New Year, New (and some old) Plans

 As the old year draws to a close, of course it's natural to think about what was achieved since 1st January, and what  might be planned for the New Year,  in hobby terms. 

I suspect that everyone looks back and thinks 'I should have done more', and I am no exception, but it's been a fairly happy hobby year. My main project has been the 1859 Risorgimento armies  - I completed painting  6mm figures to build Austrian and Piedmontese  forces sufficient for the army lists in Neil Thomas Wargaming 19th Century Europe, and to play a first game with his rules, which went well. I've since acquired more figures, of which more anon.  In addition, the Dominion of.. rules allowed another, smaller game in the same theatre - a fast and furious refight of  Palestro, 1859 . So, only two games in the period, but the armies are set to expand, and larger battles will follow.  I have been happy painting the smaller figures - more than I had expected - and also enjoyed the challenge of using a mix of Napoleonic and ACW figures from Commission Figurines to represent Austrian, Piedmontese and French troops - and at £2 for 96 infantry, the budget is not stretched!  

Piedmontese in 6mm - Baccus and Commission Figurines

 

A second, and maybe more long-term project came up rather unexpectedly, when I took the plunge and bought a large batch of 'pre-loved' Minifigs 25mm SYW and AWI figures from the Whitehall Warlords club, via their bring and buy stall at the Broadside show. It turns out there were about 1100 of them! It's been a lot of fun sorting through  and trying to identify them; I'll admit that with limited time, I've only got as far as starting to put them into standard box files by nation, and ultimately many of them  will probably need re-basing - quite a job! But crucially they are painted, and could be on the table pretty quickly - I hope to set up a 'fun' game with simple rules (Young and Lawford's Charge, perhaps? ) in the near future.  I'm currently totting up the combined forces available, when added to my existing Seven Years War  Portable Wargame armies - it's about time those were back on the table, too.  

 

I didn't run as many solo games as I would have liked, but I was able to game with others - special mentions to old friends Tony and Reg for hosting fantastic large Napoleonic and  ECW games,  and of course to Jon Freitag for his remote hosting of  many a great game -  Italian Wars, Wild West, Reconquista among others. Not forgetting another remote game - MS Foy's splendid Spanish Succesion battle.  Many thanks to all of you! 

Shows were a highlight - I managed to get to Cavalier, Salute, Partizan, Broadside,  The Other Partizan, and Warfare. All great fun, inspirational and a chance to chat to fellow gamers and bloggers - great to meet you all!  Last but not least, a big thank-you to Neil of Aufklarungsabteilung blog for inviting me to attend the on-line Virtual Wagaming Club - really inspirational stuff ('we're not worthy!') and again, great to 'meet', albeit virtually.    

So, what's next?  I've got a few ideas.. First, of course - those 6mm Risorgimento armies. I've made a start on the next batch of painting,  having taken the primer spray to what will become the Austrian  2nd Division : 

 

Plenty more to be done after these - I'm going to have to get into a daily painting routine!

I have a little Pike and Shot  period project idea - though I'm slightly ashamed to admit I mentioned it in my list of things to do this time last year!  I have a bit of a fascination for the battle of Freiburg, 1644, and it's time to try to turn it into a game. As mentioned last year, I have the recent and excellent Helion book on the battle, by Stephane Thion ; 

And recently realised that I've been sitting on a board game of the battle for several years, without ever playing it!  GMT games Under the Lily Banners from their Musket and Pike Battles Series includes a scenario for Freiburg and four other battles. 

.. and here's the map from the game

 There are actually two scenarios, covering the two days (3rd and 5th of August) of the action, and it will be interesting to compare the orders of battle from the game with those given by Stephane Thion. This all goes back 30-odd years, to when I was browsing one day in a Hay-on-Wye bookshop and found a rather aged biography of  the great French Marshal Turenne, which of course included this battle and featured plates showing contemporary illustrated maps.  I've had a penchant for Turenne ever since, and this battle seems especially interesting as it brought together the two outstanding French commanders of the ThirtyYearsWar and after - Turenne and Enghien (aka 'The Grand Conde') - only for their combined genius to order a blood-soaked frontal attack on Mercy's Bavarians well-prepared defensive positions!   Given the book and the game, I'm sure I can develop a scenario, or maybe more than one - it might be interesting to try different sizes of game, from  Dominion of Pike and Shot  upwards?  I think The Portable Pike and Shot Wargame rules would be worth trying.  I think a good place to start would be to actually play the board game.. 

Thanks to  Dominion of the Spear rules, I've had a bit of a rush of enthusiasm for Ancients again, and acquired the beginnings of an Indian army for  DotSp and/or DBA - more painting required, but at least not too many figures!   So I was very pleased recently to be loaned a copy of  Philip Sabin's Lost Battles book,  by  my good friend Chris aka  'Nundanket'.  I've heard so much about this book, it's sure to be a really interesting read - thanks, Chris!

 

Plenty more to be getting on with;  as I said above, those Seven Years War / AWI  Minifigs are going to have to get onto the table, perhaps especially the AWI side of it, given the anniversary of 1776 that's coming up.  And the D-Day Dodgers have been in abeyance somewhat - I think they need some appropriately Italian scenery and terrain.   Hmm... what's the chances of doing all this? Well, there's only one way to find out! 

All being well, I am going to start with Under the Lily Banners ;  maybe my next post should be a report on that.  Until then, keep well everyone, and a very Happy New Year to you all!