A look back on 2016

Well 2016 has come and gone.  For me (outside of politics, ugh) it was a very good year.  Most importantly, the family was both healthy and happy and my son entered his senior year of college.  My wife, Mary Beth, (AKA "The Boss") continues to teach people how to do awful things with sharp instruments and I am still gainfully employed as a partner in a Venture Capital firm.

All in all, I am far luckier than I deserve and am very grateful for what we have.

Gaming wise it was a very eventful year and my enjoyment of the hobby continues to grow.  Some of the highlights include:

(1) Hosting a Mini Gaming con in April: Rather than go to Cold Wars and whine about the decrepit Host Resort, I decide to host a mini gaming con for three days in St Michaels.  I had 13 or so like minded souls stay over the course of the event and it was a blast to put on.  Many thanks to the WWPD crew and friends for attending.  In fact it was so much fun we had a similar event in November.

As you can see from the glamour shot the November event was very fun - it's always a good sign when someone uses a measuring cup to drink the gin and tonics.

The number of attendees kind of strained the my house a bit but there was no lasting damage and and lot of great gaming - I'm looking forward to the next edition in late April / Early May of 2017

(2) My Historicon Game "Grapeshot on the Chesapeake, with a hint of Garlic" went really well.  I think all the players had a great time and I won an award and got written up again by the kind people at Wargames Ilustrated.  I did learn I have limits to running con games.  I ran the this game 9x during the con and really didn't leave myself anytime to play in other peoples games.  I enjoyed putting on each game but was dragging a bit on the last game Saturday night.  I think this year I'll just run 4 versions and save some time to perhaps play in a tournament.

 (3) Built a Gaming Table as a house warming present for Steve.  In April I built a gaming table for Steve Mac as a house warming present.  I think it came out very well and hopefully he's still enjoying it.  It was a lot of fun to build and a nice test of my limited woodworking skills.

(4) Placed 1st in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (version VI).  You can see the painting output in the picture.  I always set a goal to finish in the top ten but this year ended up being first.  To be honest it was a bit of a slog for the last few weeks.  Still this event is the funniest hobby event I do each year and I'm grateful for Curt organizing the madness.

My painting tally for 2016 was pretty good and the vast majority was done during the Painting Challenge



                                         2016          2015
28mm
Infantry                            488            222
Cavalry                                2                2
Artillery                             12                8
Vehicles                               9               17
Ships                                    3                0

15mm
Infantry                            101             132
Cavalry                                0                 0
Artillery                             16                 0
Vehicles                             23                11

1/1200 Ships                        2                 2

1/600 Ironclads                    0                 10


So now you know what I felt good about in 2016 - how did I compare to my goals - well so-so:

(1) Conventions: Attend 4 2 HMGS, 2 non HMGS: PASS
- I'll give myself a passing grade but just barely - I get bonus points for hosting two mini-cons!

(2) Gaming / Tournaments: Play in 6 tournaments / host three gaming nights: PASS
- I played in only 1 tournament in 2016, but hosted 7 nights of gaming so I'll give myself a pass

(3) Finish my Napoleonic Peninsular Collection: FAIL
- I added two Portuguese battalions but nothing else

(4) Write a Draft set of Rules: FAIL
- I've got some notes jotted down but nothing shared with anyone else - writing wargame rules is hard!  I should bear that in mind when making comments about other peoples rulesets.

(5) Add 36 square feet of sectional terrain: PASS
- I added roughly 40 and have a good set of panels to choose from.

(6) Sell some stuff to make room for more stuff: EPIC, EPIC FAIL
- lets not talk about this one.....

(7) Finish in the top ten of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VI: Major Pass
- Managed to eek out a first place!

Overall not to bad.

I'm still thinking about goals for 2017