How can I make it weirder?

One of my aims for this year was the write more stuff. I’ve always enjoyed the act of writing and used to often write short fiction, but aside from collecting notes for a novel I will probably never start, and a few fluff pieces for my Instagram posts, I just don’t do it anymore.

It is November now, so yeah, going well…

Historically I’ve gone big, bought in early and often to new armies and editions, and often with multiple armies. This coupled with my inability to build anything straight out the box without a great deal of kit-bashing and converting. Ultimately I always got caught up in the narrative of my army and never ended up finishing it. I’ve now got a cupboard of part completed projects.

Then I discovered Inq28 and really enjoyed making stuff just for the sake of it. Since then I’ve been trending towards smaller skirmish stuff, especially with the recent success of my gaming group’s Necromunda campaign. It scratches my itch for narrative – all my war dollies have names, and histories – but I can finish 8-15 guys. I’ve also been trying to just buy less generally in my life, so it fits in well there too.

Since then I’ve been trying to be more mindful with my collection, selling stuff I’m not going to use, whilst trying to have at least one finished ‘force’ for each of the systems I might play.

And now I’m enjoying my hobby so much more. I’ve been trying to focus in on the why too. It is putting my mark on the models, and coming up with the story and building something that is intrinsically mine.

I watched Mike Franchina in his recent interview with Jordan Sorcery and think he really nailed it when he said – I’m paraphrasing – ‘How can I make it weirder?’. He was talking about taking inspiration and then pushing it, making it your own and seeing where it goes.

That was what I’m enjoying with the hobby at the moment. Taking a bit of the universe, thinking about a part of it that is unexplored, or shallow and working to put my stamp on it a little.

TLDR: Focus on what you love about your hobby. Make your weird thing.