If there's one subject I don’t talk about much on this blog, it's setting myself hobby goals. Whilst this blog's overriding theme is clearing my backlog of models, that is more of a long-term goal – I've been writing this blog for the last four years, and whilst we've made good progress, there's still some ways to go in terms of actually reaching the end of the backlog [great in the sense of having motivation and content for future posts, less so in terms of not being surrounded by half-painted models…]
What I've not normally talked about is setting myself more short-term goals, as in setting myself targets for the year. I tend to meander from project to project, rather than planning out which armies I'm going to paint. Normally, my hobby drive can quite impulsive, inspired either by new releases, or ideas that flit in and out of my head.
Whilst such a drive is great for hobby motivation, it's less helpful in terms of managing my backlog – as ideas tend to come thick and fast, often I'll find myself halfway through a hobby project when suddenly another idea comes to the forefront of my mind, so I end up shelving the current project in favour of the new one – this then means the old project tends to sit gathering dust until I eventually come back to it, remembering in the process how fun the project was.
Now, I know it's a bit daft to be talking about hobby goals for the year when we're already halfway through April, but the truth is I actually wrote most of this blog post back in January – due to real life getting in the way, this is the first opportunity I've had to actually publish it. Fortunately, most of the goals I set myself in January are still relevant.
So, Goal 1 for this year [and hopefully something I'll stick to in the long-term as well] is to be a bit less impulsive when it comes to hobby purchases – often I'd go into a hobby shop for some supplies, and end up coming out with a box [and sometimes more than one box] of miniatures as well. Fortunately, it's usually just a single miniature I really want to paint, but as these gradually accumulate, you realise you've added a dozen more models to your backlog.
So, Goal 2 is to finish painting these various models bought solely for the purposes of wanting to paint them. Again, this goal has more long-term than short-term ambitions, so I'll probably use them as means of either breaking up lengthy hobby projects, or painting them at the end of a project as a reward – hopefully knowing you have a "treat" miniature at the end of painting a horde of models is good motivation! At the same time, painting something different can often help with motivation as you actually enjoy painting the model, rather than finishing a model and then dreading painting the remaining models the same way over and over again.
Speaking of abandoned projects, there are a number of these in my backlog that I have been neglecting for some time, and not just for MESBG. I have a number of projects for Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar and The Old World currently sitting in the backlog, all in various stages of assembly / painting, and a part of me actually wants to get these projects to completion. I'm unlikely to be able to get through all of them in a single year [there just isn’t enough time!], so Goal 3 for the year is to try and get at least one of these backlog projects completed. However, because I want to keep this Backlog Blog series Middle Earth-themed, they won’t be shown here – I will however still count them towards my model count for the year (as that focuses on the backlog as a whole), but I'll very likely set up a separate blog series for these.
Lastly, Goal 4 is a numbers challenge, partially inspired by last year's model count – I painted 195 models in 2025, and I was disappointed that I didn’t quite manage to hit the 200 mark – probably because I was only five models away. So, the challenge for 2026 is to try and paint 200 models this year. I like to think this is an achievable goal given that, apart from 2024 when my hobby motivation took something of a nosedive, I've managed to paint either over or around 200 models every year that I've been doing this blog. Some of the goals I've set myself will certainly help in this regard, given that some of the unfinished projects have a high model count – get through those, and I'm easily on my way to hitting my target. So, look forward to the last post of the year, where I'll be checking back in on whether or not I hit these goals!
So, hobby goals set, let's get to painting!
I started 2026 as I finished 2025 – painting Easterlings! I dug out the eight archers I had lying in the backlog, and painted these to go in my Host of the Dragon Emperor list. Easterling archers are probably some of the most underused models in the game, and a common complaint is that you only get four pikes in the boxed set, but eight archers – not very helpful when the key part of an Easterling army is the pike block. Complaints aside, the archers are still very nice models. I spent a few evenings working on them, painting them in the same way as the rest of the army, and they were done. I've really enjoyed this Easterling project – so much so that I've painted nearly 1,500 points worth over the last 6 months!
Next were a pair of models I didn’t quite get around to finishing in 2025 – two old metal Rangers of Gondor. I painted my current Osgiliath force years ago, but I've been having thoughts for some time about stripping and re-painting the army – these models were attempts at experimenting with different colour combinations – I painted one Ranger with a green cloak, and another with a brown one – always interesting to see how the same miniature looks in a different colour scheme. The Osgiliath repaint is a very low priority for now, but having some reference models for when I eventually get round to it will be very helpful. There are actually a couple of my armies that I think could benefit from being stripped down and repainted, but I think the sensible thing is to focus on at the moment is finishing some unpainted new armies, rather than repainting old ones. I based them with an Osgiliath-themed rubble scatter, but I'm not sure if this will become the main basing scheme for the army – I might be tempted to do something else when I eventually get round to repainting the army.
With the rangers done, I took a small break from painting Middle Earth miniatures, to try and work out exactly which one of my other backlog projects I wanted to finish. Not that I wasn't entirely focussed on Middle Earth – I've also been busy working on my armies and the display board for the Middle Earth Grand Tournament a Warhammer World, but more on that in a future blog.
My main Middle Earth project for this year is still the huge box of Rohan I put together last year, and in between my work on other projects, I chipped away at some of the Riders. I tried to do some variation on the colours, using different shades of green and browns for the cloaks and leathers, and using metal colours for their helmets, where I'd always used a dark brown previously – variation really helps models stand out, especially when you're only using a handful of poses in your army. I then based the models to match Erkenbrand, who I painted on foot last year, and my first few Riders of the Westfold were ready for the tabletop.
With the Riders done, I then turned my attention to the mounted version of Erkenbrand – this was painted in the exact same way as the foot version, from the green cloak to his distinctive red shield – a few hours work, and he was ready to lead the Riders into battle!
So, to progress – with everything I've painted so far this year from the different game systems, my painted model count currently stands at 49 models! I'm considering this really great progress, considering it's mid-April and I'm nearly a quarter of the way to my 200 model goal already – I just need to try and keep this pace up to hit my target!
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