Hellooooooooooooo 2017!!

Happy New Year folks,

 
I hope the successes of 2016 are more memorable of the failures...and that 2017 thus far has seen you all healthy, happy, and wise...For me, 2016 certainly mirrored those three themes with their own success and failure rate...but, I am looking forward to the new year and pushing the miniature tin forward.

I do enjoy reading and skimming the various reflective posts that this milestone brings each of us bloggers: I am happy for your successes, I truly enjoy seeing the year in review pics, and I can certainly appreciate some of the pain and angst that some have experienced.

My gaming and online year 2016 was certainly a mix of success and failure trying to balance health, happy, and trying to be wiser, lol.  Looking back at my reflection of 2015, I feel compelled to revisit my list of objectives and take stock of what I hoped and what I achieved:

1. Continue to have more fun!! Always an excellent goal.     For the most part, accomplished...some gaming aspects certainly annoyed me...but I'll chalk those up to having bad days...I still love the hobby very much
2. At the club, we have some Team Yankee coming down the pipe...I managed to pick up the Soviet box at the end of the year, so that will be the immediate goal (accomplished).  My side objective to this is to limit all of my purchases to only Team Yankee related items.  (accomplished ----mostly...somewhat, lol)
3. Continue with my Vietnam Main Force VC...when I need a break from the main projects, the VC will fit in nicely.    Not accomplished...I can't remember getting any Vietnam painting in...instead, any painting voids were filled with stripping away at lead mountain...
4. Get moving on my WW1: Finish off my CEF...I have some artillery and HMGs to go...and get my Germans on the painting schedule.    Not accomplished...BUT I have some success with my CEF 15mm troops...this project unfortunately saw a lot of hurdles to accomplishing and I had a tough time pushing any progress forward.  My hopes for a Vimy Ridge project was successful in terms of research, but not so much in translating the research into scale
5. For Christmas, my wife bought into the Lich King Nickstarter for me...so I would like to tackle some Frostgrave in the new year...paint the cultists...some more of the extras...maybe some terrain     This was a HUGE accomplishment for me...I finished some terrain, yeah, some...a fricking library!! I was very happy with my frostgrave endeavours last year, I painted more figs for warbands/companies...finished a major terrain piece and a boatload of scatter terrain...very very happy
6. Keep working through lead mountain...I have some awesome figs that need to see the world...amongst them my DAK, FJs, and Mr. Harolds awesome Kickstarter...must get these worked on... accomplishment in progress...I worked through my FJ's...fielded some of them, made some progress with my DAK, progress on my Hasselfree figs, finished through the last of my TAG figures...pretty happy with this...did not get to my kickstarter purchases...sorry Mr. Harold...

In terms of raw numbers, you can certainly see the back and forth I had for the year: 

• 135 x 15mm figs painted and based
• 9 square feet of gaming terrain
• 47 x 15mm vehicles and guns painted and finished
• 44 x 28mm figures

All told, this is a decrease from 2015, but still an increase from 2014...so I will take that as a partial success.  My personal goal to make my purchasing more focused was very successful...I have switched LGS and now get by email, a receipt of all my purchases which allows better accountability...so I think this is good...and true to my wishes, the majority of my purchases were either for Frostgrave or Team Yankee.

 

So what is on tap for next year?

 

• I hope to get more terrain work done...I am at odds for theme, 15mm Afghanistan, 15mm Vimy Ridge, 15 or 28mm sci-fi (thank you Rogue Stars), 28mm modern?
• I want to increase my painting output...I have a wall of mountain that I would like to reduce...I'll share that at a later date, but I'd like to reduce it.
• 4 CMBG for Team Yankee...more Russians as well, there are some new great looking models coming...these would work for some First Clash scenarios
• Viking warband for SAGA...first immediate goal of the year for our clubs SAGA campaign
• I think that covers it...keep the objectives limited...and in that vein, my last objective is to keep a closer tally of how my painting progresses (give the Russian internet bots something more to falsely ring my view count up with...thanks Vlad...)

As always, thanks for the views...all the best in the new year.  Take care.

 

A few parting pics...

 

Last vehicles of the year...some DAK support

 

 

A lot of Russians were painted...10 x T72's; 10 x BMP's; a couple of Hinds and some grunts...

 

First figures of the year...I finished 15 infantry for the company...next step is basing...Not sure of the theme yet, any thoughts?

 

My favourite project so far...taking my time on this because I want to definitely get it right...

 

And my biggest success of the year, 9 square feet of gaming goodness...

 

Take care folks.