Goals for 2024 -part 1

The figures on my painting desk in March 2022, finally completed in January of 2024 

It appears I haven’t actually published my hobby goals in the last four years.  In fact, my last yearly wrap-up was done in January of 2021 with a pledge of an annual hobby resolution that went unfulfilled.

I recognize that this blog has undergone the same ‘blog-fade’ of so many of the others I retain on my reading list.  To combat this downward spiral and rage against the forces of entropy, I shall endeavor to put my goals forth to the universe once more in the hopes of inspiring me to keep to my pledge in the darkest hours of distraction and lethargy over the long months ahead.

So where should I progress from here?  Much has changed since the halcyon days before the world changed.  Regular gaming all but extinguished during the plague years, and the call to support allies and partners on The Continent placed a great distance between myself and the lead pile.  In early 2022 I was pushing forward on my post-Soviet Chechnya project, but events that followed have significantly soured my interest in the forces of both Chechnya and the Russian Federation.  Perhaps I will revisit the collection at a later time when I have some appropriate 28mm Toilet Bowls and other appropriated civilian goods to attach to the vehicle exteriors….

 Hobby Goal for 2024 - Paint or Die! Redux 

In 2016 I committed myself to the unthinkable: A six-month moratorium on new figure purchase.  The only new models permitted were those as a result of trade or purchased with funds from purged collections.  My return from my deployment resulted in my ‘rediscovering’ many of my orphaned projects.  The number of “I forgot I had these” moments are now too numerous to count, nor ignore.  I feel like I can shop for new figures just by sorting through the shelves around my painting desk. I therefore resolve to suspend new purchases until the following conditions are met:

1. Finish the Epic Thirty Years War Project.: I am in the process of rebasing last summer's efforts into a single base unit organization that will essentially double the size of the current forces. I have enough figures on hand to complete everything in my initial plan with the exception of all of the command stands To that end I need to re-base everything and finish painting the figures already in the collection before I can even consider purchasing new command figures.

2. Complete a 28mm Landsknecht Pike Block: I have over half the figures completed and the rest in varied states of repair. I have enough figures to finish a pair of supporting harquebusiers, and some swordsmen for the skirmish line. With that complete, I need to finish the smattering of command figures in the unpainted pile and then assess where I want to take the project moving forward.

3. 28mm Cold War Americans and Soviets: Another orphan project are the remaining 80's era Soviet and American soldiers in MOPP gear. I need to finish the remaining three squads, and a Bradley IFV.

4. 28mm Old West Skirmishers: I had a wild hair to try "What a Cowboy" from Too Fat Lardies last spring, and ordered a few packs of figures to allow for some small skirmishes. I have eight waiting for their bases to be done and seven more resting in primer.

5. 28mm Fantasy/SciFi Skirmish: Skirmish level games dominated my limited gaming over the last couple of years with solo game systems providing some painting inspiration while I was overseas. I purchased the Elder Scrolls skirmish game back during the quarantine era to fuel father-son gaming. Rangers of Shadowdeep, Five Leagues from the Borderlands, Five Parsecs from Home, and even Zona Alfa all saw time on the table. This resulted in a small backlog of figures that I need to complete. I need to finish another 75 models and two large terrain projects in order to justify buying anything new

6. 28mm Imjin war era Chinese Reinforcements: I have two infantry and two cavalry regiments that have been waiting for their turn for about six years now. Time to complete them.

So, until the above is complete I resolve to buy nothing new. If I feel like something different, I will need to look at all the other models in the Lead Pile before I buy anything new. Let's see if I can actually hold to it!