THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2023 IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

The Game Room on Dec 30, 2023; a shell, but a sound one...  

...compared to the splendid set up of in March of this year.

As is the tradition, here is a post summarizing the blogging/hobby year past. I think the two images of my game room say it all: this has been a disruptive period at Meanderer Central, to say the least, and the intermittent blogging activity is reflective of its impact on blogging.  For those who wish to really dive into the story, you can visit my very proud post of March announcing the completion of the clear out and reorganization of my hobby space. Which then I had to tear down and clear out in order to replace the skylights (which had begun leaking), Many twists and turns ensued; to make a long story short, we finally achieved closure on the project in early December of this year, and the room is now as you see it in picture #1. Mixed in with this tribulation was a rushed preparation to move house that wound up getting nixed at the last moment. These events have caused us to be in a sort of limbo, and having gone through the considerable task of clearing out and storing my entire hobby collection, I'm reluctant to unpack it and re-occupy the game room until we achieve closure on our own plans.  In the meantime, I am using the room as a project space, and do intend to run games again by making trips up to the attic to pull figures and terrain as needed. 

The disruption on the home front and the loss of my gaming space have caused much distraction, to say the least, giving the general impression of 2023 as a "lost" year, hobby wise.  However,  upon reflection, I think it was not all that bad. I  completed a major hobby project, my Joust For the Fun of It system, which I had been working on for five years. This included not only the rules and adding a content page to this blog, but putting together the knights and all the associated scenery.  I also completed another project, my Lion Rampant II references, adding a second new resource page to my blog. Although not everyone's cup of tea, I do enjoy this end of the hobby spectrum very much, but do have to remind myself to recognize these activities as valid as figures-painted and games-played  (for me, anyway). 

Looking back on the year also brought me to recognize another step forward in 2023, a return to the convention circuit and debuting my jousting game at the Mayhem convention, as well as hosting it on several occasions for our gaming club.

Looking ahead to the new year, I have started using the space again: on the table is the latest project; I'm working on a new Konnigratz Kriegspiel map in preparation for the Bloody Big Battles game I'll be running at the Mayhem 2024 convention in April.  I'll have more on this project in a future post. 

I have put my comfy chair back in  place, and am putting it to good use. Here you see the notes and scribblings for my Chocolate Box Wars (CBW) rules, which have been sidetracked for too long. I've had something of an "aha" moment in November and have been making good progress on them since. I am determined to get them done and up on this blog within this blog year.  My actual intent is to get them up by March, but for the record (and given the way that life can intervene), I think I'll just say by this time next year....

...and here is a bit of tangible evidence of work in progress beyond my scribblings and notes: several sets of print and play CBW armies.  Necessity being the mother of invention, I wanted a quick and space efficient way to playtest my system without having to unbox and pull down my miniatures. Not being happy with just symbols or colored markers, I worked up these from various and sundry sources (more details on this project will be the subject of another post). 

So, there you have it. A in brief review of 2023 and the promise of things to come in 2024.  In other words, thanks for the regulars who have continued to visit and drop a line here during this last rather down year (blogging wise); your support is very much appreciated...

...and a Happy New Year to all visitors, regular and occasional, to this space...

Excelsior!