To 2021, And Beyond!

Happy new year!  I'm a little late with this post, but better late than never.

I finally took a moment to reflect on the last year and I must admit, while I made a lot of progress on finishing projects, such as starting and completing AWI, from a gaming perspective I'm a little underwhelmed.  On the bright side ... the Mandalorian is F'ing awesome.

With all the conventions cancelled and it generally being hard to get anyone together, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's be stuck inside most of this past year. Oh, and kids home schooling ... yeah.

Ok ok ... enough ... on to some reflection here.

The highlight of this year - which was done just before COVID wrecked everything, was CabinCon.  We didn't know it at the time but this would be the last time we all gathered together for some big games and some concentrated gaming time.

That being said, CabinCon was a hoot and was the first running of my Siege of Vicksburg game for ACW.  I did run this scenario again outside on my patio with just the main part of the group.

At least I got some great pictures of the Vicksburg game.  I do enjoy going back to see the pictures and remember the fun that was had playing the game.

I also finally got a game of Blood and Plunder in, which of course is a really fun game.  I have some more I'd like to do on this front but alas it will be a little bit before I get back around to it.

Roy Scaife brought his 1:1200 scale WW2 naval game to the tabletop.  Solid rules and fun with ships that are a good size so as to not feel "dinky" like the normal 1:2400 scale.  Roy continues to fill out the ships (getting a lot done now) and has added observation planes and various fighter/bomber squadrons since we played a couple of games a little while ago.  Looking forward to more naval action this year with Roy.

Despite getting a very large number of Russian and Austrian Napoleonic completed this year, I've not really played that many Napoleonic games (which is one of my favorite periods!).  Again, I blame COVID.  However, all my progress with the Austrians and Russians have put me in a great place to be able to get Austerlitz on the table this year.  Borodino is still very much on my main list and I continue to get units done for that game.  I sorta shot myself in the foot there when I expanded the scenario to include the Poles and additional Russians.  As a result I have to get some Duchy of Warsaw units done now :-)

Getting my Middle Earth Battles rules and troops on the table was a big accomplishment.  I'm weeks away from having my Fords of Isen scenario done and ready to play --- but of course, can't play with anyone at the moment so I don't know when I'll actually get to play it.

Steve just finished up the last of my Dunland force and Rohan expansion (primarily foot troops).  With that I'll be able to base/complete the rest of my Rohan and Isengard forces.

Last but certainly not least is AWI.  This one the period that came out of left field for me.  That mis-shipment from Perry earned them lots of additional revenue ;-)  lol  I was happy to throw more money at the Perry's though.  

Getting Guilford Courthouse on the table and playing through it was really great.  I'm really happy with how everything turned out for this period.

Right before the end of the year I was also able to run my Breed's Hill (aka Bunker Hill) scenario which also was a grand time.  I'm looking at running two additional scenarios this year for AWI, the battle of Freeman's Farm (from the Saratoga campaign) and Brandywine.  There are of course many more I can run.  The last units for AWI I'll get done are some American Rangers, British 16th Light Dragoons, and another unit of Hessian Grenadiers.  After that I can't think of anything else I would need.

Admittedly I've found myself with plans for this year but currently a serious lack of motivation to get cracking on them.  There are AWI, ACW, Middle Earth and Napoleonic games I'm going to finish and run this year - I know it for sure (you know, if society doesn't collapse this year).  

Hopefully my motivation will come back soon.  Right now when I sit down at my paint table I feel like a storm trooper taking a leak - stay on target!  I guess the real question I have is what will be this year's squirrel project?  I actually hope it doesn't happen ... but I don't have a good track record on squirrels :-)

Well, that's enough for now.  It looks like there is finally a light at the end of this COVID tunnel ... and I can't wait until we can all get back to some real gaming.