Back!

I haven't had a chance to blog or do any gaming for a long time, having been away with work or on training courses for the last seven months or so. I have managed to get a bit of painting done however - 90% of a Baccus 6mm Napoleonic Austrian Army has been completed, along with a few extras for my Ancient British and Anglo-Saxon 6mm armies.  I'm looking forward to getting all of these based up and a game or two played in the next few weeks.

As well as having had the opportunity to get a spot of painting done, I've also been able to have a think about what I fancy gaming next.  I'm really keen  to get my Peninsular War re-fight underway, so that will be my initial priority (more on this in the next couple of posts).  After that, I'm looking to get some non-Napoleonic games played, particularly some Ancients battles with Polemos SPQR and some WW2 gaming done - rules are a bit of a problem for that last one however (more of this later).  I've had a vague idea in my head for a year or two now that I'd really like to tackle lots of the scenarios from the various wargames magazines that I have collected over the years, converting them if necessary for periods where I possess the relevant armies or using other armies as proxies.

I'm really looking to just add bits here and there to existing armies rather than start whole new periods at the moment.  I think I could really do with reaching a stage where everything is 'done' - even if only for a brief period.  Christmas/New Year might be a good target for this, with the intention of ditching anything that isn't painted up to a 'game-ready' stage by then, even if that just means putting into a box in the loft.  I don't think I have a big lead mountain problem compared to many gamers, but I do think life would be better if I only had £15-30 of troops on the go at any one time (a wise gamer on TMP - was it Die Alte Fritz?) said that you should think in terms of money for how many troops you had to paint, because a given value of troops was a more accurate guage than thinking in terms of strict numbers of figures).  On the other hand, given that I now have large-ish armies for all the major Napoleonic powers except Prussia, should I go for those?  The Prussian range is the only one that Baccus 6mm haven't overhauled in the last couple of years, so I am a bit worried that I'll be a bit less pleased with that army than the more recent figures populating my other armies (they are all little beauties!!).  If I do keep largely figure-free, then I will be looking to expand my terrain collection - and of that too, more in another post!