Another Year Incoming

Things here have obviously been quiet. 

As the none of you who've noticed, I haven't posted. There's been relatively little to post about in my hobby. Real life right now just isn't presenting many opportunities for hobby or gaming. I did not manage to get any more East Front scenery painted up as I'd hoped. 

I did manage to attend a 3-game Bolt Action event on Veteran's/Memorial Day last month with my goodest mate Densmol and finished middle of the pack. Fun three games with very pleasant opponents, two of which I'd never played against before. (No pics were taken though as I'd managed to guzzle a beer or two after meeting up with the estimable Stew from the Terrible Loss of Lead and Wealth blog. - He's a very bad influence I tell ya!) 

 Here are two old resin minis from a game that was originally Kickstarted (1st Edition) in 2014, Relic Knights, then a 2nd Edition was Kickstarted in 2017. Neither Kickstarter project was run well and only the first was actually fully fulfilled by the creators who are now a bankrupt entity. (I even posted about hobby activity on those original minis back in 2014!) So where does this leave the game? (I hear you not ask) Well dear reader, a new (way) smaller but far better ran game company bought the rights to the game title and all of it's existing sculpts based out of Texas (Ignition Core Games) and they have very selectively, slowly and cleverly been releasing product for the game's 2nd Edition under their own banner. So far it has a small and enthusiastic following on Facebook and Discord and I like the way the new owners are so interactive with that following. I hope to be afforded time next year to work on a number of minis for this new edition of the game in 2026 and even to try out the rules. Watch this space!

These resin figs are from the Cersi Speed Circuit faction. The guy on the left is Asger Faust. I kept his paintjob simple as his game art shows some designs on his coat, but I was not in the mood to try freehanding such nonsense. The pink-haired filly on the right is one of the Pit Crew girls (There is a second girl of the team half-painted as I type this) and with that quite insane facial expression she has, I fully do not trust her intentions on where she thinks that huge wrench should be placed. 

As far as Real Life: I got a small promotion at work in August and am currently doing my best to pass a 12-month probation period, so I've had to apply myself rather more than normal LOL. This blog also had a birthday at the beginning of October, turning an impressive 14 years old. AND I turned 49  that month and found myself regularly dour at the realisation that this is my last year of my 40's. So things have happened, just not much hobby. I'm not sure if I'll even have anything blog-worthy to post up before the New Year; free time as mentioned is hard to come by and there are a LOT of seasonal gatherings coming up. But you never know, lady Fate may well smile upon this humble hobbyist and afford him 2-3 hours for painting before January and the peace he finds in it?

Regardless, with a new year on the horizon, I once again turn to hope for opportunities to reveal themselves so that I might be able to work on some of my unpainted mountain and even manage to get some gaming in. Wish me luck. I have tried hard to not add much to my pile'o'shame, but priorities for my hobby this year are looking like: 

1. Painting more armour for my WW2 Greeks (Picked up a trio of rubbish light tanks on a Black Friday sale just to have more options for list building in Bolt Action)

2. Painting my WW2 Late War Canadians, namely that pair of Buffalo transports, outstanding infantry squads and the new pair of WASP Universal Carriers that were also bought in the Black Friday purchase.

3. Relic Knights - me and J bought into some of this new stuff. It arrived at his place yesterday. We are both jazzed about it, so out came all the 1st Ed stuff from my storage to see just how many options we'd have including the new additions for future games. Yeesh... that's a LOT to paint up. 

4. I need more time.

This short post ends with "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hannukah", "Happy Kwanzaa" and enjoy whatever other holiday celebrations are important to you at this time of year with your loved ones; I certainly intend to do so with my own. Stay safe out there in this far too frequently frightening world.

Much love, 

- Dai  

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