Another year bites the dust! It feels like only yesterday when I started
this blog and started adding content. Lo and behold it has been over a
year! This seems like a good time to
review the 2017 Goals and see how it all turned out.
Typically, I make these goal lists to help guide me
through what I want to accomplish in a year.
They are not hard and fast rules, but more of a guideline. Some years I do better at completing them
than others, but I shoot for a 50% completion rate. In
addition, I break them into categories to help me organize my thought sand
efforts.
Purchases:
1.
Buy all new Osprey Wargaming Series- 100% Succes
I am on track with this
goal! The last one released in 2017 was Gaslands. I even managed to review it. Next year, there are at least two new ones to
be published on their site, and I expect I will be picking those up too. I really enjoy the Wargaming Series as it is
a low cost way to be exposed to a lot of different rules, genres, periods, and
wargaming ideas. I like spending money
to support their efforts at diversity. I
also bought Mad Dogs with Guns and
some Frostgrave supplements this
year, but they are not technically part of this goal.
I grabbed the box set and the
Death Zone season 1 book. I have even
played a few games! For a long time,
this was the only game I managed to play and keep me in the hobby. However, I never had my own turf or
templates. I have now remedied that
situation. I am set to play for ages to
come. The scale change has made me
interested in getting some of the new teams, but it is low on my priority list
at the moment and I can still use some of my old teams.
3.
Pick-up one of the following: Blucher, Chain of
Command, Martian Empires, or This is Not a Test- 0% complete
There was zero progress
here. I found a local distributor that
had Martian Empires for a decent price, but never got around to ordering
it. I think I decided to pick-up Blucher
next for my Non-Osprey rules purchase. The
fact that I can play with cards instead of minis appeals to me, plus I always
wanted a Napoleonic game to play and Blucher seems pretty cool. However, “Real Life” has gotten in the way of
making more purchases than I have so far.
I picked up a couple models when
I ordered Pulp Alley that I liked
the look of. So far, my gangs consist of
1 Femme Fatale and 1 Enforcer with Tommy Gun.
I looked at a boxed set at my FLGS, but was not impressed with the
sculpts. I also thought about picking up
some of the Blue Moon 15mm to save costs, but I am not sure if I can do 15-18mm
scale gangsters justice for a skirmish game.
I managed to buy a lot of
Victrix Limited Greeks. I should have
enough for a Spartan, Corinthian, and Macedonian army with some left
overs. I am super excited for these guys
and sent them to my painter right away. I
didn’t even open the package for them. I
need them for some photos for when Osprey publishes Men of Bronze. But I am also excited to play the game with actual
miniatures and not just paper templates.
Painting and Modeling:
1. Paint
my Inquisitor 28mm Warband- 0% Complete
There has been no progress on
this despite the fact that I wanted to use these guys to play some Pulp Alley or even a modified Strange Aeons this year. Instead, they have sat on my shelf looking
forlorn at me. I didn’t even base coat
them!
2.
Complete my All Quiet on the Martian Front Mobile Artillery and Mark IV tank-
20% Complete
Some progress. I did manage to put the mobile artillery
together and put them on the painting desk.
I was looking forward to having these guys join my armored column for
the Minnesota Militia forces, but I just haven’t been able to build up the
stamina to base and paint them.
3. Assemble
the Destroids for Robotech RPG Tactics-0%
Complete
I really can’t bring myself to
put more work into this game than Palladium can. I wanted to use the Destroids in Jugs or Rampant Stars but I have had little time to paint and would rather
put that time towards games I might actually play.
I managed to get this done, and
the last of my Varingyr aircraft. I haven’t
played all year, but Aeronautica
Imperialis is one of those games I keep going back to. Sure Forgeworld and Games Workshop have long
ago abandoned it, but I haven’t.
Thankfully, I do not think unsupported games are dead games. Plus, there are
many “Not Epic” manufacturers making compatible aircraft for it now.
It is hard to paint them if I
never bought them! However, I did get my
version of the Pulp Alley Red Queen
painted up. It is a simple but effective
model. I also created a couple of gang
rosters to build/paint to. That is some
slow progress.
Rules Writing:
I went into the year needing to
write some scenarios. I was facing
severe creative block on the subject.
So, I did what you do when you have a creative block and stopped
avoiding it and just started writing stuff.
It did the trick and soon I had the scenarios I needed done. The rules are ready to go.
Well, technically they are not
going to go up on the Wargames Vault. Instead, they will be published by Osprey in
late 2019. I think that is an
upgrade! That is a different route all
together. The only thing they need to be
published now is 30 digital images of Greek Hoplite miniatures, choosing some
artwork, and final edits. Then, it is
off to the Wargames Series for them!
8. Edit
and Clean-up the Rules for The Games:Blood and Spectacle for the Wargame’s Vault- 100% Complete
This is complete and the rules
are up for purchase. As of this writing,
they have been available since April. I
have been pleasantly surprised by the reaction and interest in the game. Naturally, I am a fan and looking forward to
playing it more. I want to make a few
play aids for it and add them to the rulebooks.
Playing:
In addition to the exhibition
game I posted about, I have played a few other times with my gaming buddies and
family.
Another one completed. I managed to continue the Minnesota River Valley Campaign.
3. One
of my Osprey Games- 100% Complete
I have played Horizon Wars and Poseidon’s Warriors x2.
4. One
other TBD System- 100% Complete
I have managed to play all
sorts of games this year. 2017 was a
good year for actually playing games!
Way better than the last few years.
I hope I can keep up that pace for 2018!
 |
| Aquanautica Imperialis |
 |
| Necromunda |
 |
| Castles in the Sky |
 |
| Total CARnage |
 |
| Men of Bronze |
 |
| Force-on-Force |
 |
| Rampant Stars |
 |
| American Civil Paw |
 |
| Rampant Stars |
 |
| The Games: Blood and Spectacle |
 |
| Rampant Stars |
 |
| Horizon Wars |
Random
5. Keep
on Blogging- 100% Complete
I managed to keep up a steady
pace despite some setbacks. The Great
Photobucket Debacle gave me pause, but I pressed on. Not everything has been restored, but enough
has been updated to keep me going.
However, in 2018, I think the content will slow down as I do not have 3
years of backlogged games to re-post about.
I have set one up for Blood and
Spectacles Publishing, but no one uses it.
I suppose for 2018 I will need to get on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
etc. An old man like me can not keep up
with all of this Social Media.
Overall, 2017 was a pretty good
wargaming year! I completed 14 out of 19
goals, and made progress at least on 3 others.
Plus, there were a few projects I completed that were not on my goal
lists. I have had much worse years. Plus, my list of actually played games is
relatively impressive this year. Once
again, it was Painting and Modelling that held me back. Hopefully I can keep up the moment in 2018 as
I continue to push myself to accomplish hobby goals despite Real Life
challenges getting in my way.
Over the next couple days I will start drafting my Resolutions for next year. Stay tuned.
Eric, you are prolific in your game designs and apparently prolific in playing game designs. Amazing. Looks good. =)
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