games this year. Additionally, my girlfriend has said she likes playing the Undead (though that may be a little Stockholm syndrome from painting up two legions worth of zombies). Either way, I'll try and cash in some good boyfriend points for games this year.

I also failed to get in a big game, though now that I have some terrain, and my friend's kids are older, I may be able to remedy this shortcoming in the coming year.

For 2019, same goals. Third time's the charm here? Aiming for a dozen games, and one big game. Just to toss out numbers, I'll qualify a "big" game at 5k per side.

Hobbying!

I had a pretty loose goal of hobbying up 6,500 points in 2018. I managed a little over 12k; close to doubling both my collection of table-ready stuff at the start of the year, as well as the year’s hobbying goal. Yay?

Having 26,000 points of “stuff” is kind of crazy given the amount of games I actually have been getting in. Yeesh. Still, nearly all of this was plastic already purchased, so these endeavors were easy on the wallet this year.

My vague “plan” for 2019 with my hobbying is much the same. I have a few purchases on my wish list, but largely I’ll continue churning out units from stuff I already own, and aim to hobby up… looks like 5,500 points worth of stuff, which will tip my collection up over 30,000 points.

Army	Hobby Goal	Hobby Actual	Over/Under	Hobby Goal 2019	Army Goal 2019
KoM	500	1225	725	500	5000
Halflings	0	0	0	1000	3000
Herd	2000	1580	-420	1500	3500
Abyssals	2000	3375	1375	0	3500
Varangur	1000	2420	1420	1000	9000
Undead	1000	620	-380	1500	5000

I have no plans to expand on my Ostermark League or the Basileans, which clocked in at 2500 and 500 points in 2018. SO I excluded them from the janky table above. Both are just repaints of some WHFB stuff. The League could be a good loaner army; the Basileans are an interesting force, but I’m not keen on buying up a bunch of new humans to hobby on.

The Regnum (KoM) got a big boost to close out the year with a bunch of heroes and a few unexpected regiments. In the coming year I plan on buying another box of Romans and hobbying on handful of additional regiments (Berserkers, 2-3 Foot Guard and Pole Arms).

The Halflings got nothing new in 2018, but I have enjoyed bringing them out to play, and have had enough fun that I want to expand them a little... I have some Iron Beast tank conversions in the works, and a few purchases in mind that will get me the additional knight troops and spear regiments to unlock the halfling formations. Once they have the formations and the Beasts, the halflings should have a fighting chance to win games when they next take to the field. Thankfully the purchases are only going to amount to around $20 (historical scale is cheap!), but everything new will need to wait to be primed until better weather.

The Undead have a fair amount of stuff still waiting in the wings for 2019. My girlfriend did like them, so I’d like to balance out the army a bit to give more list-building options. I still have 3-5 regiments of skeletons to hobby up; some regiments of Soul Reaver cavalry to convert, plus a Mortis Engine kit I want to convert to a vampire on a dragon. All should be finished up in 2019.

I didn’t think I hobbied much on the Herd this year, but evidently I cranked out a few units early on; I think they were mostly hordes of Lycans. Still to come are a pair of Stampedes and some final Tribal Longhorn units, as well as an Avatar of the Father. When all of those are done, I should hit around 3500 points, which is probably way more than I need of Herd.

Abyssals started at nothing, but ended up a bit over 3k. They were almost entirely repaints this year, and a few more old WHFB Daemons units snuck in than I originally anticipated. No plans to hobby much on the army in the coming year, but we’ll see. I’ll likely get a unit or two in, as I still have a box of Mantic’s Lower Abyssals sitting around half-painted. Future purchases could be Hellhounds or Gargoyles; both would add some speed to the army.

The Varangur are nearly alllllllll done! From all the old plastic I wanted to convert over to Kings of War, I have only have two regiments of Sons and a possible Chimera yet to repaint. Those will put me at about 8000 pts of ironclad barbarians. My Varangur also make use of some Ogre allies. Two hordes of Siegebreakers are primed and in process for some winter hobbying. Their completion will land me at ~1200 pts in Ogre allies, and bring me up to about 9k or so of Varangur and Ogres for my big-bad army.

So, that’s the general plan for 2019. We’ll see what the year actually brings! Happy New Year!