2012 Year in Review

As I type this I'm snacking on some homemade fudge, must be December.  Which also means it must be...the end of the year in review!  Well I'm glad we avoided that whole polar-shifting apocalypse, honestly that's the main reason I didn't paint more in 2012, which we'll be getting to in a moment.  All in all it was good year for gaming in general, I don't have any complaints or regrets.  Well, not really.  I don't want to hold you up any more, I'm sure you have parties to attend this evening, so on with it!

Games Played: 127
I'm up six games from 2011's total meaning I played a game a little less than every three days.  A good pace by my estimate!  This is about the same as last year, but this year saw a lot of variety without a single game totally dominating.  Way too light on tabletop minis games though, and RPGs were...well read on. 

Race for the Galaxy leads the way in the boardgame (though it's all cards) department with a solid fourteen plays.  I love this game, plain and simple.  As my compatriot Andy has said many times, it meshes theme with mechanics better than the rest of the field.  The always-fun Qwirkle is a close second with a dozen plays.  This is a game that should be on everyone's shelf, it's quick, it's easy, it's a blast...but it's also filler, it's not exactly deep.  Thunderstone rounds out the top three most played boardgames, but barely, with seven plays.  I had numerous games tied for fourth at six plays a pop, and many with five after that.

The aircraft skirmish game, Check Your Six! lead the tabletop minis portion with a respectable six plays.  Another great game, but honestly you need to play with the right people for it to shine, I'm lucky in that department.  Both the sci-fi skirmish game Infinity and the Dark Ages warband game Saga come in tied for second place at a woeful two games each, which is too bad because both of these games are more than excellent.  A single game play somehow garners Hordes Primal MkII the third place slot.  I expect this to go up considerably in the coming year.  There's my words, mark 'em!

I had said that the RPG department suffered, well after looking at the numbers it's kind of a 'yes' and 'no' ordeal.  Turns out I played quite a few roleplaying games, it's just that none of them were with any consistency.  First place, with just three games, is the new(ish) Marvel Heroic.  Lots of fun, slick system, nice format, this game has it all.  I want to play more of this, and soon.  In an unprecedented three-way tie for second place, with two games each are: Legends of Anglerre (saddest loss of potentially the best campaign that never got off the ground), Pathfinder (so much potential, but needs a dedicated DM), and finally Rogue Space (a sci-fi indie RPG I highly recommend).  In third place with just a single play, is Fiasco.  I said earlier I have no regrets, well I take that back.  One play for a game as great as Fiasco is shameful, that's all there is to it.  I regret not playing Fiasco more.

Miniatures Painted: 14
I almost thought about copping out on this category's writeup because I really don't have anything to say for myself.  There's no excuse that a blog with "minis" in the title only paints fourteen models in an entire year!  Looking at tabletop minis games played however does shed some light on it.  You paint what you play, and I just didn't play anything really.  Check Your 6! requires ZERO minis on my part, the guys I play with have entire armadas of airplanes from just about any historical time period with  engines and wings, so no painting needed there.  I played the two games of Infinity and guess what, almost half of these fourteen figs painted were for Infinity.  The addition of Hordes to the game table is a new development, as in this very month.  I have models for it, they have no paint, I expect that to change.  I wish I could say more, but there's nothing more to say.

Miniatures Bought: 372
Well, maybe the "minis" in the blog title refers to figures bought instead!  As my blog-brother Brad pointed out, a lot of these shouldn't count against my 2012 totals.  However, since much negotiating with the wife occurred over a couple of these key transactions, I went ahead and counted them.  Namely the Reaper super-haul that 15,000+ of us bought into.  Well that package alone accounts for a hundred and fifty plus figures right there.  Speaking of Kickstarter, the Loud Ninja Games' Chuhuac Space Raptors project was just too good to let slip by as well, and since I'm on the Loud Ninja roster it'd be kind of suspect if I wasn't on board, haha.  Chalk up another sixty plus space raptors.  We're already way over two hundred figs.  It's those 15mm figs that have destroyed this 'bought' category, you just get too good of a deal with the little buggers, and they come in large quantities to boot!  I dare not make any lofty statements like, "With this minis figs bought in 2012 I shouldn't have to by any in 2013!"

Ahem.

So, without any resolutions or promises for next year, any goals or even a mention of the HUD (which is now at the bottom of the blog mind you) I bid you a hearty happy new year.  2012 was pretty much brought to life here on the blog thanks to friends like you who just happen to care enough to read to the bottom of the post.  Rock on.