Retribution Battle Box

Here's a quick paint job I did for a friend's Retribution starter:

I had fun painting them, although I will admit I went much quicker and simpler for these models than I usually do. I'm trying to systematically get all my "to-do" hobbying out of the way. I've had this guy's models for what seems like an eternity, and bless his patient heart he hasn't minded (at least so he's told me).

He seems happy with the job and this week we're going to try a few introductory games.

This leads me to my next topic: organization.

Until recently my hobby time has been purely whimsical. I'll usually go through spurts of determination, planning for days or weeks of what I intend to do and then once I begin I don't follow through and move onto another fancy. I have recently made myself painfully aware that I am nowhere near completing my resolutions at the beginning of the year. What was once thought of as easily achievable quickly turned into quicksand that seemed impossible to finish. What started as one Malifaux crew turned into 3. What started as a simple paper terrain board turned into a fully functioning foldable 3 dimensional Venice-themed extravagance. What started as a small mercenary army turned into 2 larger mercenary armies. What started as 7 models to paint for Trollbloods remained 7 models for Trollbloods.

So once this pile of unresolved items truly sank in I decided to get organized. I was truly inspired by my wife's recent breakthroughs using organization to reign in your goals that I took the same steps for my hobbies. I decided what was a priority, then listed out things I really want to finish, and then finished by listing things I'd like to see happen. Once I listed those long term goals out I made step by step short term goals to make bite sized chunks of hobbying easy to manage, as well as dates for those goals to be achieved. Now that I've done this I can easily tell you this: if you have a huge backlog of painting, modeling, or anything otherwise, this approach is invaluable.

In a matter of one weekend I managed to finish several goals that seemed to be huge mountains until I put them on paper. I made my table plans for my Malifaux foldable terrain (which I've also started on getting it built). I finished my commission job for the Retribution, which has been hanging over me for months. I finished Eiryss' cape, which is the second to last step to finishing this conversion that I started in December of 2012. Plus I organized my paints to make it much easier to get down to business.

All this because I made a concrete plan, a time to finish them, and the conviction to see them through.

I highly suggest that you attempt this approach as well. Once I get home I'm creating dates for my remaining goals and will keep you - or at least, those of you I assume to exist and read this - updated.