2015 Year in review and 2016 Resoloutions

Well it's that time when every blogger goes and looks at what the said they wanted to do at the end of the year and measures it up against how things turned out.  I know at the start of 2015 i was in a bit of a funk i hadn't blogged much and the first few months remained the same as i changed jobs and ended up working way more hours than id intended.  The last half (Well 4 months) of 2015 haven't been great but rather dwelling on the negative i want to look at the positives.  I got back into blogging in a much bigger way and reconnected with many other great bloggers. I started a YouTube channel and restarted my painting business. Most of all i found my love of painting rekindled in a way that it haven't been for at least 12 months.

Now first of all lets look at what i wrote a year ago:

"Resolutions for 2015 - I hate doing this part as it invariably never goes to plan. I have few goals for this year. I want to do some work on the house and redo our back year and add a Pagola so we can sit outside in summer and still game. I want to work on my Asian themed terrain and do up some nice gaming boards as well as paint up 2 more forces and get the lads playing legends of the rising sun and Ronin (as i love the period) - this may happen through Japanese SAGA. Other than that i will continue to work on my Republican Romans for the big April game of Hail Caesar that is planned (who knows if i can get enough done in 4 months!!!). That's about it. No interest in adding in more games to the mix (ive said this before, but i really don't need new games. I just want to focus on playing what we have already.) But im sure new forces for existing games will be part of the year to come.     I have been using Facebook more and more for posting pictures of my work as it is some much easier than blogging. I need to see if there is a way to blog easier so there is more stuff for you guys to look at."


LOL!!

- So my Japanese project didn't go very far. I still want to do it and i have done up for Japanese themed figures.maybe 2016 will be the year.
- The House redo didn't happen due to lack of money.
- The Republican Roman project was a fizzle - but i intend to try and do them as part of the Painting challenge.
- As for no new game - I added Pike and Shotte - something i dont regret at all and its become a personal favorite.

So safe to say 2015 didn't go as planned on any level. I believe this picture of a red panda face palming sums it up well.

So that's what didn't happen what did i achieve. Well I improved my tools. I added a Light box setup and got a new DSLR camera so 2016 should see much improved looking content.

I got a new Kitten to mend the hole left in my heart when my very old friend Jake had to be put down. - this in retrospect was a mistake as Poppy is a fricken nightmare. The least friendliest cat ive ever owned. She has her charms and i cant help but love my fuzzy buddy but she hasn't healed the hole like i wanted.

I painted about 700 points of a Royalist English Civil War Army for Pike and Shotte.

I Started working on a American Civil war Force and rediscovered my love of this period and even started a Blog dedicated to it.

1. Continue to work on my Pike and Shotte Royalist army. I've enjoyed this project so much i just want to keep adding units to the army.

2. I want to start building a bit of a YouTube following if i can. To do this i need to improve my production values from start to finish. 2016 is the year for it to happen.

3. I really want my painting business to become a full time thing. This may not happen in 2016 but id like it too - time will tell.

4. Now i have a DSLR camera i want to get a couple of extra lenses and go out with Will, Rob Lee and Mark and take lots of cool photos of lots of different subjects.

5. Continue to work on my ACW Confederate force.

6. Get rid of my bad back and leg pain so i can function like a normal human being again.

That's it!! Not to much to ask

So in closing:

2014 year in review

What was going to be my last post of 2014 has turned into my first post for 2015 as i ended up spending the night with my family watching movies. A nice was to see out the year.

before i do the usual year in review i thought i would show off 2 things i have been working on. The first is the latest unit for my SAGA force.

This gives me 9 points of troops that i now have painted for my SAGA force.  The second thing i have been working on is my Republican Romans for Kings of war and Hail Caesar.

The little big men studios transfers and Vitrix square bases work really well and i think the army is going to turn out really good when its all done.

Now to the year in review.  Well what can i say its been a good year overall.

From a work perspective - I got a promotion after only 4 months in a new job and have been doing well in the new role since getting it. Its a good job and for the most part i enjoy it.  My new work mates are great and i got a great surprise on my birthday!

Pimped up birthday desk.

From a personal perspective - it was a year of lots of change and that can sometimes be hard but for the most part it wasn't a bad year. The kids are getting older and dealing with them has been challenging (any parent here will appreciate this). Health wise 9 months of perfect health followed by 3 winter months of being sick... a lot (a first for me and a sign im getting older i guess!).
 I replaced my trusty old Suzuki Swift with a new car that i have wanted for a long time my Nissian 350Z. (sports car before 40 - achievement unlocked!).

The Z.

   
From a gaming perspective - What can i say we started playing three or four new games this year Bolt Action and SAGA, Xwing and Kinds of War. All have been a lot of fun to play and to paint. Overall SAGA and Bolt Action were the stand out winners and got alot of gaming time. I added some scenery for bolt action to my collection and so have a reasonable amount of french township buildings for us to fight our 28mm WW2 battles over. I finished my army for bolt action and im happy with how it turned out.  My SAGA army is also complete and ready for many games in the new year.

The first (of many) saga forces.

New terrain.

Bolt action British - now i feel i need a German force)

 This year i also finished a Bushido force (still a game we have yet to play - maybe 2015 will be the one!) as well as a couple of forces for Legends of the old west.

Temple of Ro-Kan.

Lawmen.

Outlaws.

 I also finished my warrior monks for Ronin and Legends of the rising sun (which is going to be my project of 2015) I have a lot of terrain and figures to paint up for this one so i can get the Lads to play.

 Late 2013 and early 2014 i had been working on lots of my lord of the rings figures. I finished up a massive group of Uruk Berserkers in Jan/feb and had a few awesome games with them.

 For some reason i seem to have no pictures of my kinds of war skeleton army readily available but i painted almost 2000 points of skeletons in Red/white livery.
 We had several very large games over the year. A massive LOTR game with almost every LOTR figure i own (and that's alot!). We had several big 4 player Bolt action games. There was much talk of a large xwing game that never happened but we are planning on it for early 2015.
 I know a lot more stuff was painted and many many games have been had but these are the things that stick out for me at the moment.  

Resolutions for 2015 - I hate doing this part as it invariably never goes to plan. I have few goals for this year. I want to do some work on the house and redo our back year and add a Pagola so we can sit outside in summer and still game. I want to work on my Asian themed terrain and do up some nice gaming boards as well as paint up 2 more forces and get the lads playing legends of the rising sun and Ronin (as i love the period) - this may happen through Japanese SAGA. Other than that i will continue to work on my Republican Romans for the big April game of Hail Caesar that is planned (who knows if i can get enough done in 4 months!!!). That's about it. No interest in adding in more games to the mix (ive said this before, but i really don't need new games. I just want to focus on playing what we have already.) But im sure new forces for existing games will be part of the year to come.     I have been using Facebook more and more for posting pictures of my work as it is some much easier than blogging. I need to see if there is a way to blog easier so there is more stuff for you guys to look at.

Anyways that's enough from me. Its summer and i have a day off and the beach is calling me.

Hope everyone has a happy new year.