Janus Post 24/25

It's that time of year when bloggers traditionally try and remember what they did over the past twelve months and set unrealistic goals for the next. Who am I to argue with tradition?

Janus, god of mini painters and hobbyists

Targets Set 

Firstly, what did I set out to do last year?

6mm dwarves; I wanted to get a few more companies and characters finished, sadly very little progress here. Worse, I put 'magnetic paper' on the bases for safe storage and transport, but it has proven not strong enough. The tin wasn't stored level and everything slid to one end, resulting in some bent pikes. Nothing that can't be fixed, but dispiriting. This needs sorting.

Similarly, I haven't sorted through the remaining pile of unpainted 6mm stuff - with one notable exception (see below).

Neither have I finished my MESBG Haradrim, nor any Orks.

In fact, none of my existing projects really got much further.

But looking at my actual post, these were hopes rather than goals. My goal was simply "". And I think I accomplished that.

Looking Back 

Last year saw me reorganise my Old School project (yet again) and a considerable increase in my Oldhammer orcs. I've nearly finished painting the minis required for the Severed Hand orcs in the classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle scenario pack 'Bloodbath At Orc's Drift' (just seven Hobhounds to go at time of writing). This led to Bodvoc and myself, always searching for the perfect set of rules, to try out Warlord Games' Warlords of Erehwon, written by Rick Priestley. So far they seem to give the right sort of feel for the size and type of games we want to play with our Old School stuff.

All this Oldhammer led to me attending BOYL for the first time. Not actually my idea (Andy first mentioned it, and I'm very pleased he did. I'd never have gone on my own, but it was great to have a group of us there, three quarters of the MEGAforce).

My only bit of 6mm painting was my Orctober project. Bodvoc and I tried to get at least 500 points of Fantastic Battles stuff painted, including scenery. We both managed it, though mine are not really a balanced force. Most were restored previously painted minis, which gave me the opportunity to sort through what I have for orcs, and an opposing force for my dwarves.

I took part in the RPGaday project during. This was fascinating idea, and it got me thinking about what I play and why, and it should help me decide what games to keep and which to let go or avoid in the future. I had hoped for more engagement with my blog as a result, I'm not sure that happened. Perhaps next time I'll do something that provides more generally useful content?

The tail end of the year saw me finally get round to playing Joseph McCulloch's Rangers of Shadow Deep. This cooperative skirmish game seems to be a hit with the MEGAforce (though Grim has yet to try it) and has inspired me to build up some more of the various plastic minis that I have (OK, yes, and buy some more), and build up some more suitable terrain. 

For various reasons, I played far fewer wargames or skirmish games than 2023. While disappointing, it gave me the opportunity to concentrate on just a few things. This certainly helped me to really enjoy painting. Although I'm still not where I want to be regarding hobby stuff, I can see where I'm going with it. 

The thinning out process started very well, clearing a lot of RPG minis, several whole armies and quite a bit of Lord of the Rings stuff, but slowed towards the middle of the year. The arrival of Bones 6 has got me looking through my roleplaying minis again, and I'm in the process of further thinning.

Looking Forward 

'More of the same' is too broad and unhelpful, but, in essence, I want to carry on as I have been doing. 

The thinning exercise must continue, and linked with this is the ethos that collections of minis and terrain must be as useful as possible. Either relevant for a game I really enjoy, such as my Kings of War armies or my Middle Earth stuff;, or useable in several games, like my terrain or the Old School orcs. 

Thus I've made a set of generic tokens that I can use in Rangers of the Shadow Deep as well as Frostgrave and many other wargames, rather than model dead bodies, cocoons and other scenario specific objectives.

This is the secret motivation behind the Orc's Drift project. Once I've painted the minis and built the terrain, I'll have plenty to use in many different games.

So for 2025 I'm going to steadily build up terrain and armies so that I have stuff ready for play. I may revisit some of my Kings of War armies (it's too long since I played) and I certainly want to get further with both the Rangers of Shadow Deep stuff, which is really generic fantasy skirmish stuff and most of which is good for RPGs as well, and the Old School Orc's Drift collection.

Terrain is an issue for both 6mm and 10mm games, but I have some stuff, I just need to make a few more bits then I'll have a set for each scale.

As I've said before, if I have a deadline I might achieve the target, but it will be rushed, probably incomplete and I won't enjoy it, especially towards the end (it'll feel great having it finished though). If I have no goals at all, I'm lost, unable to decide amongst the many possibilities. I've wasted a lot of hobby time this way.

'Fuzzy Targets' are best.

Above and beyond  these worthy goals, there are three things I'd like to explore.

Last year my blog hit 75 000 views, and is moving nicely towards 100 000 views. It seems appropriate to have a special battle report for the occasion, but I'm not sure what. 

One idea is to return to Mars. I still have some 18mm Mars stuff. Not much, but enough for a skirmish game or two, perhaps Fistful of Lead? It would mean starting from scratch though with terrain and minis, and I don't see it as a game I'd be playing a lot.

I've also got a lot of 28mm Star Wars minis from the WotC pre painted ranges. I've repainted some in the past, but never done anything with them. It would be nice to have some games, probably using Fistful of Lead as it worked great in our 20mm scale games. A short campaign with competing gangs sounds fun, but it would need terrain building.

One final possible diversion is Trench Crusade. My son-in-law is very interested in this, and I'd happily scratch build some terrain and models. It breaks my 'rules' in that it would be very specific in use. Fun though.