And so it begins...

I've been thinking about doing some kind of miniature painting blog for a while - though as with many things, I've not really got around to doing anything about it.

However, my dearly beloved bought me a light box and a camera for Christmas, and so I think that might be a sign that I should at least make an attempt.

Earlier this year, after many years of them sitting in the attic, I finally sold off most of my painted Games Workshop figures - I just wasn't using them, and didn't have time for anything bigger than occasional skirmish games.

That's not to say I don't have a large amount of lead/tin/plastic/resin lying around that needs painting.

There's the better part of two Reaper Bones Kickstarters (some of it belongs to Mrs. Hill), Several boardgames bought in part because the models are cool (Mansions of Madness, The Awful Orphanage, Zombicide, Skull Tales, Nemesis, Brigands and Browncoats ... there are more), two or three Kickstarters worth of models from Crooked Dice (I just LOVE 7tv), the list goes on ...

And there are more due to turn up from Kickstarters too ...

My New Year's Resolution is to paint more models than I buy/acquire this year, and hopefully blogging about the models that I've painted, and keeping track of those that have been added to the 'pile of shame' will help keep me on track.

Now, because I'm a gamer, I need to make rules for myself, so here they are...

1. Paint what you like.
• It might be a no brainer, but even though I have a pile of half done projects I know that if I limit myself to finishing them first, I'll probably burn out.  They were half finished because something else came along and I hobby butterflied away from them - going back to them when I get excited about them again is more likely to get things done.
  So, what I paint doesn't really matter, as long as I paint something.
2. Paint every week.
• Painting every day isn't going to happen - but getting paint on at least one model a week is a reasonable expectation for myself.
3. Week 1 Work in Progress Check.
• Start the first week of each month with a look through my Work in Progress pile (anything that's already got some paint on it - if it's just assembled that doesn't count as Work in Progress) and see if something grabs me. No, this isn't a contradiction to Rule 1 - but if something DOES grab me, and I can finish it off, then I'm one step (or 40 steps...) closer to ensuring I paint more this year than I acquire.

And that's it really.

Once I have a memory card for the camera, I'll start taking pictures.  In the meantime, here's a phone picture of my Hobby Zone as it is at the moment.

I'm currently painting some Reaper Bones Adventurers - none of them are quite finished yet - there's a fair bit of basing to do before I can all any of them 'done' - but I expect they'll be my first set of completed minis for the year. Unless I get distracted with models I may need for NPCs for one of the RPGs I'm running at the moment.