Review of 2021

With the end of the year approaching it is time to review how my wargaming year progressed. Text in italics are taken directly from the year's plans. 

BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 16th Legion v Ancient British Trinovantes tribe in East Anglia.

Played and a Roman victory - AAR on the blog.

2nd Punic War - Battle of Trebia (Both sides need painting so 50:50 if achieved this year).

Complete failure! Figures acquired but that is as much as I have achieved.

Continued -

ECW:

Battle of Chewton Mendip.

Played with AAR on the blog.

Looking further out I hope to play some of the more well known battles, the first being Edgehill. It is unlikely to be in the coming year but is a possibility depending on how fast I can paint the additional figures required!

All the figures now acquired (over 3,000 for the battle) and some progress made in painting them (see painting section below).

NAPOLEONIC:

Battle of Talavera - Peninsular War project. Over the past month I have made good progress painting the Spanish force required. I have several allied units to paint for the French but this battle is now a probability for this coming year.

Played - and a close run thing it was! AAR on the blog.

Battle of Tourane - Campaign Dutch v French. This, in all probability, will be the first game of the year.

It was indeed the first battle of the year - AAR on the blog. 

More progress was made on the Napoleonic campaign with the 2nd Battle of Youngsport:

AAR on the blog.

ACW:

Cavalry skirmish at Rorketon - from the new campaign.

Three games were played for the campaign, the first being Rorketon:

The second was the skirmish at Isserlohn:

And finally the battle of Krell:

AAR's of all three battles are on the blog.

Scenarios - I have yet to decide if any will be played with concentration being placed on the campaign.

No historical scenarios were played this year.

Gettysburg is still up there but unlikely given all other projects planned.

Not played but will include this in the next post covering the year ahead.

COLONIAL:

Rorkes Drift - Almost half the Zulus painted with most of the British needed to be done including the buildings.

Good progress was made on painting (see below) but not yet ready to play.

A battle was played though to test The Men Who Would Be Kings rules:

On the whole reasonably successful with an AAR on the blog.

WW2:

Air action and battle south of Nibeiwa - Operation Compass campaign

The air action was completed but delay in fighting ground war. Intention is to add to the desert terrain collection before playing.

Battles from the "Reconnaissance in Strength" mini-campaign (Soviets v Germans) - I intend to play this as a continual rolling battle to completion of the campaign.

This has been completed with AAR on the blog. 

Groesbeek Heights - Op Market Garden

Unfortunately this one was missed with figure painting required before it is played.

CAMPAIGNS

ANCIENTS:

Roman invasion of Britain. I hope to make good progress on this with several battles played. A hillfort will need to be constructed which may delay things a little if needed this coming year.

Just the one battle played this year. I intend building a hillfort for the next battle so a little more delay for now.

WARS OF THE ROSES:

Kingmaker campaign. Next map moves needed to be done. How much progress I make will very much depend on the availability of my opponent (my son). Additionally complicated by the lockdowns!

No progress on this campaign. This is the only non-solo campaign and the availability of my opponent (one of my sons) is proving problematic with his family and work commitments. Hopefully we will find time to move this campaign along next year. 

NAPOLEONIC:

Warplan 5/5 campaign to continue. Very close to 3 significant battles being fought in each of the 3 theatres which could prove the tipping point in the campaign.

Two battles played but the third, and the largest of the campaign to date, will almost certainly be played next year. I will cover this in more detail in my next post.

ACW:

Another Warplan 5/5 campaign which is about to commence. I hope to play the first action reasonably soon in the new year.

The campaign is now underway with 2 skirmishes and one battle played.

WW2:

Op Compass campaign to continue with 2 actions to be played including one in the Italian camps.

Only the air phase completed with the 2 ground actions pending.

Reconnaissance in Strength mini-campaign. As stated above I hope to play this through as one continual action. I have a small number of Russians to paint and should then be ready to be played.

This has been completed.

PAINTING/MODELLING

Overall I aim to get back up to 3,000 6mm figures painted. These will include:

800 x Napoleonic (Talavera)   
1497 completed including some Prussians for the Napoleonic campaign.     

100 x ECW  (Chewton Mendip)
545 completed which included figures for the forthcoming Edgehill game.

800 x Zulu Wars (Rorkes Drift)
928 completed.

100 x ACW   (Warplan 5/5 campaign)
None completed!

400 x WW2  (Groesbeek Heights)
49 completed plus 24 vehicles/tanks.

and finally -
1700 Punic Wars (Trebia)
97 Ancient Britons were completed which are available for the Punic Wars as Gauls but otherwise none completed. All figures have been purchased from Baccus and I am hoping to make progress on this next year.

The new project started this year and not anticipated in the original plans was the Pony Wars with 457 figures painted to date.

A total of 3573 x 6mm figures have been painted this year and an all-time record for me! The lack of holidays and more time at home thanks to Covid has certainly helped.

My focus next year will be on figure painting and gaming with no major terrain projects planned. The most significant will be a hillfort for the Britannia campaign and possibly Rorkes Drift. More battlefield scenics should be added (carts, outbuildings, fields etc) including a herd of cows! An expansion of fences, snake rail in particular, and hedgerows will be made.

Various small terrain items were completed but the larger projects of the hillfort and Rorkes Drift have been delayed.

The main terrain piece completed this year was the base, walls and gatehouses of the medieval walled town (all other buildings had already been painted). This will be used in the next battle of the Napoleonic Campaign and will be defended by Prussians.

That sums up the year that was 2021. The gaming aspect has been a little disrupted with an impending house move. We are waiting for our house to be built which was originally scheduled for end of September and then delayed until end of November. We are now told by end of March next year! I have avoided any of the large games expecting to move house which has delayed a couple of projects. 

I hope you all have had a good Xmas and wish you well for the new year. It is my intention to have my plans for 2022 posted early in January.