I have reconciled myself to writing a bunch of “this is what I did and what I am going to do” blog entries. I have talked about these items enough that it feels redundant. That being said, I need to get it down to hold myself accountable.
Last year was tolerable for miniature projects. I got virtually no mini gaming in due to Alternate worlds moving and driving out the warmachine event organizer—I am still bitter about that by the way. Flames of war was also pretty much nonexistent. Wmtrainguy had child/family/shooting priorities which took pride of place. Blood bowl was discussed—but not played. Miniatures were theorycrafted but didn’t see much table time. Titan, though advertising mini days has not developed a miniature community despite having one of the finest set of tables I have seen in a retail setting. This is the curse of adult gaming, as my friends and I start tripping across the 40 year line; everything has to be scheduled far in advance. It makes those games all-the sweeter but seriously cuts into the frequency. I can’t complain, especially since my gym time and cooking continue to eat up a third to a half of my free time any given week. Even so, 2015 definitely cooled my mini gaming ardor.
Project status for 2015:
• Jason finished the dwarves so I have a fully table ready blood bowl team.
• I got an Amazon team from the same artist who made my dwarves but the stars have not aligned to complete that project yet.
• My legion of everblight remains in a mostly theoretical state. Corc has fallen off the map for various reasons. Deathquaker is around but heavily engaged. I am not sure where I stand with them re-future projects. So legion is confined to a table ready battle box and a bunch of other miniatures in limbo.
• Khador remains cased, painted, and ready to rock. I got several models for Christmas which will require lady Deathquaker’s ministrations. I got a custom manowar tray from Battle Foam—so my steam powered armor troops are a unit and a solo away from completion.
• Jason completed all pig beasts, all but one warlock, Targ, Maximus, and is in process with two meat threshers. I still have 2 razor back crew blisters, Midas, and 2 units of slaughterhousers from Christmas gifting unassembled. I got a battle foam bag for the army, but it proved to be the wrong opening style (I hate the front compression foam portal deployment.)
• My French got their own bag and are ready for painting but short 3 objectives and a couple models.
• My 4th Indians are painted, assembled, but uncoated. Being honest, flames of war took a back burner in 2015. I was hoping Privateer Press products would take off, but such was not the case. So it is my fault less got done with those groups. I did not give them the attention they deserved.
There was a time when I thought of myself as a miniature and RPG gamer first and a board game guy second. This had everything to do with the local community makeup. There were people ready, willing, and able to role-play or take to the 6x4 field of honor. Board games and CCGs were fun filler for the times we couldn’t get a “proper game” together. Now coming up on my fourth decade, the community is willing but lacking for readiness and ability. Wmtrainguy, Jason, and Cherylkat have played a couple games but their time is limited. Others express willingness but have no real motivation to make the necessary commitment. So I have set myself two broad miniature objectives in 2016.
First, I am going to complete every available project it is within my power to conclude. Looking at what I have on deck and what painting/assembly resources are available, I should be able to buy the required components and source the work in the next 12 months. This is going to be a theme for 2016—I am getting tired of open ended projects. I am setting myself clear limitations on scope, application, and cost. I love collecting and building. I also love playing with collected tools and projects. I am getting to the point where if I am not going to actually use the minis, then I need to stop throwing money at the concept just “because.”
Second, 2016 is the last year of prepping for the next game. I will talk to friends, visit Titan, and check online forums as to interest in a regular mini gaming community—even if it is just once a month. If I have to build my own community from scratch—so be it. I have concluded that there are some games, like pathfinder the card game, that I can run from my home and then there are games like warmachine that are better played in a larger community. If there is no such community around, it is up to me to start one or I need to get out of the hobby—one or the other.
Plans for 2016 Miniature gaming:
• Legion is getting out of limbo. Regardless of how Corc ends up dealing with the situation, I cannot make project plans based on his availability. Deathquaker is in the same bracket, though for different reasons. So unless one of them comes forward with a compelling argument otherwise, I think legion is done. This is a difficult decision—I have a fair amount of cash tied up in the initial models and Corc has done some of the starter work already. However, if I have no full time painter, no plans to play the game, and no functional force, then throwing more money and time after bad is not helping anyone. Jason is already booked out for months on other projects…as might be Deathquaker. Even if I get a regular game going, pigs are fully ready to go and legion is at least a couple months from full playability. So I will wait until I get an updated status from them, but it is looking like legion is at an end.
• Khador needs some work. I regret the haphazard way I built the initial force—without any thought to future releases. My intent is to have Deathquaker finish my remaining manowar and 2 ragers if the kits come out this year. If I can save the cash, I would like BTP to finish up my collection with 2 plastic spriggans, Ruin, B3, Andre, and an extremoth conversion. For the sake of continuity I may add a battle box to that list as well—Corc painted my current box and it doesn’t match the army despite being an excellent job. I’ll have Jason do the assembly and move on from there. I have looked at b2, but his feat is a bit fiddly for me to manage. After that there are some mercenaries I would like to grab but that will fall to Jason after other projects are done.
• Pigs are going to be a work in progress. While I would love to knock them out, there are too many models and too little time to get them all done in addition to the other work I have planned for 2016. At the very least I will get them an upgraded battle foam bag. There is also the question of how often/if I will get to play the bacon. If the answer is rarely, then I will focus on projects with a more defined end point.
• Amazons will be finished one way or another. I will probably get a GW hard case to store my two teams. I wish I could find a nice compact case for my 60ish blood bowl models. Unless we get a league together, the ladies represent the end of my fantasy football investment.
• The French are next on Jason’s block. I need to get 3 panhards, have Wmtrainguy print out my HQ H39 long-gun, and build 3 objectives. One of the reasons I am looking to complete my forces is that I keep hemorrhaging cash toward mini projects. I want to get to a point where I am saving money rather than chipping away at my model backlog—play more, spend less.
• I have two paths I can go with the 4th Indians. First, I can pick up 3 Matildas, 8 trucks, 9 210 carriers, and build 3 objectives. After Deathquaker theoretically finished that batch I would be done. Second, I can get the previous items and add on additional models required to bring me into mid-war territory. I will have to talk to Wmtrainguy. It depends on how much of my current forces are playable and how much more I would need to pick up to make mid-war viable. If it is a matter of a couple models it is a no brainer. If it requires me to shell out a couple hundred more dollars than maybe not. Either way I will need to work with the birthday boy to create a custom BF bag for this force. I should be able to make that decision this weekend.
• Finally—no more mini projects, factions, or expansions. I am at capacity for a long long while.
If I do one thing this year I am going to get control over my miniature gaming experience. No community for regular gaming, I will create one. No ability to complete a project? Then it is Ka-put. I have other financial priorities coming up. My hobbies need to start pulling their weight. I am fine holding a couple armies to play with friends, but I really want to take PP gaming to the next level. Clearly that is going to require some effort on my part.
No comments:
Post a Comment