Let the New Year Begin! (Finally)

The only thing in our shipment I really (secretly) cared about.

So we moved into a house. It's awesome for a lot of reasons. One of them, not gonna lie, is finally getting our (my) stuff.  In our express shipment, there resided a bag full of minis, most of them handpicked for their need of paint, as well as a selection of brushes and paints, plus a bunch of other games and books. I realize that's a heck of a run on sentence, but I think it illustrates the point.  Basically, the pallet contains methods of entertainment beyond watching reruns of soccer games, and the genesis of my gaming both for the year and in Japan. 

Last year was the first time I set goals for hobby. This year, I want to do the same thing, and this seems to be an appropriate time.  Rather than being a completionist, accomplishment driven thing though, I'd like to view this as what I'm trying to get out of playing games.  I mean, I'd love to paint 1000 models, win all the tournaments, and get a game published, but let's all just have some fun, K?

So what are these goals?  Well let's see...

Hobby Goals for 2013!
- Take more (and better) pictures of my models!
            In the past, taking pictures consisted of finding the best lit place in the house and snapping a few pics.  If you look closely, you could count how many cutting boards I was using in the background.  What I'd like to do is work up a decent background for both sci-fi and fantasy models.  Add to that some kind of lighting set up and a tripod, plus a little photo editing and I'd call that a win for the coming year.

-  Get at least a little painting in 3 nights a week.
               It doesn't have to be a lot, but I know that a little bit of consistency goes a long way in making progress.  Obviously, this can't be a super hard and fast rule, as the ball is going to get dropped every once in a while when life happens, but keeping painting at the forefront of things would be a plus.

- Model, paint, and base all my Word Bearers.
                Or at least all the ones that I have in the bag.  That's something like 3000 points.  It's a lot, but if I can be consistent and set intermediate goals, I have confidence that I can set a new painting goal before the year is out.

Not gonna lie, surprised this made it in one piece.

Gaming Goals for 2013!
- Plug into the local gaming scene.
                 So this is the same as last year.  I need to stop moving or something.  All the guys seem pretty cool, so I don't expect any problems with this one, but it's important.

- Author and play a map based campaign and a narrative campaign.
                This might sound ambitious (if it doesn't, I assure you that my vision is ambitious), but again I think this comes down to consistency and focus.  I have a vision for what I want the campaign booklets to look like and how I want the campaigns to feel, but the success of actually running it depends on cooperation from external sources.  What would I deem a success?  Enthusiasm from people.  A few months' long run.  Challenges being thrown out via email.  That would feel good.

- Diversify my gaming base.
              I played a lot of 40k last year. Like a LOT. Particularly percentage wise. I would like to move the emphasis towards playing lots of different things, particularly the huge assortment of board games.