Year of the Backlog (So far at least!)

I'm quite proud of myself right now. So far I haven't bought a single model in 2023. It may not sound like much of an achievement, but I'm normally terrible for picking up random things on a whim. That might go some way to explaining why I've struggled so much with my backlog until recently! 

Honestly though, I feel I've reached a point where I don't need to be actively buying models. I've got pretty much everything I want for my current armies and projects. Sure there's stuff I'd like to get at some point (especially that Vashtorr, it's very nice!), but I've got plenty to be getting on with for now.

Talking of which, this is what I managed to get painted in January:

Not the most productive January I've ever had, but not bad going considering I've had Pokemon Regionals followed by a bout of illness. Every little counts when it comes to model painting anyway!

Apologies that I haven't shown them off on here as I've finished them. I've just been ridiculously busy. I'll try and be a bit more diligent with that kind of thing in future though. For now, here's the Nobz I finished tonight:

I'm almost achingly close to having a fully painted Ork army. There's only got 5 more Nobz and 10 Beast Snaggas to go and I'll have my 1500 point League list fully painted! I'm hoping to get them done before that kicks off in a month or so.

Before that though, I need to spend some time with Middle Earth, getting some Orc spears done before an event at the end of the month. That's the other thing I've been working on this evening:

They shouldn't take me too long tbh, but I've got to get them done by the 25th, along with Halbarad for my Grey Company. Luckily event deadlines tend to do wonders for my productivity. I might even get time to do some Rangers I've been meaning to get done for ages too!

That's all for today though, so I'll leave it at that and hopefully post some more soon. 

 How's your 2023 hobbying going so far? 

Starting 2023 right.

I've had a pretty solid start to 2023. Carrying on the momentum from the end of last year, my motivation for painting has been sky high. Its not been the most focused, with me doing a little bit on a lot of different stuff, but enthusiasm counts for a lot!

I did manage to get my first models of the year finished though, Its not much, just five Kommandos, but I'm pretty happy with them.

They look pretty decent I reckon. Obviously they're converted rather than using the actual kit, but they do the job nicely. I've been trying to focus on just getting models ready for the table with my Orks, rather than fussing too much over the details. I did toy with doing some freehand camo patterns on some of them, but tbh they look decent enough as is.

Beyond that, I've also been prepping a bunch of stuff for painting using the 'Slapchop' method - aka drybrushing some zenithal preshading onto a load more Orks! 

Slapchop certainly makes army painting a lot easier. I tend to go over the contrast afterwards with a few highlights and extra layers, but it makes my life so much easier by cutting out several stages of initial work, which has a tendency to sap my enthusiasm for a project. I far prefer doing the finishing stages and details! 

Tbh I may not get all those finished at once, but at least I'm going to be able to dip in and out whenever I feel like getting something ready for a game, which should lend itself to getting more finished overall. 

This flurry of hobby activity just goes to show how much of a motivator it can be to simply get some games in. As I mentioned in my last post, the local gaming club has moved their meeting nights from Thursdays to Mondays, which has meant that I've gotten more 40k games in the first two weeks of this year than in the entirety of 2022! A pretty good achievement I reckon. I'm also looking at taking part in the league that's starting soon, so there'll be plenty more to come!

So yeah I've started the year with a pretty good hobby mojo. Hopefully I can keep it up as the year goes on. Only time will tell though. Until next time, happy hobbying!