2013 Wrap Up

Well, it's time to wrap up another year here a my Big Picture blog. Like I do every year, I posted up my focus for 2013 back in January. I never look back at these posts except for the last day of the year, where I see how closely I stuck to those ideas. A lot of bloggers do these year-end wrap ups and I enjoy reading them. So here's my contribution to this theme.

2013: The Year With No Focus Whatsoever

Well, I suppose my goals for 2013 were pretty much a free-for-all. I promised myself I wouldn't get hung up on having unpainted models. I sure took that to heart. I now have tons of stuff that I've not painted and probably never will get painted. I can't exactly call that an achievement. This time around I better get more specific with goals for next year!

Things I Planned for 2013

Let's review what I thought I was going to do.

Bolt Action: I completed a 1,000 pt painting challenge and got my Russians completed. I played a few games with these guys and liked them well enough. I let this game sit for the middle part of the year then resurrected it for 15mm games.  I'd call this a major success, and I see myself playing it long into 2014.

Fantasy Skirmish / Sci-Fi Games: This was partially successful for the fantasy games at least. I discovered Savage Worlds makes a great tabletop game. It will probably work for Sci Fi as well. However my goals was to replace a 40K sized game, and I failed in that aspect. I didn't even look into it. I'll call this a draw.


Card Games & Board Games: This is where I spent most of my game time this year. I have developed a serious liking of board games with a miniatures theme. I've also invested heavily in the Living Card Games (LCG) formats from Fantasy Flight Games and played lots of these games this year.

For card games, I've ended up with quite a collection: Warhammer: Invasion, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, Netrunner, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings. Whew! I didn't play much LotR this year, and Cthulhu didn't see table time either, though it's a great game. Also deck builders were huge on my list, with both the LotR and DC deck building games getting lots of play time.

For board games, I played a lot with friends this year and bought copies for myself. My most played board games this year were Combat Commander Pacific & Europe, Relic, Sergeants Miniatures Game, Descent 2 (almost done playing the campaign), Super Dungeon Explore, Phantom Leader, and Battle of Westros. There are probably a dozen other board games I've played as well, but these are the main games.

Dreadball & Blood Bowl: Bust on Blood Bowl, and will not likely ever do anything with the team I painted for it. Dreadball has some hope, but I only played one game. So, I'm calling this a bust for 2013 plans.

Malifaux: This one squeaked in at the last minute. I've painted my force and playea few games. This game rocks, and I'm hoping to play more of it.

Relic Knights:  This is why I'm wary of Kickstarters. They've been very good about communicating and the game is coming out soon, so I'm not too worried. But they've had my money for over a year and I'd like to see the actual game soon.  Bust for 2013.

Other Things for 2013

Campaign Projects: By mid year I had latched onto the idea of developing my WW2 collection of both terrain and armies by focusing on campaigns. By using historical re-creation campaigns from Britton Publishers and Skirmish Elite I had a focus for the types of models to buy. So now I can fill a 4x6 table with nice looking 15mm terrain along with sizable forces for WW2.

I actually completed one of these campaigns as a solo endeavor and am in the middle of another. When it comes  to historical campaigns, I've actually preferred playing them as a solo effort. Originally I was trying to get my son into it, but gave up. In the end, I've enjoyed them as an alternative to PC / Console games. (My World of Warcraft subscription lapsed for the first time in many years!)

If only I could find something similar for fantasy or sci-fi themed games!

New Discoveries: Several new games for me in 2013 that I liked but just haven't got back to: Infinity, Dark Ages, Wings of Glory, and Blitzkrieg Commander. I enjoyed all four, but just don't know what I can invest toward these going forward.

A few total busts for the year:
Dropzone Commander: I'm going to sell this stuff. I don't like the rules.
Armored Clash: Still in the box, not sure I'm as keen on this as when I bought it. Probably will sell it.

What I Wrote Off in 2013

I actually sold a lot of armies and models this year:
Flames of War: Sold all of it but kept some of the vehicles for myself
Hordes: Ditched my Everblight
Battlefleet Gothic: When you don't play a game for nearly a decade, it's time to sell
LotR: Sold my elves and plan to sell three other armies to completely divest

So that's the whole of 2013 in a nutshell.Wishing everyone a happy and safe 2014!