The Way Ahead...

Introduction

I've noticed that recently a lot of other gamers have put up a blog article that is part retrospective and part future plans.  I suppose that the turn of the year is indeed a good time to examine your gaming activities.  I've never done that before, but this year I'm feeling more than a little introspective, so here goes...

2014

I have a very poor memory for events that are more than 1 week old, but I'll try to remember some of the major hobby-related events of the year.

• The major event of 2014 for me was the folding of the Helensburgh Games Club in the first quarter of the year.  The club had been struggling with numbers for some time; it was basically a couple of parents (me and another dad) and a bunch of young boys.  There had been some adult gamers as well, but they tended not to mix with the juveniles and eventually their numbers fell below the critical limit.
  There is another nearby wargames club that has become quite successful in recent years, in Dumbarton, some 10 miles/16Km from me.  They're close enough to be plausible for me to visit, but the Dumbarton club meets on a Sunday evening.  Sadly, that's a deal-breaker for me as my Sunday is inviolable family time.
  The upshot of all this is that my main source of battle reports for this blog has dried up completely.
• On a brighter note, I took my 2 boys to London in April and (amongst other things) visited Salute 2014.  While we did enjoy the event, it was perhaps a bit too big and somewhat soulless in the huge, echoing hall at the Excel centre.  I might go back again some day, but I don't think that this will be a regular visit for me.
• Continuing with shows, I made my annual visit to the much closer Claymore, in Edinburgh.  This time I took only 1 son, but we had a really good time.
• There was no Wappinshaw wargames show in Glasgow in 2014 (something to do with the Commonwealth Games).  I would certainly have attended had it been on, as this is a really easy event for me to visit.
• On to games.  I spent much of 2014 not playing All Things Zombie because my model hospital isn't ready (and I need that for the next outing of the B-team!).  However, I was recently persuaded to carry on playing, using minor characters and side-quests instead of following this blocked main story arc.
• I did manage to play some other games during the year.  These were mostly Black Powder, SAGA, Full Thrust and Song of Blades and Heroes (both my Robin Hood and Witch Hunter settings).
• Once again, I put up relevant zombie & survivor blog posts during Zomtober.  These seem to have been received well, which is always very gratifying!
• In terms of model-making, I completed the usual mixture of pieces for all sorts of different games.  However, if any themes stand out at all then I would say that this was the year of Dreadball and Jason and the Argonauts.  I completed a number of teams or groups for both of these settings.

Looking Forward

I don't really know what 2015 will bring me, but here are some ideas that I hope to implement.  In 12 months or so I expect to review this list and discover that I've gone off in a completely different direction, of course!

• For ATZ, I'd like to make progress on my large model hospital.  That's a big enough model that I'll need to use my conservatory and/or garage to build it, so I'll wait until the weather is a bit better first!  I might manage something in the springtime - by Easter, perhaps?
  Even without the hospital, I intend to play rather more ATZ in 2015 than I have in the last 9 months!
• Full Thrust is always near the top of my list of games to play.  I'm not expecting to make any major new models for this, but I should be able to play some games.
• I'm still very taken with Song of Blades and Heroes.  I'd be very surprised if I cannot manage a few games of this in 2015.
• Black Powder (in 6mm) is another of my "go to" games; I'd like to play more of this during the next 12 months.
• I've now got plenty of figures and some terrain for 7th Voyage, using my Jason and the Argonauts setting.  All that remains is to get some 7th Voyage event cards (which I've ordered recently from Crooked Dice) and then play some games.  I'm looking forward to this!
• 5150 Fighter Command has been on the back burner for a long time now.  I need a space mat marked with large hexagons before I can play the game.  Quite a while ago, I purchased a template for marking hexes from Litko, so all that remains is to find a suitable piece of material and mark it out; then I can play the game.  Sounds simple, right?
• My 4th force for SAGA (the Strathclyde Welsh) and my village of stone huts are both languishing, unfinished.  I need to make some progress on these models.
• Similarly, I've got 2 armies for Hordes of the Things at least partly completed.  These are my Barbarians and my Wicked Witch of the West forces; I'd like to make progress on both of these collections.
• Dreadball continues to attract much of my attention: I'm currently working on my 4th and 5th teams, along with star players for several of the others.  The trouble with this game is that neither of my sons are interested in playing it, so it might just end up gathering dust after all!
• Ever since I got my copies of Hasslefree's versions of Mystery Inc (i.e. Scooby Doo and friends), I've wanted to play a game based on that show.  Fortunately for me, Ganesha Games publish a set of rules designed for this genre: Fear and Faith and (particularly) the Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters supplement.
  The only thing that's holding me back is the scenarios, since the Scooby Doo show wasn't really about fighting but rather about finding enough clues to unmask the villain before everyone had run away screaming!  It should be possible to do something here, but it'll take a little work to come up with suitable victory conditions and special rules.
  I'd also like to complete my graveyard model, since this would be a good setting for such a game.

Conclusion

I think that this is the first time I've made my plans public in such detail, so I really don't know what to expect (both in terms of reactions from readers and my own reactions on re-reading this in 6 or 12 months time).
It may also be the first post I've ever published that has no pictures in it!  Don't worry - normal service will be resumed next week.