Happy New Year Folks!
The New Year has a habit of sneaking up on you. One minute it’s the November with plenty of time till Christmas and the next thing it’s already the first week into January, you've eaten too much over Christmas and everything feels just about ready for a reset.
2026 is here, and instead of a long list of resolutions I’m trying something a bit simpler this year, Less overthinking, less planning, and more doing, by making a few small shifts in how I approach the year ahead.
Misfire has always been a place for sharing ideas, and experiments, projects big and small. Last year was full of big plans that sadly never came to fruition, a lot of work behind the scenes that for one reason or another fell through.
This year I've decided there will be no big plans for Misfire, instead I'm making space for ideas and experiments to play out, and more importantly a space to share my hobby outside of my full time job managing a hobby store.
As for the Misfire shop, everything on here is still available and I'll be adding new bits and pieces over the year, mostly in small batches when and where I fine the time to work on new projects or finish old ones, and focusing on releasing projects I'm passionate about rather than trying to chase deadlines for the next big game release.
On the blog I'm going to continue to explore the history of miniatures and game design with articles, share some behind the scenes from the Misfire workshop and last but far from least the blog will be a place to share more of my personal hobby, to document the process, make some headway on my backlog and not just share the results.
With that I wanted to share my Personal Hobby Goals for the next year and share a challenge for you all to take part in!
Personal Hobby Goals:
2026 is the year for breaking the back of my pile of shame, I have far too many miniatures in various stages of grey, primed or half finished and I'm aiming to make an impact on that this year, no new year resolutions but a simple goal to paint little and more often, rather than tackling big projects head on, setting myself up for steady painting progress, my goals are simple:
Paint for at least 15 minutes a day or a total of 2 hours or more during the course of a week. (The time can be spent painting, priming, building or kitbashing, as long as I'm working on finishing a step in the Painting process the time counts)
Keep a Painting Journal - Track paint Jobs and Colour Schemes
(Digital notes, hand written notebooks, and photos are all valid methods of journaling in this case)
Paint more than I buy - Slay the pile of shame!
(Simply put paint more miniatures than I buy)
Learn to enjoy the process again - Comparison is the thief of joy
(enjoy painting for fun, don't compare the finished result to everyone else. learn, try new things, and be creative!)
The 2026 Miniature Painting Challenge:
To give myself a bit of structure, and to stop the pile of shame / potential growing unchecked, I’m running a simple points-based challenge for my miniature painting throughout 2026.
The goal is simple... earn points by painting miniatures I (you) already own, lose points by buying new miniatures, and hopefully by the end of the year I'll come out with a positive score and get through some of my pile of shame!
How are points scored?
Points are awarded for completed, fully painted models. “Finished” means painted to a standard I’m (you are) happy with and ready to put on the table, models don't have to be competition-ready, but also not left half-done.
Infantry model painted: +1 point
(Standard infantry, foot heroes, rank-and-file models)
Large model painted: +5 points
(Monsters, vehicles, walkers, tanks, centrepiece models)
Character or Hero model painted: +3 points
(Named characters, HQs, leaders, or standout single models)
Army or warband finished: +10 points
(A playable force completed and table-ready)
New Box of Miniatures Bought: -5 points
(Second-hand, trades, or gifts still count as “bought)
As of writing this I may somewhat be in the negative... Christmas sales and late shipping means I've end up with 7 new boxes of miniatures having arrived or been bought/gifted since the 1st of December... most of these are individual characters but sadly that means I start the year on a score of -35 'oof' I better get to painting!
This isn’t about hitting a specific score or “winning” the year. The points are just a way to visualise progress in a quantifiable way, If the pile of shame shrinks and more painted models make it onto the table, it’s working.
I’ll be tracking my score throughout the year and sharing updates here, including all the successes, setbacks, and the inevitable moments where a shiny new box costs me five points.
How to get involved?
This Hobby Challenge is open to everyone, if you like the sound of the challenge, take it on yourself, the only person you are going up against is yourself! - You can join in on the Misfire Discord or tag us on Instagram @misfire.minis with work in progress photos are finished models!
Happy New Year Everyone! and Happy Hobbying in 2026!
Over and Out,
Will