Hobby resolutions for 2015

As cheesy as it is this time of the year is rife with reflections.  What was our favorite thing of the past year?  What were the important events in our life?  How have we made progress in the things that matter to us?  As a blogger it's pretty tempting to jump on this trope (heck, I recommended it Arch and other team members).  I even had half a draft written up about how we discovered Warmachine and advanced our hobby despite being scattered across the four corners of the midwest.  Then I realized something: If you want to know what 2014 has been like for Team Waynedale all you have to do is read the blog.  That's kinda why we're here!  Instead for today, I'm looking forward to the future of my hobby and making some resolutions.

What will the future hold for these machines?

Read on for some resolutions!

Resolutions for 2015:

Get into a sci-fi game again

Like most in the hobby, my entry into wargaming came in the form of Warhammer 40k.  Instantly I was drawn to the high sci-fi look of the Tau Empire.  Some of my favorite models in my collection are Tau, and it's a terrible shame that I don't get to use them often anymore.

The Riptide is one of my favorite kits, and I've been working on this models off and on for the past two years!

Even though I'm having a blast in the fantasy settings of Warmachine and Hordes, part of me yearns to wage war across the stars.  So what are my options? I count three:

I could always get back into 40k.  This is the most unlikely since I'm an edition behind and GW's business model is hazardous to my financial health.  If anyone wants to do a time warp and play a 6th edition game I'm up for it, but between Knights and rapid releases it seems like something I can't keep up with.

Next would be something that I have been eyeing for awhile: Infinity, from Corvus Belli.  The scale and pricing are on par with WMH, but the near future space fluff is really awesome.  The models are impressive and the mechs especially appeal to my inner Tau.  I'd have to put a lot more research into it and get some TW guys on board, but it seems interesting.  Still, starting something new is a pain in the budget.  What about those of us who game on a budget?

As it happens, someone is looking out for the budget gamers, and that someone is Mantic games.  This company has not one but two sci-fi themed games, both of which are modeled after GW products.  Want a mass battle game where you throw dozens of models and vehicles at each other, a la 40k?  Go with Warpath.  Want something a little more intimate where you control an elite handful of warriors a la Necromunda?  Go with Deadzone.  The buy in for both of these is pretty cheep ($35 from Deadzone, $60 for Warpath before third party discounts), but it gets better.  Mantic is pretty cool about how you play their games, so as long as you have models on the correct sized bases you can proxy pretty much anything!  That means my Tau can sub in as enforcers, and I can make my dream army of Tau with human conscripts.  For GW expatriates, this effectively lowers the buy-in to the cost of a rulebook ($25).  This is the most alluring option so far, and the I'm going to try to sell it to the rest of TW.


Work on terrain projects

What good is a table-top game without terrain?  Seeing beautiful armies duke it out on beautiful table-tops makes for a great time had by all.  While I've made progress on my army, there's noting for them to contest over.  Even a few pieces would add greatly to the games I play in.  This upcoming year, I'm hoping to change that.  I want to start a terrain collection through buying some pieces and creating my own.

On the buying terrain side of things I've already made some progress when I picked up a few pieces of Battlefield in a Box, the line of pre-made terrain pieces form Gale Force 9.  If you are strapped for time and/or money, this is the product I would recommend.  Most pieces are around $25.00 and come pre-painted, though it's easy enough to modify them to what you want.  A local store had an awesome miniatures sale, and I picked up three pieces shown below.  I figured the river and pond would make great additions to the games, and an additional hazard to warjacks!

When it comes to creating my own pieces, I have a few things in mind.  It'd be great to build a structure that models can meaningfully interact with.  Even if it's just a single level, having models enter a contested building would really add to the game (especially when the building collapses down on them!).  So far I've been eyeing some materials from Secret Weapon, and I've been bookmarking lots of how-to guides online.  We'll see what becomes of this!

Enter a painting competition

I've gotten a lot of good feedback on my painting, but I think it's time to take it to the next level.  Claw did a competition earlier this year, and not only was the model he made fantastic the whole process seemed like fun.  I'd totally be up for one, but the problem is that I don't know where to start.  Most game stores have escalation/slow grow events, but that involves buying a new faction, which I'm not too keen on.

That's all for today's post, check back later to see how I do one these resolutions!