2012 - Adam's Year In Review

having finished my brit company para box I varnished it 
January 2012

So here we are December of 2012 and it’s time to look back over what has happened in my life on the miniatures front.
I think the place to start is something I posted on our old ‘exiles forum’ looking at my plans for 2012.
What's my plan for 2012?

'Well finish my two current projects, firstly my British paratroopers, which are getting there finally that the main company box is all painted!
 Secondly was to finish my eldar - principally the ghost warriors which I need to do! Might then get a second super heavy or avatar to finish it off! After that not sure, not gaming as much at the moment, do couple more tournaments would be nice. 

non FoW models!

With 6th ed coming up, it'll be great fun learning a new rule set which I'm certain will dominate my life, as to a new army - well with rumours being that at least one of my armies will be updated this year I'm certain they'll get some love then and there!
As for learning another new system, not too sure, I like the FOW rules but not the painting, and dystopian doesn't do it for me. May just do something off like fantasy...'

Our last 40K competition!

I’m going to start there with the non FoW suff!
40K has been something I’ve played since getting back into miniatures in about 2005. I did actually finally finish my elder this year, though unlike what I wrote, I did not do another super heavy of flyer – I did finish a pair of wraitlords, some wraithguard, scorpions and rangers, but the thing I most looked forward too, in some ways killed it off for me; 6th edition.

infinity - gorgeous models!

Whilst I had been looking forward to this, sadly the changes with allies and flyers really made me notice how old my elder were, and when you combined that with the last 40K tournament I played (including winning the fabled triple team – and I now think likely the last) the power creep was really noticeable and GK’s were deeply unpleasant. So on the bright side, I achieved my aim, but didn’t continue any further – at least until they re-do elder…

I also spoke about maybe learning another game system, which I sort of achieved, I have read the Infinity rulebook, and painted up a force for that, but still need to play it! Thankfully me and Winner Dave are planning this for 2013.

Frost!

So FOW then, back when I wrote the above piece I had only just finished painting the para company box, and I’d hated the experience! I had never painted at this scale before and the task of trying to do all of them in 1 batch had driven me mad, I’d also only seen 1.5 games played and not played at all myself.
Well that’s changed now. I’ve completed (at least until the new ‘Market garden’ book is released) my Para’s and now really enjoy painting at this scale. My force is now fairly big, able to completely fill the para and airlanding lists in ABtF.

 I’ve also managed to collect bits to do a couple of other allied lists too, my ill fated (by that they are hard to play) Manitoba Dragoons and their 12 staghound hoard; and also my shermans as well, along with all the supporting gubbinz.

I’ve also played a fair few games, whilst initially these were against people like Ben, Dave and others in our group. I’ve now met a whole new load of local FoW players and even gone to my
first tournament too. I may still get some rules confuse, but I think I know the rule set well, and have known a few more list now than I did then.

Para's at Breakthrough Assault tournament

The other thing which I never even considered but became such a big part of this year was terrain! I’ve always painted my terrain and have a decent amount of 40K terrain, but I had to completely start again almost this year to paint terrain suitable for FoW. But in the end it’s been well worth it, I have a nicely painted realm of battle board, hills, woods, hedges, rivers, buildings and roads; all of which add to the cinematic nature of the game.

all of this was unpainted or not mine this time last year

But as I look back on to why I did this, one thing sticks out in my mind and that was having to do AAR’s for ‘operation sealion’! This was what I think really got me into FoW it was almost a compulsion for me to check the latest reports and wonder whether the axis forces were being driven back into the sea. I feel those at WWPD who did this campaign should look back with a lot of pride at sealion – Thank you.



So there it is, my year in miniatures summed up in around 800 words, it’s been an enjoyable year, and I really look forward to what 2013 brings.

Thanks for reading

Adam

A Look Back Over 2012

Hello All

We are at the end of 2012, so it's that time of year to have a look back over the year before looking at 2013.

Hobby Stuff

I did love painting this army but it now lives in another
country thanks to Ebay.

I'm really looking forward to getting Market Garden and
getting a few games in with the 11th Armoured

I had a busy year and a year that changed my hobby life. It is the first year in many many years were I didn't play a single game of Warhammer 40k! In fact I have sold all my GW products bar a few Blood Bowl Teams. 2012 was the year GW games all but disappeared from my life and Flames of War become the top dog in my hobby life, and to that end I ended up painting a lot of armies! You had my DAK, Hungarians, Irish Guards, 11th Armoured and the start of my US forces. I can't remember a time I have painted so much and enjoyed it to boot. Hopefully 2013 will be as productive if not more so.



Gaming wise I achieve my goal of playing 52 games on 52 weeks was achieved just, I play game number 52 on Wednesday. For me the highlight of 2012 had to be WWPD's Operation Sealion campaign. It really got all us into FOW in a big way, with a reason to play lots of games and for me a chance to write up a little background story for my Hungarians, I would say if it hadn't be for Sealion I dare say we would probably not be as into FOW as we are now.

My only real regret of 2012 from a gaming point of view was not getting to any FOW events bar the tournament I ran in November, this is something I will be changing next year with Brighton and Corrivary already booked in.


Personal Stuff

This has been a busy year for me. 2012 was my first full year as a dad, as I write this my 13 month old baby (well toddler, she doesn't really look like a baby anymore) is asleep, which is the only reason I have any time to write this! But thanks to careful planning and a relaxed wife I have still found a fair amount of time to paint and game, but any time I have lost is worth it.

September was the maddest month of my life! Cat started a new job in Bournemouth, we moved house twice, had a stag weekend and I got married to my long term partner Cat (we had been together for 10 years so about time really!), oh and had a weekend away in Cornwall where I mostly slept!

I also set myself the goal of losing some weight, (I had stopped playing rugby and having a pregnant girlfriend with lots of food around and then having a baby does seem to make you gain a bit of weight), anyway I started at a nearly 17 stone, but by my wedding in September I was down in 12 stone 7 pounds. I have since balanced out t 13 stone flat which I'm happy with.

Looking forward to 2013

My hobby plans for 2013 are to continue with my US armies, I'm looking at being able to run 4 or 5 lists from the Bugles books by the end of next year. I want to revise my British Armoured armies with the new Market Garden books. I also have an eye on doing some Germans but we'll see were that leads me.

2012 was a great year for Flames of War gaming for me, but I hope 2013 will be even better. I have already bought tickets to two tournaments in January and February and I have an eye on 2 or 3 other tournaments later in the year. So keep an eye out for tournament after action reports through out the year.

As always thanks for reading

Ben