It’s that time of year again when we look back and review our hobby year. You can find all the models I painted in 2023 in this post, as well as my reflections on the hobby, Tale of Painters, and my plans for the coming year.
2024 is the second year in which I have taken content creation more seriously and I can now say: Tale of Painters is no longer just my hobby, but my side job. For you, that meant more reviews, videos and tutorials than ever before. Thank you for your support on Patreon, for using our affiliate links for your hobby purchases, and/or simply for liking, commenting, and sharing our posts. Without you, none of this would be possible.
Thanks to Games Workshop, The Army Painter, Duncan Rhodes & Trans Atlantis Games, AK Interactive, Vallejo, Chronicle Cards & all the other companies that provided us with review samples ahead of time. Last but not least, thanks to Garfy & our contributors for sticking with me!
To be honest, at the beginning of the year, I was pretty burnt out. In 2022, the amount of work I was putting into Tale of Painters and my YouTube channel was increasing more and more, it was just getting a bit too much. Even though the income wasn’t there at the time, I took the plunge and reduced the hours in my day job to four days a week, freeing up more time for Tale of Painters. That was definitely the right decision, as otherwise I would have had to significantly reduce the frequency of posts and videos.
Over the course of the year, my hobby mojo slowly returned, and my trip to Tokyo gave me new energy. By the way, I’ve summarised the best Warhammer and hobby spots in this video, it’s well worth watching:
However, it took until the autumn before I was able to optimise my content workflog to the point where I felt more balanced and could better combine my personal hobby with reporting on current releases. Further working on this will remain a goal for 2024.
My painted models of 2023
January to March
The year started with finishing the Tactical Support Squad for my Sons of Horus, which I had started in 2022. I also finished the Alpha Legion Legionnaires at the end of the previous year, but wasn’t able to post them until January. Apart from that, I mainly worked on the Fell Bats for my Legion of Blood collection at the beginning of the year.
April to June
In the second quarter I painted the fantastic Legion Praetor, my favourite model from the Age of Darkness box. I completed the Killzone: Moroch I started in 2022 by finishing the Vox-antenna and the Auspex Shrine. The previous year I painted a Skeleton player as a test model, and now I painted all the remaining models for a complete Shambling Undead team for Blitz Bowl, the small board game variant of Blood Bowl.
July to September
This year saw the release of the 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000, and the Leviathan launch box. I painted two Termagants as test models for a Tyranid Kill Team, but also for a free tutorial that you can find here. Around this time this year I started playing Kill Team regularly, so I painted a set of Combat Gauges. Other than that I painted a Land Raider Proteus for my Sons of Horus, amazing model, probably my favourite Space Marine tank model ever; Captain Mikael Fabian for my classic Firstborn Ultramarines army, and the Headman’s Curse for Warhammer Underworlds.
I’d like to highlight Captain Fabian, who I painted for a retro review of the 2000 Citadel Colour Range, using only old paints of course. Have a look at the video, in which I also discuss the development of Citadel colours from the colours of the 80s and 90s to today’s paint range.
October to December
In the fourth quarter, I finished the Alpha Legion Heavy Gunner, which I had largely painted by the end of 2022. Other than that, I spent most of my time painting the terrain from Crypt of Blood, and I painted four more Hormagaunts for my Hive Fleet Kill Team compendium.
In December I also painted three Tyranid Warriors I wasn’t able to photograph yet.
Remember how I “complain” every year that I couldn’t paint as many models because I was busy editing videos and writing reviews? Well, this year I was able to paint about the same number of models as last year. 44 models in total, including 8 terrain pieces, 3 Blood Bowl tokens, and 3 Combat Gauges. I also painted some demo pieces for videos and paint reviews, but I didn’t include them in the list. You can compare my output from 2022 here.
2024 hobby resolutions
Just like last year, I’m not going to set myself the goal of painting X models of this and Y models of that. As a content creator, it’s too difficult to plan, because you’re dependent on the release schedule, as I always want to show you, dear readers, the latest and most interesting models.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I want to work on combining my hobby and content better this year so that I have time for new ideas. A big goal for 2024 is to produce hand-painted paint swatches for all colours of all major miniature paint ranges. Complete swatches for Citadel Colour and Vallejo Game Color can already be found on my Patreon, as well as comparison charts for Contrast / one coat paints and acrylic washes. Warpaints Fanatic and Two Thin Coats will follow next.
Have a great rest of the year, and if you would like to share YOUR hobby output from 2022, head over to our Tale of Painters Discord channel, I’d love to have a look at your painting endeavours. Thanks a lot, and happy hobbying!
Find my resolutions from 2022 here, 2021 here, 2020 here, 2019 here, 2018 here, 2017 here, 2016 here, 2015 here, 2014 here, 2013 here and from 2012 here.
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