It’s one thing to set resolutions, and quite another to hold oneself to them. I intend to review my progress monthly toward each of the resolutions. Welcome, then, to our roundup for May 2025. Let’s start with a reminder of where we got to last month:
Resolutions Recap
Painting Resolutions
- Complete 3 active army projects (1/3)
- Finish two Malifaux crews (1/2)
- Starting forces for 2 skirmish games (no progress)
- Take part in at least 4 club painting contests (3/4)
- Paint 200 miniatures (23/200)
- Paint more than I purchase (Back on track!)
Gaming Resolutions
- Play at least 30 different games this year (21/30 games played)
- Play miniature games at least 12 times (2/12 games played)
- Play at least 5 games that I already own but have not yet played. (3/5 games played)
- Play at least 3 non-D&D RPGs (no progress)
Writing Resolutions
- Write 52 reviews (including Game of the Month reviews) (20/52 published)
- Publish a blog post per day (on track!)
Now, let’s take a look at what sort of progress was made in May.
May Roundup: Painting
This has been a really good month for painting, and specifically for Malifaux! I started off with some Malifaux miniatures in the form of Tiri’s core box:
I then went on to further explore Tiri’s Bygone keyword, padding out her roster with the Tenacious Tradition and Forge a New Path boxes:
With Bygone finished for now, I dug out some more Malifaux miniatures that had sat unpainted for a long time. This was Tara’s core box:
Having made some great Malifaux progress, and completing a resolution in the process, I decided to continue on by grabbing miniatures that I’d primed and then largely abandoned. First up, a Crypt Infernal Courtier for my Flesh-Eater Courts:
Some other miniatures that had sat for some time were a bunch of Genestealer Cults characters. These included:
I really enjoyed getting these guys all painted up:
I do dread having to do the massed infantry and vehicles for this army…
Next up, I grabbed a miniature that I had previously abandoned in favour of a larger miniature which became my Varghulf Courtier last year. The original Green Knight was demoted and painted up as a Crypt Haunter Courtier:
Sticking with some Flesh-Eater courts, I then painted up my third and fourth sets of Crypt Guard. I think these will be the last Crypt Guard I will need to do, unless things change pretty substantially with the army. Here are the finished units:
And that’s us for the month! I also bought 17 Necromunda miniatures. It would have been 18, but there’s one I just can’t find in stock! I may have to turn to the printer for an alternative. Here are the totals for completed miniatures in May:
- Purchased: 11
- Painted: 46
And this brings the totals for the year to:
- Purchased: 28
Painted: 69
Next up will be some more Flesh-Eater Courts. I’ve got some characters, some more Crypt Horrors, and maybe some Crypt Flayers or Morbheg Knights. I’m also keen to do some Ogroid Theridons for a Regiment of Renown and a GSC Benefictus. Beyond that, I’m not sure what’s next.
May Roundup: Gaming
With Commander and Lorcana featuring more heavily in my rotation at the moment, and a goal to get more miniature games played, I’ve reduced this year’s target to 30 games. Up to the beginning of May, I had played the following games this year:
- Magic: the Gathering
- Disney Lorcana
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
- Apiary
- Architects of the West Kingdom
- 7 Wonders
- Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
- Raiders of the North Sea
- Paranoia: The Uncooperative Board Game
- Unstable Unicorns
- Viscounts of the West Kingdom
- Wayfarers of the South Tigris
- Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy
- Clank! In! Space!
- Clank!
- Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress
- Tiny Towns
- Isle of Skye
- Risk
- River Valley Glassworks
- Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux
This month, I’ve added a few games to the list:
- Necromunda
- Call of Cthulhu
- Century: Golem Edition
- How to Save a World
Necromunda was interesting. We ran a bit of a boot camp at club. I’ve had the boxed sets and rules for some time, so it was great to finally play it. I lost. I did some cool stuff, but I lost. I also bought some minis.
I will return to this!
One highlight this month was the GM of the German group with whom I play Soulbound and Call of Cthulhu running a game of Call of Cthulhu over on the Discord for Unpossible Journeys. It was a really good game, and it was an absolute joy to play with Wouter for the first time. I enjoyed being a terrible journalist.
Just the other night, I played some Age of Sigmar. I’ve not played much of this edition, but this was me diving back in!
The game was fantastic and ended in a tie. I think my opponent did damn well to scrape that, as he took a bit of a beating in the early turns, but managed to tie me up and ensure that he could take objectives and wangle some battle tactics. I was positioned to win and he just snatched that away. If anything, the tie was a moral victory for him. Great game! It was also great to get the FEC to the table.
We played How to Save a World the other week. The game did not look like one that I would enjoy and, to be honest, I sat down somewhat reluctantly to play it…
I do sometimes enjoy being proven wrong.
The game was a lot of fun. It has some elements that feel similar to Terraforming Mars; mostly around your resource management. It also has some deckbuilding and worker placement elements in there. There’s a semi-cooperative nature to the game, but it does feel quite competitive. It was a lot of fun and the whole group took to it really well. I feel that I was mostly responsible for actually saving the world by spearheading the planetary shield projects, but was then pipped to the post on scoring by an opponent who capitalised really well on scoring cards. That was a dramatic finish, and I had a great time with this game. I was very happy to be wrong about it.
May Roundup: Writing
This month saw a lot of painting posts, meaning there was less room for reviews and longer posts. Here are the three reviews I managed to post:
- A review of the radio play, 5 Days in May
- Cavalry Charge Commander deck review
- May’s Game of the Month
And here were my other wordier, more thoughtful posts, most of which were Magic Monday posts:
- Thoughts on the MTG card, Tergrid, God of Fright
- Musing on whether Warcry is a dead game
- Thoughts on the MTG card, Gaea’s Cradle
- Looking at a 2-card MTG combo
Progress, yo!
May Summary
Painting Resolutions
- Complete 3 active army projects (1/3)
- Finish two Malifaux crews (Completed: 3/2)
- Starting forces for 2 skirmish games (no progress)
- Take part in at least 4 club painting contests (Completed: 4/4)
- Paint 200 miniatures (69/200)
- Paint more than I purchase (on track!)
Gaming Resolutions
- Play at least 30 different games this year (25/30 games played)
- Play miniature games at least 12 times (4/12 games played)
- Play at least 5 games that I already own but have not yet played. (4/5 games played)
- Play at least 3 non-D&D RPGs (1/3)
Writing Resolutions
- Write 52 reviews (including Game of the Month reviews) (23/52 published)
- Publish a blog post per day (on track!)
Catch you in June!
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