With the last blog post of the year, it’s time to go through my resolutions and see how I did.  I always find this one interesting, not only to judge how I did, but also to look back at my intentions.  Sometimes the two match up, sometimes…  …Not as much.  As usual though, this is going to be strictly pass/fail based on what I set out to do, whether the intentions match up or not.

Assembly Backlog – PASS

I did pretty good on this, and, in fact, did a lot of my mini-assembly early in the year.  There was a brief period where I was nearly caught up even…  …Then I had some things come in in bulk, so, yeah, it didn’t last.  Still, everything that was on my list to build, got built, which is pretty awesome, so this is a pass.

Of the stuff I put together, there are a few pieces that I’m especially happy to have done.  I completed the Khador cannon kitbash that was showcased on the Hobby Hangout, which was pretty neat.  I’m not usually one for kitbashing, but I really liked that model when they showed it off, and I like that my version of that model also looks pretty cool.  I’m not sure that I would necessarily use it for anything aside from some terrain, but it was fun to accomplish.  Also, Balthazar Bamfist, the Riot Quest model with Warmachine crossover rules, was a huge boon to playing my dwarves this year.  He is a solid support piece that I’ll definitely be using a lot more in the future.

Designing a Game – PASS

I’m pretty excited to have completed this one this year.  I’ve had these ideas for Breach expansions on my to-do list for quite a while, so I’m really glad I got them on paper and posted up to Thingiverse.  In the past, the fact that I didn’t have these perfect has really held me back – I always find that there’s one more thing I can add, correct, or make just a little better.  On the one hand, it’s gotten no fanfare, but neither has it gotten any negative comments nor a takedown notice, so it seems to be falling into the solid “okay” category, which is good enough for now.

Build a Game – PASS

While it’s related to designing a game, I really wanted to have a game fully built this year.  In this case, I had lots of opportunities to do this as well, which was really exciting.  I always like making a copy of breach, but, for some reason, I don’t often keep one for myself.  This time, I did, I made myself a full copy of Breach with all the different expansions (including the two that I created myself).  I also got some dice, and a nice black fabric bag to keep all the components in, overall, I’m pretty happy.

Still, that’s not all I did – I also completed my copy of the Dune board game.  This has been something on my to-do list for a while, but I kept putting it off because I wanted to do good tokens and shields.  With the new 3d printer up and running, I was able to get some good tokens printed and get the whole shebang done.  Though it took quite a bit of time (both calendar and actual touch-time), I think it was all worth it, and I really like how it turned out.

One last thing that I accomplished in this category, was making myself a copy of Relic Knights.  I got a print-and-play version of the game quite some time ago (odd, for a miniatures wargame), and I’ve been thinking about how to convert that into a playable version of the game.  I finally got into poking at this and transformed the provided assets into a set of character images that I could attach to 3d printed standees.  I’m really happy with how these turned out, though I haven’t gotten the chance to actually play a game just yet.

Run a Role-Playing Game – FAIL

As much as I wanted to role-play this year, it always got superseded by something else.  I’ve still got that same story bouncing around in my head, and I’m not really sure that I’ll get the opportunity to get it out anytime soon. 

Read some eBooks – FAIL

When I look back on this one, I can tell that I was already hedging my bets back when I wrote it.  It started with “some”, then, “a few”, then, “one is enough”.  Yep, I didn’t even get a single one of my eBooks read this year.  This one has certainly curbed my eBook buying this year, which is probably a good thing in its own right, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t want to read the ones that I have.  It likely won’t make it to be a resolution, but hopefully I can get some more reading in next year.

Make a New Thing – PASS

This year is the first time I’ve really dedicated some time to making things on my 3d printer that weren’t game-related.  There were always things that I could make that were more functional, and there was always this idea in my head that I would be doing more functional stuff than gaming stuff, but things never really turn out that way.  On the whole, I’m not disappointed, it’s just an odd thought.  I did enjoy making some new things this year though – my printer enclosure and all the dryboxes was pretty cool though.

Creating a New Routine – PASS

At the onset of the year, I never thought I’d make a new routine to work from home; this is one area where my intentions and accomplishment diverged the most.  On the one hand, working from home has been a staple of my life for most of the year, it’s taken a fair bit of effort, but I’ve figured out how to make it work for me.  On the other hand, it’s not something I enjoy, and it’s definitely my goal (though not a resolution) to break this habit as quickly as possible next year.

Restart an Old Routine – PASS

Again, when I wrote this one down, I was really hoping that it would be something like “riding the bus to work every day” or something similar.  What I have gotten though, is getting back in the habit of watching an hour of sci-fi with dinner every night, and that’s pretty awesome.  The opportunity to take a break in the evening, even for an hour, actually helped a lot with breaking from the work-from-home routine into more healthy things after work.  Also, Brooke and I are watching our way through Star Trek in chronological order, so that’s pretty awesome!

Verdict

Overall, I’m pretty happy with what I accomplished in 2020.  There’s been a lot going on, but I still managed to achieve a lot of what I set out to do.  I’ll be looking for new things in 2021, but, as a whole new year, it’s going to be interesting to see where everything ends up, just like always.