The year that was

So you may remember this from back in July last year, at the time I had a lot going on at home.

with a full house renovation thanks to a full rewiring, finishing the kitchen (which the rewiring was done for) and a new baby boy (the reason for getting the kitchen done now as the old one was horrid).
Not only does this mean that basically all my hobby stuff has been packed away and in the garage or storage but there is simply no where to do anything.

Despite that I did manage a few completed projects and progress of some others, I'll take a brief look at my 2015 hobby after the break. I've also noted that I didn't do a review or any planning at the end of 2014 so I'll take a look at that as well.

My biggest success of 2016 was progress on my new nid colour scheme, with

• 12 Gaunts
• 1 Lictor
• 1 ripper base

Fully completed, with a unit 8 Stealers and a Broodlord just needing basing. Sadly I can't include my Tyrant in this thanks to it's nose dive off a shelf.

Some progress has been made on the repair and in particular over the weekend I solved how to replace the tiny missing parts from the lashwhip so expect to see more one that soon.

After the nid challenge it all went a bit quite, I started to share my loft of shame series which prompted me to start working on a couple of the terrain pieces. While there is still a lot to do on these they are both in a much more playable condition. 

Around this time Forgeworld finally released some rules for a Chaos Knight along with daemonic upgrades, with some time at home alone as the rest of the family visited my in laws on america I cracked on with the fist steps,. 

Now again their are many hours of work left in the conversion let alone painting but small steps forward are happening. 

Along with this DeadTober happened and my final finished model of the year my Hellbrute from Darck Vengence.

Now as I said before I didn't manage a write up at the end of 2014, so to make a comparison I need to check what I finished there.

First up in 2014 was an Exocrine used as a quick detraction from Orks it was a quick paint job and the last of my older non shiny Nids.

Following on from this was half a mob of Shoota boys, 

and a quick update to Da Krab, giving it more menacing Klaws 

before the real work began on the Gorka(or possibly Morka)naught. Which was finished much later in the year with one of my most complex builds to date, lights and all, though still awaiting paint.

Before finishing however I had another distraction in the form of the previously pictured Black Legion Squad.

With the distraction out of the way it was back to Orks to test out some new colours on a Killer Kan producing what I feel is my best painted model to date.

Around this time also saw some work on a unit of Kommandos which have been carefully avoiding the camera with Ork Kunning.

With two distractions and little painting happening on the Ork front though it was time for a proper change and the Tail of Painters Hobby challenge took over, leading into 2015 with Nids as my primary goal and back to the start of the post.

Now fortunately at the start of 2014 I have a nice list of models completed in my first year of the blog. 

"So in total this year I've painted

• 15 Slugga Boyz
• Da Krab (Def Dread)
• 10 Stormboyz including nob
• Dakka Jet
• Big Mek
• 5 Shoota Boyz

I've not been totally ignoring conversions and scratch builds, as well as a few purchases I've built

• 3 Big gunz
• Box of Grotz
• BFG Ork Battle ship
• Big Mek
• 3 Kill kans + arm rebuilds on 2 old ones
• 1 Def Dread + weapon rebuild on Da Krab
• 80% finished building 3 Ork Kroozers"

Now In the last two years I've just about matched that total model count for painted models but I actually think with terrain progress, the Gorka(or possibly Morka)naught and the Knight I may have been tackling bigger more complex projects.

With work, family and DIY getting things done has definitely been tougher. 

I've also not been as well behaved when it comes to purchases and now have more grey plastic or part finished stuff than ever.

with the following in 2015

• 700 ish points of British war in Africa for bolt action. 
• Knight with Warshrine and Thundertusk/Stonehorn for parts.
• 2 boxes of Horrrors of Tzeench 
• Age of Sigmar box set
• Tyranocryte
• Tyrant/Hive Guard Box
• Zoanthrope/Venomthrope Box

And I've not exactly started this year well most recently (last friday) a bunch of Tzeench Daemons of were ordered along with the new Deathwatch Overkill. 

• Deathwatch Overkill. 
• Burning Chariot Of Tzeench
• Screamers Of Tzeench
• Flamers Of Tzeench
• Necrosphinx (For future Knight/Tzeench conversion Parts)
• Start collecting Nurgle Daemons

No doubt I've missed one or two as well. 

I think this realy puts things into perspective and other than conversion parts or rules it needs to be something damn special for me to shell out more cash this year. At least I can come back to this post for a wake up call next time I'm tempted.

So what next? well I thing it's time to set down some sensible goals for the coming year.

This needs to include finishing specific projects and clearing them off the to do.

With another 3 weeks in Korea coming up I'm going to start small with this by trying to hold to a few goals at a time.

• Fully assemble and Undercoat the Nurgle Start collecting Box
• Complete a test model for these using mostly washes and dry brushing
• Complete two more models in the unit I started last time in Korea
• Finish carapace and neck sculpting on the Knight 

If I can stick to this I'll see about some broader goals once I get back and this guy may well be included in that for later in the year.

Whether I feel up to posting after 14 hour days will be a different story so until next time TTFN.