Friday 30 December 2022

Christmas and Looking Forwards




The two volumes of Samurai Armies of the Late Sengoku period are absolutely superb - they are rather like Ospreys on steroids - and Lion Rampant would be my choice of rules for the large scale skirmish style of game. Mr Fox very kindly sent me an army list of Japanese troop types for use with Lion Rampant and these will be perfect for my needs (he really is a great chap!). The other two Osprey titles are in support of my plan for a Russo/Polish style set up based on the board game ‘Strike of the Eagle’.


No dice and blocks for units and cards. A quite superb map, top quality components and just the ticket for the budding Japanese overlord!


The Memsahib struck gold with this one!

I have had a great Christmas, albeit rather more busy than expected! There has been an unending round of domestic chores - the ones that cannot be easily fitted into a working week - that have now been successfully completed and one rather large personal project, more of which later in this post.

The family surpassed themselves on the prezzie front and so two of my projects for next year have been very nicely supported. I have previously mentioned about a Samurai project of one sort or another. I have the wherewithal to tackle this in two scales - 20mm via Shogun and 28mm via Warlord Games - along with potentially a naval dimension. I am still very much at the planning stage with this and in truth it has not gotten past the ‘I want to do something Samurai related - either Shogun or Last Samurai based’ stage but we shall see!

The Russo/Polish War is not something I would ordinarily be thinking about but it has a lot of potential in a number of ways - at least from the perspective of how I would game it. Strike of the Eagle by Academy Games is a block based ‘point to point’ card based game that looks really good and translating the blocks into figures would not be to much of a challenge methinks. I have a few ideas about this that I will detail in a further post.


A place for everything and everything in its place….for now at least!

The man cave was due a major reorganisation and general tidy up and so I was able to undertake this gargantuan task and over the course of a couple of days completed it. The amount of old rubbish that has been consigned to the recycling (or non recycling) was an impressive three bags worth but I feel a whole better for having a clean and tidy workspace after the ACW shipbuilding frenzy.

I have of course been thinking about the Portable Ironclads Wargame and the next steps and to be sure, there are few ideas I am playing around with. For now though, I want to enjoy a few games, finish the last six models and think about 2023 and what comes next.

Wishing you all a very happy news year!


10 comments:

Donnie McGibbon said...

I will be following with interest your progress on these projects in the coming year, the Samurai one particularly interests me, an itch I have yet to scratch!!, the work on tidying your man cave looks well worth it as it looks super. All the best for the new year and looking forward to your posts in 2023.

david in suffolk said...

Looks like you had a good Xmas! Those Samurai and Russo/Polish projects look interesting.. Here's to a successful wargaming New Year!

David Crook said...

Hi Donnie,

The man cave was certainly due a general tidy up and reorganisation and it has he scene nicely for the new year projects. I am determined to tackle something Samurai related but for the moment I am still planning exactly what and how! The Russo/Polish thing will be block based although I have a hankering to tackling this using 3mm figures!

There will be posts aplenty in 2023 and thank you for taking the time out to read them - much appreciated!

All the best and a happy new year!

DC

David Crook said...

Hi David,

And to you sir! I certainly hope it will be an improvement on 2022!

All the best,

DC

Steve J. said...

I'm getting man cave envy here David as for the foreseeable future there will be no spare room for me to indulge such a luxury. We did think of converting the left years ago, but not worth it now the kids might move out in a year or two...

Happy New Year to you and yours and here's hopeing that 2023 is a good one for all of us!

David Crook said...

Hi Steve J,

It is a handy space to have for sure - especially now that it is tidy! The loft had been converted prior to us buying the house nearly 18 years ago so it is fully fitted out. The layout is a little quirky but it does the job.

I fervently hope that 2023 is better than last year for all of us!

All the best old chap,

DC

SteelonSand said...

Some interesting sounding options there - look forward to seeing how things progress in 2023 - can’t be long before we see some whole of fleet photos of all the ACW ships together can it ? - no excuse now the Man Cave has been tidied up ! - that said, such a tidy space seems anathema too me - here’s to you getting it filled with clutter again soon !

David Crook said...

Hello there SteelonSand,

I shall undertake a full fleet review when the final six models (the final six for this phase!) are completed although most of the models are in the Portable Ironclads Wargame.

My new year resolution is t see just how long I can keep the man cave looking like this!

All the best and happy new year old chap!

DC

Aly Morrison said...

That is a very tidy man cave David….
I wonder how long it will last 😁
The New Lion Rampant is an excellent acquisition.


All the best. Aly

David Crook said...

Hello there Aly,

You should have seen it before the great tidy up! I plan to use LR with the Samurai figures I have squirrelled away - as mentioned Mr Fox very kindly sent me a troop list he had obtained from somewhere which really ticks a lot of the boxes. That is the plan anyway. Kind of….

All the best,

DC