Little Toy Soldiers and Such...: 2021

So today is the last day of the year 2021.

And what a year it has been.

Each December, I try to do some sort of "End of The Year Update" that kind of puts things that I have done in a bit of a nutshell. Like one of those cheesy "The Year in Review" things we see on Yahoo, etc.

This year has been a little hard to do, (especially this month).

So here is a quick review of my year 2021. (FWIW, if you want to read more detail about each, just go to 2020 and select the month and the entry.)

January saw me using the winter weather to finish unpacking and setting up the Painting Room. After the Ikea Detolf Disaster, I focused on the Painting room first. It was a bit of work, but eventually it is where and how pretty much I want it to be.

(With the addition of the new chair pictured here, this is essentially how my setup is right now...)

It was good to be able to get the room set up, and ready for painting and model working. There are some more modifications I would like to do in the future, and this may include some racking, shelving, more paint racks, etc. But all of this depends on A: Redoing the basement closet. B: Moving the Wine Racks. C: Installing more shelving in the closet. And finally, D: Seeing if the "secret room" can actually be utilized.

February came around, and my first real working item order came in; my Vortex Mixer.

This little baby SAVED so much of my paints. Between this and the order of 6mm glass beads I got as agitators for my paint bottles. Things went so much better.

(If you have a chance to get one of these, do so....)

I was also lucky enough to find two sets of rules that had been missing for a while, (P&I, and March or Die), and was finally, (FINALLY!), able to get my hands on an actual copy of COLD WAR Commander.

Rules, rules, and more rules....

(Soooooo much to read.....)

March roared in like a lion and found me sitting one entire weekend and participating in classes in the Reaper Virtual Expo (where I learned quite a few interesting painting techniques), as well as finally getting the Game Room set up, (last of the furniture, etc.), which was then followed up by the month of April, and getting our FIRST D&D game going for our campaign. FINALLY! After all this time, we are GAMING!!!!

Oh and eating too!!!!

(Let us get to slinging some dice!)

(And let us be also acquiring many calories due to such yummy goodies!)

I'm really proud of my gaming group, and the fun we are having. There is so much more adventure to be had.

The Merry Month of May; saw me experimenting with the window planters and planting herbs. as well as painting figures, (Lemon Balm, Spearmint, Chives, and Rosemary for the herbs and 28mm Fantasy characters for the figure painting...)

We also continued our D&D campaign, and I actually for the first time in a while set up a Bongolesia adventure. A little stand off with the forces of The Fandango Republic on the border.

(Old school gaming and CLUES!!!)....

(Meanwhile, at the border of Bongolesia, an issue happens at Checkpoint Chester)....

(And the fridge is well stocked...)

The summer months of June and July saw me working on some of the Tri-City Laser buildings that used to be put out by Knuckleduster as well as some Arnica Montana stuff. I started slapping paint onto a large group of 28mm Pirates, (mostly Foundry), and I got my Wiz-Kids order in.

(Wiz Kids pre-primed figures. They need a good cleaning before painting...)

(Beginning block paint a bunch of Scurvy Sea Dogs....)

But it wasn't all fun and games....

One July morning found my wife calling my name from the basement, and my discovery of "Water on the floor". It seems that five days of slow steady rain had saturated everything, and we took on some water...

Thankfully it was less than a 1/4 inch and we spent most of the time getting the rug to dry and mopping it up. No damage done thankfully.

(From this...)

(Back to this...)

And I got the message I was waiting for.

Yes suddenly from "waaaaay out there", my Reaper Bones V KS was finally on it's way.

And it showed up on my doorstep!

(Wow...)

And I unpacked it and laid it all out....

(Oh Dear Lord, what have I done?!?!?....)

And almost it seemed right afterward, (but in the first two days of August), what got me even more was soon after I got THIS message....

(Huh?)

Oddly enough it was an order from Miniatures Market, which I had completely forgotten about making and was now showing up. Doh!!!!

(More to add to my mountain o' shame....)

(Laying it all out. Mostly NPC's for the players to fight...)

And somewhere in all of this was more gaming...

("Whatever you do, DON'T roll a 1....")

And more rules....

(A set I have wanted for a while....)

And even more rules....

(This is very hard to get....)

And I started getting my Pirates finished....

And of course....FOOD!!!!

Starting with The Annual Hot Dog Festival, and FUNNEL CAKE!!!!

(All the meat you can put in your mouth...)

(And I crit scored on funnel cake!)

And fresh watermelon....

And good burgers....

And good ice cream....

September ushered in the end of Summer, and October came in and brought the Fall season in with it, (the season that I dearly love), and with it, painting projects were finished, and more were begun.

We continued gaming.....

(Pizza Skull holds the gaming food money....)

(A secret map is discovered!)

And I finished up painting my pirates, finally....

And with Halloween coming along, I decided to do some of my traditional "Spooky figures" using some of the techniques I learned from the RVE I attended back in March.

And hidden joy of hidden joys!

One day while walking behind my garage I discovered a raspberry bush!

And the wheel of the year, and of life kept turning.

October came and passed and I marked another anniversary of my wife and me and grew another year older.

And we continued playing and I continued painting....

I tried a technique out on the Gelatinous cube and it worked quite well....

(Jelly the Cube. All dungeons need a vacuum cleaner....)

As well as finishing up some more figures....

(Reaper Grave Wraith....)

("Come a little bit closer....")

And I tried out some instructions on "How to paint fire" using a Reaper Fire Elemental.

(She's too hot to handle....)

(And my last Reaper Witch for the season, finishing up my "Spooky" figures for this year.)

And I was able to get some pictures of some figures in my display case...

Currently there are almost 620 figures in there, of which only 8 are NOT painted by me.

And then December hit....

The last month of the year quietly rolled in and I got into the Christmas spirit.

I put up the lights outside of the house....

(The first set of Christmas lights I have ever put up. And more will be next year! The wreath is from my next door neighbor...)

And I got our tree and set it up....

(Our 2021 Tree aka "Missus Tree". She's a 7 1/2 foot Canaan Fir and still looks small in the corner of our house. The CS Third National flies from up top to remember those of us that are "With Jackson" and are in our hearts and thoughts.)

And my wonderful wife and I went to the Carmel Christkindlmarkt, and had fun and brought home some wonderful things! A small nutcracker, some handmade wooden ornaments, some steins, and we had so much fun....

And we did the Christmas card thing....

Sending....

(The Post Office hates me....)

And receiving....

(It's not about how many you get but the message that they send....)

And we had to do the tried and true, Indiana Christmas tradition....

("Fra-gee-lay! It must be Italian!")

And we set up the house to where it looked (as a friend of mine said), "Like a set from a Hallmark Christmas Movie."

(Ready for the standard Hallmark "I love you" Christmas scene to cap off this weeks movie...)

(Meanwhile, "Mr. Bear" sits quietly in his chair with his little stuffed buddies waiting for "You know who"....)

(And a quick view of him looking outside....)

And the little wooden nutcracker soldier was happily doing his duty, guarding the Christmas tree....

And B'wonah hung up his stocking....

And we were all set for Christmas to come....

And then I got a knife in the gut....

On the morning of the 23rd of December 2021, my best friend for 40 years, Daniel R. Merchant, (US Army), and "brother" and best man at my wedding, and fellow ACW reenactor and gamer, died as a result of Covid Pneumonia.

Christmas came and went quietly.

And what should've been a joyous occasion has now been spent organizing a memorial service.