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 2025/2026 and start planning for next year, 2026/2027. 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 4 REVIEW
So the main painting targets of year 4 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 (now considerably smaller) 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 four were:
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
By using the SMART methodology I was able to break these two targets down into four quarters, roughly like this.
Quarter 1: Space Marines
Quarter 2: Orks
Quarter 3: Empire
Quarter 4: Elves
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 Assault on Black Reach painted, all of my actual-boxed boxed sets are now finished. Of course, last year I didn’t realise that I actually have another complete 40k starter set, 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.
HAMMER THE BACKLOG SYSTEM
Of course, there was also a meta target this year.
Hammer the Backlog System Created.
I would love to be announcing the launch of a new system today, but life does have a tendency to get in the way sometimes. I’ve been working with Harry behind the scenes sporadically for the last year on pulling something together, and we very much have the core concept locked down. I’m hoping that by next week, for week one of quarter one of year five, I will have moved off of my weekly spreadsheet and onto the working alpha of the Hammer the Backlog app.
MODEL OF THE YEAR
A slightly trickier choice for model of the year this year. In ascending order, the top three were:
Number 3 is my Bretonnian Scoceress, that Emiel from Thanqual’s Lair kindly sent me. She was great fun to paint. I got her done from start to finish in a single day, which is very unusual for me. It’s a really great classic model with a scheme that I very much enjoyed.
Number 2 is my Juan Diaz Chaos Space Marine demon prince. What an all-time classic model. I’ll be honest, he probably would have been model of the year if I had given him a little more time and attention. As it stands, he’s a little lacking in detail to be the the Eye of Terror’s Next Top Model.
So the number 1 model of the year is This Way Up. My Arvus lighter, the best model in all of 40k. Look, I spent two weeks talking about it when I painted it up, so I won’t bore you again with how I painted it like I would a scale model of a WW2 American bomber. But I love it.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media continued apace in year 4.
https://www.instagram.com/hammer_the_backlog
At the time of writing, the instagram account is at just over 7,000 followers, decent if not spectacular growth since this time last year. Although, nothing to complain about as I have done nothing this year to actively grow the instagram channel.
On the other hand, it was a great year for the YouTube channel, which actually started making a little revenue! It’s between a couple of cents and a euro a day, but hey, it’s nice to be recognised! The big videos of the year tend to be the annual review videos. It will be super interesting to see if that holds true this year, since the first is going up this evening.
The year four end of year review video will be going live by the time you are reading this, please do give it a watch!
YEAR 5 TARGET SETTING
So with year four 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
Small Projects:
About 1000 3000 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 1500 points of 8th Edition High Elves (2-3 trays)
About 3000 1500 points of 8th Edition Empire
So, what do we target for year 5? 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 a mix of 40k and Fantasy.
With all of that in mind, I decided that the goals for year 5 are:
Dark Imperium painted, photographed and online
One tray of Fantasy High Elves painted, photographed and online
One tray of Retro Dark Eldar painted, photographed and online
I also like to have some non-painting, or meta, targets each year. With the Hammer the Backlog system nearly done, there is no need to drag it into the following year. So, instead, as we enter what is probably the back half of the project, I have decided that it is time to actually index, organise and rebuild my collection, before uploading it all to the app. So the meta target for year 5 is to:
Catalogue the Backlog
Before we go any further, let’s take a look at our SMART system for one of the yearly targets.
Dark Imperium painted, photographed and online
Is it specific? Yes, Dark Imperium was a boxed set released for the 8th edition of Warhammer 40k..
Is it measurable? Yes!
1 Primaris Space Marine Captain, 2 Primaris Space Marine Lieutenants, 1 Primaris Space Marine Ancient, 2 5-man Primaris Space Marine Intercessor Squads armed with bolt rifles and bolt pistols, 1 3-man Primaris Space Marine Inceptor Squad, 1 5-man Primaris Space Marine Hellblaster Squad. 1 Death Guard Lord of Contagion, 1 Death Guard Noxious Blightbringer, 1 Death Guard Malignant Plaguecaster, 7 Death Guard Plague Marines, 1 Death Guard Foetid Bloat-drone and 20 Death Guard Poxwalkers.
Is it achievable? Yes. 20 Hammer the Backlog points for the Intercessors (2 HtB points each), 10 for the Hellblasters, 9 for the Inceptors (3 each) and 5 points each for the 4 characters (20 htb). That’s 59 points in total, and I can do 65 in a quarter.
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 ‘Dark Imperium 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.
RETURNING CONCEPTS
All the way back in year one, I used to keep a spreadsheet of the costs and income from Hammer the Backlog. I really liked that idea, but it somehow dropped off along the way.
For year 5 I have decided to bring it back. And since today is technically the first day of Year 5, what better day than today to start it.?
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 of quarter 1 all over again!
Best eggs!
Hammer the Backlog 
Leave a comment