Review of 2024

I hope you all had a great Christmas and it is now that time to reflect on how the wargaming year went.

As in previous years this will be a review of my wargaming year including how close I was to fulfilling the aims set out in 'Plans for 2024'.

It will be broken down into 'Battles', 'Campaigns' and 'Painting/Modelling'. the initial aims are quoted in italics.

 BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 20th Legion v Ancient British Cantii tribe who have rebelled.

Completed - see 'Campaigns' below.

ECW:

Edgehill - This is a definite and I know this as it is currently occupying my tabletop. Hope to have a blog posting very soon.

Completed:

Forlorn Hope rules were used and proved to be a resounding Royalist victory.

NAPOLEONIC:

Peninsular War project - Battle of Busaco 27th September 1810. Approximetely 2/3 of the figures I needed to paint were completed this past year. All being well this should be on the tabletop before the end of the year.

Good news is that all figures required are now ready but the bad news being that I ran out of time before I could play it.

Napoleonic Campaign - The next map moves have yet to be completed but confident at least one action will be played out.

Failed! Clearly over-confident.

Continued -

ACW:

Gettysburg Day 2 - I have lost count as to how many times I have stated this will be played. Part of the delay was down to me dithering about scratchbuilding terrain such as the Little Round Top. I have decided to just run with what I have got and thus cautiously optimistic that this will be played out. 

At last completed:

Guns at Gettysburg rules were used and the epic encounter lead to a Union victory but flirted with defeat on a couple of occasions.

PONY WARS:

The end is in sight for figure painting although terrain needs to be constructed. I am hopeful I will be able to play this before the year is out.

Terrain has been constructed and now ready to go. Sadly not started yet but hopefully should be soon.

WW2:

Battle south of Nibeiwa - Operation Compass campaign. I have some rule tweaks to complete around the propensity of the Italians to surrender en-masse at this stage of the war. Some of my desert terrain boards are in need of attention which will also be used in the Pony Wars project. 

The game was played trialling the Rapid Fire Reloaded rules. They provided for an entertaining game and I have not ruled them out for some games in the future, but Blitzkrieg Commander IV remains my preferred rules for WW2 at present. 

This did though signal the end of my WW2 campaign in N. Africa. More detail is provided in the original post for the reasons behind this, but basically I felt it was taking far too long to make much headway and historical scenarios had become more appealing.

Groesbeek Heights - Op Market Garden. This is a repeated target from last year but now, as then, will depend on how quickly I am able to paint up the required figures.

The last game of the year and only just completed. I anticipated playing this through into January but it came to a rapid conclusion.

CAMPAIGNS

ANCIENTS:

Roman invasion of Britain. This should continue with the Romans seeking to teach the Cantii a lesson.

This campaign continued at pace using the opportunity to test various rules systems. It also involved me rebasing on 40mm x 30mm bases with a view to accelerating the speed of play. A summary of the games played:

20th Legion v Cantii

16th Legion v Catuvellauni

16th Legion v Iceni

9th Legion v Cornovii

2nd Legion v Dubunni

NAPOLEONIC:

Warplan 5/5 campaign to continue. The French are in full retreat on all 3 fronts. Map moves have yet to be completed which I am hoping to resolve early in the new year.

This has been a rare Napoleonic free year which I hope to rectify next year.

ACW:

I intend to suspend this campaign for the present as there is little prospect of me having the time to move it forward. It is not a campaign that I find inspiring at present so may well be put on ice for a considerable time.

Confirm now suspended. My ACW fix will concentrate on historical scenarios.

WW2:

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

One action completed (see above) but campaign now been placed on ice. 

WW2 NAVAL:    

I enjoyed my return to WW2 naval last year, particularly the "Defending the Malay Barrier" campaign. This should feature over the coming year.

Several actions were played involving both sea and air assets.

An overview of the campaign area during Turn 2.

Japanese air attack on the Dutch De Ruyter lead CenGroup.

Air attack on WesGroup lead by HMS Exeter.

Exeter's WesGroup engages the WAF Chokai patrol.

EasGroup lead by USN Houston is intercepted by the EAF Nachi patrol.

There are two more actions to be played to finalise Turn 2.

PAINTING/MODELLING

Targets for the year:

I shall be aiming for a more realistic 2,000 x 6mm figures painted. My targets:

150 x Pony Wars 
400 x WW2  (Groesbeek Heights)
600 x Napoleonic (Busaco)
800 x Punic Wars (Trebia) / or Napoleonic (Austerlitz)

Austerlitz is a new project which will be played at 1 unit per brigade using adapted GdB rules. I am not sure yet which will take precedence this year, Trebia or Austerlitz or a mix of the two.

Painting result:

203 x Pony Wars
372 x WW2
246 x Napoleonic (Busaco)
899 x Punic Wars (Trebia)
An additional 105 x Early Imperial Roman/Celts have been completed.

A total of 1829 figures + 12 x WW2 vehicles, 80 x 1/3000 WW2 ships, 6 x 1/600 WW2 aircraft.

A surprisingly accurate achievement! I did not require the number of Napoleonic figures I originally planned for having reduced the battlefield size and eliminating the need for a few brigades of allies.

Austerlitz is firmly on the back-burner. I have acquired some figures but it is all a matter of available time to expand in addition to the Peninsular War.

Terrain - 

Pony Wars buildings, fort, mining camp + various mountain passes etc.
Refurbish desert terrain boards and river boards

All completed apart from the river boards.

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.

More ships and aircraft have been completed and the most notable terrain piece is Rorkes Drift enabling that action to be played when time permits.

Posting slightly later than I anticipated. Whatever you are doing tonight have a great new year.