Looking Back

Its almost obligatory to do a blog entry that looks back on the years gaming activity, so here are my reflections of 2015's gaming. 

I will try and break this down into manageable chunks;

In terms of actual games played I did not stray much from my regular Monday night game at Falkirk District Wargames Club.  It is a vibrant club that plays a wide range of games.

By the time you allow for illness and family Holidays etc. I have probably played about 40 or so games this year, but over a wider variety than I would normally do.  Roughly speaking I have played this year:

Sword and Spear
Chain of Command
Dux Britaniarum
Necromunda
Frostgrave
Malifaux
Kings of War
Dungeon Saga
Lord of the Rings
Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition
Epic Armageddon
Field of Glory.
X-Wing
Daisho

Fantasy and Sci-Fi still makes up the majority of my gaming, but I think that is largely due to the amount of work involved in putting together a Historical force. I still have my eye on a 15mm Arab type army from the crusades, but have no idea when I will ever get round to it.

I also managed to squeeze in a couple of Board games, playing Pandemic, Forbidden Island and Dungeon Saga.

I quite enjoyed playing a lot of different games but sometimes felt that I was constantly trying to remember rules, which can be frustrating. I feel that games are at their most enjoyable when you know the rules well enough to concentrate on playing the game. 

There have been a few campaigns as well this year, and I participated in a Necromunda, 2 Chain of Command, Dux B and started a fledgling Frostgrave campaign.  This is a good this as campaign are by far my favourite way to play and I am looking forward to joining in a few more in 2016. 

Chain of Command remains probably my favourite game, alongside Epic and Mordheim.  I also enjoyed the few games of Malifaux I played and will look forward to spending a bit more time on that in 2016.

Painting wise this was also a bumper year.  I have no idea exactly how many models I painted but it felt like quite a few. Of the top of my head;

WW2 Germans
About 15 Malifaux Models
About 20 Frostgrave models

40 or so Haradrim Infantry

24 Haradrim Cavalry

2 Oliphants

About 15 or so Goblins fro Otherworld
Otherworld Ogres and Giant
Frostgrave Terrain

I also painted a few models for display only, which was great fun.  This year I also moved over to using a wet palette and to be honest I don't know why I didn't do that years ago as it makes painting a lot easier.  I also discovered my new favourite paints this year as well, from Scale75. They cover extremely well, are great to work with and dry super matte. I have been gradually buying up sets of them and will be phasing out my existing paints as they run out.

It is purchasing that has been the biggest problem. This year the brakes really came off and I went a bit mad. I usually buy for next years big project, with a few smaller distraction on the side to keep things interesting, but this year I seem to have bought enough for about 5 big projects.  This was also the year for kickstarter, with a couple of big ones getting delivered and one other large one due in March.   

In addition to this I purchased an Epic Eldar and Epic Marine army from E-bay, and a Rogue Trader Ork army to use for 2nd edition 40k, so there will be lots to do.

Looking forward to 2016 is looking like a busy year.

I will need to make a decision on a large paiting project, which is looking like it will be Aliens vs Predator. The first batch was delivered just before Christmas and the rest is due in March. I also have the Antenociti Workshop Forward Base Kickstarter to paint and build as well, also purchased with Aliens vs Predator in mind. On top of that I will continue to push ahead with my Fantasy collection, which will get used for both Frostgrave and Otherworld Skirmish.  I have an idea in my head for a series of linked games of  Otherworld Skirmish but will need to paint some more Goblins, and the Westfalia Halfmen when they arrive in March.

In terms of games I want to play, there is a Chain of Command campaign and a Dux B campaign to finish off, plus no doubt some Frostgrave to play as well.  I would like to keep playing some more Epic, and Lord of the Rings, perhaps expanding to the War of the Rings ruleset so I can get all the toys on the table at once. 

The biggest things hobby wise this year seems to have been Frostgrave, which everyone seems to have gone mad for. There are some very creative and inspirational warband being created for this, as it seems to really capture peoples imaginations.  The other big news for me personally was the announced return of Games Workshops Specialist games division. As the only GW game that I actually still like are all specialist games (Epic, Mordheim) plus its continued support for Lord of the Rings has got me very excited.