Back again - The Grand Census and The 2024 Plan

After a year of inactivity on the blogging front I am back again. I am sure the internet will go wild!

I have not done much in the hobby space over the past year but have managed to make a few purchases, complete a small amount of painting, conduct a grand census of my painted and unpainted figures, and was awarded an international prize by ACW Ditty writer of the century Stew of A Terrible Loss of Lead and Wealth. What follows is a wall of text and tables. Please feel free to close the tab and move onto something more interesting.

The Grand Census

Earlier in the year there was a number of posts on blogs I follow on planning for 2024. This prompted me to consider what I was going to do if I could get myself motivated. But when I started thinking about it all, games to play, new projects, old projects, etc. I realised I did not really have an idea of what I had. So I decided to complete a grand census.

I spent some time deciding how to complete my census and chose to collect data on Scale, Era, Type (infantry, cavalry, etc.), Nation, what box they are stored in, and any relevant notes.

I thought I had a maximum of around 5,000 painted and unpainted figures (that's what I said in the last Wargames Survey - sorry Jonathan) but it did not take long until I was well in excess of that. 

So onto the results

Painted and Unpainted by scale

This aligns with what I thought I was doing so that is nice. That is, concentrating on 10mm with most of the other scales being from before I decided 10mm was the sweet spot for me or for projects where 10mm is not practical. e.g. Spaceships.

By Era

There is some confusion/duplication in how I determined different armies. For example, most colonial armies can also be used for VSF, HOTT is Fantasy, 40K also includes significant numbers of 6mm Epic. It makes sense to me 😂 

Broken down by Type - not a particularly useful table but does show the problem with just counting figures or models. For example, a ship in 1:144 scale that is 30cm long counts as one while a single 10mm infantry figure also counts as one. This means the lead mountain is somewhat larger than indicated by the raw numbers.

Still to do

While the figure census has told me what I have and just as importantly, where it is, I also think I need to add a list of projects, completed and uncompleted, and a list of terrain. This will help me to determine what I need to purchase or paint to complete any planned games.

The 2024 Plan

In all honesty, the plan is more of a guideline that something set in stone. Although the first two items I am keen to complete.

Zombie Campaign - Play    - in 2023 I created a zombie army of 6 units to use in One Hour Wargames. This campaign will follow the zombie army as if lurches from the wilds of Russia through the outlands and borders of Europe on its way to lunch in the rich heartlands. Set sometime after the Third Apocalypse. This is currently underway.

Project Stew - Paint and Play   

I was the Winner of Stew's  6 Years of Blogging competition. This was a very generous GBP25 voucher at Pendraken. I struggled with a project to use this on until Stew provided the answer. More on this in future posts but the goal is to paint the new figures purchased and then design and fight a campaign of 3-5 battles. 

Springfield - Paint - To complete the painting of the buildings I purchased for my 40K version of the Simpson's Springfield. Once this is completed I can then contemplate starting my 40k Space Rangers campaign that has been on the back burner for 15 years or so.

League of Augsburg - Paint - paint the French and Allied armies that I have already purchased and undercoated.

Pendraken SciFi - Purchase - Pendraken has released a new range of 6 human science fiction armies. While these are promising, what I am looking forward to is the alien  armies, one of which is Space Ducks!! I have suggested they be inspired by Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half Century but have not yet received any feedback. In any event, they will be purchased.

Moon Wars - Play - design and complete a campaign on the moon between SpaceX and Blue Origin. The figures and terrain are all complete.

Other stuff if I suddenly get really productive or can't be bothered toing any of the above.

Project Nemo - Paint  -  Make and paint my model 1:144 scale Chinese Protected Cruiser as the Nautilus - and paint Captain Nemo and Crew.

Desert Army - Paint - Paint the Camel mounted army plus their dismounted infantry. Each of 6 units. Useful for colonial or VSF or Post Apocalypse. 

Terrain and Project Census - complete the review of all the stuff I have and why I purchased it in the first place. What I have done already has been very useful in stopping me buying or holding onto a lot of stuff.

HOTT Campaign - Play - complete a HOTT campaign of 5 different armies all fighting goblins

Board Games - Play some boardgames

Well enough for my first post in 12 months. Hopefully something more interesting next time.

Instant Martians

 A while ago I saw a post about some CP Model figures   Alien Avians from here    https://cpmodels.co.uk/shop/et15-avian-squad/

They look like this:

I immediately thought of the Instant Martians from the Marvin the Martian cartoons.

So i went and bought three squads 😁 to battle someone at some time in the future.

My interpretation.

Top down view

Who is that lurking in the background?

All photos taken with my new camera in my newish lightbox using the martian red backdrop.

As you can tell by all the close up shots I am quite pleased with these. 😊

This is probably the best painting I have ever done and all thanks to the contrast paints that I thought I would give a go.  I used the GW ones and purchased the green, purple and grey (for the gun) and undercoated white. The gentleman at the GW shop was very kind and directed me to the display they had with the various colours over white undercoat and helped me choose the right ones using the picture of the martian.

The other colours are just the usual paints.

Anyway, I thought it was very interesting to get such a good result with my meager talents.  They are also quite forgiving, I painted the purple over the green for one squad and it came out a ugly brown. But I just repainted white and then tried again and no issues.

Anyway, very pleased with this result and determined to see if I can get something similar on 10mm figures.  A very easy process and I can now see what the fuss is all about.

I know for talented painters this is very ordinary but for your enthusiastic painter like me it is a great leap forward.

And also yay for me, two posts in one month (just).

After the Third Apocalypse - Albion Takes a Detour

The French army retreated to the next town to regroup their forces. Fully expecting the forces of Great England to follow them. But in a surprise move the English went into one of the borderland areas, following an old highway towards an abandoned scientific base. What were they up to!!

I am using scenario 11 Surprise attack from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames book. Not a very fair scenario with the rifle armed English units attacking the musket armed Skirmishes of the Outlanders.

The scenario has been slightly altered with an abandoned satellite ground station at the cross roads which is the objective of the English, They are also escorting two wagons to the ground station for their nefarious purposes.

The starting positions. The English forces arrive from the bottom of the picture composed of 3 Infantry companies, 3 gatling guns and the 2 wagons. 2 Skirmishers of the outlanders are waiting at the first cross road and 2 more will come on on turn 3 from the top and another 2 on turn 9 from the top left.

The English race forward while the Outlanders take cover in the crater on the right and the line of destroyed vehicles on the road.

While the English infantry push forward the gatling guns open fire

 

The English forces charge the weakened Outlanders on the road and destroy them. On the right the Outlanders hold on in their cover facing only one English company

But the main English forces pushes through ignoring its flanks. More Outlanders arrive and occupy the ground station.

The English push forward, ignoring the odds and not waiting for their supports.

At the first cross road the Outlanders retreat as they are nearly destroyed. Unable to face the English Infantry and supporting gatling gun. At the ground station the two English Infantry companies once again ignore casualties and push forward. The supporting guns race forward to attack the flanking Outlanders.

The Outlanders in the ground station have been destroyed.The ones on the flank continue their fire but are now badly outnumbered.

The Outlanders retreat having been blasted by the English firepower. The final two outlander companies never made it to the battle. The English waste no time in bringing their wagons up.

The French commander reads the report. What dastardly plan do the English have. What are they trying to resurrect from the old ground station. Sending commands to dormant satellites? Or worse sending commands to dormant missile silos! Will a Fourth Apocalypse follow the Third so quickly!

Continuing my small campaign / world. I have a few more small NPC armies in the pipeline. Not sure if they will make it though. I am also working on a map to help organise the various powers and give me a bit more structure to hang my ideas/battles from.

At the moment I am thinking that the English will be the power that is driving the narrative, seeking dominance in the fourth age with a cunning plan to conquer first Europe and then the world.

More of a way to play with the toys rather than build a coherent story.