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.

Another Pot Pourri Post

Things have been rather quiet here on the Home Front, courtesy of a lingering and frankly rather boring cold. 'Tis the time of year I suppose and, fingers crossed, at least we've got it out of the way before Xmas! Only time will tell...

Startline

Despite this, a few things have been going on in the background, one such being an invite for another FtF trial game of Keith Flint's Startline rules. Once again the setting was Germany March 1945, with the Germans mounting a counter-attack against an American Combat Command in and around a village. I took command of the Americans, with Adam the Germans and Keith umpiring, clarifying and taking notes etc. It was rather a busy day, but I managed to take a few shots towards the end of the game.

An overview of the table, with the Americans deployed along the lower part of the table. The Germans are beginning to threaten parts of the village and are contesting others.

Wolverines have turned up just in time to provide the Shermans and infantry with much needed firepowere.

Adam tries to hide the Sdkfz 251's behind the smoke screen to avoid those nasty Wolverines.

One Sdkfz 251 has already been brewed up by a Sherman and the Panzer Grenadiers have debussed as they came under mortar fire.

Shermans take position behind a hill and go on overwatch to await what might come from behind the smoke screen.

Stug III's move into the village, unaware of the Shermans on the other side of the smoke.

The Panzer Grenadiers begin to enter and assault the village.

Panthers and more Panzer Grenadiers move forward, luckily avoiding the American artillery and air support (ie my dice rolling was shocking!).

Panzer IV's move up alongside the Panthers.

An overview near the end of the game.

Sadly time was against us and by the end of Turn 6, the Germans were still a way off being able to realistically contest 2 of the 3 objectives for a win. There were another 2 Turns left, but Adam and I both had to leave to get home in time. 

As always a fun game playing with friends, as well as helping Keith see how the rules panned out with how we played, as well as questions we posed. Hopefully we provided plenty of useful feedback and ideas.

Books, Books And More Books

My family know my love for the printed page, so I received some book vouchers as part of my birthday, which was very nice of them. The problem as always, was what to actually buy, given that I have plenty already, and the equivalent of a 'lead pile' in unread books! However with a few days perusal, I came up with tomes that interested me on many levels.

One of those books to add to those related to 'Operation Sealion'. Like many gamers of a certain age, a perennial 'what if?' that has a Siren like call that is hard to resist. Whilst reading the Crimean War book and realising how unprepared the British Army and Navy was in the 1850's, the butterfly in me wondered on a German invasion whilst Britain was weak and relatively undefended! Maybe something to ponder for a future campaign?

I'd heard of this book, but never read it, but at a bargain price, it was hard to resist and looks to be an informative read for all theatres of WWII in Europe and North Africa.

The Osprey campaign books are, with careful selection, really good primers and set at a perfect level as an introduction for wargamers. I thought I would add to the ones I already have on the Italian campaign, so that at some point I could have my fictional South Gloucestershire force fight their way from Sicily all the way up to the Gothic Line. I have the Anzio book on order too to aid this.

I've never considered fighting the later part of the Italian campaign, but as mentioned above, this could be a fine way to wrap a campaign up.

Rather like 'Operation Sealion', the opening stages of 'Operation Barbarossa' have a similar pull for me. My German forces are almost at a point where I could field a decent force, but the Russians are sadly lagging behind, especially on the armour front.

Toys For the Boys

Whilst laid low by the cold, it has given me plenty of time to reflect upon the hobby and what I really like and what to concentrate on. First and foremost this will be finishing up all those 'odds'n'sods' for my British and German forces for 1944, which will help me finish my 'Canadians in Normandy' campaign.

The rather large collection of my 'odds'n'sods'! Mainly Germans but with a smattering of British too.

More updates on this to follow in due course. At the same time I have decided which stalled projects, of which there are many, that in all honesty I will never get to start, and so will be disposed of in due course. A rather cathartic decision and one that has been in the offing for a long time. A bit of a pain to sort it all out, but I'm sure I will feel the better for it, as well as it allowing me to maintain greater focus on painting and gaming. Time will tell of course!

What Next?

Well, with Xmas nearly upon us and the house full once gain in a week or so, not much gaming or painting will be done for sure. At least reading will still be undertaken, ideas generated and mulled over, so not all bad! Hopefully a bit of priming can still go ahead whilst the weather is good, so I've got stock ready as and when time allows for painting.