Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ten Projects for the rest of 2012 and into 2013




Having finished the big push for Historicon 2012 and Borodino, it's time to think about where I go from here for the rest of 2012, and on into 2013.

#1 Plan for HCon 2013

    This is probably the top priority, as it impacts purchasing and painting plans as well. We will likely run three games at Historicon 2013 once again, probably all Napoleonic 1813 battles. The list of possibilities include the following 1813 Battles: Lutzen, Bautzen, Katzbach, LowenbergGross-Beeren, Lowenberg, Hagelberg, Dresden, Kulm, Dennewitz, Wachau, Lindenau, Mockern, Libertkolwitz, Leipzig, and Hannau.

    I am leaning towards doing Dresden, but in a "based upon" fashion. The idea is that the overall balance and troop types will be correct, but some of the nationalities may be present in different proportions; as it was the Army of Bohemia was overwhelmingly Austrian in composition, with a small Prussian and even smaller Russian contingent. My version would have more Prussians and especially more Russians with fewer Austrians; this would be a good game to run as a test at EllisCon in November. We're leaning towards doing the cavalry clash at Liebertkolwitz prior to Leipzig. Hannau we should do as Roger has a slew of Bavarians; maybe for HAVOC in April? I'm leaning towards Gross Beeren as the third Historicon game, Lutzen would be interesting. I've done Denewitz and Bautzen in prior years, so I'd prefer to do something new.

    One way or another, this will lead to some expansion of my Napoleonic Prussian Army, which is easily the smallest of mine representing the four major continental powers, with the recent expansions of the Russians and French only serving the aggravate the disparity. Most likely I'll wind up adding Reserve and Landwehr infantry, Landwehr Cavalry, and some batteries. These will most likely be Old Glory and result in buying the "Army Card" deal. The other thing I'll definitely need for 1813 is a lot more French Young Guard; fortunately, I already have about 80 figures of  them from Front Rank , so no new purchases needed there... just paint!

#2 Assyrian fill-ins

    I have unpainted 1 unit of Cavalry (Foundry), several 4-Horse heavy chariots (Hincliffe).
I also have a raft of New Kingdom Egyptians - a small army I purchased and primed several years ago, with flesh color only painted on - so almost half done, LOL. The primary short term use of these armies would be for Hail Caesar! games as part of the HAHGS group. No lead purchases required!

#3 Entomalian Starships for Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights

    I got Joe and Roger started (indirectly) on the GK rules, all of which I have, but haven't yet played a game... maybe I can draft Barry? Anyway, as posted already, I have lost of painted Avarians, Carnivorans, and a few less Terrans. I have at least as many Entomalians, but they all need painting. The detailed way I do them, they can be somewhat time consuming, but I'd like to start making headway on at least some of them!

#4 Other Napoleonics

    I have the lead for a number of Austrian units that need to be painted as fill ins - 1 unit of German Grenadiers, 1 unit of Hungarian Line, 2 units of those OG Grenze in capes, 2 new units of Foundry Hussars (need command, maybe Alban?). I'd also like to add another 4 units of German Line in shako and a Jager battalion - thinking about Alban Miniatures for these. Nothing that I have to have to do for any given project though, but I do like painting Austrians!

    I have a dozen or so figures already primed to beef my two Hessian infantry units up to a full 18 figures, plus plenty of spare Russians left over to paint. I need to add probably 4 more units of Line infantry, possibly "Marines" (just because they have green colors and cuffs piped white, an "exciting" variation from the sameness of Russian infantry in general. Another option is troops wearing the forage cap; we'll see, should paint the leftovers first!

#5 Tyrolian rebels

 I will need to add more figures (Eureka); In a post earlier this year I figured about another 70 figures to make enough for the Bergisel scenario. Still, I might vtry painting up a few units from what I have and see how that goes...

#6 HYW English, ? French

    I will need to add more figures (Perry) to those I have in order to have table top ready armies; this is probably a project more for 2014 unless something motivates me to move it up in priority (hibt, hint).

#7  Ratskania Campaign (Napoleonic Imagi-nations)

    We should be kicking this back off with a vengeance shortly, once Joe gets done reformulating the rules to a somewhat larger time horizon/distance scale more suited to countries than provinces. My own  nation,
La République de Bénéfice, which has a decidedly French Republican flavor, headed by none other than
Premier Contrôleur Rob S. Pierre, managed gain some modest territorial concessions from Ratlandia (including some much needed farmland) despite having suffered a minor loss in all the battles fought; the fact that my ally, Fartengas and I had ganged up upon Joe's country to the point where he must have conscripted every able bodied male in the land to hold us off for as long as he did was probably a factor in the allotments resulting from the Continental Peace Conference that ended the War of 1800. Of course, lingering resentment, avarice, and the need to play some games will likely soon lead to hostilities breaking out once again, perhaps in new configurations...

#8 Pike and Shot

    Thomas is proceeding apace with his TYW armies, and several of the HAHGS guys have ben talking about the Great Italian wars, so some P&S action may return. The nice thing here is that, while I do have some unpainted lead I could add to my collections, I have plenty of troops for the Renaissance and ECW, so no real need to paint to play!

#9 Wash Days

    I have started the always painful process of reorganizing my troops after bringing more than 1,200 of them to Fredericksburg and back. In so doing, I have been using the "Magic Wash" on some of my older Foundry troops, and it is proving a quick and easy update to those ealier paint jobs. You'll see some pictures of that next month, most likely. I may try it on a test unit of Minifig Austrians as well; the sculpts are quite different, so I dn't know if it will really work well on those older figures.

#10 Snappy Nappy Campaign in a Day, 1813

   I still really want to tackle doing one of these grandiose multi table, multi room things (actual figures required is fairly small), and 1813 is probably the perfect setting. This would be a pretty full day affair, probably commandeering Thomas' home for the purpose (Hi Thomas!). The main thing is, to be worthwhile, you'd really need at least 6-8 players in order to really get the "Fog of War" effect, and of course then the date has to work for enough people to be able to come. May even be a post Historicon project for next Fall, but I think it would be a blast if enough people are interested!
   So there you have it; just a short list, LOL. Anybody care to try to convince me where I should place the priorities?  :-)
Peter

18 comments:

  1. So, besides these small projects, what are you going to do with your spare time?

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    1. Just keep working 60 hours a week, do this blog, and keep going to the gym 90 minutes three times a week.

      With our crazy hobby, there is never any lack of things to do.

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  2. Blimey!! Your gonna be a very busy boy!!

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    1. Nothing new there, Ray! And of course, some of this depends on what everybody else in CT picks up with.

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  3. WOW Peter,
    really interesting plans for your Naps, I like the idea of keeping the Prussians and Russians in balance with your Austrians for Dresden, also always wanted to see Liebertkolwitz on the wargames table.

    Austrians, I have always wanted an Austrian Napoleonic army however the thought of snow blindness always put me off. Now with the AP dip I am on cloud 9 so I now know what you mean with enjoying painting Austrians!

    Tyrolian rebelian sounds great for skirmish games.

    Look forward to seeing your plans develope.
    Best
    Paul

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    1. The 1813 battles should be fun!

      The dip and/or Magic Wash really makes painting Austrians easy, although I also like a light blue-grey wash on white uniforms.

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  4. Very ambitious Peter. Of course you can draft me for a Space game. HYW, you know that would work for a Hostile Realms campaign (hint,hint)

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    1. Space games have one big advantage - minimal set up time!

      Are you free anytime Labor Day weekend? I'm on call so I won't be going anywhere, but that also means I'll mostly be home all three days.

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  5. Peter,

    You forgot the Portugese in Darkest Africa and all those French conscripts for the 1814 recreation in 17 months. Also the siege of Durazzo must be fought...it has only been going on for about 5 years. You are right about one thing, not nearly so much painting needed in the next two years to play a lot of these events.

    Joe

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    1. I have three colors on the Portuguese Colonials, same as ? 4 years ago, LOL. If you need them for any of your Pulp plans, that would move them up on the painting queue!

      Not much purchases required (mostly Prussians) and a manageable amount of painting!

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  6. Regarding the Austrian cavalry, did you notice that the Perry line just expanded to include two types of Hussar command?

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    1. Yes, so the added Hussar Command figures could be Perry, Alban, or some of each!

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  7. 11. Make all the mortals aware of their own pitiful inadequacies...

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    1. Actually, Andy, #11 through 1,000 should be to thank my wife (our 30th anniversay is in a few days), without whom I wouldn't have all the wonderful support necessary to do even a small fraction of what I am able to do!

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  8. Peter,

    I love these long-term planning gems. I love to read about people's ideas what they shoot for, although in the end it often turns out different, and I love to talk and write about my own plans. Well, to your individual plans:
    #1 Historicon 2013 - I likely will not be able to go, but I am not a 100% sure yet. I do, however, plan to go to Fall-In this year and perhaps Cold-Wars or Fall-In again. I am sure you will be doing a fantastic job with yet another large Napoleonic game again. I am trying to get Edgar into Napoleonic gaming, and have promised him a very large contingent of Prussians from Calpe miniatures. I had purchased them inexpensively from Tom D. after he gave up everything. I won't have the time to start yet another army. I need to concentrate on my existing ones and finish them up. It will be worth more to me to get another player interested in Napoleonic war gaming, than having all this lead sit dormant for another few years at my house.
    #2 Assyrian fill-ins - more Hail Caesar gaming coming up next year, I am sure. If not a campaign, then at least some pick-up battles. And then possibly a campaign started by somebody else. Who knows. We will find out. Your Assyrians and Egyptians are nice armies. I have my own ideas of what to get, but more of a back burner thing. I need to finish painting the rest of my 500 figure strong Early German army first before I go out and start another Ancients army.
    #3 Entomalian Starships - that is not my genre.
    #4 Other Napoleonics - as you, I need to complete my Austrians. I am missing mostly cavalry. Have already started Landwehr, and need to check my Grenzers. Russians going strong with me, but all 1805 campaign. This is my big Napoleonic project right now.
    #5 Tyrolian rebels - lots of unknown troops to fill out your superb collection. Very nice.
    #6 HYW English / French - this is something I would like to do at some point in time as well. Not this year and likely not next year either, but 2014 could be high on the list for this. I am in to start something with this.
    #7 Ratskania campaign - have not participated and also not followed that closely
    #8 Pike & Shot - yes, this was a big project for me with having collected close to 1,300 figures, 400 of which are cavalry. I still need to finish the basing, and this will be priority number 1 after the Russians are built and shipped out. So, September will be finish the bases month. Also have started to collect Italian Wars troops, and will proceed with that on a somewhat slower pace.
    #9 Wash days - this is a great idea to upgrade old paint styles with a wash. Didn't think of that. I think this will be great.
    #10 Snappy Nappy - definitely in on that, and no problem utilizing my house for that. More on that a little later.
    Loved your reports on the Napoleonic cavalry you presented here in your blog recently. Very nice Peter!
    Thomas

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    1. Hi Thomas!

      #1 The Calpe figures are great - I have just a few myself, couldn't justify the cost for more, but if you got them from TYom at a discount, great! They are easy to paint well.
      #2 I'll have to look at HC to see what I really need for both armies; that will help prioritize painting, if needed. The Egyptians really should paint up quickly, Chariots aside.
      #3 No problem, this is driven at least as much by how much I love these ships as any gaming interest... But I think maybe Barry and I may have a go at it next weekend!
      #4 Just trimmed and glued 30 Austrian Grenz in capes and 18 Hungarian line; that plus 12 spare Hessians and 2 figures of Marshal Ney in the retreat from Moscow will make up the first batch to be painted post HCon 2012...
      #5 The Tyrolians may be next, at least a unit or two!
      #6 HYW will likely be a post Historicon 2013 project, unless something motivates me prior!
      #7 No problem!
      #8 I do expect to get in at least one P&S game this year
      #9 This will probably be an ongoing thing - so far I've done almost 400 figures!
      #10 We'll have to pursue further with HAHGS and maybe the Massachuseets/Southern CT guys to see if we can get enough players to make it worthwhile!

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  9. Great looking plans Peter. We have a lot more of your interesting blogs to look forward to over the coming year, even if only half of them come to pass!

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  10. Hi James,

    I have two colors done on the Grenz and Hungarian line, so they are in the works. I've been limited in updating the blog this past week; had a near miss lightening strike on the house and that knocked out the ethernet card connecting to the net n my primary computer, and fried my other computer, which I use chiefly for scanning, printing, and photo processing. I may be able to replace them with other old machines (both are vintage 1999), or break down and finally get a new one.

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