How did the first three months of this year fly by so quickly...?!
It is the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second, so It is time for my quarterly review of what I've been up to and some wild guesses at what I might get up to in the next three months!
Things have been kind of slow this quarter... Largely due to adjusting to being back at SCHOOL!? (but also partly because in the first week of the new year I injured my right shoulder and neck and it made doing... well... a LOT of things very difficult - including painting!)!
2026 - Q1 In Review
GAMES
I planed to play some games...
I played some games!!
According to Board Game Geek, I played:
- Warhammer Quest: Cursed City x3
- Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Warcry x2
- Kingsburg x1
- Warhammer Age Of Sigmar (Fourth Edition): Spearhead x1
- Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound x1
Eight Games!
yikes.
Warhammer Quest
The plan was to keep playing Warhammer Quest: Cursed City and finish up the Night Wars campaign. We did that! I took only three more games of the Night Wars and finished it off! Huzzah!
Initially the plan was to start playing through Warhammer Quest: Darkwater after that... but then I managed to track down a copy of Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Nemesis - the third and final campaign of the trilogy...
I'd given up on trying to track one down... but one showed up at Fenris Workshop among the Used Miniatures and Games (though it was brand new and still in the shrink wrap!) for a not unreasonable price... so I picked that up, as well as the one hero and one unit that I still needed to play the campaign and worked on trying to paint them up so we could carry on with Warhammer Quest: Cursed City in March! And... that didn't happen. I STILL have not finished painting the Grave Guard and Vargheists and Necromancer...
We've ended up playing ZERO games of the Nemesis campaign this quarter, however! I haven't even cracked the box!
I had expected we'd be playing (or HAVE PLAYED out) Darkwater by now...
(Image ©2025 Games Workshop, used here entirely without their permission for the purposes of review)
But that didn't happen either...
I guess we'll get to Warhammer Quest: Darkwater AFTER Nemesis!
Age of Sigmar
Generally the plan was to continue playing Age of Sigmar...
(Image ©2025 Games Workshop, used here entirely without their permission for the purposes of review)
There was a new Path to Glory book out (Blighted Wilds) and I expected that would take off in the new year...
Also, the Maggotkin of Nurgle Battletome was slated to be released on 17 January 2026, however, which is what I had been building towards playing, so... I wasn't sure I wanted to do much until then..? But that came and went and no games were played anyway... and other people were busy... and... Nothing happened.
AND THEN I ended up being distracted by the new Disciples of Tzeentch stuff...
There was also the small campaign with Amanda (Methervale Campaign) I'd hoped we'd continue with...
As it turned out, I played a SINGLE game of Spearhead with Amanda early in January with my new Nighthaunt Spearhead force... and that was it!?
RELATED to Age of Sigmar, however... I did try out Warcry! Played games with both Amanda and Vera! Which wasn't at all part of the plan at the beginning of the Quarter!?
Role-Playing Games
I had hoped to continue with What We Do in the Realm of Shadows campaign and possibly wrap that up...? We ended up playing only one episode... and I haven't even finished the game report for that...
I'd also wondered at starting a campaign using Soulbound: Champions of Chaos if we DID happen to finish up What We Do in the Realm of Shadows! But... we didn't... AND the physical copy of the Soulbound: Champions of Chaos book apparently won't be released until Q2 of 2026, so... Maybe this next quarter!
Other Warhammer Games ?
I wondered at the possibility of playing some other Warhammer games... 40K, Wrath & Glory, or Kill Team...? I did not get to ANY of those...
Other Miniature Wargames?
Out of habit I suggested the possibility of getting around to playing some other games... Bolt Action... any of the Ganesha Games or games by Den Mercy (new edition of Dragon Rampant this Quarter!) or One Hour Wargames, etc... None of that happened...
Solo Miniature Games
This always seems to get slid into the plan as a just-in-case... I would like to, at some point continue any or all of the solo game campaigns I've started... (Paras in Normandy, Pulp Adventure. Five Parsecs from Home. Devilry Afoote Campaign), but that didn't happen this Quarter.
Board Games/Card Games
We did play ONE non-Games Workshop boardgame in January... (Kingsburg) There were plans to play Wingspan on at least two occasions...? but both fizzled...
GAME WEEKEND!?
I had noted that it had been a while since I hosted a proper Wargaming Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend in February... And as it has been suggested that the campaign in the new Warhammer Quest: Darkwater can be played though entirely in about 10-15 hours (and our test game at the end of December suggested this could be true!), I was considering the possibility of hosting a game weekend this February...
That did not happen...
MINIATURES
What were the predictions, hopes, dreams, and aspirations for painting in the fourth quarter of 2025...? what did I actually get done?
Painting
At the beginning of the year I think my priorities were;
a) Finish Warhammer Quest: Darkwater miniatures
Then,
b) work on Maggotkin of Nurgle and Sylvaneth forces for Path to Glory
After the New Year's Preview I was pretty sure I'd be adding some Tzeentch stuff into the mix...
Here's what I got done:
28mm Foot
- 1x Scriptor Mortis
- 5x Craventhrone Guard
- 14x Pox-Wretches
- 2x Cankerborn
- 10x Dire Wolves
- 1x Nighthaunt Guardian of Souls
- 10x Rotswords
- 10x Brimstone Horrors
Q1 Total: 53
28mm Mounted and Smaller Beasties
55 miniatures in total...
I did paint SOME of the Warhammer Quest: Darkwater stuff... but still have the Pestigors to finish up.
I did paint SOME Nurgle stuff... but not nearly as much stuff as I'd anticipated.
I did (sort of) paint some Sylvaneth stuff (in that I finished painting Drycha Hamadreth, which I'd started in 2025 and had MOSTLY finished... but then finished off this Quarter...) There are still two Treelords and fifteen revenants to paint.
Acquisitions
I wasn't really PLANNING to buy anything... buuuut.... Then the New Year Preview happened and I got all excited about the Disciples of Tzeentch...
So I did end up acquiring a few new things!
28mm Foot
- 5x Putrid Bightkings (old models, used)
- 1x Necromunda Scum Bounty Hunter
- 1x Nighthaunt Guardian of Souls
- 1x Dark Elf Sorceress
- 1x Necromancer
- 10x Grave Guard
- 10x Tzaangor
- 3x Screamers of Tzeentch
- 3x Flamers of Tzeentch
- 10x Pink Horrors
- 10x Blue Horrors
- 10x Brimstone Horrors
Q1 Total: 65
28mm Mounted and Smaller Beasties
- 1x Nighthaunt Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed
- 3x Tzaangor Skyfires
- 3x Tzaangor Enlightened
- 1x Tzaangor Shaman
- 1x Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
Total Mounted/Smaller Beasties: 9
28mm Vehicles and Larger Beasties
28mm Terrain and Endless Spells
- 2x Argent Shards
Total: 2
So... so far this year I've painted Fifty-Five miniatures, but acquired Seventy-Eight!? There are a LOT that are nearly done - the Pink and Blue Horrors are all very nearly done. The Flamers and Screamers could all be finished up in a session or two, if/when I find the time/motivation.
Age of Sigmar
I was fairly certain that Age of Sigmar would, again, be the primary focus of the quarter. The main focus of those efforts were to be the Maggotkin of Nurgle and Sylvaneth forces Amanda and I were using for our Path to Glory campaign. In the end, it was the ONLY things I've painted, so far this year.
The first miniatures I painted, and the ONLY miniatures I painted in January, ended up being the last of the Nighthaunt miniatures I had (Well... almost... I have another set of Myrmourn Banshees...).
In February I got a bit more done... I finished up the Pox-Wretches and Cankerborn for Warhammer Quest: Darkwater. I painted a Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed and Guardian of Souls, that I'd picked up from Fenris Workshop along with the Nemesis campaign for Cursed City. I knocked out some Dire Wolves that I've had for sometime - that I now need done to play Nemesis! I also finished off Drycha Hamadreth, who had been sitting on the workbench, like, 90% done since sometime in December! Finally I knocked out a unit of TEN older Putrid Blightking models that I put on 32mm bases to use as Rotswords (Putrid-Rot-Blight-Sword-Kings!?)
Also in February, I picked up the new Disciples of Tzeentch Battletome and Argent Shards, and the Tzaangor Warflock Spearhead force. Those were the first purchased of the year and by the end of February I was quite ahead in the painted versus purchased/acquired.
But then in March I picked up the Disciples of Tzeentch: Warpflame Cavalcade Battleforce box, and that very definitely put me back into the red... I did get busy assembling it all this past month and started painting up the Tzeentch Daemons, but so far I have only finished the Brimstone Horrors.
A LOT of the other Tzeentch Daemons are close to being finished - and that should put me back in the black...
There are a LOT of other things out now or on the horizon that I'd kind of like to get... but damn... I'm having a harder time justifying these purchases to myself, let alone Amanda!
GAME PLAN 2026 - Q2
Q2 GAMES
Assuming I'm still alive... I plan to play some games...
Warhammer Quest
Seems we will STILL be playing Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! I expect We'll be playing the Nemesis campaign for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City for a good chunk of the Second Quarter - assuming I ever managed to finish up the Grave Guard and Varghiests and Necromancer!?
Things have been a little crazy the last week or so, with the term wrapping up... and will continue for the next few weeks as I have two projects due on the 7th and a final exam on the 15th. AFTER THAT, though... things should be a bit more sane and I imagine, if I haven't already finished up the minis, I will finish them in short order and we'll be back to playing before April is done! How long will it take to play through the campaign? I have no idea... To be honest, I haven't even opened up the box!?
IF we should finish the Cursed City Nemesis campaign, there is Warhammer Quest Darkwater! Unlike Cursed City, Darkwater is a very different system with a MUCH SHORTER CAMPAIGN - I'm not quite sure how long we'll be playing that... I guess there is the possibility of RE-playing the campaign...?
After THAT...? I don't know... I'd sure it will be some time before there's a completely new Warhammer Quest... I'm not sure if there's going to be much in the way of expansions for Darkwater, but maybe... It CAN be replayed... There have been alternate Adventuring parties published in White Dwarf magazines - Ghouls of the Flesh-Eater Courts and Aelves of the Lumineth! I HAVE half of the Lumineth Adventuring party... so maybe we could try it again with those once we've played through it once or twice.
Or maybe I'll just get more focused on Soulbound!
Age of Sigmar
I'm fairly certain there will be MORE Warhammer Age of Sigmar played this Quarter... There has been a lot of chat on the local discord about getting the Blighted Wilds campaign going and maybe someone hosting a tournament...?
But will I be playing Disciples of Tzeentch or Maggotkin of Nurgle!? I guess I could play the Maggotkin of Nurgle in the campaign with Amanda (if ever we get back to playing that!?), and play Disciples of Tzeentch in the campaign with the others.
Warcry!?
There had been some brief interest in Warcry in March... Largely because we had been planning a trip to the UK and visiting Warhammer World... and there may have been a Warcry tournament on one of the weekends we could possibly have been there... this is less likely to be happening now... not sure if that interest will continue, of if it's just dead now. Amanda HAD said I should go pick up the Heart of Ghur box that's sitting on the 40% off shelf at my FLGS... but I haven't done that yet and... I'm not sure... It's probably worth it just for the terrain... the warbands included are... meh... (ANOTHER Rotmire Creed!? Aye-yi-yi....). the cards and tokens included would be handy IF were were to start playing Warcry on the semi-regular... There are a LOT of OTHER things I'd like though (Sylvaneth Spearhead, etc), so.... maybe... maybe not...
Role-Playing Games
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound
We will likely carry on with some more Age of Sigmar: Soulbound...
First with our Champions of Death campaign featuring exactly zero Soulbound characters... I'd like to try and wrap up the Champions of Death campaign and move on to something else...
Like... MAYBE a Champions of Chaos campaign!? (With even LESS Soulbound Characters!?)
I'd honestly be okay with revisiting the Standard Soulbound campaign - either with the ridiculous characters we'd been playing with earlier... or maybe do a hard reboot and start with... OTHER characters...
Warhammer 40,000!?
There is a new edition on the horizon... I think it's being released in June... I'm sure that will distract Vera and could maybe suck me in... we'll see...
Board Games
I mean... I like the idea of playing board games again (other than Warhammer Quest - or the other Warhammer board games). Given the last few quarters, though... I don't know... During a couple of the sales at our FLGS, I seriously considered picking up Finspan... so... obviously, I haven't ENTIRELY given up on the ideas of games!
Q2 MINIATURES
What will I get up to PAINTING the next few months...? It will be likely dictated by the games I end up playing. As outlined above That'll probably be Warhammer Quest, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound...
Age of Sigmar
I imagine most of the Painting I do will be Age of Sigmar Models... I seem to have amassed a considerable collection of models from a variety of different factions... Here's what I've got left to do for each of them... Roughly in order of priority...?
Sylvaneth - I have two Treelords (Treelord Ancient and Spirit of Durthu) to paint up and 15 Revenants (that could be built as Spite-Revenants or Tree-Revenants - I've been holding off on building them, waiting to see if Amanda is more interested in one or the other... but we haven't really been playing any games for the last three months, so, it's hard to say... I may just build them up as Spite-Revenants...).
The new Sylvaneth Battletome is being released in a week or two and I'll pick that up. Along with it is a new Spearhead that is ALL very fast moving, flying things! I am very tempted to pick that up... but I really need to finish off the Sylvaneth that I HAVE first before I can buy those!!
Disciples of Tzeentch - So many Daemons and Acolytes and Tzangors AND DAEMONS...!!! These have become a bit of a priority... not because I NEED them for anything in particular, just because they are newest and shiniest and
Maggotkin of Nurgle - I don't have a LOT to finish here...There are a few things from Warhammer Quest Darkwater to finish (like the Pestigors? and... tokens...?) and then the Harbinger of Decay and four Pugoyle Blightlords... and a unit of Rotmire Creed... and the Feculent Gnarlmaw... Impetus for finishing these has kind of stagnated since Vera started a Maggotkin of Nurgle force... I've kind of moved on to Disciples of Tzeentch!? I should finish these up and play with them though.
I had been thinking of picking up the newer Spearhead - the Bubonic Cell! it's MOSLTY units I don't have and would be fun to add to the force.. though it includes ANOTHER unit of Rotmire Creed... which I don't super care about... I need to finish up the OTHER STUFF I have before I really consider getting this box though...
Soulblight Gravelords - five Blood Knights, three Varghiests, ten Grave Guard and a few Vampire and a Necromancer...? The Vargheists, Grave Guard and Necromancer are needed for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - Nemesis Campaign, so they SHOULD be a priority...
If I got the Sylvaneth, a playable Tzeentch force, a few more Maggotkin and enough of the Soulblights done to play the Cursed City Nemesis campaign done, I would be very happy... The rest of this list is other stuff I might get to later in the year... but is still in my mind and, who knows, maybe I will be suddenly distracted by one of them and that will be the focus for the rest of the quarter!?
Nighthaunt - Four Banshees...? And the Warhammer Underworlds warband all so close to being finished...
Blades of Khorne - ten Blood Warriors and thirty Bloodreavers, maybe a few others - Gorechosed on Dromm, and a few characters that I'll never use!
Daughters of Khaine - One High Gladiatrix, Five Blood Sisters, five Blood Stalkers, ten Khinerai Heartrenders, ten METAL Witch Aelves, ten PLASTIC Witch Aelves, four Shadeborn, Doomfire Warlocks. These WERE pretty low priority until a0 the new Battletome was announced and b) Amanda mentioned that she WOULD totally play these IF THEY WERE PAINTED!? So, in between all other things, I could start trying to knock out some of the units required for the Spearhead force to start with!
Stormcast Eternals - there are a LOT to do... I'm not going to list them here, they are pretty LOW priority at the moment. If I got a Soulbound campaign going with Order characters, and decided to run the Shadows in the Mist campaign... these would very much become a priority... but that's not happening this quarter....
Hedonites of Slaanesh - SO... MANY... DAEMONS... Not a priority right now... maybe later in the year if they get a new Battletome...
Slaves to Darkness - So many Chaos Knights and Darkoath Fellriders and Marauders!
Helsmiths of Hashut? Lumineth Realmlords!? Skaven!? - All fairly low priority at the moment...
Spearhead
Spearhead Armies Still to Do (and the miniatures that need to be painted to complete them!) again, roughly in order of priority:
Disciples of Tzeentch - Fluxblade Coven- 1x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch, 3x Flamers of Tzeentch, 10x Tzaangors, 10x Kairic Acolytes
Disciples of Tzeentch - Tzaangor Warflock - 1x Tzaangor Shaman, 3x Tzaangor Enlightened, 3x Tzaangor Skyfires, 10x Tzaangor (on foot!)
Soulblight Gravelords - Bloodcrave Hunt - 5x Blood Knights, 3x Vargheists - since I'm painting the Vargheists for Cursed City... I might as well finish up those five Blood Knights and have another Spearhead finished!!
Honestly, if I got the two Disciples of Tzeentch Spearhead forces done AND finished up the Soulblight Gravelords, I would be thrilled... I DO still have a bunch of others... and MORE that I'd LIKE to get... (which IS ridiculous... but here we are!)
Daughters of Khaine - Heartflayer Troupe -10x Witch Aelves, 5x Blood Stalkers, 5x Doomfire Warlocks
Slaves to Darkness - Darkoath Raiders - 1x Darkoath Warqueen, 5x Darkoath Fellriders, 10x Darkoath Savagers, 10x Darkoath Marauders
Lumineth Realmlords - Glittering Phalanx - 1x Scinari Cathallar, 5x Vanari Bladelords, 10x Vanari Auralan Wardens, 10x Vanari Auralan Sentinels
Helsmith's of Hashut - Hellforge Host - 10x Infernal Cohort with Hashutite Spears - and a hobgrot gong carrier, 1x Dominator Engine, 1x Tormentor Bombard and crew
Skaven - Gnawfeast Pack - 1x Clawlord on Gnaw-beast, 1x Grey Seer, 1x Warlock Engineer, 20x Clanrats, 3x Rat Ogors - Still to do...
In addition to these, there are a number of OTHER Spearhead forces I might like to pick up at some point:
DEFINITELY the new Sylvaneth Spitewing Flight! I need to finish up the Sylvaneth that I have, but then I'm totally picking these up - they look like a fun Spearhead to play and all the units will be new/different units to add to the greater Sylvaneth force... After picking those up, I'll have around 3000 points worth of Sylvaneth and I really would NOT need anything else (unless we were playing enough that we thought it might be fun to pick up
the Nurgle Bubonic Cell... for reasons mentioned above... but will need to finish off all the Nurgle stuff I have before I buy this...
The Daughters of Khaine - Khainite Shadow-Coven looks really interesting and has units that we don't have... but I'd have to paint, at minimum, the other Daughers of Khaine Spearhead and probably a few of the other units, before I could justify looking into this!
Just this past week at the Adepticon Preview, GW announced Warhammer Age of Sigmar; City of Ash a new boxed set containing TWO new Spearhead armies - Skaven and Freeguilders - and a new cobblestone city board and cards and books and such... it looks like it would be very tempting... I think I might have to say I need to paint the Skaven Spearhead (and at least one of the others!) that I already have before I can get this!!
So these all might be "later this year" (Q3/Q4) sorts of things...
Other Miniatures...?
I mean, there's a chance I might get to painting some World War Two stuff for Bolt Action. Though most of the games planned involved the Easter Front and I think ALL of my Russians are painted... maybe there are some partisans, though... and loads I could pain for other factions...
Could get to some 40K stuff - there is a new editions coming out this summer!! - or if we did get around to playing Wrath & Glory...?
I have been eyeing up the Ancient and mythic Greeks again. Warriors of Athena was just released if February and initially I had planned to pick it up... but then decided not to for the moment. I bought SO MANY OTHER THINGS in February! and I just didn't need any DISTRACTIONS... but I'll probably end up picking it up at some point this year and then may get to painting up some more of the Greeks! Will that happen THIS Quarter...? Maybe...? Maybe not...?
IN OTHER NEWS...
Nearly finished the first term back at school. It's been a bit of an adjustment - even though it only ended up being ONE CLASS... starting in the second term, as part of a last-minute decision, it was pretty slim pickings for available classes. I'd started with two... but ended up dropping one the first week (which is a whole long story in itself, that I don't care to type out here!).
There is still a trip to Europe being planned for this year, but the focus and destinations have changed somewhat... more on that in a bit..
What do YOU have planned for the next few months!?
LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!!