Hobby Resolutions 2026

Welcome to 2026!

As we wake up to a new calendar year, we are left to consider what sort of year we’re heading into, hobby-wise. What are we going to do with our time? What do we want to do with our time?

Enter the resolutions.

Last year was reasonably successful. Most of our resolutions were met, except I did fall a little short on the painting front. Most of my painting, gaming, and writing resolutions were met. I just didn’t quite paint enough to meet my overall miniatures goal.

As with last year, we’re looking at splitting resolutions into painting, playing, and writing categories.

Painting

Whilst my painting targets fell away somewhat, I still painted a lot of nice stuff, and got through 180 miniatures. That’s not bad, especially since I didn’t have horde armies planned, like I had in previous years. I think 200 was aspirational and achievable, even if I didn’t quite achieve it this year. Let’s set that as the goal again for this year.

In terms of what I want to paint, I’d like to do more skirmish stuff and finish projects that have languished. Maybe I could do some Daemons, Slaves to Darkness, Genestealer Cults, Chaos Knights… There are also Skaven, as well as other bits and bobs. Lots of options, of which I would like to complete a few. Say, at least 2 army projects and 3 skirmish/smaller forces?

I’d like to partake in at least 6 club painting contests this year. I set a target of 4 last year and managed 8. 6 gives me some wiggle room, whilst still having higher expectations than last year.

I’m also going to keep my goal of painting more than I purchase, to continue to chip away at the pile of grey. I’d also like to have a board or two of terrain done. This could be painted, or it could just be built if it’s pre-coloured stuff. I just want a new board for some skirmish games.

So, that leaves us with some painting goals for this year:

• Complete 2 army projects
• Complete 3 smaller/skirmish projects
• Complete 1 board of wargame/skirmish terrain
• Take part in at least 6 club painting contests
• Paint 200 miniatures
• Paint more than I purchase

Gaming

I’m actually really happy with my gaming goals from last year. I set myself the target of playing 30 different games, and I did. Here’s the full list of what I played:

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
41. Imperium Maledictum

Among these were 5 that had sat on my shelves, unplayed and unloved. It’s good to get these to the table, and I will keep these for next year, aiming for 5 games from my shelf of shame to make it to the table.

I’ve had a great time with RPGs this year as well, with great games of D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Mothership, The Expanse, and Imperium Maledictum. I want to play more this year, so let’s keep the goal of playing non-D&D RPGs.

All in all, the gaming goals have not changed all that much. They helped to encourage variety last year and kept me from getting lazy and just wheeling out the easy options week after week. So, then, I’m not actually changing any of these goals:

• Play at least 30 different games this year
• Play miniature games at least 12 times
• Play at least 5 games that I already own but have not yet played
• Play at least 3 non-D&D RPGs

Writing

The blog’s been ticking along pretty well, I suppose. I don’t get a lot of traffic in the grand scheme of things, but growth is growth. Last year’s total sees significant growth over the previous year.

It’s always been a slow build, but that’s fine. I’ve never really promoted the blog, so with that in mind, it’s pretty good going. I used to pay for Project Wonderful ads on an older site, before I started this one, and got good results from those. I really liked how their system worked, too. Sadly, Project Wonderful is no longer with us.

I had ads on for a couple of years, but made nothing from them. In 2021, I switched to affiliate links and they started to actually get used in around 2023. I average around £80-110 per month on those, which I really, really appreciate.

Most of the traffic continues to come from evergreen posts that peak on Google searches. Here are the top 10 posts by traffic over the past year:

1. Building Chaos Knights for WH40K: Where to Find Each Knight Variant (2024, updated 2025)
2. Rank ‘Em: the Clans of Vampire: the Masquerade (2022)
3. Shards of the Space Gods: Alternative C’Tan Miniatures (2020)
4. Warhammer 40,000: The Unadulterated Joy of Collecting Anything but Space Marines (2024)
5. Shards of the Space Gods: Alternative C’Tan Miniatures, Part 3 (2024)
6. Shards of the Space Gods: Alternative C’Tan Miniatures: Part 2 (2021)
7. Review: Vallejo Earth Texture and Thick Mud (2024)
8. Review: World of Warcraft 5E (2019)
9. What Spearheads Can I Field in AOS4? (2024)
10. Magic Monday: Sultai Arisen Deck Review (2025)

I included the year of publication for each. I find that interesting. There’s more of a spread this year, as opposed to last year where most were from 2022. Now, half are from 2024. Only one is from 2025, although one was updated during 2025.

Here are the top 10 posts that were published in 2025:

1. Magic Monday: Sultai Arisen Deck Review
2. A Series of Lectures by Sarah C. Paine
3. Magic Monday: Creative Energy Deck Review
4. Magic Monday: Family Matters Deck Review
5. Return of the Legion? Be’lakor and his Pals in 4E
6. Is Warcry a “Dead Game”? Why That Might Not Matter
7. Review: Hadestown (West End)
8. Updated My Chaos Knights Variant Guide
9. Magic Monday: Food and Fellowship Deck Review
10. Expanding the Horizon: Lesser-Known RPGs That Deserve Your Attention

Now, it should be said that the bottom of that list dips as low as just a couple of hundred views. Magic content is pretty popular, with precon reviews grabbing the most attention.

In terms of the type of content being written, I’m honestly conflicted. I’ve done a lot of bundle posts this year. Are they really of value? I’m highlighting only those that I genuinely find interesting, but they’re pretty low-effort posts. That said, I couldn’t do a review or opinion piece every day, and I like the rhythm of daily posts…

So, then, shall we set some targets for this year? I’m thinking we keep the goal for a post a day, and increase the minimum number of reviews to 52, averaging one a week and putting me broadly on par with this year. I’m happy to continue to do a mix of hobby and media reviews. I’m not going to aim to produce anything for DTRPG, though if I do, that will be a nice bonus.

So, then, here’s what we have:

• Publish a blog post per day
• Write 52 reviews (including Game of the Month reviews)

I’d like to grow the traffic a bit, but that isn’t entirely within my control.

And that’s us got this year’s resolutions! I’ll check back in at the end of the month to see how we’re getting on!