Looking Ahead to 2012

As October 15th comes to a close I am looking ahead to next year. Gaming wise this year has been a disaster to say the least with a total lack of time and ability to push lead minimized by the personal issues that have haunted my footsteps. But the end of a number of issues is in sight, there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and it doesn't appear to be an oncoming train. So yes I have thought about my projects for next year.

I will be running two games at Con of the North and partcipating in a couple of others. The first game is a 25mm Brother against Brother Scenario for my 1861 (Early War) collection of figures I am painting up. The second game is a 25mm Horse Musket and Gun scenario featuring my French and Austrian Collection in one of the lesser know battles of the 100 Days Campaign, la Suffel. So I am busily painting up figures for both of those games. In addition I am working on adding enough terrain to make those an interesting as possible and still be playable. No Roman Hedges in my future.

My next project is my 1862 Battles on the Peninsula game I am looking to run, hopefully at a spring ReCon. I am working slowly on figures for that as well. My plan is to use the ACW variant of Rank and File, but if Horse Musket and Gun works I may just stick with that in effort to not teach people too many rule sets.

Speaking of Horse Musket and Gun I plan on doing far more work on that over the winter. Many discussions with Kelley and what's left of the group in Stuttgart really made me reconsider how some of the mechanics are working. The result of these email exchanges have lead me to consider making two rule sets rather than one. The First Rule Set is for Mass Battles the second is more of smaller skirmish (small action not 1 to 1) game. I have been trying to combine the two into one game and honestly I think that has been my problem.

With that in mind I am going to attempt and run what I hope will be a large 25mm Napoleonics game on Saturday June 16th. My goal is to have a table 30 to 40 feet long and 3 five foot wide sections as the field of battle. That is a lot of space, the question is do we have enough figures and more importantly enough players to make it worth while.

On the figure side of that question, I have just shy of a Corps of French Infantry, light Artillery, Command and Cavalry. I will be adding 6 more battalions of painted French from the Old Glory Painted, leaving me short six battalions of Legere for a French Corps and a Division from the Second Corps. Artillery well I am going to have to bite the bullet and buy some more figures, probably a mix of War Games Foundry and Old Glory 1st Edition. Legere however is a tough question, I wouldn't mine some of the Plastics, but man are the poses hideous. In the Vitrix I figure I would be throwing out 1/3 of the figures.

I also have a division of Minor and by Minor I mean minor, French Allied. You got to love the minor Confederation of the Rhine states. With them and the other figures I am planning on buying that should give me two full French Corps. Fitz has a Division of French, short Artillery. Keith and Violence both have a Brigade of Bavarians. Joel Gregory has a French Corps.

On the Allied Side I have a workable Austrian Corps. Fitz has a Russian Corps, short Artillery, Joel Gregory has two Prussian Brigades and a mix of Austrians.

Jim has informed me he has 300 to 400 unpainted Prussians, BJ and Ray have decided to paint Russians and I have way to much unpainted and half-painted lead.

So if we get everyone to show up it could be well worth while game. Especially as a couple of other players hem and haw about participating.

I am also painting up a good deal of Austrians and Swedes for the Era of the War of Austrian Succession. Yeah I know Swedes foe the Hat's War, I love punishment. I have a good Start on an Austrian Brigade and Swedish Battalion. I am hoping to try a game of BaR by the end of next year. As a continuation of this I have a French Brigade and a British Brigade technically for the F&IW but who's counting.

I am really taking a long hard look at my AWI collection and wondering what to do with it, as the Wilderness Wars Rule seem to be too fundamentally flawed to continue with and I have way to many figures painted. Maybe a BaR variant?

Well off to bed, after listing a small sample of what i will be working on for 2012, and I am already looking at 2013 with reverence and awe, as the 200, 150, and 70th anniversaries. I see Gettysburg, Leipzig and North Africa in my future.