Saturday, September 28, 2013

New Years Resolution Updates - September

Only 3 months left in my 2013 Resolutions hopes and I’m probably coming up to the final count for points.  Frankly it looks like I'm going to be getting a pretty mediocre grade at best with the finals here.

1. Finish painting my Warhammer Quest set.
Last year I made the final movement into getting the rest of the Warhammer Quest collection.  That isn't to say that I own every model you could possibly run into in the game, but I do own nearly every piece that was specifically made for Quest itself.  In fact last year I managed to completely finish painting the entire base set and now I'm left with Lair of the Orc Lord and Catacombs of Terror along with the rest of the independent characters.  I'd really like to finish this bad boy up and get some good foam for it from Battlefoam maybe, but let's just work on the painting right now.  This shouldn't be too bad.  I think total this is only about 20 models.  There will be no half points for this.  It either does or does not get done.

0/10pts
Failed (The year isn’t over, but I guarantee I will not be getting to this.)
0 Points!   
2. Finish Bretonnian Army
Ah, what good hobbyist doesn't have this specific goal?  Considering last year I nearly completed two armies (Skaven and Empire) I see absolutely no reason that I can't complete the Bretonnian army by year’s end.  I started this army just near the end of last year so it hasn't even been shelved off of the table yet since I've procured it.  I have a specific set of models for this army right now and the goal is to completely finish what I have and buy nothing extra.  This may of course be overridden by GW bringing out a new Army Book. I think this is unlikely, but possible.  The original purchase of this army was for the Adepticon Team Tournament of 1,200 points.  Half credit for the 1,200, full for everything I have.

0/5/10pts
Complete (Not only did I finish every model I had but I recently sold it!  I just didn’t enjoy the play style enough.)
10 Points

3. Finish 2 Unfinished Projects
Yet another resolution every hobbyist has for themselves.  I guess really the Quest set kind of falls into this category but I'm speaking of everything in general.  I actually did finish my Dwarf army years ago, but I still have about 30 models for the Empire army and probably 50-60 for my Skaven army.  I'd really like to finish them up.  I also need to construct a display board for both the Bretonnian and Empire armies.  So these will be my projects.  Note I designated (2) projects, and not every one of them because let’s face it; you'll never manage that!  1 Project for 1/2 credit.

0/5/10pts
Complete (Finished Bretonnia Army, Display Boards for Empire and Bretonnia)
10 Points 

4. No More Board Games
I own too many games.  I've known this for years, but I keep a pretty accurate count due to insurance reasons.  I have just a hair under $10k worth of Games Workshop product of some kind and a couple of hundred dollars under $3k in Board Games.  I know better than to think that I won’t be buying more GW stuff, but considering how rarely I actually get the Board Games to the tables I've decided to put a moratorium on Board Games for the year.  This means avoiding garage sales, online excitement, etc...  So I'll be dovetailing my activity on Board Game Geek and everything else.  Its going to be rough because I'm a very flighty person who always wants what I see when I get excited about it.  I've bought many a game through quick impulse.  Full or none!  I either avoid buying or fail and purchase.

0/10pts
Failed (110% Failure!  I think I’ve only purchased 3 or 4, but still a failure.)
0 Points  
5. Play Every Board Game (And sell them!)
This is a two part...  Having gone through my collection I find that I own just over 175 board games.  Now, not all of these are mine specifically; I've gotten plenty of games that are just for my sons (age 4 and 10).  I keep my games quite separate from there's and my goal is to play every one of my games at least once this year.  I'm going to buy a sticker sheet of little orange dots from the store and every game that gets played will get a dot.  At the end of the year any game without a dot will go onto the chopping block and be sold off.  I'm the kind of person who is loathe to part with things and accept change that said there is no real tangible 1/2 way for this, so again with all or nothing.

0/10pts
Failed (Foregone conclusion here.)
0 Points  0

6. Run a Tournament
Some of you know that between me and many people in Bloomington that I already run tournaments.  These are small tournaments though that tend to draw anywhere from 8-16 people.  The most we've had at that.  I want to not only run a better tournament; but I want to run 20 people minimum and have a nice set of tables and terrain there.  I'm looking at emulating Invasion Kenosha basically.  Hopefully I'll see this idea come to fruition.  I've already been working on it and maybe we'll see it happen.  I'm a busy man with two kids, tournaments I already run, etc...  If I manage to at least complete the terrain for 10 tables worth I'll consider this 1/2 credit.

0/5/10pts
Failed (I know the year isn't up, but I haven’t built the terrain I wanted to and I know it isn’t going to happen.)
0 Points 

7. Get My Son to Play Miniatures
My oldest boy is 10 years old (11 in July) and while he has shown mild interest in Warhammer he's never really been 'for' it.  A casualty of the 'video game' era is the only thing I can come up with.  I have absolutely no idea if I'll ever succeed; but my plan is to get him and some of his friends started as easy as I can and throw them into some games of HeroQuest.  I ran across a box of HeroQuest some time ago completely un-punched and still on sprue and while I'd planned mostly to sell the thing I'm thinking more now about using it as an entry point for the kid.  While the ultimate goal is to get him into Warhammer if I can at least get him and his Friends to play this game a minimum of (5) times I'll throw 1/2 credit.  If it actually leads to a game of Warhammer full points!

0/5/10pts
Half Credit/Modified? (Well, I haven't gotten my son to play Warhammer yet, and no more games of Heroquest than at the last update (so 1 game) but we have at this point gotten into Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game.  Even more importantly we've played the crap out of it and gotten involved in a local league at our FLGS.  I can only say that I had intended this to be Warhammer, but he is playing miniatures and were way past 5 games.  As such I feel I deserve at least some credit, but since it isn't Warhammer I'm only going 1/2 credit here.)
5 Points

8. Play 52 Miniature Games
This is a yearly goal and has been for the last 4 years.  Every year I come quite close but 2012 was the first time I'd achieved it!  I run the Blood Bowl on-line league which I didn't count in 2011 (which means I probably would've made it that year too).  This time I'm counting it though.  It may seem like a bit of a cheat since it’s on the PC, but screw it, considering the time and effort I put into the league.  If I can breach 45 games I'll go 1/2 points.

0/5/10pts
Half Credit (As with the previous goal with some modification.  Including games of X-wing I’ll smash this.  I figured at this point if I’m counting Bloodbowl leagues I may as well count X-wings too, it is a miniature game, just not Warhammer.  Currently with X-wing included I'm at 52.  I’d say since it isn’t Warhammer or even related I should only count every 2 games as 1 which would actually put me at 43.  I believe I’m going to crack this one.
5 Points 

9. Crack a Top 20 or Podium Award
I've been playing in tournaments now for 4 years.  Competitively I've never been a super solid player and I always go more for the fun and drunken shenanigans.  That said I've never been in the top 20 of any tournament.  My tournaments this year will be Adepticon Team Tournament, and Blood in The Sun at the minimum.  I'm on the wait list for the Adepticon How You Use It Tournaments and hopefully they'll either expand or enough people will drop that I can get in.  I must either crack a top 20 somewhere or god bless make a podium of some kind which is to say win an award.  The two need not be connected.  So if I were to get Sports or Players Choice or an award of some kind it would count.  Barring an award at least one tournament with a top 20 placing would be good.  Hell if I manage both I'll throw in the bonus of extra credit and give me an extra 10 points for the effort.
0/10/20pts
Complete
10 Points

10. Lose Weight
So I know that I said up top that this was BS and a cop out.  Fact is I'm going to use it anyway.  Garagehammer and crew have been hosting #Fathammer in which a boatload of Warhammer players have been trying to drop weight.  While the competition began before Christmas I didn't take it seriously and consistently floated and even gained weight before 2012's end.  So in 2013 with renewed vigor I shall drive forth and take it off!  I currently weight in at the time of writing this 221.8lbs.  My goal weight is 200lbs.  If I can hit my mark at some point this year and end 2013 under 210lbs, I will consider this half credit.  If I can hit that mark and end the year under 205lbs. we'll go for full.

0/5/10pts
Half Credit (Since my last update I have gained some weight back.  A significant portion actually, I'm at about 208-9 fluctuating.  Still doing good though and I feel I should be able to with some effort put myself back under 205 before year’s end.)
5 Points

So the current final score is 45 of 100.  If I end the year under 205, get myself to 52 miniature games and make an award at Merry Mayhem which I plan on attending in early December it is still possible for me to get a D grade using the American grade system.  Eek… I’ll have to consider my resolutions next year much more carefully.  

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