Resolutions 2023: May Roundup

It’s one thing to set resolutions, and quite another to hold oneself to them. I intend to review my progress monthly towards each of the resolutions. Welcome, then, to our roundup for May 2023. Let’s start with a reminder of the resolutions and where we were at the end of April:

Painting

Finish 3 army-sized Warhammer projects (~2,000 points). (Apr Status: 0/3
Finish 2 starting forces for smaller, non-GW games. (Apr Status: 1/2 complete)
Paint a Warhammer Underworlds Warband. (Apr Status: no progress)
Paint a Blood Bowl Team. (Apr Status: no progress)
Paint 6 miniatures unrelated to current projects. (Apr Status: no progress)
Paint 365 miniatures this year. (Apr Status: 164/365)

Gaming

Play 40 different games. (Apr Status: 24/40)
Play a new (to me) skirmish game. (Apr Status: no progress)
Play 3 non-D&D Roleplaying games (Apr Status: 3/3 complete)

Writing

Complete 12 book/game/media reviews. (Apr Status: 4/12)
Release 3 titles on DriveThruRPG. (Apr Status: 2/3)

Painting

The month started with a miniature that wasn’t really part of any project or plan. It was a cyberpunk mini that I printed up from Heroes Infinite, the 3D-printing side of Raging Heroes:

She turned out pretty well, all in all! The snake looks a bit rough in the picture, but looks a lot better in person. I wanted it to be nice and bright, in contrast to her ‘skin’.

Next up, I made some progress on the Tzeentch army by painting their Endless Spells:

These were fun to paint, being quite straightforward and colourful. The Burning Sigil has made it to the table a few times since it was painted and it’s great. I love it. It really upsets the movement of the enemy as they either go out of their way to avoid it or risk a Chaos Spawn appearing in their midst. Thankfully, I am well-stocked with Spawn…

Next up, I printed a pair of Cockatrices from RN Estudio for use with the Tzeentch army. The prints turned out well, but I misjudged the scale and they are a bit (read: a lot) big for their 60mm bases:

The paint job is… fine. A bit rough, but they fit the army. The models have made it to the table twice since being painted. The first time, they were slaughtered and did not get to really do much. The second time, I screened them better and they were able to use their abilities to massively curtail the enemy’s combat prowess. Good stuff!

I then set to work on a model that had been in my backlog for quite some time; an old, metal Goblin Boss that is now filling in as a Loonboss for my Gloomspite Gitz:

He turned out alright! Theres not much to him, really. He didn’t take long to paint, but I can’t say he was especially fun to paint, either. He was mostly black cloth and metallic, neither of which is something I like to paint still, he looks pretty decent and will be useful in game!

Feeling a bit disappointed in the experience of painting the first Loonboss (well, second after this chap) I painted up another one:

I enjoyed painting this guy a lot more than the other one! There’s just more going on here, y’know? Both models are cool, and I love how different they are form one another, but this one is more dynamic. There’s also a dead dwarf. That’s nice.

Next up, we’ve got what I expected to my my last miniatures of the month in the form of the good ol’ Gobbapalooza:

Such a cool unit, innit? These guys have taken me a fair while to paint up, because there’s so much going on and there’s a ton of detail. I really love the models though, and it helps that they’re also pretty great in-game, ruleswise. I’ve tweaked myself a new army list so I can try them out soon!

Finally, a quick mini that I printed earlier in the week and then primed and painted in an evening:

This is a Harengon Ranger, intended to represent a friend’s D&D character. I painted her up as a gift to the friend. The STL came from Epic Miniatures. it printed really well and I’d be keen to use more of their models in the future. I’m happy how this turned out, and it was a lot of fun.

I think that if I am going to keep up with the goal of a model a day for the year, I’m going to have to churn out some bigger units soon, or I’ll fall behind! That said, I’m enjoying painting just now, a lot more than I have in years.

Total: 14

The next model I am painting up is this chap from Flesh of Gods Miniatures:

Gaming

Here’s a reminder of the games I had played at least once already this year:

Ticket to Ride
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Dungeons & Dragons
Star Wars: Rebellion
Galaxy Trucker
Century: Golem Edition
Root
Age of War
Malifaux
Call of Cthulhu
Warhammer 40,000
Blitzkrieg
Cyberpunk Red
Avatar Legends RPG
Twilight Struggle
Quadropolis
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
New York Zoo
King of Tokyo
Quirkle
Clank! Catacombs
King of New York
Tiny Towns

Here are the games I’m adding this month:

Monopoly
Codenames
Santorini
Lords of Waterdeep
Sushi Go!
DC Comics Deckbuilding Game

Lords of Waterdeep was the real highlight here, as I really enjoyed getting it back to the table. It was actually our game of the month for May! I also did a couple of gaming sessions with some groups of kids, which is why Monopoly is on the list, and where I broke out Codenames and Santorini.

Writing

I feel that the blog is going pretty well in terms of consistency of posting. Consistency of quality is a matter of opinion. I think on balance, it hasn’t been the best month in terms of quality, but I’m happy with my blog posts on RPGs and mental health (part 1 and part 2), and it was really nice to share the finished Harengon Ranger, above.

On reflection, I’ve reappraised somewhat the content I’ve been making for DTRPG. In terms of what I previously put out:

Creative Inertia: I’m still happy with this, my first item. The tone is good and it’s a very usable resource.
Bio Hacker: I’m still happy with the content for this one but, on reflection, the design is very busy. It’s attractive, but it’s not the most readable of documents.
Outlandsknecht: As with Bio Hacker, I’m happy with the content, but the colours, fonts, and background elements make for an attractive supplement that is not so easy on the eyes. I need to address this going forward.

I’m really happy with The Call to Adventure, a D&D adventure that I put up the other week. It’s clearly readable, it’s a decent length (something I feel a bit uneasy about with 1-3 page class supplements) and it’s visually attractive. I’ve also met my goal of publishing 3 items this year. I’m going to keep going, but the goal has been met.

May 2023 Summary

Painting

Finish 3 army-sized Warhammer projects (~2,000 points). (May Status: 0/3
Finish 2 starting forces for smaller, non-GW games. (May Status: 1/2 complete)
Paint a Warhammer Underworlds Warband. (May Status: no progress)
Paint a Blood Bowl Team. (May Status: no progress)
Paint 6 miniatures unrelated to current projects. (May Status: 2/6)
Paint 365 miniatures this year. (May Status: 178/365)