Popping the Cork on 2015

Happy New Year!  Time, once again, to contemplate what the future holds for my gaming hobby.  This is always a fun, if mostly futile, exercise of prognostication.  Without any more big words here is what I am thinking at this very moment.

Black Powder

As I mentioned in my year end summary, this game was sadly neglected in 2014.  It is much too good of a game to be allowed to wither and die so 2015 will see more effort put into painting and playing.  My focus will return to ACW for both hobby projects as well as games.  Last year I have grand designs for the Napoleonic era but this proved to be much too aggressive.  I have made such a large investment in my French that I cannot envision abandoning the plan but I will not kid myself about what I can or will get done this year.

I need to increase the size of my Union collection slightly this year.  I have some Perry ACW cavalry figures that I will paint up as well as some Old Glory dismounted cavalry.  In addition I need to put a big effort into getting my Confederate forces up to about two brigades.  I have one small brigade now but it is too small to even use.  If I can accomplish this as well as get in 3-4 games I will consider that a success.

Bolt Action

For 2015 I do not have any major plans for this game.  I would like to acquire some more support options for my British 8th Army.  If the bug hits I might also start collecting a Perry Italian army for the desert.  If Tim gets his DAK collection painted we might even play the game.

I have been thinking about the Tank War supplement for BA.  I don't have it yet but I am really interested in trying tanks battles with these rules and my 15mm tank collection.  I don't see myself making a but push to increase my 28mm tank collection.

SAGA

I have been having a lot of fun with this game recently and I really hope I can keep playing this in 2015.  I would like to expand my collection to include all the supplement books.  I do plan to purchase some more plastic figures that can be used for this game but I have no specific plans for new armies.  I have Viking, Saxons and Normans I can use already.

Hail Caesar

This one shows up on the list year after year but somehow nothing much comes of it.  With renewed interest in SAGA I feel inspired to paint more figures to flesh out my old WAB armies for use with these rules.   If I can get enough stuff of my own, or with the help of some friends, to get a 28mm dark age battle on the table this year I will call that a win.

Flames of War

This has become the old standby game and I expect that to continue in 2015.  I have some big plans this year that mostly center around getting my WWI Germans painted and on the table.  I need to acquire a few more terrain items but not much as all the battles are on 4'x4' tables.

I really want to make progress on Fate of a Nation this year.  I want to build and paint an Israeli Super Sherman army and then do an Egyptian T-55 force.  I love the models and the era is very interesting.  This is the classic tank battle conflict and the games should be fun.  Besides, I already have lots of desert terrain so not much more is needed for this conflict.

I still have lots of WWII items to work on this year.  I have plenty of early war French stuff in the paint queue.  I also have lots of American items collected that need to be painted.  I still have not finished paint my Fallschirmjagers, if you can believe that.  I started on a mid-war Eastern front Panzer force last year that needs to be completed.  This going to be my first winter themed army.  These projects don't really need any purchases except the Panzer project that will probably get some PSC PzIII models.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a large German grenadier force made up of BF plastic figures from the open fire box.  I have added a few extra items for this army but still need to get some support platoons.  This force will be for mid-war Eastern front or late war for either front.  It should be a very versatile army and I really want to get this done this year.  I think 2015 will be a good year for Flames of War.

Fantasy

When I stopped playing Lord of the Rings a few years ago I did not think that would be then end of fantasy gaming for me.  Even when I, foolishly, sold of my WHFB Beastmen army I did not think I was getting out of the genre.  But so far it seems as if fantasy gaming is gone.  The last couple of years I have toyed with the idea of getting into Kings of War but nothing has happened with those ideas.  For 2015 I an leaving this open so lets see what, if anything, happens.

Star Wars

Obviously, X-Wing will be played this year and I plan on adding more of the new ships to the collection but there are other Star Wars themed games out there.  The release of Star Wars - Imperial Assault has really sparked my interest.  I am excited to see where Fantasy Flight takes the game as you know there will be lots of supplements and add-ons for the game.  I am really excited about the release of Star Wars Armada in the next few weeks as well.  This year could see a lot of time and money going to Star Wars games.

Pike & Shotte

After reading these rules a couple of weeks ago I am pretty excited about the game and it has renewed my interest in English Civil War as a gaming era.  I like that you can get a functional ECW army for this game, all in 28mm plastic, for just over $100.  This really makes it one of the cheaper of the Warlord big battle games to get into.  I don't think this will be a priority this year but don't be surprised if it pops on the blog in a few months.

Painting

Last year was, quite simply, a pathetic year for painting.  It just did not feel motivated for very large portions of the year to do much of anything.  Most of the items I painted felt like a chore.  I started to come out of that painting funk in the last couple weeks as I painted items for SAGA.  Right now I am feeling much more motivated and excited about this aspect of the hobby than I have for a long time.  I really hope this feeling stays with me this year as I would really like to get lots done on several projects.

Blogging

The blog as also fallen into the realm of the sad and pathetic.  This is not surprising considering the aforementioned lack of painting motivation.  It is, after-all, a painting blog and if no painting is going on there is not much to talk about. This year I would like to do more posts on battle reports and my thoughts on various products and releases.  If the painting post are sparse at least I will have something else to talk about.

There you have it.  Just a few thoughts I have at the cusp of this new year.  I am feeling refreshed and excited, but this is probably due to the fact that I have been on vacation for a couple of weeks.  Even so I think it will be a good year and I am optimistic.  Thanks