Showing posts with label Game Plan 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Plan 2013. Show all posts

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Looking Back – the 2013 edition


Happy new year to all of you of the Gregorian Calendar persuasion. 2013 was a fairly busy and productive year. Looking back at My Plan for 2013 I can say I did pretty good at sticking to it and accomplishing what I set out to do…

GAMES PLAYED

Looking at my BGG stats I played a few games… but I feel like I didn’t play as much as I  might have liked… We seem to have played a lot more board games this past year. Drakon and Munchkin were the big hits. We apparently played eighteen games of each (8x Super Munchkin, 5x Munchkin Conan, 3x Munchkin Cthulhu, 1x Munchkin – the original fantasy one, and 1x Star Munchkin – which we just got for Xmas). 

We also played a few games of Cave Troll (five actually) and three games each of T-Rex, Xig, and King of Tokyo. We also just got King of Tokyo for Xmas from Other Tim and it looks like it’s going to be a big hit. All three games of T-Rex and Xig were both played within a week – we figured them out, played a few games, haven’t played them since…. Ah well.. I think I got both of them for $5.

We also got in one game of Apples to Apples and a game of Axis &Allies 1942. WE played the A&A with four players and it was the first BIG board game that the boy has played… took all afternoon… he got a little distracted by the little toys and would play with them when it wasn’t his turn… but he’s nine… so…

We tried playing Wizardology once… the kids really want to try and play it again… but I think it would actually take FOREVER to play a game to completion – and it was far too… random…?

We really didn’t do a whole lot of role-playing all year… and not much more skirmish gaming. There were a number of reasons for this. One of the largest reasons was the fact that our house has been in a state of utter chaos since July with all the renovations going on. According to those BGG stats it looks like I only got in about FIVE GAMES of Savage Worlds… I must have entering a few games… I’m sure I played at least one or two more… but still – it wasn’t vary much at all. Hopefully that will be rectified this year with the new game I am running on Friday evenings for the kids and Christian and his daughters. Maybe the Saturday night crew will get back to some role-playing as well.

I did get in a few miniature skirmish games, but, again, not as much as I might have liked – or have in the past… Twelve games of Ambush Z, ten games of Force on Force, and four games of Bolt Action– most of which were in the first half of the year. I have gotten in seven games of Ronin – Skirmish Wargames in the Age of the Samurai in the last month or so, and that seems to be what’s firing me up at the moment.

I played a few games of Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe with John Bertolini – which was a lot of fun. I hope I’ll get in some more games of that this year.

I also got in ONE GAME of Hordes of the Things… I can’t even remember when that would have been!? There doesn’t seem to be an AAR on the blog… I suppose I could look it up on BGG to find out, but I’m not all that concerned. It was probably just a pick up game with the kids one afternoon when we didn’t have anything else to do and I just didn’t take any pics (or the camera battery was dead…?)

I did run big game for the Wargaming Birthday Bash - Top Malo House - and I did get in a game of Bolt Action the day before… which almost made a weekend of games… almost…

I also ran a few games at ToonCon 2013. I ran Ambush Z on Friday night, Force on Force Saturday night, and helped John Bertolini run a game of Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe on Saturday Afternoon. It was a lot of fun, if a bit tiring – I’ll definitely do it again this year.


PAINTING MINIATURES

Mainly I planned to finish painting my modern 28mm stuff – which I’ve pretty much managed to do… (see the 28mm Modern Military Gallery). The only thing I really have left to do in the modern collection is a few vehicles (M1, Marders, Leopard 2s, Hinds and Hummers) and some of the modern British SAS and Marines. I never did pick up the AAVP-7s I’d planned to get for the Marines, or the fourth Warrior MCV… I also have a batch of modern-ish civilians to finish up – though I finishedup up most of the ones I’d had previous to 2013!

Though I don’t have any pictures of the whole horde I’ve pretty much painted all of my modern Zombies as well – over 120 of them! The only reason I haven’t taken a picture of the whole horde is there is one or two that I haven’t painted and I really want to get them done before I do take a picture of the whole collection…

I don’t think I got to painting very much WW2 stuff. I might have done one or two things in January or February when I was playing Bolt Action… and I did paint up the First Special Service Force that I’d picked up. I’d like to pick up a few more, but I’m waiting on Artizan Designs to make a pack of Johnson Machine Gunners. I’m in no hurry. I’ve been sick to death of WW2 for a long time now and I can’t forsee any urge to play or paint anything for it any time soon (still… if they DID do the Johnson MG gunners I’d pick up those and some of the character packs to round out the force and paint them up…).

In the early summer (June and July) I started painting a few Great War things – and I think I’ll get back to that at some point this year. We have some 100 year anniversaries coming up! I’d planned on picking up some 28mm Great War Germans – to oppose my Early Great War British- from Renegade Miniatures right around now (as they often have a 4-4-5 sale at this time of year) but they seem to have closed up shop for the time being… I will have to look elsewhere… Maybe Great War Miniatures…? I have a bunch of their Great War French… (which I painted a bunch of in June and July)

John Bertolini has been making masters and casting a few 40mm 1914 figures. I painted a unit of his French and tried making a few of my own 40mm 1914 British but I haven’t done any work on them since.

Later in August I got painting 40K stuff as I picked up a copy of Only War and thought I might play it with the kids. That fizzled for the moment, but I plan on returning to that this year… or perhaps Rogue Trader - as I picked up a bunch of that stuff FFG’s big annual Black Friday/Xmas sale.
In September I contiunues with the 40K stuff, but also started painting a few Epic 40K things – thinking I’d have a got at Future War Commander again – or some other micro SF game…?

In October I shifted focus and started on working towards finishing up the 28mm Vietnam stuff. Which I did. I also started thinkng about the 10th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash did a little planning - taking stock of what I’d accomplished and what I planned to do over the winter – which all quickly fell by the wayside, because by November I’d sat down and read Ronin – Skirmish Wargames in the Age of the Samurai - which I’d picked up months earlier when it came out – and got pretty jazzed about that and switched focus to all things Feudal Japanese.

At the very end of the year I decided to get in on the Fourth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I’m not sure why… The original idea of the challenge was to motivate each other to keep painting through the cold dark winter months of the northern hemisphere… but I’m pretty good at keeping going and don’t really need much outside motivation. I also don’t really care about competitions… I mean, I will do well in the competition simple because I do paint an awful lot of stuff… but that isn’t way I got in on it. Community, I guess? A chance to share my stuff with a larger audience than just my blog…? I don’t know. Anyway I’m in on it.

One thing I’d planned this year – and accomplished, more or less – was to paint more than I purchased or otherwise acquired. While my painting rate was pretty steady (actually it was a bit down this year – with all the renovations), I cut the figure purchases by more than a third. My plan is to buy even less this year. I’d like to have a plan and stick to it. More on that in the next post.

That’s about it for looking back. Up next I’ll post a bit about what I’m planning for 2014. 

Monday, October 28, 2013

Fall/Winter 2013 Planning



I’ve been flailing around for a few months with out a plan or direction so I thought it might be a good ides to sit down and make some sort of plan to give myself some forcus for the rest of the year and into the new year.

Looking back on my Plans for 2013

For the Birthday Bash I ended up playing a game of Bolt Action on the Satruday and the Top Malo House Scenario for Force on Force. I’m already starting to plan for the 10th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash next year.

After that I didn’t really organize any other weekend games or campaigns… I did play a bit of Force on Force and Ambush Z… and played a few games of Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878 over at John Bertolini’s. I also organized and ran a few games at ToonCon 2013.

I did finish painting up a LOT of Modern 28mm stuff (and a fair bit of Great War stuff too)! Here's that list I made…

Modern & WW2

FOOT
Modern
30x Modern USMC – DONE!
45x Modern US Rangers, etc. – Still to do…
30x Modern SAS – Still to do…
20x Modern RM – Still to do…
30x Modern Germans – DONE!
15x Astd. Russians/Soviets _DONE! and DONE!
20x Cold War British – DONE!
30x Modern Africans – DONE! and DONE!
40x Central/South Americans – Still to do
65x Zombies –DONE! (well…mostly…) unfortunately I don’t have a post with pictures of the whole Horde… (I should do that…)
20-30x Modern Civilians – I think I’ve finished most of these… but then acquired more! Again, no pics of the lot and they were done in bits.
8 x SWAT – DONE!? (I think…?)
20x MegaMinis SWAT – Still to do…
30x Vietnam Americans – DONE!
20x Vietnam Anzacs – DONE!

WW2
24x Soviets – I may have done a few but mostly “still to do…”
20x Paras - – Still to do…
I have a lot of others to do as well. but these were the only ones I’d PLANNED to do. I also finshed a bunch of First Special Service Force.


Vehicles
2x M1 Tank – Still to do…
2x LAV-25 – Still to do…
2x Warrior MCV – one DONE!, one still to do…
3x Challenger - two DONE!, one still to do…
3x BTR-60 – DONE!
3x T-72 – Still to do… (but I didn’t paint a T-55!)
3x Marder – Still to do…
4x Hummers – Still to do…
1x Modern Pick up Truck – Still to do…
1x M113 – DONE!
1x M48 - DONE!

I didn’t do any of the planned WW2 vehicles…

Great War, Etc.

Foot
30x ANZACS – still to do…
50x EW French – a few Infantry, More Infantry, and Machine-guns DONE! But one more infantry unit still to do…
30x Belgians I gone a few Carabiniers DONE! – But still have a few to do…
60x Turks – still to do…
30x EW British (Scots, actually) – still to do…
20x Germans DONE! (mostly)
180+ Canadians – Still to do… ( I think I painted a few, here and there…)
80x Boers – Still to do…
40x French Foreign Legion -  DONE!

Mounted
10x ANZACs – Still to do…
10x French – Still to do…
8x EW British (Indians, actually) - DONE!
10x Germans DONE!
10 x Canadians – Still to do…
20x Boers – Still to do…

That is a fair bit I got done so far... and looking at the Painted vs. Acquired I'm doing not so bad - I'll have painted more than I bought by the end of the year... I won't have painted TWICE as much as I bought (which I'd secretly hoped), but maybe next year...

So what to do for the rest of this year…?


The Kids

I got playing a lot of Board Games and card games with the kids (mostly munchkin variants – Supers, Cthulhu, Conan) and I’d like to keep doing that.

I started out the year playing a lot of Ambush Z with them, that’s fallen by the wayside, but I’d like to get going on that again – especially now that Keira’s painted all her own zombies! I’ve also played a few Force on Force games with them and should do more of that too.

They’ve really been wanting to play another Savage Worlds campaign, and I’ve been promising I would for a long time, but just haven’t gotten to that. A week or so ago we made characters for a new Fantasy campaign, but that’s as far as we’ve gotten. I’m hoping when the renovation dust settles (literally), and things are less chaotic we will get on with that. It’d also be fun to include some other friends (CHRISTIAN! I’m looking at YOU!) (and Aaron... and Bruce...) (All gaming pals I know with kids around my kids age that like playing games) 


Vietnam

For the longest time I’ve run role-playing games on Saturday nights. For a good few years now it’s been Savage Worlds (Savage Saturday Nights) and thos campaigns (as well as the ones with the kids have been chronicles at Savage Timmy’s Playhouse. At the end of last year the campaign fizzled and we started playing Ambush Z. Over the summer even that died off – with ramping up for the renovations and people just generally being busy doing other stuff…

Somehow, probably because I got motivated to finish up my 28mm Vietnam stuff, I got it in my head that I’d be fun to run a Savage Worlds   Tour of Darkness campaign… except using Force on Force/Ambush Valley to play out the skirmishes (you can see the AAR from the first mission here: In Country.

Hobby-wise this won’t be much work as I have pretty much all the miniatures I need to play painted… I would like to build some new terrain – fox-holes, sand-bag bunkers and other perimeter defences for an air base and/or fire support base, gun emplacements, log bunkers, new Vietnamese buildings, better rice paddies, more jungle, streams, tunnel entrances/Hot Spot markers, etc… I’m sure there’s a few figures I might pick up and paint at some point… maybe a few more vehicles (additional M113s, M113ACAVs, a few Huey Slicks…). But nothing that’s going to hold me back from playing.


28mm Modern

I do still have a few modern things I’d like to finish up… the Generic US-backed Central or South Americans, some Modern Americans and British (RM and SAS) and a bunch of vehicles – 2xM1 tanks, 3xT-72 tanks, 2x Leopard 2 Tanks, 3x Marder IFV, 1x Warrior IFV, and a bunch of assorted cars and trucks… I also have a handful of modern zombies and civilians to finish up and a bunch of Geezers (I got the “one of everything” special deal… lots to still do!)

I also have a handful of Zombies left to do… I should get those done… It might be nice to make a few more buildings too.


20mm Modern!?

I have a bunch of 20mm stuff I’m not sure what to do with… Most of it was based on multi-figure bases and I used it for Cold War Commander. I have since taken all the 1970s/80s Cold war stuff off those based and based them individually for playing Force on Force… (I figured If ever I was going to play CWC again I’d just build new forces with 6mm micro armour). Of course I have a lot of those same things in 28mm, but I have a lot MORE in 20mm… It seems sill having them in both scales… maybe I could sell off the 20mm stuff to fund picking up more 28mm stuff – tanks and IFVs in particular - mind you a LOT of the 20mm tanks and IFVs I have aren’t even assembled or painted, so I wouldn’t get much at all for them… and some you just can’t get in 28mm… Anyway, whether I selll them off or just USE them, I'd like to finish up a few of those forces.

 I have even more Vietnam stuff in 20mm still on the multi-figure bases. Maybe I’ll keep them that way and use them for larger engagements using CWC – there aren’t so many tanks and vehicles to clog up the table (that was the real downside of using 20mm stuff for CWC)…


40mm Great War

I started sculpting a few 40mm Great War British a while back, but haven’t had time or space (both in reality and in my head) to do much work on them since the renovations began… I’d like to finish them up over the winter and be able to play some 1914 battle with John (I painted a Unit of his 40mm French a while back…). He’s got pretty much everyone BUT the British sculpted and ready to cast and paint… We’re planning to use our own variant of Neil Thomas’ Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878.


28mm Great War

I did get a lot of that stuff done in the summer... and 2014 approaches... maybe that'll be a spring/summer project next year...? 


40K!?

NO I’m not about to start playing 40K… but I did read a few novels over the summer and got inspired by all their fluff and had it in my head to run an Only War campaign (except using Savage Worlds for character creation and role-playing aspects and using Tomorrow’s War for playing out the firefights… and maybe Future War Commander! with Epic minis for playing out the REALLY BIG battles!) (Wow… how many gaming heresies did I commit in that last statement!?). I painted a bunch of my imperial guard and picked up some more and a few Orks… But that moment may have passed…. For the moment… but it’ll be back…


Hordes of the Things

I’ve been feeling the urge to bust out the armies and start playing again. The kids and I used to play a lot of this – it was probably the first miniatures game I ever played with them. It might be handy to get some practice in as I might be running a campaign for the 10th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash! Playing might motivate me to finsh up a few new armies or at least finish up the remaining elements needed for a few armies…


WW2…?

There are a number of forces that would only take a week or two to totally finish up… and part of me wants to (because I sould use them for Force on Force, or could have another go at Bolt Action - with a few tweaks…). But, as I think I mentioned earlier, I’m sick to death of World War Two…


Other Stuff

I have a few items that I promised to paint for others that I am determined to get done before the end of this year! I have a few Aurora Monsters I’m painting for Rick – I may not actually get ALL of those done, but I am going to get The Mummy done, and hopefully one of the others (King Ghidorah and a Robot and some other creature from Lost in Space). I also have a package of Watchmen miniatures (from Grenadier Miniatures for the the old DC RPG) and a few cars and bikes and pedestrians for Dark Future that I’m painting for John Burt.


Blog

One thing I’ve really been wanting to do for a while is update my pages – all those galleries listed over there on the top left… Once the renos are done I’d like to get out in some natural light (if it’s not too cold!) and get some proper pictures of my existing collection – and maybe take stock of painted vs unpainted again while I’m at it…


Um… I think that’s about it for now… Is that too much? Probably... 


10th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash


As soon as ToonCon was over, during a few moments that dealing with the renovations weren’t completely overwhelming, I started thinking about what to do this fall/winter game-wise (and there’ll be another post about that shortly) and that, ultimately, got me thinking about next year’s Wargaming Birthday Bash. This year will be the 10th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash – so I’ve been thinking it ought to be something big… but what?

Here’s what I’ve done over the previous years:

(I wish I could have dug out some pictures of the eariler ones - as I'm sure i have them somewhere... but that was a previous computer and they're all stored on CDRs and burried in boxes under many, many more boxes somewhere in one of the rooms with less renovating going on... maybe I'll do a "Looking Back" post in February and be able to dig them out then...) 

2005 – Operation Biting: the Bruneval Raid – I think we used Flames of War – with 20mm figures - we had just heard of Flames of War and hadn’t even been able to track down a copy of the rules and so played it with the Quick Reference Sheet I downloaded of Battlefront’s website!

2006 – France 1940 – Flames of War




2010 – Mini Con with Hordes of the Things  and THREE Savage Worlds games!





I’m kind of tempted to run a Hordes of the Things or De Bellis Antiquitatis campaign… though a skirmish campaign of sorts also seems appealing (to me at least…) or just another Mini Con with a half dozen assorted different games (miniatures and board games) played over a weekend…?

Here are some of the possibilities:


HOTT/DBA Campaign

The campaigns are always fun and draw out a lot of folks. I’m kind of leaning towards HOTT because the state of DBA seems a bit up in the air at the moment. Part of me wants to go nuts and finish up a pile of Greek Hoplite armies and run a Greek Myth inspired campaign... Or there’s always the good old Dark Ages…


Skirmish Campaign

This would be a series of linked scenarios using Force on Force or Ambush Z or Tomorrow’s War (or even Savage Worlds, but probably not). Players would control a couple of teams of… whatever… and a “hero” or team leader? And have limited reinforcements over the campaign. Could be head to head  or co-operative. I think I’ve floated this idea before but no one seems to really be willing to commit to show up like they do for the DBA/HOTT campaigns. 


Mini Cons

So many games so little time… Why not play a bunch I haven’t gotten to play in forever over the space of a weekend… I could dig out Contemptible Little Armies for some Great War Action and/or Ever Victorious Armies for some Colonial Action…. A HOTT mega-battle… Something Horse and Musketty - or get John to bring out his 40mm 1850s toy soldiers for Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe… a game of Force on Force and/or Ambush Z… a couple of those board games I’ve been dying to play for a while (Age or Conan, etc)?


One Big Board Game?

I have Axis and Allies 1940 (Europe and Pacific). It looks like it might take a whole weekend to play…

I guess I need to settle on a weekend as well…. 22-23 February or 1-2 March…? 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Looking Back, Looking Ahead…


Happy New Year to all of you using the Gregorian Calendar. To all of you Mayans, a belated happy new year to you too (I hope you all, like me, had a good chuckle). And a happy... whatever... early or late... to anyone else celebrating anything else soon-ish or recently!

This is that obligatory post about what I did this last year and what I plan to do this year…

Looking at my BGG Stats, once again the game I played most was Savage Worlds – 31 games – a bit more that once every other week – which is good and bad. Good because… well… hey, I played 31 games! Not-so-good because most of the year I theoretically had TWO weekly games scheduled (one on Friday afternoon with the kids and some other homeschoolers, and the Saturday evening “big kids” game)… and more than half were cancelled for one reason or another.

Many of those games were chronicled over at Savage Timmy’s Playhouse. At the beginning of the year we were still trying to get through the Dragonlance campaign (both groups were playing the campaign) but that ground to a halt fairly early in the new year. I think I took a bit of a break from both campaigns through spring and/or summer and then tried to get a new Cthulhu game going for the “big kids” on Saturday night… we started At Your Door in July, but by December had only played seven sessions, covering about a week or two of the campaign in game time.

In the fall I tried to get a game going with the kids and other homeschoolers – trying a Greek Myth Campaign and a Supers Campaign but only managed to get in a game or two of each.

Other games I played a lot of were DBA and HOTT. The DBA was in the first two months or so. I was play testing the current playtest versions of DBA 3.0 and then ran a Dark Ages Camapign in February for the 8th Annual Wargames Birthday Bash weekend (well it was the 8th Annual Bash… only three or four of them were extended into full weekend mini-cons).

The HOTT games were mostly leading up to (and including) the HOTT Summer 2012 Campaign in June… after that…?

Looking back at the Original Game Plan 2012 I’d planned to do the DBA and HOTT campaigns and then planned on running the Battle of Queenston Heights in October. That never happened. The idea fizzled in the early weeks of 2012 as I was painting up a storm for Curt’s 2nd Annual Winter Painting Challenge when I really should have been sculpting the figures I’d planned to sculpt and paint for the battle. I suppose I could have just BOUGHT the figures I needed and painted them… Anyway, after the time the DBA campaign was over I posted an updated Game Plan 2012 – Second Quarter which had more or less abandoned the Queenston Heights plan….

 I’d also planned to play a bunch of Board Games in 2012. I played none of those. Infact the only board games I played all year were Avatar: The Board Game (a gift form my pal “Other Tim”) and The Hobbit ( a gift from Terry) – both of which I played with the kids about three times each – and Apples to Apples Kids (on that I actually bought myself), again, played with the kids… hopefully we’ll play that some more now that Keira is getting better at reading and won’t need OTHER people to play.

Hopefully I’ll get around to playing a few more Board Games this year…

After the DBA and HOTT campaigns I’d been privately planning new campaigns. At one point I’d floated the idea of running a Greek City State campaign for the 2013 game weekend… but that quickly fizzled as not one person I’d sent out the idea to even bothered to respond. Someday I will revisit this idea. Over the last year I’ve acquired enough minis for four or five historical DBA Greek Hoplite armies – plus I have another four armies that could be used; Skythian and Thracian, as well as some Amazons and Centaurs (if we were to play a “semi-historical” campaign – by “semi-historical” I mean we’d use DBA with historical opponents lists but the Amazons and Centaurs would be proxies – the Amazons would likely be fielded using the Thracian list and the Centaurs would be Skytians…). My hope was that I’d get at least two or three people to make their OWN damn armies and then we could have a really BIG campaign (Jackson’s already got one!). Maybe next year…

I’d also floated the idea of an ongoing campaign to a few people – a campaign where we’d meet once a week and play out a season or two of a campaign. But we couldn’t seem to find a day that would work for anyone, so that idea fizzled too… I may revisit it again this year… or next year… What worked reasonably well in the past was having the heads of state (the players deciding where armies would move) play by email, and games of any battles that occurred were played by whoever happened to show up that week. At this point I could simply recruit my kids to play the battles with me. So when I’m ready to look at HOTT or BDA again, that’s a possibility…

By the end of the HOTT Summer Campaign I’d more or less abandoned all previous plans and was casting about for something new… Besides the DBA/HOTT campaign planning already mentioned I started painting a lot of Great War and Modern stuff through the summer – along with a bunch and ancient/mythical Greek stuff, and a smattering of WW2 items. The modern stuff was initially for the planned Savage Worlds/Cthulhu campaign and the Great War stuff was part of a renewed interest in the Great War. I’d even Revisited the Vimy Project and even got soeme work done on the terrain. By the fall I hadn’t gotten in any games with my newly painted Great War  figures and gave up on the HOTT/DBA campaigns and so I abandoned painting that stuff and carried on with Modern subjects.

Around this time I stumblerd upon Ambush Alley Games and Force on Force.

I’ve been increasingly dissatisfied with using Savage Worlds for modern skirmish games – by “modern” I mean pretty much anything Great War and beyond. Don’t get me wrong I still LOVE Savage Worlds for role-playing and heroic, pre-modern-era skirmishing. But around the Great War – and a bit before it in some places, and certainly ever since  – warfare has changed dramatically – going from headlong charges against an enemy to sneaking about from cover to cover… firing from concealed positions…. And motivating troops to move or even fired from cover is the real challenge for the modern low-level leader in a skirmish situation. I just don’t think Savage Worlds effectively modeled that. I’d been thinking of various ways to add some “realism” to Savage Worlds, but then decided to have a look at a newer set of rules.

Now one of the things I really love about Savage Worlds is that it can be used for pretty much anything. I hate reading rules. Hate. Not “dislike”. Hate. I also have a terrible memory and can’t keep things straight in my head, so I like the idea of rules that can be used for many periods. I’ve more or less reduced the number of games I play to a small handful. For mass battles from the dawn of armies right up to the Napoleonic era I’m totally happy with DBA. After the Napoleonic era up until the Second World War I use Ever Victorious Armies/Contemptible Little armies (or rather my own mash-up which I usually call Ever Contemptible Victorious Little Black Powder Armies of Doom!). From the Second World War on I’ve used Blitzkrieg Commmander and Cold War Commander (though I haven’t actually PLAYED any large scale battles in those periods for years). For ALL skirmish gaming I used Savage Worlds – that’s only four sets of rules I’d ever have to remember!? Yay! I digress.

A few of the blogs I follow had been posting some pretty interesting reviews and battle reports of Ambush Alley and Force on Force and so I looked into that a bit more and liked what I read about in reviews and broke down and picked up a copy (I also picked up a copy of the newly released Bolt Action around the same time – mostly due to the rather exciting reviews and AARs over at the
Fawcett Avenue Conscripts blog, but I haven’t really had a look at it yet). Force on Force pretty much had everything I was looking for in a modern skirmish game. It shared some of the mechanics and the feel of Savage Worlds – but had a lot of clever new ideas that addressed the things I thought was missing in much better ways than I was considering. I’ve since picked up a bunch of the expansion books (Cold War Gone Hot, Bush Wars, Ambush Valley, Enduring Freedom, and Tomorrow’s War). I think FoF would do well for WW2 as well, but I haven’t really tried it yet….

I got in six games of Force on Force and one game of Tomorrow’s War in the closing months of 2012. I plan on playing a lot more of that this coming year. I’m pretty stoked about the announcement of a second edition of Ambush Z.

I painted a lot on 2012. Painted a lot more than I played. Sometimes I got to wondering If I’d EVER get to play with some of the figures I’d painted.


SO… 2013…


I guess the first thing I should really get working on is a plan for the 9th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash! At this point I really have no serious plan. I’m not even sure if It’ll be a weekend of gaming or just an evening game on my birthday. I guess it’ll depend on who’s available.

Options…

#1 Weekend Campaign.

This would be the weekend of 22-24 February and would very likely be a skirmish campaign of sorts likely using Force on Force.

I ran a very successful skirmish campaign in my pre-blog days using a campaign from an old Wargames Illustrated. I think the article had been called “All Quiet on the Chechen Front” and was originally written, obviously, for a modern campaign set in Chechnya. The system could be used for ANY modern (or even not-so-modern) setting. I had used if for a WW2 game. The basic idea is that the campaign is set on a “quiet” section of the line, which is more or less static while the main battle rages on elsewhere. Each side has a platoon holding their respective section of the line and is in the line for three days. The campaign has six turns (three day, three night). The players are given mission for each turn and have to manage their assets through the six campaign turns.

So I could use the “All Quiet” campaign or just some sort of linked scenario narrative campaign…

Of course if AAG got their second edition of Ambush Z out by then – with a campaign system for the Zombie Apocalypse… that might end up being what we’d play…

#2 Weekend Mini-Con

In previous years I’ve run a series of different games over a weekend. The nice thing about this is that participants don’t have to show up for the entire weekend if they’re busy with other things (which people often are…). I could potentially even get others to run one of the games (but I probably won’t – I do like running games…). I could even get in some Boardgaming…

#3 One Big Game

This might be one evening or afternoon over the weekend or could just be on the Monday (the 25th – my actual birthday). Could be anything….

So I guess the question is:

Who would be available for an entire weekend of gaming (or part of a weekend…) and would you be interested in a skirmish campaign of some sort or a variety of games?


AFTER THAT?

I like the idea of organizing a few big events spread throughout the year – February (the birthday/game weekend), and maybe somthign in June and October. The idea is to have a bigger project to work towards to keep focused – but not so far away that I might lose focus (the next project only being, at most, 4 months away if I were on the Feb-June-Oct cycle). I’m not sure anything is going to happen THIS summer though… We’re planning some major renovations to our house, and while I’m not doing them all myself (we’re hiring people) the house will likely be in a state of total chaos in June. The preceding months will also likely be somewhat chaotic – which would make it difficult to plan and prepare for some event.

October, however… The house stuff SHOULD be done midsummer… Should… It will probably drag on through most of the summer… but by fall I should have time to focus on something… There is ToonCon 2013 at the end of September… I think I’ll just plan to run something there, but I’m not even going to commit to, or even think about,  WHAT exactly I’m going to run there until spring - as plans and interests could easily shift between now and then…

FOR NOW?

I’m planning on continuing with Modern stuff (including ZOMBIES!?). I’d like to finish up a few WW2 things as well…

Here’s some of the stuff I’d like to work on this year… (and maybe even GAME with!?)

Modern Americans

I have a full platoon of Modern USMC from Eureka Miniatures. I’ve Finished One Squad and a Platoon Command Team, but I have two squads yet to finish up. I also have two plastic, 1/48 scale M1 tanks and two “1/48” LAV-25 to build up for support (the LAVs look like they might be a bit bigger than 1/48!?). I’s also like to pick up a pair of Imprint Models AAVP-7A1 at some point to ferry them about….

I have a handful of other modern Americans – mostly “rangers” that I’ll paint in three-color Desert camouflage… They’re not a huge priority…

Modern British

I more or less have the Infantry finished for a platoon, but I have two more Warrior MCVs to finish (one needs painting, the other needs to be assembled and painted) – and I could pick up one more if I wanted a full strength platoon of four – and I have two (or three) plastic, 1/48 scale Challengers to paint up (I have two made by one company and a third made by another and they donn’t quite match up… so  I likely wouldn’t ever use them together…).

I can’t really think of anything I’d like to add to this force… maybe a WMIK or Jackal…?

This doesn’t include the modern SAS that I have… though I have finished the SAS in Desert DPM, I also have an equal number of SAS to be painted in Temperate DPM. (Yes, I know this is insane… but I picked them up at bargain prices… and I am a sucker for a “good deal”).

And then there’s the handful of Royal Marines…

Modern Germans

I have enough Eureka Germans for a modern Panzer Grenadier Platoon. I also have a few 1/48 Marders (I have two and a third in the mail…). I’d like to pick up a Leopard 2 (or two) for additional conventional support.

Modern/Cold War Russians/Soviets

I have a smattering of late Cold War Soviet and more Modern Russian stuff.

The VDV (Air Assault Troops) I have are definitely more “Cold War” I only have about a section of them – made up of Mongrel Miniatures - painted in KLMK camo. I also have a pair of Revell 1/48 Hind D Helicopters to assemble and paint. The number of infantry I have would just fit into the two machines and could be used for surgical strike missions. I would like to fill out a platoon of these at some point. Unfortunately the make-up of the packs isn’t conducive to filling out anything close to the TO&E… to get the requisite AKs and Machine-guns, I’d end up with a company’s (or even battalion’s) worth of designated marksmen armed with Dragunov sniper rifles?! I’s also like ot pick up a few BMD form Sloppy Jalopy. They’d be fun for spearheading the assault on North America in Red Dawn (the original!) inspired scenarios…

I also have a few Motor Rifle troops – they’d be late Cold War Soviet/Early Modern Russian. They’re mostly from The Assault Group, but I have a few Mongrel ones (which are more Cold War-ish). I’d like to fill out a Platoon of Cold War types at some point (more Mongrel figures). As I mentioned I have three BTR-60s and a pair of T-72s. If I wanted to fill out a more modern force I could pick up some BMP-3 or T-80/90 from Imprint Models… but that’s not really a priority…

Cold War British

I recently picked up close to a platoon of Cold War British. I finished up the First Section last week. I need to pick up a few more machineguns to fill out the platoon (probably easiest to buy a British Support Weapon Pack from Gripping Beast as to get more mongel ones would mean getting whole bunch of surplus guys with FNs… just because of the make up of their packs…). I’d really like to pick up some FV-432s from Sloppy Jalopy to ferry these about on the battlefield… of course they could also see action in the Falklands (where they wouldn’t really need the APCs – but could do with a Scorpion!). Some Saxons might be fun too for some internal security missions… Very Cold War British Civil War and all that…

Speaking of the Falklands, though, I could also do with a few more Cold War British Special Ops types (SAS or RM Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre)..


Cold War Argentines

Speaking further of the Falklands… I don’t’ have any in 28mm. I’d like to pick up a platoon worth from Gripping Beast for some Falklands skirmishing.


Modern/Cold War Africans

I recently picked up and painted some Eureka Rhodiesians (I have another stick to finish) and ZANLA, but I have no real interest in gaming the war in Rhodesia… I thought I’d take the AK-47 Republic approach and to my modern African gaming in the fictional African nation of Timbogo (which I have been using since I played AK-47 Republic. So those ZANLA troops will be regulars from the Peoples Revolutionary Army of Timbogo (P.R.A.T.). I’ve also done some Federal Army of the Republic of Timbogo regulars (F.A.R.T.). I have a few militia to finish up that could be used for either side…. Of course any of the other moderns I have could easily intervene on one side or the other… I have some Die-cast BTR-60s and plastic T-72 models to finish up that could be used to support one side or the other. Any other Cold War vehicles I pick up could be used here as well… especially Soviet equipment.


Modern/Cold War Afghans

Like the Africans I’d rather do my modern Central Asian wargaming in a fictional nation of Burkhaderkastan (Inspired by the Derkaderkastan of Team America: World Police). I have a handful of Afghan/Burkhaderk irregulars finished and about 30 more to paint. I also recently picked up about 30 used Syrian Commandos that I thought I might use as Burkhaderk regulars. I could also use the old Soviet Equipment here as well… 


Modern/Cold War Central/South American

While I was pondering modern imagi-nations I thought: “Why not a generic South/Central American country for some low-level skirmishing against guerillas or Drug Cartels?” So I picked up some figures meant to be Americans in vietnam wearing soft hats to paint up in Woodland camo and pass off as US-backed South/Central American government troops (I painted a sample a few weeks back). I have about a platoon of these to paint – from a variety of manufacturers… but I’m not sure what to use as guerillas… Vietcong in soft hats I suppose… To start with, however, I have plenty of armed civilian types that I could use at thugs for various Drug Lords…

What were the counties Tintin went to…? San Theodoros and Nuevo-Rico?


Zombies

After that last batch I finished up I think I was done about half of the 120 odd Zombies I currently have. I have a dozen or so on the go that I hope to finish up by this weekend.

I also ordered some plastic zombies from Wargames Factory. I know, I know… you long time followers are thinking “Did Tim fall and hit his head? He HATES plastic minis…!?” I actually ordered them for my kids. The kids are totally stoked about trying to paint miniatures so I thought I’d probably be good to start with something that’s cheap and won’t matter too much if they end up a bit messy…. Plastic zombies fit that bill perfectly… stay tuned for pictures of their efforts!


Modern Civvies

I have only a handful of civilians left to paint. Most of them are extra modern SAS figures that I have that I thought I’d paint up an a mix of civilian clothes… Also I have a truck and some Police/SWAT types... 


Vietnam

A few months back I picked up enough figures to figures to finish off a full platoon of Anzacs. More recently, I picked up a few more Americans. Once I have the American’s painted I’d have enough for two (slightly understrength) platoons for some larger actions.


World War Two

I’d also like to finish up (or at least work on) a few of my 28mm WW2 forces either to try out Bolt Action or just use for Force on Force WW2 Skirmishing…

WW2 Soviets

I’m so close to finishing these… actually the problem is I keep finishing these… then I add a few more things… I have a complete (perhaps a tad under strength) COMPANY of soviet infantrymen PLUS nearly a full platoon of Naval Infantry Plaus a couple squads of NKVD… support weapons (MGS, AT guns, Mortars, Artillery)… tanks (BT-7, KV-1, KV-2, T-26, and FIVE T-34 – though three of those need to be finished). I have only a hand full of NKVD and Staff officers to be painted and the aforementioned three T-34s.


WW2 British/Canadian Paras

Another force I’m very, very close to completing. I already have a complete platoon, but somehow I’ve acquired enough figures for a full second platoon and some company command/battalion support. I have a dozen or so that need to be apinted to completely finish all the Paras I have… I could easily finish them off in a week…They just haven’t been a priority as I haven’t been palying any WW2 games.


WW2 Germans

I have a lot of Germans I should chip away at… a second platoon of Heer Infantrymen… a smattering of DAK to finish up… Late war SS to oppose my Canadians in Normandy (and Paras in Arnhem)… and some later war Tanks (Tigers, Panthers, PzkwIV). The one thing I’d like to pick up for these… (well I guess it isn’t ONE thing…) is a platoon of Sdkfz 251, an Infantry gun, and some later Stug III.


Other WW2

As I mentioned the Canadians are DONE! But I still have Americans (regular Army Infantry and Paras for Europe, and Marines for the south Pacific), French, Italians, Japanese, and a few commonwealth troops for the Far East. None of it is really pressing. I have enough of the other stuff finished that I have lots of options for WW2 gaming, should I just back into that…


Great War?

I also wouldn’t mind getting back to working on the Great War stuff.


Great War Canadians

I picked up a couple brigades worth of figures over the last year or so (I’m doing a brigade – 4 battalions – of figures from each manufacturer). I’ve painted a few. I could paint up some of the others – especially those in the 3rd Divison, which would be the next section of Vimy terrain I’d build. I would also like to get back to fixing up the Vimy Terrain (I fixed up one square last summer – three more to do for the fourth division’s area… the smallest area…).


Great War ANZACs

I have one mounted unit and one dismounted unit complete. I have a second mounted and two more dismounted to complete…


Great War Turks

One unit complete, two or three to do… I'd like to pick up some Cavalry some day... 


Great War French

I have a regiment of infantry to paint, and a unit of cavalry…

I also have a bunch of Artizan Designs French Foreign Legionnaires – that could be used for the Great War..


Great War Belgians!?

I had ordered a bunch from Maelstrom, but most of it never shipped… so all I have is one unit of Carabiniers, some commanders with no units, and six (count ‘em, SIX) assorted MG teams!?


Great War British

I have a few more early war infantry to finish up, Scots mostly, and a unit of cavalry, Indians mostly.


Great War Germans

I’d also ordered a regiment’s worth of early war Germans from Maelstrom, which never showed up… I have a handful of Foundry Jagers and Hussars to do though. I would like to pick up a regiment of early war infantry at some point. I also need to cast antoher division or two of my own later war Germans to man the defences at Vimy!


Boers

Not "great War" per se... But I have a pile of Boers… and I wouldn’t mind getting around to painting some of these this year – they could be passed off as armed civilians from just about anywhere from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th


20mm Stuff….?

I have a pile of modern 20mm stuff which I originally used for Cold War Commander. When I started playing Force on Force I decided it would probably be more sensible to rebase these individually and use them for that and replace them (for CWC) with microarmour. I’ve started doing this. The trouble is, with a few exceptions, I have the SAME STUFF in 28mm…!? maybe not quite as much, but still… I’ve been back and forth on whether to finish rebasing (and painting the stuff that isn’t finished for) these forces or to just abandon them – sell them off? – and continue to expand the 28mm forces. I like 28mm stuff. I can don’t 20mm and recognize there’s a lot more equipment available for in that scale… but I’d rather be painting 28mm stuff. The painting and modeling side of the hobby is, after all, where I get a greater part of my satisfaction from. So I might as well paint what I LIKE painting, right? I may work on a few of these forces this year - as it would enable me to play some larger actions - but I am not going to ADD to them!


SO HOW MUCH IS ALL THAT?!

If the outlined stuff above were to be my focal project for the year… or the first part of the year…

To Paint (not necessarily in the order I would paint them…):

Modern & WW2

FOOT
Modern
30x Modern USMC
45x Modern US Rangers, etc.
30x Modern SAS
20x Modern RM
30x Modern Germans
15x Astd. Russians/Soviets
20x Cold War British
30x Modern Africans
40x Central/South Americans
65x Zombies
20-30x Modern Civilians
8 x SWAT
20x MegaMinis SWAT
30x Vietnam Americans
20x Vietnam Anzacs
= ~425 Modern foot.

WW2
24x Soviets
20x Paras
The rest I don’t really care about at the moment. As I said I have enough Canadians, Soviets, and Germans done at the moment tha I could play a lot of games…. So we’ll say about 50 that I’d like to get done this year for sure… the rest…? When I get to it…


VEHICLES
2x M1 Tank
2x LAV-25
2x Warrior MCV
3x Challenger
3x BTR-60
3x T-72
3x Marder
4x Hummers
1x Modern Pick up Truck
1x M113
1x M48

= ~25x Modern Vehicles


3x T-34
2x Tiger
2x Panther
2-3x PzkwIV

= ~10x WW2 tanks.

I’m sure there’s stuff I’ve forgotten, so let’s round the Modern and WW2 stuff off to ~500 foot and 35 vehicles?!. Given my rate of painting over the last year, that would take me about half a year to paint all the modern stuff I have and finish off the WW2 Soviets and Paras… (assuming I didn’t buy any more!?)


Great War, Etc.

FOOT
30x ANZACS
50x EW French
30x Belgians
60x Turks
30x EM British (Scots, actually)
20x Germans
180+ Canadians
80x Boers
40x French Foreign Legion

MOUNTED
10x ANZACs
10x French
8x EW British (Indians, actually)
10x Germans
10 x Canadians
20x Boers

Almost another 500+ foot and 70 mounted from the Great War, etc… That could be the second half of the year – if I ever dared plan that far ahead…



STUFF TO GET(!?)

I really shouldn’t be buying ANY stuff this year… It would take me the whole year – painting at the same insane rate of production as last year just to finish up the Modern and Great War stuff I already have to do. That’s not even considering all the Colonial/VSF, Crimean, Napoleonic/War or 1812, Seven Years War, English Civil War, Medieval, Samurai, Dark Age, Ancients (oh… the ancients… don’t get me started on all of those…), and fantasy figures I have to paint… But going a while year without picking up anything at all is absurd. It’s always better to have a plan than no plan because with no plan I tend to just buy stuff willy-nilly and end up with some really bizarre, useless stuff (like, how the hell did I end up with a unit of Crimean War Scots Greys and a handful of  Russian infantrymen!? I didn’t have ANY other Crimena War Stuff!? – it was a “good deal” on ebay – that’s how!?)

INFANTRY
Cold War British GPMG with Steel Helmet
Cold War British SAS/RMAMW (I could probably also pick up some GB firing FN with wool cap to pass off as either)
(of course I could go for that Mofo Variable Content Deal… 12 packs of assorted British and Argentines…. Hmmmmm).


VEHICLES
2x Leopard 2
1x Marder


I also wouldn’t mind trying to track down some 1/48 – 1/50 scale cars and truck to litter my modern battlefield… Maybe a couple more New Ray helicopters (and Apache…?) or a 1/72 or 1/48 scale UAV model… I’ve seen predators in both scales on ebay… but they ain’t cheap…

I’m not even going to think about adding to the Great War stuff just yet… but at some point I’d like to pick up some early war Germans (Either Great War Miniatures or Renegade) and Belgians (again Great War Miniatures… or maybe Brigade Models?)… and maybe a few more British (again, Great War Miniatures or Renegade, probably the latter…).

Damn… Renegade’s having one of their 5-4-4 sales again… Must… not… buy… more…. Miniatures… 

Wow... this sort of turned into a way too long rambling ramble... did anyone actually read all the way through it? If so, you're more demented that even me!? Weirdo. Stop reading this and go do something productive with your life!? (but come back and look at the pretty pictures of whatever I happen to paint over the next day or two in the next post!)