Unexpected Sabbatical

This is a message to all my readers and friends who have been wondering where I have been for the last month and a half and have emailed me or PMed me to inquire about my lack of posting and see if I'm Ok.

I truly appreciate the concern and wanted to respond here to let you all know that I am OK. Unfortunately, I took an unexpected sabbatical from the hobby, and blogging in general, when it was confirmed in early January that my father had cancer of the liver accompanied by a massive blood clot. I spent much of that time with him, visiting, talking, and spending some quality time together, as well as bolstering his spirits to fight the horrible disease.

Unfortunately, on January 19, 2012, my father passed away due to complications with the blood clot. It was quick, and unexpected, as he was starting to show signs of improvement on his chemotherapy. Needless to say, this was a powerful emotional blow to me and my family, and afterwards I decided to take a full month hiatus from actively hobbying and blogging in order to support my mother emotionally, and to assist her with all of the details that needed sorting with respect to the burial, funeral services, etc.

Some of you, who are my close friends, were well aware of this, and were very supportive, either by being at the visitation, or the funeral, or being there in spirit and sending me personal PMs, emails, and text messages to let me know you were thinking of me and my family. For this I am truly grateful as it helped me get by when my mind was still and my emotions began to well up.

It's still hard most days, but things are getting better, and I have many of you to thank for helping me through the first difficult month. I can think of nothing more difficult than losing an immediate family member this way. I can only take solace in the fact that I did take the time to spend with my father while we were able, and we left nothing unsaid.

Thank you for your patience, and your heartfelt messages. It means a lot.

So, what of my hobby plans, and plans for the blog?

Well, I will return, though it may be at a slow pace at first. I have many projects planned, or in the works. Some of you have already seen the MK1 Land Raider and Predator tanks that I showcased on the YouTube channel. And I know some of you are champing at the bit to see the wonderful Ork Battleship/Wagon that I received, and have now repaired. And others are looking forward to seeing me return to working on my Ork Army, which is sadly never going to be painted in the original time frame I set, so I will have to rework that time table, but it will be done.
What else do I have planned?

Well, my friends and I are considering what to do for 2012. In 2011, we ran a map based Warhammer 40K campaign which culminated in a massive Apocalypse game to determine the result. And we are now trying to decide what to do for this year. Will we do a "Badab War" based campaign, or a "Doom of Mymeara" campaign? Or perhaps we will return to the Map Based campaign we have just concluded to see what happens next. Plus, 2012 marks the 25th Anniversary of Warhammer 40K and I've been feeling the urge to revisit my Crimson Fists.

And that's just scratching the surface of the hobby with a single genre, and I still remain very interested in Warhammer, as well as other miniature game systems like Heavy Gear, Battletech, and even Star Wars (which has some promise for the future), to name but a few.

There is a lot to look forward to for the rest of this year, and I hope that you all enjoy following along.

Thanks for all the support!