2016

The interlude between Christmas and the New Year is traditionally a time for looking back over the previous year and assessing one's progress/success and lessons learnt.  In a wargaming context 2016 has been pretty good.  A high spot was my first visit to the Salute show in April, one thing I have been able to tick off the 'bucket list'.  There was also the Gentlemen Pensioners game hosted by Steve, which was great fun.

One of the spectacular games from Salute

One of my favourites, Medieval Russians

However, not all the shows were showing the same rude health as Salute.  Triples was, as I reported quiet on the Saturday and later in the year came the news that the 2017 show would not be taking place.  A sad turn events for a show which for a good number of years had been a firm fixture in my wargaming calendar.  Perhaps the organisers should have taken more notice of the way the York group have developed the Vapnartak show into the excellent event it now is.  One show which Steve and I attended for the first time made a very good impression, the WMMS show at Alumwell, we have made plans to visit again in 2017, with an earlier arrival time to enable us to park on the carpark!  One positive taken from all the shows Steve and I have attended  as part of the Lance and Longbow Society is the interest shown by visitors in how games are organised and the historical background.  Also, we always try and run participation games and almost without fail our 'victims' have played in the right spirit, taking the rough with the smooth

One of my less successful moments - the demise of my blue jackets!

The Nile steamers - always a problem; to both sides!

As far as gaming is concerned the major influence during the year have been the Pike and Shotte rules from Warlord Games.  Well over half our games have involved the rules, and we have tried out several 'amendments', not all of which have been successful.  The rules have proved themselves in all the periods they cover, from Italian Wars through to the Grand Alliance.  Below are scans of the supplementary playsheet that Steve and I use for our ECW games

The coming year we hope to develop our coverage of the Eastern Renaissance wars by painting up some Ottoman troops.  Our games involving the Poles, Cossacks, Tartars and Muscovites this year have been greatly helped by the Eastern renaissance supplement produced by Thaddeus Urban.  He is planning a revised version of this and details can be found on his blog .

ECW action

The Polish Hussars in action

Of course our other collections managed to get on the table this year.  Steve devised some intriguing scenarios for the Sudan collection and his AWI games are always close run affairs.  I was particularly glad to organise a few Shako scenarios and game with some of my 15mm chaps who are now nearing their thirtieth birthday.  Perhaps even older are the Prince August homecasts that Alasdair passed over to me.  They had a couple of outings and generated a good bit of interest.

We were less successful on the naval side.  We did get a few games in and tried out a couple of new rulesets, but the initial objective, re-fighting part of Jutland in the anniversary year eluded us. Perhaps we can manage it one year late.

Other 'failures' include the lack of progress on reducing the 'lead mountain'.  Painting has been very slow this year, due to many factors, but at least the 'mountain' hasn't grown by much, as I haven't bought any figures for six months.

In conclusion may I take this opportunity to thank all those who follow my blog and especially those who take the time to comment, your views are much appreciated. Please continue to let me know what you think of our efforts.  Thanks is also due to Steve, Will, John, Bob, Dave, Gary and the Gentlemen Pensioners for making the games during the year such fun.
All the best for 2017.