2018 Recap

Happy new year, I trust it was safe and happy holiday season for you.

Reflecting on my achievements over the course of 2018 I’m inclined to call it a success from a hobby perspective, even though there were a few set backs personally. I painted a lot of models over the course of the year and played a lot of games, although what I expected to play and paint and what I actually got done diverged wildly. Anyway let’s look at the outcomes.

Games

I played 69 games across 14 systems over the year, which is slightly more than one game a week. I was  impressed with that as a final count, however the systems played was highly skewed.

My thinking at the start of the year was I wanted to play 12 games each of Frostgrave and Marvel Universe Miniatures Game, but only managed three games of each. Topping the list of games played is Warhammer Underworlds (or Shadespire or Nightvault), which comprised over half at 39 plays. As a game that came out of nowhere during the year that’s an impressive feat, and I think that speaks to how much I enjoy the game.

Next down the list was This is Not a Test, Massive Darkness and Gaslands. I’ve shared my initial thoughts on the first two games before (here: Massive Darkness and This is Not a Test) and have enjoyed playing them immensely (although Massive Darkness has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment), however Gaslands took over a bit from November onwards and looks like it’ll be a fixture in 2019. Expect some thoughts on that game soon.

The rest of the games were all one-off plays, mostly board games that either didn’t capture enough interest for a second play or that just didn’t hit my priority list or get a group together to play more of.

I’ve recently succumbed and bought the Night’s Watch starter set for A Song of Ice and Fire Tabletop Miniatures Game (or “ASOIAF” for short). I’ve only played one game so far but found it an excellent blend of board game, miniature game and card game, so expect to hear more over 2019.

Hobby

Pleasingly, I achieved several of the goals I set myself at the start of the year, as well as crushing a few more that arose throughout the year. All my DC Universe miniatures got painted, I got a ton of terrain done for Frostgrave and Marvel/DC, as well as painting the core box and Lightbringer box add-ons for Massive Darkness. I also got through all the Shadespire warbands and a small Nighthaunt army for Age of Sigmar, although the latter probably won’t see the table again anytime soon. This is in addition to a bunch of other projects, like new This is Not a Test models, some undead for a Frostgrave solo adventure and my first Gaslands cars.

I’ve kicked off 2019 with a few new projects and am expecting another big year of hobby, although don’t think I’ll set such rigid goals again this year.

Blog

Well, somehow I managed to get 26 posts done which was ahead of my once a fortnight goal, although later in the year saw a decline as real life factors forced me to make some tough prioritisation decisions. I had 1.5k pageviews over 2018, up 37% on 2017 and a level with which I was happy with.  I do appreciate it’s a veritable drop in the ocean in internet terms and likely includes some bots/spam visits, but hopefully people out there are getting some value out of my writing.

Conclusion

Despite some personal challenges, 2018 was a fairly good year for my hobby, and whilst I feel like I never game as much as I want to, I had a none to shabby showing of games and hobby for the year. I’m looking forward the new games I’ve already embarked on for 2019 and the ones that will no doubt crop up over the year and derail my plans completely!