That was the year that was....

A Happy New Year to one and all

It has been a strange year to be sure. I started off with the best of intentions with what was a relatively sensible project list that probably did not survive past January the 2nd! On reflection I seem to have a pretty elastic interpretation of the word 'list' - but everything on it usually gets some attention at the very least - maybe not quite as much as I would have liked though!

The biggest highlight for me this year was the impact of the 20mm WW1 Middle Eastern collection - I say impact because the acquisition and rather rapid disposal of the same has enabled me to tackle a number of other items - projects that may not have seen the light of day otherwise. the main beneficiary was my new Hexon set up as well as finishing off the capita ships for my Jutland 2016 project. there are a few other ideas in the mix as a result of the sale - the 10/12mm ACW set up being one.

Mention of Jutland has of course reminded me of yet another missed deadline - I had hoped to have the capital ships completed for the end of the year but at the time of writing I am still 25 ships short. I was able to complete the paining of 6 ships today though - they are merely waiting varnishing and the basing.

One of the 'distractions' has been the realisation that next year - 2015 - sees the bicentenary of that rather significant punch up in Belgium in June 1815. I am of course referring to Waterloo. My feelings about this campaign and the place that it occupies in my personal wargames story needs little by way of a reminder so I shall refrain from repeating myself. Suffice it to say I shall be doing something by way of a commemoration - using a combination of of Columbia Games divisional level boardgame - Napoleon for the strategic level movement and my block armies for the tactical side. The game uses combat values varying between 2 and 4 for the divisional sized units so translating these into standard Memoir of Battle/Command and Colours units should be easy enough. In truth I have a lot of material ready for this idea from a few years ago so bringing it up to my current thinking should not be too onerous.

Next year then will see two things happening for sure - something 1815 related and further work on the Jutland project. Those two are the main protagonists for the ear but that does not mean I wont be dabbling elsewhere - I just need to keep things manageable.

Contenders for the 'something else' category include Saga - the Crusades version, Salamis, the ACW and something Sanussi related. I also rather fancy something sci-fi based but am not sure what.

It only remains then for me to wish you all a peaceful and prosperous new year and I hope that I shall be back in the blogging groove rather more frequently than of late!

All the best.