Tavern Talk - New Year Resolutions.

It's the first Tavern Talk of the new year!

Kuffy asks:

"The new year is here, time for all those promises you make to the 'hobby gods', friends and family about your hobby.  It is time to admit them to the blogosphere, to share with us all the resolutions you have made for Fantasy in the new year.  What are your plans for the up coming year?  What goals do you hope to achieve for 2011?"

Before I dive into my plans for the new year I thought it would be interesting to see how I fared in my resolutions for 2010. So with that in mind let's take a look at what I was so "resolved" to accomplish and how I fared.

• Be a better sportsman:  I think I did pretty well here. I learned to love the games I play and not get as caught up in the competitive aspects, but there are still ways I would like to improve more with this. I sometimes get caught up in a "downward spiral" when things aren't going well for me and that brings down the mood of most games pretty quick.
  Verdict: WIN 

• Finish painting my Vampire Counts WHFB army:  I didn't even come close to finishing this one. After getting my army assembled, based, and primed I stalled out on the painting front. This was compounded by my move across country and the general lack of WHFB community in my hometown.
  Verdict: FAIL
  
  
• Begin work on my Warriors of Chaos:  I did start building a unit of Marauders/Beastmen and even got test paint on a few models but overall I sort of stalled out here. Part of my problem was trying to decide on a theme for my WoC force. I really love the idea of Malal but I am quite tempted to go with a Khornate force now.I expect more work to be done on this army during 2011, most likely before my VC get any additional love.
  Verdict: WIN?
  
  
• Learn 40k and start or don't:  Played a few games of 40k before I moved away from Austin and won them all. Overall I just can't get that excited about 40k as a tabletop game. I like a lot of the fluff/theme/setting and some of the models get me really pumped but as a game... I decided not to bother (now at least). Instead of 40k I started playing Blood Bowl instead!
  Verdict: WIN
  
  
• Build some terrain:  I didn't even get started on this. The idea of building terrain interests me but as I don't have a gaming table right now (nor anyone to play on it) this resolution stalled out before it ever got started.
  Verdict: FAIL 

• Release four issues of the Bellower:  We did it! It was a tooth and nail event that came right down to the wire but I did manage to wrangle up enough content for four issues last year. It will be difficult to make it happen this year but I am willing to give it a go.
  Verdict: WIN

• Attend as many tournaments as possible:  I only managed to attend Adepticon for WHFB and I didn't make it out to any other events (although I had planned on going to a couple Blood Bowl tournaments). The biggest reasons for not accomplishing more here were economic and work/time related. I am hope to do better this year!
  Verdict: FAIL?
  

What was my final tally for the 2010 resolutions? Well counting the questionable verdicts we're looking at 4 wins and 3 fails. Not bad!

So what does 2011 have in store for me? An even busier professional life (opening a brand new grocery store that is four times larger than our current location), a general lack of hobby funds (meaning I will have to get very creative with the bits and pieces I have sitting around), and working hard to build a larger gaming group (I have Blood Bowl for now but I am lacking any real WHFB community). With those things in mind here are my resolutions for 2011:

• Finish all the Blood Bowl teams I have started:  I currently have one Nurgle team fully painted and three other teams in various states of completion. I would like to get my Amazon (Bloody Marys), Orc (Trailer Orc Boyz), and Ogre (Bulltimore Bullies) teams finished this year. I also recently picked up a few models for a Lizardmen team so that is in the books too... lots to do!

• Play on the tabletop more:  Gotta find some time to get down to the FLGS for some pickup games, out of town to tournaments as time and funds allow, and maybe even ramp up the "at home" gaming action in small ways. I want to play more games!!

• Stop buying and start painting more models:  I did a pretty good job of this last year (without a formal resolution) but I want to be even better about it this year. I have plenty of models which need paint and there is little reason to buy more (with a few exceptions... like my WoC army).

• Don't start any new tabletop games:  Unless there is suddenly a huge swell in local gaming around one tabletop game I vow not to start anything new. I'd love to get some Mordheim action going, and the Wyrd and Privateer Press games/minis have been taunting me, but...

• Be an even better sportsman:  I want to be someone people like to play, knowing they are in for a fun game, and not someone people are dreading being around. Small incremental improvements are okay as long as I am always striving to have more fun in games.

• Get another four issues of the Bellower released:  This one will probably be the most difficult thing on my list. I know the coming months will see a drastic reduction in the amount of hobby time I have, let alone time to edit/write/create/communicate enough to get this webzine assembled and released four times during the year. I'd love help if you are reading this and have any interest at all!!

That is quite a list... we'll see how I fare next year! In the meantime keep an eye peeled for periodic updates on my resolutions as time goes by. What do you hope to achieve in your new year of hobby?