I just posted my look back at my work from 2016, but what's ahead for 2017? I wrote up some resolutions and goals for 2016 and thought it'd probably be a good thing to do the same for the upcoming year.
But first, let me do a quick tally of last year's resolutions and how I did:
2016's Resolutions
Last year, I set the following goals for myself:
- Finish more of the site
- Post more in this blog
- Try to join more of the online community
- Paint a bust
- Paint more
- Play more Infinity
- ...and Batman
So how'd I do?
Well, starting with the website, I haven't really done much I'm afraid so I'll have to recycle that resolution again for 2017. I also didn't come close to my 2 posts per month blogging goal! So, the first couple of resolutions weren't quite reached. Drat.
Up next, while I didn't join CMON, I did start an Instagram account and tried to post a bit more to Twitter. I still want to try and actually "participate" more, but I've really enjoyed both Instagram and Twitter this year.
On to the actual painting. I already gave myself credit in my last blog post for starting work on Amaryn this year, so that's my bust! Beyond that specific goal, however, I'm pretty pleased with the variety of minis I was able to paint in 2016, both display pieces and gaming minis.
The last couple of goals were gaming related. I did play a bit more Infinity with my Maghariba Guard breathing new life into my Haqqislam force. Batman, on the other hand kind of fizzled. This year I didn't play quite as much as I have in years past, with my non-hobby/gaming time sometimes conflicting with tournaments scheduled, etc. That's not to say I didn't have a lot of fun on the gaming table. I mentioned Infinity, but I also played more Bushido with Oda and Tautola giving me the extra minis I needed to try out the Iron Fist Gumi. I even played a little Ninja All-Stars, a lighter-weight chibi-style game.
Goals for 2017
This upcoming year, I really want to continue the nice breakdown of gaming and display pieces. I enjoy the deep-dive into a display piece, but then breaking it up with a quicker gaming model can be refreshing. For me, there's not really a huge difference in the level of painting I try to bring to a display or a gaming mini, it's more in the amount of work that goes into the base and the rest of the display. So, trying to keep that variety, my painting goals for the year are:
- Paint up my Guild Ball Brewers - yup, I haven't mentioned Guild Ball at all here yet, but I just recently split the new Guild Ball Kick-Off boxed set and took the Brewers Guild. I've been admiring the Guild Ball minis online for a while and finally got to play my first game. It's a lot of fun, but those drunken little bastards look a bit naked without their paint, so getting them painted will be an early goal for 2017.
- Paint a display piece featuring multiple minis - This is probably something that I'll shoot for a bit later in the year. So far, all of my display pieces focus on a single miniature standing or posing in a location. However, many of my favorite pieces by other painters tell more of a story with the interplay (conflict or cooperation) between two or more models. This is something I'd love to attempt in 2017.
- Paint a Chibi miniature - After playing a few games of Ninja All-Stars, I developed an appreciation for this style of miniature. This was aided by a number of fantastic paint jobs I've seen online. A short while back I picked up Arcadia Quest to play with my daughters and so now have a set of great looking chibi miniatures just calling out for painting!
Last year I posted some gaming goals so, keeping with that tradition, this year I'd like to try to:
- Play more Guild Ball - I think this should be fairly easy to achieve given that I've only played one game! That one game was a lot of fun, though, so more games are definitely in order.
- Attend more tournaments - 2016 was an tricky year for tournaments for me based purely on timing. Our local Bushido and Infinity groups are very active and there's usually a tournament for one or the other every 6 weeks or so. Unfortunately for me in 2016 these always seemed to occur when I was out of town, had houseguests or was otherwise booked. I'm hoping the cards will fall differently this upcoming year and I'll have the opportunity to attend a few more.
I already said above that I'd need to recycle my 2016 goals for blogging more and working a bit on this website, so that leaves me with just one more goal for 2017:
- Sculpt a miniature - A couple of years ago, after taking my daughter to see Epic, I was inspired by the little leaf samurai and tried my hand at sculpting a mini (or... given the size of the characters in the movie, technically it was a life-sized sculpture, not a miniature!). It was a totally different process to painting (obviously) and got a different set of creative neurons firing. I think my little Ronin came out pretty well for a first attempt, but I think this is something I'd love to try my hand at again this year.
Ok, I lied, here's one more goal that I'm going to give myself bonus points if I achieve (note to self: must try and find a gaming retailer that accepts bonus points as currency.)
- Make a gaming board - I've got a few ideas for a Bushido board and have lots of lofty goals and intentions for this one. Somehow, however, other projects always bubble up to the forefront. So, I'm going to stick this in here in the attempts to guilt myself into actually giving it a shot in 2017… but there's a reason it's last on this list so, like I said: bonus points…
Well, just like with 2016, that's a pretty packed list! Let's see how I do, eh? However it is, I'll be sure to post here, on Twitter and on Instagram!