Happy New Year!
Happy new year to all our readers!
With the new year traditionally come resolutions. So here are mine.
I’m usually a little wary of new years resolutions - after all why wait until the new year? If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing now. But as today is New Year’s, it’s as good a time as any for resolutions. The easiest to keep is to sign the date as 2015 instead of 2014 on letters and cheques… Ok, how about some real resolutions?
(Resolution 1) To try and improve each issue of WSS
This is perhaps a bit of a cheap cop-out, because it is what we do with every issue: always looking back over it and seeing what could have been better. Your comments and critique, by the way, have been very useful in the past and do shape the magazine. Please do keep them coming!
(Resolution 2) To keep experimenting with new articles in WSS
We’ll keep trying new ideas and articles. For example, our latest issue is a bit of an experiment. While there are always solid historical articles in each issue, the theme of WSS 76 was Victorian Science Fiction. Remember that no more than 1/3 of the editorial of a magazine will be devoted to a theme, so even if you dislike it, there will be plenty of other items of interest to read.
As such, we’ll have the odd ‘What if?’ article joining the solid core of historical articles. Keep an eye out for some surprises!
Now for some more personal resolutions:
(Resolution 3) To improve my painting technique
Let’s face it, I can paint to a good tabletop standard, but the likes of Jasper and Christy’s painting is light-years ahead of me. Anyone familiar with our Youtube Wargames Soldiers and Strategy channel will know just how talented they are.
I want to improve my techniques so I can paint something like as good as they can (hell, maybe even have the odd miniature of mine in the magazine, you never know). To this end I’ll be carefully watching every episode of Christy’s painting and in addition reading some more books on painting miniatures. Here’s some recent books we’ve been sent for review.
Painting War is an excellent series of magazines, each dedicated to a specific subject. Issue 2 (reviewed in WSS 76) details how to paint Napoleonic French. I’ll be trying this out following the step by step guide in a future blog. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Painting Wargames Tanks by Ruben Torregrosa and Mig Jiminez will be reviewed in our next issue (WSS 77, out in March). It’s an excellent book showing simple step by step guides including a simple paintjob and the full ‘Torregrosa’ detailed method. This is one book I’ll be saving to review myself! As with the Painting War booklet, I’ll let you know about my progress in a future blog. Finally of course, I’ll be taking note of back issues of WSS, as we’ve had several excellent painters grace our covers and articles with their miniatures. If I can paint half as well as the likes of Ruben or Andres Amian or Richard Lloyd (Captain Blood), I’ll be a very happy man!
(Resolution 4) Improve my timekeeping
One for Jasper, my boss, here! I resolve to be better with my deadlines, which should mean less mistakes (as we have a greater time to proof read) and a smoother delivery for all our readers. We’ve had the odd bumpy issue and good planning is the key.
(Resolution 5) To lose weight
2014 has been quite a stressful year, with my mother being ill. So my plans of 2014 to lose weight haven’t quite worked! I plan to be as slim as I was a few years back when I ran around Salute 2012.
(Resolution 6) To blog more often
There are always new games and new things I’m trying every club night, so I have plenty to blog about. From now on, every time I game or try painting something new, I plan to blog about it too and share my experiences. In addition, I have some strong opinions on gaming in general (you may have noticed…) and some of these are worth exploring and encouraging debate. With luck, I’ll get three blogs per week done, but isn’t luck where preparation meets opportunity?
Do you have wargaming-related resolutions?
