Hobby Summary 2021

2021 is almost over! Let’s have a quick look back over the painting achievements, shall we?

In direct comparison to last year, things on the hobby front are looking better. At a quick glance, this year I have mostly been painting Space Marines! They’ve made up a fair chunk of this years painting achievements – and it was really good going through my Space Marine collection and really thining it all down; putting a lot of the older, first-born Space Marine models into the ‘bits box’ was quite liberating and while I am somewhat sad about no longer having a full company of Astartes, it was quite a freeing process and helped me feel a lot less bogged down by models, especially considering the thought of going back to painting them after the Primaris.

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I think my ‘crowning achievement’ this year came in the form of the Cities of Sigmar General on Gryphon, this is one of the biggest models I’ve ever tackled and I am still mega-proud of the wings on it. Although it didn’t help with model intimidation as I still have a fair few larger models that I’d like to paint up and tackle! (Mostly Slaanesh Daemons)

This year also saw my starting a new section of the Cities of Sigmar army, with some allied Stormcast Eternals – I enjoyed painting them a lot more than I thought I would, and after the freebie model as a test, I brought a few more – they are stuck together but just need me to get cracking on them!

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I did a lot less in terms of ‘random models’ this year. The Leader of my Cawdor gang and an Inquisitorial Scribe, being the only ones that I could find. There was also a Raygun Raptor finished off on the main picture too. As well as Titus, from Godtear, which Lord Commander Eloth has recently gotten me started in painting and playing!

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All in all, not a bad year on the painting front. I certainly feel more accomplished than last year. I do feel like I could have done more, but there was a bit of a hobby lull in the middle of the year. Mostly caused by stupid internet drama and as this stemmed from the hobby community over on Twitter, I felt a bit despondent to it. However, building on from that in the direction of streaming and moving to Instagram where everything is a lot more chilled-out, has really helped to encourage hobby painting again. And, I’ve enjoyed making the hobby feel more sociable via streaming too. It’s like painting with friends!

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I’ll also be writing up a book-related summary for the year too, not sure what I’ll be saying, but I’ve managed to read 79 books this year. Beating my goal of 50 by quite a margin! I do feel I have stumbled on a good balance of reading and hobby now and have a good way of sharing them both on the same blog without it feeling awkward or weird. I’ll talk more about books in another post though when I have figured out what I’d like to say!

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As for next year, I’d honestly just like to try and maintain a better balance with painting and keep on enjoying what I am doing. Finishing off some models that I have already started would be great as I seem to have started a fair few and then never finished them – mostly base coating and washing things but never getting them layered or based – so going back and doing these steps on them would be a great starting point. Getting over the big model intimidation would be a great step to take too!

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I wish all my readers the very best for the New Year, I hope that you’re all happy with the progress you’ve made this year and that all your hobby dreams come true in 2022! As always I look forward to seeing all your hobby as the year progresses!