Whatever happened to those CATCH posts?

So I had a run of posts under the CATCH heading, about an ongoing Tale of Four Gamers style event, however I have gone quiet on this recently.

Personally, it was because I had other models I had to paint for a deadline and I wasn't getting as much painting time in as planned so I decided to focus on the stuff I had to get done for a tournament rather than the stuff that was just for a personal challenge.

However...

Without me pushing and driving the other participants, it has seemed to have fallen flat. One of the participants messaged me to say he'd just made the deadline for the full points in painting. He is the only one to score so far this month. With four days left to score in the "late points" window, I am not expecting anyone else to get anything. This competitor has leapt up to second place, averaging 5 points per month... which means the 40 points I scored in months one and two looks fairly unassailable. Now this wasn't about competing with each other but with ourselves really, but at the same time I must admit, I work harder at it when others are driving me on.

The most disappointing part for me has been all my efforts to forge a narrative for us all to engage in has fallen flat. This was the key thing I was trying to recreate from my first (and still best) Tale, the participants getting involved in the story and coming up with fun little character quirks to reflect our battles and grudges. I have done many pots, leaving plot hooks and introducing the silent partners through my games, but so far only one person has joined in with the narrative element of it.

In all honesty, I'm not enjoying being the only kid in the imagination sandbox.

Plus, all anyone has been talking of lately is 8th edition, and to be fair that will likely have a dramatic impact on peoples army builds, so I suppose I can forgive them if painting the models they've currently got planned isn't their top priority.

So, I'm basically not pushing the catch any more. I'll let it run the planned time, and if any of the participants ask for details or let me know how they're getting on, I'll keep scoring it. Personally I'm focussed on project:dangerzone which will see me taking a small force of Orks to two tournaments in what looks to be the last hurrah for 7th edition, if the rumoured release date of June 10th is accurate.

As for Fred and Barney? I will continue with the CATCH series of articles and my own storylines to do with it, after the small danger zone hiatus. Potentially when 8th drops I may have to reshuffle my plans slightly, but I'm not exactly doing a competitive build anyway so can't see me changing too much, unless there is a dramatic drop in points cost for orks that sees me needing to do more units to fill out the standard size army.

So fear not, the CATCH story will continue, I just need to find that loving feeling first... hence project: dangerzone ;)