27 December 2012

2012 Goals in Review

I'm a couple days early, but seeing as nothing gaming related will be happening and I won't likely have much free time to do this for a while, I'll get a head start on the review of my 2012 hobby goals. I tried to make keep them very modest, yet optimistic & attainable. Let's see...



1. Play a game (or games) on at least 12 days this year. That's a game a month goal. I'm only counting my attendance at Cold Wars as a single "day."

Failed. Had three days of gaming: Cold Wars, Grillfest and WFB with TWA.


2. Get at least 8 WWI planes completely finished, get the rest of the stands, a hex mat and play at least one game of Blue Max/Canvas Eagles.

Failed. Not much progress. Still the same two planes mostly finished (still no decals.) Plus a few more assembled but not rigged or painted. I haven't looked in ages, but last few times I was ready to buy the stands, they were out of stock. Looked at options for the hex mat. At this point, I'm scraping money together for the holidays so not likely to buy anything for gaming.


3. Paint Romans, friends and foes. A hold over from the past two years. This year I will even set a modest number. Finish the mostly painted scutarii I started last year, and paint 4 units of Roman legion.

Failed. Didn't touch this project at all. Due to lack of time to play, WAB falling apart, and lack of money, I've sold off my Romans & most of their friends. I still have the Ancient Germans and some of the Gauls. (For now.)


4. Make trees. I've got a kit of deciduous trees. I've had them for a couple years. It's about time I put them together.

Failed. Haven't even thought about this. With almost no gaming or other modeling/painting going on, there doesn't seem to be much point in bothering anyway.


5. Paint a unit of landsknecht pikemen and the pack of casualty figures.

SUCCESS! I did paint the casualties and some of the pikemen. I'm not going to count or get hung up on numbers. But I enjoyed some painting earlier in the year and need to feel some degree of success in this list.




6. Paint the strumpets. I've got 4 of them ready to go on the painting table, from the same range of Reaper figures as the previous civilians. In fact, a few more civilians would be nice as well. Let's say the strumpets plus another 6 civvies.

SUCCESS! Again, not really counting numbers and I do know that I've still got some unpainted civilians. But, again, I enjoyed some painting and made some progress.



So I achieved a 2/3 success rate... if I don't examine the criteria too carefully.

I'm not going to bother making any sort of 2013 goals. It's too depressing, since they would most realistically look like, "Play one game in 2013," and, "Don't sell the last remaining bits of my gaming collection," and even then I'm not sure I could attain those.

I think that I just need to come to an acceptance of the fact that I no longer have the option to have hobbies or other luxuries, and that after 30+ years of gaming, I have to walk away. Really, I've already done so. I just keep looking back and it's rather depressing. I'm not sure there will be any further blog entries, as there's really nothing more to talk about unless I'm trying to sell off the remainder of my collection in the coming months.

5 comments:

  1. Do not give up. Keep one project going, if only intermitantly. Paint now and again.

    Honestly, this is a very cheap hobby, particularly if you work on things you already own.

    Your daughter will get older, and need less time, your life circomstances will change... so do not give up.

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  2. Sorry to hear that things are still tough- hang in there! One day you'll have time and money, again, I'm sure.

    Cheers, Simon

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  3. May I be so bold as to offer you a spot of advice?

    Having been through phases like a couple of times over the last 10-15 years I would urge you not to give up the hobby!!!

    You could 'mothball' stuff if you like, but do NOT sell anything you even vaguely think you might use again one day. Some years back I sold a huge amount of stuff on ebay, but now I regret selling at least some of it.

    As the previous comments say, things will change and improve and you'll be able to make the time for your hobby again.

    Cheers

    Matt

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  4. I have two kids, one 4 and one 9, so have just been through the whole young children thing. I think you are being too hard on yourself by setting goals etc. As long as you enjoy the small amount of time that you do spend on wargaming/painting then it's time well spent. It's not a job or some kind of diet that you need to stick to. I would just paint whatever you feel like at the time, and not pay too much attention to progress.

    I didn't sell any of my stuff and I don't regret that at all, even though I still haven't used a load of it, and possibly never will. Even if the models can be replaced on eBay, they won't be your original ones, with all the effort and history they currently embody.

    When you first have a baby, it feels like the situation is forever, but both the good and the bad of it pass surprisingly quickly.

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  5. I feel your pain. When we had our son, I had NO money what so ever. It does get easier though (I promise) and you'll find yourself sneaking in a couple of figures to paint. Just hang in there and don't take life too seriously.

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