2022 in review.

I hope you all had an excellent Christmas. As 2022 moves inexorably towards 2023, I figured that it's time for my traditional end of year review post.

It's certainly been an interesting year for me hobby wise. in terms of painting, a picture says a thousand words:

That's everything I've done this year. A pretty good chunk of stuff! Granted, it's less than last year, but last year was a little bit ridiculous in terms of what I got done. I'm very pleased to say I'm going into the new year firmly into positive figures on my painting points though, something which has been eluding me since I started tracking it all back in 2017.

I certainly feel I've been painting to a higher standard than last year too. I'm super proud of everything I've produced. Not that what I did last year was bad by any means, but I can definitely see how much I'm improving over time, which is super satisfying to see. With the pressure to clear my backlog no longer being a thing either, I can only see myself improving more and more over time, as I can take my time more on individual projects, rather than feeling the need to keep plunging forward to move things off my painting desk. 

As I gathered the models for the photo, I also noticed that I've been more focused than usual. My painting has definitely been more centred around 'chunks' of projects rather than the more scattershot approach I normally take. In hindsight, I think its because I've more playing more in events than individual games throughout the year, so I've been concentrating on getting armies ready rather than zigzagging between whatever catches my eye. That's definitely a good thing, as also means I'm able to play games with a lot more fully painted models than usual, which feels pretty nice. Hopefully I can keep that focus going into 2023. 

Talking of gaming, as I mentioned I've not been able to get out and play as much as I'd like to. I've gotten a lot of games in and they've been a lot of fun, but it's mostly been centred on various events I've attended. That's no bad thing, but it does means there's been huge chunks of time between being able to get out and play, which is something I'm going to work to even out going into 2023. I definitely feel a lot saner when I can get out an game regularly. The local club is changing the day they meet, which will mean it'll be far easier for me to attend, so that should help on that front. Their main focus is on 40k too, so that might help me actually get 2000 points of Orks done. 

On a slightly more sombre note, my biggest disappointment this year has been that the heresy campaign which I organised to try and get the locals excited for the new edition just fizzled out. It's kind of understandable. People have busy lives, now more than ever, but it's still a little disheartening to see happen. I'm hoping to organise some kind of big finale day some time in January to wrap the whole thing up in a meaningful way, so that should be good.

So moving forward into the new year, what are my hobby goals? Well I've learned better than to set myself specific goals, as my inner hobby butterfly would destroy any plan I make by about February! I am however, just going to focus on painting models already have for a while. I seem to be on a bit of an Ork kick atm, so I'm going to get on with that as we go into January. As I mentioned, I'll be able to attend my local club a bit more regularly, so I want enough painted to do their next 40k league. There's also a Middle Earth event in February that I need to get a little more Mordor done for, so I guess they're going into my painting queue too.

Beyond that I'm just going to continue with my annual 365 challenge and see where the winds of inspiration take me. I actually failed the challenge this year, thanks to having to move flat over the summer, but I won't beat myself up too much about it. It's more a way to try and prompt me to be working on stuff rather than it being a hard rule.

So that's a quick summary of my hobby in 2022. A bit more concise than usual, but at least it spares you from one of my rambling posts.

Happy New year to you all. What are your plans for 2023p