2013 in Review

Time keeps going by! 2013 was a good year for miniatures wargaming, at least in my little corner of the world. I graduated from architecture school, which freed up a considerable amount of time, and starting making money again, which freed up a considerable (relatively!) amount of income. Both of these resources are, of course, absolutely essential to getting much of anything done in the world of historical miniatures wargaming.

I photographed the current state of my various projects at this date, and those photos will be shown below, but the REAL point of a post like this is to set goals for 2014. Here is my tripartite scheme for wargaming joy in 2014:

• Finish existing projects.
• Introduce new players to the hobby.
• Play more games.

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FINISH EXISTING PROJECTS

I have a number of projects in varying scales and from varying periods that could easily be finished up. By finished up, I mean put into a playable state. Reaching that playable state primarily involves painting up the opposing side and a bit of terrain work.

Having these projects completed will allow me to tackle task two.

INTRODUCE NEW PLAYERS TO THE HOBBY

This may be a quixotic task, but I have quite a few friends who really enjoy board games (including some light wargames, like Axis and Allies or Small World) and/or RPGs, and I feel like there has to be some potential for them to become interested in miniatures wargaming. If I can provide the playing surface and both sides, it should be easy to get them to play, and hopefully THAT will set a hook in someone’s gamer mouth, and they’ll be caught.

PLAY MORE GAMES

I did get to play some historical miniatures wargames this year. I participated in a massive game of Napoleon’s Battles, and just before Christmas the Scarlet J and I put on a small regimental American Civil War game using Regimental Fire and Fury.

I’d like to do more. Thus the finishing of projects, and the introduction of the hobby to potential new players.

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So, those are the conceptual goals.

More concretely, I plan to play more Regimental Fire and Fury with TSJ. My friend Frank and I are going to do some Napoleonic gaming using Neil Thomas’s rules (which are very simple, and don’t require massive numbers of figures), with a jump-off date of ‘this summer.’ There shall be some WWII skirmish gaming using Chain of Command by TooFatLardies. I’d also like to finish up a long-outstanding 1/285 WWII project. The elephant in the room is the ~12.3 tons of terrain in various scales that needs to be produced. No problem.

We’ll see how it goes!

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Finally, here’s my figure painting output for 2013, minus some fantasy RPG figures that I painted for some friends.

28mm Old/Wild West Skirmish

This would be an easy project to finish. It only needs terrain and some custom cards for The Rules with No Name.

20mm Panzergrenadiers for Chain of Command

My panzergrenadier platoon for Chain of Command. I could make this force more flexible by painting additional riflemen. Then I could also field them as a plain ‘old Wehrmacht platoon. I also need to paint up some scout cars, AT guns, and other fun things like that.

20mm US troops for Chain of Command

I have a few more unpainted 20mm US figures that would bring this force up to a full squad. I’m sorely tempted to order the figures needed to finish out the platoon from Eureka miniatures, now that AB figures are available in the USA. Also need scout cars and other fun additional forces.

15mm Confederate brigade for Regimental Fire and Fury

15mm Confederate brigade for Regimental Fire and Fury

Completing this brigade of Confederate troops (plus a battery of guns) was far and away my major accomplishment of 2013. I look forward to building on them in the future. In the short term, I’d like to add some cavalry, just because they look cool. I realize they’ll likely be next to useless on the battlefield, at least at the scale we’re playing at. I’d like to paint up a Union brigade, too, though that’s quite a way in the future.

TSJ and I plan to play once per month, which should roughly sextuple (it’s not a word, I know) my miniatures wargaming plays over the course of the year.

Here’s the beginnings of the new project for 2014-15/18mm Napoleonics. Obviously I’m cheating and getting a head start. These guys are painted up as the 52nd Oxfordshire, and only lack a command stand to represent a battalion in Neil Thomas’s Napoleonic Wargaming rules set. Frank and I will be doing a division each. He’s doing a division of all KINDS of interesting (interesting means crazy, in this case*) French and French-allied troops. I’m going to be doing the vaunted Light Division, plus a battalion of Brunswickers and some KGL hussars. Oh, and some horse artillery. First contact should be early this summer.

I may try and get in some Sharp Practice skirmish gaming before our division level games.

I have to say, painting redcoats after 2.5 months of butternut and grey has been a real joy. I’m sure I’ll get sick of them soon enough, though.

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There you have it, more than you ever wanted to know about my gaming plans for 2014!

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*I’m kidding, of course. Frank really knows his stuff. It will be cool to see all of these obscure troops on the table, and I’m sure the uniforms are going to be awesome.