The Year Ahead: Caelyn Ellis

It is the weird liminal time between Christmas and the New Year when everyone is confused about what day it is and service industry workers are cursing those who still have time off. Officially, the Rascals are in hibernation. In reality, we’re busy making plans for 2025 which may or may not include world domination. While we gather in our secret lair and plot, please enjoy our reflections on the year that has passed (which was an absolutely fuck) and our oracular predictions for the one ahead (which will probably be an even bigger fuck.)

First up is Caelyn, Rascal's resident Brit and wargamer, though the rest of the team tries not to hold either of those against her.

Favourite Rascal article of the year

My favourite piece that I wrote was my interview with Mike Franchina and Tuomas Pirinen. Not because it’s an especially great piece of writing on my part, but because chatting to Tuomas in particular was really exciting. The whole mid-late ‘90s Games Workshop scene was a really formative thing for me and I love Mordheim, so I’m glad I’m not overly prone to fangirling. It was a really pleasant interview and a great early Rascal memory for me.

As for the rest of the team, I loved Lin and Rowan on the D&D live show at Gen Con. It’s such an entertaining read and their shared disappointment at the rugpull moment is palpable.

Favorite game I played in 2024

Right at the start of the year I played in a short game of Imperium Maledictum with some of my wargaming friends. Playing a game in a setting that you really love with people who know and appreciate just as much as you do is a rare treat, especially with one as venerable and ripe for lampooning as the Grim Dark Future of the 41st Millennium.

Best miniature wargame was the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. It's still my favourite game and I really hope that GW is going to support it better after this rush of War of the Rohirrim-related releases.

Games I want to play in 2025

Blades in the Dark. I’ve played other FitD games, but I’ve still never played the original, despite it being absolutely my kinda thing. Mostly though, I just want to play more games. I have not played enough this year and I need to rectify that, and not just because it’s my job to write about them! I want to play indie RPGs that make me cry and weird alt-history skirmish games and games where I just get to be awesome and hit things with swords. Just gimme the games.

Lessons learned

I can actually work full-time and be productive and happy, despite my array of health problems. Turns out that I just needed a job that’s a good fit and a wonderful, supportive team. Maybe the Department of Work and Pensions should try and help people find jobs like that, instead of moaning about how many disabled people are on benefits.

Looking ahead

I’m really excited to see how the indie wargame landscape changes over the next couple of years. Trench Crusade seems to have resonated with folks who were laser focused on Warhammer 40k in a way that I’ve not seen before. Are we going to see a new generation of indie designers cutting their teeth on projects under the Trench Crusade third party agreement? I hope so.