2nd City Warzone: Introspection Time 2013

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Introspection Time 2013

Angels of Absolution bike. One of the few models I painted in 2012. I am frothing for that new Dark Angels Codex.

2012 was a weird hobby year. It didn't fall into the usual patterns. I was so wrapped up in preparing my event for Adepticon last year that during the months of January, February, March, and April I didn't pick up a paint brush to work on much of anything other than scenery. It was fun running my first event but I dropped the ball really hard in my opinion and set out to correct my mistakes this time around.

I didn't lay out my hobby goals until almost May. Here's what they were:

1) Go to Galactic Force Games more.

Through the summer/autumn and I managed to walk into Galactic Force once every 2 months and spend $10-$20 every time I've walked in. Restocking my paint collection isn't going to keep them afloat but every little bit helps. I did say I wanted to go in and possibly play a game some time, but I'm an introvert so that still hasn't happened. I do plan on buying Dark Vengeance from there at least.

2) Go to the Chicago Battle Bunker more.

I'd say I accomplished this somewhat. I attended 3 tournaments at the Bunker this year which leads me to...

3) Attend more events.

Seeing as I went to 3 tournaments in the last half of the year I'd consider this an accomplishment. Still, Adepticon and 3 tournaments really isn't enough to balance out my investment of money and time. I need to bump that up closer to 6 to feel good about it, or get regular home gaming established again.

4) 2000 Points of Angels of Absolution

I am stupidly close to this goal. I painted 2 out of 3 Ravenwing (Warden) Bikes and have several more almost complete. As soon as I have that Codex in my hands I intend to knock those out and get them on the table along with a bunch of other goodies. This is the year I crack 2000 points for sure.

5) Play Warhammer.

Failure. Utter failure. I even know someone I can play WFB with now and haven't. I had so much fun at the 'Its How You Use It' WFB Tournament at Adepticon I fully intended to get more games in. I better get in at least 1 game before Adepticon because I'm signed up for it again.

6) Paint Something Big!

I would call this a failure too but even though my intent was to complete something like the Caestus Assault Ram or my Ork Stompa, the Cities of Death board I've been hyper detailing should really count for something right?. I've put a stupid amount of time into it. We'll just call it a wash and forget I ever listed this.

7) Purge My Collection

Marginal success here. In May/June I listed a lot of stuff on Ebay and paid my rent with it. That was good. I still have piles of stuff waiting to be listed though.

8) Get an Early Start on Adepticon 2013

Here's the one thing I did right this year. I started thinking about what I wanted to do in the Spring/Summer. I presented the idea to Matt Weeks in July, and then I started gathering up Stratagems from books and putting rules together in the computer. I got everything to Matt in a timely manner and I started working on tables in November. However, I am taking way too much time on the tables and need to get cracking so that I don't have a repeat of last year where I'm slopping paint onto things moments before I load the tables into the car.

I did have some cool hobby accomplishments this year that weren't part of my goals. I took home a Painting Award at Adepticon in the Combat Patrol event and then took home 2 Painting Awards and a Sportsmanship Award across the 3 AWC events I went to at the Bunker. I don't know how that happened, but I'm pretty stoked on that. I also started helping the developers of Wreck-Age with play testing and that has been pretty rewarding.

This year I was broke so I didn't buy a lot of models. In fact, the only models I acquired this year were gifts. I got the limited edition Interrogator-Chaplain from Dark Vengeance from a friend and I own most of the Wreck-Age line for play testing. Other than paints, the only hobby supplies I've bought have been bases from Dragon Forge and Secret Weapon, along with some bitz from Spikey Bits. This year I'm going to break the bank though. I need all of those new Dark Angel kits except Belial.

I'm going to keep my goals condensed this time around. Here's what I want to accomplish in 2013:

1) Get my Angels of Absolution to a few tournaments with some of the shiny new units from the Codex.

2) Complete a unified and competitive Ork warband for Combat Patrol.

3) Attend more events/play more games.

4) Get my Adepticon tables done on time and run a cool event.

5) Paint a Stakers warband for Wreck-Age and help get them some more support and play testing.

I think that's reasonable. We'll see.

-Nick

Here's my 2012 in images: