I regret not buckling down and finish some of the projects that I have vowed to complete for three years. The Imperial Roman army was neglected for another year. So too were my early war WWII 15mm armies. Also, no progress was made on preparing better streams and roads for my battlefields. No progress was made on the Bavarians and now I loathe the sight of them. They may be headed for the pot of simple green and I will just start over.
I also started some small side projects that distracted me somewhat from my plans.
Painting
I have painted 144 foot, 27 mounted, 3 guns, 10 artillery crew and 6 tanks. I am generally pleased with the amount of painting completed, even though I painted fewer figures than in 2013. For several months this year, I did not complete anything at all, however, I rallied late in the year. I really am making great inroads into the lead mountain, at least with respect to my 28mm lead. I was sidetracked by some gifts from friends which slowed down my reduction of the lead mountain but I am not complaining.
Napoleonics
34 Prussian foot, a mix of line and militia (metal)
2 Prussian guns with 3 crew each (metal)
14 Russian Grenadiers (metal)
9 Russian Cuirassiers (metal)
1 Russian Mounted officer (metal)
16 French foot, line (plastic)
8 French dragoons (metal)
SYW/WSS
3 WSS Mounted French officers (plastic)
12 WSS French Infantry (plastic)
35 WSS Infantry (French, Dutch, or Austrian depending on flags) (metal)
13 SYW French Garde Francaises (metal) (wonderful Foundry figures)
ECW
16 Pike (metal)
6 Mounted (metal)
1 Gun and 4 crew (metal)
(all of these figures had been started by another gamer and abandoned to me)
MISC
4 28mm Protestant Preachers - metal Wargames Foundry (for Maurice)
WWII
6 Early War French light tanks (these are repaints) (3 metal, 3 resin)
Projects
In terms of completion of projects, the year has not been a success. No progress was made on the Late Imperial Romans, the Dixon Samurai, the Scots for the '45, or the Italian Renaissance armies. The WWII armies were ignored except for the painting of a few 1940 French tanks and those were only done because I needed to recycle their bases for my small ECW army.
In part, the reason these projects were not addressed was because I started to projects, one small and one large, that I had not planned to start. A small ECW army had begun to take shape. It was not a new purchase of figures. In fact, the figures were slated to become trade bait but events intervened in the form of Brent Oman's slowly building ECW armies. I decided I could contribute to any ECW battle with a small brigade of my own. I anticipate that it will stay at its current strength of 2 foot, 1 cavalry, and 1 gun.
I also began a larger project that I had no intention of starting, the War of Spanish Succession. I have come into possession of a large number of plastic (Wargames Factory) and metal (Wargame Foundry) figures over the last year (due to great friends). Originally, I was simply going to use them as French for the SYW. The figures have no lapels. The French army did not convert to lapels until 1760 so these figures are a good stand in for early SYW French. I really enjoy painting the figures. They have simple uniforms with lots of color. The plan is build up about 20 units that could be used for either side in the war and still be pressed into service as French during the SYW.
Gaming and the Hobby
It has been a very successful year for gaming. By hosting two games at Genghiscon and two at Tacticon, I have met my obligation to give back something to the hobby. All four games were well attended. I have noticed some very different responses to the games. At one game, there was virtually no interaction between the players. One side was a father/daughter team that did not talk to anyone except each other. The other side was three unrelated guys who also did not talk, even to make a coherent plan for the battle. Since the games were all Piquet FOB2, I generally expect players to interact a lot more. It was quite a shock.
I met my goal of playing 12 games this year. Five games at Brent's house playing various incarnations of "39-45", one game at Jay's house playing a modified version of Columbia Games' Napoleonic series with 10mm miniatures, one game at Jeff's house playing his home grown ECW rules, one game at Rodney's house, one game at Bob's house playing DF II, and three games at my house playing Maurice and FOB2.
Finally, I did not complete any stream sections for my battlefields. Battles were fought over blue felt rivers for another year.
Conclusion
It was a great year for wargaming. As an added bonus, I discovered another group of gamers that meet in the basement of a local hobby shop every Thursday night. Just when I think I have met almost every gamer in the metro Denver area, up pops another group. They seem like a group of good guys and even include a couple of vets (one marine, one army). I hope to put on a few games with them in the future. That is about it for 2014. Keep gaming out there.
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