Looking ahead to 2016 – The Hobby Bit

Pretty much a year ago to this day I resolved to do more ‘hobby’ in 2015 – more gaming, more painting. It went okay, but I’m looking to do even more in 2016. Just as with looking ahead to my work schedule it doesn’t pay to forecast too far ahead, but I have a number of ongoing projects I want to complete and some definite plans for what I want to do next.

An empire trade caravan and some folks to protect or attack it.

On The Painting Table

The first priority is to finish the Anaryal: The World of Twilight miniatures I started a couple of months ago. I ‘batch’ paint, working on several figures at once, but perhaps picked too many to paint at the same time on this pass. There’s too much going on in terms of numbers of colours and different paint schemes to get in a groove. To get them finished I’m going to split them into two lots and finish one before tackling the other.

I’m going to take a break from the denizens of Anaryal after that, for a short while, and turn my attention to something both old and new – Betrayal at Calth. Space Marines have, of course, been around for a long time. And it has also been a long time since I painted any. I think the last ones were some Terminators I did for a playtest ‘mock-up’ for the re-launch of Space Hulk, and that was when I was still at GW in 2006. It must have been four or five years since I had painted any Space Marines before that. It’s been so long, in fact, I’m going to have to learn to paint Space Marine-style from scratch. I’ll be painting them as the Ultramarines and Word Bearers featured in the game and storyline, rather than as a single force for games of 40K (or more properly, 30K). But if it goes well, it could be the start of something bigger. But let’s not get carried away.

What is particularly telling is that I need to go out and buy some polystyrene cement to assemble them first – how long since I worked on plastic models!?

If it goes well I’ll crack into my copy of Space Hulk…

Awaiting the Brush

As well as the remaining Anaryal models, I’m going to tackle two Kickstarter miniatures projects. The first is some anthropomorphic warriors from Oathsworn for their Burrows and Badgers range. Kez has even expressed an interest in painting one of these furry adventurers – a possible first foray into miniatures painting. When they are done I’ll probably be using them for some games of Open Combat.

A more recent arrival from Kickstarter is a collection of Mad Max-esque vehicles as part of the Road/ Kill Car Combat game. I’ve wanted to have a go at these since their first attempt at a Kickstarter a couple of years ago and finally I’ve got the chance. Like most of my projects, they offer something a bit different, and whether I’ll use them with the Road/ Kill rules (which look fun) or as a spur for something of my own design, I don’t know yet (possibly both).

And for something just for fun, with no gaming attached, I have a couple of Filbots to paint. I know Fil Dunn from his time as an ‘Eavy Metal painter at Games Workshop and a quick look at his Facebook shows that he is crazy about robots, and BIG ROBOTS at that. I can understand that sort of obsession. As a thank you for putting in a good word occasionally, Fil sent me a lovely Christmas present. As these will be display pieces I’m going to leave them until I’ve regained a bit of my painting mojo on some other projects – I want to take my time with these.

If I’m completely honest, my painting is not as good as it used to be. I was never going to win any Golden Demon Slayer swords, but back in my GW days I was painting regularly, working alongside and inspired by some of the top professional miniatures painters and most talented hobbyists you could ever hope to meet. I’ve defaulted to a sort of basecoat – wash – highlight technique that does okay for most of the things I’m painting, but I need to go back to school for some of the other projects I have in mind.

To that end I asked for, and received, a particular Christmas present – Painting Wargaming Figures by Javier Gomez . It’s a very different style to what I have become accustomed to, but that’s sort of the point. I’m really looking forward to trying out something different, maybe finding some techniques that’ll reinvigorate my approach to painting.

Kickstarters Due to Arrive

I’ve taken a vow to step away from Kickstarter for a little while. It might be a couple of months, it might be six, we’ll have to see if anything irresistible comes up. I’ve still got quite a bit of stuff in the pipe to come through, and it’s time to have a break and take stock. With projects like this dark ages fort arriving and later on Onslaught Two for Cthulhu Wars, storage is becoming a genuine issue. I’ll find the space (and it really is a coincidence that we are thinking of extending the house and adding two rooms…) but I want to appreciate what I’ve already got.

(With that said, Parallax is due for a re-launch and that looks very cool. There will also be some other news coming soon regarding Parallax.)

After a bumpy middle period, Rumbleslam finished on a surge of funding, so I’m going to have to think which of the models I’m going to pick when survey time comes around. Certainly something Dwarfy, and I may up my pledge for a few more miniatures…

I’ve got some roleplaying games coming along this year, which will be interesting. The new edition of Paranoia will certainly become a favourite I’m sure, and in a similar vein Goblin Quest will prove popular for standalone sessions. Blades in the Dark offers something in a different style – it looks like a thoroughly modern RPG and I hope to try it out with some of my old roleplaying regulars.

I also have a slew of board games, but more of them later.

Perhaps most significant from the hobby angle, certainly in RPG, card and board games terms, is the opening of the Dice Cup. This is Nottingham’s first board games cafe, one that I have a year membership for, as well as more drinks and food vouchers than is entirely necessary. With a central Nottingham venue and different games (and refreshments) on tap, I’m hoping this will help me keep in the gaming habit.

Video Killed the Tabletop Star?

I also backed by first videogame on Kickstarter – the venerable Battletech getting a new makeover from some of the creators of the legendary Mechwarrior. Seriously, they had me at ‘Battletech’ and ‘turn-based tactical’.

I could run the game on the main PC, but sitting upstairs in the (hopefully new) office is antisocial. With that in mind, and the coming releases of Dark Future: Blood Red State and Total War: Warhammer I probably need to save up for a gaming laptop. Please buy more of my books and stories to aid in this mission. Even if you think you’ve read them all, you should go and check, just to be sure.

Gaming Night

As I recently posted on Facebook and Twitter my 2016 boardgaming got off to a good start with an inaugural venture into Battlestar Galactica: the Board Game. I’ve owned the game for several years but this was the first opportunity to play it – and we had a great time. It will definitely be coming out again, perhaps next time the humans will manage more than two jumps before being overrun by a Cylon boarding party…

I’m hoping this group, or some permutation of the members, can get together every couple of weeks, because I have a mountain of games I want to play – and a few of the others certainly have too! It’s the sort of thing that if done regularly becomes habitual, like painting, and that’s where I want to get to.

As well as more Battlestar Galactica, we’ll be returning to Cthulhu Wars. Now with added stuff from the second wave of the Kickstarter (I didn’t go all out on expansions, but I have made up the rest with Onslaught Two!). The single outing so far was good fun, with more of an idea of what is going on, this will become a regular diversion I’m sure.

As well as some of the Kickstarters from last year we can look forward to the arrival of the beautiful-looking Scythe, Tiny Epic Western (as well as playing the previous Tiny Epic games), Human Interface – Nakamura Tower (some more beautiful miniatures for which I need some practice before attempting), Side Quest, and the much-delayed but anticipated Tavern Brawl.

Homegrown Fun

Lastly, I want to get some time on the homebrew rules I’ve been working on. The most likely candidate is a set of World War II rules I’ve been noodling with for nearly seven years. I’ve been umming and aahing about how to present the system on a commercial basis, but really I just need to knuckle down, get some games in to check the rules are tight, and worry about publishing later. If the mechanics are sorted, the rest can follow.

I also have some pretty grand plans for some really fun 15mm Sci-fi rules – a return to a more narrative-style gaming focussed around storytelling and imagination more than competitive scenarios (inspired in part by the original Warhammer 40,000 – Rogue Trader, like Inquisitor). I’ve got some part-painted models already, but like the Anaryal miniatures I need to focus on getting a few finished at a time.

On a more personal-yet-commercial front, I’m hoping to turn the notes I have for playing with Undead in Close Combat into a fully-fledged supplement that Second Thunder will be able to publish. That will mean getting plenty of games in to get them right. It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.

Board games underneath a coincidence!

(As an aside, do you know what I like most about Open Combat? The number and difference of ideas players have, to expand and use the rules in various ways.)

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but like a year ago I’m determined to get more hobby-tastic in 2016. How did you do in 2015, and what are your hobby and gaming goals for the year?

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