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| Yours Truly, enjoying the delights of Bondi seafront back in 2023 JJ's on Tour - Coogee to Bondi Coastal Walk, Sydney 2023 |
As I compose these thoughts it is against the backdrop of recent events at Bondi Beach in Australia, a wonderful place Carolyn and I visited on our 'big trip' back in 2022-23 and covered here on the blog, and I would firstly want to express my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to my Australian friends and to the families and friends of those who were most brutally murdered, particularly to those who knew little Matilda, aged 10, innocently enjoying a day at the beach when she was killed.
We are no strangers to such atrocities here in the UK, and I can only imagine the terrible grief that the families of little Bebe, Elsie and Alice are suffering this Christmas after their brutal murders in another seaside resort, Southport, last summer, and there are no words or explanations that can possibly justify these killings of innocents, only emphasised at this time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, himself the survivor in his own times of the brutal mass killing of innocents by a regime that tried its best to prevent his arrival into the world.
With all the nonsense pronounced these days about 'my truth', an expression that seems to imply that there is more than one truth, and speaking as a first time grandparent to a beautiful granddaughter, which only emphasises my sorrow for these girls families, we are witnessing another great struggle between good and evil in the world and there is, as ever, only going to be one winner in that eternal battle, but one has to recall the words of the great man to cut through all the crap and see things as they really are;
"By their fruit you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? . . . Thus, by their fruit you will know them". Matthew 7:16-20 (Sermon on the Mount).
So on that note, that I needed to get off my chest before expounding on what has otherwise for me been a wonderful year in the hobby, I do so whilst acknowledging in a heartfelt sense the pain I also feel for those less fortunate than myself, particularly at this time of the year.
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| A year of socialising with friends got off to a good start as we joined Paul for his 60th Birthday Bash earlier this year. https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2025/03/awi-fun-with-british-grenadier-pauls.html |
As I cast my mind back over this year in the hobby, it reminds me about why I have indulged in this rafter daft and utterly inconsequential pastime, a phrase I used in last year's Xmas Greeting, and one that captures why it is such an important aspect of my life.
The mere fact that everything about the hobby is to do with having fun, sharing in the pleasure of the company of others, and enjoying the artistic and intellectual endeavour that is what it's all about, all the while having no meaning other than doing the thing for its own sake, which in fact is what gives it greater meaning than a lot of other activities I have often been compelled to do to at other times, simply to 'earn a living', 'pay my way', and fulfil my responsibilities.
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| The fun of good company continued with our Trafalgar 220 warmup game at Legionary-Exeter in May https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-battle-of-trafalgar-1805-2025.html |
Alongside the figure painting, trips abroad, museum visits and wargame shows, this year stands out as a great one for enjoying the company of friends around a big table full of toys and simply doing what historical wargamers do best, having fun.
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| More fun and games at the NWS meeting at Yeovilton in October as we commemorated the 220th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2025/10/trafalgar-day-220th-anniversary-naval.html |
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| A great way to end the year saw the DWG and friends come together at Yeovilton to host a weekend of wargaming and socialising - our hobby at its best. https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2025/12/battle-of-cape-finisterre-calders.html |
The other aspect of the hobby that has also been emphasised for me this year in particular is the way it can tell the story of military history in an art-form that is unique and to my mind and many others very special, and when done to the highest level, as seen here in some of my pictures from the Partizan show earlier this year, is simply Great Art, and worthy of the merit traditionally dolled out, by the self-appointed literati, for so called master-pieces such as 'An unmade bed with a condom lying on the mattress', or 'a cow cut in half and marinaded in aspic'! I think you get the picture 😀.
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| A scene from a Seven Years War table presented by a wargaming legend and great influence on my own hobby, Mr Bill Gaskin, seen at May's Partizan show. This is much more than ‘eye-candy’. https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2025/05/partizan-2025.html |
Of course for me the other aspect that has become a big part of my hobby has been the ability to share my own personal enjoyment with a much wider group of friends around the world here on JJ's, and I have often commented to responses here on the blog and on other linked forums that my own personal adventures have always been more fun when shared with like minds.
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The Battle of Boars Hill presented by the Bodkins at May's Partizan show, showed our hobby at its best and in my eye great art indeed.
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The blog continues to be my personal hobby journal that can be read by anyone so inclined, and I know from comments I have had from regular readers that it has added to their own enjoyment of our hobby and I like to think that JJ's Wargames is just another addition to the other ways we fill this planet with a bit more love and fun to counteract some of the other stuff that is going on.
I will be back in the run up to the New Year with my usual End of Year Review and New Year Plans looking at the themes covered this year and those to be expanded upon and perhaps commenced in 2026, but in the meantime, I intend to enjoy the holiday with family and friends, and I will wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a much more Peaceful New Year, filled with much more Goodwill that we have seen in recent times.
As always, more anon.
JJ🎅
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