Year in Review - 2016 and Looking to the Future

Good day all,

Somewhat belatedly this post will cover the general progress of my yearning hobby addiction as well as take a short look at how the blog has been doing! There is a fair amount to cover so it'll be a bit of a roughshod ride through bat country from here on out.

Hobby

So it has been a pretty whirlwind year in terms of armies! Firstly I would like to pay honour to the lost and the damned that have left my hobby desk to visit a big gaming table up state where they can live out their lives peacefully...

Lost and the Damned

Dark Angels

Black Templars

Death Company

So yes, I pretty much purged myself of all 40k this year. Only to now be excited by agents of the imperium and planning a 40k army to arrive sometime in the autumn/winter of 2017. I also started and abandoned my Alpha Legion 30k project as well as my Dark Angels converted 30k project. I am trying to put a lot more effort into planning my armies so that I don't have these half cocked projects that wind up dying the slow death :/

Secondly lets have a look at the armies that made their entry into my hobby sphere in 2016, the Heroes of the Heresy!

Heroes of the Heresy

Taghmata Omnissiah

Solar Auxilia

Emperor's Children

My principal hobby is 30k now! And I am happy to say that with all these armies being started last year, I have now painted a combined 6500+ points of them! With only 4/5 models left to paint for the Auxilia and Mechanicum I am very happy with both the look and the feel of these armies and have zero plans to let go of them!

Blog

So the blog has had a pretty good year if I do say so myself! There has also been some aspects that I've fallen behind on and some things that I am keen to improve as this year develops. I won't go into to much detail as the blogs second birthday is in April so I'll do a bigger bonanza of figures then!

Posting Frequency

With 275 posts last year I averaged pretty much 23 posts a month which seemed fairly ludicrous when I put it like that! However quality is always better than quantity and I'm keen to not necessarily post as much but make sure that each post is something of real interest for readers, rather than sinking to self indulgence. A great deal of what I do is not interesting I am sure! It would be great to keep up a similar rate of posting, but its not something I am going to strive for in any way.

Viewing Figure

The blog has had a tremendous time when it comes to viewing figures, with nearly month on month growth with figures peaking in December at just shy of 30,000. I would like to broaden my appeal by utilising additional social medium like reddit, but there is only so much time in the day to spend on a blog that is jus my hobby after all, particularly if that comes at the expense of actual hobbying!

Other Blogging

I did quite a stint of posting for Spikey Bits in the year, with around 30 posts on their website. However personal problems, coupled with prioritising my own blog and hobby has meant I haven't posted there for some time. Rob Baer who is one of the Primes of Spikey Bits has been thoroughly understanding and I wish to repay him with a renewed impetus to put more material out for him. 

Product Review

I have been very fortunate to be approached and also have approached companies to review products and the like. This has been absolutely incredible and I have some exciting things coming up review wise in the new year. This is lovely to do and I really do enjoy pushing smaller exciting companies into the spotlight for hobbyists who perhaps (definitely) don't spend as much time trawling the internet for new things! Something I'm keen to continue with or without direct support from companies as I buy and review from them anyway!

I have also stopped the Horus Heresy Reviews that I think a lot of people have enjoyed on my blog, so they should be making a come back soon! They do take a lot of time and effort though so again it is a balancing act of getting the posts up and getting time to do my own Hobby stuff. 

Community Presence 

This has been a bit of a mixed bag. I have had the pleasure of making a review video for Winters SEO, of which I will be doing more, as well as playing him a few times. I've also attended a few events, notably Double Trouble where I got to chat and hand out with Dave Weston of 40k Addict Fame and NafNaf of the Danse Macabre at Objective Secured; as well as attending the incredible 24 hour event hero for a day run by Nick Thrower of the Burning eye and spending time with Mike from St Andrews Wargaming (now based in Newcastle!).

I also wrote several christmas themed scenarios for a heresy meet last year and when I attended HATE vs Vanguard in London I came away with two best sporting awards so I can't complain! I als won my first painting prize at Double Trouble which I am over the moon with!

However I am really quite down on myself for not commenting as much on other peoples blogs as I used too, I really do enjoy encouraging people and basking in their awesome work so I am going to try and put time out of my own blogging to make sure I give as much to other bloggers as people give to my blog. 

What's to come in 2017

Well this is a biggie! I have a few exciting projects, collaborations and ventures coming to the fore in 2017. 

YouTube

I have battle aplenty planned with a few of the big players on the bat rep scene, with Table Top Tactics, Winters SEO and Geeks40k in my sights. So hopefully you'll get a chance to see my armies take to the field of battle more often!

I also have several book reviews in video format planned that Winters will very kindly be hosting, and I hope that they are nice and informative

Armies

Well I have two main armies coming fresh to my table in 2017. The first of these is the Imperial Militia that I have been teasing about for some time and I am hoping to get a good chunk of building done on these early this year. The second is a very very new venture which is the Death Guard, spurred on by an impulse buy of Mortarion from Heresy Trading on Facebook...

Additionally I will also have the completion of my shattered legion force of World Eaters and Son's of Horus (Or should I say the Luna Wolves) that will accompany my Emperor's Children as a very fluffy and themed Istvann III force. 

Podcast

My favourite and most exciting venture this year! Myself and my mate Ed (he of the beautiful word bearers) are going to be making a high quality production, narrative focused podcast. This will involve audio dramatisation of Ed and mines writing, as well as discussing how we develop our army background and narrative and make this play on the tabletop. We will also be filing YouTube Battle reports as part of ongoing narrative where the outcome of the stories we tell is decided by our games. 

I am really excited for this and we are hoping to have our first episode out very soon :)

That's all for now folks, I hope you enjoyed that (not so brief) recap of my 2016 hobby blog and I hope you'll join me for 2017 as well! 

Peace out,

Rob