2013 Review, 2014 Preview

So, the Earth's plodded around the Sun for another year (doesn't it ever get bored) and it's time to look back at what I've done this year and to take a sneak peek at next year's plans.

2013

Looking back at last year's review:

Painting

It was a year of Science Fiction and Zombies as far as figures went. I have done no 54mm figures, and the Mantic Undead are still decomposing quietly in the loft (although I do hear occasional scratching sounds coming from the boxes).

I picked up the airbrush again in the middle of the year, and have built more vehicles in the last six months than I have in probably the last six years.

I finished my first piece of MDF scenery and have started to dabble in cardboard scenery. Much as I prefer resin and plastic scenery, the cardboard stuff takes a lot less time to put together, is generally a lot easier to store and looks perfectly acceptable on the table. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper :-)

Modelling

I actually sculpted a figure earlier this year. It's part of an ongoing project, but here are a couple of teaser shots.

I have done some "concept" work in Poser for another figure, but I haven't got any further with it yet, what with painting, scenery and vehicles taking up all my time.

Gaming

The only games I've played this year are a couple of Zombicide games, although I'm hoping to sneak in a test game of All Things Zombie before the new year (it's been one of the driving forces behind my cardboard scenery efforts).

2014

Painting

My big plan for the year is to paint up loads of science fiction figures. I've finally figured out a fairly simple background setting, so my intention is to paint up the various boxes I have as different groups. I have plenty of vehicles lying around, so hopefully I'll be able to fight some mercenary/evil corporation actions.

Zombie hunters and some Mantic Undead (honest) will be interspersed with the SF stuff, to provide a bit of variety.

On the scenery and vehicle fronts, there are a ridiculous/embarrassing number of unpainted vehicles in my cupboard, so I'm going to try to work my way through them. I also have several pieces of unpainted scenery as well as a number of PDFs to print out and build.

So much to do, so little time...

Modelling

There are a couple of ideas rolling about in the recesses of my brain, so hopefully I'll find time to do something with them. No promises, though.

Gaming

I have plans for both Zombie and Science Fiction games next year. The intention is to set aside one weekend a month and play a game rather than watch a movie. However, that was also my intention this year, and that didn't really work out so well...

Summary

Loads done, but slightly disjointed in terms of an overall plan. The outcome of this is that any time I've sat down to think about playing a game, I've found that I don't have enough figures of the correct type; a big part of my 2014 plan is to fill in those gaps. I'm largely done with zombies for now, but need to paint up more survivors, especially those with "normal weapons" - i.e. not chainsaws!

And Finally

There were a couple of minor blog milestones this year that I failed to mention. The first was the 100th post. However, it was the Claymore 2013 post, so didn't really seem worth highlighting. The second was the 10,000th pageview a month or so ago. Given that it's taken me nearly three years to reach that number, it's still a pretty quiet corner of the interwebnets over here.

On that note, it just remains for me to wish you all a Happy New Year.