The almost venerable Heerschau of recent years will become HobbyQuest from 2023.

What is behind this?

The aim of the Heerschau was to paint a new army for SAGA or Muskets & Tomahawks over the course of half a year. The response was great and over 100 hobbyists took part and most of them completed the army show. The monthly tasks (usually a playable unit) were presented via social media and summarised and published by us in a blog post. Every graduate received a 20% discount code for a purchase at Stronghold Terrain.

The successful concept of the Heerschau will not be buried by the HobbyQuest either, rather it will continue to be an integral part and anyone who “merely” likes to paint a new army can do so without restriction and the 20% discount code still beckons as a reward (see “Painting” below).

With the HobbyQuest we want to add further pillars to our hobby besides painting a new army. After all, a new army also wants to be led into battle and fancy new terrain makes every game result better. It is also often the special hobby experiences such as playing a campaign or visiting an event, e.g. the Grand Melee, that remain in the memory even after years and about which anecdotes are told and heroic stories are told.

We also want the HobbyQuest to make our hobby community more active by everyone sharing their hobby stages on social media.

Hobby Planner:

In order to be able to depict all this, we have come up with the grandiose Hobby Planner.

Successfully completed stages of our HobbyQuest are stamped on it like a passport.

But don’t worry, we may be iGermans, but a hobby is a hobby and should first and foremost be fun. So of course there is no obligation to work through the entire Hobby Planner or to publish it. But it should inspire us to more hobby activities and shared hobby content inspires and connect us as a community..

But maybe such a HobbyQuest will motivate not only me but also you to complete it. For all those who complete the hobby quest, we are thinking about a trophy, similar to the one for participating in the Grand Melee.

There are a total of 24 fields on the hobby planner. Print out the planner (LINK) and cross out one field at a time when you have mastered the hobby stage. This way you can keep track and proudly share your progress.

In the first two columns you will find a monthly painting and playing stage.

Painting: Paint one point per month for SAGA, one playable unit with optional officer for Muskets & Tomahawks or one gang for Dead Man’s Hand. Feel free to jump between the game systems from month to month if you want to advance several projects.

Important: If you want to benefit from the 20% discount code for a purchase at Stronghold Terrain, we need pictures of the individual monthly painting results.

As with the army show, send us a picture of your unpainted unit TOGETHER with ONE picture of the finished unit:

• (maximum 500 KB pictures). Please name the pictures as follows: Name, Month (e.g. Karl Dosenkohl March).
• or by Facebook Messenger message to me (Mirco Wenning). In this case you do not have to edit the pictures.

Gaming: Play one game of SAGA, Muskets & Tomahawks or DMH per month and share it with the community, e.g. on Facebook with a few pictures and maybe a short game report.

In the two columns on the right, there are different hobby stages without a time reference, i.e. you can fulfil them any time from January to June.

In detail, these are:

Terrain: Build a new terrain piece and share some pictures with the community and a little guidance or terrain building tips are always welcome.

Bonus: You can never play and paint enough. A certain selection of units to build your army is always helpful.

Tournament: Participate in a tournament or play at least 3 games in one weekend. It can be very motivating to set a goal to have an army ready by the time a tournament such as Grand Melee comes around. Deadlines help!

Campaign: Play a SAGA, Muskets & Tomahawks or Dead Man’s Hand campaign with your friends and share with us pictures and reports.

The final 3 hobby stages are a little more special:

Convention: Visit a hobby convention such as the Hamburg Tactica or the Szenario and perhaps write a short report on your experience or share a few pictures with us.

Excursion: Visit a historical site such as the battlefield of Hastings or Waterloo or visit an exhibition or museum. A short field report or video is sure to inspire others of us.

Article: Perhaps one aspect of the hobby is particularly close to your heart or you have a special strength here. Write a tactics article, do a painting tutorial, introduce a faction, …

So, I think now you should have got an idea of the HobbyQuest. At least in my head, concrete ideas are already unfolding about what I would like to do in the next six months.

What do you think about it?