2021 The Year That Wasn't

 Time once again for my annual year-end post.  This is where I review my goals for the year and explain how absolutely nothing worked out the way I thought it would.  If you really care about my thoughts for how this year should have gone here is my post from January.  Let me skip right to the end and say nothing really happened with gaming this year.  That's right, I basically did nothing.  I played four games, which brings my 2 year total to 10 games.  I built a couple of models for my Fate of a Nation Israelis. i did not paint a single miniature. I bought nothing game related.  And I only managed 5 posts to the blog, including this one.  A whole host of factors went into this horrible outcome.  Some were my fault, some were other people's fault and some had not fault at all.  That's about it.  In a few days I will do my annual yearly kick-off.  Next year has GOT to be better, right?

A Gift From An Old Friend - Part 2

 The second half of the items I have inherited from Al is this amazing AIW Jordanian collection.  Like the Israeli collection, this army is all Battlefront models.  This is almost exactly the Jordanian army I was planning to build.  A clear case of be careful what you wish for.

M48 Company Command.  These are proper M48 with the 90mm gun.

M48 Platoon 1

M48 Platoon 2

Centurion Platoon 1

Centurion Platoon 2.  These are the old BF Centurions with the metal tracks.  They are heavy!

Duster AA Platoon

M113 Mech Infantry platoon.  Need to fix a few of the HMGs on the APCs.

The full Jordanian Army.

Maybe I will host a game with this complete army battling Al's Israeli army in a no point free for all.  Just blow up a bunch of stuff.

A Gift From An Old Friend - Part 1

 I recently inherited my friend Al's beautiful Fate of a Nation Israeli army.  I say inherited deliberately as Al recently passed away.  This is not how I wanted things to turn out but I am honored to have this collection.

Al was an avid gamer and one of the nicest people I have ever known.  This army was in his collection for a long time and I think he painted most, if not all, himself.  The models are all Battlefront.

M50 Platoon 1

M50 Platoon 2

M51 Platoon 1

M51 Platoon 2

Magach 3 Platoon 1

Magach 3 Platoon 2

AMX Company

Sho't Platoon 1

Sho't Platoon 2

M113 Mech platoon.  A few of the infantry stands have gone missing.  I will need to see what I can do to fill out the ranks.

Miscellaneous items.  Over the years some items have been lost. I might have some extras of these in my unbuilt pile.

The complete army minus three Ouragan aircraft that are in really rough shape.

A couple years ago, when Al was down-sizing, I picked up a lot of his unbuilt models.  I don't even remember what all I got.  Needless to say, between this collection, my existing collection, and the unbuilt stuff I have a really huge Israeli army.  I will gradually work to touch-up and repair these models and to base and weather them to match my existing force.

Al is the second of my long-time game friends to have passed away in the last few weeks and it is very sobering.  Neither was old enough for this to be expected and really, they should both should still be around enjoying life.  I need to re-evaluate my own life because I ain't getting any younger myself.

I have plans for a memorial game using Al's models very soon.  Stay tuned and stay healthy!

Q1 2021 Update - a bit late

 Well I am almost a month late on my first quarter update.  It's easy to forget to do this when you haven't posted anything or done much hobby related stuff.  The good news is the move is done and we are mostly settled in.  There is still lots to do as we are now having a pool installed so thinks are not exactly settled.

As for gaming and game related hobby stuff I have basically done nothing. I have been very busy with my model railroad stuff and it has really consumed all my hobby time.  I do want to get back to the gaming soon but at this time I have no real plans.

I started watching The Falcon and Winter Soldier on Disney+ and it is sparking some interest in digging out some Marvel Crisis Protocol stuff to paint.  It's kind of cool that Baron Zemo plays a central role in this story.  I actually never knew he was the villain in Captain America Civil War.

2021 The Year Ahead

 As I start my 15th years of the blog and my 25th year as a miniature gamer, I am really re-evaluating the hobby and may participation in it.  Not to worry, I am not going to give up gaming!  But I am going to be changing how and what I do.  This past year has done some serious damage to my faith in society and my trust in people.  Gaming is a social activity for the majority of it and that part has been ripped away and I see no signs it will be back.  We have all become much too accepting of this madness.  But I digress.  I have very little in the way of plans and ideas for 2021 as it stands right now.

I have a big house move coming up in the first weeks of the year and that will (and already has) put a huge dent into my ability to game and hobby.  I expect it will take until well into February before I can really get back into modeling and painting and even then my time will likely be split between games stuff and train stuff.  On to the predictions!

Flames of War (and WWI, FoTN, WWIII)

This is my favorite game(s) right now have has been for several years.  I will keep playing all of these variants.  I have lots more to build and paint for my mid-war Soviets and I expect that will be a major hobby area.  I would like to get my Team Yankee US forces painted and maybe add a few more units for variety.  I also have a few new units for my FoTN Israelis that would be nice to finish up.  And finally, I have a WWI US force that I have been wanting to build for a while so maybe this is the year.  I would love to actually play these games with my friends this year (without all the fucking drama) but that might be wishing a bit much.

Sci-fi Gaming

As usual I will continue with Kill Team and Necromunda.  I have lots of stuff for both game to keep me busy on the hobby side and I expect that there will be some new items added this year.  Warhammer 40K is officially dead and I have no plans for it and no desire to play it.  I may end up keeping a few items for Kill Team and selling off most of the rest.  Time will tell.

Fantasy Gaming

I really like Warlords of Erewhon and I would like to keep playing it.  It allows me to use my fantasy figure collection and inspires me to build and paint more random stuff.  This is likely the only fantasy gaming that will happen this year.  The good news is my Nighthaunts really work perfect for these rules and it allows me to get them on the table.  Sadly, I think AoS is dead.  My friends don't really play it or care for it so I do not expect to see it back on the table.  Not sure what I will do with my other two armies but I will figure that out later.

Historical Gaming

Black Powder is still on the menu and always will be but it probably will not get played.  If I do get in a game it will likely be smaller games on a regular size table.  I have played these size games before and they can be very fun.  I will do more work on Napoleonic Russians and French this year but I have no specific goals in mind.  I may sell off my Napoleonic British collection as I just don't have the time or the motivation to paint it.  No one really wants to play those battles anyway so I doubt it will be missed.  This year might be the year I cut all the ancients gaming loose.  I have not done any of this for years and I have no desire to go back to it.  Might be time to thin the herd.

Board Games

Just forget about this.  COVID killed off what little interest there was for this stuff.  I don't see it happening.  Having said that I am keeping my Warhammer Underworlds and Blackstone Fortress collections.

Conclusion

It is hard for me to get really motivated about gaming right now but maybe that will change.  I don't want to just collect and paint miniatures, I want to fight battles. That ain't happening right now.  I am trying to be hopeful and optimistic about the year ahead but its really tough.  I have friends that I have not seen for nearly a year...