2024 was a busy year for gaming and hobby time! There were twenty-nine new games added to the collection as well as a few expansions for current games with only a handful of them not getting played yet. However, the list of unplayed games is getting bigger, and I need to get them to the table especially some of the older ones like Quacks of Quedlinburg. As for painting I completed over two hundred miniatures or pieces of terrain and would have got over my target of two hundred and fifty if it wasn’t for the hobby slump later in the year. The pile of shame is coming down slowly but I also keep adding to it with getting more units for games like Star Wars Legion and The Old World but I have also recently started painting an Eldar army for Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition and will be expanding it further this year.
So what did I actually get up to in 2024?
January saw the new year begin with a gaming day and the start of the Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps campaign with Mike. We completed the first scenario whilst learning the rules which took a couple of hours to get through. Once that was done, we played a quick game of Tiny Epic Galaxies before packing up for the day. I managed to get the rest of the HeroQuest miniatures from the base game painted before moving onto some Star Wars Legion vehicles and Warriors of Chaos ready for the release of The Old World. In between painting and the odd gaming/D&D session, l learnt how to play Books of Time from Board and Dice Games. It was an enjoyable game, and I loved the aesthetic of the game as well as the civilisation/book building element.
February was a time of change for the gaming room. I wanted to have a move around and create more space for playing and storage. I moved the terrain boxes to the spare room and miniature storage shelving into the corner before moving the gaming table to where the shelves were allowing for more room to get around the table when playing games. I put most of the miniatures into boxes for easier storage and this created a lot more space for the larger War game boxes to fit on the shelves too. My idea had worked, and the room looked a lot better, and I could fit more storage along the window wall. The move was prompted by playing a game of the newly released Old World with Mike when we struggled to get round the table to move the miniatures properly. The game itself was still fun, and we were glad to have had the opportunity to play it. More Warriors of Chaos were painted ready for the future trip to Worcester bringing the total painted to over forty for the year so far. One final game was added to the collection and played this month, and it was the excellent sequel to Scythe, Expeditions.
In March, the final batch of Chaos Warriors were painted for the Worcester trip and I decided to paint something I had been planning on doing for a while and that is working on the 3rd Edition Warhammer 40k Eldar army. I had picked up the new Striking Scorpions and some Dire Avengers to work on as well as some Warlocks. I enjoyed working on them as they looked a lot better then my Eldar army from twenty years ago. This month also saw the release of Star Wars Unlimited but initially I wasn’t going to buy any of it until some of the D&D group said they were interested in playing it. Well that soon escalated into buying as much of it as possible!
It had been a while since we had played any games with James as he had moved so in April, Mike and I took a little trip to Worcester to play some games of The Old World with him. We managed to fit in three games and got to play each other and have the obligatory Doner meat and chips from the takeaway. It was a fun day and great to play games together as a group once again. Another game was added to the collection and played. The game was Apiary by Stonemaier Games and once again it did not disappoint when I played it. Guiding space bees to colonise planets and reproduce was a fun concept and being a Stonemaier product the pieces were of a high standard I have come to expect from them.
May was the big gaming month as it is every year and the return to UK Games Expo. After the trouble with the trains last year, I was hoping there wasn’t going to be the same problem, but Ben had got a ticket and was going to drive on the Saturday. In the run up to the event, I always play a few different games I got from the previous show. We continued the Aliens campaign with the next mission and talked about getting more expansions at UKGE (which I did) to expand what I have and play different scenarios. We also played Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition that day which was fun to play with another person and not solo for a change. Other games I played that week were Planet Unknown, Dice Theme Park, Twilight Inscription and Star Realms Frontiers. There was a D&D night with a difference too, we played a couple of games in the pub as there was a birthday that week. It was fun to play Blockbuster as I had been wanting to play it for ages and it’s definitely a game we will play again at some point. Then it was on to UK Games Expo…
It was June and time for UK Games Expo. I did the usual two days there, travelling down and back each day. It was an early start on the Friday as I was catching the train at 6:30am to get there in time for the doors to be opened. As always there was a lot to do and to look at as well as potentially buy. I had a budget which made choosing things I wanted harder, but I had an idea what I wanted to get. Going home each day meant I could carry more, and it meant I did not have to fork out for a hotel. On the Saturday, Ben drove down which meant we could leave a little later and still get to the NEC by 9am. It was good to have someone to go with as we could new games together and I felt like I spent more time looking at things I normally wouldn’t look at. I picked up eighteen new games, nine expansions/miniatures expansions and other gaming goodies over both days and they were heavy. We did have a minor issue on the way home though as we broke down on the M6 but didn’t have to wait too long before we were back on the way home. It was a great weekend, and I am already looking forward to going again in 2025. The rest of June was spent sorting out the new games, building and painting some of the miniatures and of course playing some of the new games like Doomlings and Heat.
July didn’t see much gaming or hobby action for the first couple of weeks but towards the end of the month (and the start of the summer holidays) I started getting some miniatures and terrain painted. The holiday also started with Gloomhaven getting on the table but this time it was Buttons and Bugs. The tiny version of Gloomhaven played just like the original with some minor differences. It was so much quicker to set up and play meaning I got three scenarios completed in around an hour.
August was all about painting and reducing the pile of shame. I managed to paint over sixty miniatures meaning I had completed different miniatures for a variety of games like Masters of the Universe Battlegrounds and Aliens. Speaking of Aliens, we played another scenario of the campaign, but it was a rescue mission which we completed ready to move on to the next one. As I had got an expansion, we had more options for cards and more Aliens to face which made the game more thrilling. We also got to play Dropzone Commander from TT Combat and the Street Fighter Miniature Game. Both games were excellent to play especially Street Fighter as I have always been a fan of the video game. It was a card driven fighting game set over a number of rounds where you deal your opponent damage until they are knocked out.
September was a Gloomhaven heavy month with it returning to the table, but I also got the digital version on the Switch. Why both versions at the same time? I got the digital version for £7 and wanted to see how it compared to the tabletop version. They were pretty similar, and it also helped me with the rules for the tabletop version. I played this game so much and got quite a way into the campaign on both and each version helped me complete scenarios in the other I hadn’t done. There was a downside to playing Gloomhaven, I didn’t really pick up a paintbrush. I put it down to having painted so much in the summer holidays that I didn’t feel like painting much more for a while.
The first half of October was spent playing Gloomhaven but after a couple of weeks I packed it away to play some other games. I finished a few more scenarios and retired a character which is what I had been aiming for. I will be going back to Gloomhaven at some point in 2025 to complete more of the campaign. I still didn’t paint much either. I had been busy with both jobs and didn’t feel like painting much in my spare time. I just couldn’t find the motivation to paint and looking at the half-painted miniatures didn’t help either. We had a few D&D and gaming nights throughout the month as normal which were enjoyable as always especially when we were treated to a great light show outside.
November started off with the prerelease tournament for Star Wars Unlimited’s third set, Twilight of the Republic. It was a fun event and had a great turnout. I was shocked to actually come second but I was also pleased that I had. There was the usual mix of D&D mixed with games nights with Elder Sign and Wyrmspan getting played. Playing Wyrmspan with other was really good as I got a better feel for the game and enjoyed it even more plus everyone else enjoyed playing it too.
December was a quiet month for gaming with the Christmas break but we did have a couple of D&D sessions which were fun as usual. We also had a night of playing games in the pub too which doubled up as a sort of Christmas night out. We played Doomlings, which is becoming a games night staple like Elder Sign, and Cards Vs Gravity, a fun dexterity game involving balancing cards on other cards but making sure they don’t topple over (definitely a fun game for the pub). Of course, Christmas brought new games from family but a couple of surprises for Secret Santa and from the quiz team some of which will be played very soon. I also gave in and picked up Disney’s Lorcana Gateway set and two starter decks as they were half price in Tesco.
So that was a brief tour of 2024. I have set my usual hobby challenges for the year ahead, and as well as heading to UK Games Expo, I am hoping to travel to Indianapolis for GenCon. Let’s make 2025 a momentous year for gaming!
Tabletop Tales 