2017 Hobby Goals

Well, a few weeks late but I have finally taken a stab at my hobby goals for 2017.  

So very specific 2017 Hobby Goals:

• Weeks having painted/assembled/hobby'd > 30*
• Weeks having played miniature games > 12*
• Weeks having played board or role-playing games > 20
• Read more books => 12*
• Paint something for Adepticon
• Paint something for CMON Expo
• Painting something for NOVA Open
• Paint up 1 (of my many) Dungeon Crawl type games.
• Start my Super Secret Modelling/Painting project
• Stay within budget

*These numbers are informed by what I achieved or based on my goals from 2015/16.

For maximum efficiency, I'm sure that some of the unfinished painting projects will serve double duty for "Paint something for X" goals.  

More general 2017 Hobby Goals:

• Reign in spending:  Are you playing it?  Are you painting it?  Don't just "collect" it.
• Less kickstarters:  Is it really "exclusive"?  Can you really use it?  Will it make it to the table?  Don't just "collect" it.
• Paint more, including finishing some of my incomplete but started painting projects (lots to choose from:  Infinity, Malifaux, Guild Ball, Mass Fantasy Battle, Uncharted Seas, Firestorm Armada, Dystopian Wars)
• Don't buy more miniatures than you paint.  Unlikely but I should not give up on this.  Hahaha, right.  
• A hold over from last year since I did not paint much in 2016, (for lack of thinking of better words) find my painting "center".  I need to find a speed, style and quality of painting that accomplishes what I want.  Basically, I want to establish an efficient baseline to work to most of the time and at times to deviate from.  Maybe later I will write something explaining my thoughts about this a little better but this post is not the place.

Just like last year, I have too many goals but hey that is just what they are.  I did not call them resolutions, that just seems too absolute, too binary.  Anyway, just a few weeks into the new year and I am not off to a great start.  Hopefully I can get motivated soon and get rolling on these.

2016 Hobby Audit (Final Thoughts) Part 4/4

As you may have seen, 2016 was pretty much a loss on the hobby front.  Granted, there has been/was lots of, outside the hobby issues, to deal with.  I hoping to get back on track this year but I fear that things will get pretty bumpy once my wife returns back to work.  We are definitely going to have our hands even more full at that point, which is not something I can really comprehend being possible.  We'll just have to see.

Per last year, I will wrap it up with a few of my favorite things from 2016 (random order, as they come to mind):

• Deadpool.  I got everything, and a little more, I wanted out of this movie.  I'm not to certain how a sequel will fair but I look forward to giving it a shot.
• Flash TV Show has me thoroughly hooked.  
• Overwatch is a fantastic FPS that I have continued to lose many hobby hours to.
• The (2013) Tomb Raider (video game) reboot was incredible.
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman shows there are definitely lots of old goodies out there (for me at least) when it comes to SciFi books.  And so much crammed into such a short book.  Amazing.
• Playing Autoduel (?) at Adepticon.  I don't know why it is not there for 2017, but an incredibly thematic game, interesting mechanics and well executed.  Ok, it helped that I won in an epic fashion but still.  
• Meeting Seppy Yoon at Adepticon and getting to play his game End of the Line.  So happy for his success.  Even more amazed that I got my KS for the game months early!
• Although I haven't gotten to really take advantage of it, the local gaming group definitely seems to have expanding interest.  Konflict 47 has swept onto the scene and pushed Bolt Action aside (it would seem).  Frostgrave is extremely popular.  Lots talk about Deadzone/Warpath.  
• Guild Ball continues to be one of my favorite games despite only getting a few matches in.  Wish I could have devoted time in 2016 to drum up local interest in the game.  

Next time, maybe, hobby goals for 2017.  Definitely going to have to scale back to "try" to account for all the new factors.

2016 Hobby Audit (Spending Analysis) Part 3/4

Ahhh, tricky little numbers.  I calculated all the stuff below and I was so excited to see that I reduced not only the % of my purchases being miniatures but also the % of my purchases being kickstarters!  Win!  WAIT!!!  Remember last blog post?  The one where I admitted I went 23% over my hobby budget.  Oh no...  That's right, I spent pretty much the exact same on miniatures and kickstarters as I did in 2015.  Anyway, the same caveats as last years post still apply.

Anyway, the spending breakdown:
Modelling Supplies:  26%
Painting Supplies:  15%
Gaming Supplies:  11%
Terrain Supplies:  0%
General Hobby:  0%
Miniatures:  42%
Board Games:  6%
RPGs:  1%






Other views: 
How much of the total spending was on kickstarters:  20%
How much at conventions:  14%
How much FLGS:  3% (I haven't had a decent FLGS in forever)
How much toward things that are getting to the table: 16%

Given the opening paragraph (that I actually still spent the same $ on minis and kickstarters as I did in 2015) I still need to cut back on miniatures, kickstarters and things that are not making it to the table.  Also there has been unacceptable growth in modelling and painting supplies.  Granted, part of this was due to a new hobby desk lamp that was a little expensive.

Explanation of categories, if curious:
Modelling Supplies - Includes items for assembling, miniature storage, etc
Painting Supplies - Includes paints, brushes, etc
Gaming Supplies - Need it to play the game, or it helps.  Includes tokens, cards, rules, etc.
Terrain Supplies - Anything related to terrain or the making of terrain
General Hobby - Things not related specifically to a particular aspect, like gaming/hobby magazines
Miniatures - Take a guess
Board Games - No hiding miniatures here!  Imperial Assault goes under Miniatures.
RPGS - Bet you can guess this one too.

Up next, final thoughts.

2016 Hobby Audit (Goals Failed) Part 2/4

So, looking back at my 2016 Goals I am not sure what I was thinking.  Granted, I definitely do not have a crystal ball and a baby definitely threw a wrench into some things.  Also, I had some terrain goals that were basically under the assumption that I would buy a house that would allow me to have a game room.  This is not exactly the case with the house I bought, at least right now...

So regarding the very specific 2016 Hobby Goals:

• Spend more time painting and assembling models than in 2015.  I only managed to get 24 weeks in where I actually did hobbying, compared to 30 the year before.  I was on track to exceed this, until Alex arrived.  Since then I have only recently gotten back on the hobby train.
• I have no idea how I didn't get more board or role-playing games in this year.  Ok, RPG's I understand (not really looking for a group or that commitment) but board games!?  We have a weekly Wednesday lunch group.  How could I only get 5 games in!?
• No, I did not even touch those Malifaux models I started in 2015.  Without the drive to jump into the "local" Malifaux scene, they simply feel off my radar.
• I also did not managed to get my Guild Ball Masons Team painted.  =(  Four of the models are done, except for basing.  The rest haven't been touched in awhile.
• There was a "Special Super Secret Modelling/Painting project" that had no action on it.
• Not going to CMON Expo gave me an easy excuse to not have something painted up for it.  LOL.
• Not going to the NOVA OPEN also gave me another easy excuse to not have something painted up for it.  
• I didn't even open up one of my Dungeon Crawl type games, let alone paint it.
• As previously implied, all terrain projects are on hold.  So I didn't build all those DUST Warfare building I intended to.
• For same reason, didn't build "Special Super Secret Terrain/table."
• Did not enter any kind of a painting competition.
• Went 23% over budget.  Ugh.  I suspect it was actually a little worse.  There looks to be some funny math that went on with gift cards but the accountant is refusing to talk...

Concerning the more general 2016 Hobby Goals:

• For 2016 I had a goal to "reign in spending" which was a bit of misnomer.  The intent was to be more focused in what I bought, ie don't just collect stuff.  I would say, I wasn't horrible in this regard (ie, I improved comparatively) but ultimately failed.
• I really didn't manage to withstand the sway of kickstarters in 2016.  They did take a bit of different form and didn't always result in 8 million new figures though.  
• As you can maybe infer from the first section, I didn't really manage to paint more miniatures this year either.  =(.
• Championing a game locally basically got thrown out the window for 2016 when I learned of my new time commitment (baby).
• Seriously, if I am not even getting to all this other stuff why would I be spending time researching my Windmills topics.
• I'd like to meet the (gamer) person that doesn't buy more than they paint.  Does this fabled creature even exist?  ;)  I added a 157 miniatures to my shame this year.  Ok, actually more like 300 given the Mythic Battles Pantheon kickstarter (figures from kickstarters get logged to the current year, even though I don't have them yet).
• Lastly, I had desired to find what I called my "painting center."  By this I meant I wanted to establish an efficient standard to work to most of the time and at times to deviate from.  Given how little I actually painted in 2016, I sure as hell did not find this along the way.

Yeah, that was about as bad as I thought it would be.  Up next, where did I spend my money...  

2016 Hobby Audit (Goals Achieved) Part 1/4

2016 has been a year of many upheavals that have distracted me or flat out prevented me from hobbying.  From my daughter's adjustment to a new town/first grade (including sorting out some learning issues), looking for a house, buying a house, moving into a house, settling into the house, finding out a baby was on the way, arrival of said baby, etc.  Oh yeah, and an Xbox One and a copy of Overwatch.  Those last couple sure as hell has not helped my hobbying.  lol.

A quick look back at my 2016 goals confirms this.  I basically failed all of them but let's dive in anyway and continue the tradition I started a year ago.  This will (maybe) help me align/calibrate myself for what I want to try to accomplish in 2017.

Given how bad I was at achieving my 2016 goals, I hereby declare that all ties count as "achieved!"  Otherwise, I don't think there would be a purpose to this particular post.  And that would be even more depressing.

Part 1 of 4, 2015 Goals Achieved:

• More weeks with a game of miniatures than 2015.  I only managed 11 weeks of playing a miniature game as in 2016, the same as 2015.  Most of them with Mike at Mini Mayhem and mostly Guild Ball.  A game or two of Frostgrave and Kings of War.  A game of Mike's Mini Mayhem.  Plus stuff at Adepticon.
• Read more books than in 2015.  Sigh, only managed to read exactly 8 compared to the same number as last year.  I am half way through another but I didn't managed to get it finished.
• I also wanted to get integrated into the local gaming community better in 2016, which I think I have done.  There were definitely opportunities missed and other avenues to explore, but I'm going to give myself a success here.
• I would say I spent less time on the internet looking, reading, watching the hobby and spent more time doing the hobby.  Part of that may only be because I have less time in general but that is a depressing way to look at it, so I'm counting this a minor victory.

Wow, that's it.  The Goals Failed post (next) is going to be long.  LOL