End of summer review....

Hobby or Sisyphean ordeal... you be the judge! 

With  8 months behind us and the discovery that I never hit "publish" on my six months review, it looks like as good a time as ever for a brief retrospective.  The recent spate of posts on project planning and objectives makes this update a little more timely.  I suppose I shall jump on the band wagon and talk about long terms objectives as well.

  This year I have opted to change my metrics somewhat from raw points to actual unit/project completion measurements as I think it gives me better focus.

Here is my current status:



Here is where I wanted to be based on clearing out the backlog:



Overall, it is looking better than anticipated.  I have managed to avoid picking up a lot of new models (so far) and I am making a serious dent in the 2016 backlog.  My overall goal is to keep 2017 models to less than 25% of my productivity and I am currently over at about 30% (Not bad considering both the new Kushite Egyptians and upgrading my 3mm Modern Armor collection).  Still, I have a lot of Korean and Japanese infantry to finish, so that may help to drive down the percentages.

As for scales:




28mm is continuing to dominate, but my "6mm every month" goal is helping to maintain the levels where I want them.  My sudden burst of 3mm inspiration, however, has completely blown the curve.

I have completed 147 of the initial 154 units I projected for this year, but changes in emphasis, and a re-evaluation of the lead pile has increased the number remaining to 98.  That said, I should still be able to complete the initial objective as it does contain the "low-hanging fruit" of several partially completed 3mm and 6mm projects.

Finally, where am I on project specific goals?

In terms of existing projects here are my 2017 goals:
  • 1/6000 Naval - Complete the US Carriers and Capitol Ships 
  • 6mm Moderns - Complete INF BDE for PLA and cold war USSR.  I am modifying this one some-what as I intend to simply purge my partial collection of PLA units and wrap up the USSR force with some Infantry Stands.  I have a sufficient collection to play any size scenario I want, and frankly the larger ones are better served with 3mm now.  
  • 6mm Fantasy - Complete remaining figures (6 units)  I have all the major units done now, with only the odd command figure or specialty stand left to do.  I will continue to knock these out "as the mood takes me" as it were...

  • 6mm Renaissance - Complete 4 Pike squares, units of Halberds, Cross-bows, and Handguns.
    • Done, all of the on-hand figures are complete.  Long term I am planning to expand into some cavalry with this group, but I have far too much at 28mm waiting in the wings.  



  • 10mm ACW - Complete 2 Brigades of CSA Infantry and round out my last three Brigades of US Infantry.  Complete the Limbers necessary to provide status markers for 10 field pieces per side.
    • Only a few regiments remain for each side.  Most of the figures are currently on-hand.  

  • 15mm Halo - Paint the rest of the box set, and enough additional figures to get the game on the table this year.  
    • The nephews cancelled their planned visit last spring, and have yet to make their way to the Palouse.  With the recent folding of Spartan Games, I suspect this will fall into the pile of orphaned projects.  
  • 15mm Samurai Battles  - 2 units of cavalry, 2 units of Peasants and the Command tents.
  • 28mm Imjin War - Complete 2 units each of Korean Cavalry, Heavy Infantry and Armored Archers
    • Several units are now complete with another contingent of Korean Infantry awaiting highlights and final basing.  I plan on finishing a least two more Cavalry units and the last of the heavy infantry by years end. 
soon...

  • 28mm Samurai - Paint four generals including Kato Kiymasa, Uesegi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen; Complete teppo for the Kato's division, complete teppo for Sohei; complete Pallisades for two sides.
    • Not much action here in the last few months, but I managed to get another unit of Samurai near to completion as well as the last of the Palisades.  
  • 28mm Renaissance - Complete another unit of Gendarmes, 2 units of Jinettes,  and another Imperial Pike Square.
    • Five units completed including Jinettes, Pikes, and Handguns.  


New projects


  • Jon's journey into Ancient Assyria prompted to genesis of a token force of Egyptians that promise to explode out of control in the near future.  
  • A renewed interest in modern armored combat resulted in a significant expansion of my 3mm "Test Armies" to a full-fledged game ready collection
  • I am currently considering expanding into 10mm Seven Years War.  If the feeling doesn't pass by November, I may just have to succumb.



This brings us back around to the "Project List" question currently bouncing around our little corner of the blogosphere.  I am a complete dilettante when it comes to painting and collection as my interests are wide spread and seem to change month to month.  When I first returned to historical wargaming, I set myself the long term goal of building representative collections from throughout the history of the United States Army.  I began with Modern and WWII microarmor and then expanded into 15mm ACW.  Since then I have tried other eras and have a few "orphan projects" to show for it.  I have also expanded my areas of interest greatly as I intersected with other hobbyists over the years.  The departure of a good friend and fellow ACW enthusiast in the late 90's also taught me the dangers of only collecting one side of a conflict, as I found myself in the possession of a sizable Union contingent  standing alone on the game table.

Linked with the above problem is the one of scale.  I find that I am historically out of touch with the direction the hobby is going in this regards.  When 15mm and 28mm exploded for WWII, I found little interest in my 6mm and 20mm collections.  I also continue to search for balance with the two types of games I like to run:  Mass Battles and Skirmish.  I have now settled on 6mm/10mm for my mass battle goals in the future and 28mm for my Skirmish gaming (as well as Impetus style games.)  I also continue to purge my entire collection of all of the painted figures done by others I collected in the early stages of my hobby.  (With the notable exception of those done by friends and compatriots which have their own sentimental value.)  

I suppose I need to break down the entire collection at some point, but just starting the process resulted in a spread sheet that looked like this:




And breaking this down could really cut into my painting time....


and preparing more figures for the purge

so many figures...

Comments

  1. Very thorough project assessment, Jake! Looking over your goals and objectives you set out for yourself at the beginning of 2017, the progress made towards those G&Os is admirable. "Admirable?" Down right impressive!

    Hard to believe you have pushed out 147 units from your workbench thus far. A number of your projects show as completed too. Great accomplishments!

    As for your new projects, the Biblical Wars project is stretching beyond my expectations too but like the joint Reconquista project before, it has been been great fun having a little competition.

    I look forward to seeing you dive into 10mm SYW. SYW in 10mm on large bases would look terrific! After a game or two of Canvas Eagles, you may be adding 1/72 WWI aircraft to your projects list.

    Again, great progress in knocking down The Lead Pile!

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