Hey There ‘25

Happy belated New Year one and all,

I hope your respective side of the internet is treating you well. We are just shy of the 3rd week of January with a pending Polar Vortex coming our way…on the heals of a +1 Celsius day tomorrow…so that will be fun. I’m actually looking forward to it, apparently we will be seeing some snow before the cool temps hit…so while we’ve had hints of winter, we haven’t had the real big snow falls that I like, and we’re about to get a shot of REAL winter.

Anywho, onto the mandatory rehashing of the gaming year that was…

I tried to keep my goals pretty basic last year, nothing too in-depth, but enough specificity to guide the years activities. Reviewing my list from almost this exact time 12 months ago…

1. Work on a proper Red/Northern Dawn scenario, ideally 2 of them, and that includes the terrain to get it to the table. So, I would like to work through the VDV starter box, and fill out my Cdn Abn Regt; this one didn’t age well…while the scenario development and Cdn Abn died on the vine, I did finish the VDV starter box…so yeah, me. I did however get a chance to do a recce of southern Alberta this past year, and that will help guide scenario development as well as any terrain building that I need to do. I’ll keep this at the edge of the table.

2. Work on a 15mm scenario inspired by some of the Bush War actions, I think this will be a good kickstart for me to push som progress on the greater Afropia idea - and really work on some of the wider mechanics and construct of that verse; this is another idea that didn’t get too far. I did however start penning the initial build-up to an Afropian scenario/campaign. I have the initial die-rolls, but just need to get some of the actual gaming complete and then work on some of the higher level elements. 

3. I’d like to get some moderns to the table, so thinking of either Danger Close, Spectre Ops, or Force on Force, but moreso a limited small action scenario; I’m going to call this one a big success. I was able to get a few games in, paint a few figs, make some terrain, and get a game for CanGames. The game was a mixed success, but I’m going to chalk this up as a win regardless.. and

4. Continue with MCP played a couple of games, finally painted up Cap’n Sam America. I have a backlog that really needs some love…and get my Hoth force for Star Wars Legion moving. Wow! SW Legion did not get any love from me this year…I did get a few figures as gifts, but my Hoth intentions ran rather Coldth…

One this that I did not forecast last year, but ended up making a heap of progress with was my dive back into 15mm. Thanks to my VDV work, I was able to pull ahead by a few hundred figures, most of them 15mm, and had been sitting in the lead/plastic pile for years. I finished the US Parachute Company for FoW and Force on Force…So yeah, victory!

So the question stands…what will the painting gods bring us over the next year?

1. I want to get moving…somewhat slowly with Afropia. I have the bones of a mash up between Petoriastan and Aponwana. And it gives me the chance to try a few different game types, as well as some game mechanics that I’ve been checking out. So I am actually getting exciting with the idea…again.

2. Stemming from my 15mm US Parachute Company painting…I want to get a similar number of German infantry on the table, mix of basing for FoW and FoF, so that I can run a game at CanGames this year. I think it will be a FoF game, with Market Garden as the inspiration. More to follow on that.

3. Recycle some of the ideas about Red/Northern Dawn and get some Cdn Abn painted, as well as the framework of some scenarios and some small town Alberta terrain done.

4. Misc…SW Legion of course, MCP as well…and whatever floats the ole boat. Of course, I think it’s time I did a big clean of the basement area and get an appreciation for what I actually have and thin some of the not so achievable. More to follow on that one, lol

That’s it folks. Thanks for tuning in…take care of yourselves and all the best in the new year.

Cheers.