Well hello there. Thanks for coming. Welcome to Hammer the Backlog, the weekly mini painting, accountability and productivity blog run by me, Mick. In this update we are going to look at the last 52 weeks of the year 2024/2025 and start planning for next year, 2025/2026. Please, take my hand and join me as we look back on the year that was and experience something akin to the joy of a childhood christmas in the middle of June.

YEAR 3 REVIEW

So the main targets of year 3 were well and truly achieved! What a relief! As a reminder, or for new readers coming for the first time, at Hammer the Backlog I break my (slightly less) enormous pile of shame down into targets for a year. I then break those targets down into quarters of thirteen weeks. Each quarter I have enough models that I spend 11 or 12 out of the 13 weeks painting, with a little left over for holidays, bits and bobs and/or the unexpected! That usually amounts to about 50 – 65 man sized models per quarter, fewer if they are big models like cavalry or monsters or detailed models like army generals or wizards.

The painting targets for year two were:

Island of Blood Elves painted, photographed and online

Deathwatch Overkill painted, photographed and online

5th Edition Metals painted, photographed and online

By using the SMART methodology I was able to break these two targets down into four quarters, roughly like this.

Quarter 1: 5th Edition Metals

Quarter 2: Island of Blood elves

Quarter 3: Space Marine side of Deathwatch Overkill

Quarter 4: Genestealer Cults side of Deathwatch Overkill

In this case SMART meant 

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Timebound

I am, of course, very happy to say that all of these targets for the year were achieved. Here, have a little gallery of the finished models!

Hammer the Backlog also starts each year by moving the three year plan on by a year.. In the three year plan I decided that I would have no more unpainted boxed sets by July 16th 2025. With Deathwatch Overkill painted, all of my actual-boxed boxed sets are now finished. Of course, last year I didn’t realise that I actually have two more complete 40k starter sets, just not in the box! So at the current pace, and assuming I don’t buy or receive any more complete boxed sets as gifts, this will actually be achieved by the end of year 5 of Hammer the Backlog.

ADDING TO THE PILE

One of the founding tenets of Hammer the Backlog was to stop buying new minis when I have so many waiting to be painted. The way I like to explain it is that every broken mini, every sprue languishing unassembled in a box, every blister pack in the darkness at the bottom of a pile, every single one of them at the time that I bought them, seemed to be the coolest thing in the world. With that I mind, I made the decision not to buy any more new minis.

This I did not stick to. I did buy quite a few new minis this year. I was mostly able to justify them to myself by buying models that completed units, replaced broken parts or put the finishing touch on armies. But I did have a couple of moments of weakness too and just bought cool stuff. For example, I couldn’t resist the temptation of being able to add a unit of metal squires to my Bretonnian army when I actually saw them live in a retail shop. Just on the shelves, for sale! It’s not all doom and gloom though. Some of the top of the pile was created by people sending me things this year too. Luckily I have managed to keep on top of that and knocked most (but not all) of them off the pile.

Part of my hope for year four is to knock everything new that I added to the pile off the top as soon as I can, to avoid letting it sink to the bottom of a box in the garage somewhere.

THIS WEEK’S MODELS

Even though this is easily the busiest time of the year for Hammer the Backlog, I did just about manage to get some bits and bobs painted. As always at this time of year, the B&Bs take slightly less priority compared to getting the end of year videos and blog updates done, so I  wasn’t quite a clean sweep, but I am happy with what I got done.

The first two models were my two squire champions masquerading as bowmen unit champions for my classic Bretonnains. These two colour schemes were pretty much the first two colour schemes that I started hammering the backlog with three years ago, so it was nice to go back to them again. 

Painting these classic Perry brothers Bretonnians is still a joy filled experience. They have just the right amount of detail and character for me to be peak warhammer fantasy. And of course the fact that they are 90s metal gives them a very satisfying feel when they are done too.

This week’s other model was a very interesting contrast to paint, in that it really and truly wasn’t any different. 

I got this undead knight from Wolfbaneart is a brand new, hand sculpted model that very much looks and feels like a classic Bretonnian Knight has succumbed to the curse of undeath. Everything about this model looks and feels era appropriate for a 90s GW sculpt, even down to the materials used in the casting. Painting these three models this week, it was impossible to tell which were classics and which were sculpted and cast this year. Big Kudos to Alessio. If you have read any Hammer the Backlog, you know how much the modern version of retro stuff appeals to me.

I went for the classic Mousllion scheme of yellow and black, and used darker washes on the armour, including a recess shade of pure Wyldwood, to make him look very much like a part of my Bretonnian army at first glance, but then clearly an undead wight on closer inspection.

I did go a bit classic 4th edition by making his blade some soft of cursed, green thing, maybe a bit more fourth edition than fifth, but I think it looks nice. If a bit more Warpstone than pure “undead”.

The casualties of my busyness were unfortunately the classic 2nd edition Iron Warriors. I barely got them started, to be honest, when I was looking at the trim and details I just knew there was no way I could do them justice in the time I had.

I’m hoping to have a little spare time in Quarter 1 of Year 4 to get them done.

MODEL OF THE YEAR

A pretty easy winner for model of the year this year.

My clear favourite model that I painted was my High Elf Prince on Griffon. I adore this model. I love the mount and the rider. I am really happy with the paint scheme. He was very popular on social media, being both my most popular Instagram post and my most viewed Youtube video. All round, a clear winner for model of the year this year!

SOCIAL MEDIA

The social media side of things did some interesting things in year 3. I’m pretty sure it was Year 3, with classic High Elves and Dogs of War, that pushed the Instagram account over into the 5k+ followers category, which was nice.

https://www.instagram.com/hammer_the_backlog/

Year 3 started with a bang, going from 4,300 followers on Instagram to 5,000 by the end of quarter 2. Sadly, there are a lot of people painting Space Marines on Instagram, and the two 40 quarters of year two were by far the slowest so far, gradually tricking up to just over 5,300 at the time of writing.

On the other hand, it was a great year for the YouTube channel, which went from a couple of hundred views per video to 6 to 8 thousand. Subscribers also shot up around the time I was doing my 5th Edition Fantasy “content”, sitting at a little over 2,135 subscribers! Almost double this time last year!

The year three end of year review video will be going live by the time you are reading this, please do give it a watch!

YEAR 4 TARGET SETTING

So with year two a roaring success, let’s take a look at the pile of shame as it stands.

Box Sets:

Blackstone Fortress including all expansions

Deathwatch Overkill

Blood Bowl 3rd Edition

Warhammer Fantasy Battles 5th Edition

Warhammer 40,000 Dark Vengeance

Warhammer 40,000 Assault on Black Reach

Warhammer 40,000 Dark Imperium (Half Painted)

Small Projects:

About 1000 points of 2000’s era Chaos Marines

Small force of Gondor for Lord of the Rings

Small modern Dark Eldar Force

Strip and repaint about 50 20 Dogs of War models

3D printed Chaos Dwarf Starter Force

Small classic Dark Eldar force in terrible condition

First Born Space Marine Force

Deathguard Force

Big Stupid Projects that should never have got off the ground:

About 3000 2000 points of 8th Edition High Elves, including doubles of the Isle of Blood set

About 3000 points of 8th Edition Empire, based around units from the Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book

Warhammer 40,000 Conquest Magazine, full armies of Ultramarines and Death Guard currently painted to about week 30

 A couple of things worth noting here, I think, is that I have removed the Conquest collection as a monolith and broken it down into its components, which are:

The full contents of the Dark Imperium Boxed set

An 8th edition Deathwatch Army

A firstborn space marine force

Some of these are painted to about the halfway point as instructed by the magazine. I might keep going with that, or I might be tempted to do them as smaller mini projects. 

I also found almost my entire 3rd edition 40k Dark Eldar army, even if they are in an atrocious state.

And of course, there are hundreds of random bits and bobs, including the classic metal 40k Chaos Space Marine Demon Prince.

So, what do we target for year 4? There are a couple of considerations to take into account. The first is that the targets need to be SMART. This is the most important thing, whatever we pick we will come back to SMART and run a check to make sure it works.

The next thing is to remember that three year goal of having no more unpainted boxed sets. Looking at, for example, the 8th Edition High Elves, that could easily be a whole year’s target on its own. It wouldn’t get me any closer to having all of the box sets complete however.

The other consideration is variety. One of the most enjoyable things about year one was having the colourful whimsey of 5th edition warhammer and the grim dark blackstone fortress mixed in together. I’d like to recreate that a little bit this year with roughly 50/50 40k and Fantasy.

With all of that in mind, I decided that the goals for year 3 are:

Assault on Black Reach painted, photographed and online

One tray of Fantasy Empire painted, photographed and online

One tray of high Elves painted, photographed and online

I also like to have some non-painting, or meta, targets each year.One of the biggest problems facing Hammer the Backlog this year is that Instant Agency Tools, the website I use as part of my operating system, is closing down. So I need a replacement. Either to find, customise or create from scratch a bespoke way of tracking my progress. It would be even better if I could share it with others who want to hammer their own backlogs. That’s why the meta target for the year will be:

Hammer the Backlog System Created

Before we go any further, let’s take a look at our SMART system for one of the yearly targets.

Assault on Black Reach painted, photographed and online

Is it specific? Yes, Assault on Black Reach was a boxed set released for the 5th edition of Warhammer 40k..

Is it measurable? Yes! 10 tactical marines, 5 terminators, captain, dreadnaught, a warboss, 20 orks, 5 orc nobs and a three killa koptas.

Is it achievable? Yes. 10 Hammer the Backlogs points for the tacticals, 10 for the terminators, 5 for the captain, 5 for the dreadnaught. 5 for the warboss, 20 for the ork boys, 10 for the orc nobs and 15 for the killa koptas. Just a bout too much for a single quarter, so split it in two.

Is it relevant? If we are going to get rid of the backlog of unfinished boxed sets, the only way to do it is by painting unfinished boxed sets. We pass this one with flying colours.

Is it time bound? If we just said ‘Assault on Black Reach painted, photographed and online’, I might get it done by Christmas 2028. If you are reading this close to the date of publishing, you will be able to follow along with the progress. If you are reading this in the bright and shiny future, you will  already know if I managed to do it within the time limit.

Going through all of my models to make the annual review was one of the absolute highlights of the year for me. It is always like 10 christmases all at once. The complete change of mindset that the Hammer the Backlog process has brought me, from feeling anxious about how much space the unused models were taking up, being worried about things being broken and neglected and looking at the pile of shame with genuine shame, to having everything proudly on display and being excited about starting a new year has been amazing.

If you have been reading along for the last year, or even if this is your first blog post, I’d love for you to join me on the journey. 

How big is your pile of shame? If you got organised and SMART how long would it take you to get through it? What did you buy all those years ago, thinking it was the coolest thing in the world, only for it to end up unloved under a pile of cushions? Why not follow along with me this year, either by joining in in the comments below, or, even better tagging your own weekly updates on Instagram with #hammerthebacklog

Anyway, thanks for sticking around so long for this update. See you all next week for week 1 or quarter 1 all over again!

Best eggs!