As the seasons change, our activities shift to Winter mode. There are no outdoor projects to interfere with our hobby needs. This is the time of year to get out that box of figures you bought back in ???? and said "Gee, what a bargain, I don't have time to work on them now, but I've always wanted some of these troops."

Making up a schedule for completing waiting armies is a must.

Step One - Take an Inventory of all of the figures you have that are unpainted or "just need the trim finished" (a note to you married guys: DON'T do this in the open...if she sees how many bags of unopened lead you have, it might create a bigger problem than which group to paint first!).

Step Two - Make a Top Ten List. What period or conflict are you interested in now? What figures will be the most fun to paint and get on the table? These can be tough questions for a number of reasons. Once you start to place the figures in some kind of order, a plan should take shape. Check with your fellow gamers on this one, too. If you are fortunate enough to be able to game regularly, you will have an idea of what everyone is doing. It all depends on your level on involvement in the hobby. I'm sure we all would like to spend more time on just about all of our non-work activities. So, making a plan to get the most out of your "Gaming Time" is critical.

Winter Cons

The other big Winter activity for gamers is trekking to the various miniatures conventions. Way up here in NW Ohio (sorry Wolverines!), we have several events to choose from each year. The truly sad fact is that many of these conventions fall too close together to each other on the calendar. This year, for example, Spartacon and Wintercon are only a week apart. This really blasts my Mad Money fund! Spartacon is well attended with little or no announcements and features an all historical list of events. It's Jan. 8, 2005. Wintercon is Jan. 15 and open for all types of games and has always had some really great historicals and fantasy minis. Wintercon has moved this year to the Macomb Community College Student Center - South Campus, Corner of 12 Mile and Schoenherr; about a mile east of the Italian Center (last year's site). Both conventions offer great games and shopping for attendees. The rest of the gaming calendar is listed in the back of this issue as always.

I plan on running games at Bashcon here in Toledo, Feb. 25-27, and at the Seven Years War Association conference on March 18-19 in South Bend, IN. Bashcon and Wintercon are always my time to run a sci-fi event. SYWA is one of my best-rated conventions to attend. It's small size really makes it more of a family reunion than a gaming convention, because most of the attendees come every year. So, clear off your desk or painting table, pick one group to finish this year, and plan on attending at least one of these great Winter events!