Hobby Resolutions 2015

Looking back at last year's post and reading through my resolutions for 2014 is pretty depressing stuff. Here's what I resolved to do (and mostly failed at):

• Play more tournament games

Well I'm not really sure whether I achieved this or not. I certainly got in a decent amount of tournament gaming in but looking at the numbers I seem to have only played in one GW doubles, one team event, Blog Wars 8 and three Outpost events. That's down on the 9 I went to in 2013 but I'm sure I went to more than that. Anyway, it's down to a combination of GW not running a doubles recently and having less weekends free this year.

• Scenery painted

Epic fail as always. I started off fairly well and got a couple of pieces painted up. Getting a mat from Frontline was suppose to inspire me to make some snow/ice terrain but that hasn't happened yet and I got the mat in late March. This is the year though!

• Dark Eldar painted

The new codex arrived and I thought I'd get somewhere but I don't think I actually painted a single DE model. I've got a voidraven still in shrinkwrap and some scourges I bought when they first came out that I haven't touched either. Of all my armies I'd love to have these finished the most as the models are the nicest I own.

• Orks painted

Again the new book gave me some inspiration but with the SW book shortly after I quickly turned my attention away. I did manage to get a Morkanaut mostly painted but that needs finishing and a massive pile of boys need looking at too. I think it's the sheer number of models I'd need to paint that puts me off. They're probably going to be way down the list again.

• Potential New Army (Tyranids or SM)

Let's not even talk about this idea. I'd still love a Tyranid army but until everything else is painted I'm determined not to start one

• Best Blog Wars yet

I actually think I did this. Blog Wars 8 was easily my favourite ever. No one brought anything particularly horrendous, there were no major cockups on my part and the painting competition was probably the best yet. Additionally BW7 had a massive attendance which was totally unexpected. BW9 and 10 this year have a lot to live up to.

• Plenty of alternative games

Well I played x-wing a fair bit. Does that count? I barely touched Blood Bowl and had a few games of Space Hulk but otherwise that's it. I think x-wing will become a larger part of my gaming but I can't see me starting any other systems this year.

• Great blog content

Difficult one for me to call. I know some of my stuff isn't great but the figures look pretty good for this year so I must be doing something right. If someone could let me know what that is that'd be greeaaattt (Office Space reference anyone?).

It does make me wonder why I bother with these resolutions as I clearly can't stick to them but my plan this year is to be a LOT more realistic:

Tournaments & Blog Wars

I intend to play in both Blog Wars events this year. With the improvements I've made to the admin side of it I'm confident I can play and keep things running smoothly. I'm going to tweak a couple of things from BW8 but generally speaking I'm pretty happy with how it's set up at the moment. The main thing will be to change the last mission to Maelstrom but that needs a lot of playtesting and development work before I'd be happy to make the switch. More on that soon.

Otherwise I'd like to keep attending Outpost events and hopefully GW doubles if they come back this year. Looking at their calendar it certainly won't be back until at least April so I'll keep an eye on that as they redevelop the venue. The team event we played at the end of last year was great fun so I'd be up for something like that again. We're also planning on a little round-robin event between a group of 6 of us once we can get it organised. Generally speaking I find tournaments to be an excellent way of getting a grasp of the game.

As I've already mentioned, this will probably be the year where we start playing x-wing competitively. No definite plans for this yet but it's becoming more and more likely. 

Scenery

This is the year. It has to be. I'm determined that this time next year I'll be reporting that I achieved my aim of having NO UNPAINTED SCENERY on my table (that doesn't just mean hiding it underneath either!). Thing is, it isn't even that big of a job. Scenery really doesn't require much effort to paint so I have literally no excuse especially with my airbrush in hand.

Ideally I'd like to have enough scenery to be able to mix things up a lot and avoid getting sick of the same terrain. To this end I'll be hoping to put some new pieces together and I intend to blog about my progress. Speaking of which...

Blogging

Less blogging, more hobby, more hobby blogging! Got that? Basically instead of writing rambling posts about general 40K topics (see the Highlander post for example) I'm going to use that time to paint some bloody models. I'd love to be sitting here next year with a fully painted DE force but we'll see about that. 

Don't get me wrong there'll still be plenty of content on here but I'm going to try to be more selective about what I post about. Hopefully there'll be more hobby related posts but again, we'll see about that.

Hobby

For starters there will definitely be no new army (unless the Ad Mech stuff actually materialises, then it depends on the models/rules). Otherwise it'll only be the odd kit here and there to bolster my existing forces. My Dark Angels are going, partly to give me funds for other stuff but mostly to make it look like a less daunting effort to get things painted. I'm also going to flog a load of other spare stuff I have lying around. I've got a huge pile of Ork stuff that I'm simply never going to get around to building, nevermind painting, so that can go. The start of my hobby drive this year will be once of consolidation then. Clear out the crap, mend and bolster my existing armies then actually get stuff painted. 

What I'd like to do is write a list of each of my armies that I'd be happy to take to the Outpost and work on having 1,750 of each army painted to a high standard. Wolves would be the obvious first choice here as (a) that would mean very few models and (b) they're already to a decent standard. Next up would be Tau as again they're mostly painted and finally DE need a lot of work. Orks are certainly going to be a back burner thing. I might paint the odd model for a break but generally speaking they're going to be ignored I imagine.

Summary

In the interest of keeping things simple and realistic that's it for now. Here's a rundown of my resolutions then:

• Keep up the tournament attendance - probably mostly at the Outpost 
• Paint the bloody scenery - I really mean it this time
• Clear out the crap - I'd love to have space for every model I own the shelves which means some have to go!
• Paint up forces from each army - less likely but I'd love to do it
• Be more selective about blog posts - quality not quantity is the name of the game

That's it then. A lot more realistic than last year. Here's hoping I can stick to them for a change. Of course the blog is the place to find out how I'm getting on so keep an eye on it. What are your aims for the year?