2023 recap/2024 outlook

Hello Dear Readers, its been a while. If you've been a follower for any stretch of time, you'll know that it's not uncommon for me to start the year blogging and eventually fall off. 2023 felt like it derailed a little earlier than usual however, and since that's the case I'm going to bullet point very quickly the things that we didn't have a chance to talk about in that absentee gap. (I'm also going to share various commissioned art because otherwise this'd just be a big wall of text, and something's gotta break it up.)

• In August I accidently wound up co-running a summer camp for kids who like Magic, Warhammer 40k, DnD, and board games. If you've ever felt guilty about having a lot of small armies instead of larger ones, don't. Having to provide a variety of armies for 8 kiddos could not have happened if I hadn't built a handful of goofy little armies, and they had a blast trying all of the different playstyles avaliable to them. Building community and providing opportunities is very important to me, and so while this isn't how I'd planned to spend my summer, it was incredibly gratifying and hopefully helped some new hobbyists find their passions.
• September was absorbed by a project I'd begun back in the earlier part of the year. During the colder months, I usually redesign old magic sets or invent new Trading Card Games/Expandable Card Games, and here I found the time to revisit my plans for RITUAL. Longtime friend/collaborator/confidant Nicolai Ostergaard helped with playtesting and layout, and we made incredible headway in polishing gameplay and balance. Hopefully you'll see it sometime in the coming years!
• Sometime in October, one of my customers approached me with a question about Warmaster (10mm scale warhammer mass army game,) "had I ever played?" I said I hadn't but I'd love to, and the next day Gus (that's his name) came in with an unopened army box of Empire (humans.) Its a helluva gift (thank you) and I can't wait to paint it and play it. I love looking back through all of these older systems, especially when they play with my sense of scale.
• Additionally, I took over another department at work. I now make blogposts and newsletters for the LGS, and I'm hoping that this experience will help raise my engagement stamina so that I can translate the skills I'm building there to things like the blog you're reading now! Wow, Leveling up!
• In November I moved! It was kind of a surprise, and my partner and I moved an entire life in less than three weeks. We could not have done this without all of our wonderful friends, so thank you again!
• December was full of all sorts of Hullaballo, what with PAX UNPLUGGED and all of the holiday shoppers. I made bones for another TCG/ECG tentatively titled HYDEPUNK, kept up with some fun commissions and kooky designs, and tried to take it easy when I could. As it turns out, there are consequences to working yourself as hard as I've been, and so going forward I truly hope to work smarter instead of just harder.

So that was what you missed in 2023. I don't have to justify my absence, but it is nice to have all of these accomplishments listed to reflect on. A thing I'm gaining a greater appreciation for is the distinction between visible and invisible work. In our social media culture, the visible is considered more valuable because its sharable and polished and nets a lot of clocks, but the time it takes to develop that feels less like progress and more like time where one has nothing to show for one's labors.

I find myself having to take time to remember that none of the visible is possible without the invisible, and that we can't make good things unless we practice and study and develop. Maybe you can, but I need more time to make things of the quality I feel good releasing, even if it is to the detriment of my engagement. This post for instance has been written about six times, and it still could use some work, so balancing that relationship between good and done is clearly still ongoing, but I believe that I'm in a period of clarity where I can keep that balance healthy. Its a new year and optimism is a good look, so I'm going to run with it.

Which brings us around to 2024. I'm doing a lot of that invisible work right now so that I can share cool and good things with you in the future. I'm going to do that bullet point thing again, and quickly tell you about some of the things coming down the pipeline for the coming year.

• Gnomes; I'm participating in the OLD WORLD ARMY CHALLENGE, where I'll be making an army of Gnomes for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 5th Edition. Its a project I've wanted to do for a while, and I'm excited to finally have a structure to do it in. Also, I got to learn a new (to me) set of rules to try it out with, and I'll also be able to cross gnome army 2/3 off my to do list, which means I'll have a chance to pit thes gnew gnomes against my undead gnomes (a dream come true.)
• Rune: I've been playing a lot of Rune by Spencer Campbell, and I'd really like to make a board for it. Its a really cool soulslike solo rpg, and the board is a 4x4 grid, so it wont be too much work, but I'd really like to try elevating my play, maybe writing about my adventures and incorperating my miniatures hobby into the experience. 
• The aforementioned Warmaster Empire Army; I'd really like to try painting at that 10mm scale, and playing this game feels within reach since literally, I know a person who wants to play it. I'm still choosing which city I'd like to doll these dollies up as, but that'll come when it comes. 
• Share some games; at some point this year, I'd really like to up my game, by which I mean make some of my games avaliable for other people to try and enjoy. Invisible work to visible work! To facilitate this, I'm launching a newsletter called The Bubbleup that will hopefully be a great way to share all of the things I'm working on in a way that's easy to reference and read.

I don't want to start the year overpromising, but I'm feeling good about some of the ways I've been setting myself up in space and time to succeed, and because of some of my very good friendships that make me feel supported. Also, I made some pretty good soup yesterday, and that also helped.

As I shift into the new year, I just wanna say that I'm happy to be here, and I'm glad you're here too. We're gonna to a lot of cool things together and I can't wait to see what all comes of our adventures.'

Happy New Year everybody, and see you soon!