2016 Gaming Resolutions

Another year another set of goals. Unlike my real-life resolutions (which were a definitive failure last year) I actually did quite well on my 2015 hobby resolutions. Hopefully the same will be true this year (though not the failing at real life part...).

Last year was heavily malifaux focused and the first year ever that I attended more than 2-3 gaming tournaments in a year. Having attended 13 events in 2015 and qualified for Masters, it was by far the most competitive year I've had in gaming. This year I am going to take a bit of a step back competitively after Masters. Attending fewer events and spending more of my gaming time on other systems (especially Guildball, but also Saga, OGAM, Bloodbowl etc). Malifaux will continue to be my main game but rather than taking up 95% of my time it will prob be closer to 60-70%. Last year I also focused heavily on a few specific masters. This year I plan on being less focused on any one master and spending more time just experimenting with different things. That being said, if I am as taken by a new master as I once was with Dreamer then I will not force myself to play other masters. But it's hard to predict when/if that will happen. Anyway, let's get to those resolutions: Which I've split into gaming and hobby resolutions.

Gaming Resolutions: 
1) Get the Rainbow Badge
Last year my major goals were all about improving competitively and doing well. I also blew away my own expectations and did far better than I ever expected I would. That being said, I don't see myself as having the skill or drive to push any higher. At this point I'm ranked 7th in the UK and the only goals I can think of are aiming to win Masters (not gonna happen) or aiming for UK number 1 (not gonna happen). I just don't think those are goals that appeal to me as I don't think I am good enough player or a committed/competitive enough player to aim for those.

So taking a page from Ben Crowe (King of the South) I've decided to go for the rainbow badge. The rainbow badge is given to players who use all 7 factions at ranked events within a 12-month period. For someone who has only played 1 faction at events, and honestly only 1 master outside of neverborn in total (Viks) this will be quite a change. Heck I've only got one painted crew outside of neverborn at the moment.

That being said I do have my choices for my first three factions down. One will be neverborn (obviously) where I hope to use some of the masters I have painted but haven't taken in an event yet (Zoraida, Collodi, Lynch). Next will be the Viktorias as I have almost everything I need for them finished (just gotta finish a couple Freikorps models and the effigy). Third will be weird as I will taking Gremlin Zoraida. Currently I have never played her and have no Gremlin stuff painted (except McTavish) but between my swampfiends, some unpainted gremlins I will get painted (Burt, Gracie, War Wabbit, Francois) and some borrowed models (thanks Ross!) I should be able to get a decent crew together.

After those 3 I'm not really sure what direction to go on. I will eventually have ten thunder and arcanist crews ready to go as I own Dark Carnival already and am planning on picking up Shenlong at some point this year (and already have Lynch). So those two factions will get covered later in the year. The last two factions are going to be trickier as I have no ressurs masters (nor much of likelihood of picking up one any time soon) and no guild other than Lucius (who is just awful in guild). Anyway, I've got a while before I need to worry about that, and I know I will be able to borrow some models here and there if I need them. But this is kind of my main competitive focus this year as I think it will expand my experience and skills and maybe even make me want to play a faction other than neverborn as my main faction (but probably not ;) )


2) 10+ games played with all my masters.
This is all the masters I own currently, NOT all the masters I own by the end of the year. Otherwise it would be impossible to buy any masters late in the year. As of now I have 4 masters that have already passed this threshold (Dreamer, Pandora, Lilith, Lynch) and 5 masters that haven't. Viktorias are only 1 game short so will hit it shortly. That leaves Zoraida (6 games played), Lucius (5), Collodi (3), and Mr Cooper (0, still in the box). Collodi is being used in a slow grow league and will catch up quickly and Zoraida won't take long since I'm going to take her to an event as Gremlins. So really I just need to focus on getting 5 games in with Lucius and getting Mr Cooper built and painted early enough in the year to get him up to 10 games (which is obviously going to be the hardest

3) Take all my masters in a tournament game
I currently own 9 masters (All 7 neverborn, Viks, Mr Cooper). By the end of the year I'd like all of them to have been used in an event (not necessarily in an event this year, just an event ever). This means that Dreamer/Pandora/Lilith have already qualified, leaving 6 masters for me to use in a tournament game this year. This will be trickier than it looks due to also going for the rainbow badge, but I think I should be able to do it anyway.

4) Play in at least 1 tournament in two non malifaux games (likely at Daffcon)
oooo a non-malifaux goal. Whaaaaat. This is basically a go to Daffcon and don't play only malifaux goal. I will be doing a Saga event there and possibly a few other non-malifaux events, though I haven't decided exactly what yet. The only plans I have for non-malifaux events outside of Daffcon is likely Guildball. I am really eager to play in a Guildball event, but due to inconvenient timing of London events, lack of £ for travel and painting requirements, this could be a mid to late year thing.

Hobby Resolutions:
5) Have all my masters painted (and tournament ready)
This is pretty self-explanatory. I want all my masters I currently own painted and playable in an event (ie. totems and core models painted) by the end of the year. Currently only Lucius and Mr Cooper are unpainted, though Collodi and Viks need some more models painted before they qualify as tournament ready. Again Dark Carnival is going to be the big challenge for this (much like goal 2)

6) End the year at 80% painted Malifaux models.
Like many people I used the excel model tracker to keep track of how much I have painted. I am currently at 64% painted and would like to climb up quite a bit this year, which means not only lots of painting, but not a ton of purchasing of new models (at least not until a TON of painting has been done). This could be a very difficult goal for me, but I think it is doable. Not like I'm trying to end the year with EVERYTHING painted.

7) Paint Guildball team
That's right, I have non-malifaux goals in here :P. To be honest I thought about keeping it to Malifaux like last year (since this is a malifaux blog and all that) but decided that my hobby resolutions should reflect my actual plans. I currently am having troubles with pinning my fishermen team to their scenic resin bases but do eventually hope to finish this so I can start painting them. I absolutely love the models, which are the main reason I started the game and have plans to spend a fair amount of time and effort painting them to the fullest of my ability, which will undoubtedly not be as well painted as I would like.

8) Paint Saga force. I have a Moors force for Saga that I have 0 models painted for at the moment. As I will be attending Daffcon in April (and am planning on doing the Saga event on the Saturday) I am gonna have to have all this stuff painted by April. So ya... Gonna be a busy few months of painting, especially as I'm gonna be in rehearsals for a show in May from now until then so will have less hobby time than normal. Luckily the models are not as detailed and will not be getting as much individual time as I am used to devoting to Malifaux.

9) Paint Bloodbowl team. This team is half painted already. But should really be done by now since I'm in the midst of a local league with it. Sadly due to the need to get things painted for Daffcon, the team is probably going to languish unpainted for several more months before I get around to finishing it.

10) Paint a centrepiece model that isn't for one of my competitive games (larger than 30mm based model).
So one of the things I'd really like to do is paint a model without a timescale on having to get him ready to hit the table top. As much as I love painting Malifaux (and hope to love Guildball) they are models I will be playing with a lot and therefore want to get to the table sooner rather than later. Also I have to varnish them cause otherwise I inevitably chips them... I'd like to have a side-project on the go that is more about trying out new techniques than it is about the finished project. I have a couple models in mind for this, but it will definitely be started post-Daffcon as I have a TON to paint by then..

11) Watch/try a painting tutorial a month
I'd like to improve my painting some more and I think the best way to do this at this point is by following the techniques of some better painters. Some of the things I really want to focus on are painting skin tones (man do those frustrate me... never happy with the results) and metallics (which tend to look flat when I do them. Want to learn some more interesting styles like rusted weapons etc). But I think focusing on just trying to do one small thing a month is a doable goal. OSL is something I am terrified of but do want to try eventually as well.