Life continues to be taxing for many of the Bunkerites, we seem to be hitting a lot of crises that are happening in the mid-life, but not the fun kind. Nobody has bought themselves a (new) motorbike yet (he says, genuinely considering it since I sold my last one about 6 years ago and I miss it). Nevertheless, Warhammer remains a beacon of fun and friendship amidst the darkness, bringing us together time and time again for a bit of entertainment and a reminder that things could still be much much worse. As is our annual tradition, we’re going to look back at what we’ve been up to this year, and maybe some hopes for the future.
Tom
2025 has been much less productive than I’d hoped, but things have begun to look up in the last few months. The most obvious question to answer, is my Thunderhawk completed, is sadly a no. I’m nearly there but prioritised other units for the ODF weekend that, by the time you read this, I will have just had.
Aside from the Thunderhawk, which has been a huge amount of my limited time and effort, I have at least got a few things done this year. I started out with a tiny Battlefleet Gothic fleet, knocked out a few Gravis character conversions, dabbled in sorting out my very old Tau army so I could team up with Drew’s Kroot and get absolutely dumpstered in Boarding Patrol, painted one Ork, and finished the year with Tanks and Terminators for my Raven Guard. I also have some Reivers on the modelling table.
I had been thinking of next year concentrating on Guard, but then I read Mike Brooks' Voidscarred. Damn. For a while now I have been able to say “I have an army in every faction except Eldar (until Votann got added to the mix)”. Time to ruin that. Next year I have plans to make a very small army of Aeldari Corsairs. I have secured a couple of boxes of the Voidscarred Kill Team and came up with a nice little plan with an Autarch “Corsair Captain” and some Rangers, planes and transports to go with them, but then I heard about the rumours of hot new Aeldari Corsair releases and frankly, if they are true, I may be in big trouble.
But before that, finishing the Thunderhawk!
Charlie
I'm sure I had plans for 2025, but they were enjoyably obliterated by Harvey's offer to run a campaign for Tom’s Raven Guard and my Cobalt Scions. This prompted me to crunch through and finish the battle company I've been working on since 2019. Since painting blue power armour is about the closest one can get to 40K’s default setting I will at least attempt to do something different in 2026. Not least of which because that will get me excited to paint even more blue power armour later.
To be fair I haven't only painted blue boys. Between sundry projects I also created an ork horde mode for Goonhammer. You can read about that and other more detailed dribblings about the year's efforts in my annual roundup here: https://www.goonhammer.com/charlies-2025-hobby-year-in-review/
Jeff
Given that I last blogged on here in - checks, oof! - February… You’d be forgiven for forgetting I was here at all. Rest assured, Bunker dwellers, non-existant reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. It’s just not been a terribly conducive year to finishing and especially photographing projects. There’s a lot of half finished projects around the place that I’m intending to complete to share with you lovely lot in 2026. Now to go hunt for my lost mojo…
Pete
Since I very recently inflicted my Blood Angels on the Bunker blog, it felt only fair to talk about something different this time; namely, the inevitable arrival of a second army, the Death Guard.
At this point, calling it an ‘army’ might be generous. What I actually have is a collection of unprimed plastic, glue fumes and a growing sense that I’ve made life harder for myself again. But after months spent carefully painting red armour, crisp highlights and trying very hard not to overdo anything, I found myself craving something different. Death Guard seemed like the natural answer.
Part of the appeal is that they represent a complete tonal shift from what I’ve been working on. Where the Blood Angels reward neatness and restraint, the Death Guard openly invite rust, grime, texture and questionable life choices. I haven’t painted a single model yet, which means everything is still theoretical: colour schemes, weathering ideas, how far to push the filth before it just looks like a mess. I am back to gathering references, watching far too many tutorials and trying to work out what ‘done’ actually looks like for a Death Guard model.
Whether this becomes a full second army or remains a long-term side project is still an open question. For now though, it’s enough that it exists.
Boris
Whilst over the last few months, not much hobby output has been achieved here in the far North, the year as a whole has been…reasonable, I think.
At the beginning of the year, I indulged in fitting the Battle Sanctum with stained-glass windows.
This was not quite madcap enough, so I converted Salamander Outriders to have more fitting mounts instead: yes, reptiles.
It was great fun building those “Cowboys from Hell”.
A few smaller minis and projects followed (mainly Thousand Sons Sorcerers etc.). Trying to round off the year, I eventually finished two models that had been hanging around for a while.
Firstly, I had for a long time wanted a larger unit to complement my Thousand Sons and lend a bit of arcane firepower. So I decided on an allied Cerastus Knight from the good old days: the Lux Prospero, always willing to illuminate the unknowing (with industrial quantities of promethium).
I fitted some internal lights as well and found a vaporizer that works surprisingly well from the inside of the model (Note: no, I don’t do any normal projects, my brain won’t let me).
Lastly, I completed a model that I had built a while ago (and had received as a very kind Christmas gift from my good friend Jed a few years back), but had been unsure about in terms of colour scheme. So, with hours to spare, I finally finished my Wraithknight (no special effects, just a regrettable number of soulstones…).
So the only thing left for me to do before the end of the year is to, on the one hand, agree with Tom that not much happens in midlife. On the other hand, with a minor correction, I did buy a motorbike…
Andy
My progress will be somewhat more muted than the others, but then its still a step up on 2024 - looking back at photos on my phone for that year I had precisely 3 pictures of a game and not a single mini painted. This past year has definitely been an improvement.
It's not much, but below is what I’ve managed to paint this year (top-right image excepting, that’s just to show I’ve kind of finished my Chaos Marines for now). Its a motley collection but I painted up 15 more Alpha Legionnaires and a Chaos Lord conversion, an Ambot just for funsies, some beautiful scatter scenery from Bad Squiddo, and the last 2 C’Tan to complete my set. Those C’Tan also saw action in Apocalypse games - a system I’ve recently discovered and am very enamoured of.
For 2026, well I’d hope I might increase my output, and already have plans afoot….
Thomas
As 2025 draws to a close, it feels right to reflect on my hobby progress over the year. By most measures it was a modest one, but what was completed proved deeply satisfying. Time at the painting desk was largely confined to the early months, before my partner and I purchased a new house in need of a full renovation. Since then, the miniatures have been carefully packed away in the loft, replaced by dust sheets, stripped walls, and an endless to-do list.
The year began strongly with the release of the new plastic Death Korps of Krieg range. Having previously built a small skirmish force from the older Forge World resin kits, this felt like the perfect opportunity to expand the collection into a fully realised army. Until then, the force consisted mostly of infantry with limited artillery support. The new kits offered scale, cohesion, and the promise of something larger.
As is typical for me, the army began not with a list but with an image: ranks of infantry climbing from the trenches at the whistle, greatcoats heavy with mud, advancing into fire while artillery thundered behind them. Heavy weapons would anchor the rear, and perhaps a Leman Russ or two would grind forward through the churned earth. This narrative-first approach is where I inevitably go wrong, buying models for atmosphere rather than efficiency, but it produces an army that feels unified and characterful.
Looking ahead, I hope 2026 will allow a return to the painting desk as the renovation eases. With luck, it will also be the year the Death Korps finally march to war against the other members of the Beard Bunker. When they do, it won’t be across pristine tabletops, but through mud, wire, and shell holes.
In many ways, that slow, grinding advance mirrors the renovation itself. Each cleared room and uncovered problem feels like gaining a few hard-won yards. Progress is slow and exhausting, but inevitable. With time, both house and army will emerge from the mire; victorious and built to last.
Harvey
I had to take a moment and think about what it is I’ve actually achieved this year, but true to form I’d just forgotten a whole load of hobby progress. Namely, my Night Lords are now a complete Apocalypse-sized army: 113 assorted marines, 12 vehicles, from humble Rhinos to a mighty Spartan, a detachment of chaos knights and an entire (small - a mere 76 models) army’s worth of cultist filth. It feels good to have them done, even if technically there is still one more big Chaos Knight to go. I didn’t paint them all this year, it must be said, but perhaps half the army was chunked out in 2025. Solid effort, past me.
Beyond that, I’ve been continuing on with the Nightfall 31st (with the first of their 3!!! Units of field guns), my long suffering, absolute favourite heroes of the Imperium, and towards the end of the year I’ve been back on that Eldar train - though they’ve recently had a progress article.
2025 has been a year of hobby feasts and famines for me, months went by in which I didn’t pick up a brush, but then in others it was my primary way to spend my free time. The very first thing I’m doing in the new year is running ODF 3, which Tom and Charlie have been vibrating about (and painting for) for months - I’m expecting to be hyper keen for more painting once that’s done, if only because it’ll give my Games Master brain a bit of a sit!
Drew
2025 sure has been A YEAR. With that in mind, I have managed to achieve some small amount of hobby, namely a congress (or a maelstrom, for you batrachologists out there) of the emperor’s cuddliest boys.
At a svelte 600 points, they are not the biggest army but they are definitely the nicest. The gravis armour has been a joy to paint, namely thanks to the speedy scheme I devised with the help of fellow Bunkerite Jeff. The series of dry brush steps followed by a final highlight on the very tip tops of the model really makes the most of all the edges on the gravis design, without having to drive myself insane through edge highlighting (I’m looking at you, disco booties).
Looking forward to next year, I would love to get a start on the Emperor’s Children box that I bought during the launch, and have sadly left abandoned since then (Slaanesh, forgive me), and of course, there are those rumours of the sharp-eared pirates…
Deep Space Nein
Tom: Not an individual but a terrain-painting collective within the bunker that formed to paint a space hulk set, and has continued to shower the battlefield in glory. Charlie often says that scenery is the Warhound Titan you put on the board every time. I wholeheartedly agree, but I do think the results somehow feel less impressive to talk about than a warhound. It fades into the background because it is the background. Also, as a blogger, it is a lot of work that translates into relatively few posts.
This year we have worked hard, with four (or more) of us dedicating multiple entire weekends to the agonies of creation. To start with we finished Charlie’s modular urban board, completing a 6’ x 4’ section of paving slabs, as well as 12 modular half-buildings.
It is telling of how amazing this lot is that for the rest of the year we’ve had it out on at least one table nearly every time we play. It has been my great pleasure to be around when two different guests got to visit and loudly remarked on what wonderful scenery we have.
Not satisfied with such glory, we then cracked out the massive stockpile of Sector Imperialis that we had bought whilst GW did a Made To Order, and built three massive ruins. Rather than being highly modular, these were built to be unique. In addition to Crayon Corner (churn it out with a drybrush) and Creative Corner (spend hours lovingly painting computer screens), we have added Conversion Corner, which is me hunched over my craft knife and files, lovingly customising bits of rubble so that we don’t have obvious repeat patterns.
Next year we’ll be painting this lot, which is no small task, but after that, who knows?
In Conclusion
Big thanks to Boris for neatly undermining my opening section. But both from reading everyone’s entries, and talking to everyone as I went about organising it, two common themes popped out. Firstly a lot of people have been surprised by how much they did this year, nearly everyone commented on how it was more than they thought. Secondly, everyone seems to be pretty enthused about what 2026 will bring. Here’s hoping some of that feeling rubs off on you, dear readers.
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