2019 Goals - The Past must pay for the future!

My second favorite post of the year!  Following up from the annual review comes the cavalcade of planning data I like to generate to inspire my production for the year ahead.  As always I will compare actual production with my expectations from last year.  Warning: there are data charts ahead, nothing to rival Jon, but he is a statistician and I am a mere physicist.  

2018 By Scale

Overall production was on par with the last three years with roughly 6000 points of production.  The biggest change for 2018 was the impact of the two SYW projects.  28mm has dominated production over the previous three years and now takes a distant third to 10mm and 15/18mm on the painting table.  

2017

2018 10mm Blowout

Overall,  this was not much different from my expectations as you can see from last years chart.  I had not anticipated the overwhelming dominance of the 10mm project, obviously.  But I had planned for 10mm and 18mm to dominate.  3mm and 6mm goals were completely quashed without a single 6mm figure crossing the table since August of 2017.  (Adventures in 6mm indeed!)  

2018 Objectives.  Not too bad overall. 

2018 By Year of Acquisition

One of the stated objectives of the creation of this blog was to catalog my assault on the lead pile.  As such, the annual goal is to ensure that more figures acquired from previous years are completed than new acquisitions.  The end result should be an overall decrease in the back log.  I keep a spreadsheet of all the figures I intend to paint for the upcoming year which currently sits at around 4000 pts worth, down from 4800pts from last year.  So how did the assault go?

2017 was a good year.  I managed to paint more backlog than new figures.  For 2018 I intended to carry that success forward as I already purchased most of the figures necessary to complete the Zorndorf project as well as a sizable chunk of the 10mm SYW project.

So what happened?   Let's just say I was a victim of my own success. 

I got so focused on the 10mm SYW project that it took on a life of its own.  Thus we had a net addition to the Lead pile for the year which must be declared a failure to meet one of the founding tenants of this blog.  I am quite happy in managing to actually maintain this level of focus on one project rather than my normally erratic approach, but at what cost!  Fortunately, I have enough backlog built up now for 2018 acquisitions that I have reasonable chance of fixing the problem for next year.

2019 Goals 

Seems rather peaceful doesn't it?

Speaking of which, this now provides the segue necessary for the true purpose of today's post:  To establish the benchmark by which I shall measure myself for next year!  Now I have made several attempts to establish reason able goals over the years:  from 2016's Paint or Die initiative to looking at groups/units completed in 2017.  All of these were done in light of providing the necessary motivation to reduce the existing collection by painting the toys I already had versus getting distracted by the new shiny.  So this year will not be any different!  This year's initiative is:

The past must pay for the future!

I currently have 4003 points spread out across 134 line items in my backlog.  I normally paint between 5000-6000pts worth of figures per year.  Thus, I will commit to creating a credit bank in my painting. To purchase 500pts worth of figures (roughly 100 28mm models), I must paint at least 1000pts from the backlog.  Thus, I will use accounting and spreadsheets as a forcing function against my capricious nature.  I already have a significant number of 10mm figures left to do, as well as some older kickstarters awaiting delivery.  That should be enough to drive me forward for a few months.  I should be able to reasonably complete at least 100 of the current line items this year before I start adding new ones.  (Ominous sounds in background)

Scale-wise that will most likely result in a return to the preeminence of 28mm.  With the overall breakdown showing 10mm taking a close 2nd. 

Going project by project, here are the specific objectives for the last year of the 20-teens.

10mm Seven Years War Project - This is still my primary focus at the painting table.  I created a running list here on the site for all the planned additions from the figures on-hand.  With those, I should be able to reasonably set up any battle I want to run at the regimental level on my table.  All total I have about 30 units/ command stands to go, with the first 10 nearly complete.  If I can maintain focus I might even attempt to add a Saxon contingent, but I know a similar goal for the 6mm Napoleonic project took about four years.  I probably shouldn't commit to anything like that at this time.  

10mm American Civil War - I need to revisit this project to finish out some of the empty spaces on the roster.  Most of the infantry formations are complete, but I still need to add three Cavalry regiments to each army to call it good.  There is also the question of some long neglected secret santa presents I really must get finished.

28mm Koreans - The most critical piece here is to finally finish the Guard Infantry with their ornate shields, bows and spears.  They are excellent figures that deserve at least an attempt at getting some decent colors on them.  The second half of the black spear unit and some mounted flails would finally finish the set. 

28mm Samurai - Another area for extensive growth.  I have a lot of skirmish figures to finish for Test of Honour especially Warlord's Sohei and Ona-Bugeisha figures.  I really want to pick up the Seven Samurai Ronin set they recently did, but will force myself to finish the first two boxed sets first.  Additionally, Kato Kiyomasa and Takeda Shingen have been waiting far too long for their chance to shine.  

28mm Cold War - I pledged in a Kickstarter last year for some Russian and Chechen figures that still have not arrived.  That will give me a couple additional squads plus some support weapons for the Armageddon 1984 project.  For new additions, I would like to pick up a BMP.  

28mm Kushite Egyptians. - The recent games with Jon have inspired me to add some more units to this army.  I have four chariots and several units of skirmishers to bring them up to strength.  

28mm Italian Wars - I pledged in a kickstarter back in 2017 that finally delivered back in August.  I have enough figures to add some artillery pieces, command units and another large pike block to the group. 

Other stuff:  Mason and I received a copy of FFG's Runewars for Christmas.  He has committed to painting the human side, leaving me to the do the Skeletons.  I am also feeling to do some alternate figures from my existing plastic pieces to personalize things a bit.  (details close hold)  There are also the remaining figures for my Midway US Navy and some American dismounts for the Spanish American War kicking about. Finally, the remaining air support for the 3mm cold war project really needs to cross the finish line.  So much to do...

New projects for 2019?  Nothing has made itself apparent quite yet.  I have some temptation to revisit my 15mm War of 1812 project, and have always wanted to do some AWI figures so perhaps 2019 is the year?  I shall leave it open for now to see what the future brings.