Review of 2023

This has not been a great year for my wargaming hobby. A near full time child care of our two young granddaughters has impacted significantly on the time available. I do though commit to doing something on all but a handful of days. Even if only 15 or 20 minutes at the start of the day which keeps it ticking over.

I will list my aims for the year (in italics) and my success or otherwise of completing them.

BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 2nd Augusta Legion v Ancient British Durotriges tribe in the west country.

Completed - The Durotriges tribe has been thoroughly subdued with the attention now turning towards the Cantii tribe who have rebelled.

ECW:

Edgehill - Almost ready to play this and will be a priority in the new year.

Unfortunately a casualty of time pressure. More of this project in my plans for 2024.

Continued -

NAPOLEONIC:

Peninsular War project - Battle of Busaco 27th September 1810. There are a fair number of figures to paint before this game will be ready so probably 50:50 if this will be on the table in 2023.

A significant number of figures have been painted but not enough! Hope to complete the painting during 2024. 

Napoleonic Campaign - At the time of writing this I am still completing campaign map moves. There will certainly be at least one battle played out this coming year.

Battle of Presscot:

ACW:

Gettysburg Day 2 - I have been intending for several years to play this game but for a variety of reasons has fallen by the wayside. There is no excuse though as my available gaming area is now sufficient for a battle of this size. There are terrain pieces that have yet to be painted but I simply have to get this up on the tabletop this coming year.

Nope - again! More of this in my next post covering the plans for 2024.

COLONIAL:

Rorkes Drift - Most of the figures have now been painted with just the terrain to be completed.

Terrain still outstanding.

PONY WARS:

A priority to get the figures painted followed by terrain. I intend to make this one of the targets this year but unsure as to whether I will complete all the collection required. Hopefully though I will get something on the table even if only a test game.

Nothing on the table but good progress on the figure painting side.

WW2:

Cristot (Normandy 1944) - Already on the board with an AAR due to be posted within the next few weeks.

Completed:

Battle south of Nibeiwa - Operation Compass campaign and another priority for the year.

Not completed.

Groesbeek Heights - Op Market Garden. Another target but dependant on being able to get the figures painted in time.

Not completed

WW2 Naval

Although not planned originally, a new campaign was started "Defending the Malay Barrier". An early war naval campaign based in the Pacific. Two actions have been played out so far. Force Z sortie:

And a US v Japanese surface fleet action during campaign turn 1:

CAMPAIGNS

ANCIENTS:

Roman invasion of Britain. A hillfort needs to be constructed whereupon the next battle will be played set in the west country - Dorset of course! This will be a priority early in the year.

Completed.

NAPOLEONIC:

Warplan 5/5 campaign to continue. There is currently a break in the action with all three French thrusts now held by the allies. Both sides are regrouping and recovering.

I battle played out and next campaign moves due to be completed.

ACW:

Another Warplan 5/5 campaign. This is not enthusing me up as much as the Napoleonic version. There are two battles pending but with Gettysburg a priority unlikely they will be played for another year. Rather than scrap the campaign I will may put it on ice for now.

No progress made. I am considering suspending this for now but more of that in the next post.

WW2:

Op Compass campaign to continue with 2 actions pending. At least one, and hopefully both, will be played.

As with the ACW above, no progress with a temporary suspension a possibility.

PAINTING/MODELLING

Targets for the year:

I shall be aiming for 2,500 x 6mm figures painted. My targets:

300 x Pony Wars                                 Completed: 244
400 x WW2  (Groesbeek Heights)       Completed: 0
1400 x Napoleonic (Busaco)              Completed:876
400 x Punic Wars (Trebia)                  Completed: 0

In addition 38 ECW completed giving a total of 1158.

Terrain - 

Hillfort  - Completed
Rorkes Drift - Not completed.
Pony Wars buildings, fort, mining camp + various mountain passes etc. - No progress.
Gettysburg - several buildings. - Completed several of which may be useful for the Pony Wars.

In addition significant progress was made painting my backlog of WW2 European buildings.

Maintenance on my terrain boards will be required. Some of them are showing their age and need a spruce up. If I get time I also intend to repaint the river sections making them a little more realistic.

Some work done but river sections still need some attention. My desert boards need some improvement for both the Pony Wars and WW2 projects.

In all likelihood there will be a few ships and aircraft to add to the list as well as other bits and pieces of terrain.

52 x 1/3000 WW2 ships and 44 x 1/600 WW2 aircraft also completed.

I have fallen well short of the number of 6mm figures planned for painting although I have made reasonable progress on my unpainted terrain collection. Hopefully, next year will prove more fruitful.

My plans for the coming year will be posted soon. Hope everybody had a great Christmas, and if I do not get the next post up before the new year, have a good one.