Friday 1 January 2021

Happy New Year!

If a picture paints a thousand words, I reckon that graphic says it all. I am sure most of the globe is glad to see the back of 2020. The outlook for the start of the New Year may look grim, but the one thing we can be sure of is that the sun will rise again.

It is certainly not a year I want to repeat in a hurry. Here in New Zealand we plunged into a hard lockdown early in the pandemic and we shut the thing down, but tourism, one of our major sources of income, is in tatters. My work is in aviation an industry that has been utterly hammered. My employer reduced flying at one point by 95% of the schedule and 40% of the staff - many of whom I counted as colleagues and friends of twenty years - were laid off. We had a long overdue visit family in  Canada planned for August and that was quickly kicked to the curb as borders closed.

In late July we heard the sad news that a friend of ours had taken his life - we still don’t know why and never will. Days later, after more than 100 days without community spread, the virus reared its head again and we had a regional lockdown imposed that limited attendance at funerals to ten and we were denied the opportunity to celebrate his life. Then in October her indoors suffered a medical event that caused serious concern - thankfully she is well on the way to recovery now.

All that said, there have been moments of brightness in this dark year. Having eliminated community spread we are enjoying a level of freedom not seen in many other countries, including the ability for face-to-face gaming, open restaurants, theatres and bars, sports events and othe large gatherings and unrestricted domestic travel - something we have taken full advantage of with three wonderful short trips in the latter half of the year to parts of the country not previously visited. Thus far the economic damage has been less than forecast and the only two restrictions imposed on us now are the closure of our borders and mandatory mask wearing on public transport. But we can ill-afford to be complacent since a single slip up at the border could undo all our collective effort - fingers crossed that we can continue to keep this insidious thing at bay.

For me the highlight of the year was our highly anticipated annual wargames week away. This is perhaps the only time in the year that I get to totally relax and while it was a truncated event for me it still provided a few days of peace in these turbulent and stressful times.

Looking back at my gaming year, as I do at this time every year, it shows a downturn across all areas of activity. 

In terms of numbers of games I played a total of nineteen, down five on last year, but there was a good range across thirteen eras: 5x Napoleonic games, 2x American Civil War, 2x Dark Ages and 1 each of 100 Years War, War of Spanish Succession, Spanish Civil War, Modern Afghanistan, English Civil War, First Carlist War, WWI 1918, Crimean War, Western Gunfighters and War of 1812.

My scratch building efforts have been dramatically reduced, with just four small buildings for the Paraguayan War and, of course, my woods bases and swamps. Could it be that I am reaching the point where I have buildings and terrain items to cover all my gaming periods? I think not...more exciting scratch building activities are waiting in the wings and will develop next year.

On the painting front although the item count is still a respectable 1,100 plus items activity has been the lowest since 2015 and down 34% over last year. In part this is because of the strain that COVID-19 has put on international mail services, but largely because I have reduced the number of projects I am working on. While our economy has not crashed as predicted I think I have just subconsciously cut back expenditure. So what did come off the painting table this year?

There have only been two major projects: the American Civil War and Great Paraguayan War. I managed to add another demi-brigade to the French Revolutionary army and painted up half a dozen American War of Independence British figures that had been laying around. The remainder of the painting work this year was accounted for in the Crimean War expansions that were required for the game played at the Tarawera game in late-November. In detail the statistics are:



By item count there were 920 foot figures, 140 mounted figures, 7 guns and 80 scratch built items. 

As a comparison the following table shows progress for the last seven years.


So as the new year starts here’s hope for a brighter year, new projects with shiny new toys and great games. HAPPY NEW YEAR and stay safe.








 



14 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. It has been a cruel year in that respect and we lost a close friend during the April lockdown here which meant we couldn't go to his funeral. I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must be for those who didn't have the opportunity to farewell their parents.

    Anyway, I hope that we can open up the borders between NZ and Australia at some point next year and that we might have a chance to catch up for dinner/lunch/a quick coffee to revise your spreadsheet.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. Let’s hope that the problems in Sydney don’t kill the travel bubble ideas. We are quite keen to go up to the Sunshine Coast or Port Douglas - places we enjoyed but have not been to for years.

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  2. Mark, love the 2020 graphic! I had not seen that before. It has been a difficult year for many but as wargamers, we had a hobby offering offering solace and distraction even in quarantine. Very sorry to read of the loss of your friend. Travel. I have forgotten what that is like...

    As for painting output, even in a 'down' year, you most of us to shame by the body counts you pile up. Fantastic work yet again, Mark. Congratulations. We all hope that 2021 begins a return toward normalcy.

    Happy New Year!

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    1. Thank you Jonathan. Yes travel...somehow I don’t think it is ever going to be the same again. The figure count is likely to be low again this year too, with several small projects rather than some of the huge projects of the past...but then again if too many shiny objects are placed in front of the magpie you never know!

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  3. Happy New Year to you too Mark! I sincerely hope that you avoid the sort of lockdown we are experiencing and can continue to enjoy a near normal life. Your review does show that there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

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    1. Thanks Steve. I feel for you in your lockdown. Our first one was relatively easy for us because of the novelty, but the second one was hard. I don't know how we as a country would react to a third one.

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  4. Mark, greatly enjoyed following your adventures thus years and looking forward to next year. Many thanks for all!

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    1. Thanks Mark. I have enjoyed your blogging too!

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  5. Mark your productivity even in a difficult year like this continues to amaze...
    I have said it before and I will no doubt say it again... I am truly envious of you having the government you have...I have forgotten what a social life is.... and what is this pub thing I here people talking about... living in a country run by clowns I have developed a severe case of politician related Tourette’s Syndrome...
    Here’s to more games and more travel...

    All the best and A Happy and Prosperous New Year to you and yours....

    Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. As I have said before this is one of the occasions in my life that I am truly glad that I live deep in the South Pacific, a thousand miles from our nearest neighbours and with a small population. I am saddened by the daily reports we see of the situation in other countries. Stay safe.

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  6. Happy New Year to you too Mark! Its been a strange one but a lot better here than in most places. I think we were lucky to have a government in power at the time that put public welfare and health ahead of the economy - if they had tried to keep tourism going, we would be in the same situation as the UK or US, Given that, I am in no rush to reopen the borders to anywhere - I can go another year without international travel if it means we don't have a recurrence of the virus within our country! The way it is right now is fine with me! Hope to see you and the team for a game in the not to distant future.

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    1. Keith I agree we have pursued the right course and we are lucky that we live in a society that has been largely compliant for the common good.

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  7. And to you Mark, that's quite an output given the real world distractions.. Looking forward to see what 2021 brings.
    Best wishes
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stu. I hope all is well and safe with you and your family.

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