With all the massive changes in armies and rules editions (both 40k and WHFB... End Times anyone?), the profusion of codexes and dataslates and therefore new weekly army combinations, the amount of exciting stuff coming out of Black Library, and amazing individual hobby blogs all over the place, it’s just overflowing my brain with inspiration and I find it difficult occasionally to say whoa, and take a step back.
Suffice to say I have plenty on my plate to take up all my available time and then some, but there are a few specific-ish things I want to achieve this year (and will look to keep a running total somewhere on the blog).
Terrain:
- Paint my 40k Sector Imperialis board - I’ll be looking to de-base and touch up/detail my existing GW Cityfight terrain to fit with this
- Build enough based terrain from my old ruins (from the 3rdEd box) to cover a second table, plus I have a Firestorm Redoubt, an Imperial Defence Emplacement, a couple of Shrines of the Aquila, a couple of Bastions, and a Fortress of Redemption plus other leftover bits (e.g. ruined landspeeder... I think I still have one) to cover another table or two.
- Look at rebuilding and possibly painting (sacrilege!) my Necromunda card terrain with additional detail added from the Sector Imperialis kits
This would give me enough to do three – four... probably more... complete 40k tables of varying density.
Tournaments
I aim to umpire at least one 40k tournament hopefully in the middle of this year, time and support willing. I am just waiting to hear back regarding hall availability so will update this when I can confirm a date.
If there are any one-day tournaments in Wellington this year I will look to be one of the first to register. I believe, at least for my demographic, that one-dayers are the way of the immediate future. The prime benefit is (for me) that it’s a much easier commitment to make particularly if you have a partner/children/other activities i.e. sports.
Hobby painting schedule
This is my rough painting plan ...err... guideline for 2015 to help me keep on track. Let’s check it at the end of December to see how accurate I was and how that pans out once LifeTM has had a look and applied its own edits i.e. “How about some Fantasy stuff then eh??”
Suffice to say that the statement ‘Try not to get too distracted by new releases’ shall apply over the whole year...
January:
- Paint 10+ models from Painting Case
- Paint 2x Realm of Battle boards
- Paint replacement Grey Knight Terminator arms (so I can field a WYSIWYG unit)
February:
- Terrain month – paint complete Sector Imperialis board
- Paint 4+ models from Painting Case
- Paint Grey Knight Terminator Librarian (old metal model, not nice new plastic ones)
- Participate in NZTC
March:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Paint 1x Astra Militarum tank
- Assemble rest of existing Grey Hunter pack
April:
- Terrain month – paint enough terrain to cover a 6’x4’ board
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Test model for Deathwatch
- Assemble 3x Adepta Sororita Immolators
May:
- Run tournament?
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Assemble Grey Hunter pack
June:
- Run tournament?
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Assemble Wolf Scouts with Sniper Rifles
July:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Paint 2+ Adepta Sororita Immolators
August:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Call to Arms?
- Build Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf (at the very least the Thunderwolf)
September:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Paint 2x Astra Militarum tanks
October:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Build Wolf Guard terminators
November:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Paint 1x Astra Militarum tank
December:
- Paint 6+ models from Painting Case
- Take a break!
So all going to plan I will have painted 70+ models plus a few tanks, started assembling my Space Wolves, and built more terrain.
Skills I want to gain/areas I want to improve
I’d like to focus on my painting speed this year – I’m no Dave Taylor and can’t pump a GD army out in a week, and I can take too long to paint so I want to find ways of cutting corners without sacrificing my quality (to put that in perspective, let’s face this too – I'm no Golden Daemon winner either... but I do have standards).
I absolutely love using washes and glazes and drybrushing to get good depth and detail, so want to continue using them as a basis for getting stuff done to a level I am happy with.
I want to (learn to) use my airbrush more. I intend to try zenithal painting on my Space Wolves and the Deathwatch, so we’ll see how that pans out.
I’ll aim to do more weathering, starting with terrain because that’s a bit more forgiving.
What I think is on the horizon
Finally, this is a view from my crystal ball in what’s coming for the hobby.
I’d quite comfortably say that GW is aiming to destroy the (primarily 40k) tournament scene.
Now let me clarify that this is not in a negative way as in 'stop tournaments from happening because we are a company that is about the models and we don't want people to unforge the narrative', but I see that it’s more an attempt to destroy the meta-effect and those armies that dominated tournaments for large stretches pre-6th/7th – these days with the weekly release schedule and other army publications happening at pace it’s just too hard, even with help of the internets – to keep up with what is new this week and how that impacts every other convoluted combination that has come prior. Maybe I’ll go over this more in another post (or in a discussion below).
What I think that it will do is push (and focus) people back to collecting the armies and models they actually like or identify with, and hopefully this will mean they’ll be learning to play them and the missions better, rather than feeling a bit forced into collecting the latest uber-army of doom in order to feel competitive.
It also may bring more pressure from players on tournament organisers to provide generic restrictions (or none at all... maybe not so much), but I think it will also create more regional tournament ‘flavours’ particularly in large demographics like the USA.
It is certainly interesting times.
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