2016 is now behind us, and it’s time for a recap of these past 12 months !
As a hobbyist it has been a GREAT year, with a steady painting/gaming rythm. Typically I played one evening per week, plus an extra afternoon here and there. I played and painted more this past year than any other year of my hobbyist life, and probably stacked more games than the past 5 years put together :)
I like to keep track of my “gaming numbers” : games played, minis painted, Wons/Losses, etc. So here is a breakdown of what I’ve painted and what I’ve played !
97 WarmaHordes (213pts, MKII&III put together)
31 Age of Sigmar (1480pts, as per the matched point ruleset)
14 Warhammer 40K (405pts Wysiwyg)
12 Blood Bowl (skaven starting team)
7 Guild Ball (Fishermen team including goal post)
2 Drakerys (Elementals we gave to a LGS)
Plus a few sceneries and tokens/objectives, mainly for the Crossroads of Courage league, and a Realmgate for AoS. I didn’t achieve the WarmaHordes 1pt/day 2016 challenge, but it made me paint wayyyy more than I would have done otherwise ; I was so close to the 100 WarmaHordes models ! I’m happy with the amount of AoS minis I pulled even if I didn’t get to play (see below), but a bit disappointed to have dropped out of my online painting challenge Tales of Sigmar, which would have boosted these numbers and added Sylvaneth to my Order Alliance.
59 WarmaHordes (51 Minions, 6 Mercenaries, 2 Trollbloods)
12 Guild Ball (Fishermen)
2 Age of Sigmar (I wish I had done more)
1 Arena Rex (Only base colors on minis, shame on me)
1 Drakerys (Elves of Avaren)
1 Warhammer 40K (My first in ages, but a prelude to maaaany more)
This doesn’t include demos I gave or tried. WarmaHordes was obviously THE game of the year for me, with a ratio slightly above once game/week ! I missed the MKIII journeyman hype train to start my Trollbloods, so it was definitely a Minions year. I got late into the Guild Ball party but I’m glad I found the time, because it is definitely my main 2016 discovery. I’m disappointed of not playing enough AoS, I really like it and I wish I had gotten more games in... but with a lack of a strong community and OP, I didn’t put time/energy to find players and got involved into Warmachine/Hordes leagues and community instead. Speaking of leagues, I’d like to recap my OP participations !
ORGANIZED PLAY EVENTS : 10
2 WarmaHordes Tournaments (Giga-Con)
5 WarmaHordes Leagues (Journeyman, Iron Company, Crossroads of Courage Season 1 & 2, Battle for Athanc — Ongoing)
1 Guild Ball League (Figo League)
1 Arena Rex League (Slow-grow league)
1 Blood Bowl League (Winter Bowl League)
I also got into a few painting challenges (AoS, WMH, 40K). Most of the leagues spanned 3 weeks/1 month. Organized play is really what drives me to get my minis from my shelves to my painting station and the battlefield : if you want to get/keep me in a game, organize events ! I usually follow OPs as a guideline for my hobby projects. Participating into all this was great ; you get to meet different and awesome people, build up stories and silly memories throught the games... Good stuff ! My only disappointement is that I had a hard time finding players for the Arena Rex and Blood Bowl leagues, probably due to timing (in the middle of a major local convention for the former, just before December holidays for the latter) and the (few) people’s availabilties didn’t fit my schedule.
To conclude, as I said above, I had an AMAZING year. All those games were fully painted (except for Drakerys with its colored plastic) and I’m truly proud to have “achieved” such numbers. What to expect for 2017 then ? Let’s make a short list of my intents and whereabouts, from highest-priority to lowest :
Paint as many (or more) models, get as many (or more) games
Try a few more conventions/tournaments (without sacrificing family life)
Warhammer 40K : get into it ! The community looks great and fluff-driven. I’ve already signed up for two (!) simultaneous leagues starting in January, one with my Tyranids and the other with my Genestealer Cults. It looks like to be my main game at least for the start of the year, and a serious challenger to WarmaHordes.
WarmaHordes : keep rocking the Battle for Athanc campaign, be part of the Crossroads of Courage S3&4, finally start my Trolls and/or Mercs.
Guild Ball : paint/play the Hunter team whenever the next league shows up !
Age of Sigmar : if my LGS runs any kind of campaign, I'll be down for it. Depending on the type, I’ll keep building on my Stormcast or start a new faction, as I already have a few boxes...
Play the games still on my shelves, my main priority being Paolo Parente’s DUST 1947. Models and game look great, and I own several starters, so no excuses ! I have many other games but I won’t name them because the list is long :)
Try new games if I can ! This is a long shot because I already have a pretty full agenda, and you can only do so much if you want to spend time with your family or have other activities. But on the top of my head i’d really like to get demos of Bolt Action and SAGA (first), maybe Frostgrave and Warzone (second), and lastly Infinity, Dropzone/Dropfleet, Batman, Relic Knights, Malifaux... This is purely out of curiosity to discover other game systems, and the USA, with its hordes of versatile players, seems the right place to do it :)
That’s it for now, folks ! I wish you again a happy new year and the best for 2017, may your models get painted and your dice rolled ! Have fun and talk to you soon !
