2025 Year in Review

Let’s take a quick look at my hobby stats for 2025!

I set a goal for 2025 to play more games and to use the toys I spent all this money on. While the creating of the Mole Mini Works blog was a way to move my hobby blogging from social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram, it also had an encouraging effect on the number of games I played. I enjoy putting together the short Battle Reports.

What also helped is that I was encouraged by friend and typical X-Wing opponent Brian to creat the war gaming journal that I was thinking of doing. A way to record and track my games through the year, and it was the main source that I referenced to determine some of the Year in Review stats!

Games Played: 22

X-Wing: 8

Bolt Action: 3
Warhammer 40k: 11

Now, let’s take a look at the number of games played. I set a goal for the year to play at least 12 games, one a month. There was no specific requirement on which games got played, but if I got one play of each of my favorite games (Bolt Action, Warhammer 40k, and X-Wing) I would be happy. 22 games surpassed and nearly doubled my initial goal!

I expected most of my games played in 2025 to be X-Wing due to the combination that I have a friend and a wife who enjoy the game. 8 games seems lower than expected, likely due to the fact that my wife was not thrilled with the AMG and XWA points changes. 

I expected Warhammer to be lower due to Tom being my only 40k partner at the start of the year, but instead rocketed up to first place due to long time friend Luke joining the hobby! Multiple games and a tournament, nearly all of which happened in the second half of the year, catapults 40k into the most played spot. 

Bolt Action was always going to be the struggle to get to the table. After my two Bolt Action partners moved away over the past years, I expected Bolt Action to just be a hobby item and no longer get to play much. But a local guy started to set up monthly meet ups and I was occasionally able to get out of the house and join! I was planning on playing in a tournament as well, but last minute family conflicts unfortunately curtailed that. Bolt Action tournaments are typically the most enjoyable war gaming experience I have.

Opponents Played: 17

X-Wing: 2

Bolt Action: 7

Warhammer 40k: 8

Another 2025 goal was to play games with more than a handful of opponents. I set my goal at 4 unique opponents, thinking 3 would be a shoe-in and find number 4 more difficult. In the end, I ended up with 17 unique opponents! Of these 17 opponents, none of them played a different game (that is, an X-Wing player was only played in X-Wing and not in 40k). 

6 of these came from the Warhammer 40k doubles tournament (3 teams of 2 players pads that number quickly). However, 7 unique Bolt Action opponents was a surprise! Most of the games I played at a meet up were doubles, so while I only played 3 games, I played them with 7 different people! It is a shame I couldn’t get more in due to missing the Recon and Raiders tournament. 2 X-Wing opponents seems about right, though I thought I could get a third in by getting a game in with Curtis, but it never panned out. 

Models Painted to Completion: 69

Tau: 15
Harlequins: 27
Bolt Action: 27

This was a bit of a shock and a painful number. At the start of 2025, my pile of shame had dwindled down into just a few random project sprues. I had picked up some British Bolt Action miniatures for cheap and figured they would be my project for the year. 

But then the Clowns showed up. I started a Harlequin army as my buddy joined the Warhammer scene and I used it as an excuse to get a new 40k Army. Started in mid June, the Harlequins have been a slow burn project. 27 models were completed, while another 30 are in various stages progress. Picking the light pink and gold color scheme isn’t doing me any favors and I was losing my mind painting the first pair of jet bikes, which hurt my enjoyment until recently. 

Another reason the Harlequin army is taking so long to get painted is because I also paines 27 Bolt Action miniatures. Each event  came with a thematic description, asking for armies to fit a historical theme. So the month leading to the event I would spend time building and painting models for a thematic list. An early war German list with Panzer II tanks, Veteran Winter soldiers for a high point game, Armored cars and motorcycles for a Blitzkrieg Recce list, and a few Ardennes tanks and such for a 1944 themed event. 

Looking Forward

Looking forward to 2026 I’m planning on using my 3D printer more to save money on hobbying and gaming. 2025 saw me print 2 tanks for Bolt Action and torsos for 7 Tau miniatures. Additionally, I printed a hand full of look-alike Space Marines that my son had a fun time playing with. Right now I’m planning to print a few tanks for my Space Marines army to help them punch up into armored targets and get some transport capabilities. 

I expect to play more Warhammer in 2026 too! I’m looking forward to another doubles event and I’ve even eyed up a few 500pt and 1000pt events that seem to be popping up. I really hope to still get in some Bolt Action games. X-Wing also may get more plays in as we attempt to revive the little play group we had. 

Projects for 2026 includes completing my 2000pt of Harlequins before the start of Warhammer 40k 11th edition drops. We’ll see what Space Marine units survive the purge and decide what to do moving forward. Ideally I’d like to work on the Jump Pack Valkyrie unit(s) that I think would be cool, but that’s a pricy project. 

Side projects include finishing a small Bolt Action platoon featuring a combo of British/French (I’m actually pretty jazzed to work on the French miniatures I received). I’d also like to find a mini and just try to paint it to the best of my ability again. 

Overall, looking forward to 2026.