A new project for a new Games Room and Ruleset

Oh my, it has been a long time.

Well I'm starting a new project and hopefully blogging about it will keep me motivated and on track. I read a recent post on the Repique website by Bob Jones in which he talks about picking a wargame period. He uses several criteria and the one that struck me was making sure you have an interest in the period. Many of you who know me know I fly from period to period, collecting miniatures and rules. I paint a little bit and the enthusiasm wanes and I'm off to do something else. I think I move about so much because I don't have a real interest in the period I'm collecting and painting for. And there have been many. For example, the Nine Years War, English Civil War, Seven Years War. Miniatures bought for all periods in addition to rules, reference material and histories. No real interest in the periods just some nice pictures in magazines and the internet.
After a lot of thinking I have narrowed down my interests to two periods. World War Two and the Napoleonic Wars. They are the only two periods that I continually keep coming back to.

This brings me to the point of the post. The new project I will be embarking on will be Operation Husky, the Invasion of Sicily, more specifically the Canadian involvement in the invasion.

The project will be in 28mm using the soon to be realased Chain of Command rules by TooFatLardies. They have a six part You Tube video series previewing the rules. I'm very much looking forward to playing them.
Earlier this evening I sat down to plan the purchase of my Canadian troops. Nothing fancy, just a platoon. I've ordered two boxes of British from Warlord Games.

Two boxes of their plastic infantry will be more than enough to complete the platoon with lots of variation in poses.

I will be back to post on my progress and upload some pictures of the project along the way, while I wait for the Canadian troops to arrive I'll be starting on the Germans that I have already assembled and primed.

Chain of Command is due for release in late August and I expect the rules to hit my doorstep in September. So Saturday September 14th is the date for the completion of the project. I want to be able to get my hands on the rules, read through them and get down to playing immediately.

I've settled on a Uniform Pattern

Crusader USA Miniatures

Don't feel bad if you mistake the uniform pattern I've chosen for my Imagi-Nation with the uniforms of Prussian Musketeers of the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Both are very similar in cut. Some might say exact. What will be different is the colour of both the coat and breeches. The facings and turnbacks may have similar colours but that would be coincidence at best! The image is from the Crusader range of Prussian Musketeers. Unfortunately, the Prussians aren't available in their boxed sets so I'll have to pick them up on a per pack basis. It's not as bad as it sounds because I'll be taking advantage of the Old Glory Miniatures Army membership. It's a great offer if you plan to purchase Old Glory or Crusader USA miniatures.

A Map of the World

I've been fooling around with Campaign Cartographer 3. What I'm finding is that you just can't fool around! You have to get in there and learn it. There's a great mapping tool in there but there is a steep learning curve. I'm willing to give it a good shot. I've become quite taken with the idea of an Imagi-Nation and I think it's genesis will take up most of my painting and hobby time. That's why I'm going to tough it out. Believe me creating a kingdom is not easy!

The Captain-General Himself with Aide de Camp

Here is the Christmas gift. The Great Captain and his Aide de Camp. Both Miniatures are from Crusader and they look great. I plan to start on them this week. I'll probably prime them tonight. Hopefully by the end of the week they will be finished.

My Turn

So it's taken my Friend Dave to get me started posting to my woefully neglected Blog. It's been two years from the last time I posted.
Dave planted the idea of starting an Imagi-nation. Naturally I thought this was a wonderful idea and agreed to join. Of course to be sure I'd at least consider the idea Dave gave me two commander miniatures to kick things off as a Christmas gift.

It's become a very popular idea among our circle of wargamers with lots of discussion about rules and the composition of our fictious regiments.

Dave and I have settled on large Battalions in the old school tradition of Grant and Young.
As for rules we have decided to start with Sharpe Practice ( www.toofatlardies.co.uk ) a decidedly non-old school rules offering. The rules contain just the correct amount of crunch and include rules for developing Commander Figures with skills and Personality traits. Ideas that both Dave and I enjoy.

I'm looking forward to developing my fictions Imagi-nation and I hope to be sharing my progress with you.

Well I've started in on the Mycenaeans for our DBA campaign. I thought I'd post of picture of a few of them. What you see are 8 Pikemen (in DBA terms) and a light chariot.

I've decided that I'll go with a white undercoat and paint with washes over some basic blocking. I'll probably start painting the pikemen tomorrow. I'll post my progress.

I thought I'd try something to keep me posting and to keep working on a new project. The gaming group I play with meets most Sunday mornings to play wargames. We play anything from GW's Epic to Peter Pigs PBI.
We decided as a group to begin a new DBA campaign. I like participating in these campaigns because it forces me to paint a new army to a deadline. This time around I'll be playing Early Mycenaean.
So it was off to Essex (virtually) to buy my army. The package arrived yesterday. What I plan to do is chronicle my progress as I complete the army in preparation for the campaign. I believe the campaign is to start in late March (I'll have to confirm that).


Here's the goodies in there baggy!