2019: Year End Review

It's my favorite time of year when bloggers look back on what they did and think about what they might like to do in the coming year. I'll cover the former in this post and save the latter for another, to spare you from an even longer, more rambling post.

An unused photo from Thanksgiving's Solo Con.

You can read what I was thinking for 2019 in this post but I've quoted the relevant bits here.

So, how did I do compared to what I was interested in doing at the time?

1. Complete a basic force for my Imaginations/VSF British and Russian forces.

The Russians , aka Vodkia, went from zero to a fighting force aided by the acquisition of a well-priced set of Britain's Cossacks, which saved me from having to paint AiP Cosccacks. I finished 10 infantry and the Gatling gun and crew, which included some conversions. Both armies are still without their generals/character figures, although I did get them started, even finishing a camel.

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. 


One surprising change (to me) was dropping the WWII US forces in favor of Soviets.

In the end I brought both sides up to the "3 10 figure units" level, albeit with three 3-figure bases and a single based figure each. In addition, I have quite a few support options for both sides.

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.

There was virtually no touching up or resealing done, but I did re-base. Multiple times.

The final landing place was 3" square bases (per Morschauser) with 3 infantry figures for the Eastern Front.

British paras, Waffen SS, and my unpainted TSSD Eastern Front Germans and TSSD Soviets were left individually based for very small scale skirmishes (about a squad or less per side). I sort of stopped worrying about the US force after my D-Day commemorative campaign.

I didn't even think about rebasing for my 1/72 PTO figures.

I should note that I'm thinking about re-basing. Again.

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).

I pretty much covered this one in this post..
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.

Not a single social wargame was played in 2019 (just like nearly all years prior).

To be fair, my  interest in painting my 28mm French waned as I began to see the completion of my Eastern Front 54mm collection as a real possibility.

And now it looks like Chain of Command is by and large the game of choice at said game shop.


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So, given what I thought I might do, I think I did pretty well.

But there was a lot that I didn't have any particular ideas for that I did this year.

I played quite a few games,  many of which are documented here and made way more time for my hobby this year, than I have had in recent years - in part that was about having a plan, no matter how non-committal, so as not to waste time deciding what to do when time opened up. But I think it was also just a general commitment on my part to making time for hobby stuff over mindless activities like just turning on the TV and veg-ing.

One Hour Skirmish Wargames in action. More OHSW action will kick off 2020.

Consequently, because I use this blog like I used to use a spiral bound notebook of my wargaming activity, I hit publish on way too many blog posts. Like this one! Including this post I am at 134 posts for the year. This is a level comparable to the heydays of my defunct Tabletop Diversions blog.

Other high points:

• I enjoyed many exchanges in the comments here and on others' blogs. Although comments aren't the best for extended discussions, I find those exchanges fire me up with a greater appreciation for the hobby community.
• I spent a lot of time reading other wargamers' blogs - sometimes going back years of posts. That's right. I'm peeping your old posts. At one point, a few years ago, I stepped away because I thought I spent  too much time reading blogs. I threw that out the window this year and embraced my addiction with both arms.
• I dove into counter-based games beyond Worthington's 1776 - including Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit - something that I discovered I really enjoy. With three more games acquired at Christmas, I suspect there will be more of this in 2020.
• I played two campaigns:
• a three game campaign in recognition of the 75th anniversary of D-Day 
• a five game imagi-nations medieval campaign using One Hour Wargames rules.
• Not sure how many figures I finished painting as I didn't keep track, but I know it was more than in 2018. Or 2017 for that matter.
• Wrote two sets of grid-based WWII company per side rules, still being played and altered but the bones are there.
• Finally got a new ground cloth that is exactly what I wanted
• I don't know how many WWI / WWII movies and TVseries I watched this year - I didn't document them all here. Some were repeat viewings of loved favorites others were first and last time views of terrible cinema, most fell in between. A few standouts of those new to me: 
• April 9th
• Is Paris Burning?
• The Fortress
• Battalion
• Night Swallows (TV series)
• The Dawns Here are Quiet (TV series)
• Gallipoli (TV series)
• The Crimson Field (TV Series)

Next up: the 2020 "plans"

Happy New Year to All!