2025 Review

 Hi!

Well it's been a bit of a year of it with all sorts of real life shenanigans taking centre stage and my hobby being very much crushed into the dirt beneath it for most of 2025 but I seem to be ending on a bit of a high so I thought I'd post my year in review and ponder on some possible challenges for the new year to get my back on track again!

Figures Painted

First up, I managed to paint 116 things ranging from 2mm up to 1:32 and everything from fantasy to Sci-Fi to Historical and Steampunk which is actually surprising considering how naff of a year it's been hobby wise.

While I got stuck in the doldrums in the middle of the year, the last month or so has seen more enthusiasm and success with painting than I've had in ages, even if I've not had much chance post about it so I'm going to take it as a bit of a win.

I've begun my Spruequest challenge and have rather enjoyed putting together the first little warband which seems to have had another figure added to it which had sat unpainted but built in a box for at least the last 12 months! I'll post a complete breakdown of the project as I get the chance as well as the thinking and process behind it but that's a post for another day!

Looking at the painted total, a fair whack of them are small scale but I'll take it as a win none the less at this point so won't complain. Sadly quite a few of the bits and bobs I've painted thus far haven't made it to the point of being photographed but hopefully I'll get chance to remedy this in the new year as I crack on.

Speaking of the new year, I have a few bits and bobs sitting that I'm keen to try painting up but I need to finish my last two Frostrgave soldiers first before I embark on getting them painted up.

Games Played

Sadly I only managed a piddly seven games from three systems this year and they were very hurried sorts of affairs that I threw together on the occasions I had a moment to spare but they're an improvement on 2024 so Huzzah for small wins!

A large part of the problem has been that our spare room has been out of action for a mancave over the year with the spare bed meaning my gaming table was unavailable for extended periods but we have a plan that should see the room emptied and turned into a more usable space in the new year which is very exciting and will hopefully allow me to keep my table up all year and play a lot more games too!

We've also reorganised our living room fairly drastically this year which has allowed me to finally get a small painting desk up and it's been really making its impact known as I can now get up and paint with a proper light first thing for an hour before work rather than while trying to sit on our sofa in the evenings too.

I've also begun working on organising my rulebooks and having a look through the dauntingly large collection of old and largely forgotten games and plan on doing something about breathing some life into them in the new year too with some possibly daft but also fun ideas!

Plans for 2026

Now I had hoped to make a go of 2025 for the year of Leviathan and various other obsessions but it turned out to be a year of not much at all so I'm not wanting to make too much of a fuss about planning ahead but will just potter on painting whatever I find interesting and trying to get back into the swing of things rather than having any great plan and then not managing to make it turn into anything!

Instead I think I'm going to try to just have a bit of fun and paint what I want and aim to beat this year's miniatures painted and games played total and will take it as a win if I do.

In the meantime, thank you to the 178 blog followers, occasional visitors and random passers by who have taken time to read my nonsense! Its lovely to hear from you and thank you for all the support and kind words over a challenging 2025!

All the best!

Richard