Friends with Benefits Update!

Just a quick post today to say that I've updated the Friends with Benefits tab today to include links to both Element Games and Mighty Lancer Games to help promote their online stores, and generate a little kickback if you fine folks want to use them to make orders.

Element has a huge variety of stuff, and a good gaming venue, that I hope to get back to if this Lockdown ever lifts (memories of Mango cider intensify) and Mighty Lancer is a great place to pick up Reaper Miniatures, and I often drop by their stand at Vapnartak.

 

 

As far as hobbying goes, I've finished off another 6 units and a General for my Instahammer Vampire Counts, made headway on a couple more Hearthguard units for Project: Shieldwall, put together and based my Heerschau Teutonics entry for the month, rattled out a Warhammer Underworlds warband, made a start on a big fun mini, and most surprisingly, actually played a couple of games.  More on that later.

 

Oh, and I got a nice surprise package in from Cromarty Forge.

Stay safe,

John

Month in Review - January 2021

 OK, first new post of the year and I think it's a bit of a belter.  I've started off  pretty strong (as usual), New Year Motivation and all that, and made pretty good progress with a few painting projects.  I'll run through them in #hobbyresolution2021 order, then skim over the gaming and hobby ones because Lockdown, what else?

 

January 2012 - 69 minis/elements painted.   Nice!

 

1. Grymkin - not made a start on these, but that might change with some of the things I've been working on in the background.  0/28

2. Tales of Instahammer 2012 - Great progress made here, I knocked out 6 units each of Skeletons and Dire Wolves, 2 Vampire Heroes and a Necromancer.  I only had 4 of each unit in my planned list, but extras is always good, and it saves me going back and painting another 2 units at a later date and spare Skeletons won't go amiss will they.  I'm only counting the 4 units towards my Instahammer progress, so that makes 27/83 elements complete.

 

God, I wish I could count these individually...

Skeleton Warriors  (Forest Dragon)

Heroes (Forest Dragon)

Deid Dugs (Forest Dragon).  Vikings not for scale.

 

3. Heerschau 2012 - Completed the monthly quota for this challenge by painting up a unit of Heavy Weapon toting Teutonic Foot Knights from Crusader Miniatures.  Progress halted as I wait for the announcement of February's point of minis.  Fingers crossed it isn't Levy as I'd have to order in some suitable Slavic Serfs to errr.... motivate the Brotherhood.

 

Hearthguard with Heavy Weapons  (Crusader Miniatures)

 

4.  Warhammer Underworlds - Didn't get anything done for this in January, but it was the only thing I'd planned out that I didn't get around too.  Not overly fussed as I reckon this is more a late game challenge after June once Instahamer and Heerschau wrap up and give me a bit more leeway with stuff.  0/22 warbands.

5.  Project: Shieldwall - Well...  I hit this one running (but I reckon productivity was guilted into it, seeing as I took advantage of the Northstar Newsletter discount code and ordered the entire range of Crusader Vikings, yes, that includes the Norse Adventurers and Varangians...)  This was probably helped by the fact I had a backlog of Vikings built, primed, inked, and bases sorted.  Finally tally is 16 Viking Warriors (2pts for SAGA), 4 Hearthguard with Dane Axe (1pt for SAGA) and 4 Hearthguard with Bows (0 for SAGA, unless I play Lords of the Wild in AoM I think).  Still, 24 hairy heathens added to the total, making me think I missed the punctuation in my planned 2-4 models...  Seeing as I was so close to hitting the halfway point, I also painted up an old Grenadier Miniatures Barbarian Shaman with Skull from Forlorn Hope Games.  25/50 booyah!

 

Viking Warriors (Wargames Foundry)

More Viking Warriors (Wargames Foundry)

Starting to look like a real Shieldwall now.

Hearthguard with Dane Axes (Wargames Foundry)

Gangs all together now

Hearthguard with Bows (Wargames Foundry)

25 Scary Hairy Barbari... Vikings (Wargames Foundry/Forlorn Hope Games)

Barbarian Shaman with Skull (Forlorn Hope Games/ ex Grenadier)

 

6. Monthly Fun Mini - Another successful challenge.  Painted up the alternate sculpt Ranger figure that came with the Rangers of Shadowdeep collectors edition rulebook.  Had a lot of fun with him, kept a very PJ Strider look to the mini, as I intend to use him as Aragorn in some LotR skirmish games at some point.  Now I want to pick up the standard version (found here) andd seeing as he is carrying a severed head, paint him up more like Geralt from the Witcher series. 1/12 done.

Alt Ranger (Northstar Miniatures)

7.  Blood Bowl - Made a start on this, entire team box (and the Ogre big guy) assembled and based.  Hoping to get them done February or March just to knock a full project off the list.  No picture for these guys as it's literally assembled model on basing needing primed, I'm sure you can find hundreds of examples of that on the internet.   0/17

8.  Terrain - Not started, but not worried, looking to do 1 piece/set every 3 months so plenty of time.

Right, that wraps up the painting progress, which is invariably the easiest part during the continued lockdown, but how about the rest of the challenges?

Not looked at any of the Gaming resolutions, but I have just cleared the games table to take pictures, so... it's now free.  Might make a start later today, benefits of living with a gamer I guess.

As far as Hobbying challenges go, kept up to date with weekly #workbenchWednesday posts on Instagram, and I'm (obviously) doing my monthly review, so progress made there.  Haven't been out to the shed for woodworking and there haven't been any shows, so... no progress there.  Ah, balance.

 

 

That's it for now then, stay safe folks, and I'll be back in a month with more painted minis.

 

Cheers,

 

John

2021 Hobby Resolutions

OK, let's kick off the year with a whole bunch of new (well...) challenges for the forthcoming 12 months.  I'm keeping the 16 project format (8 painting, 4 each of gaming and hobby) and I'll set them out and discus what I'm planning to do for each one.  Leaning more towards the pessimist/realist end of the scale rather than delusional/optimist, I doubt the arrival of a new year will magically lift all the restrictions we are living with, so, it makes sense to keep the majority of the challenges painting and solo oriented.  If the restrictions are lifted early enough in the year, I'll revisit this around June and maybe bump some of the numbers up for the Gaming resolutions.

Painting Resolutions

 

So, as far as painting goes, the last 6 months of 2020 were a challenge as Sarah was working from home and took up residence in the games room.  Couple that with the fact she was generally starting every day after I had got in, and I really didn't have much access to my desk.  I took the executive decision to strip down my paint station (the horror) and set up a desk downstairs to use as my new painting area meaning I don't really have an excuse for not cracking on with things after work if she is working.  Well, that's the theory at least...

1.  Continue to work towards Grymkin being fully painted (HORDES)

Let's start the ball rolling with a returning challenge.  I've worked away at these over the last 3 years, and have definitely broken the back of this one.

 
I currently have 28 models to do for this to fully paint my backlog, I already have all the Warlocks painted, along with 2+ of every Warbeast, all of the solos and units and a Battle Engine.  The 28 remaining models will fill out all the Units to maximum Field Allowance.  From there the only things I am missing will be a 2nd Deathknell (questionable) and the Oblivion and Riot Quest releases, although they aren't strictly speaking Grymkin models for the most part.  At a very minimum, I'd like to finish at least...  all of them?  It might tempt me in to picking up some of the newer releases, just for Faction completeness you understand.

2.  Complete the Tales of Instahammer challenge (Warmaster)

So I managed to finish this last year, probably made up the points I didn't do 2 years ago in extra models, so I'll give it another bash.  I'm not sure I can squeeze much more Stormcast into the cabinet, so, I'm taking a slightly different approach this year and going for a Warmaster force instead.  Tiny Tales of Instahammer it is then.  Planning to do a full 2000pts over the 6 months and trying to match up to the various challenges.  The astute amongst you may have realised that I still don't have all the Black Gate Ogres for my planned list, but, I do have a resin 3d printer (early Xmas present to myself last year) and have printed out a ridiculous amount of 10mm Vampire Counts miniatures.  Obviously each base counts as 1 mini, even if it has 12 or so figures, so a unit nets 3 minis painted generally.  At least the characters are quick, right?  

Vampire Counts, 2000 points
Warmaster Revolution
--------------------------------
 120 - 4 Skeletons
 140 - 4 Zombies
 110 - 2 Ghouls
 240 - 4 Grave Guard
 180 - 2 Ethereal Host
 440 - 4 Black Knights
 160 - 4 Dire Wolves
 130 - 2 Fell Bats
 230 - 1 Vampire Lord
     - 1 Winged Nightmare (80)
 160 - 2 Vampire
  90 - 2 Necromancer
--------------------------------
2000 - 26/13

 

 

3.  Paint 6+ points for Age of Crusades (SAGA)

Jumping on the Heerschau 2021 challenge from Stronghold Terrain, it's basically Tales of Instahammer but for SAGA.  Not sure exactly how it pans out, the full schedule hasn't been revealed, but I'm going to try and get some of those Teutonic's from Crusader Miniatures done.  Even if I don't have a dedicated Warlord model yet.  No idea what the final list will look like (fingers crossed for lots of Hearthguard) so I'll assume an even split of 2pts each of Hearthguard, Warriors and Levy and add a tentative 49 (including Warlord remember) minis to the list.  Currently sat with 12 mounted Hearthguard, 8 foot Hearthguard and the same again with Great Weapons, and 24 Warriors and the same again with Crossbows, so I just need to source some suitable Levy figures if the need arises.

4.  Paint a lot of Warbands (Warhammer Underworlds )

So it seems to be tradition now that I get the latest Underworlds box set from Sarah each Christmas, and last year was no exception.  I have 3 Warbands to do for Season 1, 4 for Season 2, and currently own 2 of the 5 I still need to do for Season 3, plus the 2 from the Champions of Dreadfane set.  There has been a teaser image for Season 4 (Direchasm) so that adds another 8 Warbands (including those in the box).  Don't know the exact numbers, but it is 70 minis up to and including the Direchasm starter.  That leaves 6 warbands so, guessing at least 3 minis per set is another 18, so, again, a tentative 100 to finish them all?  Looking at the teaser image, we have Undivided Chaos Warriors, Lizardmen, Vampirates? Savage Orcs, Ossiarch Bonereapers and Idoneth Deepkin.  I think.

 

 

 

 5. Project: Shieldwall

 

The plan for this is to just keep chipping away at more Viking models whenever I get the chance.  I have a load of Foundry Vikings based and primed to get started, as well as the remaining Footsore ones to fill out the range, a huge pile of Foundry still to be prepped, the Artizan ones, some Bad Squiddo ones, you get the drift.  I'd be happy with doing a few each month, so anywhere from 24-48 over the year?  Let's just round it up to 50.

6. Monthly Fun Mini 

 

This kid knows more about blending than me...

 

Bit of a change of pace this one, just knock out an average of 1 random fun mini every month.  Having access to the 3d printer now, I can quite easily get random stuff that takes my fancy and doesn't necessarily have a place in the other challenges.  I might use it as an excuse to do one off minis and try out new techniques, or stuff in bigger scales or a bust or something.

 

 

7. Blood Bowl Team

 

 

 A nice simple one for this, paint up a Blood Bowl team.  I have played numerous games over the last couple of years on Xbox, but none on the tabletop, so let's see about fixing that.  Sarah's Admin team is doing an online BB league with the view to meeting up at some point in the year once things are back to 'normal' and playing games with their levelled teams outside of cyberspace.  Guess I better have a team done too then, so I'm not left sitting thumbing my hole while they all play games.  Current thinking is the Ogre team, because it is the only new plastic one I have, although the Necromantic and Nurgle teams are very tempting.

8. Terrain

With a view to playing more narrative style games, I really want to update my terrain collection from flat MDF.  I reckon a good mix of MDF or plastic terrain will be a start to a more immersive tabletop, so, 4 terrain pieces over the year.  I'm leaning towards some Dark Age styled housing, maybe a forest or marsh, some scatter terrain and walls or somesuch.  It's a very repeatable challenge, so, if successful, might make a return next year.  Yeah, who am I kidding?  Even if I don't do it I might just leave it on the list out of laziness...

 

Gaming Resolutions

 

So, Gaming Resolutions are a bit up in the air right now, all things Lockdown considered, so I'll start with smaller numbers than normal, and look into things later on in the year and maybe bump them up later depending on how things pan out.

 

9.  Play 26 (or 52) Games

Pretty simple, averages out to 1 game every couple of weeks to begin with, or 1 a week if I can get out to play.  Hopefully, the restrictions get lifted early enough and I can get out to the club again.  Worst case scenario, redlining a full weekend of Shadespire to rack up a load.

 

 

 

10. Start a Blood Eagle Campaign.

Hopefully I can make good on this one this year.  Planning for 4 session and I guess if the lockdown restrictions stay in effect, I can use that time to build up the warbands and scenarios plan, then try and get the games done at the end of the year.  Again, inspired by John E's excellent umpiring at the club, I'd like to make this a long running thing if it takes off.

11. Play 3 New Games.

 Pretty simple, play 3 new games this year.  Getting back to the club is good for this, so, again, fingers crossed.

 

 

12.  Play 6 Boardgames.

I want to get some board gaming done this year to make use of the various ones I have picked up over the years.  Shadespire is an easy point here, and I want to play Blood Rage again.  Beyond that, no solid plans, although Hate might factor in, but it is a big box to deal with.

Hobby Resolutions.

13. Weekly Social Media Post

In the age of technology, this should be an easy one providing I can be bothered.  I'm aiming for a #workbenchWednesday post on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or whatever, should probably do a bit more YouTube stuff too, seeing as that fell by the wayside once I was back at work.

14.  Do a Month in Review post every month.

Simple really.  Just to keep everyone (all 20 of you) up to date with what I'm up to.

15. Changing (Games) Rooms

What with relocating my painting area, the plan is to build a new games table and unit for boardgame and figure case storage.  it's a bit of a combination of my hobbies and I want to open up the games room a bit more and deal with the clutter a bit better as it always seems to pile up.  The plan is to build an extending tabletop that starts at 4'x4' and opens up to a 6'x4'.  There isn't really a need for a permanent 7'x4' board when most of the games we play use a 4ft table.   It should sit on 4 small bookcases and slid out when required, but slide away when not in use to avoid it becoming a dumping ground.  The second thing is a unit that will hold a number of figure cases and most of the board games that I have, just to clear up more space.  I have the shed mostly done, and should be able to get something functional sorted out.

16.  Go to 4 Shows or Conventions.

Same as this year.  Get out the house.  Spend some money.  See some people/cool things.  I'd be happy to get at least 1, but aiming for 4.  Fingers crossed.




 As far as the blog/my hobby is concerned, along with the above #hobbyresolutions, I am going to be giving some thought to the following.

1.  Cut back on buying loads of new miniatures.

I mean, 3d printing minis doesn't count as buying, right?  But still, I don't want to just be adding to piles, I want to make a inroads into the leadpile and keep at it.

2.  Continue with Project: Shieldwall

Paint Vikings.  Easy enough right, especially as I have some planned.

3.  Catalogue the Lead Pile.

Yeah, still crazy business I know.  But I did start it last year.  Actually, it occurred to me that it is now easier to get rid of stuff because if the notion ever takes me to do something that I'd already cleared out, I can print a new or similar thing in a lot of cases.

 

 

4.  Start working on Osprey blue book forces.

So I've kept on top of buying these up as they are released and I want to try and paint up at least one force for every title.  Using a combination of models already painted and stuff I have planned for this year, I'm going to start tracking my progress.


 

So, that is, going by the spreadsheet, a grand total of 451 various miniatures/tasks to be completed, so, to add to that, I'd like to have painted forces for at least 3 different Osprey blue books just in case I run out of things to do...

After that big wall of text, all that remains to be said is I wish you all a better, a happier and healthier 2021 and may you end the year with at least as much hobby enthusiasm as you started it.

All the best,

John

2020 in Review

 Well, here goes, a long time since my last update, with very little to talk about, so might as well crack on with looking at how the year went, and start all over again tomorrow.

Painting Resolutions

1.  Continue to work towards Grymkin being fully painted (HORDES)

Let's start the ball rolling with a returning challenge.  I've worked away at these over the last 2 years, and having picked up a huge KR Multicase bag at Carronade last year, and a couple of new card cases to start filling it over Christmas, I'm starting to see the light at te end of the tunnel.

I currently have 41 models to do for this to fully paint my backlog, I already have all the Warlocks painted, along with 2+ of every Warbeast, most of the solos and units and a Battle Engine.  The 41 remaining models will fill out all the Solos and Units to maximum Field Allowance.  From there the only things I am missing will be a 2nd Deathknell (questionable) and the Oblivion releases, although they aren't strictly speaking Grymkin models.  At a very minimum, I'd like to finish at least one Grave Ghoul, Piggyback Officer and unit of Murder Crows (8 miniatures total) to give me at least 1 of every single army option fully painted.

So, managed to do 2 Grave Ghouls, 2 Piggyback Officers, 1 unit of Murder Crows, a Glimmer Imp and Trapperkin.  So, not a huge amount but does give me at least 1 of every single army option fully painted (I think, I haven't really kept up with Warmahordes recently since Riotquest started bleeding over into it)  I also got all the infantry and small based models sorted in a case, with enough space left for the remaining Dreadrots and Murdercrows.  So, didn't finish them all, but made a dent, so, some progress at least.

 

 

2.  Complete the Tales of Instahammer challenge (Age of Sigmar)

I felt really bad dropping from this last year, especially when I had made such a strong start, so, I'm determined to do better this year.  I'm going for a more modest army this time around, Stormcast Eternals, or, Stonecast Eternals in this case seeing as I am painting them as overgrown animated statues rather than suits of armour.  Any excuse to glue clump foliage to stuff, right?  The scheme is surprisingly simple, and only takes a little bit of work to "dirty" up the sculpts before priming.  My planned force is 54 models strong, and I have put together 50 so far.  The final 4 are all ordered, then it is just a case of going over them all, clipping and trimming sharp edges, and gluing sand in all their nooks and crannies.  There is a 6 month outline for the TOIH challenge, so I'll follow that as much as I am able, but do have a few models that aren't in the list in my backlog I might be able to add to match the criteria.  My test model went down a storm, so I'm really excited for this one.

Well, I managed this one (and then some) hit all 6 months, and painted a lot more besides.  Rough calculation is that I managed approximately 3600 points, so, not far off doubling the original 2000pt list.  Did get caught up in a lot of procrastination with these, the painting was a breeze but more often than not, the minis would sit for 3 weeks before the foliage was added.

 

 

3.  Paint 6+ points for Age of Vikings (SAGA)

So, after painting up the Jomsvikings last year (and even getting them on the table a few times), I really ignited my lifelong interest for Viking style miniatures.  So I bought a lot, because the 200ish Foundry ones in the backlog weren't enough obviously.  The plan for this is to do a full SAGA force using only Footsore Miniatures models, as I have now finished buying up the entire range.  My plan is to paint 7 points because the Berserkers are only usable in a "standard" viking build, I'm planning another unit of Hearthguard to replace them to run as some of the other lists.  Plan is to do the Warlord and Banner pack for my Warlord, Berserkers and 2 units of Hearthguard (12 models so a handy Lion/Dragon Rampant unit), 3 units of Warriors using the 6 Bondi packs (another 24 models or 2 L/DR units) and a point of Levy with Bows usng the 3 archer packs (handily, also 12 models).  That gives me a planned 50 models that not only covers multiple Age of Vikings forces, but should give me options for more Dark Age style gaming.

Another win, painted 7pts for SAGA of the Footsore Vikings.  Thanks Lockdown.

 

 

4.  Paint 6 points for Age of Crusades (SAGA)

Seeing as I have a couple of armies I can use for Age of Vikings (Normans/Jomsvikings) I figured I'd paint up a force for each of the Era books.  Looking at Age of Crusades, my immediate though was Ordenstaat because I've wanted an excuse to pick up some of the Crusader Miniatures Teutonics for a while now.  So, I treated myself to a small force for Christmas that should allow me to do at least 6 points, along with a couple of extra packs to build the force up, and also allow me to run a heavily armoured Lion Rampant historical force.  Planned list is 33 models, very Hearthguard heavy because those are the figures that really drew me in, and like my Jomsvikings, going elite heavy means less painting before I have a playable (not good, just playable) force.

Nope.  Still not even assembled a single figure..

5.  Paint 8 points for Age of Magic (SAGA)

Yet another SAGA force, and the first on the list to come from a variety of manufacturers.  I'm mainly going with Wargames Foundry for this, to continue chipping away at my Viking leadpile, and as I had already assembled and primed some units for Of Gods & Mortals last year.  Jury is still out on what I'm using as Creatures in the list, the choice being either Foundry's Great Big Bellicose Bears or Ral Partha Europe's Trolls, seeing as both fit the Norse theme to my mind.  I've also got the fantastic MOMminiatures Giant raring to give some height to the list.  This is also the first thing on my project list that isn't all purchased/planned out, as I'm hoping to add some cavalry to it, but that will involve buying a few more packs of Vikings.  46 models total at this point in time.

Another nope.  Although I have a load of figured assembled, based and primed for it...

6.  Paint another 8 points for Age of Magic (SAGA)

So, although I was always known for playing Chaos in it's various guises across the Warhammer systems in my Games Workshop days, Goblins were the first army I ever collected when I originally got into the game with the 4th edition starter (shout out to Julien, wherever he may be, for swapping me his for my High Elves) and I still have a couple of sets of the Battle for Skull Pass models sitting untouched.  This challenge is more a test of Contrast paints, they've worked great on 15mm figures, so I want to see if I can knock out a full 28mm scale army with them too.  I mean, I'm also looking for an excuse to pick up some of the newer releases, so there's that...  but it is mainly going to be a footslogging army made up of Warrior units.  Another 62 models.

Another win thanks to Lockdown.

7.  Paint a lot of Warbands (Warhammer Underworlds )

So it seems to be tradition now that I get the latest Underworlds box set from Sarah each Christmas, so that immediately adds another couple of warbands to the total.  Couple that with the fact the Season One models (Shadespire) were discontinued last year (frantic purchases indeed) and it is a quick game to play, I want to flesh out how many Warbands I have access to.  Currently I have the Orruks and Sepulchral Guard painted, with another 6 primed and 6 awaiting assembly.  Having figured I'll be painting Stonecast Eternals for the Tales of Instahammer challenge, I at least want to paint up the 3 SCE Warbands in a similar style, and I'm sure I can manage a few more.  I'm missing 6 or 8 of the warbands depending on how you count them, but I do actually have the models for 2 of them from the easy to build kits, although I put the Banshees on 40mm lipped bases...  In total, another 96 models to paint the entire range, although, I'd need to buy the last few sets.

Well, I didn't get through them all, but I did managed to get through a load, so, it's a win.  I've also caught up with the season 2 releases, and have a few season 3 ones already.

 

 

8.  Paint 2000 point Ogre army (Warmaster)

Another project based on the Black Gate Miniatures minis I've had my eye on for a while.  I reckon I've mentioned it enough now, that Sarah downsized my 15mm advent calendar to 10mm last year and I ended up with a selection of units to start this off.  It didn't quite match up to my planned list, but she graciously offered to pick up the remainder, although I told her it can wait until my birthday seeing as I have plenty to be getting on with.  Very Ogre heavy list, like how I played them in Warhammer, no Gnoblars required, with a couple of units of Rhinox Riders to eat up points.  40 bases in total to add to the tally.

Nope.  But I did get a few more packs, so I almost have the 2000pt list now...

 

 

We can probably just stop here now right, not like much gaming happened this year for anyone...  sitting on 4.5 of 8 so far.

Gaming Resolutions

9.  Play 52 Games

Pretty simple, averages out to 1 a week.  It is less than previous years, but I don't really have any tournaments planned, and I'm taking into account Sarah's new work schedule, and the college course I'm on (Woodworking) where 2 games a week wasn't really attainable between our work/family/commission commitments.  

Nope.  Not close, but I guess I didn't expect it to be as of March or April.  I did manage about 15 games overall though, so not a total loss, and it does annoy me somewhat, just as I come off nights and get back into gaming, it gets canned.

 

 

10.  Play 10 new opponents.

Bumped this up from last year because I managed it.  I am hoping to get back to more gaming, and as the variety of things I'm getting fully painted grows, it opens up my options.  There are still plenty of folk at the club I have yet to game with, so I'm hoping between that and some pick up games I can hit this one.  I need to make more of an effort to be more sociable in any case.

Managed 4 before lockdown kicked in.  40% is a pass.  Or at least it was when I was at Uni...

11.  Play 10 Boardgames.

Pushed this one up too, despite not hitting it last year.  I've built up a few games now, mainly via Kickstarter, and while I don't imagine Rivals or Torn Armour will ever materialize, I don't hae any outstanding.  I'm OK with playing unpainted boardgames, although I still prefer miniatures over tokens, and want to get them painted,although I'm on the fence about doing them in my own style, or just washing/Contrast painting them.  Underworlds is a given here, and I want to get Blood Rage back out, as well as try Zombicide with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle packs I picked up last year, and I still have to get Rising Sun bloodied. 

No.  None.

12.  Run 4 gaming sessions.

This averages out to one per quarter, but might rquire planning and all come in quick succession.  I've mentioned a few times now how John Ewing, a fellow Falkirk District Wargames Club member, very kindly puts on games, and supplies not only all the painted figures and terrain, but handouts, faction specific missions, and generally umpires the game for others.  It is very much something I'd like to do, and I'd be especially happy if I could involve him as a player by way of thanks, along with a few other guys from the club.  I'm thinking I want to run Blood Eagle from the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare, as there is a good selection of warbands and scenarios to run a small saga campaign.  Definitely something that needs planned out though. 

No.  Thanks Lockdown.

Let's call it 1.5 out of 4.

Hobby Resolutions.

13.  Do a Month in Review post every month.

Simple really.  Just to keep everyone (all 16 of you) up to date with what I'm up to.

Managed 6.  Well, 7 including this one...

14.  Write at least one other blog post a month.

Either a #workbenchWednesday post or article would be fine.  I'd like to do more articles, but it is finding the time.  Maybe some reviews, or, if I can get the gaming sessions sorted, some sort of write-up/AAR about how that went.

Managed 5 this year.

15.  Transfer paints to dropper bottles.

Ah, this old chestnut.  Included for tradition more than anything else.  I'm going to push to at least finish off the GW range this year.

Much to everyone's surprise, John Ewing and myself included, I did actually finish transferring over the GW paints, as well as some of the newer ones I'd picked up.  2020 was a crazy wild ride after all.

16.  Go to 4 Shows or Conventions.

Same as this year.  Get out the house.  Spend some money.  See some people/cool things. 

Well, I managed 1 before Lockdown hit, although, I had the time off and had plans to get to a few more before all the restrictions and cancellations started.


 As far as the blog/my hobby is concerned, along with the above #hobbyresolutions, I am going to be giving some thought to the following.

1.  Cut back on buying loads of new miniatures.

I'm giving myself leeway here, as long as I finish the year having painted or sold more miniatures than I've added to the backlog.  I'm not counting anything that is already paid for/ordered, only purchases made in 2020.  What I need to do before buying anything is ask myself if it falls under the category of Dark Age Fantasy, like, models I can use for Blood Eagle/SAGA/Lord of the Rings style gaming.  Yes, it is a broad category, but it is my general area of interest these days.  I'll also allow myself to pick up some stuff to finish off the projects for this year, Underworlds warbands, 10mm Ogres etc, and probably do some shopping at the tail end of the year for next years projects.

Actually did pretty well on this.  Picked up a few Viking type minis and I did a few random orders at the start of the year to help out small businesses as lockdown kicked in, and I've had some Northstar stuff and a few Shadespire warbands, but that's it. 

2.  Sort out my website.

So... transitioning the site over to the new google sites, I lost it.  I don't have access to the email that had my domain registration details so I just get a 404 now.  Bugger...  I might have to start from scratch with a .com address.

Nope.

3.  Continue with Project: Shieldwall

Paint Vikings.  Easy enough right, especially as I have some planned.

The Footsore stuff counts for this.  Gotta love double duty plans.

4.  Catalogue the Lead Pile.

Yeah, crazy business I know.  Part of me says this is a really bad idea, because knowing the actual number will induce analysis paralysis, or just be so overwhelmingly large that it kills any enthusiasm I have, but part of me thinks if I know exactly what I have, and in what numbers, not only do I get to colour in boxes on XL, but I can make more informed decisions about what I can get rid of.  I know I have too many figures, I just never seem to have enough for what I want to be working on.  I'm pretty sure I can break this down into smaller chunks depending on where the miniatures are at the moment.  The vast majority of stuff in cabinets is already painted, I have a bookshelf near my desk with primed models to hand for working on next, and a small set of drawers for models I need to assemble for whatever projects I have for the year.  I have another bookcase full of drawers for various things, then 5 cabinets above the display cases.  Then just add everything else in the games room/hall/living room and attic...

I did actually make a start on this, then got overwhelmed at the first 3000 or so pulled from 1 bookcase...  I should probably get rid of some and try again.

5.  Start working on Osprey blue book forces.

So I've kept on top of buying these up as they are released and I want to try and paint up at least one force for every title.  Using a combination of models already painted and stuff I have planned for this year, I'm going to start tracking my progress.

I haven't tracked this, but I guess I can put together Lion/Dragon Rampant forces by now with my Vikings, and that probably means I could cover Dux Bellorum too.


Final Thoughts -  I have mixed feelings about this year really.  On a hobby level, I went hard at it for 6 months and then ignored it for the same amount of time.  I guess that balances it out overall, but I should try and aim for that more consistently.  I'm not overly concerned with how well I done exactly this year, I think it is more a case of, I'm still going at it.  Personally, I've had a lot more energy and time since switching jobs, but I've been doing a load of woodworking stuff as Sarah has been using the games room as a home office for her work (she also commandeered my laptop) so that goes some way to explaining the lack of blogging etc.  I was only off work for 6 weeks or so the first lockdown, and powered through a load of stuff, so despite not having painted anything for the last 6 months, I still managed over 380 minis, so averages more than 1 a day.  Just imagine I'd kept going all year.  Moving forwards, I've come up with a solution to allow me to get painting again, and have a few cool things to show off, so, check back tomorrow for the 2021 Hobby Resolutions and to see what I have planned for the next 12 months.

So, lang may yer lum reek an' aw that, Happy New Year folks (all 20 of you) and see you in a few hours.

Cheers,

John