Half-Year Goal Review

It's that time of year when it makes sense to review the goals we set for ourselves for the year, to track our progress or to update them to reflect who we are now and not who we were when we came up with them in the first place.

I am relatively happy with my hobby accomplishments thus far this year although not all of them are in line with the post linked above (World War Risus and issue 2 of my zine are two obvious examples). The driving force for the 2nd half of the year will be the Ten Games, Ten Times challenge. However, I think a good bit of my original plan is still intact. 

My social game at the FLGS is well underway - although I switched from Labyrinth Lord to b/x since the PDFs are readily available over on DriveThru - and is moving to 2x a month starting, well, this month. I have what I would say are four core players, three semi-regulars, two who seemed to enjoy it but have missed the last two sessions, one new person who seems like he'll be back, and a handful that I never expect to see again (either due to distance or in two cases, because they just happened to be at the store that day and sat in). This goal is basically on autopilot at this point (not the actual gaming itself - I work hard to study all I can about being a better DM. Although I tend to laugh and joke a lot, people are looking to me to provide them with a rewarding experience, and I take that very seriously).

I have yet to sign up to run a game at DragonCon, although the event system just recently went on-line. One of my playes (and the GM for the GURPS campaign I'll be playing) is a volunteer with the gaming staff and he confirmed that I have pretty much up until the con to do this, but I want to do it sooner rather than later so the game is listed in the program. My problem is that other than the writing seminars, most of the panels aren't finalized yet, so I don't know what's going on when. I'm planning to run at least The Purple Worm Graveyard, but it has the possibility of ending quickly depending on the choices the players make, so I'll definitely need another short adventure to fill the time slot for those who want to keep gaming.

The Japantasy game, well, that is going to require some thought. There's practically no way I'll be able to run that for my home group since they are totally absorbed by M:TG and Guild Wars 2. I would like to run it at the FLGS, but see above re: running 2x a month already. This will probably be a mini-campaign run in 2015, possibly as a brief hiatus from Trelleborg.

For WWII gaming, I have played The Goettge Patrol, The Brush Patrol, and The First Battle of Matanikau (which I never wrote up). If I'm understanding the rules correctly, Blitzkrieg Commander will let me play the rest of the engagements (fielding a company per side with support, max, using 1 base = 1 squad) I planned to play. Coincidentally, that's about five of the ten games I plan to play using BKC in the next 6 months.

I have not yet gotten around to even thinking about The Red Surge campaign from The Red Guards at Kursk scenario book. If I recall, I'm short a few Soviet riflemen, and they aren't really near the top of my painting queue at the moment. They might work their way up, but I'm pretty enamored with the Western Front right now. I would say this is not likely in 2014. On the other hand, Nuts! would be a good ruleset for this.

Return to Helvetica - I want to do this, the question is, how much time do i have and am I motivated enough? I did manage to find a hand written copy of the organization table for the Riesling forces, so at least I know who my commanders are again. GASLIGHT is my choice here, but there are some other rules that could make an appearance. I have been jonesing to play GASLIGHT again, so perhaps at least one game in this campaign will happen.

As for the Great Northern War, I have accepted that this is a longer term project for me. 

Right now, I can field something like 70+ Russian infantry, and 24 or so Swedish. The odds of me getting Dragoons and artillery enough for both sides to do any combined arms scenario anytime soon is rather slim, let alone finishing all of the Swedish infantry. ON THE OTHER HAND, I can do some very very very small skirmishes using Songs of Drums and Shakos (modified for the early 18th C.) or the old THW rules Mayhem: Warring Nations (again, modified) or Mayhem: Muskets and Mohawks (arguably less modification required). And, in fact, that's my plan, just to get them on the table before the year is out.

And then there are the new periods that seem to have sprung up out of nowhere that weren't on the horizon at the end of 2013:

• World War I (1/72, very early war BEF cavalry vs German cavalry, mid-late war Italians vs. Austrians)
• Medieval (1/32 semi-flat Russians vs Teutonic Knights)
• American War of Independence (1/32)

I don't expect any of these to do more than hit the painting table this year, but you never know.