2019 is over - 2020 is coming

This is a 2019 hobby write - looking back over the year to see if I have completed my overall goals. 

Two for one

This year´I jumped on a 2-for-1 challenge. I had to paint two models for each model I bought, making sure the pile of unpainted models would become smaller. 

The consequence of not reaching the goal, would be to sell stuff from the collection to make it fit. 

2-for-1 has been excellent for me! I've skipped a bunch of kickstarters that would (most likely) have ended in storage anyway. I've only jumped on a few auctions, to get great bulks of miniatures and bits - often with reselling in mind. Reselling a lot of the aquired bits and models to in the end sit back with some almost free stuff.

I have bought the awesome Dunkeldorf Miniatures. First and foremost to support an excellent project a dream of fellow Danish hobbyists. And I could see use for most models when pledging. And even before getting the models, I was sure of backing a second kickstarter as well.

Only other kickstarter is Terrain Crate 2, that'll add so much to my modern and post apocalypse tables. And some of that will be resold instantly as well, to bring down the price.

I won't go into all the boring numbers. But this year I've accuired some free Killteam and Necromunda gangs (for some day) forexample. I also cleared out the rest of the models, I don't have concrete plans for. So when I went over the collection in november I couldn't find more than 35 models to get rid off - all the rest is planned for something (even if that something doesn't get made into anything). 

So all in all (here start December) my collection haven't grown this year - the last sell made me hit 0. And I sold all my Dreadball (breaking even on it, so it's been sitting here for free). So actually my collection is now 184 model lesser than when the year started. 

Opposed to this I've managed to paint 258 models so far this year - that's a lot. A bunch of these were for my Roman Risk project. But for my own collection, for 28mm gaming, I've painted 180 miniatures. So I consider 2-for-1 a very huge success. And I will probably try and do it next year as well. 

Terrain

I love building terrain and complete boards. And with the super cheap MDF kits out there, it's both affordable and fast to make cool thematic boards. We always play on completed, densely packed boards, with a common theme. 

2019 saw me finish a lot of new settings for different games I wanted to play. I build a huge wasteland board during a weeks break from work. Having a cool time with my 5 year old kid. It's all in the wasteland page. 

2019 was also the year I finally intered the Ghost Archipelago. For that I made a bunch of jungle terrain, enough to cover a 3'x4' and make different setups. All in the jungle terrain hub. 

The last 'new' board this year have been making a huge amount of cyberpunk upgrades. New buildings, scatter and details to turn my modern stuff into a full cyberpunk layout for Reality's Edge. I'm not done posting blogs about all the stuff I've build - but it's all going here.

Gaming
I had a plan when the year started, to play more different people. I don't get out to conventions and have no club nearby. So this year I've been inviting old friends (wargamers or roleplayers no longer in the community). I've been building and painting warbands and let them choose the game system.

It's been great. Catching up with some pals from the old days and getting more games in this way. So that's some nice This Is Not A Test done this way. Overall it's been a year of skirmish gaming. With Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago, Last Days and Reality's Edge also taking up some game time.

The blogging

I still blog for my own enjoyment. I've never intended to make money, do advertisement or spend any time on it other than my hobby time. That being said, it does fill me with joy the interaction I get from other gamers. 

There's some super great communities on Facebook, and it's nice when people find inspiration in some of the cheap scratch build stuff I do. It motivates me to do other stuff. 

I've also tried this year, to do some review writing - it's hard to do right. But each review have gotten around 1000 reads - and that pretty darn cool. 

Osprey Games reached out, and asked if I wanted to guest blog on their page. Since I do the blogs anyways, it's a cool recognition of the work I do. I've written a few for them and I have plans for a lot of content for 2020. 

Social media

I'm no expert on social media. But I do spend time on it, sharing my stuff around. The facebook page have grown nicely. Got to 500 likes when 2019 started and moving towards 900 now. It's good, never spend any money on getting bigger reach. 

I've also started a twitter and instagram page, but those platforms is harder for me to get - perhaps it's due to there not beeing groups like on Facebook. I would however like a bigger reach there, especially for the review part of the blogging. So I'll look into it in 2020. And if anyone want to help out, please drop a follow on Twitter or Instagram. Or perhaps drop a follow on the blogger page - link on the right side of the page.

2020 - the year of solo gaming

My hobby goal for 2020 is to try out solo gaming. I want to game more and I don't around to playing enough games with my friends. So the 2020 hobby goal is:

Play at least two solo miniatures games every month

This should provide a good amount of motivation for me. I'll be trying out multible new games, I'll need to plan terrain and model painting for specific scenarios. It's gonna be awesome.

In 2020 I'll be flying solo in:
Rangers of Shadow Deep (classic fantasy), Frostgrave: Perilous Dark (frozen fantasy), Zona Alfa (russian survival horror), Hardwired (cyberpunk) and The Walking Dead (zombies!).

And then the super important Frostgrave 2nd edition! Wuhhuu! That's gonna be awesome. I've already ordered three high tower like buildings for my board - it needed som more height.

Suggestions?

There's a nice amount of followers of this blog. Do you have any suggestions? Anything I should focus on? Change around? Any good ideas? Please let me know, I want to expand my skills in this blogging thing - it's good fun.

Thank you for follwing, commenting, liking, sharing and so on. Happy holidays and have a great new year.