The Paintshop of Horrors

 

So now it's 2026... 

I haven't this thing since 2019... but I figure if I wanna get things back on track, I need something to help keep me focused and honest. Yes, I've been hobbying as always, but things kinda went awry in 2020 and have stayed that way for a while.

I rediscovered my love of video games and I sunk a shitload of time into those. Between Fallout 76, CoD MW DMZ and Warzone, Conan Exiles, ARK, and about a dozen more games like that... I did not get as much hobbying done. 

I had a health scare at the beginning of 2025 that threw a monkey wrench into the first half of the years hobby stuff... and I have only regained a lot of the fine motor skill painting requires over the last few months.

And of course the usual wear and tear that comes with being in your 50s. My 40s just felt like a continuation of my 30s... but ugh now... 

So for 2026, I'm gonna try and clear out some of my painting "to do" pile. Not gonna focus on a set amount, just gonna go with a vague "bunch of stuff" and leave it at that. I have the right tools and materials to put a dent in it... not just painting with craft paint and a jug of Future anymore. Been slowly replacing my everyday go to paints with the more recent Warpaint Fanatic sets from Army Painter, various washes and effects from AK and Vallejo, and the usual Citadel paints.

So here is the resolutions for 2026 that'll make my goal happen:

• Focus more on the big two 40k and AoS (Fantasy)... and all their associated spin offs... as I have not painted anything for those in years. I start, but something always happens.
  
  
• Trench Crusade, Frostgrave, Stargrave, Silver Bayonette, and other skirmish games... actually paint a complete warband for at least one of those. None of those have huge amounts of minis required, so let's knock something out for one of them.
  
  
• My CMON and Mantic board game piles... as much as it pains me I gotta step back on a lot of those models. I'll probably still work on Rise of Moloch and the Others as I'm obsessed with those games' settings. If I feel froggy... maybe Star Saga, Zombicide Invader, of Zombicide Black Plague... maybe...
  
  
• Reaper, Rackham and generic D&D fantasy models in general.. there will never be a time where i don't have at least 2 or 3 models i'm working on just because they are cool. What would be really cool is if I'd finish them before moving to the next shiny thing. And no more KS's.
  
  
• Kickstarters... Unless it's from Diehard, Crooked Dice, or Axia Miniatures... I'm not messing with it. I dunno, if Andy from Heresy does one... I'll probably jump on that.
  
  
• Photographing the finished stuff. It's been 16 years since I did actual photography for finished models. That's is just crazy. Sure, I do rando snaps with my phone, but no real nice model photos. Well that's gonna happen this year.
  
  
• I don't make terrain... the end. You can buy really nice stuff and just paint it. Yes, I have a Proxxon... but it was bought with more that terrain stuff in mind. I still might do up a backdrop or two for photography.... but nothing beyond that.