So November was a bit rough between some annual plans and a nasty sickness that swept through my house. That pretty much halted most of my hobby progress for the last month or so. Yet what I have done has been more tiny planes. I started work on the first huge batch of planes for the Pacific in 1942-1943. The first project here was some A6M2 Zeros I had started earlier in the year. The intent was nine Zeros, upgraded from an original six. When I was doing decals I realized I somehow had 10… yup I painted an extra mini without ever noticing….. Anyways those are complete sporting a green over grey scheme accredited to the 6th Kokutai (Air Group) operating from the airbase at Rabaul on New Britain in late 1942.

I managed to finish up a handful of US Navy planes for the campaign as well. Kind of a mish mash of things: four more F4F Wildcats so I can field all 12 pilots on occasion, two more TBF Avengers to bring my collection to eight. Then I have one PBY Catalina, one SOC Seagull, and one OS2U Kingfisher. These are all useful planes for scenarios, being prevalent in Navy service during WW2.

Next in my docket is nine, and yes really only nine, G4M1 “Betty” bombers. The Betty was a land-based naval bomber operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy throughout the Second World War. That makes these an incredibly useful set of models to have. Unfortunately I didn’t have the correct decals when I got to that stage so they’re hanging out on my bench waiting on an envelope of decals to arrive. Coincidentally this is the same thing that’s holding up the next game in my campaign, so my apologies for that for those of you waiting on the next installment. I’m hoping to finish these by the end of 2023.

I have one Japanese H6K Mavis ready for decals, and another waiting paint work. The complete work in progress plane list is as follows:

Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service
9x G4M1 Betty
2x H6K Mavis
1x H8K Emily
9x A6M3 Hamp (Zeros)
9x A6M2-N Rufe (Seaplane Zero)
6x F1M2 Pete
8x N1K2-J Shinden-Kai

US Navy
2x SBD Dauntless
8x F6F Hellcat

USAAF
4x B-17F Flying Fortress
4x B-26 Marauder
4x A-20 Havoc
4x B-25 C/D
8x P-40C
8x P-39/P-400 Airacobra
8x P-38 Lightning

VVS (Soviet Air Force)
8x Yak-1
8x Yak-1b

Luftwaffe
12x Me-109F
12x Ju-88A4
12x Ju-87B

Keen eyes will notice the last two chunks there are not Pacific related. That’s because these are planes I need for one of two Bag the Hun events I am running at Adepticon 2024. We’ll have more details on those, as well as the Bolt Action and Chain of Command events Iron Dice is hosting at Adepticon, soon.

Finally in non-plane news for December I received my Black Friday order from Brigade Games. These are Japanese infantry for a 2024 project. My FDM printer has been pumping out sci-fi terrain for a few weeks among some other things. This is also in preparation for my 2024 hobby goals. My resin printer has been silent for a while, I’ve encountered some issues with the colder weather here in Michigan. I’m waiting on a heater that should be here soon to help combat the environment.

Since my first draft of this post Ben guided me into a phenomenal end of the year blow out sale at Golden Rhino Games in Michigan. I took a drive over and well, walked out with a bounty of 15mm, a box of Warlord Japanese infantry, the Victory at Sea starter set, and a hard copy of the Air Strike supplement for Blood Red Skies. Sales on these goodies ranged from 65-80% off and the only regret I have is not getting more. I picked up some 15mm goodies for Ben too so expect a joint 15mm Normandy 1944 project from Ben and I in 2024…

2023 In Review

So the second half of the article is just going to be a quick review of my hobby year. 2023 has been one of my most industrious years since probably 2018-ish. Top of the list is of course this blog and the associated larger project of Iron Dice Gaming. This has been a huge motivator for me hobby wise and it’s worth the effort for that alone. I finally got to Adepticon after years of trying and it was a great time. The associated research for historical gaming has made my non-fiction reading explode as well.

Several projects dominated my hobby year, though I completed a smattering of smaller things here and there. The first of these is of course my campaign and the associated planes, games, and supplies. I had kept my distance from aerial wargames for years because I knew it would consume me and well…… here we are. It’s been great fun though and it brings back a lot of nostalgia for me for building scale model kits years ago. I’ve finished 104 tiny planes this year (over 600 tiny decals applied) with nearly 200 more in some stage of work in progress (and a million more well on the way).

For 28mm historical minis, which is my other dominating subject, I painted two platoons with extra bits for Chain of Command. One of Blitz Germans and the other of 1940 French. The French one in particular ate up a lot more hobby time than intended. My “quick summer project” devolved into a 6 month odyssey. The finished product was worth it. A board worthy of these platoons is one of my 2024 hobby goals.

Odds and ends wise I painted a handful of moderns this spring and some sci-fi things here and there throughout. A lot of sci-fi terrain is next year’s project. Anyways that’s my hobby year in a nut shell. I’ll be back soon with 2024 Hobby Goals, Adpeticon previews, and hopefully another few Bag the Hun campaign entries.

Thanks for reading this year!

Evan