End of Year Review 2019

With the final day of 2019 here, it is now customary in many quarters to take a look back at what I've been up to this year, which is quite an interesting undertaking, at least for myself it is. So without further ado:

Rules Bought

Rebels & Patriots (free copy as playtester)
Blitzkreig Commander IV (free copy to replace BKCIII)
Frostgrave
The Portable Wargame
Developing The Portable Wargame
The Napoleonic Portable Wargame
Gridded Naval Wargames 
5 Core Company Commander 
To Ur is Human 
WWII Wargaming by S Asquith
Skirmish Wargaming by D Featherstone 
Age of Hannibal 

I seem to have acquired quite a few rules this year, none of which were planned if I'm totally honest, other than the Asquith and Featherstone books to add to my library. The rules which have impressed my most are Bob Cordery's The Portable Wargame and associated titles. I've loved the elegant simplicity in these. The fact that they are played on a gridded or hexed table is appealing, as it aids game play and decision making. I had planned to play more of these games but a lack of suitable terrain, despite my best plans, prevented me from getting them in.

BKCIV finally arrived and was well worth the wait. As with any ruleset there are bits that need clarifying as there is only so much space in the book, unless you go down the unwieldy tome route where you hopefully cover every situation imaginable. To be honest I've carried on using BKCII as I know the rules so well, but have planned to add in bits from BKCIV, but lack of time has meant this has not happened. Something to address in 2020.

Wargaming Books Bought

Fighting the French Revolution: The Great Vendee Uprising
Paddy Griffiths Art of War of Revolutionary France
von Clausewitz Italian Campaign
On War by Clausewitz
The Hundred Days Campaign by Chandler
The Peninsular War by Glover
War of 1812 campaign guide by Asquith
Bloody Big Balkan Battles
Pike & Shotte To Kill a King supplement

Terrain making book
Osprey Crimean War campaign book 
Osprey Russian & Allied armour of Russian civil war 
The Wargamers Annual 2109 (CWS prize)
The Rifles by urban
Campaigns book by Featherstone
Wargames Through the Ages Vols III & IV by Featherstone 
Wargaming Airborne Operations by Featherstone 
Peninsular War book by Featherstone

I'm surprised at quite how many books I've bought this year, which might explain my current storage issues! Many have been presents for birthdays etc and there has been method in my madness. The Featherstone books are again to add to my library and have been delightful reads to boot, especially the Campaigns book which I realy enjoyed and found very useful. 

I decided early on in the year to try and add to my extremely limited knowledge of the Napoleonic Wars and settled upon the Revolutionary Wars (technically not Napleonic I suppose) and the Peninsula War, with the War of 1812 tagging along. I've only scratched the surface so far but the Chandler 100 Days book was as always a pleasure to read and pitched perfectly for someone like myself.

Miniatures Bought

Pendraken Fenian Raids British/Canadian
Wings of Glory Fiat CR-42
Pendraken WWII Italian, Polish & German additions
6mm mdf miniatures
Irregular Miniatures 2mm 
SYW Limbers 
Pendraken farm animals and shell craters 

Again not too many purchases this year, with the Fenian Raids range being the biggest purchase, where they will form the core of my British mid 19thC force, whether defending the UK or gaming overseas. I have lots of ideas for these but then I do for all of my projects, but more of which later.

Miniatures Painted

Leven Miniatures buildings
8 x WWII German Recce 250 half-tracks
3 x French FT-17s 
2 x Italian AA units
1 x WWII US Airborne Battalion for BKC  
1 x WWII German Company for BKC
Imagi-Nations 19thC Russians 
AWI Brigade for Honours of War
18thC civilians
Farm animals 

For once a pretty good year on the painting front, well at least it was for me! Aside from adding some bits'n'bobs to my existing BKC forces, the biggest achievement was completing a US Airborne Battalion for BKC and more importantly, finally having my own 18thC Brigade with which I could play Honours of War. The latter was a real achievement and I'm happy with the way they've come out and the way that I painted them. I've learnt to concentrate on the look of the unit, not each indvidual figure, which is old advice but has taken a long time for me to take it on board.

Terrain Made
3 x Vineyards
Modular streams
1 x Scratch built wooden bridge  
1 x Leven Miniatures bridge on river section
Cork dry stone walls
5 x Scratch built hayricks
3 x dead trees 
Cornfields
Pendraken shell holes
ACW buildings bases 

I still love scratch building terrain and have added stuff on and off over the year. I've started adding detail to my terrain, such as civilians and more farm animals, which just adds to the overall look and feel of a game. I'm sure this will continue into 2020 but have no firm plans at all and will just see what tkaes my fancy.

Projects

BKCII campaigns
HoW campaign 

For once I actually managed to run some narrative campaigns, which was one of my goals from last year. With Dave back on the scene, this has helped immensely and probably wouldn't have happened otherwise. Playing linked games is much more fun and you think about the game and its outcomes in a very different way.

Games Played

Post of Honour - 4
BKCII - 7
BKCIV - 5
The Portable Wargame - 4 
Bloody Big Battles - 7 
Honours of War -6
Neil Thomas' Ancients & Medieval Wargaming - 1 
Dragon Rampant - 1 

Despite a slow start to the year, 35 games I'm more than happy with, given the usual pressure and commitments of work and family life. Again having Dave as a regular opponent helped along with visits to Keith to play him or in multi-player games

Wargames Shows Attended
Lincombe Barn Table Top Sale

IPMS Bristol Show
Cotswold Wargaming Day 
Colours 

I frankly didn't miss attendinging Salute this year and was happy staying local as it were, with Colours being my 'big' show, which I enjoyed overall. The highlight of the calendar was the Cotswold War gaming Day, which was a wonderful day out. The memories are tinged with sadness as it was the last time I saw Stuart Asquith, but he was enthused by our game and as always a pleasure to talk to.

End of Year Thoughts 
So all-in-all not too bad a year on all fronts. As is my custom, some thoughts on the year in no particular order:

• I'm very happy that I've found a way to paint non WWII units that's to my liking and relatively fast. Thanks must go to Nik Harwood who first showed me his painting technique, some of which I used and to Dave, for showing me that you don't need to paint every detail on a figure as they simply disappear once on the table. As long as they look neat, have good bases and flags, they you're onto a winner.
• I still don't have a dedicated painting space and am unlikely to have one for the foreseeable future. I had planned to use our daughters bedroom whilst she was away at Uni, but the light is not too good and it gets too hot from Spring to Autumn, so the kitchen will remain my bolthole, which is not the end of the World.
• Playing narrative campaigns has been the highlight of the year, with out a doubt. This is something we will be playing more of in the New Year, as it adds so much more to the whole gaming experience IMHO.
• I'm still attempting to downsize my figure collection and made a dent in it with the local table top sale earlier in the year. I think I need to really see exactly what I have (stuff is stored in several places about the house), then decided what to keep then base them up. Anything left over will be given away or sold off. Easier said than done but I need to do it.
• Core rules wise I think I've hit a sweet spot, with Honours of War, Bloody Big Battles and BKCII/IV covering the 18th - 20th centuries for most of my games. I want to try some more Neil Thomas rules as well as Black Powder, certainly for some of the smaller scenarios in the 19thC.
• ImagiNations has once again piqued my interest, especially for the 18th & 19th centuries. I have plenty of ideas but need to firm them up so that this can move forward.
• I haven't missed my subscription to WS&S at all, nor have any of the other magazines interested me at all. I think there is still a place for them but they are no longer for me.
• I'm more than happy with playing games on a 4' x 4' table, with many being on a 3' x 2' one. Using 10mm figures and reduced distances this equates to an 8' x 8' or 6' x 4' table. This is something that seems to be a theme across a few Blogs I follow, so it's nice to know I'm not alone in this. I even tried BKCII on a 2' x 2' table which after a failed first attempt, worked really well and is something to develop more next year.
• Storage is a bit of an issue at present as I have stuff semi permanently in the lounge, where my gaming takes place. Luckily SWMBO is accomodating on this front as she knows it is my hobby. However moving forward it is something I want to address and hope to have some units in the lounge in the New Year specifically for my wargames stuff. Of for a dedicated wargames room...
• Blogging, is it worth it? I sometimes wonder and I know I'm not alone in this, as more often than not, I will only get 2 - 4 replies at most to my posts, despite having some 80 odd followers. Given an AAR can take longer to write about than the actual game, I think is it worth the effort? I have decided to carry on for the present as I think Blogs are more valuable to a gamer than Facebook, Twitter etc, but it would be nice to recieve more comments. Afterall I always try and comment on posts of Blogs I follow. We shall have to wait and see but maybe my gaming is too niche and not big battle 28mm?
  

2020 Vision

Looking forward to the New Year, what plans do I have, if any?:

• Campaigns and more of them. Already in the pipeline is a linked ACW one based upon the Recce campaign from Grants Solo Wargames Scenarios. This looks to be fun and there will be more updates in January when hopefully thinks will kick off.
• The American Civil War. It's been on my list for many years but it has never really grabbed me. So I aim to expand my knowledge of this conflict and then see where it takes me. Afterall we've had some great games using BBB, so I expect I will end up taking the plunge and getting some 10mm armies.
• Basing and Painting. As mentioned earlier, this is something I need to do more of and as well as focussing my mind, it is very cathartic too. With the lead mountain hopefully at a manageable height, I may be able to plan out my future gaming more.
• Ancients gaming. It still nags at me but it is not a high priority to be honest. I did buy Age of Hannibal as they look a good set of rules for the odd Ancients game. I have loads of figures, mainly Middle Ages, but may end up selling them to focus on my ocre periods.
• ImagiNations. As time permits I would like to flesh out my ideas more so that I can develop this further. I have plenty of fluff on various bits of paper, bit it all needs to come together in a more cohesive form. This will also aid my planning of what forces I require, so that I can base and paint them. As I have quite a lot of 19thC troops already based, this should be one of my priorites early on in 2020.
• Books and Rules. Frankly I need to read what I've got and not buy too much next year! Easier said than done with other distractions, such as various forums and Blogs, but one can but hope.

So to end, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and let's hope we all have a great 2020!