Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Hoping 2013 will be Better than 2012

It is now after midnight here off Canada's west coast (i.e., Vancouver Island . . . not to be confused with the City of Vancouver).

So hopefully this "new year" will be an improvement on the one just past.  As most of you know, 2012 was very difficult for me.

On February 1st, I started hemorrhaging and for the rest of the year it was many hospital visits, tests, a cancer diagnosis, radiation, surgery, long hospital stay and now six months of chemotherapy (which continues with a new cycle starting Wednesday).

 As for gaming, the year was almost a total waste due to the medical stuff mentioned above.  There were, however, two bright spots.

The first is the "Mini-Campaign Challenge" that I issued early in the year.  This resulted in ten (10) responses.  Most use one of the Grant "Scenario" books.  The following is a summary page with links to all of the bloggers' original posts:

http://saxe-bearstein.blogspot.ca/2012/02/responses-to-mini-campaign-challenge.html

The other bright spot is "The Alpian Wars", an online "mini-campaign" I am currently playing out with the help of Ross Macfarlane (of Nova Scotia, Canada) and David Murdock (of British Columbia, Canada). 

While I am using Clarence Harrison's "Victory without Quarter" ECW rules for this 17th century dust-up between a couple of Imagi-Nations, Ross and Murdock email me their orders for their troops. 

This allows me to play at my own pace (the chemo really takes it out of me so I can't play very long at any one time) and enjoy moving the troops on the table top.  We are currently in the late middle part of the second battle.  Go to the link below to follow the action:

http://alpianwars.blogspot.ca/

My primary goal for this new year is, of course, to get and stay healthy.  Hopefully when the chemo cycles end in a couple of months I will be able to recover from the crushing fatigue that results from chemo.

As for wargaming, I got more  figures for Christmas (to go along with the metal mountain that I already have) . . . so some quiet painting time looks to be on the horizen . . . along with continuing with "The Alpian Wars".

I hope that all of you will be able to enjoy a wonderful New Year filled with pleasure, prosperity and (most of all) good health!

-- Jeff

15 comments:

tradgardmastare said...

Best wishes for the new year from all of us here in Tradgardland!
Do tell us all about the new figures...
Alan

Bluebear Jeff said...

Alan,

I got enough of the WSS Bloodaxe figures from Historifigs so that I can fill out my early Saxe-Bearstein units.

All of these figures are Bloodaxe . . . but they haven't been available for about 15 years until Historifigs acquired the molds recently.

The castings were very nice, btw with virtually nothing needing trimming.


-- Jeff

Archduke Piccolo said...

The hospital stays and chemotherapy don't sound like fun at all. Let us hope then that sooner rather than later, you'll be out of the woods and able to enjoy wargaming once more to the fullest.
Cheers,
Ion

Prince Lupus said...

Here's to good health and good dice and a much better 2013.

cheers

Martin

Anonymous said...

I am hoping you have a better 2013 Jeff, you are a tough old turkey and I know once the chemo gets finished you will be up to climbing that mountain of lead.

A J said...

Here's to a happier and healthier New Year to you!

marinergrim said...

Hope that 2013 brings all you want Jeff

Fitz-Badger said...

Best wishes for a happy and healthier new year, Jeff! With more gaming and painting. :)

Peter Douglas said...

Jeff

Best wishes for a MUCH better 2013.

Cheers
PD

El Grego said...

Happy New Year Jeff!

A J said...

Jeff, I've nominated you for the Leibster Award :)

http://ajstable.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/i-would-like-to-thank-academy.html

MurdocK said...

Dice will fly and lead will move.

Brushes will blaze and colours will too.

A bright and shiny 2013 to you Jeff!

John Y said...

Jeff

Here's hoping 2013 brings you good health,happiness and more games on the tabletop!

And thank you for the link to the scenarios challenge results - that should help a great deal.

-John

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Jeff, best of luck with 2013... in fact being from a drama background you'll know I don't mean you badly when I say "break a leg"! :o)

Bluebear Jeff said...

Thanks, Steve.

For those who don't know, "break a leg" is a traditional wish for good luck in the Theatre.

And Steve is referring to the fact that I've acted in well over 200 stage plays.


-- Jeff