2016 Round-Up and Plans for 2017...

And another one gone...

At risk of repeating myself, again, 2016 started out with good intentions but hobby related stuff gradually faded away by the end of the year. Thoughts and plans remained just that as I needed to concentrate on 'real life' issues and to be honest my enthusiasm for hobby 'blogging' faded somewhat.

Another issue is that I currently have no work-space/painting desk. Whilst I sort out various home decorating jobs the vast majority of junk (admittedly mostly mine anyway) has ended up in my study/man cave, leaving no room for a painting area. I need to have a good clearout before I can invest in a new desk and actually get painting and making again, rather than snatching a few moments here and there on whatever other space is available,

The plan was to concentrate on Pulp, DWMG, 7TV, Greek Myth/7th Voyage and to a lesser extent, Dark Ages/Vikings, Sci-Fi, Horror and maybe a bit of Fantasy.

As with previously years I did get to add to the Doctor Who and 7TV collection (again with the help of Robafett and Matt Slade) and got in a handful of good games too.

No Strange Aeons, Dark Ages or Sci-Fi as such. Fantasy did not really get a look in at all.

So, what did I actually get done this time around? Not much it seems...

1) 7TV - my big hit of the year was adding approximately another 200 or so painted figures to my ever increasing 7TV collection. Some of these can be described as 'cross-genre' figures, usable on Sci-Fi games (see below), horror, Doctor Who or others. I already have around 100 spy-fi figures and another (almost) 200 Doctor Who figures. It has become a monster collection and although I know I will never really need this many it is still my pride and joy!

2) Pulp - only a handful of figures added and the latest Pulp Alley scenario book added. Mixed bunch of figures but just not had the time or space to really get into it yet.

3) Terrain - always a big issue for me, having the right terrain for the right games.  I picked up a couple more 'Plasticville' buildings, including a cool radio/tv station and yet more Sarissa Precision bits. Also invested in a ton of general small terrain bits (from Ainsty and TT among others) such as computer terminals, street rubbish, desks, chairs and beds etc. Everything pretty much went into a box as soon as I bought it though.

So, essentially I failed dismally on hobby stuff in general, just adding lots more to do/build/paint but not actually completing anything...

And I still haven't based the last batch of Vikings I painted 2 years ago...

Games played fared a little better.

First game of the year was one of Robafetts always fun Wild West games. The game saw three groups face off in the middle of a busy town over the planned hanging of a local ruffian. Much civilian carnage ensued...

"It's a Hanging Day"

Actually managed to get some zombie gaming in! We played a couple of games of the very enjoyable Z War One and the starter scenario of Walking Dead: All Out War. Look forward to playing a lot more of both.

Another great discovery of the year was Congo: Adventures in the Heart of Africa. Played two excellent games (dusting off my old Foundry Darkest Africa collection) and I must say it plays really well. A terrific fun game!

7TV2 got a good look-in too. Robafett took up the opportunity to be a 7TV2 'Director', thus encouraging us to get more games in.

We played a great, straightforward spy-fi assassination scenario (report to come) and a couple of 'Future Freedom Fighter' games, one with Aliens and Predators.

The Guardians - Episode 1: "The Assassination Affair"

"Brake Hunting"

"Escape from the Planet of the Aliens"

Board games were also a great success this year, probably due to the ease of setting up, with several games of Imperial Assault played plus a handful of others such as Talisman, Munchkin, Thunderbirds and Zombicide: Black Plague among others.


So, plans for next year?

With so much done of 7TV2 and DWMG I think it is about time I concentrated on something else...

1) Pulp -after picking up the Pulp Alley rules a couple of years back, but still nothing played, I am once again hoping to invest a little more time in this one. I committed to the Sally 4th Kickstarter "Exotic Locations" that should spur me forward!

2) Greek Myth / 7th Voyage - still need to complete a fair few things so may try to 'finish' this one. Maybe those skellies will finally get done?

3) Finish my Dark Ages / Vikings - on the list once more. Base up the last lot painted and one day get around to painting the rest of the civilians and animals I have...

Picked up the rules for Blood Eagle and this has inspired me to dig out the Vikings again!

4) Sci-Fi - a nice selection of minis now painted, plus a couple of new rulesets picked up. Rogue Stars looks particularly interesting and I have plenty of generic 'futuristic' figures painted. This could be the big one for next year.

5) More Doctor Who and 7TV - despite what I said, I know Crooked Dice will release stuff I won't be able to resist so I may as well put it on my list.

6) Finish my Stargate stuff - and maybe even run a game? Same as last year, not a lot to do with this but still need to find suitable rules. Might just use 7TV2.

7) WWII - No WWII gaming at all this year so maybe next year?

8) Congo - need to play more! Great thing is that Andrew and I have large Darkest Africa collections so no need to commit much more to this.

New potential projects?

As above, Sci-Fi is definitely on the list again. Now I have a fair few miniatures for this and potentially enough terrain for a small table I quite fancy it.

'Horror' gaming is still really keeping my interest...So...

Zombies (again)...stay on the list. Not exactly a new project but I bought a huge pile of zombie miniatures at the beginning of the year and really need to make a start on them. I have all the required terrain and loads of suitable 'survivor' figures painted up.

Rules continue to be debated (in my head anyway). With so many available now it is hard to pin down the 'right' ones. The Walking Dead rules seem to play well but would take a bit of work to make them suitable for generic zombie gaming. I still lean towards ATZ but Crooked Dice should be releasing their update of 7ombie TV next year which would likely suit smaller games.

I also fancy some Post Apocalypse gaming. Again I have the figures for this but I may take the 'winter apocalypse' angle to use my Scavenge Skirmish Survive minis.

Another potential project is Judge Dredd. With the demise of the Mongoose licence most of the figures (released by Warlord Games) quickly disappeared. I had managed to stockpile a huge batch of these minis but never got anywhere with them. A fair amount could well be sold on.

To be honest the Mongoose rules were not great and although Robafett has lots of painted suitable figures, not to mention loads of Judges, we were never inspired enough to continue playing, although we did discuss the potential of using the 7TV2 rules.

I understand that Warlord have since picked up the 2000ad licence so maybe some new figures/games will appear? Being a big Doctor Who Miniatures Game fan I must say I was not overly impressed with Warlords handling of the Doctor Who licence and some of the first figures released left me cold, and that's before you even mention the 'scale' issue that was much discussed online. Since my 'rage-quit' of Warlord I have since mellowed as some of the new monster figures look pretty good to be fair. Hopefully the Dredd and other 2000ad lines will be good. I shall wait and see but in the meantime I may actually get around to painting some of my Dredd lead pile!

Other than that I managed to attend a few shows, SALUTE, Cavalier and SELWG but I also had the pleasure of being a 'trader' with my friends new business DMB Games. Other than being a general stockist of the Bones range Andy produces an excellent range of dungeon tiles and sets and although he has been running it for a year or so this really took off at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham. I am pleased to say he is now running this full time and best wishes to him.

So, the standard mantra returns -  the main aim will be to try to actually PLAY more games but I really need to get on and finish projects too.


Best wishes to you all.

M