Resolutions 2025: December Roundup & End of Year

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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 December 2025.  Let’s start with a reminder of where we got to last month: 

Resolutions Recap

Painting Resolutions

  • Complete 3 active army projects (2/3)
  • Finish two Malifaux crews (Completed: 3/2)
  • Starting forces for 2 skirmish games (Completed: 2/2)
  • Take part in at least 4 club painting contests (Completed: 7/4)
  • Paint 200 miniatures (180/200)
  • Paint more than I purchase (on track!)

Gaming Resolutions

  • Play at least 30 different games this year (Completed: 40/30)
  • Play miniature games at least 12 times (Completed: 13/12 games played)
  • Play at least 5 games that I already own but have not yet played. (Completed: 5/5 games played)
  • Play at least 3 non-D&D RPGs (Completed: 3/3)

Writing Resolutions

  • Write 52 reviews (including Game of the Month reviews) (57/52 published)
  • Publish a blog post per day (on track!)

Now, let’s take a look at what sort of progress was made in December.

December Roundup: Painting

Yeah, another month of nothing. Between time and motivation, it’s just, once again, not happened.

Here were the totals for the end of the month and, of course, the end of the year:

  • Purchased: 131
  • Painted: 180

In terms of resolutions, I’ve not completed everything, but I’ve not done terribly, either. I’ve met my goals of finishing a pair of Malifaux crews, and actually managed to paint up three of them. Namely, these were my Tiri and Tara crews, and finishing up my Riders. Looking ahead to next year, I’d like to expand that Tara crew.

I also had the goal of preparing starter forces for two skirmish games. I started off by finishing my second Stargrave crew, which joins last year’s Lizard-themed one. The other game was Burrows & Badgers, for which I painted a Necromancer warband and, to oppose them, some Witch Hunters. Now, I just need to get some games in!

The goal of partaking in painting challenges was also met, though the actual number of miniatures painted fell a little short of this year’s goal of 200. Last year, I managed 288, but I was also trying to paint more last year. This year, I knew I was dialling back a bit. I also only managed to finish off two armies this year, as opposed to the targeted three.

You know, it’s fine. I enjoyed everything I painted this year and have had a really good time. Here are some favourites from this year:

I think 200 is a reasonable, aspirational goal, so I would be surprised if that changed for next year.

December 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 reduced this year’s target to 30 games. Up to the beginning of December, I had played the following games this year:

  1. Magic: the Gathering
  2. Disney Lorcana
  3. Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
  4. Apiary
  5. Architects of the West Kingdom
  6. 7 Wonders
  7. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
  8. Raiders of the North Sea
  9. Paranoia: The Uncooperative Board Game
  10. Unstable Unicorns
  11. Viscounts of the West Kingdom
  12. Wayfarers of the South Tigris
  13. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy
  14. Clank! In! Space!
  15. Clank!
  16. Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress
  17. Tiny Towns
  18. Isle of Skye
  19. Risk
  20. River Valley Glassworks
  21. Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux
  22. Necromunda
  23. Call of Cthulhu
  24. Century: Golem Edition
  25. How to Save a World
  26. Scout
  27. Dungeons & Dragons
  28. Arcane Academy
  29. Everdell
  30. Deep Sea Adventure
  31. A Fake Artist Goes to New York
  32. Adeptus Titanicus
  33. Doomlings
  34. Mothership
  35. Root
  36. Carcassonne
  37. The Expanse Roleplaying Game
  38. Red Rising
  39. Star Tycoon
  40. Everdell Silverfrost

This month, I’ve added one more game to the list:

  1. Imperium Maledictum

This month, I’ve managed to get in quite a few board games, some RPGs, and plenty of Commander.

I’ve been able to get a few games in with my Persistent Petitioners deck. It seems to annoy people a lot. I’ve got a Magic Monday post about that queued for January…

I also got some nice wins with my Phelddagrif and Obeka decks. The Obeka upkeeps deck really popped off early and like never before. It wrecked the place! My Grolnok deck has been somewhat less successful lately…

The highlight of the month, gaming-wise, was a three-player game of Age of Sigmar, using the Triumph and Treachery rules from third edition.

I. Did. Terribly.

Like, the final scores saw the Nighthaunt at 20 points and the Fyreslayers at 10. I was lucky to get 4 with my Troggoths, and at least 2 of those were very much “charity” points from my opponents in the final turn.

And yet, I had an absolute blast. I think if you can enjoy a game when you are consistently doing terribly throughout the battle, that speaks volumes of how good the game is. Absolute blast. Excellent game. Terrible player.

By now, the final part of my Top 50 for the year has been posted, and we know that AoS came out on top. This actually wasn’t the case until mid-December when this three-player game just pushed it over Commander.

December Roundup: Writing

A handful of reviews this month!

I actually have a lot of film reviews queued up, as I’ve been catching up on some 2025 movies. I think I’ve got about 9 mostly written that will likely be posted over January and February.

Here were my other wordier, more thoughtful posts for December:

I’ve done well with my reviews target this year. I managed to finish 62 with a target of 52. In all honesty, I could probably have posted 71 if I wasn’t spacing things out to ensure I have daily posts. I guess that means I’ve got 9 further TV and movie reviews for next year. I’ve also got some books in the review queue, including one for which I am very excited.

In terms of non-review posts, I’ve had some decent ones. Some of my favourites from this year have included:

December Summary

Painting Resolutions

  • Complete 3 active army projects (2/3)
  • Finish two Malifaux crews (Completed: 3/2)
  • Starting forces for 2 skirmish games (Completed: 2/2)
  • Take part in at least 4 club painting contests (Completed: 8/4)
  • Paint 200 miniatures (180/200)
  • Paint more than I purchase (on track!)

Gaming Resolutions

  • Play at least 30 different games this year (Completed: 41/30)
  • Play miniature games at least 12 times (Completed: 14/12 games played)
  • Play at least 5 games that I already own but have not yet played. (Completed: 5/5 games played)
  • Play at least 3 non-D&D RPGs (Completed: 4/3)

Writing Resolutions

  • Write 52 reviews (including Game of the Month reviews) (62/52 published)
  • Publish a blog post per day (on track!)

Happy Hogmanay!

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