Catching up… and some Walls!

Not a very productive year, 2025, certainly not from a hobby perspective anyway.

Fourteen posts was all I managed, which to be honest, was probably close to the number of games I actually played too.

With my daughter and gaming buddy, Yasmin, now well into her second year of university, I’ve not really adjusted back to playing solo. In fact, I haven’t played anything at all on my own. All last year I waited for Yasmin to visit during her holidays and that’s when we got a game to the table.

I keep looking at my shelf of shame – all those games that, as yet, remain un-played – and give out a long sigh of longing. The worst thing, though, is that I keep adding to that shelf!

Well, it’s time I started getting a grip and concentrating on my hobbies, which is easier said than done with the amount I have. No, this year is going to see me return to my roots and getting some games played all on my own.

I’ve also given a lot of thought – about a years worth – to what I really enjoy doing most when it comes to writing posts, because, again to be honest (though this time to myself), I’ve not been happy producing content for a while now, so what is it that’s wrong?

I’ve known for some time what it is and that’s writing the longer posts. The deep reviews I did when I first started this blog. The posts analysing how I play a certain game, or getting deep into how a particular game mechanism works, and in particular, those reviews that took a good 20-minutes to read. These are the things that really got me buzzing and drove my enthusiasm. However, over the years time became a factor and I felt I had to cut back in order to keep the number of posts I was writing up.

I was wrong!

I see that now, as my enthusiasm to sit down and write has drained away.

I toyed with the idea of writing short reviews, what I was going to call my ‘Rated’ series, but even though I have written several now (all unpublished), I haven’t enjoyed the process because they just aren’t me.

So, new year (and a happy, belated one to everyone out there) a fresh, but not so new start.

I’m going back to what makes me happy and that’s writing those lengthy, analytic posts. I realise that I shouldn’t have been trying to keep my post count up. It doesn’t really matter at all. If I only release a couple of gaming posts a year, but they’re posts that I really want to write, then so be it, especially if it means I can rekindle the fire to write again.

On a painting front, though, things are moving in the opposite direction.

I’m currently concentrating on painting faster. I’ve got such a backlog of miniatures, especially ones that I need to paint so that I can actually play the game, that I need to make some inroads.

Now, I don’t necessarily want to cut back on the quality of painting, but I’m currently using and experimenting with speed paints – Xpress/Contrast, call them what you will – and so the results are game ready at best at the moment, though I’m working to improve that.

I’ve recently finished Cyclops, Wolverine, and Beast, all Yasmin’s MCP figures, and am just putting the finishing touches to Storm. I then have Valkyrie and Iron Fist to clear all my current Marvel minis – ready to play over Easter when (if) Yasmin visits.

I’ve basecoated a squad of German Bolt Action minis, a couple of tanks, and a few ships, so I’ve plenty to be getting on with. I aim to paint all of these by the end of May – Never done tanks before so I’ve been putting them off… and off!

After that lot, well, I want to start on all my Joan of Arc: Time of Legends miniatures so that I can use them for wargaming. Unfortunately, there’s a lot. At a guess I’d say around 1,000 or so. Now you know why I want to get to grips with speed painting!

As a side to that, I want to continue building my Bolt Action forces up, paint the last few expansions for Mansions of Madness, get some fantasy miniatures complete, and… Ah! Its never ending, isn’t it?

Of course, there has to be some in there that I want to paint to a higher standard. I also don’t want to stagnate else my painting won’t improve.

There’s more terrain to get done, and done quickly. I’m not into terrain but certainly know the need for it, and I look for pre-painted stuff at every opportunity, but there are some things that I can get done very quickly indeed. Which brings me nicely to some walls I painted…

Last year Sue got me some 3D printed walls that I finally got around to painting at the end of last year. They’re not bad actually, though I didn’t really know what to expect, as I haven’t painted much in the way of 3D prints.

They didn’t take much to clean them up and I gave them a real good scrub, as I’d heard they often have a greasy residue that makes it difficult for the paint to adhere.

I only used my airbrush on these and it didn’t take me very long to finish them. Basecoated black and then sprayed different shades of grey and stone colours; not being neat but trying to get a natural look. Threw on some flock and a bit of dirt and called them done. Sweet!

So, next week I’m going to crack open a new game – hinted at in the pictures above – and, along with a painting post or two, get something a bit more to chew on posted!