Looks like we’re really kicking 2026 off with the start of the climate wars huh? Just full on, ‘yeah man, they’ve got oil, we want it. International law? never heard of her’. Late stage capitalism really is the gift that just keeps giving.
No offense but the US fucking sucks.
— Johan Nohr (@nohr.se) 3 January 2026 at 17:33
As I rapidly approach what is likely the middle of my life (unless of course I die fighting one of those Boston Dynamic Dog-Robots for fresh water) I have been doing lots of reflecting on what it is I want to do, and how I want to spend what is left of my time.
One of the books I read this year was Nick Cave’s biography-essay thing ‘Faith, Hope and Carnage‘ and a quote of his really stuck with me.
I feel free of presumptions, my own most of all. And of other’s expectations. There is no reason or valid argument for me to live my life in the way I have previously. … I just want to make art with my friends, be with my wife and see my kids
It really captures my feelings, you could maybe sub out the ‘art with friends’ for ‘generally hang out, play stupid games and make art with my friends’. And I only have one kid. But you get it.
Buy Less Especially from Mega Corps
I made it a goal to just buy less generally, but not so much from big corps. I think I only bought two things from GeeDubs; the special illustrated edition of Malleus and Warhammer Quest Dark Water. The latter I split for parts and sold of the contents I didn’t want. Oh shit, actually I bought into the new Heresy Edition too, and didn’t play a single game. Good times.
In 2026 I am aiming to actually not buy anything, Black Library is the exception and then if something like a limited edition Space Hulk release drops.
In terms of this coming year, my intention is to be more Hunter-gatherer. When I do spend I want to prioritise second hand, vintage or locally made where feasible — whilst continuing to shop my values. If I have some spare cash, I want to try and spend it with real people, supporting content creators people who make things I enjoy.
Streaming sucks too, you’re renting the stuff and even buying digitally it has become increasingly clear you never actually own what you buy… which segues nicely into…
The Internet is bad now.
Like it just is right? I’m old enough to remember when websites were individual expressions of the person who made them as opposed to just being one of the like what? 5 websites that really exist today. It is sad, there were all these things and they’re all now on one of the social media platforms — which are all kinda bad now. I know that going down a nostalgia rabbit hole here is a real danger, and of course, it was cool when I was young, but for real Social Media is bad for people.
I binned off Facebook, Twitter and I’m looking to kill off the last of the bad ones: Instagram.
I’m in the process of migrating to Tidal from Spotify because that is bad too. I’d like to switch to a more physical first approach with music too, alongside using all those tracks that are still sat on a harddrive somewhere.
I said the following last year. Still true.
In short; capitalism is fucking everything up and with my limited time and resources I’m intending to make more sustainable, but importantly, ethical choices.
Related Reading:
A guide to getting off US Technology: I am trying to use less Google, the muscle memory is strong through. I’ve moved my business emails away from it, currently to Fastmail, but they’re also USA based, and given the current trajectory I’m trying to not send any money there.
Henry Desroches’ Website to Destroy all Websites: An advocate for the indie web and current man-crush Henry has a series of excellent, and weird websites. In this essay (?) he advocates for owning your own stuff and ultimately pointing back to you own space (you might call it myspace…) that you control. This website is arguably my first step towards it, eventually I want it to be my own thing entirely, away from the wordpress backend I’m using. But that was stopping me just doing the thing and writing. Hopefully I can look into this too using something like 11ty.
Reflections on 2025’s hobbying
I like it seems many others have this year, have been hit with some hobby burnout. I’ve struggled (not just with hobby) to stay focussed, and this combined with some late kickstarter arrivals which robbed momentum, meant I didn’t hit as many of the things I wanted to. You can see some of the stuff I was aiming for in this post here.
I finished the Children of the Saviour Worm, which were a project I’d been noodling and collecting bits for over the last few years.
40k isn’t something that especially interests me as a game these days, I’m more drawn to skirmish size stuff, but I intend to have a usable force for each system I might play. With that in mind a few of my gaming group played some Combat Patrol, and I got a playable force of Chaos Militia together for it — even getting as far as painting most of it too. Models I’ve had for around 15 years, finally getting painted. You love to see it.
I printed and started painting the Trench Crusade minis I had from the kickstarter and with the arrival of the rule book I want to get a painted force together for it too.
I tried to paint my dazzle-camo Spyrers, which ultimately didn’t look as good as I’d hoped:
They’re now stripped and back to base coats, I’m looking at a new approach to dial up the horror vibes with them, perhaps with a dash of Tarot vibes for masks? They’re looking to inflict a certain amount of fear on the underhivers. That’s the new plan: Cyberpunk meets Blanchitsu Tarot vibes.
And finally, I took part in a community challenge, Grimdark Cards.
Side note: Hobby burnout and the loneliness of ageing.
It’s a real thing, you grow up, you get responsibilities and you can’t hang out with your friends as much. Black Magic Craft posted about it recently (check out his Youtube here) and it stuck with me. I don’t have an answer here, but I want to hang with my friends as much as I can, we have a standing Wednesday night games night. The can’t-be-assed struggle is real, but I intent to show up as much as I can, for myself and my bros.
That aside, I’ve found some of these hobby Youtubes and Podcasts to be somewhat soothing to feel like I’m part of a community, in addition to Black Magic Craft above..
- Hivescum and associated discord.
- MS Paints s/o to Dave for the Hector model when I hung out with him at Gamesday.
- Miscast – His daily vlog has become part of my working routine for the morning when I log in.
- Juggz – Peachy and Louise are just a joy to listen to.
Hobby in 2026
I’ve made ‘resolutions’ for the last five years or so, and generally I usually hit about 50% of them. They are good for setting my intentions, but I never really been able to stick to them — I have magpie brain. But also being realistic, I have a 3 year old son, and family I want to spend time with and that takes priority. I also then found it sort of demotivating when I couldn’t hit the targets because of something like a delayed Kickstarter or whatever.
This year, I’m not doing resolutions. I’ve got ideas, stuff I’d love to get to, but ultimately this is hobby as an escape, when my hands are busy, my brain is quiet.
The headline is, I want to make weird stuff.
Some bits I’d like to hit up:
- Continue my push for at least one force per system, and finish the Militia – the Wargames Atlantic chaos guard should arrive soon.
- A Kill Team sized force/Combat Patrol of my Storm Blades chapter of marines. Mostly a narrative exercise, but it would be nice if I could run them as a Kill Team should I ever pick it up.
- Mechanicus, they’re one of my favourite factions, but I haven’t done much with them because I don’t love the skitarii models — so I want to see if I can dial up the weirdness of them.
- Play some Space Gitz for my 40th.
- Some I28 Imperial Ecclesiarchy penitent nut jobs which can pull double duty as a Cawdor gang in Necromunda, known as The Fraternity of Salt.
In addition, I’m going in for the Indie stuff this year:
- Flames of Orion
- Necropolis
- Negative Space
- Silver Bayonet
I’d like to relearn some of my 3D Modelling skills and have a bash at printing some stuff I’ve designed. See Mechanicus above.
Not Hobby 2026
To sum up? I’m going to do try and change what is in my power to change, influence as much as I can what I can’t, and then chill the fuck out about the rest of it.
Be more mindful.
Today’s empires, tomorrow’s ashes.
Fix your hearts or die.
Love you. Bye.