The 2022 Plan

I wrote this in February 2022 but never published it. 

A little late for the traditional post of plans but there’s been so many posts by others that I just now found time. Though thought had been given earlier several things occurred in January to firm up the plans. First off I spent some time cleaning my game room. This confirmed that I don’t need any new projects and although I have plenty of unpaired lead to use in projects that already exist some new lead is needed to finish existing projects.

Next I finally played One Hour Skirmish Wargames. They were lots of fun. The card activation system gives me some decisions to make and lends enough uncertainty for the other side to make an exciting game. I’ve played them on a 32”x42” board that lets the troops get into action quickly.

Lastly Mark Cordone came up with a version of the Portable Wargame called the 3x3. It was designed to be played in fifteen minutes. Played on a 3x3 grid with about six units. There’s been quite a bit of discussion on the Portable Wargame Facebook page and a few blogs. I haven’t had the chance to play yet but it seems to me that it will be a fun way to get figures out on the table without taking up a lot of space or time.

The conundrum of these two rule sets is that they allow me to rationalize buying new figures. The scenarios in OHSW use about ten to fifteen figures for each side and 3x3PW uses six units per side so all tolled about thirty to forty figures. Previously I had tried to confine my new projects to an army size that conformed to my Toy Soldier project, three to four infantry and two to three cavalry and artillery. Even this structure gave projects with one hundred and sixty figures or more doing both sides. While it sounds easy to stop at the set number of troops fifty years of Wargaming has proved that that never seems to happen.

All this rambling brings us to the setting of the plan. It’s really very simple. Paint the figures I have and if a new period is started it shall be only a skirmish sized one. Another criteria will be that new arrivals will be given priority in the painting que and brought to the table quickly. I know I will continue to buy new things but there’s something to be said for having a period that’s complete enough to be played with at some level and not just a have some painted figures with out any structure.

We’ll see how this all works out next December. 

How did it work out? I bought a bunch of the Marks Little Soldiers but still kept up with painting, I the beginning of 2023 I bought a partially painted collection of about 170 figures and spent the year on them and the MLS.  

Shiny Toy Soldier Skirmish

 Came across these photos while cleaning out my inbox. Looks to be an American force against Spaniards.

A rainy day

 last Saturday was raining hard all day so I headed down to the work room to give a much needed cleaning and organizing.  I started around 8:30 am to a break for lunch and finished around 6:00 pm

The painting station.

Empty RUBs waiting to be filled with figures and stuff.

My reward!

                                                   

                                          

Recent games.

 Well it's been awhile since my last post. We've been playing regularly but I haven't taken many photos. Here's a few of our most recent games. 

First up AWI with A Gentleman's War.

Here we have a Vietnam game with a work in progress for the rules.

Thanks for looking.

Rescue or Assassinate.

We played on Matt's excellent Dungeon terrain the other night. Matt and I were tasked with entering the Lair of the Snake People and removing some captives. Matt's Barbarians to rescue them and my Mercenary Assassins to , well assassinate them.  

The High Priest leads the ceremony.

My stumble into the room and are attacked by the congregants.

The combat goes back and forth.

A near run thing but we're able to hold them off.

Continuing through the caverns we're attacked by a savage beast. 

A frontal attack is not the best way to fight this beast.

The group falls back to better position themselves but not with out casualties.



 

Matt's Barbarians come to assist.

The adventure will continue in a few weeks

Take the road, hold the hill.

A Game with Mark's Little Soldiers from a few weeks ago. Some lucky card draws put the the Panovians in a good position to win a draw.

Another game this time Beef and Beer refight of Killikranke. The Highlanders disrupted the Crowns line but became quite disorganized in the process.

Air support and flames.

 We continued the game from last week. My troops managed to regroup and threaten Howard's force but in the end I had lost more than half my units and was about to be out flanked. 

Berglander Flame thrower sets the house on fire.

Slobainian Guards advance around the burning building.

The HMG lays down covering fire.

The Guards move past the burning armored car setting up a position on the Slobainian flank. 

Air support arrives but inflicts more damage on it's own side than the enemies.

Another fun game. The plane is a wooden kit from Michael's, simple to build and fits well with the miniatures. I'll need to get some closer pictures of the plane with miniatures meanwhile here another pov of it. 

She may be cute but she's not helping us win the battle.

 We played a game last night using a modified AGW using Mark's Little Soldiers. Here's a few photos. We'll finish up next week but things aren't going well for the Berglanders. The General has a mistress which allows the other side to cancel a number card every cycle. 

Mark's Little Soldiers, first battle.

 The Mark's Little Soldiers made it to the table last night. Matt is working on a set of simple rules for these. I think the original rules were for a smaller amount of figures but once we pulled all the figures out Matt tweaked the rules to accommodate larger units. The game moved along well and was fun. No figure removal needed we just laid the casualties on their sides.

A couple of games played.

 With the Holidays and sickness we didn't get many games in. The last few weeks things have begun again. 

First up was a game of Beef & Beer. Late 17th century on a gridded table. We used Howard's 10mm figures by Jim Brokaw.  I'm enjoying this game as I like using grids for movement and firing and the command phase allows for a fair amount of decision making. 

Behind the Hanoverian line.

Overview of the battlefield.

The center engaged.

Next we played LotR SBG. It's been a while since we played, ten years?, but the game is strait forward and moved along well. The Rohan force was trying to destroy a cave troll. 

Rohan fights off the Moria Goblins.

The Troll emerges from his lair

Rohan overwhelms the Troll.

Fun all around.