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.
