Hello folks,

I've been in a hobby mojo dip for the past few months, which has translated into 0% physical hobby progress and mounting frustration, in addition to the usual Hobby Butterfly Syndrome (or HBS for short). I have however managed a relatively stable online presence (if a bit sparse in terms of post count) over that time. With that in mind, I've decided to create this blog for which my objectives are:

1. Get a post, preferably with at least one picture of personal hobby progress, published each week and keep that momentum going for as long as possible;
2. Organise my hobby projects in such a way that I have a clear idea of what I have underway and avoid having too big of a scatter of projects but not in a way that will stifle my creativity (typically, creating army lists at the start of a project stifles my creativity and usually sounds the death knell of projects before they have properly taken off);
3. Avoid unnecessary squandering of my limited monetary resources;
4. Interact with the local blogging community here.

To hold myself accountable to these objectives, I'll do a periodic (monthly?) review of how well I've managed to fulfill those objectives and what I will do to improve fulfillment over time if I feel I'm going astray.

Now, perhaps I can write a bit more about myself. I...

• am approaching my thirties at an alarmingly steady speed;
• live, study, and work in Switzerland (Europe) though don't have the stereotypical, well-filled bank account, much to the chagrin of my hobby hoarder side;
• have been in the hobby since roughly 2005-2006, when a friend showed me their Lord of the Rings Rohan Warriors and got me hooked;
• have been a member of this community since 2009 and a moderator since 2014;
• first managed to complete a playable army just under a year ago and that remains one of my proudest hobby achievements;
• do not like the latest edition of Warhammer 40'000 and am looking at playing the game using the 3rd/4th Edition rules and codecies.

Before my latest hobby mojo dip, I was busy with painting Necromunda models and one-off Space Marines from various lesser-known Chapters. Here are a few pictures from both of those projects:

A WIP shot of my Escher gang, the Lazer Lynx

A pair of Goliath gangers that are part of an ongoing (and very late) commission

A Space Marine from the Emperor's Hands Chapter

A Space Marine from the Star Phantoms Chapter

Before these projects, I was working on my Black Templars. I don't have a decent army picture so here is one of the larger Crusader Squad with its Rhino APC facing off against some retro Orks found at my local club:

While I was very proud of achieving that coveted goal of a fully-painted army, their tabletop performance against the local community was very poor and my work on them ground to a complete halt late last year/early on this year. However, with my (re)discovery of the 3rd and 4th Editions of Warhammer 40'000, I'm considering working on this army project once more.

I was also working on a Mantis Warrior Kill Team project that was supposed to accompany a one-off Marine that I painted in 2021 but it hasn't gotten any further than building the models and giving them a spray coat of Death Guard Green.

Pre-undercoat pictures of the Kill Team

The "original" and completed Mantis Warrior

Moving forward, I would like to (in no particular order):

• organise a proper work space for my hobbying;
• restart work on my Black Templars and create a playable 3rd/4th Edition force;
• finish the Goliath gang I started painting for a friend as a commission;
• start work on an Eldar force for 3rd/4th Edition;
• continue painting one-off models whenever it tickles my fancy and/or I need a bit of palette cleanser.

Beyond concrete projects though, I'd like to find a sustainable way to keep my hobby mojo flame burning steadily and to rekindle that joy I feel when working on hobby projects.

If you have gotten this far, I thank you for your attention and hope you enjoyed this first post on this fresh, new blog. If you have any comments or thoughts, feel free to share them below.

In the time between now and my next update, take care and keep hobbying!