So the new year begins with my making tentacle cell phone stands for some friends. They suggested I start an etsy shop, but then the whole thing starts to feel a little bit like work (or at least a side hustle) and I’m pretty sure I don’t want that.

Because one of the things I am really trying to keep in mind in 2021 is that process is so much more important that product. I rushed the paint job on the chapel a few weeks ago in order to crank you yet another completed terrain piece and it looked terrible. I can tell just by glancing at it that it was very, very rushed. I am going to try to focus more on improving my own process, whether it comes to painting, writing, or otherwise creating with a goal of improving quality, not just cranking out quantity.

That is not to say I am not going to track progress, because I do need some sort of reminder to continue to set aside time for the things that help take care of me. I just won’t be so mindful of totals.

The other thing I am trying to keep in mind is discipline. I jump around a lot, mostly on account of the way my brain is wired. Which means I do a lot without getting a lot done. It seems crazy that I only did one wargame this entire pandemic even though I painted over fifty miniatures.

Now I know that I can not stick with one project for a long period of time, but I could commit to doing a handful of projects consistently. Given how I suspect 2021 is going to go, one or more of those projects should be solo wargaming ones, the others online TTRPG’s. Both of those could eventually shift to in-person games with other people, but let’s assume that is a long way off. With that in mind, I think the initial line-up for 2021 is going to be the following:

Operation Last Train (solo sci-fi wargaming)
Easy to play with a somewhat light feel to the theme. Yes, it is set in a desperate, even hopeless world, but you are focused on rescuing people, not killing aliens for the God-Emperor.

Hardwired (cyberpunk solo wargaming)
There is a lot of potential crossover between this game at Operation Last Stand, especially terrain. Also a simple, quick game to run. It doesn’t hurt that I had a small brainstorm yesterday about miniatures for this game.

Nightwatch (fantasy solo wargaming)
As I mentioned before, this is a “hack” of Hardwired with more detail and options, and can take advantage of a large of miniatures already on hand.

Dungeons & Dragons (online tabletop RPG via Roll20)
I haven’t talked about this much on the blog, but there’s been a bit of gaming done by me on Roll20 in a friend’s campaign. I’ve been dedicating some gaming time to learning the ins and outs of using the Roll20 platform and even plunked down a little money on some digital maps.

So the cool part about my plan is that should I decide to shift gears a bit, I can move laterally fairly easily. Say if I wanted to do Reality’s Edge, another solo cyberpunk game, or Horizon Wars: Zero Dark, a solo sci-fi wargame, I would already have a lot of stuff on hand.

What’s missing? Post-apocalyptic stuff like This is not a Test or All Things Zombie or Zona Alfa (arguably not a post-apoc game, but similar enough). Maybe it is the past year, but end-of-the-world stuff just hasn’t appealed to me. That might change, but for now I feel good about this plan.

Now to see how it goes…