Looking Back on 2012 and Ahead to 2013

Yes it's once again time for my year end wrap up and look forward for this year.  I try to time putting this stuff out when most readers are really not interested in reading any further recaps - that way none of you will remember my goals for this year!

Overall for both a gaming and personal level, 2012 was a very good year and I find myself to be  grateful for what I have.

From a gaming aspect 2012 was very productive. My final painting tally exceeded what I hoped to get done and I completed my War of 1812 project.  Here's my painting tally for 2012:

28mm:
- Infantry                   346
- Calvary                     21
- Elephants                    2 (they do deserve their own line!)
- Artillery                      4
- Vehicles                     5

15mm (all Flames of War)
- Infantry                     75
- Artillery                      3
- Vehicles                     10

Other accomplishments in 2012 include
- build 6 feet of turf fort for my Hail Caesar Game
- Building 50 square feet of section terrain boards and the large hill that were used for my Fall In Game
- The 1/1200 scale port

All-in-all a productive year

But how did I do vs my goals that I set out for the year?  Unlike last year, most of the goals were achieved:

(1) Attend the 2012 HCON and Host a game             ACHIEVED   
I put on two successful Hail Caesar games (pictured above) and had a great time at HCON.  I've already got hotel reservations for this year's HCON.  I also attended Fall IN and put on a War of 1812 game that was OK - it could have used a bit more play testing.  I think going forward I'm only going to shoot for putting on one convention game per year.

(2) Finish the War of 1812 Project                                ACHIEVED
Well it's achieved as much as only army can be said to be complete - there always stuff that can be added but I do have two largish British and US armies (roughly 400 figures each) and the Brits will double for the Peninsular so that's a big plus.  I'll be adding some bits and pieces - more indians and Canadian Militia but it's good to at least have to project in the "complex" column.  I should point out I did cheat a bit in the British were all painted by others (that's why they look so good!)

(3) Host 4 games at my house                                        ACHIEVED
I hosted 4 games of Trafalgar and many, many X-Wing sessions with my son's robotics team while they were on break from metal working.  I'd like to host some more game next year with a focus on Fanticide which is a great new game from Alien Dungeon / Architects of War

(4) Redesign Game Room                                              PARTIALLY ACHIEVED
The game / project table was rebuilt with a lot more under table storage and I installed a workbench just for painting.  What didn't get done was a wall mounted TV and a larger white board plus some game room appropriate artwork

(5) Remain Gaming Era Neutral                                     EPIC FAIL
My original goal was to stay neutral on game systems / era - any new addition must be offset by selling / giving away an old.  Lets see how we did

Additions: X-Wing, Faniticide, Regimental Fire and Fury, Bolt Action
Subtractions: zip (I think this is where the problem may be)

(6) Get back into Model RailRoading                            POSTPONED
I am planning to add a G-Scale garden rail road but have decided to put that off for at least 5 years,  My son is a High School Senior now so grand kids are 10 or so years away and I'm told that's the real purpose of a Garden railroad!

Overall I did pretty good on the 2012 goals.  So what's up for 2013?  Here we go:

(1) Attend and Host a big game at Historicon - it maybe Hail Caesar again or perhaps an ACW

(2) Finish the 28mm ACW Project (two playable armies)

(3) Compete in 2 types of tournaments during 2013

(4) Finish my game room remodel

(5) Place in the top ten of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Competition

In closing I do owe a debt of gratitude to Curt over at Analogue hobbies for running his annual painting competition.  I doubt I would have had half the productivity I had in 2012 with the impetuous and fun of participating in his event.  Here's to even more productivity in 2013!