Happy New Year from the Hermit Kingdom that is New Zealand….and another year has rolled around…..and thankfully my new(as in 4 months old) laptop is back from being repaired. The less said about that the better……and the coffee machine is also in getting repaired…again….it was blowing switches when I turned it on…..not a good sign!!

So 2022 brings us 2 of the group no longer being with us. Gamer Nick has upped stakes and moved back to Auckland(aka Plague City) but I am sure he will journey south to visit with the other members of the Auckland Group when we host ‘The Big Mother Games!’. Sadly Gamer Paul Weakley has departed to the Pacific Island resort of Vanuatu where his beloved has a Diplomatic posting which will involve 4 years of consuming Champagne and Whisky around a pool…….. a task Paul is supremely equipped to excel at!

Now 2022 finished with additional periods of interest for some. For me I have started collecting for Warlord Games ‘Victory at Sea’ 1/1800 WW2 game. I had purchased some initial box sets to start IJN and US fleets but as lovely as the models are, its not a cheap period for such tiny ships and planes. So Gamer Russ who is seemingly collecting EVERY fleet in the war has been a star and sourced 2 suppliers in the UK and US who make 3D models. For a fraction of the cost of Warlord kits I have Imperial Japanese Navy reinforcements somewhere on the way to NZ. Have gone with initial order of 1 small carrier, 3 destroyers and 20 flights of planes(have 3 carriers which need 45 flights…then my cruisers need planes etc!). The planes I have selected at 1/1200 scale as Russ got an order in over Xmas and he remarked that 1/1200 may have been better scale for the planes so I went with them. Since my order was sent Russ has been talking with the wonderful chap in the UK and he has made changes to the planes position on their bases. An in depth article including suppliers details will be made when they are here!!

The second new period for me is Battlefronts ‘Team Yankee’ which is a 1985 NATO v Soviets game with 15mm models. So have gone with West Germans, cajoled Gamer Goldie into doing Soviets and the bonus is Russ has several armies already. Perfect.

Elsewhere in Gaming Group Alan has purchased a Bavarian Napoleonic army of the new Victrix range which I checked out the other day and they do look awesome. Goldie is working through Republican Romans and Keith has started on an army Box of Warlord Games Successors(I handed over a box of Victrix Mercenary Hoplites to help him along as well) so looking forward to some good games of Ancients this year.

No pictures this time……just a quick post to start the year now laptop back!

Until next time…..which will be a report on WW2 wee ships game.

Terry