General Update - September 2014

Hello fellow wargamers!

Well, it has been two years since I launched this blog, and what I ride it has been.  For all of you whom have decided to follow my blog I must give you a heart felt thank you for sticking with my ramblings!  Especially for those of you who have been following me since the beginning.  Your comments and views give me the motivation to get projects completed and put that little bit of extra effort into them.

For those of you who may ask, what's next or what's coming up, I have the following to share with you.  First and foremost, I'll be continuing with my blogging and hopefully bringing you more creative and interesting wargaming pictures and ideas.  From a period/project perspective, here is what is keeping me up at night:

• Brecourt Manor - I just purchased a large number of trees and the final trench bits I need to flush out the table.  Between Roy Scaife and myself we have all the troops done, with the exception of the 4 German artillery units.  I've ordered 4 x LefH 18 guns from Warlord and once they arrive I'll be sending the crew off to be painted by Artmaster while assembling and painting the guns, trees and trenches myself.  I hope to have a mock game up in the next few weeks --- which I'll use 4 x SiG33 guns for (yes, I have 4 of those laying about as well).
• DundraCon 2015 - This is a local convention that is held on President's Day weekend here in the US.  That is February 13-15, 2015.  I was approached by the convention while I was attending CelestiCon and asked if I would consider running some miniature games.  I had a bad experience at the convention many long years ago and never returned, but I've decided to give it another go (especially since I've been told the staff I delta with back then has all turned over).  So, with that being decided, I'll be running the Brecourt Manor game on the Friday, Pegasus Bridge on the Saturday, and a bank robbery game of Dead Man's Hand on Sunday.  I'll also have SAGA and Sails of Glory in tow unofficially at the con.  Good times ahead!
• La Haye Saint - I have this outstanding set from 4Ground that I need to put together.  I have an existing fully painted set from Hovels, but I'll be selling that in favor of the 4Ground set.  This is going to take a while to assemble, then get based and all finished, but I want to get it done and wrap a Black Powder Napoleonic scenario around it.  Right now I'm tentatively thinking I'll try for that at the KublaCon game convention (late May).
• Dead Man's Hand - I have some remaining stuff to complete my collection here.  I have 6 more gangs to finish and a few buildings.  I'm going to wrap up the buildings here over the next few weeks between working on Brecourt Manor stuff.  Two additional gangs (Pinkerton and Banditos) are being sent off with the artillery crew for my German guns.  I may finish painting two other gangs myself (Cowboys and Outlaws) for DundraCon.  That just leaves me with three gangs left (civilians, cavalry and renegade Indians).  I also have the stagecoach set and smaller civilians sets on order.  So maybe a lot more to do here ;-). I'm still waiting for 4Ground to do a large corner style hotel .... but no rush on that guys!
• Black Powder ACW - The first units are done for this!  In fact, on the paint bench right now is 3 limbers and 3 guns that I need to finish for a Union artillery battery. I also have a Confederate infantry unit that needs to be based - right after I finish the standard bearer.  There are five Confederate units in progress with another 5 Union infantry units on their heels.  I hope to be playing the first games of this in the new year.  I'll be doing some period specific terrain (fencing, a few buildings) once I get closer to being ready with enough troops.
• Desert Afrika Korps - I have an initial army getting painted now by Artmaster (well, next month - he's got some other projects to finish before this one).  These are all Perry Miniatures and I'm excited to be getting them done.  I already have several desert terrain sets from Architects of War that I need to finish for my North Africa table setup.  I also have a British 8th Army list ready to be sent off to Artmaster once I get them sorted and packed.  Right now I hope to run a North Africa Bolt Action game at KublaCon in late May, 2015.
• Napoleonic Spanish Buildings - I have several of the awesome Spanish buildings from Empress Miniatures that I need to finish.  This includes an enclosed orchard.  Roy Scaife has plans to finish up his Portuguese and maybe add some Spanish units next year to his collection - but we already have more than enough to run several Black Powder scenarios for the Peninsular campaign.
• KublaCon 2015 - My plans for KublaCon are not fully locked down at this time.  I'm thinking I may want to go a little "big" this year given this is the largest local convention.  That may include pulling out my Fort William Henry setup for Muskets & Tomahawks, a North Africa game for Bolt Action, Pegasus Bridge, and La Hayes Saint or a Peninsular campaign Black Powder game.  I'm not sure yet ... bringing many different game systems tends to be a bit difficult (packing/space wise ... and playing through so many rule sets throughout a single weekend).  I'll lock these plans down after I clear DundraCon in February.
• Bolt Action Japanese - Roy Scaife has finished a sizeable US Marine army for Bolt Action and I have a large Japanese army as well.  Realistically this will likely be a CelestiCon 2015 objective for running a Pacific theatre game.  There is a lot of assembly needed for this army before I send it off to Artmaster.
• Normandy Beach Landing - This one is a dual-purpose project.  I have the landing craft, but more importantly I want to build the water/beach section so that I can change the land part to be either Normandy landing or Pacific island.  I have form board that I'll be using to make a few large bunkers as well as lots of beach obstacles.  I really want to do this table ... it is going to be fun and should look imposing!

The above are all active or near to be active in some way, shape or form.  Clearly this past year has seen Bolt Action as the primary period.  It will be prevalent through the next year, however you'll see a shift starting to happen while the ACW stuff gets done.  I have a few others projects I'm starting to think about or that I've collected miniatures/terrain for:

• Modern US vs. Russia - This would be similar to "cold war gone hot" with modern day Russians and US fighting it out in Europe.  This would be primarily Empress Miniatures.  I haven't settled yet on the rules to use here.
• Additional WW2 Naval - I actually have several ships for Victory at Sea ... and love the game.  Just haven't dusted them off for some time.  I have some additional British, German and Italian ships I need to get done to cover all the scenarios in the Victory at Sea book.
• Sails of Glory > Signal Close Action - I'd like to perhaps use the Sails of Glory ships with the quick play Signal Close Action rules ... Roy seems open to this as we both like those rules better.  But for now we'll continue to play Sails of Glory.
• Zulu! - I have all the figure (Empress) that I need - as well as terrain - to do both Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana.  I even have around 50 Zulus and 20 British painted already.  Just haven't been able to get this prioritized yet ... but the time is coming for this.
• HYW or WotR? - I have had some thoughts of doing either 100 years war or War of the Roses using Hail Caesar or perhaps another set of rules.  Definitely longer term plan here.
• More SAGA - I still have to get my Anglo-Saxon army done ... I have the lead ... just need to get paint on it ... but that will likely happen at some point over the next year.

If all goes well over the next year, I'll have a series of Normandy/D-Day scenarios done (Pegasus Bridge, Brecourt Manor, Bocage Fight and Beach Landing), North Africa and the Pacific - which essentially finishing my WW2 projects.  ACW should be in full swing - with my intent there to run a full Picket's Charge scenario (15 Confederate infantry units - 3 brigades of 5 units - with 30 figure units).  I also want to do Buford's action on the first day with support showing up to relieve him (1st day of Gettysburg).

It's a good thing I don't have a day job ... crap ... I do!!!

Of course, you'll see games of Muskets & Tomahawks, Bolt Action, Dead Man's Hand, Victory at Sea, Sails of Glory, and more over the next year.

So there you have it ... all the madness that can currently fit into my tiny brain.  For those of you that have read this far, thank you --- I hope you stay with me for the journey ahead!

Best regards,

Jay White