2015 in Review and Plans for 2016

2015 was a good year for my hobby. My goals and predictions for the year were not far off of reality. I accomplished a lot but did not play as much as I had hoped. I think things are well positioned for a good 2016 though, even better than the year past.

I'm terribly, terribly excited about this.

First off, a retrospective on what I planned for the year.




Also, for those interested in how my gaming has changed over the last few years:

2014
2013

My plans for 2015 were fairly modest, to be honest. I've learned that a year is not really a lot of time at my age and that I should keep things reasonable.

My first prediction was that I would be playing Lion Rampant and Gruntz a lot this year. I played Lion Rampant five times, but all in January. After that the boys lost interest. Rhys wanted to play "Real Lord of the Rings" and Owyn has a hard time coming to terms with the mortality of his models.

A game in 2014. This didn't happen even once in 2015.

I didn't play a single game of Gruntz. I added a few tanks for one army near the end of the year and bought infantry for two armies, one existing and one new, during December sales. More on both of those as the new year progresses. As with 2014, the problem was not with having opponents but with getting out of the house to play with them. Work was exhausting, mostly in a good way, all year and did not leave me with a lot of energy for spending time with people.

My next goal was to buy into Star Wars Armada and play some games. I did both of those and I'm happy with how it worked out. I played six games of Armada, just enough to start getting the hang of it. I've bought at least one of all of the ships, so I have all of the options and can see what I want more of.

Image from Fantasy Flight Games.

The second part of the Star Wars goal was to keep playing X-Wing. I got in 16 games of X-Wing, some with the boys and some with other friends. My main opponent moved back to New Zealand in the spring, but we have a trip planned to see him in March, so perhaps we can have some re-matches. I've also been adding new ships to my collection. This is a game that has done a great job of keeping things balanced and fixing broken ships. The boys and I are still loving it.

The next prediction is on track as well:
 I also have dreams of a linked campaign using Armada, X-Wing and Gruntz.  I doubt that will happen this year but I hope to be able to get the details worked out and the pieces in place.

This will be played out with Chain of Command instead of Gruntz, my prospective opponent has a 40k army he wants to use and CoC seems like it might have the tactical subtelty that we are both seeking. I've gotten a lot of the pieces in place for us to play next year, so here's hoping it gets off the ground.

Prediction: I'll also be playing more LotR/Hobbit this year.  The group down at the shop is starting to pick up steam.  I may have to pick up the new rule book but I have most of the models I need. 

I did get in eight games of LotR this year. Some with Rhys, per his Lion Rampant wishes, and some down at the shop. I did not get to play in the annual tournament since I could not commit to one of the days. I have not played a lot with the group at the shop, though they seem to be pretty active.

Prediction: On the model front, with the exception of Armada, I don't plan to start any new armies.  I'm more interested in expanding the ones I already have.  There are a lot of LotR minis I need to fill out my existing armies.  I need more units for my Romans and Celts for Hail Caesar.  My fantasy armies have some holes that need to be plugged.

Rhys and I playing Lord of the Rings in November

This goal is on track. While I did start assembly and painting on new armies, they were all models I already had. I did buy models to fill holes in existing armies, though I'll need to get some more things for quite a few of them.

Prediction: I may also go back to Warhammer.  The magic system is what ruined the game for me.  Dave Taylor had a great idea, brilliant in its obvious simplicity, of using 6th edition magic with 8th edition rules.  I will add to that by using 6th/7th edition army books as well.  I'm really excited about this, even if I don't get any games in.  Warhammer is where I started in this hobby and I miss it.

This did not happen, and is not in the cards for several years, probably. I just don't have opponents for this idea at this time. I still miss the glory days (6th, 7th for me) of Warhammer and I still very much want to get in some Fantasy gaming in the Old World.

The last goal was to paint 300 miniatures. This is disappointing because I actually got to 240 models, for the first time ever.

In Conclusion: I played a total of 62 games in 2015. 27 of those were board games, with various versions of Zombicide being the front runner with 21 plays.

I painted 240 models, my all  time best. This was so low simply because I didn't paint a single model between the end of the Challenge in March and the beginning of the next one in December. I have a plan to motivate myself for the new year, so we'll see if it works.

Now, on to my goals for 2016. These will be modest.

1. Play more games. 62 is a fair number but I would like to have more, of all genres.

2. My purchasing will likely be mostly Armada, X-Wing and the great plastics put out by Gripping Beast, Fireforge and the Perry Brothers. I want to see what you can really do with all of these and have armies they can fit into.

3. I would like to teach Rhys to play Kings of War this year and continue to play Lord of the Rings and Gruntz with him.

4. Play a campaign using Armada, X-Wing and Chain of Command.

5. Buy a couple of new rule sets. I'd like to pick up Battlegroup. I don't like Flames of War and I've heard good things about the Battlegroup series. I'd also like to get Dragon Rampant, since Lion Rampant is such good fun. I'm sure there will be a couple of others that come out over the year.

6. Get more terrain painted and built. Terrain makes the table and I need a lot more of some things to bring it all together.

Edit: 7. Paint 1500 points worth of models. This equates to 300 28mm models.

Six Seven easy, but rewarding, goals for the next year.

Last and least, to track numbers from year to year. As of today I have 160, 243 page views, 377 posts since 2009 and 93 followers. I'd like to improve all of those numbers.