2019 was an exceptional hobby year for me.
Just a couple of metrics;
30 blog posts (including this one)
2400 total blog hits for #Medge-tagged items; not bad for a bit of a personal pet project!
5 Army Projects (Death, Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Knights)
4 Game systems (Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40k, Necromunda and Warhammer: Underworlds)
128 models cleared from the back-log
and a heck of a load more added!!
So let's take a look at those in some detail.
Vigilus Defiant
Our year kicked off with our Vigilus Tale; A 6-month Tale of Four Gamer's set on the beleaguered world of Vigilus to tie in with the ongoing 40k narrative.
The Tale was meant to be the drive to get four Imperial Armies up and ready to take to a Warhammer World/ LGC doubles tournament.
During these 6 months I converted an unfinished sub-project, my Adeptus Mechanicus, into a fully fledged 1500 point army.
I also leveraged the project to begin to paint some Imperial Knights, beautiful centerpiece models which absolutely captivated me.
All in all the project saw me paint;
11 Skitarii Rangers
7 Skitarii Vanguard
1 Tech Priest Enginseer
1 Tech Priest Dominus
10 Secutarii Hoplites
5 Sicarian Infiltrators
3 Kataphron Destroyers
2 Kastelan Robots
1 Cybernetica Datasmith
3 Sydonian Dragoons
2 Onagar Dunecrawlers
1 Knight Crusader
1 Knight Gallant
1 Knight Questoris Styrix
1 Knight Armiger
I fell in love with the grimdark aesthetic almost immediately with the AdMech and they very quickly became of of my favourite factions in 40k (supplanting my previous Chaos affiliations and quashing any thoughts I had of throwing in my lot with the Greater Good too!)
Unfortunately for the project we hit a speed bump at the end; our triumphant tournament ended up not working out due to lack of interest. So despite my love for AdMech the project kind of fizzled, and I've not picked up a brush in support of Mars in 6 months (despite the release of the new Skorpius Disintegrator/ Dunerider)
I did, however, galvanize myself to paint a few more Knights. Two new Armiger Helverins and a Knight Castellan were painted up in November for a Birthday Apocalypse game I was invited to, and these three pieces definitely have me looking to revisit the AdMech/ Knightly houses soon.
With Psychic Awakening in fluff steam at the moment, and upgrades to the Mechanicum only a few months away, I see a time coming soon when my painting arm once again works for the Omnissiah.
Age of Sigmar Local League
Around June, just before the Generals Handbook 2019 was released, I got back into Age of Sigmar. Having spent all of 2018 painting and playing Destruction I decided to turn my brush towards a backlog project; a Grand Alliance Death army lead by Arkhan. At the time we, as a foursome, were discussing potential follow-up projects from 40k and AoS was on the cards. Having played a relatively low-tier army in 2018 I wanted to test myself with a more "on meta" faction, and I was fortunate to have the makings of a decent Legion of Sacrement army in my backlog.
As part of this project I ended up painting:
40 Skeletons
20 Chainrasps
20 Grimghast Reapers
Arkhan the Black, Mortach of Sacrement
Vampire Lord
Necromancer
Guardian of Souls
Ultimately my attempts to play competitive were unsuccessful, courtesy of a misplayed game (never underestimate Khorne!) and a really skilled player who brought a curve-ball to out local meta. After 2 games I was out of the league... and unfortunately these two games happened in one week! 
So my foray into Age of Sigmar was relatively brief, but did help me clear a chunk of backlog!
Fun and Fluff
Now we're getting to the good stuff!
Having decided to take a break with "Tale-ing" in the second half of the year (courtesy of burnout, busy schedules, and some indecision/ different priorities between the four of us) we pursued our own projects and endeavors. For me, this meant preparing for the Fun and Fluff Tournament down in London (at Darksphere Games(
Project Grey Knights took a few twists and turns over the 3 months I was working on it, as different builds and increased familiarity with the lists saw me hammer out some of the problems and optimise around the theme I wanted.
The mandate for the Fun and Fluff tournament was "narrative style lists", and I went into that with an "optimised-casual" list; in that I optimised which models from my collection would work, but hadn't optimised things like loadouts, etc.
As it turns out, the mandate was interpreted quite differently by everyone attending, with lists spanning everything from GT-style down to "these are what I had in my box"
The weekend was great fun and, unlike with the AdMech, I came back from the event ready to paint the final Grey Knights I had in my collection.
Courtesy of this project I ended up painting:
Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo
Grand Master Voldus
Grand Master in a Nemesis Dreadknight
Castellan Crowe
Grey Knight Apothecary
Grey Knight Paladin Ancient
15 Grey Knight Terminators
10 Grey Knight Purifiers
10 Grey Knight Interceptors
5 Grey Knight Strike Squad
1 Venerable Dreadnought
2 Rhinos
I couldn't be happier that Psychic Awakening 4 is featuring the Grey Knights. I'd never been a huge fan of the faction but have found myself absolutely converted to the Knights of Titan; they are to me what Custodes are to James, and I am pretty set on completing a full Chapter before the Primaris-upgrades come along!!
Bash the Backlog
Ah - the one I've been waiting for.
#BashtheBacklog is a personal project I've be championing all year, and I've been seriously active with my backlog. I've not been perfect, and have definitely bought more than my fare share of new models this year (something I won't pledge to stop, because I know I'll fail!), but I've successfully cleared over 100 backlog models across multiple systems.
That alone proves the success of the project, and it'll be something I continue to extol next year!
All of my projects listed so far have contributed to Bash the Backlog; the first Imperial Knights, all of my Death models and about a third of my Grey Knights all contributed towards backlog cleared.
The only notable omission from that list were my Blood Angels; a 40k project that dates back some years. Between projects I managed to add several mini's to my Blood Angels, exploring the Primaris Marines for the first time.
All in all (as described above) my cleared backlog reads as:
2 Imperial Knights
1 Questoris Knight (Forge World)
1 Knight Armiger
2 Blood Angel Primaris Lieutenants
1 Adeptus Mechanicus Sydonian Dragoon
1 Blood Angels Primaris Captain
1 Blood Angels Chaplain
1 Blood Angels Lieutenant
5 Blood Angels Devestators
5 Blood Angels Hellblasters
5 Blood Angels Reivers
5 Blood Angels Scouts
5 Blood Angels Sternguard Veterans
Robute Gulliman
1 Ultramarines Captain
Grand Master Voldus
Grey Knight Chaplain
Grey Knight Apothecary
Grey Knight Paladin Ancient
Grey Knight Rhino
5 Grey Knight Terminators
5 Grey Knights Purifiers
1 Grey Knight Venerable Dreadnought
40 Skeleton Warriors
20 Chainwrasps
Arkhan the Black
Vampire Lord
Guardian of Souls
The Chosen Axes (Warhammer: Underworlds)
The Thorns of the Briar Queen (Warhammer: Underworlds)
The Sepulchral Guard (Warhammer: Underworlds)
2019: Biggest hobby regrets
I did a lot of great stuff in 2019, but still made the same old habits of buying things in without thinking things through.
I committed pretty hard to Necromunda in the beginning of 2019 (around February) and never painted the mini's. I love the game but just haven't given it the time nor energy it deserves. Fortunately we have an active, 6-monthly campaign cycle at our local gaming club so this will be rectified.
Warcry and Warhammer: Underworlds, however, are more difficult to remove blemishes.
As can be seen from my BashtheBacklog list, I've started chipping away at the Underworlds Warbands, but as a seasonal game it's something I'm forever going to struggle to keep pace with.
I really enjoy it and it's upsetting both how infrequently I play it, and how much money I've committed to it before realising it will never be the game I play religiously. The only virtue I can say is that I have learned from my mistakes, and will regrettably be avoiding Beastgrave.
Warcry is something I went into more cagily, having learned my lesson with Necromunda. The models are great, and whilst I fully intend on playing through the game at some point I've rationed my resources until I know I'll be playing it more. It's a great little subsection of the Mortal Realms, so hopefully I can get some time in 2020 to explore it.
2020: What to look forward to
2020 promises to be a big year, with a slew of projects to keep me going.
#BashtheBacklog isn't going anywhere, and with luck I can bring some of my fellow Warlords into the mix too!
I spent a huge chunk of November building backlog ready for the cold and wet (and undercoat-inhibiting) winter months, and so hopefully will be able to continue with the pace I've set this year.
Warhammer 30k is always on my radar, and I'd love to get some battles in the Age of Darkness going. I have a project title armed and ready, so keep your eyes peeled for "The Last Wall", coming soon...
Warhammer 40k continues to ramp up, with Psychic Awakening looking like it will dominate the upcoming release schedule for some time.
As a predominantly Imperial player I couldn't be happier about this!
Blood of Baal gave my Blood Angels a HUGE influx of powers; so much so that I've picked up the Crimson Spear Strike Force Battleforce to augment my existing Blood Angels. I'm currently working through some BA backlog as part of my first "Blood of Angel" post for next year. With Neil and Tim aspiring for more competitive play, and me FINALLY having models for an army that can be competitive, I'm hoping to visit a few more local events in 2020 and see how I get on.
This project may, of course, be derailed by the Grey Knight and Adeptus Mechanicus Psychic Awakening books! Watch this space.
We have a new Tale of Four Warlords kicking off in the new year too - revisiting old alliances in the Mortal Realms, the four of us will be gearing up for another doubles by each building a force from one of the Grand Alliances.
I have aspirations to have an army from each Grand Alliance... but Destruction is my one true love and I'll be honouring Gorkamorka once again. I'm torn as to whether I should embrace the Grots or the Ogors, so watch this space for the "Tale of Four Warlords" posts coming soon!
Necromunda, Warcry, Warhammer: Underworlds, Adeptus Titanicus, Blood Bowl and Kill Team also feature on my radar too, and it's certainly too early to write-off any projects for these too.
The end of the beginning
So ends the beginning of our first year as hobby bloggers, and it's been a ride. I certainly wouldn't have been half as productive as I have been without this little journal of my thoughts, and the inspiration, encouragement, banter, friendly rivalry and frustrating competitiveness of my fellow warlords (looking at you Tim and Neil!)
We've gamed separately and together all year, traveled up and down the country for games and events, and through all of it continued to push each other to do more and do better.
And this was just the start.
It's the end of the first year together, and the start of bigger and better things.
Onwards! For the Emperor! For Sigmar!
For Us, and for all of You!
Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!
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