Stocktake

Day off today, I've been working flat out for what seems like weeks and decided I needed a long weekend to partially recover. An opportunity to think about what I want to do over the next few months on the gaming front.

The Falklands

1. Finish the Wessex helicoptor I've started assembling and begin on the Gazelle I have sitting in a box.
2. Order one of each of a Scimitar and Scorpian light tank
3. Paint up the Paras MILAN section
4. Paint the Argie Marines, Commandos and the bazooka teams
5. Sort out some rocks to make up 'stone runs'
6. Make a couple of marshes (these could double for DBR and AK - 47)
7. Make up some minefield markers
8. Order a UH-1 so the Argies have a chopper too
9. Finish the rules adpatations, army lists and scenario
10. Finish the trenches and gun positions I've ordered from Gamecraft when they get here.

Angola

1. Paint up the 3 x BRDM-2s that have been sitting on my desk for months
2. Paint up the 3 x Ratels that have been sitting in my desk drawer for months
3. Get back on track with the narrative and actually play a game or two (I have a set of guerrilla campaign rules that could be adapted for SWAPO vs SADF and/or FAPLA vs UNITA
4. Order and paint up a Puma helicopter

Other Stuff

I have, and play with, enough figures to field sizable 15mm (400 pts plus) British Civil Wars DBR armies - Early Parliamentarian, English Royalists, Scots Royalists, Scots Covenanters, New Model, Irish Confederate. I've been idlely thinking about a campaign of some sort with this lot for a long time (it's probably years rather than months). Given I have all the figures and the terrain you'd think it would be a relatively quick matter of sorting out a framework to give my battles some narrative context...I've even written up a few generic DBR scenarios: 'encounter battle', 'surprise attack', 'flank march', 'key point' etc but to date have only played the flank march solo..

I also have sizable Russian Civil War armies in 15mm and a set of rules (Komrade Commissar!) I adapted from the latest AK 47 Reloaded. Again they're crying out to be put into a campaign narrative...

Then there are complete late war Soviet and German armies in 6mm (but hardly any terrain).

Finally I have three medieval armies for DBA and am toying with getting three more for the 1066 campaign. This lot get used frequently as I can set up a game quickly on a weekday evening without too much hassle and, as anyone who has played DBA knows, it's easy to fit in a couple of games after dinner.

Conclusion

Writing this has certainly crystalised my thinking. I enjoy painting and modelling and reading about the wars I want to game. Like everyone, real life means I often can't work on stuff at the rate I'd ideally want to but then I tend to have 'blitz' sessions over holidays and the like.

I am starting to feel a bit concerned at a growing tendency to paint large quantities of figures and equipment only for them to sit in cupboards unused. Time for gaming is by definition limited and with the exception of DBA I need at three hour clear slot to run a game whereas the odd hour of half hour even is fine for painting or modelling. It should be the same for campaigning, particularly as I like to do this solo and then invite friends to play the battles, but I tend to be lazy and just play whatever we feel like on the night without putting it in a campaigning context.

One thing I have learnt is that this hobby is most satisfying when I just get on with it in whatever time I have available. I have three regular opponents who I enjoy playing against and I like playing solo so it's just a question of chipping away at the research, modelling, painting and rule/army list/scenario writing if and when I have the time.

Comments and suggestions welcome (even from, especially from, the lurkers).