Clearing the Desk for Action....

Between now and the end of the year I will need to finish a number of partially completed projects I currently have under way. I am conscious that I am repeating myself to an extent but this is part of my usual 'psyching up into a frenzy' routine before tackling something that needs some work and is not currently the flavour of the month!

Looming largest on this list is the ACW ship models. I have decided to forego the Gulf extension for the time being and so all that remains for me to do is to complete the 32 outstanding models. If you recall there will be a little cat-induced repair work needed but all of the models are ready to paint and indeed, a dozen of them have been started. I have the blocks ready to use for the land element of my ACW river adventures and so all being well I will only have the 'cerebral' part of the project to tackle. I have allowed until the end of the year to complete this lot which should be more than enough time.

The recently acquired Spanish Civil War 1/3000th fleet will not take very long to do at all. The bases are drawn up to cut out and the ships will be cleaned up this evening. I want to tackle these en masse and am planning a blitz job on them and will paint the entire collection at once. That sound very dramatic bit given that two thirds will be single coloured destroyers you can see why I am not too concerned about the task. I have the flags for the bases already and merely need to prepare the name labels. I may bolt the 1941 Atlantic convoy models on the back of this simply because the dozen merchantmen will be useful. If I paint them then the escorts and U boats I have will also be done and they will be even easier.

I have the khaki labels for the block armies to be applied but this is merely the work of an evening and so is not worth worrying about. The blocks will need to be number identified but this can be done on an as and when needed basis.

I also need to complete my Hexon terrain acquisition but this will merely be an order and funding task and can be tackled at any point.

Once all of the above have been addressed I will be in the position of having a clear desk as far as models are concerned. The 'cerebral' part of my projects - map and scenario generation and the attendant research - can be happily tackled away from home and so once again my trusty net book will come into its own. I will make use of the commute to and from work as well as the odd lunch hour for all the writing tasks I have which means at home any odd moments I have can be spent on the modelling or gaming side.

From a gaming perspective I am planning on making much use of the blocks - in fact the first battles of the 1891 Krimo - Fezian War will probably be fought using them - and a number of mini projects (including Operation Barbarossa in some form or another) are under consideration for exclusive use with them. My plans are revolving around the use of a 24 x 24 hexed plot map and a standard table size of 12 x 8 and so I need to formalise how this works in conjunction with my planned rules of choice - land or naval based.

I have taken the decision that next year will be the year of the 'imagi-nation'. I have flirted with this idea for long enough and now want to consummate the relationship and put the whole thing on a much more formal footing. I fully intend to expand the idea in due course to include other nations or even other periods but first I need to address those practical matters detailed earlier and then the historically strained relationship between Fezia and the Oblast of Krimskaya.