It’s been a slow year for hobbying, following on from an even slower year for hobbying. Aside from something really stupid (which I did finish and I do really like, so I might eventually finish writing about that and share some photos) I can’t even recall what I might have built and painted last year. That despite moving into a new apartment, large enough to dedicate an entire room to hobbying. Thin gruel indeed, but life has its challenges and hobbying, after all, is a luxury.
So in comparison, 2025 was a highly productive year, and it was thoroughly dominated by one game: Legions Imperialis.
Legions Imperialis
I’ve already written about playing that game in The Greatest Slaughter. I don’t have a great deal to add to what I wrote there, but there is a little.
Firstly, the models are a joy to build. Yes, there are some preposterously tiny parts to deal with, but I’ve enjoyed building everything I’ve encountered so far. And I have nothing but respect for the designers who have ensured that gates and mould lines are easy to deal with, and typically in locations that are frequently hidden from view anyway.
In terms of the future of the game, just this past week more new releases arrived for the game, and it appears Games Workshop are committed to supporting the system. The new releases were mostly adding some ‘missing’ Astartes stuff that exists in the 30K range, primarily the new Saturnine detachments that accompanied the 3rd edition of Horus Heresy aka. 1980s Shoulder Pads Are Back Baby, alongside some super-heavy tanks.
The other factions are less well off. Admech Coke and Admech Pepsi still look pretty thin from the outside with a lot of combat roles simply not covered. The Solar Auxilia are in a better state, but there’s doubtless still a lot that could be added there (I assume – I was getting drunk and playing in a band during the main Forge World era so I don’t know many units and vehicles from that time). Most of the stuff that has been added for any faction is vehicles, mostly tanks, and whilst that’s because tanks are awesome, I wonder if we might see more variety in infantry – the Saturnine release notwithstanding.
Like many, I would also love to see xenos factions in epic scale, but bluntly I don’t think it likely. As much as I would to build an epic Eldar warhost, the only way that feels achievable is to shop around on ebay for expensive old shit, or increase my own size by a factor of ten and build all the 40K Eldar that are sat in a cupboard.
It would be neat if somehow titans could be not a bit shit, but without going too far the other way such that they dominate. Titans are cool. Right now I think the only strong use case for them is if your opponent also brings a titan, so you are both equally handicapped.
Anyway, the game remains fun, I look forward to playing more of it next year, and I hope to encourage more friends into the game, and finding others who are already playing it (once I have a more solid understanding of the game, anyway – like all wargames, it’s complicated, and casuals like me struggle to remember everything and get it right).
To wrap up, here are some photos of my current forces:
I also have in progress a medley of Mastodons, Kratos heavy tanks, a brace of Baneblades, a Xiphon interceptor, a Thunderhawk and more on the way. I also built and started painting a whole bunch of scenery for our games, but that isn’t finished either.
Those photos are a bit shit, but at some point I’ll post a showcase of everything… once a bit more of it is painted!
Blood Bowl
Although I’ve not done too much with this game system, my girlfriend and I have been sort-of building and painting teams for a longer period of time than I am willing to admit.
We’re focusing on modern 2nd edition since that’s what all the first-party models sold these days are based on, and while I’ve played and enjoyed BB2016/Community Rule Pack, it simply doesn’t include some cool shit that I want to play with, like Chameleon Skinks for my Lizardmen, or the absurd and terrible teams like Snotlings or Halflings.
I already wrote about the first game we played together, and I hope she enjoyed it enough to want to give it another go. I believe the closest local game shop to me is also a major organiser of Blood Bowl tournaments, so if I can finish painting a team and learn to play the game semi-competently, that could be fun to get involved with.
Trench Crusade
I am very eager indeed to give this game a go. I have a bunch of 3d-printed models from their Kickstarter, enough to start warbands with both the Trench Pilgrims and the Seven-headed Court, and the game’s attitude is extremely friendly towards player creativity and invention, kitbashing, and proxying, which sounds absolutely wonderful.
I was also lucky enough to play a short, limited tutorial game soon after the Kickstarter ended with its designer, Tuomas Pirinen, so I’ve seen some of his own painted models of the Kickstarter prints up close and personal, and got a hands-on crash course in how the game works.
It’s an ‘alternating activation’ game (something I also enjoy greatly about Legions Imperialis) and the blood marker system is a really interesting way to bake in systems allowing you to track ‘damage’ done to opponents, and push your luck when you need, or hinder your enemies at critical junctures, all without requiring multiple systems to do so. There are also, if I recall correctly, no re-rolls in Trench Crusade. I think even a full game should be a quite brisk affair; the core rules are short and simple, with the complexity emerging from the systems and the special rules attached to specific models and warbands. (This battle report was fun, if you want to get a feel for how the game plays.)
Sadly with my limited hobby time focused on Legions, and needing to request some missing pieces following my Kickstarter delivery, and the printed rulebook only arriving a few weeks ago – yes, these are all just excuses, nothing was truly stopping me – I’ve not actually properly played the game yet, or started building anything. But I remain very excited to do so, and might just start playing with some proxy models. I reckon some Blackstone Fortress models would do…
Looking ahead to next year
I have a great many things I could do, but realistically there is only so much time to build, and paint, and play, so I need to be selective.
Yet there is plenty on the horizon, or the backburner.
I am still waiting for some Turnip28 models to arrive – but this is a long way off yet, as we’re six months past the estimated delivery window and the creator is still sharing updates on how the sculpts are coming along. Well, that’s fine, I actually don’t mind waiting.
I keep getting an urge to dig into Necromunda. I used to play a Van Saar gang back in the days of cardboard terrain and brightly painted models, and I have the new Van Saar gang waiting to build and paint, along with Hive Secundus, a sort of dungeon-delving variant on the game, which features Spyrers and Van Saar and fucked-up Genestealers. I also think this could be a game that my girlfriend could get into, with its emphasis on customisation and the role playing elements around hiring and developing your gang, and I am always on the lookout for miniatures games we could play together.
Another Kickstarter delivery that landed this year was Mantic’s Epic Warpath. I suspect this one will sit in the cupboard for a while yet, but I do have the advantage of having a ton of epic-scale scenery ready to go if I ever want to try this.
There is, I suppose, also Warhammer 40,000, but after an initial burst of interest in 10th edition, my attention tailed off. I liked the cards, the model design these days is generally great, and I understand what they did, or tried to do, with the reduction in unit customisation… but I’m a child of 2nd edition who started reading White Dwarf in the Rogue Trader era. The limitations in army building, and the player base’s apparent focus on meta chasing and tournament play, just doesn’t sit right with me. Plus we’re now supposedly on the cusp of 11th edition. In a similar vein there’s Horus Heresy which did look a bit more old-school and stable after the release of Age of Darkness, but then a new edition of that dropped this past year, three years after the last, and oh god is that one also going into a cycle that outpaces what casuals in their forties can manage?
Breathe.
Let’s not forget about Kill Team. I did really enjoy that for a time, and I wouldn’t mind going back to it, although to be honest if I’m playing a skirmish-scale game I also want it to have proper campaign systems like Necromunda or Trench Crusade.
And so we come around to where I left off 2025. In truth, I think 2026 is going to look like 2025 but hopefully just more of what I mentioned. More Legions Imperialis, actually doing Trench Crusade, more Blood Bowl, and perhaps adding Necromunda to that heady brew. Three of those games I can play with a dozen or so models each, so Legions remains the only large commitment.
Oh geez. Whilst writing this I remembered that a friend expressed interest in NetEpic, and I acquired basically an army of Epic 40,000-era Orks not long ago… no. No no no no no– maybe? Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself for never getting anything done!
