2026 Goals

Here's my (very) belated 2026 goals. ....Happy New Year and all that.

I notice a lot of my 2025 goals were a bit to broad and vague, so I've decided to divide them up and make them specific:

Terrain is often a "barrier to play" and I've long wanted some medieval ruins/underground tomb cities. I've already made a start to one project with a 0$ dent in my budget. Some naval/air terrain on a smaller scale (1:100-1:300 or smaller) is another on my to-do list...

1. Terrain. 

Create 3 more terrain sets, but must be storable in A4 IKEA boxes. This can include bought /modified MDF terrain.  They must be to get projects off the ground i.e. like in 2025 I made a lot of sci fi terrain to enable games like Zone Raiders. Focus as usual on quick/easy "dad" terrain.

2. Minis

a) Assemble 50 models or two warbands of forces from spare sprues/currently unused minis i.e. samurai or 70 years war.

b) Buy minis for one existing project (i.e. Mordheim, BFG, etc) only after owned equivalents painted

c) Buy minis for one new system, project or rule set but only after equivalent minis painted 

3. Rules

a) Design and play-test one new home-brew system.

b) Buy one new rule book that works for existing minis/project. Review in blog.

c) Buy one new rule book that just looks cool. Review in blog.

d) Print out an existing old-school OOP rulebook or free indie set. Review in blog. 

e)  Revise and playtest 3 out of my many sets of homebrew rules in quirky topics like supercavitating subs, tank pirates, simple jet fighters etc. 

4. Blog

Two posts per month. 

People seem to like game design stuff but honestly I only do those if I have a topic I've been mulling over - so can't promise those. Although feel free to suggest topics in chat and if they interest me I'll explore them. I may do some home-brew rules where I photograph and 'think aloud' through a playtest game. I'd like to do a few rules reviews again. 

5. Paint

a) Continue to follow my rule: Paint equal or more existing minis before I get new purchases i.e. if I paint 101 minis, I can buy 100 new minis.

b) Paint up two unfinished projects i.e. samurai, Quar, Odyessy....  

....As a minimum, paint 100 minis equivalent to 28mm (a 15mm infantry counts as 1/3, a mounted 28mm counts as 2, etc).  

6. Budget

Spend around $350 as a baseline - ~$7 a week is a coffee so it's not an unreasonable amount for a hobby. I may increase my allowance if I exceed my painting or declutter goals, but 2025 I spent that much, mostly on MDF terrain ($150), Trench Crusade ($150) and printing out old rulebooks like Mordhiem and BFG ($50).

7. Downsize/Storage

Get rid of 4+ A4 IKEA boxes of rules, minis, old terrain etc. Ultimately, outgoings to exceed the physical size of incomings, so overall I have more shed space.