How do I start this review without going back to something I think I say every time, what a weird year. I knew the gaming side of this year would be a bit of a struggle with another baby under one but just as I was about to get back into my stride with evening gaming as he started to go to bed more easily and was starting to sleep through, my regular gaming venue at Wayland Games shut their games hall*. This has resulted in the lowest amount of games played since my records began. It also resulted in the size game being played being much smaller as well as we played games to fit the time we had rather than setting aside big chunk of time - which was an interesting thing to see.
It was also my 3rd lowest count of models painted in a year since I started collecting data in 2014, as my hobby time just did not survive contact with child number 2 and day job workloads. It was also my 3rd lowest year in terms of models bought, which is a good thing for my struggling backlog. Weirdly, it was also my second lowest amount of books read as well.
*officially they plan to open their new site for gaming in April but rumours are suggesting that is incredibly ambitious, so for the moment I am a gamer without gaming space
I plan on keeping my aim ridiculously simple for this year as I keep doing big complicated plans that inevitably fail, so this year I aim to;
1. Play 12 games - this was almost 12 wargames but ultimately I just need to keep doing some gaming - Success, but not by the sorts of numbers I've done in recent years
2. Get the unread folder on my kindle below 400 books - I built up a massive backlog on purpose but it would be good to get it to a manageable level. - This one started badly, in the first two weeks of the year I read 4 books and bought 7, and then got dramatically worse in April when 120 Battletech novels went onto Humble Bundle, so I actually ended the year with a bigger backlog than I started with
3. Buy less than I paint - that old classic that I usually fail - I actually succeeded on this one due to a technicality, however, due to presents and free sprues on magazines etc my backlog is actually higher despite me painting more figures than I actually bought
As I've tried to do in recent years, here is a single photo from every game I've played. I quite enjoy this bit of my yearly review, and with most of my games being in the first half of this year, its been even more interesting for me.
Naval game at the start of the year using ships supplied my Neil.
This game was a test of 1. Whether I could get out in the evenings again at this point. 2. Whether I should.
Answers: 1. Yes. 2. Not really.
And yes, that's me in a world of pain in the photo.
In a last minute trip to Waylands, Steve and me played a few rounds of a game I backed on Kickstarter years ago - Nickelodeon Splatt Attack. The one in the photo was the Teenage Ninja Turtles vs the Rugrats. This turned out to be a really fun game and one that I think will be even better with 4 players.
A cheeky Saturday afternoon game in February where I took my Ultramarine Dreadnought list out for a try, earning their first win since 2019. I enjoyed this game but I'm still not a fan of Heresy 2rnd edition.
A couple of games of Dark Age Lion Rampant - Vikings vs Shieldmaidens
A couple of games in a row of Genestealer Cult vs Space Marines in combat patrol
My Deathwatch combat patrol got its first outing against Steve's Sisters
The Swarm!
A game of Bolt Action against my brother. It was meant to be in the desert but neither of us have finished that project yet.
Below are the 3 games from the 40k Combat Patrol tournament I went to at Wayland Games where I came second with my Genestealer Cult.
A 1500 point game against my brother the weekend after the tournament
A 1500 point game against Steve's Sisters of Battle
A 1000 point game after I forgot to pack a knight for Steve to borrow. Monster list.
A 3 player combat patrol game at Warhammer World with my brothers using my Eldar
Minor skirmish out side the village of Much-Wavering during the War of Three Kingdoms.
D&D at a friends house - second game in the campaign with guys who had never played a roleplay game or wargame before. Yes the Haribo are the monsters and, yes, we ate them as we killed them.
After a gap of a couple of months I then played an intro game for a mate who has been desperate to get into 40k but had no idea where to start. This ended up being my last game at the Hockley Waylands.
A game set in the Anarchy at my mate Neil's house - it was good to get this on the table.
A combat patrol game set at the start of the new campaign. More games were planned on the day but were stopped due to toddler interest.
Doubles combat patrol versus my brothers on an impromptu day off. I played an army on each side, which was complicated.
A game of TANKS round my mates house as a test for his show game next year. A really simple set of rules that we last tried in 2017 and I remember hating them, but I did enjoy them this time.
Ultimately, I need to be realistic. Unless I can sort out my gaming space and organise some games, I'm looking at a slow year for gaming until Wayland Games Venue 2 comes online (in the summer?) and then I need to see if my old regular opponents are still interested. So my games target will be low.
Then my backlog, this just cannot keep rising. I need to nip it in the bud and start clearing models, either selling or painting, then really slow down what I am buying to an absolute minimum. If I can clear some space, then maybe I can play games in my hobby shed?
Scenery - this is one of the big aims I want to look at this year. I need to tidy up my boxes of scenery and add where needed. Instead of panicking before a game and grabbing stuff to make a board, lets have boxes ready to go. If I'm not going to be playing many games, lets make each as good as it can be. Thinking of giving myself 2 months per project to tidy, buy, craft and paint as needed, but knowing some projects might be quicker.
Army backlog - I've got a lot of armies that I've painted over the years that just haven't seen the table yet, which sounds much worse now I've written it down than it did in my head. Mostly this is because since Covid and kids I've had more painting time and less gaming time, with the same few armies being used more regularly or some armies just not being completed far enough to be usable.
1. Play 20 games - keep it low.
2. Complete 6 scenery projects - then for bonus points, play a game with each.
3. Finish the year with less models in my backlog than I started with.
4. Play games with 10 armies that I've not used.
Thanks for reading and a happy new year
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