This year, 2025, was not a busy time for my hobbies, especially when it comes to games.

I only wrote fourteen blog posts, and to tell the truth, that might be about how many games I played too.

My daughter Yasmin, who is my game partner, is now in her second year at university. I have not gotten used to playing by myself yet. In truth, I have not played any game alone. Last year, I waited for her to come home on breaks, and that is when we would play together.

I look at my shelf full of games I have not played, and I let out a big sigh because I want to try them. The bad part is, I keep buying more and adding to that shelf!

Now, it is time for me to take control and focus on my hobbies. This is harder than it sounds because I have so many. But this year, I plan to go back to basics and play some games by myself.

I have thought a lot – for about a year – about what I like most when writing these posts. To be honest with myself, I have not felt good about making content for some time. So, what is the problem?

I have known for a while what the issue is. It is writing the long posts. When I started this blog, I did deep looks at games. I wrote about how I play a game or how a certain part of it works. Those posts that took about twenty minutes to read made me excited and kept me going. But over time, I had less time, so I made shorter posts to write more of them.

That was a mistake!

I see it now, because my desire to sit and write has gone away.

I tried writing short looks at games, what I called my ‘Rated’ series. I wrote a few, but did not share them. I did not like doing it because it did not feel like my style.

So, new year – and a happy one, even if late, to all of you – a fresh start that is not really new.

I am going back to what makes me happy, which is writing those long, detailed posts. I see now that I should not worry about how many posts I make. It does not matter. If I only put out a few game posts a year, but they are ones I want to write, that is fine. It will help me get excited about writing again.

When it comes to painting, things are going the other way.

Right now, I am trying to paint quicker. I have so many small figures to paint, especially ones I need to finish to play the games. I have to start working through them.

I do not want to make the painting worse, but I am trying new quick paints – like Xpress or Contrast paints. The results are okay for playing now, but I am getting better.

Lately, I finished painting Cyclops, Wolverine, and Beast. Those are Yasmin’s figures for her Marvel game. Now, I am almost done with Storm. Then, I have Valkyrie and Iron Fist left to finish all our Marvel figures – so we can play at Easter if Yasmin comes home.

I put base color on a group of German soldiers for Bolt Action, plus two tanks and some ships. So, I have a lot to do. I want to finish all that by the end of May. I have never painted tanks before, so I keep putting them off.

After those, I want to start on my Joan of Arc figures for war games. There are many of them. I think about one thousand. That is why I need to learn quick painting!

Besides that, I want to add more to my Bolt Action army, paint the last add-ons for Mansions of Madness, finish some fantasy figures, and… Well, it never ends, does it?

Of course, some things I want to paint better. I do not want to stop learning, or my skills will not get better.

There is more scenery to paint, and I need to do it fast. I am not big on making scenery, but I know I need it for games. I buy ready-painted ones when I can, but some I can do quickly. That leads me to some walls I painted.

Last year, my wife Sue gave me some walls made with a 3D printer. I finally painted them at the end of the year. They turned out okay, even though I was not sure what to expect. I have not painted many 3D printed things before.

It did not take much to clean them up. I washed them well because I heard they can have a oily layer that stops paint from sticking.

I only used my airbrush for these, and it did not take long. I started with black base, then sprayed different grays and stone colors. I did not make it too neat, but tried for a real look. I added some grass bits and dirt, and that was it. Nice!

So, next week I plan to open a new game – you can see a hint in the pictures above – and with one or two painting updates, post something more detailed to think about!