Deck The Haul

So this is Christmas, and what have we got? Another year older, and I got quite a lot (depending on your perspective).

Yes, it's one of those rather gauche posts in which social media 'influencers' show off what they've got for free in a celebration of consumerist consumption that would make Marx blush.

I should point out, however, that most of what follows has come from Mrs Cheaphammer, selected from a wider list (to ensure an element of surprise), so I've paid for half of it.

First up is the Carnevale intro box 'Escape From San Canciano'. Yes I already have the starter box, but this is probably the best (and probably cheapest) way to add to both my Rashaar and Guild forces as is contains four miniatures (roughly 50 Ducats) for each gang.

In addition, there is a 2x2 mat for quick games, a couple of small scenarios, a mini rulebook, three more cardboard buildings, extra dice and a bunch more bits and pieces, including some cardboard scenery for floating detritus, which allows me to add a bit more variation on to my existing terrain set up until I actually get round to making some.

I will admit that I've ended up with more Lord of the Rings miniatures than I was expecting, however, they will be pleasing additions. I'm not sure if any of these miniatures will show up in the Quest of the Ringbearer, and only a few will make an appearance in War in Rohan, meaning that I might need to start pestering Pete about cracking on with Gondor at War, as he has all the Minas Tirith stuff.

I haven't played that much Bolt Action recently, but I'm still pleased to finally get my hands on this book. Not only does it have several more Theatre Selectors and new units for my Fallschirmjaeger, it also has has a load of specific scenarios for them that I might be able to convince Wes to break out his Americans for.

This year, I was a late entrant to the 7TV Secret Santa that I've participated in for the last few years. Fortunately, Shaun, who organises it kindly took me into the fold and exchanged gifts with me. I sent him some Doctor Who miniatures (4 Daleks and 3 Ogrons) that keep slipping down my to do list and he's sent me a small SWAT team.

As these miniatures are on the smaller side, I'm probably going to add them to my Terminator: Genisys Resistance force as commanders. Admittedly, a shotgun and two SMGs are not going to stop the Machines by themselves, but more obvious command models will be helpful, and I might have to look if there are rules for the massive shield.

Finally, there's this. I suppose it might work as terrain in WW2 Germany or on a winter themed city board, were it not for the fact that the scale is somewhat off - even more so than the half-track, before certain people bring that up. This is the sort of thing that happens when Mrs Cheaphammer goes off-piste. The headlamps light up...so there's that.

So there we are. Christmas Day comes and goes with 18 in and 7 out. It looks like I'm going to end the year in the black (especially as Santa brought me no money or vouchers this year). I've still got at least one more post in me before the big fat review of the year at the weekend.

I hope you and yours had a lovely day.

Acquired: 132

Painted: 213

So, how was your year?

I'm doing a review of the year, and, yes, there's an elephant in the room.

However, this is a wargaming blog, therefore I'm going to do my best to ignore the big grey viral bastard.

January

Ironically, 2020 began in a post-apocalyptic vein. With me travelling to Board in Brum for a 7TV day where I won best opponent despite taking a filthy broken cast of zombies.

I also painted my Fallout: Wasteland Warfare miniatures.

February

I prematurely believed I'd finished off my Soviets. This of course will never be true.

March

Looking back, the beginning of 2020 seems so structured and organised. I played a couple of games of Dropzone against Pete, I also apparently finished off my Fallschirmjager.

I've since found another sprue of miniatures...which sort of sums up how 2020 developed.

April

I curiously found myself with extra time on my hands and so painted my entire backlog of Masters of the Universe miniatures.

I also watched both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, listened to Andy Serkis read the Hobbit for charity and paint a crapload of MESBG miniatures.

May

I continued to plough through my Lord of the Rings miniatures, completing both forces for the first scenario in the War in Rohan book...that I still haven't played.

June

Real life started to demand that I do stuff, and so my output dropped. However I worked through my Kitbash Kickstarter for Pulp City.

July

Things started to open up, and I actually managed to get some games in against Matt and his new Japanese army for Bolt Action. I found machine guns to very useful for ensuring social distancing.

August

With the release of the Indomitus box filling the internet, I was tempted towards 40k for the first time in a decade. Fortunately, my valiant Blood Angels came out of retirement to protect me from buying tons of things I didn't really want.

September

As well as continuing to repaint my Blood Angels, I actually managed to get a game against Pete where I failed miserably to defend the approaches to Stalingrad.

October

My painting turned back to Saturday morning cartoons, as I painted up the Thundercats and their Mutant enemies.

November

It turns out that my lockdown goto project is He-Man. I'd recieved more, so I painted more.

December

In a bid to get my painting numbers up I painted a battle group of Scourge for Dropzone Commander before returning to the Blood Angel's.

So with the year coming to a close, let's take a look at my painting tally.

Acquired: 206

Painted: 303

My hobby resolution last year was to make inroads into my lead mountain, and so I'm calling that a win, despite Leon's best efforts to derail me by 'kindly' sending me free stuff.

My broad goal was also to finish off projects, and I've definitely done that to an extent, with Fallout, the Soviets, the Fallschirmjager, Masters of the Universe and Lord of the Rings all reaching a point where I can add things at my leisure.

However, despite this success, this year I'm going to go back to more specific resolutions as I've missed them.

1. Paint more than I acquire

Yes, that's Lead Mountain in Colorado again.

This has gone well with me 

reducing my pile by 100 miniatures. I've also cancelled my subscription to Wargames Illustrated and so the influx of unwanted plastic should slow down. On top of that I've rationalised my future projects to prevent things getting out of hand and I've got more plans to further reduce my unwanted pile as storage space is really becoming an issue.

2. Play the games I've been planning

This one sort of depends on wider world issues, but I want to get my War in Rohan campaign started (and begin the Quest of the Ringbearer that I got for Christmas), Pete and I have Dropzone and Stalingrad campaigns to return to, and I want to take some of the casts I painted last year to 7TV events so that I have an excuse to buy more 7TV casts when Karl of Crooked Dice sends out his tempting tendrils.

3. Experiment more with solo gaming

This is probably one for the first half of the year. This is the something I did struggle to do this year, despite actually writing a set of solo rules for 7TV that are available for free download on the Crooked Dice website. I only managed to finish off my Breakout campaign for Super Mission Force. However, I do have lots of games (Walking Dead, Rangers of Shadow Deep, Descent, Fallout) that lend themselves to solo play that should keep me occupied until...well...

On a personal note, 2020 has been an odd year with some extremely low points that actually had very little to do with Covid 19. I've actually been extremely fortunate to not be in an industry too adversely affected, beyond trying to apply the government's crystal clear, totally consistent and realistic plans...

On the up side, I've reconnected with my old roleplaying buddies via technology and we've now got two campaigns on the go, and this hobby is one that has a strong online presence, which has provided my with plenty of opportunities to escape when I needed them.

I know this may sound like the sort of platitude that gets said every year, but this time I really mean it.

I genuinely hope you and your loved ones have a safe, prosperous and happier 2021.