End of Year Review 2025

A bit earlier than normal, but somehow it seemed appropriate, given that today is the Winter Solstice, to look back on 2025 and what I've been up to, or not, as the case maybe.

Rules Bought

War of the Roses Supplement for Hail Caeser II.

At least I sort of achieved my goal of not buying any new rules this year, given that the sole purchase was a supplement. A fine book and with plenty of good ideas within it it, expanding on the relatively small section in the main rules. Not all the ideas have been 'well received', but then as wargamers we all have our own take on periods and how to reflect them in game play.

Wargaming Books Bought

The American Civil War by John Keegan

Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth by Mike Ingram

The Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses by Charles Haigh

Vassily Grossman: A Writer At War

Sword Beach: The Untold Story

Graham Turner Art book

Black Tuesday by Al Murray

With The Old Breed

Osprey Iwo Jima

Osprey Tarawa

Osprey Guadalcanal

Max Hastings: Nemesis

Saul David: Crucible of Hell (Okinawa)

Operation Sealion (Richard Cox)

Anzio: Lloyd Clark

American Civil War Sourcebook

Tank Battles in Miniature - volumes 1-3

The Crimean War - Peter Royle

Invasion of Malta

British Defences 1940

Osprey Cassino

Osprey Anzio

Osprey Gustav Line

Panzer Battles: von Mellanthin 

I did try to limit the amount of books bought this year, but rather failed somewhat! In my defence, my family knows I love books, so these tend to be my default presents, hence planty of tomes arrived this year. The main themes, if one could call them that, were The War of the Roses, The Pacific in WWII and mainland Italy 1943-45. Obviously there were others, but these were the periods that piqued my interest, especially with plans to game them in the next year or two, all being well.

Miniatures Bought

MDF rivers from Pendraken

6mm Battlescale Buildings

Hs123 1/72nd Airfix kit

Vendee Uprising figures

1:100 diecast Grumman Wildcat

1:100 diecast Mitsubishi Zero Zen

1:100 diecast Sabre

1:100 diecast Mig

8th Army/Burma

Cold War AFVs

MDF fences

Misc WWII AFVs

Compared to the books above, I was much more restrained on the figures front, mainly adding to existing forces, as and when their time comes to join the painting queue etc. With the lead pile a constant nagging in the back of my mind, not adding to it too much was a blessed relief compared to previous years. For once no major 'projects' appearing, rather more fleshing out some exisiting ones, or at least maybe I'm just kidding myself;)! More on this later.

Miniatures Painted

10mm 'Aliens' film style critters and friends

10mm Generic 18thC - 19thC Civilians

10mm Photographer, Reporter & Camera

Fokker Triplane aka 'The Maltese Falcon'

WWII Germans

6mm Commission Figurines Infantry

A bit more of a productive year than last, which frankly wouldn't be hard to beat if I'm honest. But with all the usual 'real World' issues, alongside the sunniest Spring and hottest Summer on record, at times it was simply impossible to paint, unless you liked it drying on your brush! So overall not bad but, more on this later.

Terrain

Small scenic items (ie crates, barrels etc).

Normandy Bunker

Rivers

Given I have plenty of terrain already, there wasn't much need to focus on anything really, but I was happy I persevered and finished off the new river sections I bought from Pendraken. Plenty of BUA's are currently a work in progress, but motivation fell by the wayside as the year drew to a close. Something to focus on in the New Year for sure.

Projects

R&P campaign

BKCII Canadian in Normandy

A pretty good year campaigns wise, in the fact that I actually started and finished one and am half way, or thereabout, through another one, namely the Canadian's in Normandy. By far and away the most satisfying way to play games I find, from the initial ideas, through the research, planning, painting and finally the game itself. As mentioned before, the narrative approach works perfectly for me, with little need for the very detailed approach that some enjoy. The aim is to much more of the same in 2026.

Games Played

The Men Who Would Be Kings - 2

Rebels & Patriots - 5

Honours of War - 4

Hail Caesar! - WotR - 4

BKCII - 4

Abensbery to Wagram - 1

Black Powder II - 3

Startline - 2

Europe 1848 - R&P

Das Wiener Schnitzel Kreig - R&P - Game 1

Das Wiener Schnitzel Kreig - R&P- Game 2

Das Weiner Schnitzel Kreig - R&P - Game 3

Das Weiner Schnitzel Kreig - R&P - Game 4

Honours of War - 4Play

Honours of War - 4Play Part II

The Wars of the Roses

BKCII - Normandy 1944

Honours of War - OHW Scenario 18: Counter-Attack

Honours of War - OHW Scenario 19: Blow From The Rear

BKCII - Normandy 1944

The Battle of Eckmuhl 1809

Black Powder II - OHW Scenario 20: Fighting Retreat

Black Powder II - CWD Trial Napoleonic Scenario

BPII - Cotswold Wargames Day Show Game

Western Desert 1941 - BKCII Trial Game

Startline - Ruhr Pocket, March 1945

BKCII - Normandy 1944

Startline - March 1945

Well I'm very happy with 25 games played this year, from small solo actions to quite larger multi-player ones, all of which have been very enjoyable. Having the dedicated games room has certainly helped, as there is no rush to set up, play the game and take it all down in one day. Having the luxury to set things up at my leisure is a real bonus and I know how lucky I am. Hopefully at least the same next year, but time will tell of course.

Spend

Terrain - £55.00 approx

Books - £140.00 approx

Figures - £200.00 approx

Aircraft - £45.00 approx

Paints - £17.00

Rules - £20.00

Always interesting and at times, rather salutary, to keep a tab on your spend, with the end of year total sometimes coming as a surprise (or shock!). I see most of the purchases as worthwhile longterm investments, in the fact that they will get plenty of use over the years and with respect to the figures, not sit in a bag for years and years, awaiting their time in the sun. Compared to other hobbies, a piffling amount I'm sure and, if in 28mm, well, I'm not sure what this could buy you, especially if it was GW;)!  And of course they have made me happy, which at the end of the day is what it's all about.

Shows Attended

Partizan

IPMS Avon Show

Colours

Cotswold Wargames Day

A very good year on the shows front, with once again Partizan being the real highlight. I know it's a long day for me, given the distance to travel, but it is well worth it and maybe next year I might book an overnight stop so I can spend more time at the show. The on;ly downside, is that the show is very much a victim of its own success, making it rather too crowded to be a truly enjoyable experience. Hopefully the same shows will be attended in 2026 and this time, I might be able to bump into more Blog followers, which would be great.

End of Year Thoughts

Upon reflection, I think 2025 was a pretty good year for me. As always rather patchy and somewhat stop-start, but in those periods of activity it was very, very enjoyable. Even when gaming was halted for whatever reason, book reading and games planning was always going on in the background.

Looking Forward to 2026

So what are my plans and ideas for the New Year? Some thoughts below:

• The Lead Pile. I have finally made the long overdue decision, to off load those projects that in all honesty are unlikely to ever see the light of day, and to focus on those that I really enjoy and I know I will get lots of game time over the years. Broadly they are WWII British, Germans, Italians, Russians, along with my 18thC & 19thC Imagi-Nations forces and a sort of Glorious Revolution forces too for that 'Pike & Shotte' hit. This has been very cathartic and so far has certainly re-invigorated my painting and gaming ideas on the WWII front, but more on that in due course.
• Campaigns. With regard to the above, I'm currently focussing on some France 1940 and Italy 1943-1944 ideas, along with some possible Balkans 1941 action. Units are being prepared for all of these and once Xmas is out of the way, hopefully some focussed painting sessions will allow things to kick of in a good way. Not forgetting of course the need to finish my 'Canadians in Normandy' campaign, which is part and parcel of this too.
• Terrain. I want to finish of the BUA's that I started a few months ago, as they will be needed for the campaigns as well as one off games. Other than that, maybe some more fields to give some more variety to the look of my games.
• Core Rules. Really building upon my approach this past year of not buying new rules and sticking with those ones that I really enjoy and love playing. For me these are BKCII, Honours of War and Black Powder II. Alongside these will be more from the Warlord Games stable and Dan Mersey too. Aside from not constantly having to refer to a rulebook, I find the familiarity helps with the design and planning of a scenario, from the OOB to the terrain and the actual scenario itself. I might keep other rulebooks for some useful ideas, but they might be offloaded too in the same vein as the surplus lead figures.
• Blogging. After a few years where I did wonder whether the time and effort put in was worth it, given the at times paucity of responses, this year I felt much more positive about Blogs and aim to continue for many years to come. After all I enjoy many other Blogs so hopefully others will enjoy my modest output too. Whilst I do watch a few Vlogs, I just wish those who do Vlog would revert back to Blogging, as the former take too long to watch and digest, compared to the latter. I doubt this will happen given the income generation via Youtube of Vlogs:(.

So that's it. I hope you enjoyed thus mini-review and as always, any comments are greatly appreciated.

It just remains for myself to wish you and yours a Very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

TTFN.