As we get ready to close Breakthrough Assault Tower for the Christmas break, the writing team take time out to look back on the year that was, as well as what we are looking forward to in 2019.
Lee
I think I have two highlights for 2018. The first was “Fate of Four Gamers”; putting together, painting and playing an entirely new army for an entirely new (for me) period, all with a target date for completing each section. It pushed me out of my comfort zone but was immensely rewarding for it. Importantly, it made for some fun games versus Fez and Duncan, as well as my regular opponents in Brighton.
Fate of a Nation also made me feel a bit more enthused for the future of Team Yankee, post v2. It’s no secret that Team Yankee has somewhat tailed off in Brighton, but the changes that Fate of a Nation introduced have been broadly welcomed and has helped tide everyone over till the new edition arrives.
The second highlight was my first tournament as a player! I’ve played in ones that I was also running and never really enjoyed the experience as I was usually worrying about the smooth running of the event whilst also trying to concentrate on the game. This was far more relaxed, combined with Duncan’s emphasis on having fun over power gaming. Along with the new Eastern Front books, this year has got me re-engaged with WWII wargaming again.
Looking forward and its hard to pick what I’m most looking forward to. I think Oil War is probably leading the way.
Not only because I’m interested to see what 1980’s Israeli look like in game (Merkavas!) but also because, since it was announced that Iraq would be in it, I have had the idea of doing my own home-brew Kuwait list (ala the 1990 Battle of the Bridges). Who doesn’t love the idea of an army that combines Chieftains, BMP-2 and Skyhawks!
Richard
As my gaming and writing time has really dropped away in 2018 for all sorts of reasons I don’t really have a lot of options for highlights if I’m being honest so afraid I’m going to be boring and fall back on the same thing I did last year which was the ETC, this year held in Zagreb.
I had the honour to captain Team Scotland (though to be fair we had three Irishmen playing for us, this year due to a shortage of players). Despite only having played about 15 games of v4 between us, we managed a very creditable 11th place; four wins behind winners, Russia.
I’d like to thank all the readers who voted to send me to the ETC with a Norwegian army; I ended with four wins and two draws, unbeaten, so maybe you lot aren’t so bad after all! It was also great to take part in the Open Day at Nottingham, and pick up the trophy for the Team Yankee tournament.
Going forward I’m looking forward to running a few more Team Yankee tournaments in conjunction with the DWARF club in Dunfermline.
Martin
Well for me the obvious highlight of 2018 was getting invited to join the Breakthrough Assault collective! On a hobby note it was without doubt finally getting an Italian desert army put together from the great new range of models at present it stands at about 200 points in size but will undoubtedly grow more 2019 if I can stop buying soviets! I managed to only get to two events this year the BF Open Day which was great fun and set a good benchmark for the future.
The other was Duncan’s from the Desert to the Dneiper event which ultimately resulted in me writing this!
Going Forward, there is so much in 2019 to get excited about, like Lee I’m quite excited about Oil Wars it looks very cool and could see my first foray into World War III, Team Yankee.
The first task though will be to complete the rebuild of my mid war soviets which will keep me occupied for some time after a few quick extra tank units to fill out some missing slots in my existing collections the major plan for the first half of 2019 is to build a new Naval infantry force representing the 6. Brigada Morskoi Pekhoty who defended Lenningrad during the siege so these will have urban bases and I will be able to play some city fight games.
I hope to get to a few more events this year work permitting so if you see me make sure to say ‘Hi’.
Duncan
Well, 2018 has been a bit of a hobby roller coaster one way or another. There have been three standout highlights for me this year and like Lee, my first was the “Fate of Four Gamers” challenge.
The Fate of Four Gamers, was for me, a new experience. I’ve never taken part in a painting challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong it was extremely taxing and hard graft but I loved the coming together of the army and the banter that accompanied it. I think Fate of a Nation, both as a book and as a period, has been an unexpected hit for me. I’ve enjoyed the research that I had to put in and the change in step is was from the WW2 I’d become accustomed to.
My next highlight was running my MW V4 event in Crawley. I’d never run an event before and the success of it was a bit of a surprise to me. Again, the organisation was a bit of time but I really enjoyed getting everyone together and meeting new people and seeing cool new armies!
Finally, in 2018 I returned to playing in some events. Warfare, at Colours – Reading, was really cool. Again, some great games, great people and a real two day experience that was awesome. The Tiger challenge was great fun to be part of an something I would jump at again in a heartbeat.
Looking forward to 2019 I’m hoping I can get my MW T-34s and US forces reading for the tabletop and I’m excited to see what LW will bring us… maybe some more Germans!
Have a great Christmas and I’ll see you again in 2019… just remember; we can stop anytime we want…
Mark N
2018 came and went with a bang, with all manner of events, releases and speculation around what’s coming next. For myself, 2018 was memorable mainly for the Battlefront Open Day. I have been involved with Battlefront through the Ranger Program for a few years now, and even though the program folded a while back, I kept a special relationship with the guys at the UK Office, in contact with them every other week about events going on up here (North of the Wall). To finally meet the guys who I’d been phoning for a while was a great experience, and hopefully there’s going to be another this coming year.
In terms of Flames itself, it’s been a wild one, with tournaments and organised play events keeping the guys up here entertained and excited for new releases. The small success of the Firestorm: Red Thunder campaign has certainly paved the way for future events in that style, and with the announcement that another Beasts of War online campaign for Late War is in the planning stages has us all buzzing with excitement.
And finally for myself, the highlight at the end of the year was definitely the Scottish Nationals. With a decent turnout, and the first chance for many players to experience tournament play, and the new City Fighting missions, it was certainly memorable.
Breakthrough Assault will return on the 7th January!