Plans for 2019

It is time to ponder on my plans for the coming year. As per last year I will break it down to 3 sections: Battles, Campaigns and Painting/modelling.

But before I launch into my plans for this year, I would mention another period I have paid scant attention to over the past year, 6mm Ancients. During my festive holiday I read the last two books in the 'Legionary' series by Gordon Doherty, 'Empire of Shades' and 'The Blood Road'. I also read book 12 from Simon Scarrow's 'Eagles of Empire' series, 'The Blood Crows' and part way through book 13 'Brothers in Blood'.

For those unfamiliar with Doherty and Scarrow, their books are very much in the Bernard Cornwell style of historical fiction. In my opinion they are actually better than Cornwell and provide a rich source of wargaming material. Warlord Games have actually produced 28mm models of Makro and Cato as they would have appeared in the first book 'Under the Eagle'.

Reading these books in quick succession has fired my imagination. Over the years, particularly in the 1970's, I dabbled in recreating battles from novels on the tabletop. Both Doherty and Scarrow have the ability of immersing you in their action-packed stories. The 'Legionary' series revolves around the character 'Pavo'. He moves from being a slave to joining the Legions working his way up to commanding his own legion in the most recent novel. It is set in the 4th century A.D. when Rome is on the decline desperately holding back the Goths and Huns in the east. Of the two series, this is probably my preferred choice for gaming. However, it would mean starting a new collection! Maybe one day but not just yet.

Which brings me on to the adventures of Makro and Cato. This is set in the mid 1st Century A.D. with several books set in Britannia. I already have a reasonable collection of Early Imperial Romans and Ancient Britons/Celts in 6mm so would require little effort to get the ball rolling. I do not intend committing to starting what will be a new project just yet, but it is one that I will explore further when time permits.

After that little interlude, on with my plans for 2019:

Continued -

 

BATTLES

AWI (10mm):

White Planes - From British Grenadier scenario books. Figures almost complete. Terrain should be ok but possibly some minor additions may need to be made.

Napoleonic:

Talavera - The next battle in my Peninsular War project. There will be a question mark as to whether I will achieve playing this before the year end. I estimate 1,000 - 1,500 6mm figures will need to be painted, mostly Spanish.

Grissburg - The next battle in my Napoleonic Campaign. Terrain, in particular buildings, need to be acquired and painted. I am placing this battle on my 'must do' list to move the campaign along. 

ACW:

Gettysburg - Day 2 scenario from the original Fire & Fury book. i.e. the entire battlefield, using approximately 4,000 6mm figures. This will be brigade level using the F&F orbats from the book. It will be a straight forward conversion for Guns at Gettysburg rules with my own amendments including units representing brigades rather than battalions. Figures are complete but I have some work to do on terrain before this will be ready. I am making this my big game of the year and am determined to get it played!

Big Bethel - from Regimental Fire & Fury scenario book. 

McDowell - Scenario 3 in the Guns at Gettysburg, Stonewall Jackson scenario book.

Both of the above battles were planned for last year. Big Bethel will in all probability be the first game of the year.

WW2:

Having fought the first battles of the North Africa campaign in 1940, I now continue with Operation Compass actions. Using Blitzkrieg Commander 2 (or 4 if available) rules:

Nibeiwa 9th Dec 1940 - All figures complete. Terrain to be finished

Matkila 11th Dec 1940

Op Market Garden - This will depend on the schedule release of the new sculps from Heroics and Ros. Into the Woods from the Rapid Fire Scenario book will be the first to play all being well.

Allied landing on Rhodes - from the Operation Nostalgia campaign. 

CAMPAIGNS

Napoleonic: 
Warplan 5/5 campaign to continue.

Wars of the Roses:
Kingmaker campaign to continue.

Colonial:
This is a campaign in 15mm I started 9 or 10 years ago but with very little progress. It was set in a fictional Sudan but I intend to have a fresh look at this. I have a sizeable lead pile in 15mm as well as several Nile steamers yet to be constructed.  The Sword and the Flame rules to be used. Having failed to do anything with this last year I really hope to kickstart the campaign this year!

WW2:

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

PAINTING/MODELLING

Wars of the Roses 6mm - Almost certainly more will be required for the Kingmaker campaign. A rough estimate of 500 more figures is pencilled in.

AWI 10mm - 30 more figures to be completed for 'White Plains'.

Napoleonic 6mm - 1,000 - 1,500 figures for Talavera required, mainly Spanish.

WW2 6mm - For Op Nostalgia approximately 200 to 300 figures and 50 vehicles/armour/guns to be completed. More will be required for NW Europe depending on H&R new figure release schedule.

Terrain:

Following completion of my AWI figures, attention will be turned towards completing terrain for:

Gettysburg
McDowell
Nibeiwa
Grissburg
Rhodes
'Into the Woods'

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


So that is the plan! Once again it will be interesting to see how disciplined I am sticking to this as you never know what distraction lies around the corner.