We also dabbled in 'What A Tanker' and I built another DBA army I'd wanted to own - Early Swiss.
As with previous years I have showcased the post from each month which got the highest number of views.
January
Cancon 2018 - I have been pushing the limits of my crossdressing on and off ever since I first came out some eleven years ago, and this year has seen me make some huge strides in terms of my confidence in being who I want to be in a range of public situations. I have presented as female at work for the first time, taken burlesque classes (and performed in front of a paying audience) and Cancon 2018 was the first wargames event I have attended en femme. The event itself saw our regular blogger meetup and meal, and I've spent the year regretting not picking up a huge pile of 54mm ACW figures from the bring and buy.
February
Dwarves vs Uruk Hai - I rediscovered Battlesworn earlier in February, something I seem to do every year. This month's most popular post was the report of a pretty straightforward game.
March
April
What A Tanker - A member of our club picked up 'What A Tanker' and we found it a most enjoyable experience; simple to play, but giving an entertaining game. This report was our first attempt at it, using 28mm vehicles. I have some tanks printed off at a much smaller scale, and mean to give it a try on a smaller table sometime in the New Year.
May
Deep Space D-6 - In May I acquired a short-lived interest in print-and-play solitaire boardgames. 'Deep Space D6' was one of these; in it you play the commander of a spaceship desperately holding off an endless wave of hostile vessels and other threats before your friends and allies come to your rescue. It's a neat 'worker placement' game, not unlike 'What A Tanker' in a number of respects.
June
Newark In A Bathtub - As I said at the start of this post I have spent a lot of this year playing around with a set of Portable Wargame rules for the English Civil War. I put them together in January, but they sat untested for a few months. But in June I tried out an historical action using them.
I have played numerous games since. I currently have the rules at a stage where I am mostly happy with them, and Bob has expressed an interest in publishing them as part of a collection of Other People's Portable Wargames. To that end I really need to stop fiddling with them.
July
Gaslands - 'Machinas' has been our car-combat game of choice for a few years now, but 'Gaslands' very much took over this year, inspiring a number of club members to put together their own garage of converted vehicles. This is a report of our first ever game; a simple run through the mechanisms with many mistakes. It didn't take us long to work out how to play the game, though.
August
Really Useful Engine - The adoption of 'Gaslands' saw me finish a vehicle-building project I'd originally started for 'Machinas' but which had never got past the very earliest of stages. The finished Terrible Thomas wasn't really what I'd initially planned, but is certainly one of the largest and most unique wargames pieces I've made for a long time.
September
Swiss in the Outback - An Early Swiss DBA army has appealed to me for a long time; I was very much seduced by the concept of an army made up almost entirely of clunky double-base blade elements, whose opponents seemed perfectly adapted for destroying it. I was gifted a pile of painted 15mm figures earlier in the year, did the necessary rebasing and repainting, and the army fought several battles against historical foes, with a surprising level of success. This report saw them out on the road, being used in games of both DBA and HOTT which my wife and I played when we went on a camping trip to Broken Hill in the far-west of NSW.
October
Middle Earth - GW's Middle Earth game has been around for a while, but we'd only every really used the figures for HOTT or Battlesworn. However we were given a lesson in the game one evening in October
November
Orks vs Imperial Guard - A Portable Wargame - As well as the English Civil War, I'd spent some of the year pondering a variant of the WWII Portable Wargame which would allow me to fight Epic 40K style battles. This is still an ongoing project, but thanks to Bob Cordery promoting the post on his blog, one of my reports became November's most viewed post. It features Miller, the rescue kitten we got to fill the gap in our lives created by our daughter leaving home; 2018 was the year we officially became empty-nesters.
December
Squad Hammer - I finished the year by stumbling across another Nordic Weasel game. Squad Hammer is a bare-bones set of rules which act as a toolkit for skirmishes between a few squads plus the odd vehicle in most eras where the emphasis is on shooting. I explored them with my Epic 40K figures. Since trying this first game I have played a bit of Trench Hammer, which is a set derived from the base rules specifically for WW1.
What does 2019 have in store for me in terms of gaming? To be honest I have no idea. I don't have too much in the way of long-term plans on that front. I have been following two ECW campaigns through other blogs, and rather like the idea of trying one out myself (using mechanisms thieved from both of them). Otherwise I have generally found that whatever I plan falls by the wayside when I get enticed by something new and shiny, or when I remember a long neglected game or project. All I can say is that 2019 will feature games.
As with previous years I have showcased the post from each month which got the highest number of views.
January
Cancon 2018 - I have been pushing the limits of my crossdressing on and off ever since I first came out some eleven years ago, and this year has seen me make some huge strides in terms of my confidence in being who I want to be in a range of public situations. I have presented as female at work for the first time, taken burlesque classes (and performed in front of a paying audience) and Cancon 2018 was the first wargames event I have attended en femme. The event itself saw our regular blogger meetup and meal, and I've spent the year regretting not picking up a huge pile of 54mm ACW figures from the bring and buy.
February
Dwarves vs Uruk Hai - I rediscovered Battlesworn earlier in February, something I seem to do every year. This month's most popular post was the report of a pretty straightforward game.
March
Punch A Nazi - It would be remiss of me to neglect HOTT, since this blog really owes its existence to that game, and the most popular post of March was the report of a game featuring two of my Weird WWII armies.
April
What A Tanker - A member of our club picked up 'What A Tanker' and we found it a most enjoyable experience; simple to play, but giving an entertaining game. This report was our first attempt at it, using 28mm vehicles. I have some tanks printed off at a much smaller scale, and mean to give it a try on a smaller table sometime in the New Year.
May
Deep Space D-6 - In May I acquired a short-lived interest in print-and-play solitaire boardgames. 'Deep Space D6' was one of these; in it you play the commander of a spaceship desperately holding off an endless wave of hostile vessels and other threats before your friends and allies come to your rescue. It's a neat 'worker placement' game, not unlike 'What A Tanker' in a number of respects.
June
Newark In A Bathtub - As I said at the start of this post I have spent a lot of this year playing around with a set of Portable Wargame rules for the English Civil War. I put them together in January, but they sat untested for a few months. But in June I tried out an historical action using them.
I have played numerous games since. I currently have the rules at a stage where I am mostly happy with them, and Bob has expressed an interest in publishing them as part of a collection of Other People's Portable Wargames. To that end I really need to stop fiddling with them.
Gaslands - 'Machinas' has been our car-combat game of choice for a few years now, but 'Gaslands' very much took over this year, inspiring a number of club members to put together their own garage of converted vehicles. This is a report of our first ever game; a simple run through the mechanisms with many mistakes. It didn't take us long to work out how to play the game, though.
August
Really Useful Engine - The adoption of 'Gaslands' saw me finish a vehicle-building project I'd originally started for 'Machinas' but which had never got past the very earliest of stages. The finished Terrible Thomas wasn't really what I'd initially planned, but is certainly one of the largest and most unique wargames pieces I've made for a long time.
September
Swiss in the Outback - An Early Swiss DBA army has appealed to me for a long time; I was very much seduced by the concept of an army made up almost entirely of clunky double-base blade elements, whose opponents seemed perfectly adapted for destroying it. I was gifted a pile of painted 15mm figures earlier in the year, did the necessary rebasing and repainting, and the army fought several battles against historical foes, with a surprising level of success. This report saw them out on the road, being used in games of both DBA and HOTT which my wife and I played when we went on a camping trip to Broken Hill in the far-west of NSW.
October
Middle Earth - GW's Middle Earth game has been around for a while, but we'd only every really used the figures for HOTT or Battlesworn. However we were given a lesson in the game one evening in October
November
Orks vs Imperial Guard - A Portable Wargame - As well as the English Civil War, I'd spent some of the year pondering a variant of the WWII Portable Wargame which would allow me to fight Epic 40K style battles. This is still an ongoing project, but thanks to Bob Cordery promoting the post on his blog, one of my reports became November's most viewed post. It features Miller, the rescue kitten we got to fill the gap in our lives created by our daughter leaving home; 2018 was the year we officially became empty-nesters.
December
Squad Hammer - I finished the year by stumbling across another Nordic Weasel game. Squad Hammer is a bare-bones set of rules which act as a toolkit for skirmishes between a few squads plus the odd vehicle in most eras where the emphasis is on shooting. I explored them with my Epic 40K figures. Since trying this first game I have played a bit of Trench Hammer, which is a set derived from the base rules specifically for WW1.
What does 2019 have in store for me in terms of gaming? To be honest I have no idea. I don't have too much in the way of long-term plans on that front. I have been following two ECW campaigns through other blogs, and rather like the idea of trying one out myself (using mechanisms thieved from both of them). Otherwise I have generally found that whatever I plan falls by the wayside when I get enticed by something new and shiny, or when I remember a long neglected game or project. All I can say is that 2019 will feature games.
An excellent year. All the best for 2019.
ReplyDeleteA really good year. I definitely fancy getting a game or two in of the Portable ECW wargame.
ReplyDeleteIn the normal course of affairs I would dump it on Google Drive for people to download, but if Bob wants to use it that seems unfair. So I'm holding off until then.
Delete"whatever I plan falls by the wayside when I get enticed by something new and shiny"
ReplyDeleteYou too? ;)
Love the cat by the way. Need more pics of him.
I'll see what I can do - I might consider a Cats of the Kobold Household post if you're really lucky :)
DeleteCongrats on a pretty solid year of gaming, good luck on the next one and I hope your transition continues to go well (if that's the end goal).
ReplyDeleteNot an end goal at all. I am very much where I want to be; I identify as a crossdresser, or gender-fluid if I'm being fancy, and I'm now mostly at a point where I am content with how and when I get to express who I am. This may change (if I change jobs for example, I'm going to have to tread very carefully with any new employer), but at the moment I'm content.
Delete2018 was a very active year for you! Great fun to follow your activities as well.
ReplyDeleteYou've had a cracking year Alan and I have especially enjoyed your portable wargame posts. Keep them coming please! Thanks also for sharing Atteint with the community. I have only managed that one night with it but will certainly play more in 2019.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to see you en femme at CANCON 2018 and dinner was an extremely enjoyable and interesting experience. Thanks for being so open and sharing your journey with us. I learned a LOT that night. I have tremendous respect for your strength of character and how you have approached things.
PS. I won't be at CANCON 2019 unfortunately as I have a lot on. Have a great time and I look forward to your report.
Thanks. I'm a bit full on with my 'evangelical crossdressing', I know, but as I probably said I'm in a fortunate position that I can freely and openly express who I am, and it's my duty to get out there and share that because so many other people can't.
DeleteI can see myself playing around with more Portable Wargames this year, and plenty of similar stuff. As I said, the ACW and Epic 40K versions are on the go, and there's the Portable Napoleonic Wargames book coming out soon as well.
Sorry to hear you won't be at Cancon. I'm not sure what I'm doing with it myself yet - I may just pop down for the day (probably in my default male-mode, but we'll see :) ) just to play some boardgames and soak up the atmosphere.
Sounds like a great year. All the best for 2019, keep up the great work with the blog and keep enjoying our great hobby!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Happy New Year my friend, may it bring you much joy and happiness!
ReplyDelete