First Anniversary

It's the blog's first birthday today, and I'd like to thank everyone who has helped, inspired, commented and visited over the last twelve months. Your support has been very much appreciated here at TWA Towers!

As befits the occasion, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to reflect on the past year and then give the crystal ball a quick polish and try and take a sneak peek at what's in store for the future.

In The Beginning
The very first post revealed that I was back into gaming, and enjoying Old Skool D&D sessions with a small social group of friends, an Oldhammer fantasy battles campaign related to the D&D adventures with one of those friends, and skirmish games set in an alternative history vision of Britain in the form of Winter '79 with the same opponent. I was also playing a few 'stand alone' games of All Things Zombie while I learned the rules and built up a collection of terrain and minis for the apocalypse.
As a footnote to that initial entry, I said "and there's STILL an English Civil War itch waiting to be scratched!" Well, that comment was prophetic.

I've now got enough troops to be able to start gaming with Victory Without Quarter and The Pikemans Lament rules (when King Charles gets round to raising the royal standard in Nottingham), and of course there's the up-and-running Witchfinder General campaign already taking place in the same era.

But what of the other games from back then?
The fantasy campaign continues to move along but at a snails pace, since we only play D&D as a group very occasionally, and then it's more as a central focus for "social gatherings" than 'hardcore gaming'.
Our Winter '79 games suffered when we agreed to the use of IED's  by the anti-establishment "resistance" forces. The whole idea of booby traps and car bombs soon became very ugly once we'd brought them to the tabletop, and the campaign stalled as a result. The majority of the terrain was made up of pdf model railway buildings, and the boards were knackered damaged beyond repair while in storage at my opponents house.
The card driven activation system should make the game suitable for solo play, and since I still have the minis and vehicles I might revisit the game again in the future - without the IED's and after assembling more 1/72 buildings!
The "Oldhammer" (Warhammer Fantasy Battles 3ed Edition) switched over to Dragon Rampant, which gave us quicker and more enjoyable games (as well as smaller 'warbands'). Again, the activation system lends itself well to solo play which means that I can play through engagements in the campaign when my opponent is unavailable.
Of all the original games, ATZ is the strongest survivor (quite apt really!), and on the 8th of June I started the campaign which is still going strong as I celebrate the blog's birthday.

So what's new?
Apart from the above mentioned  fantasy and English Civil War genres, in June last year I decided to revisit one of the old classics and picked up a copy of Napoleon's Battles, the 'bookcase game' from Avalon Hill. No sign of any miniatures yet, as I continue to hum and ha over what scale to go for - no point in rushing into these sort of decisions is there?!
I started working on a Blade Runner campaign based around The Department For Fabricant Management rules last September, which made it to the table in March this year - the month that also saw the arrival of a whole bunch of stuff for the skirmish game set in feudal Japan, Test Of Honour, which I've just made a start on painting minis,

so that brings us slap-bang up to date in time for a look at........

Plans For The Future?
Simple - "Less painting / modelling, and more gaming!"
After twelve months of "expansion" it's now time for "consolidation". There's still plenty to do for all of the existing projects, so I want to try and avoid any new genres this year (Ha ha).
Having said that, I have been tempted by Burrows & Badgers - not only because I just LOVE the look of the cute minis, but it's a game I'm sure I could get the Financial Dictator roped into playing. Apart from joining in with the social gatherings for D&D, she merely 'tolerates' my gaming activities, and it would be nice to get her more involved. To this end, I ordered a copy of the rulebook from my favourite "discount book seller" on ebay, and since it arrived yesterday, it just creeps in as one of last years new ventures!
All I have to do now is resist the urge to get some WW2 stuff, and Vietnam, oh and Wild West, Doctor Who, Steampunk, American Civil War............................ lets just move on and come back in a years time to review this one shall we???

Thanks again for visiting, and I hope you can put up with some more of my ramblings between now and the blog's next birthday!