Repaint or Move On?

I've heard it said that miniatures should never be stripped and repainted. "Keep them around as a reminder of your earlier work. You'll be able to see how much you've improved."

I'd like to think I've gotten better at painting. Or maybe I just got better at photographing miniatures.

On the other hand, some examples of my earlier work are subpar. I've repainted miniatures before. There are a couple of examples on this blog. For example, I painted this Reaper Chronoscope miniature way back in 2011 and repainted it in 2021 - ten years later! Why? I wanted the miniature to match the others I was using in my Five Parsecs From Home game. It seemed worth the effort in that case.

This is the before and after of the miniature in question.

I can see both sides of the issue. The miniature is already painted, likely to a "good enough for tabletop" standard. It's irritating to see the mistakes I made on a miniature, but is worthwhile in general to start over with it? The effort might be better spent on my extensive collection of unpainted miniatures.

The way to resolve the conflict between these views might be to repaint selectively. Rank and file miniatures used in groups? Tabletop standard is fine. Hero miniatures intended as centerpieces or display? It depends. Have I learned enough since then to make a difference? Is stripping off the old paint necessary? Does it just need a touch up? A little wash or highlighting?

There's a couple of particularly annoying offenders in my display cabinet. I see them every day. Revisiting them would be a chance to see how I've improved since calling them done.

Maybe after I've knocked down my pile of shame a little.

My 2024 Tabletop Gaming Plan

2023 was not my year for anything related to tabletop gaming. I don't want to get into details. I'm going to put it all behind me and start fresh with a new plan. It may not be a good plan, it might be pie in the sky, but it's a direction to go in until I come up with something better.

In early 2024, I'm going back to the place where I started gaming. I enjoy setting up terrain, measuring distances, pushing miniatures around, and cursing my poor die rolls. But wargaming isn't where the journey began for me. My gaming origins involve a purple boxed set with an Erol Otis cover, rules by Tom Moldvay, and an adventure by Gary Gygax.

So it's back to roleplaying games for awhile. I picked up the Player's Tome and Referee's Tome for Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy during Necrotic Gnome's Black Friday sale. It's looking like a good way to revisit some classic adventures without too much conversion work. After that, I have a bunch of other TTRPGs that are either sitting on the shelves or are on the way from Kickstarters or preorders. Maybe I'll alternate between fantasy and sci-fi with a modern setting thrown in here and there.

Related to all the TTRPGs sitting on the shelves is my massive backlog of books to read. Making a dent in it is an overall 2024 goal. Quite a few of those books are gaming related, so it's fair to mention it here.

Another backlog is my pile of shame. Although I'll be kicking off 2024 with TTRPGs, I'm planning on getting to know my brushes and paints again. Not every miniature and terrain piece has to be used for wargaming, after all. There's also some junk in storage for when I try my hand at scratch building and trashbashing again.

Finally, I could use a way to keep my thoughts and ideas organized in 2024. Maybe I could publish them in some format? Perhaps a blog? Or a YouTube channel? I'll have to look into it.