Last day of a rather dismal wargaming year, if I can say it myself. Highlights of the year:
- Managed to paint basic forces for both US and VC locals in my Vietnam project
- Also for Vietnam project, a shedload of jungle terrain pieces was completed. This may very well the greatest ‘success’ of the year, since it was a horribly tedious task I undertook most unwillingly. Still, I pushed through, good lad there…
- For Dux Britaniarum, I’ve painted the Saxons, so I now have both sides at home.
- I’ve added a couple of units and artillery to my 6mm ACW collection.
- Over last couple of months my interest in 6mm Napolenic project woke up again. As result, I’ve made some progress with Teugen-Hausen OOB and added three infantry batalions and two cavalry regiments.
- Terrain board project proceeds at glacial speed. 21 basic boards are now ready for use. So far, four of them were used for a photo shoot, the rest is still waiting for their premiere apperance.
On the other hand, the simple fact is that I hardly played any games this year. This in itself is worrying, but what bothers me much more is the fact that I didn’t really mind that much. Seems to me that both my personal engagement in the hobby as well as that of my wargaming buddies is slowly winidng down. Over last couple of years our focus seems to be shifting in direction of boardgames such as Command&Colors (both ancient and Napoleonic), Combat Commander and most recently, Wing Leader. Common denominator for all of them (beside the fact that they’re from GMT) is that they’re quick to pick and set up, have simple rules and an average game doesn’t last longer than three hours, often much less.
It will come hardly as a surprise then when I say thatI have pretty much lost the insight into whatever developments and trends may have taken place in the hobby over the course of past year. The only major event that registered on my radar was the change of editor of Miniature Wargames magazine, which signaled a change in course for that magazine for me and prompted me to a binge purchase of PDF issues of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. Other than that, things have been going on without any major upheavals and disturbances in my personal wargaming bubble – no new projects started, no new rulesets, no major miniature purchases. Seems like not following the news or trends is a bit of a bliss, allowing me to consolidate on stuff I already have going on, rather than jumping from one shiny new thing to another!
Allright, so what about 2017?
- First and foremost, play a bit more. One game per month may be over-ambitious, but that’s the goal for this year.
- Which leads me to the second goal – looking into solo gaming. One sad trend I cannot overlook any longer is the simple fact that gathering together a group of three or four friends in same place at same time seems to be more and more difficult. Often even arranging a one on one game is a bit of a challenge. So solo gaming seems to be the most obvious solution to this problem.
- Regarding painting projects, I hope my current momentum will last a bit longer and allow me to paint figures necessary for Teugen-Hausen scenario. I’m about halfway there, which means about 1000 more 6mm minis that require attention.
- I would also like to expand on my Vietnam collection – helicopters and VC main force units are in the pipeline. Maybe some additional terrain, while I’m at it.
- Chain of Command from Too Fat Lardies – this ruleset has peaked my interest and I have already a shedload of 20mm minis for a one of their mini-campaigns. Need to paint some bits and pieces and make couple of meters of boccage as well as a couple of buildings.
- Ancients – strangely enough, I never had a chance to play what I consider my ‘first love’. I have a sizeable Greek hoplite army. They need an opponent, most probably early Achaemenid Persians. Two rulesets need testing – ‘Impetus’ and ‘Spear and Sword’.
OK, that’s it for now, Happy New Wargaming Year to you all. See you on the other side!
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