The Plan for 2018 in Review

As 2018 draws to a close it is time to review “the plan”. My review is a bit earlier than usual as Christmas and New Year plans may well prevent me from posting in the closing days and hours as I have in the past. But anyway, how did we do this year?

1. Iron and Fire – I will sort out all my remaining 1/1200 and 1/600 models, in particular my Chilean and Peruvian collection (most of which are just about done in the new year's time off painting frenzy). I’ll also develop a campaign system for the War of the Pacific, and I’ll create pre-made ship cards for that war and some of the more common American Civil War ships.

This went pretty well. I did indeed finish off all the models I had at the start of the year, then found a few more in a box which I also sorted out. The Chileans and Peruvians came out rather nicely I thought. What I didn’t get around to doing was to base all the 1/1200 models so that’s a target for 2019. I also missed getting the ship cards for “Iron and Fire” sorted out.

2. Coastal Forces – I will review and repair my 1/600 collection, and also look to do some development work on my quick play rules. I will also create some pre-made ship cards for more common types for Action Stations

I had a big push on this in the Summer, with all my collection painted and based. Again, I found a few old unmade models in boxes which were also assembled and painted up. Contagion set in and I also painted up all of the 1/700 modern coastal models that I’d had sitting around for years. The fast play WW2 rules developed very well and are in line for publication in 2019. More playtesting needed though. As with “Iron and Fire” I didn’t get the ship cards sorted.

3. WW2 Skirmish. 20mm (Burma/Pacific) and 15mm (Eastern Front/Ardennes). I will finish all the models I have for these, and decide on what rules I’m going to use.

Models just about done, no progress on the rules. That said I’m leaning towards a modification of “Bolt Action” because its pretty easy to play and also easy to add the changes that make it more like real WW2 small unit tactics.

4. Form Line of Battle – Review and repair my 1/450 ships, come up with a handy, not entirely serious but fun campaign to provide context for some games at Berkeley Vale

The 1/450 models got a spruce up, a couple of unmade ships got made, I even got a couple of games in (most notably Rory McCreadie’s memorial game at Entoyment on Trafalgar Day). No progress on the campaign.

5. “Project X” – yes, there is another Project X. Its all a bit secret just now but if it comes off it’ll be great, so I have a pile of groundwork to do on this. Target to complete this initial bit – end of May.

Everything on my side of the project completed on schedule. Alas the model side of the project stalled so this is on hold just now.

The bulk of my wargaming in 2018 was wrapped up in those parts of the plan. For various reasons I’ve not been to the Berkeley Vale club that often in recent months, but I’m hoping o turn that around next year. Some events of note:

Our Jutland refight in May went very well, proving that you can fight “Jutland in a Day”

Rory McCreadie’s memorial game was a bittersweet moment.  Lovely day, Rory would have enjoyed the game and would have been pleased that his friends had sucha  good time.

The Naval Wargames Weekend was a quiet affair as it moved to Yeovilton. For my part the new coastal rules went down well. With luck the event (in October) next year will be bigger.

Battlestar Galactica made its debut at the club. Alas it didn’t seem to tick the right boxes for my chums so we probably won’t see that at BV for a while. Maybe this will kick off a bit when there is a wider selection of models (and hence scenario ideas) available

I got to take part in another Jutland game at the National Maritime Museum, staged by the US Naval War College. Not really a Jutland game per se, it was a great opportunity to have fun with some famous names from the hobby (and from the world of professional wargaming)

Speaking of which I presented at the Connections wargaming conference at KCL – as well as running the MOD (and giving the Minister the impression she was) in Jim Wallman’s megagame

It was a year for finishing off old projects, as my Medieval Swiss DBA army, bought over 20 years ago, was finally completed. These guys had a narrow escape, I almost sold them off at the Reveille tabletop sale. But nostalgia got the better of me and I’m glad it did

And finally I got to visit Waterloo, courtesy of Laura who bought us tickets to the Belgian Grand Prix – Waterloo was on the way back from Spa so of course we had to visit, and see the most famous farmhouse in the world

In all, 2018 has been a good year from a wargaming perspective. I certainly managed to stay more focussed than in previous years, although the actual number of games I’ve played is probably somewhat down on previous. 2019 has some interesting projects beckoning – but more of that in my first blog post of 2019!

So all that remains I for me to wish all my readers a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!