Sunday 3 January 2016

2015 in Review

Hey Folks,


Today I'm just going to review 2015 very quickly. I'm afraid my posts will likely be quite more curt in the following month, my lovely girlfriend and I of 3+ years together departed ways on christmas eve. This was unfortunately not due to any actual problem between us but just a divergence (children wise) in what we wanted from our lives. I'm a quite unstable person at the best of times, so this hasn't been the best New Year for me so far. 

However with that malaise out of the way I will also say that my blog and hobby has been an excellent distraction for me and the best form of escapism I could hope for, so I hope that that will eventually shine through. On to the review.


Armies

2015 saw the rise and fall of several armies under my control. Both by Chaos Space Marine Night Lords and my Militarum Tempestus were sold to make funds and time available for other projects. My Black Templars (Emperor Love them) will be joining them shortly sadly. 

Its hard to believe but I didn't have any Blood Angels at the beginning of 2015 and I now have an entire army of Death Company as well as a smattering of "Redwing" Terminator units as well as a Furioso Dreadnought. In addition I have Lemartes, Dante, Astorath, and Captain Karlaen as special characters too! Phew the thirst is strong within me! These guys total around 4500 points



And but a few months ago at the beginning of September I had no Dark Angels and now I have nearly enough models to field 4000 points if they weren't painted! In those three months though I have managed to paint up around 1200 points of Dark Angels and so am very happy with their progress!



The latter half of the year also saw me begin a foray into bigger conversions and more importantly 30k. This began with my Dark Angels which have all been converted from Sigmarines. I have 10 of these built and 5 more to go. To go along with these I have my "jetbike" mounted Praetor on the dragon/cat mount of sigmar and a trio of bodyguard jetbikes in production. Finally for these guys I have converted a Spartan Assault Tank and a Caestus Assault Ram. All these conversions have met with mixed reviews so I think I need to improve, but also develop a thicker skin if I keep putting myself out in the public domain.



And finally the Alpha Legion are here! But they only just nipped into 2015 so not much to report!


Hobby

I cannot overstate how much I think my hobby skills have improved over 2015. I think I have gone from a decent average tabletop painter to being a little cut above. Certainly I don't think I am a "great" painter but I am increasingly proud of the quality of work I produce. 

I can only hope that my skills continue to improve and I get better throughout 2016. I have a little ace up my sleeve in that respect that I hope I will have a post about soon. 

I would dearly love the regular readers of my blog to give their feedback on how far they think I have come this last year BUT more importantly what you think are they key areas/techniques you think I need to brush up on so to speak. 

I directly attribute my increase in painting skills to the feedback I have received from this blog and so I cannot thank you enough!


Blog

Obviously one of the big events hobby wise for me this year was the birth of this very blog! I have gone from 200-300 views a month in my first couple of months to garnering over 9000 views last month and not a single day below 200 views which I am incredibly proud of. I have some 30 followers over google+ and blogger and I am quite frankly astounded!

I did not in my wildest dreams think I would be sat on 34000+ views at this point. When I started the blog my aim was for 3000 at the end of the year, so more than 10 times that amount often has me pinching myself and giddy with excitement. 

I cannot thank you as my readers, occasional or habitual enough. All the comments I have received across all platforms that I throw my blog (here, facebook and google+) have been positive or constructive with very few unhelpful comments all round. 

Similar to my painting, if there is anything that you think my blog could stand to have altered I am all ears :). I do plan on doing a little give away to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the blog which will be in April I think, so hopefully that keeps you interested for a few more months :P


Gaming

I managed to get a lot more games into my fairly busy life in 2015, averaging around 1.5 games a month when you factor in the two tournaments I went too. I attended both the final Blog Wars X and also Bristol Vanguards Vanquish earlier in the year. I placed poorly in Vanquish with a fun list and I placed just outside the top half in Blog Wars with a none-optimised list. I'm quite happy with these results as I have only really just begun to get into "competitive" or "dirty" gaming if you like. My aim this year is to attend 3+ tournaments and place in the top half of two of them.



In addition to those tournaments I plan to attend Nick Thrower from the Burning Eye blogs charity event:Hero for a day. I will do a full post on this in the coming month but please go and check it out here. Nick is a top notch stand up guy and its for a great cause indeed, if you are interested do let him know :)


2016 - What do you hold

Due to the aforementioned separation event in my life (or conscious uncoupling you might say...I know pop references!) I should have a lot more time for hobbying and importantly gaming. I would like to make this a once a week or once a fortnight event rather than once a month!

In addition to my commitments for the 40k Addict season run by Dave Weston I have got a list below. Much of this list is mystery as I don't want to spoil surprised (some forgeworld surprises perhaps...) that are coming up in the next few weeks/months...

- New painting technique.. (Mystery!)

- Paint shiny new units.. (Forgeworld mystery!)

- Get Alpha Legion on the Table (Includes mystery guests!)

- Complete my 30k Dark Angels army 1850 points

- Complete 1850 points of 40k Dark Angels tournament army

- Complete all Blood Angels (approximately a drop pod, 11 death company, 10 scouts and 6 Assault marines)

I think thats a pretty ambitious list myself, but people seem to be surprised at my rate of painting so maybe not? Though I think as I have said above, I routinely sacrifice quality for quantity...



What do you think?

Do you have any favourite highlights from my blog so far? What are you most excited to see from me in 2016? Is there anything you are burning to see me do first?

Let me know and I'll be happy to oblige. 

Thank you all again for all the support and kindness you have shown. 


Peace out,

Rob

10 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your parting of ways. Such is life sometimes I suppose :(

    Glad you are enjoying the hobby and blogging. I can see a real progression in your stuff over the year, and even beyond to your stuff on the dark city back in the day. I look forward to what 2016 brings for you :)

    I think one thing you could improve on in 2016 is your mini photography. Although it is fine I think it is something you could really push for. A well photographed mini really shows off the paint job alot more. Getting rid of the background stuff like work desks etc, by editing, and having a white/light grey base as well will really help. Check out this article for mobile phine camera photography. I take all my photos for my blog on my phone, and they come out pretty well. It is a good read and very informative, i use the camera + app and it is an excellent tool for mini photography. http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/tutorial-how-to-photograph-miniatures.html
    Other than that keep what you are doing, hobbying and writing about what you enjoy, and this blog will continiue to grow from strength to strength :)

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    1. Sadly it is, but I'm sure I'll be alright.

      Oh deary me, I do not like looking at my very early work in TDC! I really want to get back into an eldar force and get back on TDC but life and the blog do consume rather a lot of time.

      Thanks for the link! I did start off the road to improving photos and then got... bored? But its good to have a push, definitely something to put on the list. Especially as I love how well presented your own minis are.

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  2. Congratulations on the blog traffic. I agree with NafNaf about the pictures, advice that I am taking myself. All in all you have had a great year hobby-wise. Sorry to hear about the break up, stuff like that sucks.

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    1. Thanks Mek! Its always great to hear from blogs that I look up to like yours.

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  3. My condolences on the breakup. Better to have it clear and open than turn into some festering bunch of resentment or something, tho.

    Congrats on the hobby-related stuff, tho, and I look forward to seeing more of your posts in 2016

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    1. Yeah that was her reasoning and sadly I couldn't argue with her about her own wants. She deserve the best.

      I think you have the dubious award of being my most frequent commenteer and I most definitely always appreciate your advice good sir!

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  4. Your experimentation with making Dark Angels darker was the highlight for me last year, now I am looking forward to seeing what you do with the Alpha Legion. There are some really great models and parts coming out for them so you will have a lot to play with!

    Sorry about your break up :-( I can remember having those discussions with my wife early in our relationship and they were never easy; but you have to have them and sooner is better than later. Hang in there!

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    1. Thats great to hear dude! I keep meaning to comment on your awesome dreadnoughts but I'm struggling to remember things and the like at the moment... But they look damn cool! I'd like to see you do a contemptor.. nudge nudge..

      I'm actually quite against any form of Alpha Legion iconography on my army as I feel that the Alpha Legion would make it easy to disguise themselves, so although all the legion specific stuff is great its not for me!

      Thanks man, everyone here and in my friends has been great, just trying to busy myself up as a distraction, plus plastic crack retail therapy...

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  5. New Years Eve was the 23rd anniversary of meeting my wife and in some respects it's harder now than it ever was to keep the relationship going but I would definitely advise to be wary about how much you invest into the hobby, do not let it take over. As we've discussed over the last few months the hobby, for all it's pleasure, can be all consuming so don't get lost in it.

    As you suggest gaming is something you'd like to increase then at least you're socialising with friends but the other aspects can be very isolating and I know how much my mind wanders while I paint and sometimes I'm not sure that can be good, and certainly worse after something like this.

    I'd also echo what NafNaf said abotu pictures but you know my protocol - I take snapshots of WiPs on my phone because otherwise I'd not have any supporting pictures. Then I take a decent set of pics of the finished article so they get their chance to shine.

    Good luck with everything Rob

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    1. Thanks Dave, the hobby is a good distraction but focus is sadly lacking at the moment. I have done a good deal of retail therapy in the past week, but I find your blog and concepts in general on the hobby a good staying block for running to wild.

      I'm lucky that I live with some of my best mates and we are all very nerdy ranging from DnD to pc gaming to 40k. So they have been good at pulling me downstairs to spend time with them.

      Pictures are jumping further up the list I think, a new lamp is definitely in order.

      Thanks again Dave.

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