Plans for 2018 - old armies, new projects

It's a new year, meaning it's time to start planning my hobby for 2018.

I was hoping to write a lovely long Hobby Review post looking back over 2017, but a nasty bout of Nurgle-induced illness over the New Year period basically put a stop on that one. Instead I figured I'd use my first post of 2018 to look ahead at what projects I want to do this year.

First thing's first I've been having a sort out and having a good going through of what I have (hint: It's a lot!). I figure that if I can get organised, it'll be easier to work out where I'm going.

 I started with my Emperor's Children:

It's a fairly impressive collection, considering I only revived my old EC's back in June. I went a little nuts after the release of 8th edition and launched headlong into a buying frenzy, leaving me with a ton of half painted models. 

I'm hoping to finish them up this year before I buy anything else for the army. Luckily most of what I have just needs washing and detailing to finish them up, rather than having to be painted from scratch.

Once I've got my basic 40k list finished, Im planning to do a FW order for a few bits to make them usable in 30k too, including starting my long-planned Daemon Fulgrim conversion. GW might beat me to that one, but considering how little love Slaanesh has been getting recently, I'm pretty certain we won't be seeing a plastic Fulgrim or Emperor's Children any time soon.

Leaving the world of excess behind, next up are my Thousand Sons:

I was making good progress on these in the first six months of last year, spurred on by the release of Inferno. Unfortunately the massive distraction named 8th Edition came along, bringing with it the uncertainty surrounding the future of 30k. That pretty much meant that my Thousand Sons fell to the wayside, mostly due to lack the sudden of opponents to play against as most of my local 30k players flocked back to 40k.

Now that FW have released the Age of Darkness rulebook and people in my area are playing 30k again, I want to jump back to these and get them finished. Much like my EC's, I don't think it'll take much effort to do. I just need to sit down and focus on them for a few months. They'll make quite a nice pallete cleanser for when I'm sick of painting pink and purple!

If you're wondering what happened to the Ordo Xenos forces which I was working on earlier this year, I've unfortunately decided to shelve them for a while until either Deathwatch or the Inquisition get a codex (preferably both!). The army just doesn't play the way I feel they should in 8th using the Index rules, so I'm leaving them until they get the codex treatment. It's a shame, but I just can't muster the enthusiasm for working on them like used to, so it makes sense to take a break from them.

On the other hand, there's one project which I'm really looking forward to making a start on soon: 

I picked up these Mordians from a friend just before Christmas and are going to put through the stripping tub in the next few weeks.

I've always wanted a Mordian army and with the new Guard codex seeing the return of Regimental Doctrines, I figured I'd finally take the plunge with them. I'm planning on doing a large order with Victoria Miniatures at some point in the next few months to add to the two squads I've got here. Their range of 'Mordians' are beautiful and should not only give me the option to build loadouts which GW no longer produces, but also let me model the Napoleonic-esque firing lines which I've always pictured.

They even do sculpts for female guardsmen! Something which is distinctly lacking from the GW range.

All this is going to be very much a side project though until i get my two Marine-based armies finished. I've waited 15 years to collect Mordians, so a few more months won't make too much difference.

So there you are, those are my plans for at least the early part of this year. There's plenty to do, but I'm hoping that documenting it all on here should keep me motivated. I've kind of let this blog lapse over the past year or so. I'm wanting to change that and kick it back into something resembling a regular posting schedule.

Wish me luck!

What are your plans for hobbying this year?