Happy 2019 and Traditional End of Year Post

Year-end reviews and coming year goals posts rank among my favorite part of participating in blogging. However, I haven't done one of these myself in a long time - not at all on this particular blog.

Indeed, I've purposely avoided even thinking about plans and goals and such, but for the coming year, as I seem to be getting better at juggling activities, I feel it would help to have some direction written down, if only for the fun of looking back and comparing to where I ended up.

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2018 got off to a quick start and then immediately petered out - I could not balance, work, dad life, music, and gaming.

A game of 5 Men in Normandy from January 2nd. The only game until November.

Once I left the big band I was in, and the company I work for went to work-at-home, things started to change. When I finally got through the backlog of film noir dvr'd from TCM, I found I had time during the day (lunch hour) to do things.

By year end, I had gotten in a few games of Morschauser's Modern and Company Command  and was fired up enough to repair some damaged figures and make some acquisitions to round out both the Germans and the Americans. I finished my Highlanders, and Gatling gun and crew, and made some decisions about my 54mm Imaginations / VSF project as well and that, too, will inform 2019's efforts.

So, speaking of 2019:

1. Complete a basic force for my Imaginations/VSF British and Russian forces. That means one infantry units of 10 figures, 1 cavalry unit of 4 figures, 1 gun + crew (3-5 figures) and 1 character / officer figure each. It's a modest goal - what amounts to a force for G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. - as I am nearly half-way done for the British. Ideally, I'll have two 10-figure infantry units each, but I don't want to overreach on these goals.

Great Game cartoon. Source: Wikipedia

As this will be an Imaginations campaign, a lot of the fun is to be had in the fiction, loosely supported by Wikipeda, movies, novels, and sometimes even a proper history book or documentary, and so there is research and writing to do even when I'm not interested in painting or when I don't have time to set up a game.

2. Bring my 54mm US and German WW2 armies  up to three 10-figure units (to be based or not as the rules and scale dictate, thanks to magnets and steel), with command and support options for FiveCore Company Command, Morschauser, Bolt Action, Disposable Heroes, etc. I have a lot of this done already. The primary goal for 2019, besides playing more games, is to get the infantry rounded out (roughly 9 figures plus some NCOs each are needed) and a few infantry anti-tank, engineer, and sniper figures. The Germans need one more Panzer IV but 1/50 are getting out of my price range so,I may have to resort to a 1/48 kit.

Waiting for the new bases from Litko

3. Related to the above. it's time to touch up the paint, reseal, and rebase my WW2 armies using magnets and steel movement stands to allow me to play with individual figures or with multi-figure bases..

4. I am currently researching WWI on the Southern/Italian front, and although the gaming part will be 1/72 and not 54mm, I anticipate posting about it here (because I don't really want to split my postings between this and my dormant blog).

Source: www.firstworldwar.com

5. I want to do some social gaming in 2019 and the best way to do that locally is 28mm Bolt Action. I have acquired the rules already and will do some practice games at home with my 54s to get a feel for them.

I have yet to decide which 28mm force I will paint, but the top contenders are French or Italian (I may pick up a starter of both). I understand these are difficult forces to win with but I'm OK with that. I want to paint something I like the looks of and I don't have in another scale already. What I really don't need is Germans in a 4th scale, or US airborne in a 3rd.

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Of course, the best laid plans and all that.

I'm sure all of this will go out the window at 12:01 AM, January 1, 2019, but for now, that's what I'm thinking (if only I put this much effort into my goal planning for the rest of my life).

Have a happy and safe 2019!