Thursday 29 December 2016

Resolutions for 2017

LOOKING BACK AT 2016 AND THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE
Every year I try to give myself some hobby targets, and this blog makes it easy to keep track. One again, I look over the past year and think about the achievements, the disappointments and the excuses...


RESOLUTIONS FOR 2016 - A REVIEW

  • PLAY (at least) SIX TOURNAMENTS - Over the year I have only managed four Dropzone Commander tournaments, which is pretty poor form! FAIL
  • PLAY (at least) 52 GAMES - This was achieved, albeit barely. My gaming time has fallen a fair bit over the past year and this is something I intend to change. SUCCESS
  • PAINT (at least) 365 MODELS - Achieving only 290 (at time of writing) has been disappointing, but once again I have been concentrating on larger models such as the buildings for my Dropzone Commander table, or the large vessels for Dropfleet Commander, and this has eaten into the quantity. FAIL
  • EXPAND THE BLOG WITH MORE CONTRIBUTORS AND PAGES - Adam and Dave have really contributed a lot this year, saving me when my own hobby time has exaporated. I hope we can continue, and I intend to add some more sections to the blog in the future to make it a little more organised. SUCCESS
  • FINISH MY DROPZONE COMMANDER TABLE - It my have taken almost the entire summer, but this was a success! The immense ruined city has been one of the most popular projects this year, and though it almost consumed me, I am very happy with the results. SUCCESS
  • FINISH THE HUNT FOR THE MARKGRAF - This campaign escalated wildly out of control and saw a huge number of new models painted up for it, as well as terrain and special objectives. Ultimately we had our grand finale back in May, which saw a clash before the walls of Bremerhaven with over 5,400 Victory Points scored! The Russians battered the Prussian fleet into submission, but their prize slipped through their fingers and the Markgraf escaped once more... SUCCESS
  • FINISH THE JURISDICTIONAL COMMAND OF CORREGIDOR - The Nomad Nation has seen some serious reinforcement this year, but I still have ten or eleven models unpainted. Given my withdrawal from the Infinity scene this was inevitable. Hopefully soon I can muster some more enthusiasm and finish them off. PARTIAL SUCCESS

Four successes, two failures and a partial achievement... which no doubt most of my friends would consider a third failure. Not too bad, but a lot worse than I had anticipated. 2016 has been a rough year! The summer dedicated to painting terrain and the change of career late in the year have gutted the painting score, while gaming has been difficult as my friends have similarly changed their jobs or had children. The tournament scene for Dropzone Commander is rather lacking compared to Infinity (where there AT LEAST one tournament every two months).

Onto the new resolutions...

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2017
  • PLAY (at least) SIX TOURNAMENTS - I'm not too worried about system at the moment, but I think Dropzone Commander will make up the bulk of these in the early months of the year. Later on, who knows? I think with Dead Man's Hand and the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game I might be able to sneak in a couple of quick one-day tournaments. 
  • PLAY (at least) 52 GAMES - A game a week, bulked out with special tournament days and events should make this one easy. This one is important to me as I too often forgo a Games Night to chill out at home, and then realise several weeks have passed without a game. 
  • PAINT (at least) 365 MODELS - my usual aim, not achieved in 2016. Hopefully I can reach it this year by painting loads of small stuff (ha!).
  • EXPAND THE BLOG WITH MORE CONTRIBUTORS AND PAGES - Adam, Dave and Mike have all contributed in the past, and I hope they continue to do so. Adam with his Dropzone and Dropfleet, Dave with his Infinity and Dead Man's Hand, and Mike with his Malifaux (and whatever other crazed projects he embarks on...)
  • LEARN HOW TO PLAY DROPFLEET COMMANDER - I spent too much money and waited too long for this game to settle into the background. Time to paint up some special debris fields, acquire a nice orbital map and get to work on pressuring Adam to paint his Scourge fleet.
  • LEARN TO PLAY DEAD MAN'S HAND - This is a small, fun game I picked up with no intention of going crazy with, but it looks like the local gaming club has a few players and I think it will be an easy one to play. 
  • LEARN TO PLAY THE MARVEL UNIVERSE MINIATURES GAME - Another game I picked up because it looked easy and the models are gorgeous, I have been unable to give this game the time it deserves. Hopefully soon enough my local gaming club will stop playing cops and robbers in Batman and get started with some serious superheroes! 
  • A RETURN TO BATTLE REPORTS - After drifting away from Dystopian Wars, I have been rather lax with my Battle Reports. There is little excuse for this as I have the terrain to play several different game systems, and resolve that next year I will try to get at least one report in for Dropzone Commander on the new table, and then work on something for Marvel, Dead Man's Hand or Dropfleet. We shall see! 
Some fairly modest resolutions there, I hope! We can see how new, smaller games are starting to steal my attention, and I can only hope that I can give them the care they deserve and get everything painted before being distracted by the next shiny toy. One thing is clear - if Games Workshop release a streamlined, better version of Warhammer 40,000 I am in deep trouble, and if they go ahead with Adeptus Titanicus I'll be selling some internal organs. 

Happy Holidays everyone! 

Thanks for reading, 

George


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