Looking Back, Looking Ahead - 2016/2017 Edition

As I sit down to do my annual review of the state of my gaming hobby, I can only wonder where 2016 has gone so quickly.  Seems like it was just the summer and now 2017 is tomorrow.  That's life I guess...time flies when you are having fun so they say.

On the plus side for 2016 I actually had more painting time this year than last, though my production wasn't as good.  I chalk that up to all of the 15mm WW2 Soviet tanks and Team Yankee West German vehicles that needed cleaning and assembly.  The West Germans had a lot of plastics which I never really worked with so that took a bit of extra time for me to figure out how to best assemble them.  I am pleased that I finished the Soviet armor and Team Yankee Germans (still have to finish basing the infantry, but I'll get that done in the next few days...and update at that time..they will be done for Shifting Sands!).  It is always good to have something "complete".

I enter 2017 with a few things on my "to do" list:  a 28mm Mantic Ogre army which I have all assembled and primed, some 15mm terrain additions for my Team Yankee table, and to finish up a couple of 10mm ancients armies so I can begin using them.  The terrain additions will be done in a week or so.  The Ogres in a couple of months hopefully.  I will work on the 10mm ancients in between doing other things, plus I want to work on putting together a multi-player set of rules to use them.  There are a lot of good rules out there, and I know that no rules are perfect as we all have our own biases, but it always seems that a good multi-player set is the hardest thing to come by.  We'll see what happens with that effort...worst case, I stick with other rules, warts and all.

After those 3 things, I have plenty of other projects to chose from:  28mm WW2 Japanese SNLF, 28mm WW2 British, 15mm Flames of War Japanese, a 6 point SAGA Rus Princes force, 15mm Poles and Transylvanians for By Fire and Sword, more 10mm ancients, and some other 28mm Fantasy forces.  We'll just see what I'm in the mood to do.  I know I'll finish up a few of these projects in 2017, I'm just not sure which ones will call to me to be worked on at this point.

I thought I played more games in 2016 than I actually did; it turns out that I played a wider range of games in 2016 than I did in 2015, but the total number of games was less.  This is something I hope to improve upon in 2017.  As for what I'll play in 2017, Team Yankee is a definite, as will be Kings of War and the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Mummy's Mask...I already have games lined up for these in January.  After that we'll see.

I hope to get in more WW2 gaming and ancients gaming in 2017.  All of the buzz recently has been about Version 4 of Flames of War and what impact the major rules overall will have on game play.  I'm taking a wait and see attitude at this point because there is just a lot of speculation and rumor and assumption going on at this point; I will pass judgement once I have the new rules, read them, and a couple of games under my belt.  Just in case they don't catch on with the guys I game with, I am prepared to stick to V3 or look into other games.   I am especially concerned about what will happen to WWI, the Pacific and Arab-Israeli as I have 2 armies for 2 of those periods and have invested in a Japanese army...yet Battlefront  has only said what they have planned for Early War and Late War, but have remained silent about these 3 periods.  I'd like to get in some more Bolt Action games too; I have the 2nd edition rules, but haven't read or played them yet...I hope to in 2017.

As for new projects in 2017...I'm not sure at this point either.  The only thing on my radar at the moment will likely be a Warsaw Pact force for Team Yankee.  I'm not sure if I'll do Soviets or use the upcoming East German book as a basis for a Polish force.  With Plastic Soldier Company announcing plastic T55s (5 for just over $30), that becomes a viable option as 5 Battlefront resin T55s is over $70.  Other than that I will just likely acquire some bits and pieces for the Kings of War fantasy armies I'd like to do...but knowing me, there will likely be at least one project I jump into that I currently have no plans for.

So to sum it up, 2016 was a pretty good year...I wish I could have gotten in more game, but that, along with completing a couple of more projects, is something to tackle in 2017.

Happy New Year!