Year in Review for 2023

Yep, it's getting to be that time of the year. Let's get to it then! Going into 2023 I was satisfied with my collection and had dropped hobbying goals, but I did have four Kings of War goals for gaming:

1. Play 24 Games, and write 24 Battle Reports. 
2. Travel to an Event. 
3. Run my own event again. 
4. Run a Mega battle. 

Well, it was a year. I achieved only one of those goals, and that one just barely! I played 25 new games in 2023, and wrote a corresponding Battle Report for each one! For better or for worse though, four of those games were Demo Games. 

No one objected to me pausing occasionally to take the pictures and notes during the demos, but I think the best demo games were ones where I was running more familiar lists and not trying to use those games as a testing ground in addition to the demo. That said, I think having these reports up and talking about them could be helpful for anyone else looking to demo Kings of War, so we'll see what the future holds for those reports specifically.

The year started out strong getting in four games a month, but then aroudn March, my wife and I jumped into home-buying. We searched relentlessly for several months, found a place, and then out of the blue my company decreed a return to office mandate. The commute from new place was just over twice my pre-Covid commute for a time-commitment, so my work-life balance definitely took a hit this year, and gaming and fun activities slowed.

There are a few tournaments I knew of in neighboring states, but they fell into the roughly 6 month period we were house-hunting and lightly renovating and then moving. And all the housing efforts sapped my will to try and organize another "Beat and Greet" style event as well, as even my little event in 2022 took a fair amount of effort to organize. I wasn't making much headway attracting new lecal players, so that didn't seem like a worthwhile thing to attempt this year. There was a similar notion with the mega battle, since I wanted that to be a social thing with multiple players.

All in all, I did not do great on my 2023 Kings of War gaming goals. So, what the heck. Let's just try for them again!

1. Play 24 Games, and write 24 Battle Reports. I have reported on every 3rd Edition game that I have played. I may tweak or abbreviate a report for a demo game, but I'll aim to get 24 more reports posted in 2024.
2. Travel to an event. It still doesn't need to be a big one or even a full-on serious tournament, but traveling for some kind of group get-together sounds like fun.
3. Run or help run an event again. I have four table's worth of mats and terrain, and I'd like to put them to use in 2024! My first meet-up event went well in 2022, so I think we can build on that experience and loop in a few more attendees for something in 2024.
4. Run a Mega Battle. I still want it to be over 5,000 points per side. I have at least 6.5K each of Abyssals, Undead, KoM, Varangur and Herd, so I could even provide all of the minis, but ideally I think we get a group thing going, both for ease and swiftness of play, as well as it being more fun for folks to use their own toys. Having something like multiple Undead collections fighting some allied armies sounds cool, so we'll see what we can figure out.

I have a good feeling about Kings of War in the coming year! Hopefully I'll see you across the table some time. Cheers!

...and may you nap as often as you want in 2024!