Retrospective

2019 Hobby Year in Review

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As the year comes to a close, it’s time again for a hobby retrospective.

Overview

The year started in something of a hobby funk. My favorite shop for events closed. Malifaux was in the dead-man’s zone between second and third edition. I had really enjoyed Relicblade, but was waiting for the Kickstarter to ship. I ended up buying some more early, both for me and a friend, and did painted some long-waiting terrain.

Adepticon, in March, kicked things into gear. Wreck Age was the main system purchase of the year. More about that later. Malifaux third edition came into open beta, and I picked up the one of the prerelease crew boxes.

Relicblade Kickstarter shipped. A couple of places were clearancing Malifaux second edition, which really pushed me into hobby debt. I then spent the summer and fall working my way back down to a manageable level. Of course, there are even more models acquired than selected in the chart. Mostly it’s stuff that came in bundles, but I’ve convinced myself that some of the clearance stuff doesn’t need to be ‘selected’.

Finally I picked up a bunch of Fallout at a deep discount, putting me right back into hobby debt.

I’ve managed to post on this blog at least once a week. I batch up models to photograph, then post them over time. Some of the models listed below haven’t been posted yet.

Total: 175 models painted (12.9% increase year over year). Over 1000 lifetime models painted

  • 37 Malifaux
  • 44 Relicblade
  • 36 Terrain pieces
  • 12 Fallout
  • 22 Wreck Age
  • 24 others, including Arena Rex, Dust, post-apoc monsters and 7TV characters, random Reaper models, and some chibis
  • 48 older models with redone photos
  • 12 models from before the blog posted for the first time

Malifaux

Malifaux has long been my main game, though I took a break between the third edition announcement and actual release. Now that the new edition is released, I’m back. Between buying the new Resurrectionist crew box on a whim at Adepticon and the Molly and Seamus special edition models released at Gencon, I guess I’m playing Ressers. I’m trying to focus on that so I can actually learn the game, but keep getting tempted by all the other factions, both old and new.

Relicblade

Relicblade was one of the games purchased at Adepticon 2018, and the most successful Adepticon purchase to date. I even went to help sort through models for the Kickstarter fulfillment. This year my friend and I played through both campaigns in the Volgelands campaign book. I’ve managed to acquire and paint the entire range. I’m eagerly awaiting the next batch of models, whenever they land.

Terrain

Terrain has always been just around the corner, never quite getting as much hobby time as I’d like. This year I did a lot more scatter terrain, including a decent board’s worth of post-apoc terrain.

Fallout

Fallout is the shiny new thing. I picked up the starter box cheap at the end of 2018, but didn’t do anything with it. I finally played it this year, and plan to do a campaign soon. I love the video games, and the minis game captures it well. Plus I’m finally playing post-apoc. More Fallout forms most of my current hobby debt. I’m looking forward to playing a linked campaign. Unfortunately the main Fallout event at Adepticon 2020 conflicts with Relicblade, and Relicblade wins.

  • Starter Set Survivors
  • Starter Set Super Mutants
  • Starter Set Power Armor
  • Starter Set Deathclaw

Other

As usual, I play (or at least pretend I’ll play) too many games. Dust was a 2018 Adepticon purchase. At the time it didn’t have enough units for Mythos to make a varied game. Now there are more, but it’s hard to justify the additional purchase/hobby time. Arena Rex models are amazing, and the game is a ton of fun. I’ll keep slowly building the collection.

Wreck Age was a 2019 Adepticon purchase. I really like the idea of the game, but it’s a bit too far into the RPG side of things to work for me. I think it would really benefit from a narrator or GM coordinating games. But I’m not about to organize one.

Game Kastle briefly had a painting competition where $5 bought you that month’s model, which could then be painted as desired. I entered twice, but it seems to have vanished.

Looking to 2020

Malifaux is still the main game in rotation, alternating with something else. Right now that’s Fallout, though I expect Relicblade and Arena Rex to make guest appearances.

I’m looking forward to a variety of skirmish games I’ve signed up for at Adepticon. We’ll have to see how much I can fit back in my bag for the flight home.

I still haven’t found a replacement for the roughly monthly event style games since Endgame closed. It’s a hole in my hobby heart. I’m probably not looking hard enough.

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