Time is like a bullet from behind .. 2013

The last day of 2013 is here and I figured I'd write up a little yearly summery and wrap up. Hobby wise it was a pretty busy year and I think it had a lot of pluses.

This year was the first time I've played in a large scale Tourney, I've been playing 40K since 1990 but have never played anything to the scale of the Nova Open. I've played in local Tourneys and what not but nothing with the amount of people that were there. I had some trepidation going into it, there are a lot of good people out there but there are a lot of tools too. One bad experience can ruin it all. Thankfully everyone I played was either very cool or at least cordial. I finished rank 96th out of 223 people which isn't half bad (literally and figuratively haha) which was cool but the best part of the event was getting to see some awesome armies and talk to a lot of people. I built my first display board for the event and was pretty happy with it. I got a lot of great comments on it and my army, that is always very cool. I busted my butt getting everything done for the event and was nice to know it was well received.

I also got to meet up with Evan from FTGT which was very cool as we chat a lot on our blogs. Having two little ones makes it tough to get out there and just have a fun adult (wait does playing with little plastic dude mens count? hmmm my wife would probably say no) weekend with no obligations. It was like the old days, went down with Sean from L33tlike.us and besides playing we hung out with Evan and some of the Beltway Gamer guys. Was a very fun time though tiring and even a little rough with the stomach battle we fought thanks to Buffalo Wild Wings .. sheesh. I'll be going back in 2014 but unsure what I'll be playing..(event wise) was hoping to do the Trios but sounds like Evan won't be able to be our third so not sure what will be the plan. Either way I'll be there and hopefully able to enter a few things in the painting contest as well. 8) No expectations just would be cool.

I also painted a ton this year past. Getting ready for Nova was like I was on a mission and well.. I was. I wanted all my Dar done and done to a level I would be happy with. I know it wasn't a requirement but if I'm going to be out there I want my Dudes to look cool. I had no expectations to be the Champion but my guys could at least look good in their defeat. Some of the things I got done this year..

That's just a few.. Don't want to post too too many haha. I feel I've increased my painting skills some this year. Nothing spectacular but I have been working more with the airbrush and have been working more on my Technique. I think the Crimson Hunters, Wraithknight and Revenant really turned out nicely. Building of the display board was pretty cool and a nice learning experience. I have a new one planned for 2014 to build off what I learned from making the first one. The new one is even bigger which makes it kind of a worry, it was hard to tote around before so now what do I do haha.. I saw people with carts and while that is very cool from the aspect of moving it around that seems a bit excessive but I really don' think I'll be able to carry this around too easily which then begs the question of should it be that big? It will look cool and it will be a lot more intricate then the last one. I built the first one in a couple of days time (working time and about two weeks from start to finish). This one I will devote at least a month to it. Then what to do with the first one? I might sell it, there is no way I have the room to have them both haha.. I really don't have the room for even the one.

Work space, I have moved around and built a lot of stuff this year. From different rooms to how I have everything setup. It seems that it's ever evolving and with the growing family it starts to limit the available space in the house. I'm hoping that within two years we'll be able to move and getting a house that can better accommodate the family and my nerdy endeavors would be nice. I can always hope right haha..

Sadly forgot to download the picture of my painting table last night..

The blog is doing well and traffic has increased a good bit and I have posted over 220 posts this year. The most so far for me for sure, that is a pretty good amount. I'm still thinking about making a full blown site that isn't blogger based but it really just comes down to time. I don't have the free time I did starting a new job and if I get the free time I usually just want to paint or lay on the couch reading or watching a movie. We'll see how it goes down the line..

So what does 2014 hold? We've seen GW pump out Codexes fast and furiously and I have heard some rumors of Blood Angels coming this year sometime. So that is pretty cool.. and I have a bunch of models still sitting in boxes. A good bit of Orks plus some Marines I've been saving to start a Codex Chapter but do I really need to do all that? I sadly have more plans then time and money these days. Which also leads me to another thing. My friends think I should start doing commissions but I really don't know if I want that kind of stress. As I said my time is shorter now and do I want to use that time to paint stuff that I will then ship out? hmmmm maybe I should just start building display boards and selling them haha ..

I said the same thing last year when looking forward to the new year.. I want to focus more on painting whatever I want instead of what I need to put on the table. But that never seems to happen, I always seem to get an idea for something and then start to paint what I need to play it. I want to relax more this year and paint what ever calls to me when I go out to paint but I can already see that not happening. I want to go to Nova again and have plans for another display board. So for 2014 I better keep it simple,  keep improving my skills and having fun building little dude mens...