Wow, I don't know about you but I feel as though 2017 flashed by very quickly. While I'm certainly looking forward to what 2018 will bring to the tabletop, I figured I'd take a look at the last year of wargaming madness ...
Wargames Played
Sometimes I feel as though I don't nearly play enough miniature games. I think the reality is that it goes in spurts as one might say. Perhaps what I would like is to play more consistently throughout the year ... but alas, work, family, and life in general dictates our gaming availability.
So what did I play this year?
- Dead Man's Hand > 1 Game
- Bolt Action Modern > 3 Games
- Bolt Action WW2 > 2 Games
- SAGA > 4 Games
- Galleys, Guns & Glory > 2 Games
- ACW (This Hallowed Ground) > 6 Games
- Napoleonic (Empires at War) > 5 Games
- Firestorm Armada > 3 Games
- Blood Bowl > 6 Games
Overall that is 32 games. That being said, I'm sure I missed a couple that I played and didn't document in some way as to remember. Not terrible at all. Some select pictures from throughout the year below ...
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| Loved this picture. |
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| This is one of my all time favorite pictures. |
Conventions
I managed to hit up three conventions this past year:
- DundraCon - Lots of fun and the first roll out of the Pickett's Charge game.
- KublaCon - Was perhaps the most miniatures I've played at an convention. This included playing all three Gettysburg games ... needless to say I was exhausted by the end of the weekend.
- CabinCon - Something we tried out. A cabin retreat with board games and wargames (on one of the hottest days of the summer as it turned out).
Three a year is about the right pace for me ... I don't think I could do any more than that to be honest.
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| But wait ... there's more! |
Scenarios
Eight scenarios got documented this year:
- Pickett's Charge (ACW)
- McPherson's Ridge (ACW)
- Little Round Top (ACW)
- Casey's Redoubt (ACW)
- Roncevaux Pass (Napoleonic)
- Shevardino Redoubt (Napoleonic)
- Waterloo (Napoleonic)
- Aspern-Essling (Napoleonic)
Not too shabby considering every scenario above as a custom fur mat for it :-)
Speaking of fur mats ... 2018 was the year of the fur mat ...
Rules and Articles
I managed to do several updates for Bolt Action Modern (including the move to the 2.0 base Bolt Action rules). I also have improved This Hallowed Ground (ACW) and Empires at War (Napoleonic) significantly in my opinion. I published only one article this year on building better scenarios - but I have another ACW article written and submitted waiting to be published. While far from perfect, these rules are all working well for me and the group and it seems that at least one person out there has found some enjoyment playing these rules ... so I'll call that a win!
Terrain
Besides the fur mats, I've added a shed load of terrain this year. I don't blog about everything, so a lot of little stuff gets through the blogging cracks. Perhaps the largest chunks of terrain have been ACW and Napoleonic related.
Adding all the Waterloo buildings to my collection was significant (all from Hovel's).
For ACW I added essentially everything you see on the tabletops for the Gettysburg games. This includes all that snake rail fencing, buildings, scatter terrain (need more for horse and musket periods), and the impressive Seminary College model from Sally 4th.
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| Farmhouse and barn. |
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| More snake rail fencing than you can shake a stick at! |
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| An impressive set piece for any battle! |
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| Another residence. |
I added some more great sets from Crescent Root Studio ...
Got a bool custom Blood Bowl pitch ...
And a bunch more stuff I can't even think of at the moment.
Other Stuff
And last but not least and list of a bunch of other stuff that happened this year:
- All four Blood and Plunder factions are painted.
- Wargames Illustrated award for most popular article 2017.
- Finished Blood Bowl teams for Humans, Orcs, Skaven, Dwarves, Chaos Dwarves, and Goblins.
- Added a 3D printer to the collection and all the cool goodness that comes with that.
- Finish modern Canadian vehicles (4 x LAV III, 3 x Leopard 2A6, and 1 x G-Wagen).
- Added numerous ACW miniatures and casualty figures.
- Finished several ships for Firestorm Armada.
- Live streamed a WW2 game.
- Added new French and Austrian Napoleonic troops.
In Conclusion
Not to shabby this year. I do have to admit that most of the year I felt as though I could be doing more, especially on the blogging front. In retrospect I can't really complain all that much. Now I shift my focus to 2018 and what it will bring.
LASTLY ... and certainly not least of all ... to each and every one of you out there who take time to follow or read my rantings on this blog ... THANK YOU! I wish you all the very best in 2018!
