2018 Year in Review & Ideas for 2019

It's hard to believe that 2018 is coming to an end...it seems like just yesterday that I was figuring out what I'd do gaming-wise in 2018.  As usual I hit on some of what I wanted to do, and completely whiffed on other things I thought I'd do.  I also think I did a decent "reset" during the year (in my mind at least), and have a pretty good feeling of where I am gaming-wise now and where I hope to head in 2019.

I played a lot of games in 2018 and hope to continue gaming on a regular basis in 2019.  I probably still have too many games that I am interested in, so one of the things I am going to try to focus on is getting a single army/force painted up for each of the games before moving on to expanding...that way I can play the games I want when I want to.  One of the greatest things about this hobby, along with the friendships I've made over the years, is that it is what we make of it...I think after all of these years I may have finally come to accept that as I feel much less stress about trying to do everything at once like I used too.

So, here's where I stand when it comes to gaming:

FANTASY
Age of Sigmar - I am fully committed to this game.  I have a functional 2000 point Fyreslayers force with several models still left to paint up or retouch.  These additional models will give me flexibility in configuring the force.  This is a solid army with good troop-character-rune-warscroll synergy which provides for lots of different rerolls and lots of dice as pretty much everything can shoot and engage in melee.  I have enjoyed AOS and would like to eventually build a force for Death, Destruction and Chaos as well, but that's long-term.

Shadespire - I was recently introduced to this skirmish game, and liked the mechanics and figures.  I got lucky and scored a full set of the game (everything up to Nightvault except promos basically) for a great price.  The little warbands will be nice to work on and paint up one at a time.  I hope that I get several games of this in during 2019, and if I like it I will look into expanding further.

SAGA - Fantasy SAGA is due out in 2019 and this is something I will definitely check out.  I like that system and like the possibility of using whatever figures I want for this skirmish game.

SCI-FI
40k - I didn't play as much 40k as I thought I would in 2018.  That's fine though as I really like the current edition of the rules.  I am committed to my Grey Knight army and will be doing some rebasing to get the older figures onto the correct size bases.  I also hope that eventually they come out with an Inquisitor force as a viable stand-alone army.  I'm also going to be dumping the rest of my Imperial Guard and am looking into doing a Custodes force eventually as a second army.  I just seem to like the loyalist, hard-core marines for some reason.

Necromunda - This is a game that really grabbed me in 2018.  I have 3 full gangs (Chaos Cultists, Genestealer Cultists, and Orlocks) all ready to go.  I got in several games and enjoyed all of them.  The different scenarios, tactics cards, and gang strengths & weaknesses make this a great skirmish game.  I hope to play more games in the year ahead.Other than some terrain pieces and markers, I don't have anything to paint for this game; I will be looking at expanding some with some of the hired guns in the future.

Adeptus Titanicus - After mulling it over for several months I finally pulled the trigger in December on Adeptus Titanicus.  The models are great, and the different videos I have watched lead me to believe that this is a solid, enjoyable game.  This is likely going to be a long-term project for me as none of my regular opponents have committed to the game, so I will be building 2 forces so I can run games for people so they don't have to worry about anything other than showing up, moving some titans and rolling dice.  I look forward to being able to do that again as it has been years since I've done so.

MODERN PERIOD
Great War/Flames of War/Fate of a Nation - After playing a game of V4 Flames of War (mid-war N. Africa) and a game commemorating 100 years of the end of WWI using The Great War, I think I'm back in on Battlefront's system.  I also purchased Fate of a Nation and am waiting on my Egyptian army to be painted up, so that will give me both sides for that series of wars.  Having both sides for 3 modern eras using a similar rule set (and Great War is being updated in early 2019) makes it a no-brainer for me to try to keep this in the rotation.  The good news is that with Battlefront now regularly releasing unit card sets with their books, that's all I really need to keep using my collection.  I hope to get some games of this on the table in 2019.  As for expansion, the only thing I may consider getting besides the additional card sets when the late war period rolls out, is Oil Wars or maybe Team Yankee once V2 of that rolls out...this is especially tempting since the Poles have been released.

Bolt Action - Well, I certainly didn't play or invest much time in this game in 2018. That is something I hope to remedy in 2019...in fact I have a game lined up for tomorrow.  It appears that a couple of my regular opponents are interested in getting more games in too, so that will certainly help.  I have my Italian Paras done and have British for Normandy/Italy and Japanese SNLF out to get painted.  Eventually I'd like to get a German force and a Soviet force, but that is another long term project.

ANCIENTS & MEDIEVALS
SAGA - I played some games in 2018 and plan to play some more in 2019.  I think V2 of the rules are fine, and I just got the Book of Battles, so I will be checking that out at some point.  I do want to rebase some/most of my armies as they are all on mixed base sizes with different basing schemes for the most part.  Making them consistent will help how they look overall...that said, I hate basing so this isn't necessarily on the top of my to do list.  As for expansion, I have an unpainted Arthurian force I'd like to get to, and would also like to do a Polish medieval force from Age of Crusades as well.  I'm also looking forward to their fantasy release in 2019.

Big Battle 10mm - Other than acquiring some more figures, I did nothing with this project in 2018.  This may change in 2019...maybe I can get a couple of small armies based up during the year so I can start figuring out what rules I want to use for this project.

HORSE & MUSKET
Napoleonics 10mm - I didn't do anything for this pipe-dream of a project either this year.  I doubt I will do anything in 2019 either, but you never can tell as there always seems to be something I work on during the year that I don't plan on doing and vise-versa.

So that's about it for now...I may change things up as 2019 proceeds, but as of now I am content with where I am, the games I am playing, and the projects on my to do list...

2018 - Hobby Reset (Continued...)

It's almost the end of July already...where has the time gone?  Well, no pictures to share at this time, but I did want to get an update out on what the year has brought and where I am heading.  I have played a ton of games, so that's good.  My painting has been slacking though...we did a bit of a remodel and switched some rooms up at the house, and I got out of the habit a few months ago and am just getting back into it.

I have decided to just stick with my Grey Knights for 40k along with some various Imperial Guard units that I can run as allies.  It's just easier to stick with one army I have found.

I have also decided to dive into Necromunda...great game.  I am gathering Orlocks and Cultists for now, and will do Cawdor once they are released.  I almost dove into Kill Team as well, but think I will stick with Necromunda for now.

I have also recently taken the plunge into Age of Sigmar, and just played my first games today using a newly acquired Fyreslayer army.  I had fun (helps to win)...and will be working over the next several weeks to do the detail work on the army (it was base painted), paint a bunch of characters, and do the basing.  It's a huge army and will give me plenty of options.  I may do a second army for this game too...let's see...

I still play historicals, but my main game in that regard for the past several years, Flames of War is on the shelf for now.  I am going to play some Bolt Action, SAGA, Battlegroup and some other ancients when I get the chance...I am not getting out of historicals.

I am also trying to resist Adeptus Titanicus...and who knows what will happen if Epic or Warmaster or Mordheim are released again...I missed all of those games the first time GW had them and they have done a great job with the things they have recently re-released...it will be hard to resist.

That's if for now...happy gaming everyone!

2018 Hobby Reset

2017 was a different year for me regarding this hobby.  I played a lot of different games (21 different systems/rules!), drifting away from some previously regular games, namely Flames of War and Team Yankee, discovering new games like Battlegroup, and re-discovering some old favorites like Warhammer 40k. I divested myself of some projects and started new ones like I have always done in the past as my interests ebb and flow.  That said, about half-way through the year I started to think a lot about the hobby and realized that following my mantra of doing what makes me happy isn’t enough; doing that just led me to a point of having too many games & projects. 

So 2018 is going to be a “hobby reset” for me.  I am going to focus on completing projects for games I want to play with my friends, and not just working on a million things and never accomplishing anything.  I also want to stick to certain games so I can play them more frequently and be more versed in the rules when I do play instead of having to constantly look things up when I only play a set of rules once or twice a year.  This is where I think I am heading:

World War II – When Flames of War 4^th Edition was announced I was immediately concerned that the rules would be changed to the point of the game being awful like so often seems to happen with new editions.  Surprisingly, I was good with the rule changes and streamlining; yes, there are things that could be better (morale for large units for one) and they certainly could have closed some holes and inconsistencies with the EW/LW and MW periods being different, but overall the rules aren’t awful.  What stinks though is their new release/army book/list model.  I hate it.  What worked for Team Yankee because people didn’t have existing collections, doesn’t work for FOW in my opinion.  Battlefront has lost me with their new business model.  FOW doesn’t seem to get played much locally.  I have invested in several of the Battlegroup books and the few games I have played have been good fun.  In the past I would have divested my collection, but I don’t think I will be doing that at this point…I will continue to play 15mm WWII using FOW V3 (preferred) or V4 (if someone asks me) and Battlegroup.  I will not be adding new armies to this collection, but I may add some odds and ends to my collection so I can try some things in Battlegroup which aren’t prevalent in FOW (resupply, vehicle recovery, wire teams, etc.)

In 28mm I want to play more Bolt Action.  I have Italian Paras done and am working on Japanese SNLF and British for Europe, as well as acquiring figures for Soviet and German forces.  Like with FOW, Bolt Action has a new edition out which makes some changes that may or may not improve the game, but I don’t care.  I am fine with sticking with 1^st edition, as do my regular opponents for the game. 

World War I & Arab-Israeli Wars – These two periods are fine using FOW V3, and though there will be new books out for them according to Battlefront, I am good with using what has already been released.  I am looking forward to see how they handle the 1973 war though.  My Israelis are set; I got rid of my Jordanians, but have a complete unpainted 1967 Egyptian force that I need to get motivated to do.  And for WWI, my French and Germans are complete.

40k – 2017 was a great year for 40k for me.  A game I completely got out of after it went to 6^th edition pulled me back in.  Look simple rules…look an index that covers armies that I can use against friends…look, no eliminated troop types (HINT – BATTLEFRONT for future reference, this is a plus for existing gamers!).  I started collecting a Marine force, changed it out for another Marine force, purchased/traded for various Imperial Guard troops and Eldar, and repurchased my old 5^th edition Grey Knights!  Seems like a lot, and I did go a bit overboard, but I have settled on having 3 forces for the game – Grey Knights, Guard and Eldar.  I also played some Shadow War and had fun; I will likely build some specific forces for that game.  I just wish that the new Necromunda was the same system instead of being yet another slightly different ruleset as I like those figures too; maybe they will come out with a crossover?

Ancients & Medievals – This period is going to be my most diverse.  In 28mm I have several forces for SAGA and I am acquiring more figures to combine with these to be able to play larger games like Hail Caesar, Kings of War & Impetus.  Yes, I had a large 28mm collection that I got rid of when WAB died…that was a mistake.  I am not going to build several armies in 28mm, but rather will do one for the Dark Ages and one for the Classical Period…and maybe the Hundred Years War too.  SAGA is also coming out with a 2^nd edition in 2018, and I will see what that brings.

I am also committed to my own project of doing some 10mm armies for the ancient & medieval periods; these will be armies that I can use for Hail Caesar, Impetus, etc. and have a different look to them.  This is one of two projects I am keeping that are really for me; I have no expectations of anyone contributing to these games other than playing in them when I get around to it.

Fantasy – I had big plans for fantasy gaming but realized that was one too many things to be doing entire armies for, so instead I will be doing smaller fantasy forces to supplement my 28mm historical armies.  So maybe some bear riders to go with my 28mm Dark Age army, and some beast/herd allies to go with Romans or Numidians.  Doing a smaller force and combining with historical armies lets me double-dip and removes some stress that I had placed on myself.  I have also considered relooking at Frostgrave as a few of my friends are playing it and seem to enjoy it.

CAV – I will do a small force for this game too eventually.  It’s fun, plain and simple.

Black Powder/Pike & Shotte – I am currently completely out of these periods, though I like them a lot.  This is probably my longest term project on the list…this is something I would love to do in 10mm.  Only time will tell if I have the ambition to do it.

2018 Goal – So what will 2018 bring for me?  First off I am going to rework, repaint, rebase as needed the 40k Grey Knight and Imperial Guard I have.  Then I am going to finish off the 28mm British & Japanese for Bolt Action.  That will be followed by rebasing & reworking my 28mm Dark Ages figures and painting a bunch more to field an army for Hail Caesar, etc.  After that, I have no idea other than it being one of the things I have touched on above.

I am also going to stop tracking the hours I spend on this hobby...it doesn’t matter and just added unwanted stress on myself.  I will keep tracking figures finished and games played…and who knows how often I will update this as blogs seem to be fading in favor of Facebook groups which I have mixed feelings about.

Enough of my rambling…happy 2018 everyone!

SAGA Rus Princes & October Update

Wow, it's October already.  Where has this year gone?  I certainly haven't updated this blog as often as I intended too, and I certainly haven't finished off as many projects as I had hoped to so far this year.  I have a couple of months left to try to correct that and build momentum going into 2018, so here's hoping I can do that.

On the positive side, I just finished basing a new force for SAGA.  It is a Rus Princes army made up entirely of 28mm metal Gripping Beast models.  The figures were painted to a very high level by Andy K, an associate that I met via the internet.  He does great work and my pictures really don't do the figures justice.  The good news is that they fought to a bloody draw in their first game and got the win in their second game, so their tabletop career is off to a great start!  Shield transfers and banner by Little Big Men Studios.  Spears are brass wire that I made.  The army consists of a mounted Warlord, 4 units of mounted 4 Druzhina hearthguard, a unit of 8 City spearmen warriors, and 12 militia levy archers.

Warlord

 Druzina

 More Druzhina

 The Last of the Druzhina

 Another angle on the Druzhina

 Levy Archers

 Warrior Spearmen

I have also had quite a bit of time taken up by acquiring a bunch of stuff for 40k...I started with Space Marines which I reconfigured after I had already acquired everything I thought I wanted, and have since acquired a sizable Eldar force and a tank centered Imperial Guard force. I really like the game and am glad I have gotten back into it. 
I almost purged the Kings of War Ogres that I had been working on...they are great models but I have grown sick of painting all of the straps and buckles on them, so much so that I just can't face painting anymore of them.  While taking pictures of them to sell I realized I actually had a valid army with what I had painted, so instead I am just getting rid of the partially painted figures.  I'm going to base up the army and look forward to getting it done.
I have several other irons in the fire when it comes to projects and hope to make some decisions on 2018 soon..until then, happy gaming!

Looking Back, Looking Ahead - 2016/2017 Edition

As I sit down to do my annual review of the state of my gaming hobby, I can only wonder where 2016 has gone so quickly.  Seems like it was just the summer and now 2017 is tomorrow.  That's life I guess...time flies when you are having fun so they say.

On the plus side for 2016 I actually had more painting time this year than last, though my production wasn't as good.  I chalk that up to all of the 15mm WW2 Soviet tanks and Team Yankee West German vehicles that needed cleaning and assembly.  The West Germans had a lot of plastics which I never really worked with so that took a bit of extra time for me to figure out how to best assemble them.  I am pleased that I finished the Soviet armor and Team Yankee Germans (still have to finish basing the infantry, but I'll get that done in the next few days...and update at that time..they will be done for Shifting Sands!).  It is always good to have something "complete".

I enter 2017 with a few things on my "to do" list:  a 28mm Mantic Ogre army which I have all assembled and primed, some 15mm terrain additions for my Team Yankee table, and to finish up a couple of 10mm ancients armies so I can begin using them.  The terrain additions will be done in a week or so.  The Ogres in a couple of months hopefully.  I will work on the 10mm ancients in between doing other things, plus I want to work on putting together a multi-player set of rules to use them.  There are a lot of good rules out there, and I know that no rules are perfect as we all have our own biases, but it always seems that a good multi-player set is the hardest thing to come by.  We'll see what happens with that effort...worst case, I stick with other rules, warts and all.

After those 3 things, I have plenty of other projects to chose from:  28mm WW2 Japanese SNLF, 28mm WW2 British, 15mm Flames of War Japanese, a 6 point SAGA Rus Princes force, 15mm Poles and Transylvanians for By Fire and Sword, more 10mm ancients, and some other 28mm Fantasy forces.  We'll just see what I'm in the mood to do.  I know I'll finish up a few of these projects in 2017, I'm just not sure which ones will call to me to be worked on at this point.

I thought I played more games in 2016 than I actually did; it turns out that I played a wider range of games in 2016 than I did in 2015, but the total number of games was less.  This is something I hope to improve upon in 2017.  As for what I'll play in 2017, Team Yankee is a definite, as will be Kings of War and the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Mummy's Mask...I already have games lined up for these in January.  After that we'll see.

I hope to get in more WW2 gaming and ancients gaming in 2017.  All of the buzz recently has been about Version 4 of Flames of War and what impact the major rules overall will have on game play.  I'm taking a wait and see attitude at this point because there is just a lot of speculation and rumor and assumption going on at this point; I will pass judgement once I have the new rules, read them, and a couple of games under my belt.  Just in case they don't catch on with the guys I game with, I am prepared to stick to V3 or look into other games.   I am especially concerned about what will happen to WWI, the Pacific and Arab-Israeli as I have 2 armies for 2 of those periods and have invested in a Japanese army...yet Battlefront  has only said what they have planned for Early War and Late War, but have remained silent about these 3 periods.  I'd like to get in some more Bolt Action games too; I have the 2nd edition rules, but haven't read or played them yet...I hope to in 2017.

As for new projects in 2017...I'm not sure at this point either.  The only thing on my radar at the moment will likely be a Warsaw Pact force for Team Yankee.  I'm not sure if I'll do Soviets or use the upcoming East German book as a basis for a Polish force.  With Plastic Soldier Company announcing plastic T55s (5 for just over $30), that becomes a viable option as 5 Battlefront resin T55s is over $70.  Other than that I will just likely acquire some bits and pieces for the Kings of War fantasy armies I'd like to do...but knowing me, there will likely be at least one project I jump into that I currently have no plans for.

So to sum it up, 2016 was a pretty good year...I wish I could have gotten in more game, but that, along with completing a couple of more projects, is something to tackle in 2017.

Happy New Year!

SAGA: Anglo-Saxons & Viking Additions

I had the good fortune of doing a trade with Randy for some painting recently, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.  He did a great job on an Anglo-Saxon force for SAGA.  All I had to do was apply the LBMS shield decals to the very nice 28mm Crusader Miniatures figures, add a few LBMS standards, and do the basing.  I think they came out great and are a good mix of figures that will allow me to configure the army several ways.

Mounted Warlord - Harold & Tostig Godwynson pack

 Warlord on foot - I replaced the Tostig figure with the standard bearer from the Huscarl command pack

 Armored infantry

 More armored infantry, including the dismounted Tostig figure

 Unarmored infantry which can be used as levy or mixed in with warrior units

 Levy slingers

 I also painted up a Viking Warlord command stand recently as well.  I should have used a black undercoat for the armor; I think they armor came out too bright, even after putting a wash on the figures.  LBMS flag on these Crusader Miniatures figures.

I am currently working on a large lot of 15mm Battlefront Soviet tanks for early WW2 (T26's, T28's, KV1's).  When I get them done I'll post pictures of them up as well.

Time Is Flying By in 2016

Man, where have the first 3 months of 2016 gone?  It seems like it was just New Years.  I certainly haven't been as active posting here as I would like; it seems like I find excuses not to post when it doesn't really take all that much time...something I need to work on for sure.

The good news is that I have been pretty active on the gaming front.  I've played a lot of different games, including playing in the Shifting Sands Flames of War event in January, and the Gathering in the Desert Bolt Action Operation Torch campaign event in February.  I enjoyed both thoroughly...played some excellent opponents and had a fun time.  I actually managed to be the top Axis commander with my Italian Paras in the Bolt Action event with a 1 win, 1 loss, and 3 tie record...just goes to show how poorly the Axis did!  Next year Shifting Sands is supposed to be Team Yankee, so I'll be passing on it...not that I have anything against Team Yankee, it's just that I have plenty else to do and I need to draw some lines.  Gathering in the Desert next year is supposed to be Normandy, so I am more likely to build a force for that than I am getting into a new period.

I haven't completed much painting this year, though I have been working a a few different things.  I prepped a couple of 15mm WWI armies for Great War to be painted by Saguaro Painting Service, painted some 28mm WWII, based some figures for SAGA, and have been rebasing a 10mm army as I shift to that scale for my big battle ancients and medieval gaming.

Here are 3 Perry Brother WWII German Fallschirmjager MG teams.  I am going to use these as additions to my Italian Para force when I want to play Chain of Command as the unit structure is different than that in Bolt Action.  They are nice figures, but a little smaller than the Warlord Games Italian Paras as you can see in the comparison shot:

 Comparison - Perry on the left and Warlord on the right

I also contracted some 28mm Varangian Guard for my SAGA Byzantines.  The painter, Andrew K., had posted some stuff for sale on a forum and I liked his work.  He was great to deal with and said he liked painting these up.  The figures are from Crusader Miniatures with the exception of Harald Hardrada which is a Gripping Beast figures.  All have LMBS shield transfers.

Harald Hardrada

 Command

 Spearmen - Front

 Spearmen - Rear

Well, that's it for now.  The next post will definitely be sometime in April as I show off the 10mm figures I've been working on.  I am not sure what I'm going to work on after that...it will be something as I think I'm starting to get back into a groove.

Looking Back/Looking Ahead - 2015/2016 Edition

Every year at this time I look back on my hobby goals for the year and look ahead to what the new year will bring.  I find doing so gives me a chance to focus on a few things, something which usually fades as I bounce around from project to project...such is life :-)

For 2015 I wanted to play at least one game a week; with 77 total and a record of 43-28-6 I managed that.  A great number of games were Pathfinder - Skulls & Shackles, a fun game.  We are almost done with that adventure path and will be taking a break from that system for a while, so I will find other things to fill the gap in 2016 and hope to meet the 1 game a week goal again.

I had a good year painting with 374 pieces completed, mostly due to the recently finished Flames of War army I completed.  I have plenty of projects to work on including: 2 28mm SAGA armies, 2 28mm Crescent & Cross armies, 28mm WW2 Poles and Japanese SNLF, 15mm Flames of War early war Soviet armor, 15mm American Revolution, 15mm WWI, 15mm Eastern Renaissance, and 10mm ancients.  I recently followed my own advice to "do what you want to do" in regards to gaming.  For a long time I have wanted to do 10mm ancients/medievals and I finally took the plunge.  I divested myself of all of my 15mm ancients & medievals (except for SAGA) and will start on my 10mm project.  I really look forward to having a large number of models on a single base representing an entire unit.  I will also be contracting out some painting like I always do so that will hopefully speed a few things up for me.

I set a goal of working on my hobby stuff for 182.5 hours in 2015.  I fell short of that, but I don't consider it a failure as I had never tracked my time before.  My goal for 2016 is simply to just commit more time (no gaming time which wasn't included) than in 2015; a goal that I should be able to accomplish.

As I start 2016 I am prepping some 15mm WWI figures and also have some 10mm troops prepped to serve as a test case to help me figure out my basing.  I have lots to do and hope to knock a few things off of my "to do" list in the year ahead.  Stay tuned for my irregular updates!

SAGA - Byzantines Complete



It's been a few months since I've posted...not because I haven't been doing anything gaming-related, I've just been busy (and a bit lazy when it comes to this blog).  Anyway, I just finished up a 28mm Byzantine force for SAGA.  All of the figures are Gripping Beast, which are great figures IMO.  The banners are from LBMS; this is the first time I used their products and they were actually pretty easy to work with once I did the first one and realized how I messed up :-) !  Note to self, follow the directions!  Anyway, the force consists of 4 units of 8 warriors (one with bow), 2 units of mounted hearthguard, and the warlord.  The hearthguard can be ran as all bow, or if I want one unit of bow and one with kontos, I can just adjust accordingly.  For some reason the picture of the warlord is a little washed out; I have no idea why this happened since the camera settings were all the same. 

 

Warrior Unit 1



 Warrior Unit 2

 Warrior Unit 3

 Warrior Unit 4 with Bows

 Hearthguard Unit 1

 Hearthguard Unit 2

 Warlord

As you can see by the tracking on the left-hand column, I am a few hours behind on my 1/2 hour a day goal for the year.  With summer coming I hope to catch up as there is only so much time that you want to spend outside in Arizona in the summer!  I have gotten in a lot of games, and have plenty more scheduled including a 3 game SAGA "non-event" run by Tim K over at "Cursed Treasures", and a late war Flames of War tournament in late July.  In the meantime, I'll keep playing various games and having fun.

With the Byzantines finished up, next on my painting cue is a 15mm Polish skirmish force for By Fire and Sword.  I had actually started painting on those figures before finishing off the Byzantines; having an event planned for SAGA gave me the motivation to finish something off which is good since now I have one less project to worry about.  I'm not sure what I'll work on after the Poles; I have lots of possibilities...right now I'm leaning toward picking something with minimal work needed to finish so I can feel like I'm making progress on my mountain of lead.  Anyway, that's all for now...happy gaming!

2015 - The Road Ahead & 182.5 Hours

Every year at this time I look back at what I had hoped to accomplish, and what I actually did accomplish.  Invariably I am disappointed at what I actually get done.  It seems that when I have the motivation to paint and work on gaming stuff, I don't have the time - and when I have the time, I don't have the motivation.  Also, it's probable that I set unrealistic goals as I want everything done "yesterday".  So this year I am going to take a bit of a different approach for my goals for 2015.

As you can see by the sidebar, I certainly have made time for plenty of games in the past 2 years with 53 in 2013 and 72 in 2014.  Granted, the number of board games I'm playing has grown which bumps this number, but they are still games played and time committed to the hobby so I count them.  My goal for 2015 is to play an average of 1 game per week, so 52 games.  I think that can be accomplished and is a reasonable goal.  I'm pretty sure I'll get in games of the following:  Flames of War, Might of Arms, Hail Caesar, By Fire and Sword, CAV, SAGA, Bolt Action, Pathfinder: Skulls & Shackles, Fistful of Tows 3 and various board games.

Now on to the more difficult part.  In the past I've put up a laundry list of what armies I'd be painting up and basing and what game I'd use them in.  Needless to say I have a ton of projects...some started, some bare lead, some just ideas in my head...and I never finish a fraction of what I hope too.  For 2015, I've decided that instead of listing and being disappointed, instead I'm going to set a time goal for myself.  I'm setting a goal of 182.5 hours throughout the year to work on gaming hobby "stuff" (this does not include actual playing time).  This could be painting, working on this blog, building terrain, etc.  I'm simply going to track my hours and when I finish stuff I'll post it on the blog.  I don't know if the 30 minutes a day average is too high or too low, but I have to set my baseline somewhere to see if this works or not and whether I can get more accomplished than in years past or not.  So I've included a new sidebar to track the time I'm spending.  So far I have 2.5 hours spent...that includes 2 Blog posts and a couple of hours reorganizing my book shelves, supplies and storage (still more to do on that so I can find things easier) - it's amazing what you find when you go through stuff!

So that's my plan for 2015.  Will it work and will I have a better sense of accomplishment at this point in 2016?  Who knows...but it's worth trying!  Happy New Year to you all!

Tom

2014 - What Happened?

Well, 2014 is just about over and I feel I've regressed and accomplished very little on the hobby front compared to the goals I set for myself at the start of the year.  Oh, well...we do this for fun, so I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over it!

2014 was a busy year for gaming at least as I got in more games than 2013, so I do consider that an accomplishment.

Late in the year I also had a major philosophical change in my gaming perspective.  After thinking long and hard about it, I decided to switch scales for the bulk of my ancients, medieval and renaissance gaming from 25/28mm to 15mm.  I had armies in both scales, and the games I played most often, Hail Caesar and Might of Arms, just play better in 15mm than in 25/28mm IMO...largely due to the size of the tables that are available locally.  I also have limited storage space and can easily fit 2-3 15mm armies in the space that it takes to store a single 25/28mm army.  As a result of this decision, I've spent a lot of time trading and selling and buying figures with good results IMO.  2015 will be focused on getting the 15mm armies I've acquired up to playable condition as many are a combination of painted and unpainted figures at the moment.

I'm not entirely done with 28mm.  I still have 3 forces in that scale for SAGA, 2 for Bolt Action (though the Poles I have are unpainted), and of course I kept my 28mm ACW collection as I enjoy the big battles we have using Black Powder. 

So, that's what's happened this year for the most part...next up will be the "crystal ball" edition for 2015...I hope I have some glass cleaner and can do a better job on predicting than I did in 2014!