2016 Game Year in Review

Time again to look back at the year that was and decide how it was...or something like that.  Back in January I had some ideas on what I wanted to do with this year as it relates to my hobby.  You can read about my predictions for the future if you like.  Taken as a whole this years was not as productive as I would have liked or even as I expected it to be.  The blog posts were way down from usual too.  The main reason for that is some health and personal issues that just made it really tough to concentrate.  I still managed to get in regular gaming and I also managed to complete some projects but I was not very good at sharing my experiences this year.  So much for the pro log, time to get to the details.

Flames of War - WW2

I had high hopes for this game this year and things started off well.  I managed to get in about 16 games and about half of these came in January and February for the Shifting Sands event.  I played my early war French tank company and I really had a blast.   Later in the year I manages to get in a few more games with other friends on a one off basis.  It was good times but I would have loved to play even more.

On the painting and collecting front, I purchased and assembled a large US Marine force.  No paint as of yet.  I also started on a late war German Panzer company composed of models I have had for some time and some new additions.  I made no progress on my 11th Panzer Division for 1942 or on my Normandy Panther company.  All in all WW2 was a bust on the painting front this year.

Flames of War - Great War

I got in 4 games of Great War this year and really had a good time with it.  My friend Tom and I started a little ladder campaign and are almost done with it.  I also painted some additional units for my Germans.  I managed to acquire a US Army Brett's Brawlers box set.  A very good year for this game and period.

Flames of War - Fate of a Nation

I painted my Israeli tank company and managed to get in 4 games this year.  I did not manage to win any but they were all a blast.  Another success for the year.

Bolt Action and 28mm WWII

This has been an interesting year for BA.  The year started off with finishing up projects in preparation for the Gathering in the Desert event.  This year was a North Africa themed event and I played my Perry 8th Army.  I had a great time.  I then moved on to painting the rest of my British Para collection.  I now have about a company of 28mm paras.  In the later part of the year my friends Tim and Tom decided to plan a large Tank War game based on the Point 213 battle in Normandy.  We have been collecting and painting a large number of tanks for this game.  Tim and I played a test game a few weeks ago to test the concept.  I also purchased a US Marine army box and have been adding more models.  Nothing is built or painted yet but the plan is starting to come together.

Bolt Action 2nd edition was released this year and I have purchased it but not yet played the new rules.  I also added several more Bolt Action supplements to my game library.  Even though I only got in about 12 games this year I count this game as a success for the year.

Black Powder

At the beginning of the year I thought that we might get in one large ACW game this year and I would have been happy with that.  As it turned out we did not get that going after-all.  We did manage to get a relatively small game of Napoleonics on the table.  I painted a whole bunch of French Line troops this year along with a couple of guns.  I also purchased a large number of Russian Napoleonic troops.  We did start a plan for a big ACW game for early next year and I have been working on terrain and other items for that event.  I also purchased the Glory!  Hallelujah book ad read through it. All things considered this was a pretty good year for this game but not really what I thought it would be.

28mm Fantasy Gaming

Kings of War was a big hit this year.  I only managed to get in 4 games but I had a blast with each one.  I made lots of progress in reconfiguring my old WAB Saxons and Normans for use with KoW.  A few of my friends and I even started the KoW campaign using the rules that were released.  Good times.

Frostgrave was a bust really.  No games played and other than purchasing a couple of supplements I didn't add anything to the collection.  I am not ready to give up on this however.

SAGA

What can I say about SAGA?  Games were played and fun was had.  I recently acquired the Rus supplement but I will not have time to add that army to the collection this year.  I wanted to get my Normans ready for SAGA and I did make some progress on the rebasing and whatnot but it did not make it to the table so I cannot claim that one yet.  I purchased some Saxon Miniatures Saxon figures with the plan of adding an Anglo-Saxon army to the collection but this it still in the planning stages.  A good year but it probably could have been better.

28mm Sci-fi

I gave Corvus Belli, and their local agents, a large quantity of cash this year for Infinity models and books.  This game has me all messed up to be truthful.  I really love the models and the back story is very interesting.  The rules, however, are pretty complicated.  The complicated nature of the rules has really kept me back from the game so far.  Part of this is due to my inability this year to focus on stuff like this.  The miniatures are also very intimidating to me.  They are such amazing sculpts I just don't believe my painting can due them justice.  I did start some painting but failed to finish as single figure.  I also manage to get in a very small test game and really enjoyed it.  I am sure we barely scratch the surface and probably even screwed some things up but it was still fun.  This was a real bright spot of the year that deserved much more effort than I was able to put into it.

TANKS

I was really interested in this game when it was released over the summer.  My friend Mike gave me a demo and I thought it had lots of potential.  The problem was the stater sets were impossible to find.  It took months to get.  I did get one more game in this year and I am really looking forward to exploring this game more.  The mechanism is reminiscent of the X-Wing system but without the complicated dial movement system.  I like that I can use mu Flame of War tank and terrain collection to have really nice looking games.

Parting Thoughts

All things considered it was a pretty good year for the hobby.  Almost every aspect, from blogging to gaming, could have been more what I managed to get in was still good.  Stay tuned for my, otherwise, worthless plans for 2017!