And so we come to that point in the year where a look back on resolutions I'd completely forgotten about and make some more empty promises for the coming year.
Let's see how I did with last year's resolutions...
2023
1. Decrease The Lead Mountain - FAILED
To be fair, this one isn't really my fault. I began the year with around 570 miniatures of varying sizes in my personal Lead Mountain, and I've made pretty decent progress through it, painting 323 miniatures during the year and not actually acquiring that many more.
That was until the motherload hit. An old friend of mine returned a huge pile of minis I'd left with him when I moved out of London 23 years ago, along with his own collection that he wanted me to sell for him.
On top of what I've already told you about (Gorkamorka, Necromunda, Empire/Bretonnia and Skaven) there was also:
155 Fantasy miniatures of varying types, ranging from swarms to Warhammer Quest characters to ancient Oldhammer sculpts from my initial collecting.
113 second edition Bloodbowl miniatures, both plastic and metal. A chunk of these will be heading to trade forums in time.
28 Space Hulk miniatures. Annoyingly I'm missing two Terminators and they're fro the reprint of the initial game do they are the weird mid sized ones with the twisty torsos.
Oh, and I spent a Christmas voucher on 5 Warg Riders for Lord of the Rings.
Anyway, all of this leaves my totals at:
Painted: 323
Lead Mountain: 890
This is the most spectacular failure of a resolution in the history of this blog, but the wave of nostalgia I'm riding means I really don't mind.
2. Finish Things Off - SUCCESS
I feel like I've done quite well on this. Although amongst the projects I named last year, I still have two Masters of the Universe miniatures to paint and my Blood Angels still haven't reached 3000 points for Horus Heresy, I have managed to finish of quite a few projects over the year.
I've managed to finish off all of my remaining miniatures for: Terminator: Genesis, Carnevale, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Operation Sea Lion, Freedom Force, Lurkers of the Deep, Warhammer 40k (Daemons, Orks & Necrons), Judge Dredd, Thundercats, Pulp City, and The Walking Dead: All Out War. I may buy more for these in time, but for no, they're done.
I've also made significant progress on: Masters of the Universe, Vlad's Army, Dropzone Commander, Descent, The Horus Heresy (Blood Angels) and Lord of the Rings.
Finally, my campaigns for War in Rohan, Quest of the Ringbearer and Lurkers of the Deep have made significant headway.
I'm calling this one a win.
3. Stay Cheap - SUCCESS
I think I've managed to achieve this one too.
By focusing on what I already had I've not really bought into anything too big this year.
Yes, there have been those two Warhammer 40k armies I started, but even then Orks have been bought as discount bundles from eBay topped up with some vintage Cheaphammering and I've only actually got about a dozen Necrons so far.
Now that I have so many nostalgic miniatures in my backlog, I'm hoping I will continue to work with what I've got.
The only slight cloud on the horizon is the release of Warhammer: The Old World. It's very, very tempting to me and has the potential to be a bit expensive.
Anyway, that's next year's problem.
And so, overall it's been a successful year, and the Lead Mountain may be bigger, but this year it really has become a pile of opportunity, rather than a pile of shame.
And so on to the new resolutions...
2024
1. Decrease The Lead Mountain
Just like Sisyphus, I'm going to keep pushing that big ball of metal and plastic up this slope for eternity.
I shall paint more than I acquire.
2. Play More Narrative Games
Long time readers of this blog will know I love a campaign or a narrative scenario. I much prefer these sorts of games to knock-down drag them out competitive types of games. I have couple of 7TV feature packs I've not started to pick up after Lurkers of the Deep is done, a massive ongoing Lord of the Rings linked campaign, and I've even injected a narrative element to my games of Horus Heresy with Pete.
On top of this I've recently bought 5 Leagues from the Borderlands, used our Secret Santa event to goad Pete into playing Gondor At War scenarios, there's a Necromunda campaign in the offing, and I'm aiming to bring an narrative element to my games of Warhammer: The Old World (Fantasy Battle) by breaking out some of the old campaign supplements.
Basically, expect more narrative, less competitive.
3. The Tale of Four Armies
This is a weird one.
I've been swept up in the hype for the release of Warhammer: The Old World and even though I've no idea if I'll get to play it (there is a significant lack of enthusiasm in my regular gaming group, who are more focused on 6th edition) it's giving me a reason to engage in a four pronged attack on the Old World.
- Get my Bretonnians to a points where I can play each of the scenarios from the Circle of Blood campaign.
- Tidy up, add to and improve my Vampire Counts army, so that they can contest the Circle of Blood campaign without being embarrassing in the photos.
- Tidy up and rebase (back from Kings of War) my Wood Elves and be able to field at least 2000 points.
- Paint up my Skaven (yes, Skaven) to at least 1000 points.
Best of luck you, I look forward to the updates to come!
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