Summer Solstice Summary

It's the summer solstice, the time of the year (in the northern hemisphere) when hippies gather round stone circles, drink cups of blessed mead and dance naked around the campfire. I guess that's as good a way as any to celebrate the longest day.

I thought this would be a good time to review my projects over the last half year, look at progress made and make plans for the next six months. I said at the start of the year that this was likely to be an uncertain year for me, and that has certainly turned out to be true.

On the Warhammer front, the year started well for my chaos army, as I added a unit of marauders and a sorceror, followed by a lord on a polar bear (daemon steed). Running out of steam with the armoured butchers, I switched to the wood elf army and built and painted two unit of treekin, bringing my army almost up to 2000 points. So the painting was going reasonably well, but I was not enjoying the gaming too much - the game does not have the same appeal it once had. I'm afraid my dream to have a new Vampire Counts army painted for the autumn is the major victim of this apathy. Perhaps it will be resurrected later in the year?

Around Easter time I decided to switch my focus to painting just for the sake of painting, not concerning myself with units for a specific army. A Studio McVey Pan model and an Avatars of War dwarf were managed before I again had a block on my enthusiasm. I drifted for a few weeks before another Avatars of War figure rescued me from the doldrums, a goblin warlord was the result. Inspired by this I assembled a unit of 40 goblin warriors, painted half of them and then spluttered to a halt. For the past month my enthusiasm for painting and gaming Warhammer has disappeared, like the so-called English summer.

While Warhammer is on the wane, other systems have been discovered and tried. Blitzkrieg Commander has proved to be a very enjoyable game, while recent sessions of Saga have probably been the gaming highlight of the year to date. I am currently planning on how best to build several warbands at low cost. I was hoping to also take up Dropzone Commander, but the fairly high entry cost has proved too much of a hurdle in these stringent times. However, I have not given up completely on the prospect of 10mm gaming and have an alternative project in mind.

Looking ahead, I have one or two painting projects in the planning stages, with a few ideas to shake up my painting routine and hopefully push myself to something new. The Saga warbands and the 10mm project will probably take the major chunk of my summer hobby time. After that, well I think it's best to just let the autumn winds bring whatever they may.