Old Year - New Year

So. Another New Year dawns. Personally, I hope it's a bloody sight better than 2011. Last year certainly had its ups and downs. As for 2012, for a number of reasons which I won't go into here, I sense interesting times ahead...

 

Wargaming does help deflect a lot of cares and woes. It gives me - and others, I'm sure - the chance to escape the pressures of life and work and delve into our own, highly-controllable worlds. Being a wargamer on a (very) tight budget has its moments, though. I'm not so much a gamer with 'champagne tastes on a beer budget' - more like 'beer tastes on a tap-water budget!'  

On the gaming front, I did manage to get my Daftest African campaign started. Three games made it to the tabletop, and were duly recorded here. Figures-wise, I managed also to pick up a few more odds and ends to expand the forces involved. One find was the Wargames Factory hard plastic Zulu figures for $9.99 via eBay.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the plastics do offer a useful way of expanding armies for less than the cost of white metal figures. Wargames Factory are compatible with Eureka Miniatures, and a shade larger than Wargames Foundry. They fit my collection nicely.

I began painting my Zulus over the holidays, and an experiment conducted with the cheap and cheerful Craft Smart acrylics had a happy outcome. These figures take the paint with no trouble whatsoever. Craft Smart are available in just about every hobby store in the US. Since an 8 ounce bottle costs about the same as a 17ml bottle of model paint, economically, it's well worth it!

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As No. 1 Stepdaughter is residing in our spare room (my studio/game room) for another four weeks, I won't be able to play out any encounters in Daftest Africa for a while. Still, there's nothing to stop me planning out further encounters in and around the troubled areas of  Yabhouti and Ulraziland.

One such idea concerns the arrival in Yabhouti of a chap from the Colonial Office. Now Great Britain has secured her hold on the town, it becomes necessary to expand her power into Ukraziland itself, which will require diplomacy. The Colonial Office will be at the forefront in dealing with the tribes encountered. Inevitably, not everything will go peacefully, but the diplomat has the comfort of being backed up by the military might of the Barsetshire Regiment.

That louche character Willoughby Pond will also resurface, somewhere along the line. Then there's the arrival of an adventurous Dutch damsel, one Callida van Wert. What does she seek in Ukraziland? Time will reveal all...

I'm also contemplating a VSF foray into the area, using the GASLIGHT rules. One of the most appealing aspects of Major-General Rederring's site was/is its prolific use of landships, airships and sundry VSF goodness. Since these are things I can make without breaking the bank, it'll be full steam ahead - once I get my workshop back.

So, there it is. A Happy New Year to all. May your dice roll the way you want, when you want them to in gaming - and in life!