Plans for 2020

Before I start I should mention there are 2 events which will impact on my wargaming this coming year. From mid February I will be away for 5 weeks. The second, and rather more impactive, is a house move. Assuming we manage to sell our house ok we intend to move before the end of the year. This will severely restrict the gaming side of the hobby although I hope to maintain at least a degree of figure painting. One of the criteria for our new home will be it possesses, or has the potential to possess, a wargames room. So, all being well, normal service should be resumed in due course. It may of course give me the opportunity to experiment with skirmishing in 6mm. Chain of Command on a coffee table looks promising!

My plans therefore will be more modest than usual. As in previous years I will break it down to 3 sections: Battles, Campaigns and Painting/modelling:

Continued -

BATTLES

WARS OF THE ROSES:

Battle of Shrewsbury - From the Kingmaker campaign. 400 - 500 figures need to be painted, the first of which has now been primed and on my painting table.

ECW:

The linked battles of Glastonbury and Chewton Mendip. With the figures now painted for Glastonbury this will be the first game of the year. Followers of the blog will be aware that this period is one of my all-time favourites since joining the Sealed Knot in 1971. It has been a long time since I gamed the period and itching to get this onto the tabletop. Even more so since I discovered 'Forlorn Hope' rules by Peter Berry which suits my style of gaming rather more than other recent offerings.

AWI (10mm):

White Planes - From British Grenadier scenario books. There is still a question mark over whether this will get played and if I continue with this scale. As it stands I hope to play it through before making a decision on the future of 10mm.

NAPOLEONIC:

2nd Battle of Brandenlea - A fairly small French v Spanish action from my Warplan 5/5 campaign. It will be my intention to get this played and to push along the campaign.

ACW:

1st Battle of Winchester 25th May 1862 - A continuation of working through the Guns at Gettysburg 'Stonewall' scenario books. ACW had a good year this year so will probably restrict it to just this one battle.

I have not included Gettysburg for next year's battles as I cannot realistically see that I will have the time. I am hoping that if I obtain a room big enough I will be able to extend the table by a foot or two which will be more suitable. The plans with my current room were to condense the battlefield slightly.

WW2:

Op Compass to continue but I have yet to identify the next suitable engagement. As soon as I have done so I will update the 'My Collections and Projects' tab above.

Reconnaissance in Strength - This is a mini-campaign set on the Russian front and I intend to play it through to completion. At present I hope to complete this before the end of the year.

Allied Landing on Rhodes - from Op Nostalgia campaign. Although this is an intention I would estimate a 50% chance at best that this will get played given my commitments next year. It is though a campaign I would like to progress and if not completed it will be a priority for 2021.

CAMPAIGNS

WARS OF THE ROSES:

Kingmaker campaign to continue with the Battle of Shrewsbury up next.

NAPOLEONIC:

Warplan 5/5 campaign to continue with the Battle of Brandenlea.

WW2:

Reconnaissance in Strength - This is a mini-campaign set on the Russian front (see 'Battles' above).

Operation Nostalgia - With the preliminary air and sea battles fought the landing on Rhodes beckons.

PAINTING/MODELLING

Wars of the Roses: 400 to 500 will be required for the Battle of Shrewsbury in the Kingmaker campaign which is a priority for the new year. 

Napoleonic: 1,000 - 1,200 figures for Talavera required, mainly Spanish. Unlikely these will be completed this year but aim to make more progress.

Colonial: Overall 1,000 Zulus and around 150 British will be required for Rorkes Drift. It is not my intention to play this battle next year but hope to make progress in painting up some of the forces involved.

WW2: For Reconnaissance in Strength mini-campaign, Russians and German SS troops and vehicles will be required. As this is destined to be played this year these figures and vehicles will be a priority. Approximately 400 figures and 90 vehicles & guns to be painted.

Unlike in previous years I have not set a precise number to be painted for each period unless required for a specific battle to be played. Instead I will set a target for 6mm figures. Normally I can paint up to 3,000 (including mounted) in a year. With expected commitments next year I will set a more modest target of 1,500!

TERRAIN:

Upgrading of tress to be completed followed by more pine trees to be based and improved.

Buildings and terrain pieces to be constructed for the following games -

Gettysburg

Rhodes

Reconnaissance in Strength (this will primarily be battlefield clutter suitable for WW2 such as telegraph poles, dugouts etc).

More desert terrain to be completed, particularly dunes and palm trees.

I also hope to continue sprucing up my existing commercially built terrain boards.

SUMMARY

So a little less ambitious compared to previous years but the amount of impact on my time is something of an unknown quantity. It will potentially give me the impetus to experiment with playing skirmish level games on small tables/boards and hopefully give gamers ideas who are severely restricted on space. Although not a fan of skirmish games I can see a fun value when incorporated into a larger campaign.

I have also taken note of comments about the length of my After Action Reports on the 2019 review posting. Unless a particularly short game, I will break AAR's down into parts making it easier to digest in a short sitting. I will also be experimenting with battlefield maps to provide more regular overviews as the battle progresses enabling the reader to have a better understanding as to what is happening on the tabletop.  

Once again thank you to everybody that has taken time to view the blog and to provide comment. And a happy new wargaming year to you all.