Beer, games and friends, an appraisal of 2012.

Wow what a year! Not only did I restart my blog to other peoples actual interest , GM a return to WHFRP online with the full cast of TEW characters but the whole Oldhammer thing has exploded, well a few hundred people out of all the interweb is sort of an explosion.

Anyway I certainly didn’t get done half so much as I wished and that includes commitments I made to group endeavors. My postings to the Enemy Within Campaign became briefer and less frequent, a sorry state for a GM. My postings to the DnD (LL actually) game I play in became sporadic, same with my attention to the Blood Forum. My intention to bring out a fanzine fizzled despite others hard work. For all this I’m truly sorry. I’m never one to overly share personal information but with such a stack of people let down, people I now regard as friends, I feel a brief explanation is in order. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fickle and often lack motivation but this year has been quite a year.

Work commitments have increased as have child care commitments for two ever growing and demanding young boys. This is great, a similar situation that many of us share and I wouldn’t change either thing for the world even the three weeks of exams, onwards and upwards as they say. However they do eat into time and energy.

On top of that I lost my last grandparent and last parent this year. Jack was a wonderful Gramp and a veteran of N.Africa, Italy, France and Belgium. He had a great innings, in his mid 90’s but was slowly loosing his faculties. It was no surprise and I can only be pleased he was one of my heroes for so long and that he had loved life. My Dad, my hobby and modelling inspiration, also was no surprise and it was a blessing for him, I’ll say no more than that I’m Stoic about this one. That said bereavement at least where I’m concerned saps the will to do anything other than watch funny TV and buy expensive toys to add to your collection as the sub-conscious adapts to the new reality. Though the desire to post to the internet remains the motivation is somewhat sapped. Add to that all the legal stuff that happens when a final parent dies, the clearing of houses as well, it’s all a big time sink. I mean a garage and loft full of model trains! What a geek.

Finally towards the end of the year I’ve had three months of pneumonia to deal with. Now past the very ill stage and on the can’t shake it, always tired and out of breath stage. It was also great news on New Years day to get the worst ever toothache of my life. No emergency dentist available and well long story short I’m still waiting though in much less pain for a root canal to be finished.

So please accept my sincerest apologies if your one of the many people I let down a little this last year. I promise to try to do better this year, perhaps by not committing to so much in the first place.

Really enjoyed painting this one.

 Don’t get me wrong I’ve had a great year in spite of other things. Purely on a hobby front what I did get painted I’ve been very pleased with. The paper buildings have been popular and I’ve really enjoyed seeing the different communities that have posted them up for all to use. There will defiantly be more of these in the future. 

The brother in his gaming room, losing as always...

 

I had some great games, mainly with my brother but also some great face top face games of Talisman plus beer with old friends.Oh and a few funny games with my four year old son. Brilliant.

The collection has grown monstrously once more with Fimir, Norse, Amazons  and yet more goblilnoids playing a significant role much but not all of my 80’s stuff is reaching sort of content stage (nah I didn’t believe me either). My collection of old box sets still in the boxes has expanded and I'll do some closeups of the boxes soon for you all to enjoy. I’ve also branched out into the 90’s a bit more, collecting most of the specialist games released in this decade as well as starting collections of 4^th ed Orcs and Goblins, Chaos, Brettonian and High Elves. For 2^nd Ed 40K more cartoon Orks, Tyranids, Genestealer cult, Chaos and Sisters of Battle have joined the lead pile with several Necromunda and Gorkamorka gangs. Good prices can be had for much of this period and when looked on with fresh eyes a lot of it rocks. I predict the decade will become hot for collectors in the next few years, you heard it hear first.

2nd ed. so much fun, so child friendly!

My collecting and painting plans for the coming year is to try to get a unit painted at least every two months, six units painted would be awesome and possible. I’ll stick to what inspires me at a given time rather than aiming towards a project or specific army. I also need to put the breaks on collecting a little; I have a heightened nostalgia at the moment so find it hard to say no. This must change.

But there are great friends.

Finally most importantly I’ve made some great new internet friends in a growing community of enthusiasts. What more could one ask for? Well actually high on my list of gaming things to do this year is meet a bunch of you for beer and even a game. After all once family is safe what more is there to life than beer, games and friends?