Hobby Resolutions 2014

Before I get stuck into this year's resolutions let's take a quick look at how I got on with last year's.

• Attend more tournaments - in 2012 I attended 6. In 2013 it was 9 (2 Blog Wars, 3 Outpost singles, 1 Outpost doubles, 3 GW Battle Bros). Done!
• BW5 & BW6 - after the venue change I was concerned about the future of Blog Wars but despite an embarassing BW6, 2014 looks promising for the event which I hope the community will continue to support
• Paint more models - without checking I'm pretty sure I failed miserably with this. Well here's hoping 2014 will be a hobby year to remember
• Finish my table and scenery - well the table certainly got a lot of love with a complete re-build but I can't say the same for the scenery. I managed a couple of barricades but that was pretty much it
• Bloodbowl - only managed one session of our mini-league in 2013, hopefully we'll get on much better in 2014 and expand on it a bit with more players joining in
• Space Hulk - I wanted to play the campaign through with Matt with both of us using the terminators. We managed to complete one round of it but 2014 should give me a turn with the marines
• Blogging - I wanted to surpass 200 followers which I managed by about halfway through the year. I wonder if I can make it 300 this year!

Right then, pretty poor show for most of last year's then. Perhaps this year will be better.

Tournaments

Depending on the rulings regarding Escalation at GW events we'll hopefully be attending the Battle Bros a couple of times this year. Now that I've joined Matt in the whole parenthood game it might be more difficult to commit to weekend events though. I'd like to attend another Outpost doubles too.

This year I'm not intending to play at Blog Wars (unless I need to make up the numbers) so I'll need to get my tournaments in elsewhere. For the most part I imagine it'll be Outpost tournaments as they're by far the most convenient. I'm happy to steer clear of the ultra-competitive scene and the Outpost events are just about the right level I think. I'll be keeping an eye out for other events though.

Scenery

I'm determined that this will be the year that I play my first game on my own, fully painted, table with stunning scenery. I'm well aware that I've said this before mind you. In order to make this possible I'm hoping to get my hands on an airbrush pretty soon. This should let me get the scenery turned out in no time. It'll also allow me to practice airbrush skills before using it on my armies.

Dark Eldar

Rumour has it DE will be getting a new codex before the end of the year. Whilst I'm not optimistic about this I'm aiming to get everything painted up to a decent standard before the end of the year just in case. Once again that airbrush should come in handy here.

Orks

I'm a lot more confident that the Orks will get there new book this year. With that being the case I can see a lot of my attention being diverted to the green fellas this year. There's plenty of models to paint here as I haven't got a single fully painted unit yet! I'm going to devise a method of getting the all done quickly though. I've amassed a pile of battleforces so I can make big mobs of shoota boyz with trukks if I want. I share this army with Matt and he's supplied around 100 slugga boyz from AoBR so depending on what looks like being better we'll have the options for either. The problem will be finding space for the green tide!!

Space Wolves, Tau and Dark Angels

My wolves and Tau are painted up to a decent tabletop standard. There's a lot of scope for improving them but when I've got armies that are barely painted at all it's difficult to imagine them getting any love this year. I find myself struggling to find enthusiasm for the Dark Angels (even with the release of the Cypher dataslate). They're unlikely to even make it off the shelf this year which makes me wonder if I ought to thin out their ranks a bit and merge them into my potential new army.

New Army?

Once again, I'd love to be able to say that I'm going to get everything I own painted before I buy any more but we all know that isn't going to happen. The question is which army will be the new kid on the block for 2014. Release-wise we're looking at Tyranids, Imperial Guard, Orks, BA or SW and then Dark Eldar. I'd be tempted by Imperial Guard if I didn't think they were likely to be a similar army to Tau (i.e. shooty shooty) and I kind of already have an Ork force. In theory then I'm left with Tyranids. I've always liked them as I think they're the most unique army in 40K. All of the others ultimately look like a guy holding a gun whereas the Tyranids have a totally different aesthetic (even if some do hold guns). That and combat is my first love in 40K, obviously shooting is king right now but I'm hoping the new codex will see a shift back to the glory days of melee. The swarm boxed set is hugely tempting too and looks like an excellent way to start a Tyranid force. 

I picked up a Stormwing set late last year and was tempted to use it as the first installment of my custom SM chapter that can be used as any main chapter I like (so I can pick and choose my rules without buying 10 armies). If the Tyranid codex is uninspiring then I'm definitely going to go down this route. However, I can happily put that off until after the Orks and DE are done.

Blog Wars

As ever there'll be two events this year and I'm going to work hard to make them fun for all involved. I'll be putting tickets up for BW7 pretty soon but not until I've addressed all the issues with the new expansions to 40K.

X-wing & Other Games

Easily my favourite alternative game system at the moment. I'm hoping Matt and I can get plenty of games in over the coming year. There's a lot to learn about the game and hopefully we'll be able to swap sides quite a bit. 

Bloodbowl, Space Hulk, Horus Heresy and Dreadfleet will hopefully make appearances in my gaming schedule this year too.

Blogging

I'd like to get back to my roots with more battle reports on the blog, particularly from my casual games. However, as I've said tons in the past, I want more hobby content on here as I think that's what makes people come back to a blog. I'll try and get more painting tutorials up here along with progress reports for how I get on with my first attempts at airbrush painting.

Conclusion

• Play more tournament games
• Scenery painted
• Dark Eldar painted
• Orks painted
• Potential New Army (Tyranids or SM)
• Best Blog Wars yet
• Plenty of alternative games
• Great blog content

That's quite a list. Ultimately it boils down to a desire to make 2014 my best hobby year ever. I'd best get cracking!