Tuesday 25 October 2011

Pausing for Breath

Every so often I have a bout of guilt-ridden re-organisation and sit down to actually detail that which is currently either 'on the go', in the planning stage or falling into the realm of being a 'flight of fancy'. Today has been no exception as I spent lunchtime reorganising some files on my net book concerning various projects I have been working on. I find this to be quite a therapeutic exercise as it enables a degree of planning to enter the process and, dare I say it, a structure around what I am trying to achieve. This is what the list ended up looking like:

  • The Naval Wargame 1890 to 1920. The rules are pretty much done although I want to get another couple of test games under my belt first. I need to complete the ship specifications for the fleets I own and design a ship chart but other than that they are good to go.
  • The ACW ships. I need to finish the painting of the last 32 models and then build and paint the next 24. Now that I have the space to have these 'out' whilst 'on the go' it will be a much easier task. Once completed they will fit in nicely with the block armies.
  • Block Wars - this has been made much easier by the fact that I am using existing rules rather than drafting a set from scratch. The only essential task is acquiring some suitable scenery and then that is good to go. I still have a set of khaki labels to mount on the blocks though but that is no more than an evenings work.This is also very much an open project as I could realistically tackle just about anything on land from 1700 to 1945 as the mood takes me.
  • 1941 North Atlantic. I have sufficient merchantmen, u boats and escorts for a convoy based game but would like to expand this to include the big stuff which means that the 1/1200th Airfix idea MAY be scuppered (the jury is still out on this).
  • 1914 in the Med using the Minifigs ships. I am still pondering this one as events may well overtake it!
  • 54mm figures. This really depends on the painting and how my experiments work out.

At first glance this seems like a large amount of projects to have on the go at one time but it is actually rather modest. The block armies can keep me occupied in respect of any land based campaign I want to undertake so the only issue concerns the acquisition of some suitable terrain. I will also have the Khaki block set to label as well but that is an evening's work at most. The Naval Wargame is virtually ready which will also help with the 1914 Med campaign should I proceed with it. The ACW ships are a repair and a paint job away from completion and the additional models should not be a problem to build. The 54mm project, assuming it gets off the ground, is a long term affair in any event and depends on the painting experiments being successful. The 1/3000th Atlantic convoy kit will be simple enough to put together although should I opt for the big ships (rather than down the Airfix route) it will become a different story altogether!

All in all then, the list of things I have to do or think about doing is in reality quite diverse but not particularly labour intensive - at least not at the moment. This is unusual for me, to say the least and so in the meantime I am going to try and ensure that these are completed as far as possible and that nothing else comes along to tempt me!

Which it usually does!

2 comments:

Paul O'G said...

Deep breaths mate...deep breaths!

David Crook said...

Hi Paul,

So deep you wouldn't believe!

All the best,

DC