Hobby State of the Union

So... What have I been up to from a hobby standpoint these last several months? The honest answer is "not too much". That being said, things seem to have taken a turn for the better. Part of it is just coming out of a general malaise, part of it is that the Fall In convention in Lancaster PA has energized me somewhat (as these cons always do), and part of it is that I never went completely dormant on the hobby front (blog silence to the contrary).

As much as anything these days, I am suffering from the attention span deficit that often (OK, always...) afflicts me. Too many interests and projects and too little time. Back to the original question... "what am I doing these days from a hobby perspective?":

• Seven Years War project - I have been packing an order to send to Sri Lanka for painting, This is an interest that I have that I will never ever be able to address properly on my own from a painting perspective. If I waited until I painted what I needed to do a modest game, it would never happen. So it is time to admit my own limitations and call in the pros. I am sending Austrians to be painted, while I still have hopes of doing some Prussians on my own, as well as a bullet point covered below...
• Modular terrain - Following the blogs of Olicanalad and others, it seems that many hobbyists use modular terrain pieces for their battlefields. I have always either used custom terrain boards carved out of foam (but not modular), or simple ground clothes with other terrain pieces. I have made a few half-hearted starts on making modular terrain pieces, but have never gotten very far. This time will be different, and I have already made some decent progress. More to follow in another post...
• Hundred Years War - As recently posted, I completed a mini project on a set of 24 archer stake bases. I had been planning to get around to this for the better part of a year, and finally set aside the 2 hours needed to knock it out. In addition to that, I always seem to have at least a unit or two of medieval figs on my painting table.
• Napoleonics - My 15mm armies need more rebasing work in order to use my existing figs better with the LaSalle rules, which we have played a couple of times and like. LaSalle seems to be a nice mix of period feel with modest complexity and fairly quick play time. In other words, a winner.
• Ottomans - Work continues, albeit at a glacial pace, on knocking out a unit or two here and there. Much more work to be done before even a modest game could be played.
• Seven Years War "ImagiNation" - It seems to be a fairly common thing amongst our English gaming compatriots to create a fictitious state for which to create an army and inject it into real history. Popular periods seem to be in the early horse and musket periods of Marlburian through Seven Years War. I have decided to exercise my imagination and create the Duchy of Alsberg, a small German state in the Seven Years War era. I have begun painting a few units and have begun sketching out the "history" and background of my little duchy. I envision my duchy as a sometimes ally of Prussia which is often at conflict with smaller neighboring states as well as occasionally getting caught up in the larger affairs concerning Prussia and Austria (hence the additional impetus to get some Austrians painted...).
• Lord of the Rings and some other fantasy stuff to be expanded on later....
• Last but not least, the Crusades Project needs to forge ahead. Theoretically this should be an easier one to make progress on as it requires little more than rebasing of figures.

So... as I said, lots of different things going on. If I could just focus on one or two things at a time, I might actually make some progress. Alas, it is not my way...