2020.. a review...

So as we say every year... "here we go again"...

I'm still not really a 'blowing the trumpet', 'review your triumphs', etc etc type of person (I leave that to the business corporate types I work with), but like my 'end of the year' review on the sailing blog it is kind of nice to cast my eyes over the year gone, and remind myself of the ups and (this year, mostly) downs.... and besides everyone else is doing the same thing...

So by way of a joining up of the threads, and a bringing to a close of the last year, let's push on...

First, how did I do against my expectations [clicky]?? Note: I never, ever, make 'resolutions', just 'set  expectations', and thus when I inevitably fail to meet them yet again, it is not too demoralising or depressing an event..

1/. Play more games..

Three table top games in 2020 (c/w four in 2019, six in 2018, and eight in 2017) which is atrocious (more below); 
• ECW - "Incident at Chudley Bottom"
• ACW - "Battles with Model Soldiers" - "Game 2"
• AWI - John Corrigan Memorial game 2020 - "Attack on a Prepared Position"


..but on the other hand DG and I did play 6 (possibly even 7?) games of online DBN which was a bit of a hit this year - in fact we have a game on the go even as we speak, the Ottomans are taking on the French on Egypt for the third time...  we're using Battle Chronicler and exchanging moves via Dropbox.

So all in all - not too bad I think...

2/. Try to keep up my painting efforts..

I would say I did "OK" with this one - as is usual with me, my painting months are beginning and end of the sailing season, and despite there being no sailing season this year the same held true, so clearly it is the heat in the loft that's the deal breaker..   and this summer was HOT... there's 253 points worth here, which compares with 294 points in 2019... close, but no cigar... 

English Civil War continues to feature heavily as you would expect given that was this was last years new project, but as it begins to get to critical mass, more items/projects from other periods also appeared...  the Marlburian infantry were the first I've painted in that period for 7 years.... there are more ECW units required, and I have an order for some of the new figures from Steelfist [clicky] which I'm looking forward to seeing....  this year will be a consolidation year, I'll add more to the existing projects, next year there may be a new project, we shall see..



Date (click to go to post)	Item description	Period	Make	Scale	Points Value/Total Pts
5/1/20	Replacement terrace	WW2/WSS	4Ground	15mm	15 pts
11/1/20	Lord Mandeville’s Regiment of Foot	ECW	Minifigs/Peter Pig	15mm	24@1pt for 24 pts
30/1/20	Lord Grandison’s Regiment of Horse	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	8@2pt for 16 pts
24/2/20	Sir William Balfour's Regiment of Horse	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	8@2pt for 16 pts
19/3/20	42nd Virginia Infantry	ACW	Newline	20mm	20@1pt for 20 pts
10/4/20	5th Ohio Volunteer Infantry	ACW	Newline	20mm	20@1pt for 20 pts
29/4/20	Essex, Bedford and Balfour's Cuirassiers	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	8@2pt for 16 pts
21/4/20	John Belasyse's Regiment of Foote	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	24@1pt for 24 pts
8/5/20	American Civil War generals	ACW	Newline	20mm	3@2pts for 6 pts
19/5/20	The King’s Lifeguard Regiment of Horse	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	8@2pt for 16 pts
30/11/20	English Civil War officers	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	3@2pt for 6 pts
22/11/20	Iron (& cotton & timber) clad ships	ACW	Peter Pig	1/600	3@5pts;1@3pts for 18pts
11/12/20	Lord Wharton's Regiment of Foot	ECW	Peter Pig/Minifigs/Gallia	15mm	24@1pt for 24 pts
20/12/20	Colonel Thomas Blagge's Regiment of Foote	ECW	Peter Pig	15mm	24@1pt for 24 pts
1/1/21	Regiment Angoumois	WSS	Minifigs	15mm	24@1pt for 24 pts

3/. complete the Sudan re-basing, 

I reported last year that this was an abject failure and I'm afraid it has remained so - I  keep forgetting I still need to do it!  

I'll carry this one over, and I also need to remedy the game situation!

4/. continue reading more non-fiction... 

If I did nothing else in 2020 I read...  thank goodness for books...  slightly up on last year, but the quality was not as good though there was one of only two of my 10 plus's in the list..  Hastings again get's the laurels this year with "Chastise" which was utterly gripping..  (last year it was his history of Vietnam)..  the Yves Martin book is only slightly behind it... last of all a special shout out to the folks at Osprey for their lock down give away's...  what a lovely idea..  I took full advantage and a number of them appear here.....



Book	Comments	Score (out of 10)
	See blog post [clicky]..	10
	Fairly standard Osprey fare, and absolutely nothing wrong with that, but Tincey as an author lifts it for sure, and the phased/timed maps are outstanding..  illustrations, not my cup of tea..  bit Janet and John'ish if you know what I mean...  so, usual format..  background to the war, the opposing notable commanders and generals, brief run up to Edgehill, orbat's, run down of the battle, and then aftermath...  good stuff - recommended.	8
	See the blog review [clicky]..	7
	During the current pandemic Osprey were offering three or four books free a week from their entire catalogue - a fair few of them didn't appeal but I took it as an opportunity to try some books/periods I wouldn't otherwise have tried.. so it was with this one. Quite fascinating..  cataphracts, kontos, armed with the panjagan (a multiple arrow firing device that fire five arrows at once) armed head to toe in chain and lamellar armour ..  they were the descendants of the Aechmenid Persians (Darius and Xerxes) but their direct antecedents were the Parthians..  the Sassanian's were perhaps the only empire the Romans never managed to defeat..	8
	Another of the Osprey free "pandemic books"... an ideal opportunity to read up on the history of something you wouldn't have otherwise tried..  this one was fascinating. Jagdeschwader 52 was one of the key squadrons on the Eastern/Russian Front, and despite their earlier operational history being in the west, it was in Russia that they forged their reputation as one of the highest scoring squadrons of all time, and all nations.. some of their aces scored over 300 by the end of the war, and the book is a concise history of where they served, the planes and missions they flew, and the key personnel - this part is heavy on military decorations (Knights Cross, Swords and Diamonds got harder and harder to win as the scores racked up!) What I would have liked to have known was why they were able to rack up the scores - clearly training and planes - but why were the Russians so awful? A good read that left me with a few more questions...	8
	My second "ten plus" of the year - absolutely brilliant analysis of the Dam Busters raid in terms of the people, the planes, the bombs/technology, and the costs in terms of both people and damage. The book is especially good on the outcomes of the raid for the German civilian population (devastating), and industry (not so much, mostly due to the organisational ability of Speer). I found the depiction of Gibson fascinating (what a complicated man, not always likeable, but clearly very brave, and very driven). Hastings is not a fan of Bomber Harris, but Barnes Wallis comes across exactly as played by Redgrave in the film...  superb..	10+
	See blog post [clicky]..	8
	Bought in the Osprey sale a while ago, this covers the same kind of ground as the book by Yves Martin (above), but clearly in nowhere near the same level of detail..  so a brief potted history, a very brief description of the organisation and tactics of the French in Egypt, even less on the Ottomans, and a very brief section on the he British... as an introduction it's good, and the plates are fine, but for choice I would go with the Martin book..	7

5/. Salute and Colours...

Pfffft.....

6/. Tangmere visit

...ditto...  oh, hang on a sec..  our local drive through COVID testing centre is at Tangmere - close enough to see the old WWII control tower when one of the daughters had to go for a check, so maybe a partial success?? 

7/. Edgehill walk - unlikely but if we don't aim, we don't even shoot... (just call me Confucius the Wargamer....)

...another ditto like most of the travelling/social based events.. 

8/. Spend less time on Facebook - it's wasted time, and it's too easy to lose an hour that I could use doing something else

...funny how you change your focus when your horizon's close in to the computer/virtual reality - all the events/things I would have been trying to do were not happening, and shifted to virtual..  so Farcebok became a ways and means of keeping in touch rather than trite entertainment..

9/. Lose 3 stone - fed up being a fat bastard... 

...LOL.....   

10/. HMS Victory - been years since I last went ..

...yeah yeah.....  

...there you go... you may beg to differ, but as it is my blog I can once again report that all (achievable) targets and goals were achieved ...! Hurrah!!

In summary?? I've got to say that on the personal front 2020 was not the best year..

Not in any priority at all..... work continues to gobble up increasing amounts of what used to be down time, and a change of work location has added an hour to my commute time; while delightful, and I wouldn't have it any other way, the family and grandson also deserve time; there were worries about COVID (all my close family except grandson are key workers)... so all in all, I'll not be missing 2020, and yes, I know and accept others have it far worse.... on the hobby front I'll say it was an OK year...  no Salute/Colours/Warfare with DG but there were a few games, and a lot of good books..

There were 32 posts in 2020 including this one (c/w 49 in 2019, 35 in 2018, 45 in 2017, 58 in 2016, 69 in 2015, 68 in 2014, 84 in '13, 85, in '12) which is poor - the downward trend is back on again. I'm happy with Blogger, even like the new interface, I like to write and it suits my ordered mind, but I need creative inputs to prompt posts, and I wasn't feeling it in 2020... 

Three table top games in 2020 (c/w four in 2019, six in 2018, and eight in 2017) which is atrocious but on the other hand they are set against those half dozen DBN games DG and I had;

1. ECW - Incident at Chudley Bottom
2. ACW - "Battles with Model Soldiers" - "Game 2"
3. AWI - John Corrigan Memorial game 2020 - "Attack on a Prepared Position"

....the "One Hour Wargames" book continues to be the best £10 I ever spent - oodles of small and immensely playable scenario's, two solo games (#1 and #2) and one via Zoom with DG, and all games excellent..

...apropos of absolutely nothing (I only have the number as I like to put reviews on the blog), 63 books were read in 2020, compared with 55 in '19, 43 in '18, 52 in '17, 54 in '16, and 46 in '15 - despite distractions aplenty I had a hugely enjoyable reading year..

Favourite books this year?

Fiction - these were my 'perfect 10's' of the year

	Whilst browsing one of my favourite publishing houses web site the other month I happened to notice that they were re-printing the Rosemary Sutlcliff "Eagle of the Ninth" series of books. Most people have heard of the first book, what's not so well known is that she wrote a series of loosely linked follow on books - all set in Roman Britain, and detailing what was basically end of empire in Britain. Very much in the vein of the Wallace Bream/"Eagle in the Snow" book..  a frontier fort, manned by mounted auxiliary troops, Roman in name but almost as barbarian/native, as the people they are there to control. Very, very good...  reminded me very much of the Scarrow book of almost the same name and made me wonder if he had read this at some time..  read it!	10
	Without a doubt my best book of the year so far so this one warrants a 10+. I've been a fan of this series since book 1, to the point that (unusually for me) I would pre-order books to get them on release date (and I haven't done that since Harry Potter!). The books feature the protagonist Harry Gilmour, a Royal Navy submarine skipper in WW2. The atmosphere and background is second to none, very realistic (it seems to me) depictions of what it was like to live and make war in a submarine of the era. No spoilers, but in this book - which is the final one in the series - Harry is skipper of a boat that has been transferred to the Far East Theatre..  brilliant - and I genuinely felt down when I finished the book...	10+
	I guess I must read Herriot every 3 or 4 years, I just find it very uplifting, funny, and inherently optimistic. For those of you living in a parallel universe who have never heard of James Herriot, these are the fictionalised memoirs of his time as a vet working in the Yorkshire dales from a period just before the second world war, up until his return to practice after the war..  this omnibus comprises the first two books, and deals with his arrival in the small market town up until the point he gets married...  just lovely..	10
	I suspect very few people know of this series, but I loved it as a very much younger Steve the Wargamer, and still love it now as it has stood the test of time well in my view. This is the first in the series and introduces the three boys who are the main protagonists..  David, Arthur and Peter..  what can I say, they live in Yorkshire, their lives centre round the local church where they are in the choir, and in this story they investigate the secret of the mysterious case clock left by Colonel Sheperton with David's grandfather many years before and never collected...	10
	Follow up to Colonel Sheperton's Clock and in this book the boys meet and befriend an Admiral who has moved in to a local house, whilst together they make plans to fire one of the Admiral's old cannons, they also rescue an old church from ruin and investigate the disappearance of a statue from their church. Amid all that they then get hit by the worst snow storm in generations...	10

..so an absolutely outstanding year for good stories - out of those, it was a close call but on on balance I think the Black book takes it..  it brings to an end a fantastic series of books based on the experiences of a WW2 British submarine commander..

The worst lowest scoring book was still better than anything I could write, so I refuse to comment here on it..  authors work long hours, and they don't need someone like me who has never created a book, to 'diss' their efforts..  

This year?? Well I intend to keep exactly the same expectations! Fingers crossed...  

1. play more games
2. try to keep up my painting efforts.. 
3. complete the Sudan re-basing, 
4. continue reading more non-fiction... it is the heart and core of the hobby..
5. Salute and Colours...
6. Tangmere visit
7. Edgehill walk - unlikely but if we don't aim, we don't even shoot... (just call me Confucius the Wargamer....)
8. Spend less time on Facebook - it's wasted time, and it's too easy to lose an hour that I could use doing something else
9. Lose 3 stone - fed up being a fat bastard...
10. HMS Victory - been years since I last went ..

So finally, Happy New Year to all my reader - may the dice roll as required, your brushes always keep a sharp tip, the beer be hoppy and bright, and the books all page turners...