2017 Round-Up and Plans for 2018...

Happy New Year!!

Another one gone.

Despite my extreme lack of posting on this blog, 2017 actually shaped up to be a pretty fun one hobby wise. My desire to write up blog posts did suffer somewhat as spare time was inevitably spent actually gaming or doing other hobby related things...

I finally managed to sort my issue of having no work-space/painting desk and spent a silly amount of money on a lovely IKEA fold down desk thingy that is great storage and a very decent painting desk too. I had a much needed clearout and also made use of our recently converted loft-space to store away a load of the junk piling up in my room. Although I didn't really get to use the desk until much later in the year it has at least set me up nicely for the new one.

The plan for 2017 was to concentrate on Pulp, 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, once more I did get to add to the 7TV collection (again with the help of Robafett and Matt Slade) and got in a handful of good games too. I also added quite a small host of Sci-Fi figures into the mix.

I dug out a few of the unfinished Vikings but only managed to paint another eight or so.

As expected, no 7th Voyage, Zombies, Strange Aeons or Fantasy.

So, what happened in 2017?

1) 7TV - not surprisingly a load more 7TV type figures joined the mass ranks...I have honestly lost count but there are probably another 60+ figures added to the collection. I may have to insure it...

2) Pulp - only really made a start towards the end of the year then I developed a sudden interest in playing a 1920's to 1930's Gangster game. Same period but different emphasis! First lot of minis already painted.

3) Terrain - yet more mdf buildings...I even managed to build a few...but not paint them! Also picked up a load of 7TV friendly die-cast cars.

Yep, of course I still haven't based the last batch of Vikings I painted 3 years ago!

More importantly, we managed to get several games in over the course of the year with board games featuring heavily again.

1) Bloodbowl - not played for years but my mate Mark dug it out and thrashed me every time.

2) A.I. - Robafetts newly purchased game. A boardgame/tabletop crossover that can get a little complex but is great fun. Got a couple of games in of this too.

3) Gobbos - another of Marks Kickstarter purchases. Good, light-hearted fun.

4) Pandemic - several games of the ultimate boardgame meets stress mix!

5) The Awful Green Things From Outer Space - one of my favourites and probably the reason I got into "the hobby" in the first place. Played a few games. The example below did obviously not end well for Captain Yid and his crew.

6) Dungeon & Dragons - we started using Andrews minis and Dwarven Forge stuff!

7) Rogue Stars - played once but got the rules horribly/hilariously wrong. Used my recently painted Angel Gang, which pointed up nicely in the rules.

8) The Walking Dead - several games played. Good set of rules but we keep repeating the first scenario. Need to play more of this!

9) World War Z - Robafetts excellent zombie game. We are gradually progressing through the story scenarios.

10) The Wild Geese - a fantastic game run by the Sally 4th crew at Partizan. I will have to make a separate post on this one!

There were probably a couple of others (such as Arkham Horror) but I neglected to take pics of everything.


So, plans for next year?

1) The 70's - concentrating on 7TV2 and DWMG over the past few years has inevitably led me in the direction of all things "1970's" and I found myself looking at various rules set in that period outside of the usual Crooked Dice ones.

Living on the Frontline - the classic "Winter of '79" rules for small unit actions in the period. Only about 20 figures required per side so ideal for those running gun battles in grim 1970's streets. There is also a great Wild Geese supplement.

Geezers! "Shut It!" - skirmish rules for Cops and Robbers in the UK of the 1970's. Committed to this already with some nice 1970's civvys to add to the already painted coppers and blaggers. Now, jog on you scrote!

Aggro - a 1970's football "skirmish" game. Basically a couple of rioting gangs chucking bottles and insults at each other. An unusual subject for a game but its done with the right level of humour.

Combat Patrol - Ostensibly a set of skirmish rules for small scale WWII actions these are easily suited to any period, probably up to the late 70's early 80's as well displayed by the Sally 4th Wild Geese game.

2) Gangsters - a classic 1920's to 1930's, Prohibition era game is my main drive for the beginning of the year. I picked up two rule sets -

Mad Dogs With Guns - definitely my preferred set. They are a fairly straightforward tabletop rules but come alive with the excellent campaign system. More on this in a future post.

The Chicago Way - a very pretty rule book from the folk that brought us Dead mans Hand. Essentially a 'gang' game in the mould of Frostgrave etc it reads pretty well but didn't have the style of campaign system I wanted.

2) Pulp -after picking up the Pulp Alley rules several years back I have still not managed a game using these well regarded rules. Hopefully I will manage to devote more time to it this year. With a few period appropriate buildings purchased, several suitable figures and some gangsters painted up I am slowly but surely getting there. I even bought a couple of mates the rule book!

3) Dark Ages / Vikings - really want to play Blood Eagle after box-setting the entire "Vikings" TV series...

4) Sci-Fi - as mentioned before, a reasonable selection of minis now painted with a few added over 2017. Played one game of Rogue Stars and looks fun despite the fact we completely misread the rules!

5) More Doctor Who and 7TV - as a Crooked Dice fanboy it is obvious they will release stuff I won't be able to resist so I have to put it on my list...

6) Finish my Stargate stuff...yeah right.

7) WWII - once again, no WWII gaming in 2017. Chain of Command is the default setting but may try out Combat Patrol.

8) Congo - enjoyed this and want to play more.

9) Anything Darkest Africa or Colonial - following on from the above. The Men Who Would Be Kings?

10) In Her Majesty's Name - not played for ages and fancy another crack at this.

11) Open Combat - and nice looking set of low fantasy rules and really want to have a go at them. Spoke at length to the author, Carl Brown (while attending a couple of shows as a trader) who is a thoroughly decent chap.


New potential projects?

With the "1970's" and Pulp/Gangsters already started they will be the main focus for the beginning of the year so not much room for "new" projects.

Having said that...

I am still determined to get some form of "Horror" gaming in. I have a good selection of minis and terrain for modern set games so of course Zombies (once again)... are top of the list. I still have that massive lead-pile of zombie miniatures that I bought in 2016 and would like to finally get around to starting them!

As far as zombie rules, my fave still remains All Things Zombie.

As mentioned in my summary of last year, Post Apocalypse gaming slots in nicely with the horror genre, so maybe? I have the figures for this and the 'winter apocalypse' angle seems to make sense to use my Scavenge Skirmish Survive minis. I like the idea of something along the lines of "It Snows in Hell" by Four Colour Super Minis.

That's about it. Don't want to stretch myself with lots of different projects like I usually do as I inevitably end up completing none of them!

I am also bound to get distracted by something new and shiny. Did somebody say VBCW?

I managed to attend the usual few shows including SALUTE and Cavalier but also got to go to Partizan, Broadside and Dragonmeet. As a bonus we also paid a visit to Warhammer World - kind of a pilgrimage for anybody who started gaming in the good old days of Citadel and every GW thing since. Not been a fan of GW for many, many years but it was still great fun and well worth a look.

Once again I had the pleasure of being a 'trader' with my friend Andy and DMB Games. This year I helped out at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham again and also ran a play-test of his new dungeon-bash tabletop/boardgame, Rosebyrne Manor, at SELWG. Andy is now getting his tiles produced in resin and they look pretty good. This has also given him more time to concentrate on other, new aspects of the business as he was actually getting over-run with orders!

Sooo, the standard mantra returns - the main aim will be to try to PLAY more games and finish those few projects too.


Best wishes and Happy 2018 to you all.

M