"Chip awaaayyy, chip away at the stone…"

6MMRPC Finished!

In September 2014, I started this blog as part of joining the 6 Month Mountain Reduction and Painting Challenge.  Let’s have a look at the original rules and see how my intentions fared…

1. No purchasing of new miniatures, EXCEPT if you use a joker card. Like in a deck of cards, you get two jokers to use on a figure purchase during the six months of the challenge. Could be a blister pack, an eBay bundle, or a single figure...you can't splurge.

SUCCESS!  Zero miniatures outright purchased, and zero Jokers used, technically speaking.  I recently pre-ordered Angel Giraldez’s painting book, the purchase of which includes a free miniature.  The book and mini will be received sometime this week, after the 6MMRPC.  As I see it, this one does not count as a rules violation, but it does add 1 mini to my personal Mountain.

2. Gifts do not count against you. Christmas and or birthdays etc. Also, if you're given gift cards by your hobby illiterate family or friends, you can without penalty use them on anything you want miniatures wise.

SUCCESS!  My personal Mountain grew by only 3 models gifted to me in September 2014, and  4 more in December during painting classes on my birthday.

3. Paints, terrain (or materials), and other hobby supplies do not apply to the no purchasing rule.

SUCCESS!  In August at Gen Con, before the 6MMPRC began in September, I won a gift cert from Reaper Miniatures.  In October, I used the cert to get a few new paints and 7 miniatures.  By all accounts, this is okay for Rule 2 (gift cert) and Rule 3 (paint doesn’t count).

4. At least one hobby related blog post and/or Instagram update a week. If you Instagram, be sure to hashtag your pic with #6MMRPC

Partial success, but mostly missed the mark with this one.  I started off well, faded away, picked up, then the Holidays kicked in...lather, rinse and repeat.  It has really been feast or famine for me when it comes to painting, taking pics or posting.

5. Zombtober will be part of the 6 month challenge so, Zombie related stuff during October is ENCOURAGED!

SUCCESS!  Okay, maybe not enough of a success to warrant using an exclamation point, but I need to celebrate even the small victories, you know?  :-)  I completed 8 Revenants for Sedition Wars in October 2014.  Revenants are essentially space zombies, so we’ll count them for Zombtober.

 By the numbers:

• Painted – done, gone, off my workbench – 37 minis and 16 similar projects, for a total of 53 completed items during the challenge’s 6 month term.  By ‘similar projects’, I mean things that took more than an hour each, and required miniature modeling tools, supplies and skills to complete, even if they were not directly related to tabletop gaming.  Example: painting a pair of Halloween decorations.
• Acquired – added to my Mountain – 1 freebie, 3 gifts, 4 freebie/gifts and 7 via using an existing gift certificate, for a total of 15.
• Net, version 1 – 15 added minIs 53 painted equals -38.  So, the Mountain of ‘projects’ – unpainted models and related items - shrunk by 38.
•  Net, version 2 – with consideration of only ‘gaming’ models, 15 minis added, minus 37 completed, is a net of -22.  The Mountain of unpainted minis shrunk by 37, but grew by 15, for a net change of 22 down. 

While these are not truly stellar numbers, there are two important takeaways, here.  First, positive progress was made.  More items came off my workbench than were added on, so that’s got to be at least a small step in the right direction. 

Second, when compared to a ‘normal’ year, I painted more in 6 months during the challenge than in any other 12 month span.  Ever.  My yearly average is barely 19, so painting 53 in 6 months represents a big jump in productivity.  Of course, in a 'normal' year I also paint for competition and focus on quality over quantity, so productivity itself takes on a slightly different definition during such a challenge.

Overall, I think the 6MMRPC was good for me.  While I failed at some of the less tangible parts, such as blogging weekly, the successes outweigh the minor failures. Heck, I was very rarely blogging on WAMP before the Challenge.  It drove me to create this blog and get a few posts on it.  Plus, I painted more, bought less and generally made a small dent in my Mountain. 

All of those small and partial successes add up.  I think they are enough to bring me back for a future 6MMRPC at a date TBD.  Until then, I will continue applying most of the rules to myself, unofficially, just to keep my spending under control and focus on painting.

Keep on painting!