Do you need more hobby motivation? Don’t miss one hobbyist’s look back at his 2018 new year’s resolutions, and bold predicitions for 2019!
Hi all! So another year has come and gone in the blink of an eye and 2019 is here with all sorts of new Age of Sigmar teasers. However, before we all throw our money at GW for the new Gloomspite models, let’s look back at 2018 and see how we did. You can see my Mid-Year check-in article here!
First, let’s see if I lived up to my resolutions:
- Resolution 1 playing two games a month: I was successful on this one, in that I had many more Fridays to get games in. Also, I made it a point to try and play in the local tournaments whenever possible, so generally I think was good for two games a month. My one regret was I couldn’t get a dedicated group of 4 of us to be able to consistently meet to start a Season of War campaign. Status: Passed!
- Resolution 2 become a better painter: I definitely think I improved my painting and tried out a lot of new styles. I used washes over white primer to paint, tried wet brush blending, zenithal highlights, and mixing colors for better gradients. On top of that, I invested in a better airbrush and compressor and am jumping into that feet first. Status: Passed!
- Resolution 3 bring Nighthaunts up to 1000 painted: This one fell by the wayside with the release of AoS 2.0 and Maligned Sorcery, I focused on painting the endless spells (so cool) and the Stormcast side of the starter set. So, my Nighthaunts kind of sat around unpainted and primed, until recently! (See New Year New Army Article) While this one was a fail, I have started it and will be my focus to finish it this year. Status: Failed!
- Resolution 4 is to try other games: I touched on this over the Mid-Year check in that I just don’t have time to play very many games right now so I kind of gave up on getting into 40k and trying other forms of wargames. I do play Warhammer Underworlds a couple times a month though, and I have a copy of Warhammer Silver Tower which will be tried out soon… I hope. Status: Failed!
- Resolution 5 was to do more terrain building: This one is weird in that I started playing at a friend’s house who has been collecting since 1987, so he has more than enough scenery to cover a table and then some. However, I did start to increase my own scenery and gaming boards to play smaller games on my kitchen table when people wanted to get a game or two in after work. The Blasted Hallowheart collection is great for this, I will have a review of it coming out soon. Status: Wash
Well, there you have it. Two out of five isn’t too shabby and next year I will try and make them all happen. But, like other non-hobby resolutions, they are hard to keep for 12 months.
Speaking of 2019 Resolutions…
- Resolution 1 is to continue to play 2 games a month: I think I can keep this up and continue to play two or more games a month. I really enjoy getting away from electronics, grabbing a beverage of choice, and throwing dice with some friends. So, this is one I will strive as hard as I can to keep.
- Resolution 2 is to build a Nighthaunt army to 2000 points with display board: The Michigan GT is in October and I plan on bringing a brand-new army to it. My goal is to build a Nighthaunt army to 2000 points and then build a display board from scratch to go along with it.
- Resolution 3 is to use an airbrush as much as possible when painting my miniatures: When I invested in my new airbrush, I made a commitment to improve and speed up my painting using this new tool. However, like regular brushwork, you need to practice and learn to get better even when you are not comfortable using that tool. Hopefully, by the end of 2019, it will feel normal in my hand and my models will look that much better!
- Resolution 4 is to paint more models than I buy: This one is going to be tricky as I will be focusing on buying models to complete my Nighthaunt army, but to avoid burnout I think I will be sprinkling in other types of models here and there to change it up a little bit. My goal will be to get through my Warhammer Underworlds stuff, the Endless Spells, Blasted Hallowheart Terrain, and my Warhammer Silver Tower set, along with all my Nighthaunts. If I can do that, I would be a pretty happy camper.
- Resolution 5 is to play more Warhammer Underworlds and get through Warhammer Silver Tower: Right now, I get one or two games of Warhammer Underworlds in a month, I would like to continue that, and along with that try and get my hobby group to play through the Silver Tower Campaign. We are going to try and meet at someone’s house every Thursday night for hobby night, so maybe instead of painting, we could roll some dice.
There we have it. Five resolutions for 2019, which I think is very doable. Eight if I can find the time. Hopefully, the airbrush will really help me speed through some of the larger groups of Nighthaunt models while maintaining my painting standard. Next is my favorite part: predictions!
Let’s see how I did with last year’s predictions:
- Guess 1: Merging of old Warhammer Fantasy units into new armies: Pretty on the money with this one as all the new battletomes (minus the Idoneth Deepkin) included a couple of units from the old world. Status: Correct
- Guess 2: New Death and Nurgle: Got these on the money with the new Nighthaunt, Legions of Nagash book, and all the goodness that Nurgle got. Status: Correct
- Guess 3: Mordheim will be re-released set in the Realm of Death: No word on this, which makes me very sad. Status: Wrong
- Guess 4: Warhammer Underworlds year two warbands: I did well here. I got 6 out of 8 (I think) warbands they’ve teased. The two I missed were the Sylvaneth instead of Free Peoples, and the Darkoath instead of Seraphon. Status: Close
- Guess 5: New Models (not named Stormcast): The only one I got here was the new Grots and some Slaanesh models. I missed the rest. Status: Really Wrong
Not too shabby. Let’s close our eyes and toss some darts at the board and see what I can come up with 2019.
- Guess 1: There will be a Kill Team or Mordheim like setting for Age of Sigmar released this year.
- Guess 2: There will be more tomes like Legions of Nagash and Beastmen focused on combining armies. If I had to guess, I think you will see one for Skaven and Free Peoples next.
- Guess 3: The Summer Campaign is going to take place in the Realms of Light and Shadow and will focus on the release of Slaanesh.
- Guess 4: The Generals Handbook will combine some older dwarf models into the Kharadron Overlords, which desperately needs some new models in the faction to make it viable. You will also see some reworking of older battletomes like the Seraphon and Everchosen.
- Guess 5: New armies will include, the Aelf factions (Light and Shadow), new Slaves to Darkness (Darkoath), and a new Death faction that lies outside of Nagash’s domain. (Think tomb kings, but less Egyptian)
- Bonus Guess: Warhammer Underworlds year 3 will include the following 8 armies in no order: Free Peoples, Seraphon, Skaven, Stormcast Chamber, Slaanesh, Vampire (Legions of Nagash), Light Aelfs, and the Shadow Aelfs.
That’s my best guess as to what’s coming in the new year. If I had to put money down on what will happen, I would go with Guess 1 and 2. Kill Team is making way too much money on 40k for them to ignore it in AoS. I think that would be a great thing for people that don’t want to commit 3-4 hours to 2000 point games.
Guess 2 I think is really going to show in the new General’s Handbook where they decrease the number of random armies and start combining them. I think you will see several old school dwarves’ models in the Kharadron Overlords especially, but also some sprinkled in here and there.
If the end of 2018 shows anything, it’s that 2019 is going to be an awesome year for Age of Sigmar. The Gloomspite Grots and Slannesh look awesome, and they are not even all released yet! I hope you all make your own hobby resolutions (Let me know in the comments!) and stick by them through the year.
More importantly, though, I wish you and your families good health and cheer throughout the New Year and beyond!
Happy New Year!
