2012 – A Year in Review…

Well, I started this post back on the 28th and only got as far as a title! Did a little more last week and over the weekend and finally finished it today. So a little late but we shall see how it goes. So, how was 2012? Lets look at it from Highs, Lows, Slight Diversions and then Plans.

Highs

Well, it has to be Ayton again! The weekend in May (the Jubilee weekend) was yet again a weekend of great figures, a great game and great company throughout. You could not wish for a better bunch to game with and a better atmosphere. There are some pics from the game in the Ayton 2012 gallery, and the actual battle is written up by the ever faithful Private Lamm in his Journal entry. Getting everything painted and ready for this meant that at least the first few months were productive and quite a few boxes were filled in in the Painting Master Plan.

I did manage to add to quite a few other projects over the year. Added to my FUBAR forces even if I didn’t manage a game!

Started to recreate my ImagiNation forces in 6mm and was quite pleased with my converted Adler SYW lancers!

And added numerous bits and pieces to my Cold War Commander forces even if I didn’t manage a game this year!

I even started recreating the Savage Swans in 15mm Romano-British form!

So I think there were a lot of good little outputs this year. And it ended on a high with the final meeting of the Tyneside Club where we pulled together the Ayton troops again for a little Byzarbian Interlude!

Myself, Ken and Phil did battle for a wagon train and it ended a hard fought draw (well, that’s what MY reports say!).

I made a good few shows as well and as with last year these seem to be moving more and more towards social gatherings rather then just an excuse to buy stuff. It’s been good to meet up with the denizens of various online forums and chat with traders. I look forward to the 2013 calendar.

So overall, not a bad year in a lot of ways.

Lows

The real downside has been the lack of games. The two big ImagiNation games and a small AWI participation game at the Pendraken Birthday Bash: and that was it. Not a good tally for the year even if all three events were great fun. Towards the end of the year my painting enthusiasm definitely went AWOL. Haven’t painted anything for a couple of months and although I feel I’m heading back in the right direction with sorting my painting space, until I come up with a PLAN things are still a little vague.

Slight Diversions

The title of the blog was chosen with care! I’ve wanted to do a 10mm project for a while and this year I’ve started (or at least spent on) three. I bought a huge pile of Pendraken Sudan figures. Then sold them. I bought some Italian WW1 figures. And sold them. And I have a pile of 1st Schleswig-Holstein War figures and these I still have and these will get done. Just maybe not this year!

I also almost made a start on my GHQ WW2 North Africa project, then realised it would be madness with everything else going on! I was almost tempted to sell the lot and concentrate on the Moderns but I picked up so much of the stuff quite cheap it would be a huge expense to ever replace them. So they stay….

To be honest, the 15mm Dark Age dabbling is a diversion as I’ve only got a dozen or so figures painted and no one else plays the Lardy rules and in a lot of ways the enthusiasm boat has sailed…

So we move on to…

Plans

Now, several yeas ago, after my bemoaning the lack of games that year, my wife said I should aim for six games the following year, one every two months. I think that following year I managed three games so it wasn’t too bad! But this year, 2013, I’m going to aim for something similar. But with a slight twist.

Six games. Six periods. Six painting plans!

I want to use the potential for six games to drive my painting. Either adding to existing forces to enable a game, starting a new force, or even just completing terrain to make a game possible. So here are the six:

1. 28mm C19th – This will be the troops for this year’s Ayton game in May. Spencer Smith FPW figures. It won’t be a huge force, just the Savage Swans redone in another period! Plus a few Ottomans
2. 28mm C18th – There is another WD3 gathering in Scotland in September. I am still hoping things may change and I can actually make so I shall paint new troops (mostly the Old School stuff recently acquired) to take and if it doesn’t happen then I will arrange another mini-WD3 game at the Tyneside Club
3. 6mm SF – I have enough for a game and enough scenery but there are a few more bits I want to paint/add and some thoughts on rules. But I intend to have a game this year either solo or at the club.
4. 6mm ImagiNation – I want to complete enough of the 6mm figures to get a small game going. I’ve enjoyed doing these and it will be nice to use them. Likely with Maurice rules which I’ve wanted to try for a while.
5. 15mm AWI – Now this may seem a strange choice given their lack of activity over the last couple of years but I do like the period and the recent B&D Miniatures releases have got me wanting to paint a few and have a game. Plus, Stephen, at the Club should be a suitable opponent!
6. Cold War Commander – despite having painted and based quite a lot over the last year I didn’t play a single game! So the plan with this lot is to finish off troops for both sides, finish off terrain and then get a game going. And the VERY tentative plan might be to do enough to put on a demo game at Border Reiver in September.

So there you go. Now I’m not going to commit to the demo game until I KNOW I can do it. If Wd3 Scotland happens then I will be painting towards that and it may be madness trying to run a game the week before! We shall see. Sometime over the next week I will produce a list of actual targets and replace the painting plan to the right. Then it becomes official and I can start preparing the excuses for not hitting the targets!

So on to 2013 and I hope a few of you pop by to keep an eye on progress. I’m going to TRY and be a little more active on the blog. If I’m actually painting then it shouldn’t be an issue.