Pandora's Box Leads to the Peninsular!

Hi all!  I confess I'm in a funny place.  Or at least that's where I have been up until yesterday when things finally began to fit in place.  Yes, I'm talking about Pandora's Box Paralysis (or PBP to those who have heard me use the term before)! But whether you're new to my term, or a long-time sufferer of this ailment, I'm sure you're familiar with the symptoms.  With so many quality miniature manufacturers and excellent rules out there, Pandora's Box Paralysis is the wargamer's natural reflex reaction: an inability to decide what to do next. 
It's quite ironic really because I'm actually in the best position in my hobby for years. Yes, even when my attempts at a new career have just come crashing down around me (what a worthwhile two and a half years that's been thank you very much!) I find myself finally having about enough figures to play a whole slew of periods that I've been slowly scraping the pennies together for a long time.  They may not be painted, they may not even be assembled, but they are waiting for me in shiny new condition, awaiting the chance to face off against their respective enemies.  What has seemed impossible for so long on my limited income (read virtually non-existent wargaming budget!) is perilously close to being able to start actual work on.

This, you will understand, should be an incredible motivation for me.  Trouble is, it hasn't worked out like that...
There are a lot of reasons that could explain this.  PBP alone could be sufficient.  Like the proverbial rabbit caught in the equally proverbial headlights, I have way too much I can be getting on with.  My return to 40K courtesy of 8th Edition has landed me with the Imperial Guard...sorry... Astra Militarum army of my dreams.  Let alone the start of a brand new Blood Angels army. I've fallen so far down that rabbit hole that I'm also starting a Beastclaw Raiders army for Age of Sigmar.  Then there are the Tintin miniatures I've got for playing Pulp Alley (and maybe some 7TV).  I'm also supposed to be working my way through some models for gaming Robin Hod with Blood Eagle.  I have enough figures to field two large skirmish armies for the English Civil War (And too many rules I could use them with!)  Santa should be bringing me another box of Perry's plastic Bows and Bills so I will be able to complete my second army for the Wars of the Roses.  I have now a box each of Perry's British 8th Army and DAK so I can finally start work on my armies for Chain of Command.  I own all the figures I'll need to play Dux Britanniarum.  I have a heap of Romans and Celts awaiting my rules of choice to appear so I can get on with that project.  I almost have enough to field two forces for the American Civil war for Sharp Practice 2, and I hope to have some Fuzzy Wuzzies so I can get on with gaming the Madhist uprising in the Sudan.  And there are my precious Napoleonic I've dreamed of having for more than thirty years...
Yes, they are all so good that it would be easy to understand why I haven't been able to decide what to do.  But we need to factor in multiple jobs, taking additional work during annual leave, additional studies (you know, for careers you find out you can't have) and the demands of family life.  The real world has a necessary, if unfortunate, effect on our ability to do all the things we hope to do in our hobby. 

If you don't have a lot of money for this wonderful hobby of ours, you'll understand why I sometimes become afraid of painting.  It's the fear of ruining a model and not being able to buy a replacement.  And if you don't get time for hobby until you're too tired to do it, a long time can go by without achieving much.
As someone who doesn't have a hobby desk set up permanently, let alone a man cave to hide in and play with his toy soldiers, it can be difficult to find time to look everything out, do something meaningful and pack it all away before the world cries out for you once again.
But there's another problem which I fear you may not understand.  On 8th August Corrie, my wonderful companion and ever-faithful Border Collie lost her two and a half year battle with cancer.  And while you may be forgiven for thinking that no walks means more hobby time, I can tell you from sad experience that it's hard to pick up your little paint station and do anything when all you're aware of is the absence of man's best friend lying at your feet, watching you paint.  And when you do manage to talk yourself into doing something, you suddenly find you can't see your model for the tears welling up your vision because she's not there lifting a paw to your arm because she want's a pat.  Hobby or Corrie?  Corrie.  Every time. 
I've been working on my Robin Hood project, making the first of my Beastclaw Riders, starting to paint my Cadians.  But I've not been able to settle. Maybe it's because I have no deadlines to work to...
 So yesterday, after really going up the wall for far too long, I decided to pull out my Napoleonics. I began making some British Infantry.  And you know what?  The buzz came back.  I'm not suddenly over Corrie.  I seriously doubt that will ever happen.  I still work long hours for a small wage.  I have a mountain of miniatures that could distract me (and probably will)! But right now, I'm working on something that has piqued my interest.  And I now have the models I used to look at wistfully on my phone when I sat on the floor and Corrie lay beside me.  "One day I'll have one of them," I'd say to her while looking at FN55 on the Perry website.  Well, now I have a set.  And now I'll be able to get on with making and painting them.  Sure, there's an ache in my heart that won't go away. But at least I'm getting on with some hobby.  That's therapy in itself. 
Pandora's Box Paralysis has led to the Peninsular and Sharp Practice 2.  And I'm doing it in Corrie's memory.

Hopefully, I'll be back to posting more regularly.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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