Happy New Year 2015 & 2014 Highlights

Where did 2014 go? It only seems like yesterday that I was writing last years version of this post.  I'm not doing any resolutions this year either, but lets have a look at my favourite games/minis/things from the last year in a sort of mock award ceremony style that was quite popular last year.

The blog got off to a good start, but petered out over the summer as life and a new role at work got in the way, one major change was the introduction of a second writer, my mate Mike who contributed 5 posts throughout the year, hopefully we'll hear a bit more from him this year too.  Gaming has been quietly going on throughout the year, but with no one game dominating our time, a bit of a bitty year.


Favourite Project Finished in the Last 12 Months

Right at the start of the year I finally finished painting my High Elf army, that had been of the verge of being completed for around two years.  It was very gratifying to finally get it all finished, it's an army that I'm rather proud of as well.

Most Popular Post

This was much closer than last year, but the most popular thing I wrote was this little post on the miniatures from the new Mars Attacks game.  It was so good someone even decided it was worth copying!  Which whilst I can joke about it now riled me up at the time.


Best Wargame

It's been a year of small scale gaming really, with skirmish and board games coming to the fore.  However there were a few games of 40K and Warhammer fantasy and a single game of Kings of War, but the most played 'wargame' this year and the one I had the most fun with was Battlefronts' Flames of war.  We've still a lot to explore with this as well and I hope we play a lot more in 2015.

Best Board/Card Game

A surprise for me here as I'm awarding this to Mars Attacks by Mantic games.  I wasn't expecting much from Mars Attacks. I got it on Kickstarter as the deal became really good and I could use the minis in Deadzone, but it turns out that it's a really good fun game.  The light hearted silliness and scenario based format make replayability high as well.

Favourite New Miniatures

This is always the hardest decision, contenders this year included, Beorn & Thranduil from the Hobbit range, my Emhar Whippet and my Battlefront TOG 2*, but in the end my favourite new minis are definitely my Jalopy conversions based on PSC Stuarts for use in Flames of War.
 

Best Trip

It's not been a massive year for getting out and about for me, but my first ever trip to the tank museum at Bovington and a trip to Carisbrooke Castle (that I never quite got a round to posting about) were definitely fun, but my favourite trip of the year was my behind the scenes look at Bembridge fort on the Isle of Wight.

Favourite Book Read this Year

I read a lot over a variety of different subjects and fiction styles which makes picking a favourite book tricky, as comparing science books and Victorian fiction is next to impossible, however I think I've managed it.

The best book I read this year was the History of Mr Polly by HG Wells, if you haven't read it I recommend you give it a try.


Favourite New Movie

This doesn't have to mean released this year, just new to me, I go to the cinema rarely and am often 6-12 months behind.  There were four contenders here; The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies, Thor: The Dark World, The Lego Movie and Noah.

I've surprised myself, but I'm finally admitting it, The Lego Movie was better than the last Hobbit movie and is my favourite movie of the year.

Thing I'm Most Looking Forward to in 2015

Whilst you never know what the next year will bring, some things are expecting and some have been rumoured.  Possible highlights include Warhammer Fantasy 9th ed, and the second Deadzone Kickstarter.  I am also looking forward to receiving both Dungeon Saga and Kings of War from Mantic.

In the end the thing I'm most looking forward too is getting and playing Kings of War, I've only played a single battle so far but I enjoyed it a lot, depending on what's in the starter set I might not even get warhammer 9th ed.  I have several Kings of War units on the painting table in ready anticipation for the rulebooks arrival.

Best Wargames Company

The biggy, but somewhat predictable I think, I drifted even further from my original gaming home of GW this year, and have only bought 4 minis and one book from them.  My gaming group has also passed on the latest edition of 40K and look unlikely to bother to try and catch up, it's a shame their minis are second to none, but unless I win the lottery (which I don't play so that would be more than surprising!) GW have priced me out. 

Battlefront's Flames of War has had many games and lead me to collect two new armies, but again the prices mean that those armies contains minis from many other places as well as battlefront.

We've also played a bit of X-Wing this year from FFG, but although I like the game I've been playing with my mates models and haven't liked it enough to invest in my own set.

Which means of course we come to Mantic Games as this years winner (again!).  The year started with a flurry of Deadzone gaming before mantic took a backseat to larger scale games (flames of war, 40K and warhammer fantasy) over the summer before coming back with a vengeance when Mars Attacks landed.  Add to that the Dungeon Saga and Kings of War Kickstarters that I'm eagerly awaiting and Mantic are the deserved winner.



Finally I'd just like to wish all my readers a happy new year and thank you all for stopping by and reading what I write.