2017: yearly recap

Droning alert!

T'is time again for the annual overview of all that has been going on in this blog and my hobby.

I began the year in a naval mood, completing the ships for Trafalgar then moving on to galley fleets for my ancients. The next project, in which I procastinated quite a bit was the Prospero 30k campaign, for which I did some custodes, sisters of silence and thousand sons, including their primarch, Magnus. Then 40k 8th edition came in, which is in my oppinion the best edition to date of the rules, due to sheer variety of units and simplicity. That edition however had funest repercussions for my 30k projects since, with the death of its main designer, Alan Bligh, GW decided that the Heresy wouldn't make the jump into 8th, which virtually killed that hobby for me, thanks Forgeworld, a boicot of their products (be they plastic or resin) is in order. I think that is now time to go back to my dark millenium roots and return to the ordo malleus and guard.

Besides the ships, the historical hobby didn't see much progress, so that's something to redress next year, where I aim to do not one but three napoleonic armies: spanish, austrian and ottoman, for which I intend to do respective campaigns. To go with the spanish I could paint some post 1806 french in order to give our battles more dress accuracy. I will also work on some units to get a carthaginian army from Oriol's macedonians. The present year has also seen the abandonement of some projects and the retaking of shelved ones, namely the WW1 planes were given away while elves, wargs and elfs were painted for LotR 1/72, and two Man'o War elf forces were gathered from dreadfleet ships.

Gamewise I played with all my periods at least once, warhammer fantasy chez Oriol, 40k at the local GW and the rest with my father (who grumbles that games are too lengthy). 2017 saw the consolidation of the historical campaign system, with a definite set of games and researched scenarios. Some games made their first appearance in the blog, sharp practice 2, adeptus titanicus, necromunda and the homebrew corona navalis for ancients battles. I also played frostgarve elsewhere with an steamrolling elementalist gang and did another edition of the Blood Bowl Kislev cup.

I would like to think that the fact that I'm doing lightning and shadowing on the 28mm models these last months means an increase in quality and so explains the increase in followers.

The most viewed posts this year have been:

1: The Pulpitek

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/12/pulpitek.html

This crazy redemptionist transport was indeed the people's favourite, aside from the fact that scratchbuilds have always been well liked here I attribute its popularity to the association with the comic about the most holy Redeemer, a fun read by Pat Mills and Dave Gallagher. Necromundan popularity in this last months must have had a hand in it too.

2: Trafalgar

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/01/trafalgar-1805.html

After quite a buildup (in psycology and models) in the previous months, this climatic game saw the combined fleet rewrite history by tying up the british bullies

3: Salamanders

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/03/salamanders-tactical-squad.html

The fire dwelling marines achieved a place of honour, due to the lava bases and flame motifs, much like the mantic daemons of last year. Future grey knights on lava? so be it!

4: Man o' War galleys

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/10/man-o-wzar-galleys.html

These ships got so many visits due the hard critics on their paintjob at TMP and the ensuing shitstorm, remember that drama sells, else the media would be full of happy news

5: the first galley

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/01/first-1650-galley.html

Another drama award, this horrific papership marked my first steps at doing Roman Seas's models, with encouraging feedback I got the hang of it and the rest came out much better

6: Sisters of Silence

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/05/silent-sisterhood.html

These gals got here due to the newness of their design (custodes are too sigmarine like?) and an alternative paintjob inspired in Sam Wood's artwork

7: Man'o War forts

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/10/man-o-war-fortresses.html

Scratchbuilt is always a guarantee of sucess, and these islands weren't an exception, inspired by the game's scenery articles found ye olde citadel journal

8: Mordheim ogre

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/10/mordheim-ogre.html

This pirate fellow got some intrincate tatoos, much like the rest of his warband

9: underhive scum

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/12/underhive-scum.html

Cresting the wave of Necromundan hype that sweeped over the hobby came these blanchesque models, in RGB of course!

10: Wasteland crusade, chapter one

http://noigrimintothemaelstorm.blogspot.com.es/2017/12/the-wasteland-crusade-episode-1.html

The first adventure (and infamous capture) of my beloved Redeemer managed to get just into the top ten, may he be rescued next year and grace the pages of the blog for many years to come!

Appart from Trafalgar my hobby highlights of the year were Helm's Deep and the first offical custodes. The lack of visits I blame on better deeps around the web and nefarious chaos machinations

Visitwise the main event of the year was the loss of my TMP premium membership, which prevented from posting in what was my main source of visits, from June to October when they changed the policy. Not that I ever paid for it. Rather an anonymous someone gave it to me. It seems to be a new "periodic bait strategy" to get people to pay for a membership.

Year starts right of the tallest spike (december 2016), decrease from june to october, most visited month may, least april (which I spent travelling around China)

If you have reached this far congratulations, recap over!

Thanks all for your support, visits and constructive feedback.

Have a merry 2018 full of hobby and projects!