I will remember 2011 as the year I rediscovered my love of tabletop gaming. 2007 was the last year in which I had played tabletop games with any sort of regularity. The Rifts campaign I was GMing was based in Russia and was deeply inspired by the movie The Brothers Grimm. It was a fun campaign, but ultimately our small group dissolved under the strain of commuting. I put my Rifts books in a box, which is safe and dry in my basement.
When Alex Lucard suggested that we start covering tabletop games here on Diehard GameFAN, I was enthusiastic. I tend to play video games at a very leisurely pace and had given up on reviewing them. RPG books and war games fit in much better with my schedule, so I jumped right in. This year, I have read more, gamed more, and been more enthusiastic about the hobby than ever before.
The highlight of the year came in September when I attended the Recruits Fall Convention. There, I was exposed to a wider variety of war games and miniatures than I had before. Watching the insane Old Glory Miniatures table, with its massive pirate ships, playing my first games of Tomorrow’s War, and haggling over plastic Daleks – that was a great day. I still haven’t painted all the minis I picked up that day.
Looking forward to 2012, I have a couple of goals. First amongst those goals is getting more miniatures painted. I painted so few in 2011 that it’s barely worth mentioning. My plan, at the moment, is to start painting every Friday night. An escape from computer screens and social media plus a few adult beverages sounds like a much better Friday than tweeting about my love of Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.
Secondly, I need to actually play more games. Sheer exhaustion has limited my game time, along with laziness. My intention is to schedule biweekly games of Tomorrow’s War until I can get some moderns painted up for Force On Force. There are several gamers in my area, so it is plain weak for me to not be playing more.
My third goal for the year is the simplest: to improve this column. My schedule, personal and professional, has limited the amount of time I put into it. I am going to focus more on painting, converting, and playing in the coming year.
Leave a Reply