2025 Retrospective

The last calendar year has been one of the more enjoyable from a hobby perspective, at least since the late 70's and early 80's when the world was still young and full of possibility. 

Painting

From a painting perspective I managed to finish my AWI British with the last of the Hessians:

This allowed me to make a start on an AWI Continental Army in February, completing it in August; exclusively Perry from memory and comprised of 498 foot and mounted figures, 28 horses and 6 artillery pieces:

Unfortunately none of my AWI figures have seen the table yet, but that will hopefully be rectified in 2026 with at least a few games of Sharpe Practice and/or Rebels and Patriots. 

I then managed to squeeze in a bit of terrain in the form of some Najewitz Modellbau 15mm Spanish villas (more of this to come in 2026 as they are part of a Spanish village set), and some 28mm Grand Manner Napoleonic European terrain:

The latter is a source of particular embarassment as they really are lovely pieces but have been languishing in my pile for over ten years. I have at least seventy of them, so I immediately became enthused and primed a couple of dozen, only to have barely laid a brush on them since.

The last four months of 2025 saw me turn to what I shall always think of as my 'Arab Spring', with the completion of a 15mm Ghaznavid army:

Closely followed by a Daylami Dynasty army:

Thankfully both these armies have seen a game each, although both have lost. The curse of the new army? 

Perhaps, although both results were quite close and, in the case of the Ghaznavids at least, but for two rounds of appalling dice throwing on my part they probably should have won. Fun games both.

Apart from a dozen or so buildings and artillery pieces then, the final tally for 2025 is 1356 figures in total comprised of 1161 foot and mounted figures, 187 horses and 8 elephants. 

Not a bad effort and I feel quite happy with this result, especially as a fair chunk were 28mm figures.

Gaming

My gaming revolves around two hour or so sessions on every second Monday night with my friend Dale, and fortnightly Saturday Ancients DBMM group games. I would estimate that this equates to forty gaming sessions during the year, so I'm certainly not starved for table time.

The main difference however is that the DBMM games are always begun and concluded on the Saturday with most taking around three hours or thereabouts, so that is around twenty DBMM games completed in total. 

The Monday night games however span everything from WWII Naval through Napoleonics to a Midgard 28mm Dark Ages game we are currently planning, which gives me the variety I enjoy. Some games, such as General d'Armee, can span many evenings so I would estimate we have probably only played eight or so discreet games during 2025.

All up then, probably around 28 games during the year, and if I could remember to take  photos and write up a few more AARs that I so enjoy seeing on other people's blogs I would have had the definitive number.

Possibly the big realisation for 2025 is that I don't really enjoy solo gaming. 

Having finally laid claim to a gaming room I didn't actually get around to using it and have now had to surrender the downstairs to one of our expectant children, who has moved in with her husband and twin infants. 

I of course made the appropriate noises of complaint as I moved the shelving and completed armies back to my painting/hobby room, but have accumulated considerable goodwill toward my real aim which is to construct a purpose-built air-conditioned detached room either in the backyard here, or the next house if and we decide to move.

Purchases

I don't really want to think about these. The usual impulse buys of several gaming mats from Lithuania, a 15mm WWII US tank division which I will probably never get to, Mirliton Renaissance Swiss and Burgundian armies etc. etc. 

The purchases have definitely gone down dramatically from ten or so years ago but I can't resist the new and shiny, usually as result of something I have seen on another blog. 

I like to research and complete projects in one go as much as possible, which is presumably why the more recent purchases are still top of mind and are invariably completed ahead of much older ones, for which the enthusiasm has to be rekindled.

Projects for 2026

First off will be the completion of an Arab Conquest army, scheduled to make an appearance against some Norse Irish a week on Saturday. 

I really don't like such deadlines as I prefer to paint at my own pace, but I do seem to have made some progress over the past few days and have today just completed another thirty-nine cavalry.

Beyond that, I have some 15mm dark ages Welsh in mind and will then return to my badly stalled ECW project to complete the cavalry and dragoons. 

I'd also like to complete the 20 or so Foundry French artillery pieces I have had on my desk for the past three years, if only because it would then allow me to field a full 28mm French Napoleonic army against my already completed 28mm Spanish and Portuguese armies.

For which I'll need to build the wargaming room in the backyard, of course.

Happy 2026 everyone!

Ghaznavid Army Completed

After having completed the Ghaznavids a couple of weeks ago I thought it time to take a few pictures of the assembled army:

As DBMM armies go, it packs quite a punch. Even though it is ostensibly cavalry-based, the limited infantry options are quite effective and the ability to field up to eight elephants can be very handy, albeit expensive:

Some of these figures, such as the horse archers, Daylami infantry and four elements of  allied Arab cavalry will find their way into other armies now that I have decided to press on with Daylami dynasty and Arab Conquest projects:

This is my first complete Forged in Battle army. I have done a few of their lovely buildings in the past and various camp and baggage figures, but never a whole army. They have a great range and the figures are well-proportioned with a nice amount of detail:

A couple of minor quibbles in that some of the mounted figures don't have a large contact point to affix them to horses and the sculpts require a little but of cleanup, although nothing too onerous:

The army consists of 283 foot and cavalry figures, 110 horses and eight elephants, making 401 figures completed in total, and took just over two months:

They have already lost their first outing against some Nikephorean Byzantines, primarily due to an appalling run of bad dice throwing rather than anything I would have done differently. When you field a line of six elephants against skutatoi and essentially all you have to do is beat them on a D6 to kill them, but fail to do any damage for two rounds of combat, you know it's not going to be your day. Hopefully that means I have got all the bad luck for them out of the way in a single game though.

I'm nearly halfway through the Daylami so will probably save any posts on them until they are completed. In the meantime I'll try to post a quick AAR of a recent Napoleonic battle, if I can remember what actually happened.

Last of the Ghaznavids and First of the Daylami

The last two weeks have been spent tying up the loose ends for my 15mm Ghaznavid army. This has seen a variety of troops completed and first up were three elements of artillery. The DBMM Army list only calls for one, but the Forged in Battle pack allows for three and they will no doubt come in useful at some stage:

Nice figures, although to my eye the bolt shooter itself is on the smaller end of the scale:

In the same pack there were enough figures to complete three elements of Naffatun, naptha-throwing infantry:

These are nice little figures carrying bags full of incendiary weapons:

The army list also allows a variety of pike, sword and bow-armed Afghan and Muslim infantry, although not a large amount as the Ghaznavids were primarily a cavalry-based army:

I also found that I had a couple of horse archers and six command figures left over, so I asked Forged in Battle if they would include a few extra horses in a recent order as it seemed a pity to waste them, and they obliged with a dozen free of charge:

Most DBMM armies allow the inclusion of a camp which strengthens the army, unless one's opponents manages to sack it. Baueda have some nice Arabic tents so I ordered a handful. In spite of three coats of Testors Dullcote the blue on the command tent is still reflecting under a harsh direct light, although less so to the naked eye:

Painting in the creases on the command tent was a pain, but I was generally happy with the result:

I was also pleased with the two smaller tents, although the brown one looks a bit like a chocolate in an assortment box:

Finally, the Ghaznavid army list also allows for up to nine elements in total of Daylami allies, a people from the mountainous area in northern Iran. 

There is a separate DBMM Daylami list which includes Ghanznavid allies so I decided to purchase enough to provide for a Daylami army in its own right. I have also purchased options for Arab Conquest and Seljuk Turkish armies and, given it is not yet summer, this is turning into a bit of an Arab spring for me. Here are the nine elements' worth of Daylami that can ally with the Ghaznavids:

And the completed Daylami contingent thus far, with a lot more of the same to come over the following weeks:

The Ghaznavid army is therefore now completed and I believe it has taken me around ten to eleven weeks, which I am quite pleased with. I'll try to haul them all out for a group photo over the coming week.

Ghaznavid Infantry and Elephants

Being primarily a cavalry army there is not a lot of foot in a Ghaznavid army. What little infantry exists is made up of a few Arab and Daylami allies, and a handful of Ghaznavid spear, bow and skirmishers. The DBMM army list allows only four elements of Ghaznavid spear and two each of bow and skirmishers, but given the Forged in Battle packs are comprised of 24 figures I decided to paint the whole lot on the basis that they may come in useful for other rule sets or as stand-ins:

The spear are nice little figures and are quite heavily armoured:

The pack also includes a couple of command figures:

The bowmen are similarly heavily armoured and sculpted in a straightforward firing pose:

In spite of the fact that Forged in Battle's infantry packs are sold as 24 figure bags I have noticed that most actually contain 26 figures. Given that they don't make any specific Ghaznavid skirmishers and only four figures are required, I used some of the leftover figures from the spear bow packs:

I still have the Arab and Daylami infantry to go, but that is the Ghaznavid foot now completed:

One of the nice variations in a Ghaznavid army is the use of elephants. The DBMM list allows for up to five but also has an option to remount up to three generals on elephants, so a potential eight in total:

Given that most of these are rated as superior and cost 20 points, or 36 points if a general (and a whopping 51 if rated as 'brilliant'), fielding all eight would soak up just over half of the 400 point games we usually play, but they would pack quite a punch. 

The only minor quibble with these models is that the Ghaznavids, being based primarily in Afghanistan and modern-day Iran, acquired elephants from their campaigns in India and these elephants look slightly more African than Indian to me. I would also have thought that they could have benefitted from the troops being in some form of howdah or castle rather than simply astride the elephant, but they are still nice little models:

I normally mount my generals on white horses so they stand out to me and my opponents in a game, but didn't want to have white elephants running around so painted the riders' helmets in bronze:

That's another seventy-eight figures completed toward the project:

Next up and as mentioned above, the Arab foot.