Out with the Old in with the New Year

 Another year has passed and more regrets have piled up.  I had some high hope for 2022 on the hobby and game front, but you couldn't tell by looking at this blog.  I actually did OK on the game playing front last year.  I got in several mid-war FoW games and played in a small tournament (and won).  I played some Team Yankee and a late war FoW game too.  Before the year ended I eve managed to get in a game of Middle-Earth Strategy Battle game (forever to be known to me as LOTR:SBG or just Lord of the Rings).

Painting was really not a good last year.  Most of what I painted I blogged about and that was not very much.  Without strong game inspiration I find it tough to paint.  I did acquire some new models and managed to build some.  I worked on some Necromunda models and added some of the new plastic Scum to the paint queue.  My friend, Tom, printed some 15mm M47 Patton tanks for my 6 Day War Jordanians and I did get some paint on those.  With the return of Lord of the Rings I dug out my LOTR project box and started work on some of those items.  I even bought the current and previous starter sets for the game.

On the topic of the blog, I am really not sure what to do.  For years and years the blog has been a major part of the hobby.  It served as a journal for tracking my painting and gaming interests, and as a form of motivation.  The desire to put up quality content inspired me to create.  With only 8 posts in 2 years that is no longer working.  I am really not sure what to do.  Should I redouble my efforts to get the blog back on track or should I accept the reality that is part of the hobby is dead?  I'm not sure anyone even comes here any more.

Looking ahead to 2023.  Strangely enough, it looks like '23 will be the year of the return of LOTR gaming.  It has been 10+ years since this has been a thing and I am super excited to get this back on the table.  There are several local people who will be joining in and we will be running a slow grow league for the first half of the year.  We might even do a tournament!  

I will continue with all the FoW variants.  I have several projects that I would like to get to.  I would love to get back to Necromunda and I do plan to paint stuff but I would love to play it again.  Not really sure what else might be on the horizon.  

More Deffkoptas

 Several years ago, when I was really into 40K, I really wanted a unit of big shoota deffkoptas.  This is a tough unit to get because you only had one source for the basic deffkoptas and then you had to convert the weapons.  I built and starting the models years ago and they then sat in the garage getting dusty.

In my effort to get back to painting and hobbying, I thought this would be a fun project.  I really have no need or plans to use these models but I am glad to have them done.  I actually painted these a couple months ago but I really out of the blogging habit.

1812 Russian Narva Musketeer Regiment

For the first time since November 2020 I have finished a painting project.  I am VERY rusty but I am happy with how these turned out.  I am not totally sure why I chose these figure and my return to the painting hobby.  I really love the look of painted Napoleonic figures but I find painting them a chore.  I don't have any immediate plans to use these, it just seemed like the thing to do. 

This is the first battalion of the Narva musketeer regiment with the 1812 Kiver (Kiwa).  I am still struggling a bit with the colors on the uniforms.  It seems like the collars and cuffs changed to red in 1807 but the shoulder straps stayed the regimental color.  That means these are probably wrong but I can't find a reference for this regiment.  They are the Narva regiment simple because I had flags for them.

These are Warlord games plastic figures.  They are pretty nice and are not too bad to paint.

2022...Let's Try this Again

 Time, once again, to document my predictions for my gaming year ahead.  My previous posts of this nature tended to be very detailed and in-depth.  Unfortunately, I no longer have the bandwidth for that so I will try and keep this short and to the point.  I don't expect to do much this year, but I am hoping to do more than the last couple of years.  That shouldn't be too hard.  In the last 2 years I have managed 10 games total.  If I can get in one game a month, I will be doing good.  I have already gotten my first game of the year in, so I am off to a good start.

As for modeling and painting I hope to get in one small project a month.  No real limits or restrictions here, just build something or paint something.  I am thinking of starting this off with another Swiss or Russian battalion for my Black Powder Napoleonic collection.  Finish it February is right around the corner and maybe I can finish painting my Team Yankee US force.  We will see, but I just need to do something.

Last, it is time for a rationalization of my gaming collection.  It has been many years since there has been any local gamer garage sales (at least one I would go to).  This has left me with a lot of stuff that I either no longer need, no longer want, or will never get to.  I might have to resort to online trade groups to get this stuff out of here, but shipping stuff is such a paint.  We will see how this goes.

I am optimistic about getting my gaming hobby back on track, but it will not be easy.  I have changed over the last couple of years and so has my hobby priorities.  I am not ready to give up!

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!