Review of 2024

It's been a funny old year. Anyone who has followed this blog for a while will have noticed that the number of posts have been very much reduced this past year, and that reflects a much lower level of gaming. There's been a number of reasons for that; changes at work, lots of stuff going on at home, and some personal issues as well. Most of May was spent on a trip back to the UK, although to be fair that wasn't entirely game-free. All in all I've simply found it harder to focus on gaming projects and in consequence, this blog has suffered.

But let's be positive. What have I managed this year? We changed how the weekly games were organised at our club, and for me that has meant that in many ways it's been easier to organise games of the things I enjoy there. It also means that we've played a lot of Gaslands as that is a very popular club game. It's got to the stage where I think that when it's scheduled we will have to allow for two games being put on rather than one. I also put on games of other old favourites; Galleys & Galleons, naturally, but also Palaeo Diet and, obviously, HOTT. Spandau & Lewis saw a resurgence and, thanks to that, I spent some time reworking the rules and trying out some new scenario ideas as well. The rules themselves are in a very good place and I feel should be uploaded. I am looking at the best way of writing up some of the scenario options. I did finish painting all of my 1/600th WW1 aircraft too. I expanded my Palaeo Diet setup to include dinosaurs and some 17th century adventurers, as well as some of the more esoteric encounters from the Pulp supplement.

A couple of new (or newish) games featured this year. I was introduced to the bizarre but strangely compelling world of Turnip 28. And I had a go at For King & Parliament which turned out to be less complicated that I'd originally thought.

Whilst gaming projects did suffer, I did find myself playing a fair few boardgames, most of which activity doesn't get blogged here. My boardgames highlight was when my wife and I played out the entire 2024 Tour de France using Flamme Rouge. After 21 races our scores were within a point of each other's; a truly epic finish to a great series of games.

I don't know what nest year will bring in terms of projects. Something new has been proposed and a couple of us will be doing a little bit of painting an modelling for that. But if I can simply plod on with the games I enjoy in 2025 I think I will be doing well.

Thanks to everyone who has read things here over the past year, especially those who take the time to comment. As ever my review of the year takes the form of highlighting the most popular post (in terms of views) from each month.

January

A Necromancer In Wonderland - I haven't played as much HOTT this year as I have in previous years, but I did manage another knockout campaign early on. This post wasn't part of it, but did feature one of my quirky armies against one of the more conventional ones.

February

Another HOTT Knockout - Part Five - My games of HOTT covered a couple of months and this post saw the end of the knockout campaign I played. In reality one one nation won; I just assumed that the survivors would withdraw exhausted after a few battles in which no-one was able to take any new territory.

March

The Eagle Of The Aegean - As I posted above, I got Spandau & Lewis out again this year, and managed a fair bit of work on the rules and, especially, scenario options. I played games featuring big bombers and balloon-busting, but this game saw a fairly conventional mission to shoot down a spotter on an obscure WW1 front.

April

Lion Rampant - Once again I played in the annual Lion Rampant tournament in Sydney (using my fantary dwarves, it has to be said). This post covers one of our pre-competition rehearsal games. Veteran archers, or cossbowmen with pavises seem to be a popular choice at the moment.

May

HOTT in Coventry - In May I went back to the UK; my first time there in 16 years. A lot of time was spent catching up with family and friends, but I did fit in a few games. The Scimitar Club put on an evening of HOTT for me, and I finally got to meet (and lose a game of HOTT to) regular blog-reader Martin Smith!

June

Jousting - Whilst in the UK I went to a jousting display, at Blenheim Palace of all places. It inspired me to get out my own jousting game and do some more work on it.

July

Thursday HOTT - Once again HOTT was the top post for a month. This time I was playing at the club and teaching one of our newer members.

August

International Naval Wargames Day 2024 - For International Naval wargames Day this year I reran an action between the Chilean vessel Lautaro and the Spanish frigate Esmeralda. I used Galleys & Galleons of course.

September

Turnip 28 - Back in July I taught new club member June how to play HOTT. In September she returned the favour by introducing me to the weird but fun post-apocalyptic nonsense that is Turnip 28. I've even started building a force for it but, like all of my projects, it has stalled due to my usual painting/modelling inertia.

October

In The Air In 1918 - I had Spandau & Lewis out again in October and we played a great little game set in 1918. As I've stated before, I'm a big fan of the earlier war stuff, so this was something of a departure for me. Well-armed planes with good speed and maneuverability were a real treat to use.

November

Midgard Heroic Battles - Midgard is the new shiny thing when it comes to fantasy rules, so a couple of people at the club put on a game to see how they played. They proved to be interesting and I think there are plans to look at them some more.

December

Flight Of The Clontarf - And so the year ends with another game of Galleys & Galleons. I'd played a few games this year set in or around the English Civil war, and this small action, which saw a privateer evading a government blockade, was one of them.

Thank you to everyone who has followed and encouraged this blog. This year probably hasn't been its finest but I hope there have at least been some posts you have found informative or inspiring.