Annual Review

Late to the party here. Lots of people seem to be doing it and after humming and ahhing I decided it would be useful for me to review what happened in 2020 and reflect on it. And what a different year it has been. I'm going to break this down into Books, Games Played, Blogging and Real Life, before having a look forward to this year. 

Apologies this is going to be long. I'll just give you time to get your coffee ready first. You'll need it. And a couple of biscuits.

Right! Ready?

Books

2020 saw me buy 28 books and booklets. A lot more than usual for me. This was a result of the Lockdowns. More time, more cash and libraries being closed. This year's purchases included some stars and some 'put-downables'. The pick of the bunch were the Wild Goose and the Eagle, Hey For Old Robin, the Barratt books, plus the Chester and Alton booklets. Put down before finishing: the Symond's diaries and Wanton Troopers (what a sadly misleading title!). The best of the rules purchased were In Deo Veritas.

Title	Author	Period	Comment
In Deo Veritas	Philip Garton	17th Century	Playable rules for large (and small) 17th Century battles.
Rebels and Patriots	Michael Leck and Dan Mersey	America - SYW to ACW	Skirmish rules. Not tried yet.
Wargamers Handbook of the American War of Independence	Donald Featherstone	AWI	Old edition.
Wargamers Handbook of the American War of Independence	Donald Featherstone	AWI	John Curry history of wargaming edition. Don’t know why I bought this second copy. Whoops!
Uniforms of the American Revolution	Mollo and McGregor	AWI	Useful colour plates showing all branches of both sides.
The Men Who Would be Kings	Dan Mersey	Colonial	Skirmish rules. Not tried yet.
More Like Lions Than Men	Andrew Abram	ECW	Account of the Parliamentarian army of Cheshire. Narrative parts very interesting. Some of the
Hey For old Robin!	Chris Scott and Alan Turton	ECW	Earl of Essex’s campaigns. Excellent read.
Richard Symond’s Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army	Ed CE Long. Intro by Ian Roy	ECW	Quite frankly, mostly dull. Much of the diary is taken up with Symond’s interest in heraldry, genealogy, church architecturals.
For Duty Alone: Ralph Hopton’s Account of the Last Campaign in the West	Ed John Barratt	ECW	Booklet. Haven’t actually read it yet.
Wanton Troopers: Buckinghamshire in the Civil Wars	Ian Beckett	ECW	Study of society & war in Bucks. Quite frankly too much background for my liking. Lots about the value of different families’ property. Not one for thrill-seekers.
Royalists	John Barratt	ECW	Overview of the Royalist army. I previously read a copy from the library, but haven’t read this copy yet. Highly recommended reading. Inspired me to get cracking with this period a few years ago.
The Battle of Nantwich 1644	John Barratt	ECW	Booklet. Lots of useful detail.
The First Battle of Newbury	John Barratt	ECW	Very good
The Storming of Alton & Arundel 1643	Robert Morris	ECW	Booklet. Very interesting and useful account of Waller’s campaign.
The Great Leaguer of Chester	Stephen Pickstock	ECW	Booklet. Great holiday reading. Inspiring account of the epic attempt to take Chester.
Prince Rupert the Cavalier	Clennell Wilkinson	ECW (mainly)	Inter-War biography of the original Rupert in the British Army. Good read. Clearly pro-Royalist
For Orange and the States: The Army Of The Dutch Republic, 1713-1772, Part I: Infantry: 15	Marc Geerdink-Schaftenaar	Late WSS-AWI	Useful introduction. Rare to find something dedicated to this subject.
For Orange and the States: The Army of the Dutch Republic, 1713-1772, Volume 2: Cavalry and Special Troops	Marc Geerdink-Schaftenaar	Late WSS-AWI	I ordered volume I ‘because it was cheap’, got sent vol.2 and they then sent me the right one so they let me keep it for the same price.
The Longest Afternoon	Brendan Simms	Napoleonic	About the 2nd Light Bn of the KGL at la Haye Sainte. Interesting read. The subtitle (The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo) seems more than a little overblown as a claim.
The Wild Goose and the Eagle: A life of Marshall von Browne 1705-1757	Christopher Duffy	Polish Succession/WAS/SYW	New edition of Duffy classic. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in the mid-18th century.
With Frederick the Great	GA Henty	SYW	Late Victorian novel about a young Highland noble who serves in Frederick’s army. Everything works out splendidly for the lad. All the blooming time!
The Battle of Minden	Stuart Reid	SYW	Subtitled the Miraculous Victory of the Seven years War. Why do publishers do this? Mostly Anglo-centric version of events. Nothing much about the Germans and next to nothing on the French side.
Der Alte Fritz	Richard Knötel	SYW (mainly)	Postcard size plates from the famous artists. Accompanying text in German. A must have!
Solo Wargaming	Donald Featherstone	Various	Classic Don. Collection of re-print of various older articles.
Wargaming: An Introduction	Neil Thomas	Various	Thomas intro and rules. Probably needs no introduction from me.
Microcosm: portrait of a Central European City	Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse	Various	History of the city known by different names: most familiar as Breslau (it’s easier to pronounce than Wrocław). Very interesting.

Almost forgot that I got the Age of Reason, SYW Campaign Rules by Tod Kershner. These are an old set covering the Prussian invasion of Bohemia in 1757. They look an excellent. Hopefully they'll get a run out in 2021.

Wargames Played

Well this aspect of my spare time also greatly surpassed 2019. I only managed 6 wargames in 2019. In 2020 I nearly tripled that with 17. Of these 7 were ECW, 6 were SYW, 3 Napoleonics and 1 WWII. One ECW battle (Nantwich) and one SYW battle (Lobositz) were fought solo 4 times and 3 times respectively. 10 games were played solo and 7 against real people via Zoom/FaceTime. So again Covid-19 had an impact with remote gaming being a new feature.

In terms of rules used, 6 games were played using my own rules (3 different periods), 11 using other people's rules. The other 11 were In Deo Veritas rules (1), Polemos Marechal de l'Empire (1),  Peter's ECW D3 rules (1), Prinz Eugen (4), and Tony's Ramekin C&C variants for Naps (2) and ECW (2). I have to say I enjoyed all the sets. Each set has a different angle to them, different benefits, and suit slightly different levels of action This has been the most varied year for many years in terms of periods and rulesets. I would conclude it's been a richer experience all round.

Battle	Period	Rules	People	Hex?
Fuentes de Oñoro	Napoleonic	C&C Napoleonics Ramekin	Remote	Y
Kluis	Napoleonic	C&C Napoleonics Ramekin	Remote	Y
Koski’s Last Stand*	WWII	Own - Metsäsota	Remote	N
Kunersdorf	SYW	Own - Bellona et Fortuna	Solo	N
Lansdowne	ECW	ECW D3	Remote	Y
Lobositz	SYW	Prinz Eugen	Solo	Y
Lobositz	SYW	Prinz Eugen	Solo	Y
Lobositz	SYW	Prinz Eugen	Solo	Y
Nantwich	ECW	C&C ECW Ramekin	Solo	Y
Nantwich	ECW	C&C ECW Ramekin	Solo	Y
Nantwich	ECW	Own - Jacob Astley’s Prayer	Solo	N
Nantwich	ECW	Own - Jacob Astley’s Prayer	Solo	N
Newbury	ECW	In De Veritas	Solo	N
Tadcaster	ECW	Own - Jacob Astley’s Prayer	Remote	N
Torgau	SYW	Own - Bellona et Fortuna	Remote	N
UnruhigeWasser*	Napoleonic	Polemos	Remote	N
Zinna	SYW	Prinz Eugen	Solo	Y

* imaginary scenario

As well as the above mentioned rules I also acquired Rebels and Patriots and the Men Who Would be Kings, Age of Reason Campaign, and the boardgame War Without an Enemy, none of which I have played yet.

Blogging

Blogging took off for me, unsurprisingly in 2020. The total number of posts (135) more than doubled the 2019 total of 54, though I didn't get started until April in that year.

I haven't analysed the numbers (that would be too much like real work) but my walking posts seemed the post popular. I certainly enjoyed writing them. I got satisfaction from the walks at least twice. Once through the actual walk, and once through recalling them and blogging about them. I had done some walking posts in 2019, but they became a feature of 2020 with the original lockdown here in the UK.

Another significant feature for me was the increase in comments and level of interaction through blogging. The time, courtesy and effort people have put in to responding to my humble efforts has been rewarding. I'd like to extend my thanks to all who have read, commented, offered suggestions and given support.

Real Life

The big event, what could be seen as the big divide this year for me, was not Covid-19 and the Lockdowns, but my Mum's not unexpected death in April. For much of the year it didn't feel like the big divide. As I mentioned in Good Friday post, it seemed like a release at the time. The person I knew seems to have passed on a couple of years before with her dementia. Only more recently has her death's import sunk in. I think there will be more to unravel over the coming months. By contrast, after my father's death I noticed an immediate gap and my grief (though not dramatic) was much more palpable and I thought about him every day. I've only very recently acknowledged the affect 'all this' has had on me.

February saw what in retrospect was the lucky timing of our Liverpool trip. Whilst Offspring #1 has been back down this way since, we only saw him fleetingly and that was several months ago. A Christmas re-union was first off the cards (due to work), then on the cards (change of work situation), then off the cards (job for son), on again (shift change) and off finally with London being relegated to Tier 4. Tch!

Lockdown did bring its positives. I spent more time with the twins as they were home-schooling from early March and not back until after Summer holidays. It was great having that human company  as I've not been in the office since early March either (and hey, they're great company).  I've been lucky in my work too. My job is 90+% working with people remotely anyway, and my income didn't suffer. It was nice having the place to myself for a while in the Autumn when they did finally go back to school - at least they were back home after 3PM. Sometimes. Not commuting saved me over 2 hours a day, to say nothing of savings in fuel. In fact the second car got sold. Lockdown 2 hit me more though, mainly because of the impact on exercise.

I had an operation in April - again lucky to get it done at that time given the closure of most non-elective surgery. It was no biggie, basically in and out in a day though the general anaesthetic had an interesting affect. Discomfort for a couple of weeks and so far no unwelcome side effects. More good luck!

Leading on from that topic, health and exercise has been an up and down experience this year. There was the condition that led to the op - painful and disruptive, but there are worse things to have. The pool I use normally closed with Lockdown. I did start running a bit but a 'dodgy knee' severely limited that. Why I didn't get out on my bike in the beautiful Spring weather I'll never know. So walking became the thing, and it was pleasurable for several reasons.  It came about because of good weather, longer evenings, more spare time and initially an inability to exercise in other ways. Most of the walks were in the company of my wife, who has always had the knack of being a good companion, even in the days when her level of English inhibited her saying much. On some of them I also had the company of at least one of the twins (usually the 'younger' one). I knew the main historical features of the local area, but by walking more, especially in places I hadn't walked before I discovered more of the local history. Even areas I'd been to before gave up new revelations simply because I was moving slowly enough to observe more. The third way I derived satisfaction was that it helped build up fitness and stamina.

By June I decided to tackle the fat round my midriff and started a successful diet. Since finishing that in mid-September I've put about 2 of the 10 kg back on. It could have been worse considering. The pool re-opened in late July and on my first visit it hit me like a thunderclap how much I missed it. It felt great to be back. Bus there and walk back, then after my holiday I was biking there and back. The swimming increased and the bike route lengthened as I built up a level of fitness I haven't reached for years. I was feeling cocky when Lockdown 2 happened. Motivation went out the window and exercise fell off a cliff. It built up again in December (the pool remained open despite Tier 4 regs being imposed) and then Lockdown 3 started. I'm determined to react better than I did in November. Famous last words?

At home we finally got the kitchen refurbished after 5 years of prevarication. We'd delayed due to thoughts of building an extension but my better half decided she didn't want a mortgage hanging over us for longer, so an unambitious refurb happened and it's made a surprisingly positive impact.

Football. 

To describe what has happened to the club I support over the last year needs a post of its own. I've tried to do it here but I can't do it justice in anything that's halfway grammatical. I tried to do it a quarter way grammatical. Still too long for this! So see separate post. Does it matter in a wargaming blog? Well no. But I did threaten opinionated 'dribble' about Grimsby Town Football Club when I started this blog. I offer it up as a way to vent some steam and maybe it throws up some wider themes for these times.

Plans for 2021

Like nearly every wargames blogger I read, I hope to get more gaming in this year. Maybe colonial at some point.  I have thoughts of running a SYW campaign using the AOR rules. I should get the AWI toys out too. I've talked in the past about a narrative ECW campaign set around this corner of Surrey, rather like the Lincs campaign I covered in 2019. Then there's the ECW campaign using This War Without an Enemy. Also there's the merest soupçon of a hint of a new recruit. Or more accurately a re-recruit. My old mucker, Lincolnshire Tom (also of this postcode area) revealed he used to do WWII aerial and naval games. After 25 years he let's this one out.

I expect a fairly light year in terms of painting and new model acquisitions. Some buildings for the AWI. Some more AWI figures. But I will only do these last two 'sub-projects' if I actually get some games in first.  Obviously if I do take the colonial plunge I will need a complete new set of toys and terrain.

Health-wise, I have to make sure I don't slip into the mire that I slipped into in November. I'm not setting any exercise targets at this stage. But I will keep active. I'd like to trim some of the recently re-acquired fat off too. I'm also going to make an effort to vocalise my concerns more. It's not that I have any hang-ups about 'weakness'. It's just I am generally built to 'get on with it'. I think I downplay stuff that others make more of a song and dance about. I'm not planning to become a drama queen, just to say "I'm here, this affects me" more often.

With vaccines being rolled out, the end of the current blight is theoretically in sight. But if the last 12 months has taught us anything, it is surely not to make plans based on this thing finishing by any set date. A holiday would be nice. There was talk of a Winter train trip to Finnish Lapland. If it's a staycation again then I'd like to finally go coasteering. Failing that anything with lots of 'wild swimming'. Also if we do get to the point when it is safe to do so, we (the wider family) would like to arrange a big extended family get together as we were prevented from doing this when Mum died*. Hopefully family members whom are currently very ill are all still with us then.

* And I'm still angry about Dom Cumming's magical mystery tour around that time.

Subject to the sale of my parents' house, we want to have a garden studio (which is my codename for Shedquarters). It might not mean a permanent wargames table, at least not one fixed in position, since there are competing demands on the space. There's talk of yoga, dance and parties. This will take some careful planning, if the funding comes through.

The house needs external insulation and new cladding. In a country where millions are unemployed it should be easy to find a firm with the capacity shouldn't it? No?

Personal finances: recent months has seen me take a new approach to saving (well new to me). Hopefully it will pay off. And I've started to make bigger pension contributions. Something I've put off for too long.

Finally, I talked myself into a couple of interesting, major initiatives at work. One of which could notionally lead to me making myself partially redundant. Hmm! Might have to re-think some of the above.