2019 - A Year in Review

Well another year draws to a close.

I lost track of the painting tally but it felt like a good year on the brushes, I'll put this down to the launch of the Haitian campaign which drives the painting queue as the games started to creep up in size, it's now been ongoing for a little under 12 months, which is most definitely a record. Based on previous campaigns which seem to fade away after a couple of months.

I did not get as many games in as I would have liked but I suspect that is true of every gamer. But I did make progress on a number of projects and started to clear out some of the lesser collections that not seen game time in many a year or were simply to few in number to put on a reasonable game.

As is customary in the blogosphere I have taken a look back over the past 12 months broken down by the four seasons. Frankie Valli and Vivaldi would be impressed :-)

January - March

The quarter started well with the kick off of the Haitian Campaign, I had press ganged a number of club members and others to play the part of the various factions and players set about hatching their evil schemes. 

Fuelled by players demands for extra troops a number of new units entered the table.

Ghost Archipelago continued to generate some fun games, with Atlantians, Pirates and Marines all fighting for the treasure hidden amongst the jungle ruins.

Marched finished with a Haitian outing at Hammerhead which generated plenty of interest amongst fellow gamers and gave me a target to finish more regulars and artillery.

April - June

A new project which rather surprisingly was finished in year for once, a trip down memory lane taking me back to the 1980's with Crooked Dice's not 'V' the mini-series.

Originally available through their kickstarter when they released 2 blister packs which honestly was not enough, but with a number of head swaps the Visitors are up to 20 strong. Enough for most games although I do need to tweak the flying lead rules a little more.

Although Diana is perhaps the most unluckiest leader being killed or wounded in every game played. Lets hope 2020 brings her a little more luck.

Meanwhile the Haitian Campaign hots up with multiple clashes in the North of the Island with both French and Spanish forces clashing with the Slave armies. 

July - September

The summer and back to another old project with the start of Red Pheonix the North Korean invasion of the South Korea driven largely by the launch of the Seven Days on the Rhine rules, I have yet to get a game on the table. But it was good to get the Infantry rebased in readiness for the first outing hopefully January.

The Wyvern Club were lucky enough to be invited to Keith Flint's Cotswold Wargaming day a fantastic event with plenty of games on offer and a bunch of friendly gamers to share ideas and inspiration with. I had the pleasure of meeting Stuart Asquith and was fortunate enough to win the game of the day.

Sadly Stuart passed away a few weeks ago, a real loss to the hobby but it was great to meet one of the stalwarts of the hobby before his passing.

October - December

Winter is coming..... More Haitians leave the painting queue, this time in the shape of the latest releases from Trent Miniatures, lets hope that 2020 brings some extra reinforcements to this excellent range of figures.

Meanwhile as the year draws to a close. Something evil begins to infect the land, the Witches are back and the Darkness is rising. Thanks to Rick Priestly's new Warlords of Erewhon Fantasy rules. 

The Elizabethan Zombie project is back on..... with extra's for all sides in the forthcoming conflict.

Game of the Year.

Well what a choice.... could it be the Haitian Sieges, the Death of Diana (again) or the Russian WW1 outing?

It has to be the Zombiefest set in the Worcestershire countryside. Fought over 2 nights it saw Britain over run with Zombies and the local constabulary fighting over scraps with the Birmingham Bikers.... 

 

What to expect of 2020

Having had some fun games with the Warlords of Erewhon rules you can definately expect an expansion of the Elizabethan Project, with both Spanish, English and the Army of Darkness lined up.

I have started to clear out some of the lesser projects which have never got off the ground, its amazing what you find in various boxes which were tucked away as the wargames butterfly came calling. I have enough Foundry bare metal to complete 2-3 extra Tudor units, but with a January sale on and paypal funds burning a hole in my pocket the London trained bands might finally enter the table along with more Spanish cavalry...

The forces of Darkness are likely to be bolstered by the Kickstarter from Fireforge Games which finally came through a year after my initial pledge and some random purchases on e-bay. I was bored one night and set myself a goal of winning stuff for under a tenner.....

I quite fancy a sword and sandal outing... The Infamy Infamy rules from the Two Fat Lardies sound good but I want to make use of my desert terrain rather than their setting of Northern Europe, so am tempted by New Kingdom Egyptians. With a release date around Salute it will give me time to draw up some forces and their opponents likely to be Hittie's rather than the Sea People.

Keeping with the Egypt theme the box of shame has thrown up a number of spare figures from the Perry twins which will complete the French Infantry for Egypt and if the e-bay auctions are a success perhaps some camelry is on the cards to bolster Napoleon's command.

That should be enough to keep me going, but time permitting there is always, more for the South Koreans, Water Margin, Russo Japanese War..... etc, etc will it every end :-)

Have a great New Year and may you always roll high.....