Let us be honest 2016 has been a terrible year, but the shining gem this year has been Warhammer. I honestly doubt I would have survived this trip around the sun without all the good going on in the Hobby.
Now on to my Warhammer Top 5 for this past year.
5) Games Workshop Reaching Out:
When the year started no one could have predicted the cultural change at Games Workshop. Age of Sigmar was still a bit of an unknown, but now it is a thriving and continually growing community of great Hobbyists and Gamers. Rumors are put to bed quickly with witty videos and high quality pictures from the Warhammer TV Team. Facebook is a place of true interaction with quick and quality posts and responses. We even have daily Painting Tips with the Lord of Layers himself. What else could we ask for? Well if we think of it we should ask because we will probably get it!
4) Community Growth:
After the Generals Handbook dropped people took notice. The Naysayers all but gave up as players left other game systems to come try and ultimately fall in love with Age of Sigmar. Some players are those who left during the End Times and it is great to see their return. Others came over from Warhammer 40K and are bringing a fresh perspective along with them. We have also seen an influx of people new to Wargaming entirely and it has invigorated some local scenes in my area. It has been rewarding to help these players out and watch them grow within the Hobby.
3) The Generals Handbook:
What can be said for this that hasn't already been said? Not much. The community before the Generals Handbook was tight knit and supportive. After the Generals Handbook it has only grown. I myself was worried that Ultra-competitive players would come in and take the joy away, but I have been happily wrong as The Generals Handbook is all encompassing. Let us look forward to next version of this resource!
2) Hobby Milestone 412 (and maybe more) models painted this year:
I set out this year to paint one model per day on average and I managed to blow this out of the water. As of 12/28/16 I have 412 models painted for the year across Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k. This total is based on model count alone. Monsters, Heros, infantry all counted as one model. This next year I am going to slow it up a bit and put more time into individual models and focus on more quality then quantity. I am proud to say I crushed my goal and hope to do the same with next years Hobby Resolution.
1) Warhammer Live:
The latest and greatest thing to come out of the Community Team. I subscribed during the free week because I had faith that the content would be quality and exciting. Think about that for a moment. As a long time fan and customer of Games Workshop who dealt with *insert the old usual issue here* on a regular basis I now have blind faith that they will do right by me and the community. I am not the only one considering how lively that Chat was on day one. This has become my usual evening entertainment and I look forward to see where it will go from here. Major League Wargaming here we come?
See you next week as this blog begins going weekly! Until next time Have a Happy New Year and Happy Hobbying!