Okay, before I begin, a little disclaimer: I admit to have failed my Game Plan 2012. In fact, I failed so badly that I don’t even want to go back and look at it, critique it, or even acknowledge its existence, other than noting that it just did not pan out. That said, it’s time to try to set some goals and challenges for the upcoming year, regardless of the likeliness of me succeeding. While writing this out it became clear that I need to break it up. I’m going with 2 parts, and hopefully that doesn’t make for a too-incredibly-long-and-boring rant.
So, I will start off with my three-pronged approach to 2013, hobby- and gamewise: play more, paint more, buy less.
Play More – Well, I did not do terribly this past year in terms of gaming, hitting 142 plays, but I did continue the recent pattern of playing less games than the year before. ‘Tis sad, but when you grow up, get married and have kids, it happens. I also played a lot more minis games in 2012 than ever before, wracking up 47 games between Malifaux (20), Warhammer Fantasy (16) and Dark Age (11). That is JUST shy of 1/3 of my plays this year going to minis. That’s not bad. But in 2013, I want to do better. If possible, I want to play more. Lots more? Sure, why not. Moreso, I guess, I want to play more meaningfully. The quintessential problem for gamers is “too many games, too little time.” It’s quite compounded when you play with so many different people, who each have so many of their own games. It’s made even (and much, much) worse by the fact that I buy more games than I need to/should. I’ll cover that below. But back to that problem, there are just too many great games out there, making it very hard to play certain games regularly. But I will try my best. I will try to play more of the minis games that I love (Malifaux, Warhammer Fantasy and Dark Age), plus a little of the ones I don’t love as much (Warmachine, etc.). And there are many, many board games that I would love to play a lot more. So hopefully I can do so. Sooner or later I will get back to regular gaming, and possibly even boardgame nights like the old days (before I had to choose between minis and board games). If I can play both regularly, I win.
Paint More - I painted 83 models to (pretty much) completion this year. I partially painted some others. That is AWESOME. But in 2013, I want to paint more. Many more? Yes! It is time to buckle down even more and get…stuff…painted. I think my main goal here is to not table unpainted models as much as possible. It is so nice playing Malifaux and Dark Age with fully-painted armies. It’s a new thing for me and I love it. So, that’s my first goal, no unpainted models, or at least as little as possible, as infrequently as possible. This means I need to focus my painting towards the games I will play. Below I will talk about games individually, and what my painting projects are for them. Overall, I think it will be a good year for painting. My secondary painting goal is to get through my lead/plastic pile. You know, the dreaded Mountain of Unpaintedness that we all try to hide, but can’t because it’s so massive. First I need to paint for what I will play, and second I will paint for what I own and MIGHT play, and third I will paint for what I own and will try to get rid of. I have to stop picking up new models and game systems that I don’t need, but I’ll talk about that below. I have enough models that I likely won’t use, so I think my best bet is to try and get rid of them, and if I need to paint them, so be it. This is also good because I get more painting practice, which I always enjoy. As long as this doesn’t get (too) in the way of painting what I NEED to paint, then it’s all good. Will we get back into Alkemy in 2013? Who knows. Should I try and finish painting my full Khaliman Republic army, just in case? Why not!? Same goes for MERCS, Incursion, pulp, etc…etc…etc…
Buy Less – I admit, I have a problem. A big problem. When I was a kid in school my teachers called me a social butterfly, easily distracted and easily distracting. Back then I was able to chat or do something else while still listening to and following the lesson, no matter how much it looked like I was not paying attention. These days I am still easily distracted, but in relevance here, it’s towards gaming. I tend to buy lots, but end up playing little. I am an expansion wh*re, plain and simple. If I have a base game, it is quite likely I own as many of the expansions as possible. I own Battles of Westeros and all but 2 of the expansions, but have only ever played the game once! (And don’t ask if it was even my copy that I played 
) I own all of the expansions to Combat Commander, but haven’t played for months. And this is a pattern continued over multiple games, both board and card. For minis, I tend to own more than I need, as well. Look at my Warhammer collection. I only played the game 16 times this past year, but I own Empire, Skaven, Tomb Kings and Ogre Kingdom armies! (Although I just got Ogres, so that shouldn’t count) I own lots. I don’t play lots. And that has to change. So my first goal for 2013 is to buy less, overall. That means buy less minis, board and card games. Period. I definitely do not need any more game systems, as beyond what I do get to play, I have many, many that I don’t. So my second goal is to cull the collection. I need to sell off armies, forces, rulebooks, games, etc. Anything I can to start clearing up shelf space. As I mentioned above, if I need to paint a force to get it sold, then I will. Whatever it takes. I’ll drop prices until games sell, or until I think they’re as low as they need to be. I’m going to hit up kijiji and ebay and try to get my stuff out of my collection. And this time around, NOT so I replace them with new stuff. Because, again, it’s time to stop buying new games and into new systems. Below I will expand on this a little, as there are SOME games/systems that I would like to dabble in this year, but that can only occur once I have whittled down what I do have.
So, today I will finish off by going through individual minis game systems that I currently play or have painted, and see where I want to go with them in 2013.
Malifaux
Although I play some other pretty awesome games, I still think I regard Malifaux as my favourite minis game. Even if very closely followed by the next two games, this one manages to just squeek ahead by a nose. A dark, twisted nose. And I will show this by continuing to play it as much as I can in 2013. While I think we lost Andrew as a player (he just can’t seem to enjoy the game for all he puts into it), I managed to get both Loy and Scott into it over the course of the year, and now they have plentiful armies to play against. This means that it is doubtful that I will lack opportunities to play the game, so hopefully I can play 20+ games in the coming year.
In terms of my collection, I currently own 4 crews: the Ortegas, Seamus, Showgirls and Nephilim. The Ortegas and the Showgirls are fully painted, and Seamus’ undead and the Nephilim are nearly there. A couple weeks’ worth of painting and I could probably get them all done, although I am considering stripping and repainting Seamus’ crew to get them to my current level of painting quality. The Nephilim I will likely finish up and then sell off, as 1) they don’t really appeal to me as much as the other crews I play, and 2) Loy has a fully-outfitted Nephilim crew already. I will keep and play the others. The Ortegas are the easiest to play, the Showgirls the most challenging, and Seamus’ undead the most ‘fun’ with their resurrecting abilities. So I don’t mind going back and forth between the crews.
Warhammer Fantasy
I love this game, too. And in recent months my interest in the game has returned, especially since I made the conscious decision to finally pick up Ogres, who I had been looking at for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, the Empire, Skaven and Tomb Kings armies I also own are fine, but my love for them has waxed and waned, for various reasons. Empire I never did too well with, there are a lot of models to paint, and I don’t care to get the new army book, regardless of how awesome-looking an Empire can be on the table (like this one by Blue Table Painting that I just finished gawking over). The Skaven, while I love the look and crazy playstyle of the army, there is just so much to paint. I can field a good-sized Skaven army, but I still need to build a bunch, and I have other things on my mind. Tomb Kings. Well, I got them in a trade and I had high hopes for them, but my interest quickly faded. That’s what happens when you try and work on an army you didn’t REALLY care for, compared to others. So it is very, very likely that I will try to sell off all three of these armies. There are some models here and there that I wouldn’t mind keeping (i.e. the big, pretty stuff), but I think I’d get over my grief quick enough if I could just unload the whole big piles of plastic that makeup my armies.
So I can focus on Ogres. While I like the idea of having other armies, and maybe in the future I’d pick up something like Bretonnians, I am going with Ogres in 2013. Until I finish that army, I am going to sit Empire, Skaven, Tomb Kings and any others out. It’s all Ogres from now on, baby! I think that my first order of painting business in 2013 will be Ogres. I’ve got that built Battalion ready to be worked on, and a number of other kits waiting for their turn. But it’s all about pacing right now. First the Battalion, then the next bits. No more of this building a huge army and then getting stuck not painting any of it. I’ve learned my lesson, I swear! You’ll see. Yes, you’ll see.
Dark Age
I was very happy when I put the finishing touches on my Dark Age Outcast army. Very happy, not only with the paintjob, but that I had another fully-painted force. That fact that I have all of the models released for the Outcasts means that I don’t really have to buy any more models, as I don’t want to have doubles. It’d be nice to know if there will be any alternate sculpts released for units like the Wasteland Warriors, as I’d love to field another unit of them but I don’t want any repeats on the table. I might pick up some Bounty Hunter (mercenary) models and proxy them, but I haven’t committed to that yet. I would like to pick up Phadras and Maximo, a Bounty Hunter duo that are technically a Brute and a Scut, which I could always use more of. But it’s not necessary, and if I want to stick to my goal of buying less, just playing slightly smaller games and using proxies works quite well.
I think we will be playing this game a bit more in 2013. Andrew now has two forces, his Brood and Rob’s Skaard, while xombe has the Forsaken and Ray is getting C.O.R.E. It’s a great game, and with so many opponents I think it’ll be on the table regularly. I do have to find someone to buy my Dragyri off me. I’ll have to lower the asking price, of course.
Warmachine
We’ve begun our non-Tale-of-Gamers-challenge for Warmachine and I’m not sure how far we will go. It’s a fun game, and after playing recently with Andrew I remember why we liked it so much back in the day. I would personally rather play Dark Age or Malifaux, but there is so much in Warmachine and Hordes in terms of modelling, theme and potential for fun that it’s hard to let it go. I still have a few thematic forces that I would be so happy to buy, paint and play, but if it’s not going to get tabled much, I’d rather not put the effort into it. I’ve got a lot of Warmachine models that I’d like to either use or get rid of. I’m afraid it will be the latter, but one of my goals is to get through my unused models, either with a paintbrush or with a pricetag. Sorry, lovely Privateer Press models.
I will finish painting my Khador Battlegroup, though, that’s for sure. Beyond that, I can’t really guess as to what 2013 holds for Warmachine. It really depends on my opponents, sad to say.
Alkemy
I’m not sure if we are going to get this on the table in 2013. We tried earlier in the year, and Andrew and I only managed one quick learning game. The system has some pretty neat mechanics, but apparently that’s not enough to make it a popular choice. I would like to give it another go, though.
And I will definitely and try to get more Khaliman Republic models on the workbench. A few weeks ago I began working on my third model, but I never did get it logged in. He’s nearly done, too. I’d say another hour of focused work and he’ll be done. I think I should bring him up in the queue, as I am awfully fond of how he looks already. And then I’ve got quite a few more to get through to clear up that pile of plastics. This will likely be more of a practice, showcaseable project than one that will end up getting on the tabletop. Which is okay by me.
Legends of the Old West
In November I used moustaches as a reason to paint up 10 cowboys that I had on the shelf for a couple of years, waiting for some painting love. And now that they’re done, they need to be used! I’ve got cowboys, Old West buildings, all the Legends rulebooks and even a thematic deck of cards. All the fixin’s for a good tabletop gunfight. And I know I can wrangle my usual opponents into a game. If I can force myself to finish building and painting the buildings, and then learn the rules, I’m sure I can get people to come over and enjoy a game. Hrm. I think that should be a goal. Maybe for February. Hrm. *strokes chin*
Dreadfleet
I got the first two ships all painted up, and like Legends all I need to do is learn the rules and invite someone over to play. Likely Andrew, whose copy I now own. This should be pretty easy to do, as he has no problem being introduced to new games, and even better when he doesn’t have to buy or paint anything himself! But like I mentioned above, it’s all a matter of “too many games, too little time,” as if we play Dreadfleet, we’re not playing any of the other games we enjoy and/or want to play. Time is limited, so managing it properly is key.
Freebooter’s Fate
This is definitely one I am going to try and sell, ASAP. I painted the starter, learned the game, played it a few times, and then *poof*, never saw it on the table again. It’s a fun game, with some really, really cool combat mechanics. But for some reason, it just did not stick with the group. I’m sure we did not give it the attention it deserves, and could probably play it and enjoy it just fine, but that’s okay.
Hell Dorado
Another game we got into because I said we should. I never got past priming my Westerners starter box and playing a couple of games back-to-back. Again, the game is just fine and there are some aspects I quite enjoy, including the awesome models. But for some reason…we just didn’t pick it up. MAYBE painting my starter will help, but like Alkemy it will likely just end up being a painting project for the sake of painting and coming out with an army to be proud of, instead of an army to get on the table.
Firestorm Armada
If there is one game I really wish could be popular among my usual opponents but is not, it’s Firestorm Armada. It’s got ‘exploding dice,’ a new set of rules, REALLY great-looking ships…and no following where it matters, in my group. I’ve got a Terran starter box that I started to work on early this year, and it went nowhere. Just one more set of minis to either paint, sell, or both, I guess. *sniffle* So very, very sad.
A Call to Arms: Noble Armada
Andrew and I had high hopes for this game, but it just did not fly. We even tried the Star Trek version, and while I think it was a fine game, the experience was off-putting (sorry Art), and I don’t think it did the job in re-interesting us in the system. It’s got such potential, and I really enjoyed the Babylon 5 version, but I think there are just too many fiddly aspects to the game to make it a winner. Maybe we’ll give it another shot in 2013, but no promises.
Heavy Gear Blitz
How could I forget HGB?! It’s yet another system in our list of failed Tale of Gamers challenges. Rob, Andrew and I bought starters for this…began learning it…then dropped it. That was in 2011. I decided in 2012 to get my Southern starter box painted, and I did. And then we talked about trying to resurrect it. And like Alkemy, failed again. So I am not sure what to do with my models. I can either try to get rid of them, or I can hold on to them a little longer and hope that we can actually get it on the table. At least I won’t have anything to paint!
* * * * *
Well, that’s all for today. What I learned from writing all this stuff down is that WOW did I ever spend a truck-load of money and research time on games that went nowhere! Yeesh. I don’t even want to think about how much of each I wasted. No…not wasted. Just…mis-spent. Yeah, that’s it.
Tomorrow I will look at games that I want to or might want to try in 2013, as well as some of the board games that I would like to play more in the new year.
Thanks for reading.
