Happy New Year

It's been a while since I posted; I have been busy with various things, not least a business trip to the US (it's COLD in Wisconsin in December).

Anyway, it is traditional to review what you have been doing during the year.

In terms of games played, I have played almost exclusively TFL games: Le Feu Sacre and They Couldn't Hit an Elephant were both given a run out, but mostly I have been playing (or umpiring) Dux Britanniarum and most recently Chain of Command - using VBCW rather than WW2. Dux has been a great success (at least imo) and a lot of fun. Still early days for CoC as we've only managed one multiplayer game so far and that was a simple patrol with no supports. I hope to have a chance to organise another game or two soon. I also managed one highly memorable game of Sharp Practice and have flirted with Black Powder. In all I think I played just over a dozen games, which is not at all bad for me.

I have become increasingly fond of  Command & Colors: Napoleonics (a big improvement on the Ancients game). I also very recently have enjoyed the D&D board game, Lords of Waterdeep, a nice worker placement game which has the very rare feature, in my experience, of actually playing in the time it says on the box! (2 hours.)

On the painting front, I finished off an ACW project in the early part of the year and made inroads into my considerable backlog of Napoleonics (the backlog has since been replenished of course). I have also painted most of the forces I need for CoC - VBCW now (including my first tank!). I am now pretty much ready to roll with that though there are still a few supports not finished.

Probably the biggest step forward for me has been the acquisition of two 6' x 2' trestle tables thus giving me access to a 6' x 4' table which can be easily set up in my back room, well out of everyone else's way. Previously I was trying to 'bathtub' things onto our dining room table, sometimes with extensions added, with somewhat 'mixed' results, whereas now I am able to set up games like this:

Not exactly state of the art, but a big step forward 

Plans for next year? Well, the table above is not exactly awash with trees as you can see. Actually I have quite a respectable number of trees but most of them are pretty small; some larger trees are definitely needed. Apart from completing VBCW I do have a couple of other projects planned. Suddenly I am very interested in the Western Desert; as Richard Clarke recently said on Lard Island News: "One of the great joys of fighting in the desert is that you don't need a lot of terrain". I also have a hankering to do something with the Wars of the Roses (not to mention quite a few unpainted figures for that). Finally, I am looking forward to the release of the Chain of Command campaign supplement which I am hoping to make use of.

Happy New Year to anyone who is looking.

Tim D
(Just slightly hung over from last night's dinner party)