Plots and Plans for 2019... aka looking ahead to the next year...

Yep, it's the first of a new year, thus I have to prattle on about utter bullshit involving good intentions and possible projects. Every year I make a grand list of shit I want to get done, and I maybe get about a third if not less actually done. So this year, fuck that.

My grand plan for 2019? Focus on skirmish level stuff and not think even about grand armies or major painting projects. It's always nice to fantasize about entering one of those fancy contests... but lets face it, I'm not going to be jetting my way to the UK or Europe any time soon. No, this year... focus on the smaller stuff. Actually finish a gang, a warband, or whatever.

So I will be focusing on models from or compatible with:

• Blackstone Fortress
• Silver Tower
• Shadespire/Nightvault
• Necromunda
• Kill Team (includes Rogue Trader)
• Frostgrave
• Star Saga
• Assorted other games (Zombicide, SDE, Imperial Assault, etc).

I know I won't finish ALL the models for any of those games... but I can at least finish something playable for one or more of those games. None of them require a huge number of models to be completed for playing. I spent 2018 building up my speed and technique... so this year I take that and use it to actually get some specific stuff done.

The other part of my grand plan is to stay away from purchasing any more models. There will of course be a couple of exceptions here and there... but definitely not on the scale of the purchasing I did in 2017 and 2018. Definitely no more Kickstarters... I got stuff coming in for Bones IV, Xenocide, and the D&D doggies... and that is gonna be it for a while.

Oh... and one more part of my grand plan... pretty much dumping Chronopia, Warzone, Epic 40k, Spacefleet Gothic, and Warmaster (the latter two are going to Ebay as people actually want those). All of those have been sitting in a box for the past 19 - 20 years or so... they gotta go.

Currently reviewing earlier seasons of Zombicide... more or less going to paint the survivors from S1 and maybe 3 each of the zombies... and can the rest. Between all the stuff I got for S2 and S3... and Walk of the Dead 2... I really don't need that many "regular" zombies (and any duplicate survivors are going to get used for Last Days).

Not nearly as "out there" as my usual New Year goals. Basically, Keep On Keeping On and Get Rid of Some Stuff.

Lord Pommelfanny and Friends...

I set some lofty goals for myself for 2018... and thanks to being out of commission for about 3 out of 4 weeks in January thanks to travel and the flu, I'm running a bit behind. Still, I did manage to do about 8 or 9 since the beginning of the year (and yes, most of those are Zombicide).

Any way, here is a quick workbench update (from Left to Right):

Front Row (aka finished)

• Baba Yaga - Commission model I've had for way too long... and finally finished. I used the Pathfinder artwork for color reference and tried to keep the colors kind of muted. Only real splash of bright color is her shawl which is done with some old Lich Purple.
  
• Goblin 1 - Another commission piece. The Red Box goblins are just way too tiny for me... they are almost snotling sized. This one I painted, stripped, and painted again just to get him to look right.
  
• Goblin 2 - Personal piece. One of the goblins from the Bones III KS. I went with my usual green for him... but I'm kinda thinking I should have maybe done some sort of ochre color with glowing green eyes... as these goblins just look really sinister (as opposed to the GW ones which have a goofy and loveable look).
  
• Dwarf Adventurer - Another personal piece and another from a KS. He's a resin cast from an old Heartbreaker model from back in the early 90s. I had painted him for the 20 Year Challenge... but I just didn't think he was my best work.
  
• Necromancer - I am not a fan of the whole "Boobs A Poppin" fantasy look. But I have had her based and primed for over a decade and I was looking for a model I could practice some undead flesh painting techniques on. Her color scheme was inspired by some of the Scourge Wizards and Priests from Wrath of the Lich King (and I guess Scholo back in the day).
  
• Zombie - This is a Black Tree/Harlequin model. I really like the look of the old Warhammer models and this guy pretty much fits in with that early 90s look. He's part of my home grown DIY Heroquest/Warhammer Quest collection. He'll probably end up as a flunkie for the Reaper Bones Warlock/Necromancer I painted early last year.

Back Row (aka shit I'm still working on)

• Mirkwood Elves - Commission models which I running horribly behind on. They are getting the same Autumn treatment the first two I painted got. The toughest thing about these guys is building up the rust color on their tunics... which takes forever. But, I'm gonna try out a new formulation using all Citadel paint that should speed things up.
  
  
• Lord Pommelfanny - He's an officer model from Heresy Miniatures. He's the leader of my Rogue Stars mercenary band. Basically, he's a Rogue Trader and he goes all over the fringes of Imperium space with his merry band of rejects looking for treasure. I'll be posting some of his friends over the next few months.
  
• Margara Firetongue, Dwarf Rune Priestess - So, I made an adjustment to my yearly goal last weekend. Basically, I want to focus more on quality and less on quantity (but still get a bunch of stuff done by end of the year). As such, I'm working in one "fancy" model into the painting cycle. So far, I've spent most of the last week on her. Her fleshtone has about 7 or 8 layers in it... and her clothing has a similar amount. Why am I spending so much time on her? Long story short, I'm trying to make this one look better than the one I did in 2004. So far so good...

So in conclusion... I'm still trying to speed up my painting but I'm also trying to focus on the quality of my painting as well. Probably means I won't hit 75 models by end of the year... but it does mean I won't hate every model I finish this year. Still hoping I can hit close to 60 though (which means a lot of Zombicide... which I'm getting tired of).

It's a New Year... or something... or whatever...

I haven't really posted much on my blog for the past 14 months. Haven't really had much in the way of thoughts on the hobby that couldn't be expressed in a short post on Facebook. But as I've been gradually "getting my shit back together" over the last few months... actual blog worthy posts have begun to percolate once again. 

Some good things happened in 2017:

• Diane's renewed interest in collecting 40k models. Her enthusiasm for collecting Space Marines has given my enthusiasm for the entire hobby a real kick in the ass again.
  
• Kickstarter stuff came in. Bones III and Impact's Oldhammer Dwarves & Goblins specifically. I got my Star Saga stuff in too... but that whole KS left a lot to be desired.
  
• CMoN's big end of year sale. Gave me a chance to load up on cute animal D&D models as well as a chance to get the Sedition Wars box set cheap.
  
• Citadel Painting App. If you use GW's paints, this thing is awesome.
  

To be sure, there were other good things about 2017... but these are the big ones that stick out in my mind.

Going forward into 2018, I've set some hobby goals for the year. Unlike other years, I've tried to keep things a bit more realistic and achievable. 

• Death Guard Army for Armies on Parade. Doesn't have to be a huge force... and I'm probably gonna go bare minimum with a Patrol sized formation. Got all the stuff bought... just need to paint it and keep my focus on the end goal.
  
• De-clutter the hobby room and "the collection". Started out strong on this front a few months back... just need to finish getting rid of stuff and reorganizing the stuff I'm keeping.
  
• Speed up the painting process. Mainly things like painting multiple troop models instead of just one at a time. To be fair, I have a lot of character type models as well... so no idea how to speed those up.
  
• Blog posts that are more than just painting WiPs. This is probably going to be the tough one... but this is the year to put forth some more effort on the blog.
  
• Hit 75+ minis painted this year. With the focus on painting multiple troop models at the same time, this is possible... hence the plus. Fair chance some of these will be Death Guard models, but I'm sure quite a few will end up being skeletons (as I can paint tons of those over a short amount of time... in theory...).

That's it. Five goals which are within reach with a bit of effort and focus. Will I get all 5 crossed off? Maybe. I'd be happy if I could cross 3 out of 5 off the list... as that would be an improvement over the last few years.

I'll probably post again this coming weekend with all the models I completed during my time off. Fair warning, not as many as I'd hoped but still a reasonable amount.