2026 Hobby Goals

I bit off way more than I could chew this year. Although I assumed I would have less time, the end of last year going into early '25 seemed very promising. I've been doing a ton of soul searching to try and pick some reasonable goals this year. So first last years goals repeated below the break

Cracking a Few Eggs - My Complex Relationship with TTRPGS

This is a very long, very rambly tale of how I feel about RPG's and some introspection on my relationship to them. I've hidden this one behind a jump break based solely on its length. 

Dark Ages (2) - More SAGA Vikings

 I finally finished up another batch of SAGA figures. These are more Victrix figures pulled from the Pillage starter bag and "upgraded" with some 3d printed shields. 

These took a little longer because as always, I struggle a bit with non uniform "units"

Retro Sci-Fi (1) - Hydra Miniatures Retro Raygun Dr. Zahn

 That's right! Another project log. This is mostly because I want paint colors documented. I took a half hour or so to "Marine Juice" the first figure for a collection. Back when I worked at the Hobby Shop, we carried Hydra Miniatures. I picked up the odd figure here and there to just sort of have without any sort of real plan. Hydra's getting ready to release Atomic Tank, which looks to be a sort of Retro Raygun at Epic scale (10mm I believe in this case). I have some early test models to paint up from that range but wanted to sort of start chipping away at the 28mm stuff. 

First up is Dr. Zahn. Colors are Caledor Sky, Tenebrous Grey, White Grey, Gunmetal, Blood Red, marine juice. Super quick Paint Job as usual. I have some other figures from the range I'll probably get painted up soon. I've got a little more SAGA stuff to get off the bench next but for now, this was a nice break. 

 

Works in Progress (1) - October 2025

 In a manic late night paint session I had a thought. See, I have a tendency to start projects and not finish them. This is actually one of 3 of these types of post I've written tonight. (The others are scheduled out so as not to bog you all down.) I was thinking though, as one does as they dip their brush into their tea cup for the umpteenth time in the midnight hours. My desk is, and frankly always has been, a disaster. While coming to the sort of realization today that I don't game the way I used to, I was think I still enjoy collecting and painting. As a result, over the years I've gotten into these cheap plastic tubs to store work in progress "stuff." So besides the desk that looks like this

I've also got my "work in progress" shelf, that looks like this 

Each of those tubs, most of each of those drawers, and each of those cardboard boxes house some sort of "project I've started and not finished. Dating back frequently years at a time. 

At the risk of setting a 2026 goal, here in 2025 I have a bit of an idea. 

I want to take October (and most likely November) to try and just tidy up the workbench part of the desk itself. Whether that's remove, finish, or organize, I'd like to try and clean up the bench in one way or another. October (though there is very little of it left, 11 days at time of writing this) is nearly over but let's start somewhere. I would like to try and participate in the AHPC this year if there's room and I think this would be a nice way to get rolling into that. 

Then, Starting in December, I'm going to attempt to take one tub a month and do the same. Either Finish what's in it, box it up for long term storage, or get rid of it entirely.  I'll be using the Works in Progress project log to document it for fun.

As part of my, any progress is good progress mantra, here's some forward progress on Art, my second Cabinet Piece for the year.

 To be honest, he really just needs his eyes and base finished along with some selective washes to be good as done. This scale has a major benefit of being easier to paint in some regards. 

Some More Musings on Boardgames and My Yearly Hobby Goals

 This is a long, rambly introspective post about how the years been going. I've decided to leave the bulk of the post below the break so for those of you who aren't interesting in the boardgame/blog stuff can skip it easier.

Wild West (1) - Rebuilding the Town

 I realize that we may be reaching a point of diminishing returns on the "Matt decides to restart a project" scheme but here we are again. I've had old west stuff for a long time. It's one of those historical adjacent eras I really like, like pirates and gangsters. 

 Years ago I bought into some of the 4ground stuff but didn't ever complete the collection. Between how long they take to build and the costs it just wasn't something I ever completed. I added on a sarissa railroad station but was always missing some iconic old west buildings. 

Recently, after the success of the Fantasy ruins, I decided it might be worth revamping (replacing) my mdf with 3d prints. I already have a few figures painted, probably enough to run a game of some sort. 

After a bit of researching I settled in on the range from digital taxidermy. The kits cost around 40 bucks after conversion. I started by printing a saloon as well as a few of the "houses". After doing a little bit of googling, I've settled on wanting to print about 10-13 buildings in total to make a nice little town. The buildings run a hair on the small side but do fit nicely on the build plate. The saloon came as 6 parts and needed tree supports to print. I'm not 100 percent sure how much effort im going to put in to painting interiors but they do have interior details sculpted in. 

There's a pretty big range of stuff including scatter and such which is nice. The eventual plan is something like a Legends of the Old West campaign, though I have several rulesets to try including Dead Mans Hand, Rules with no Name, Shoot n Skedaddle, and What a Cowboy.