2010 Year in Review

A year in review... in October??? To the average reader that might seem as absurd as stocking Christmas items for St. Patty's Day, but for me I've always treated my gaming years as October-through-September. It made my desire for recordkeeping straight somehow.

So it's the completion of Year 22 of my gaming lifetime. Twenty-two years of chucking dice, eating Doritos, and drinking Mountain Dew. The birth of my daughter Maja and her subsequent mobility, has reduced my gaming time even more.

Call of Cthulhu: Ran a Texas Fried Rock-themed one shot, finished No Man's Land with survivors, Dr. Millheim failed at solo investigation, and Coal Crackers went to New York, possibly to stay. Without Adam, the group dynamic feels too small. Perhaps with the addition of Mr Dalcin, we could get things interesting again.

Gnome Wars: As a gaming group, we technically did not finish the Wishing Well campaign, although all scenarios were completed. The Swiss did their best to stall the German invasion, Field Marshal von O’Hara escaped with his life, the Scots look to be a potential German ally, and the Irish are just pissed off at everybody. I got zero painting done this year, and with a crate- load of new stuff I'm definitely behind. Outside of the campaign, I did get an impromptu game off during Mepacon Spring, and I did demonstrate superior generalship at Cold Wars, even if only the center of the Swiss line listened to my commands.

The annual Risus-IOU game at the Day of Sloth was a hoot. It reaffirmed my faith in role-players and started an interest in reading the other books of the Oz series for a campaign (as in Wizard of, not the HBO prison series.)

Steve’s Bar was a test area for true beer-and-pretzels Burning Plastic, as well as figuring out the mechanics for Mouse Guard. The beer was pretty good too…

Fall Mepacon wasn’t much of a gaming success, but I did finally get to play Robo Rally. If I can find it on sale, I’m certain to pick it up.

I also discovered that a wife AND child will make Drunken Diplomacy a difficult game to finish. As much as Drunken Supremacy seems appealing, we may rely on more mundane games to play (like Zombies!)

Con-wise, Cold Wars and Historicon were blasts. A short weekend with the boys drinking and moving lead for Cold Wars consisted of two Gnome Wars games, as well as a Fort Zinderneuf French Foreign Legion game using a revised version of Heroscape rules (Sandscape!). Most of my Arab cav in that game were gunned downed in a charge that would make the Light Brigade look like cowards, but my skirmishers held off the relief column to allow the fort to be taken.

Historicon for me could be summed up in two words: Uncle Duke. I finally got to play in not one, but two of his games: his Northwest Frontier and Zulu game. My generalship Her Majesty’s forces were enthusiastic but sub-par. As a native leader, however, I rock the house, or the kraal in the Roark’s Drift scenario.

The Mepacons were enjoyable, even with the extra drive up to Clarks Summit now. I think I ran Gnome Wars at the Fall ’09 con, but Brian Nichols and I decided to go up for Saturday at Spring '10, pay to get in and snag some cool swag at the auction.

My purchase list was much larger than anticipated. Roleplaying stuff was minimal, but dirt cheap, mostly picked up at auction. I managed to accumulate three more gnome units (Sikh, German, and Swiss), most of the Gnome War support pieces, and a Gnomenizer tank. Two Teddy Bear units were acquired for the girls, plus a gnome bicycle tank from Eureka. I snagged a copy of Supremacy through the auction setting and can't wait to play.

My favorite purchases for the year : The Tanga and Zulu Campaign books by Skirmish Elite. It will keep us busy for some time.

My favorite mini purchase: USMC Recon Team from Eureka. I don't even do Modern (yet!), but these figs are just awesome.