2022 In Review

As has become customary in blogland I hereby present my review of the year. First off I'd like to apologise to my "regular readers" for the lack of content over the year, particularly in the second half. Whilst I've been busy with wargaming and other fun stuff my blogging mojo has been notable by its absence, hence not much here. I'll try to do better next year. 

So, first off - how did I do against "the plan" - 

Narrow Seas - I will get the campaign system finished along with modules for the North Sea and the Channel. I will also aim to get at least one update of the Data Annex issued

Nope, didn't get very far with this. I have an update for the data annex just about ready to go. It will probably appear early in 2023 as there's a few other things I'd like to add. Getting on with the campaign system is a "must" though.

Dahlgren and Columbiad – I will finish the Triple Alliance scenario pack, as well as an update to the ship data tables for the ACW (I’ve already added about 20 new ships but have others to stat up). I’ll also work up some more ACW ironclad and gunboat 3D models now that I have a decent system to do that.

This was my "big push" of the year. The "Triple Alliance" turned into my first all-in-one project with the rules (D&C and Iron & Fire for more detailed actions, and my ACW variant of "Man o War" for parti games), the campaign pack and five packs of 3D models for printing(of which I have sold the princely sum of two sets :) I'm extremely pleased with since its pretty unique - I've not come across anything similar in 1/600 and there was only really the OOP "Spithead Miniatures" line in 1/1200 (the 3D model sets I've created of course will print at 1/1200 if I'm careful with the masts so they will also fill out my 1/1200 collection). I premiered the models with MOW at the Naval Wargames Weekend in Yeovilton in October and they seemed quite popular. Getting the complete collection painted will be a big job - perhaps I'll have them all ready to do Riachuelo at the NWW next October :). 

On the ACW front I caught the 3D modelling bug big time, with nearly 40 new models created. This is definitely an area that I will continue with into 2023, with a small series of European monitors on the drawing board at the moment. But also some other fun stuff for the ACW (watch this space).

“Bumper Boats” – a fun set of rules for ancient galley games to use with my 1/300(ish) galley models. This will just be a private project I think and not entirely serious.

The rules are written but at the present time I haven't progressed the fleets much past the Greek and Persian ships I had done this time last year. I have Roman and Carthaginian ships printed, just need time (ha!) to paint them up and then gibe the rules a run out.

In other wargaming news I knocked up a few 1/100 models for my AK47 armies, and a Matilda Hedgehog for my 15mm "Burma Skirmish" collection, and I printed & painted up the 1/700 models i needed to run my hex-and-miniatures version of "Swarming Boats", Nick Bradbeer's UCK game that we use to teach students about close quarter naval combat. On the more serious side I attended the Connections wargaming conference in Washington DC, umpired and then ran the Falklands 82 game for the Royal Marines amphibious warfare course, visited Damen Naval Shipyards in Vlissingen for some teambuilding/educational wargaming and of course got engaged in wargaming with my students at UCL.

Other fun stuff this year:

• A couple of weeks working in Australia in November where I also managed to catch up with a great many wargaming and work friends

• Taking part in a SINKEX off the Outer Hebrides in September (where I won the sweepstake on which stage of the exercise would see the target being sunk)

• Creating and a lovely 1930s air racing game based on "Wings of Glory" with some cute 3d printed aircraft and then running the game at the Wings of Glory Weekend in Doncaster (abd being asked to bring it again in 2023)

 

• Heading out to Red Sands Fort on the paddle steamer "Waverley" for a day

• The arrival of Magnus, our new kitten

and may more things besides. There's been other, less happy stuff, but I'm not dwelling on that and just remembering the good things.

So, as 2022 draws to an end I'd like to wish everyone a very happy New Year and I'll see you all, either here or in person (hopefully) in 2023. Look out for details of "The Plan, 2023" in a day or three :)

Its the Naval Wargames Weekend this Weekend :)

 Hi all, I've been away from blogging for a long while - life has been an absolute blur (and shows no sign of slowing down), but here's a quick post to let everyone know that its the Naval Wargames Weekend at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, this coming weekend. I'll be there with "CQB", a modern naval game that pits a patrol ship against a swarm of armed speedboats, and possibly with my new Brazilian and Paraguayan ironclads in a variant of GW's old (and much loved) "Man o War". I say possibly as I still need to sort out the ship data sheets and finish off a few of the models, and I'm in London all day tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope to see some of you there. I promise a BATREP next week :)

Pansarbil 405

 Last week a kind person posted a picture of a Swedish-built Pansarbil 405 armoured car on the "AK47" Facebook group. Its an unusual looking vehicle and I decided I needed something like that for my AK47 armies but there didn't seem to be any 15mm models of STL files around, so I made my own :)

The original

The 15mm version 

It was a fun model to create. I'm thinking of putting it up on my Wargaming3D page when I'm completely happy with it.

INWarD 2022 - 6th August

This year the International Naval Wargames Day falls on Saturday 6th August. If you've not been around for an INWarD before, this is a day where naval wargamers around the world play a naval game at home, at the club etc. and then we all throw in our experiences on social media, wargaming websites etc. to promote the naval side of the hobby. Have fun and sink a battleship or two!

Waterbird

This week I've been up to something a little different. I've been with the Waterbird Project on Lake Windermere, a replica of Britain's first seaplane which flew for the first time on Windermere in 1911. The last couple of days have been the culmination of over ten years work on the part of the project team, which led to a successful first flight (several short "hops") of the replica yesterday, and then a much more successful and longer flight over the lake today. Well done to everybody involved!!

Medieval Cogs and Galleys

 Thanks to a comment by Jim Jackaman on Facebook I have already succumbed to my fierst distraction that isn't in "the plan". I've created a set of 1/2400 STL files covering medievalcogs and galleys on 30mm square bases for use with my "Lord of the Sea" medieval rules. I've put these up as a free download on Wargame Vault for anyone who is interested. There are ten different bases covering small, medium and large cogs, and galleys.

You can find the models here:

Medieval Cogs and Galleys 1/2400 - Long Face Games | Wargame Vault

The Plan for 2022

 

The Plan for 2022

Hi everyone, and welcome to 2022! I hope its going to be a better year for everyone than the last two. This year I’m going to try to be a bot more realistic in my planning, so this is going to be a shorter list and in previous years.

Narrow Seas -  I will get the campaign system finished along with modules for the North Sea and the Channel. I will also aim to get at least one update of the Data Annex issued

Dahlgren and Columbiad – I will finish the Triple Alliance scenario pack, as well as an update to the ship data tables for the ACW (I’ve already added about 20 new ships but have others to stat up). I’ll also work up some more ACW ironclad and gunboat 3D models now that I have a decent system to do that.

“Bumper Boats” – a fun set of rules for ancient galley games to use with my 1/300(ish) galley models. This will just be a private project I think and not entirely serious.

 

And, at this stage, that is it.

I fully expect that unplanned stuff will crash in to the programme (as I start i'm setting up prints for a 1/100 Bedford portee for my hypothetical "British Intervention Field Force" - see much earlier posts, and  an Australian Centurion AVRE for Vietnam.....)_ , and may even become the main programme. I’ll also be putting together various scenarios and other bits and pieces for my existing rules, and I’m sure my 1/1200 Chinese ships will feature in there somewhere as MT’s models are released. So maybe some more medieval Asian naval action.

Oh, a couple more things. I seem to have become the lead Admin for the Naval Wargames (Historical) group on Facebook (I guess in these days of social media its a kind of successor to the Naval Wargames Society), which should be a fun "job". And I really want to get back into playing F2F games. I really don't like playing "miniatures" games using software. Hopefully covid will allow this to happen. I also have a small project for the 2022 Doncaster "Wings of Glory" weekend in September to finish - model aeroplanes are done so I need to finish the "terrain" and the rules variant for the game.