Every now and then I reflect on my gaming and what I am collecting and why. This inevitably leads to wiping the slate clean and moving on to something new. Well, the last couple of weeks have seen that process in full cry.
I've decided to go big into 15mm - WW1, Punic Wars and the Peninsular War. To fund this transition I have sold the SAGA Normans and Anglo-Danes, and all of my companies for In Her Majesty's Name.
Why would I do this? Something has always sat uneasy about the armies and periods that I collect. They always seem to be a dabble in a niche interest and not a representation of what I fundamentally want in a wargame. And what is it that I want? Do I even know? Well, lately it has been a wave of nostalgia, and that nostalgia is for pushing around 20mm Esci and Airfix Napoleonics 20 odd years ago. It isn't so much the plastic figures with flaking paint or the wooden block terrain with lego trees that I miss. It is the size and scope of the battle - about a dozen units on each side with 16 infantry or 12 cavalry to a unit. My aim is to be able to play some solo games in the evening, sitting in my lounge or at the dining room table, or sometimes in the shed where I can leave them set up on the proper wargames table if I need to. Rules have been selected - Flames of War for WWI, Drums and Shakos Large Battles from Ganesha Games for Napoleonics, and Ancient and Medieval Wargaming by Neil Thomas (with a few little extra rules) for the Punic Wars.
Painting has ground to a halt as I always lose impetus when I'm thinking of moving in different directions, hence this blog going quiet over the last month. I do plan to get back to the Gallic Wars SAGA at some point, but it is now definitely on the back-burner. My projects for the next year or more are now all 15mm. I'll probably start with 1918, then Napoleonics, then Ancients and finally 1914, but that is all subject to change based on what the weather is doing on any particular day.
On another note, I am very, very excited about the release of Ganesha Games' new superhero rules, Power Legion. I have been holding out for these for some time, and I am definitely not disappointed. I had them spiral bound yesterday and read through them last night, and they are exactly what I have been looking for in a set of Superhero rules. If it wasn't exam marking time this weekend I'd be playing my first game. As it is, I will probably have to wait another week.
Nate