The last calendar year has been one of the more enjoyable from a hobby perspective, at least since the late 70's and early 80's when the world was still young and full of possibility.
Painting
From a painting perspective I managed to finish my AWI British with the last of the Hessians:
This allowed me to make a start on an AWI Continental Army in February, completing it in August; exclusively Perry from memory and comprised of 498 foot and mounted figures, 28 horses and 6 artillery pieces:
Unfortunately none of my AWI figures have seen the table yet, but that will hopefully be rectified in 2026 with at least a few games of Sharpe Practice and/or Rebels and Patriots.
I then managed to squeeze in a bit of terrain in the form of some Najewitz Modellbau 15mm Spanish villas (more of this to come in 2026 as they are part of a Spanish village set), and some 28mm Grand Manner Napoleonic European terrain:
The latter is a source of particular embarassment as they really are lovely pieces but have been languishing in my pile for over ten years. I have at least seventy of them, so I immediately became enthused and primed a couple of dozen, only to have barely laid a brush on them since.
The last four months of 2025 saw me turn to what I shall always think of as my 'Arab Spring', with the completion of a 15mm Ghaznavid army:
Closely followed by a Daylami Dynasty army:
Thankfully both these armies have seen a game each, although both have lost. The curse of the new army?
Perhaps, although both results were quite close and, in the case of the Ghaznavids at least, but for two rounds of appalling dice throwing on my part they probably should have won. Fun games both.
Apart from a dozen or so buildings and artillery pieces then, the final tally for 2025 is 1356 figures in total comprised of 1161 foot and mounted figures, 187 horses and 8 elephants.
Not a bad effort and I feel quite happy with this result, especially as a fair chunk were 28mm figures.
Gaming
My gaming revolves around two hour or so sessions on every second Monday night with my friend Dale, and fortnightly Saturday Ancients DBMM group games. I would estimate that this equates to forty gaming sessions during the year, so I'm certainly not starved for table time.
The main difference however is that the DBMM games are always begun and concluded on the Saturday with most taking around three hours or thereabouts, so that is around twenty DBMM games completed in total.
The Monday night games however span everything from WWII Naval through Napoleonics to a Midgard 28mm Dark Ages game we are currently planning, which gives me the variety I enjoy. Some games, such as General d'Armee, can span many evenings so I would estimate we have probably only played eight or so discreet games during 2025.
All up then, probably around 28 games during the year, and if I could remember to take photos and write up a few more AARs that I so enjoy seeing on other people's blogs I would have had the definitive number.
Possibly the big realisation for 2025 is that I don't really enjoy solo gaming.
Having finally laid claim to a gaming room I didn't actually get around to using it and have now had to surrender the downstairs to one of our expectant children, who has moved in with her husband and twin infants.
I of course made the appropriate noises of complaint as I moved the shelving and completed armies back to my painting/hobby room, but have accumulated considerable goodwill toward my real aim which is to construct a purpose-built air-conditioned detached room either in the backyard here, or the next house if and we decide to move.
Purchases
I don't really want to think about these. The usual impulse buys of several gaming mats from Lithuania, a 15mm WWII US tank division which I will probably never get to, Mirliton Renaissance Swiss and Burgundian armies etc. etc.
The purchases have definitely gone down dramatically from ten or so years ago but I can't resist the new and shiny, usually as result of something I have seen on another blog.
I like to research and complete projects in one go as much as possible, which is presumably why the more recent purchases are still top of mind and are invariably completed ahead of much older ones, for which the enthusiasm has to be rekindled.
Projects for 2026
First off will be the completion of an Arab Conquest army, scheduled to make an appearance against some Norse Irish a week on Saturday.
I really don't like such deadlines as I prefer to paint at my own pace, but I do seem to have made some progress over the past few days and have today just completed another thirty-nine cavalry.
Beyond that, I have some 15mm dark ages Welsh in mind and will then return to my badly stalled ECW project to complete the cavalry and dragoons.
I'd also like to complete the 20 or so Foundry French artillery pieces I have had on my desk for the past three years, if only because it would then allow me to field a full 28mm French Napoleonic army against my already completed 28mm Spanish and Portuguese armies.
For which I'll need to build the wargaming room in the backyard, of course.
Happy 2026 everyone!
