2021 The year that wasn't

 Welcome, at this time of the year a lot of bloggers will do a review of the year gone by, as I myself have done on many occasions, but this year was kind of different. When I put out a post on new years day entitled A grim dark new-year, I could not have guessed how dark this blog would be but on the bright side at least it wasn't grim.

No the post was about Necromunda, a game by Gamesworkshop that I was going to take up playing in the club, so I set about painting up models & making up different gangs, to be ready to take part in a campaign when lock down finally ended. 

While also getting some terrain ready, as Necromunda is a game that uses a lot of terrain.

So why no posts on what I was working on ? good question I guess & the truth of it is that doing all this didn't inspire me to do posts on it, plus I think half of me felt that that kind of thing is not really what this blog is about.

While I am not the worst modeller or painter in the world, its not what I take most pleasure from in the hobby. 

But what about the campaign? Yes I did go out into the real world & play some games, which while I enjoyed, it still didn't inspire me to do posts. 

I don't know, did I just spend to long doing my own silly little things that I was no longer a gamer? I think the answer might be yes.

So after about 5 games into the campaign I left, at this point I was at a bit of a loose end, where next with my hobby? 

I'd spent so much time painting & modelling that at that point I was burnt out, so for a while I just played some solo Space hulk, which I enjoyed but still wasn't inspired to do some posts on it. 

I then turned to Pulp Alley, made up a couple of leagues & set about doing a solo Vice Alley campaign, I'd even explored different types of leagues to give it more flavour but again I was not inspired to post anything. At this point I was wondering was my blogging days behind me after I think about 8 years. 

A lot of other people seemed to have quite & utube channels seemed to be the thing these days, maybe like video record's, blogs where going the way of the Dodo? 

Yet for what I do a utube channel would be of little use, sure you can add all kinds of special effects were as the most I can do is add a bit of snow 😢

Special effects do not a good move grantee, which is why for me the best King Kong movie is still the 1933 one. 

I needed to find inspiration & get the show back on the road, so I asked myself a question, why did I change over from If it wasn't for Ones to N&D? 

The reason was I wanted to do something a bit different, I wanted to tell stories, I no longer wanted to do things like battle report & have to explain why when I needed to make 5 2+sv's I rolled 4 1's & a 4 😂

Now in fairness I'd already started to go down that road on the old blog, but I didn't want to stop modelling. No what I wanted to do was tell stories using models. 

Remember those two ? it is of curse none other then Taylor & Connemara from the Heart stone of Africa.

It was the first of it kind for me, where I told a store & set up scenes to go with it for I think it was the first 12 episodes, after that I started using a game called Jimsland (Thanks Joe) which took the story in away I couldn't have imagined, although not given me the ending I would have liked.

Which brings me to a point I've struggled with at times, the perils of rolling dice. In nearly all wargames or RPG's people roll dice to figure out what happened, in an RPG setting you might come up with some brilliant idea of how to kill / defeat the big bad villain, but the DM/GM will still make you roll to see if this idea will work.

Now I've rolled enough dice in my time to know that you won't always get the result you'd except no matter what the odds, which is great for gaming but not so for making movies/stories, that's why you have in movies/books what I like to call the stormtrooper syndrome, you know these crack troops who are great shots, untill that is they shoot at the hero's & then couldn't hit the side of a barn from ten feet away.  That's why in some of the movies I might never roll any dice, as do you real think all of those stormtroopers shots would miss if they rolled for them ? 😂

So that's a look back at the year that wasn't but what about the year to come ?

Well yes there will be movies but movies take time to make & over a year, I would see the studio putting out no more then four & four would be a very good year, two or three would be more likely.

Now even giving that they would be made up of somewhere between 2-6 parts that could at worse be only four posts over a year & at best, but very unlikely twenty-four posts.

My guess would be somewhere between 12-15, given I do three movies with an average of five parts to each one, that's not really a lot of posts now is it ?

I guess you lot will just have to put up with things like interviews with stars, dress rehearsals where I go over what I'm doing or did to drive a story, or behind the scenes where I show you what I'm working on modelling wise.

I'm going to wrap things up at that, but before I go I like to wish you all a Happy Newyear from all at N&D & as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed.    

                                        

As always