Spring Project Update

 It's a long time since I updated you all on my current and emerging projects.  As always this is something of an eclectic list!

First the Stage 3 Projects (see my Project Categorisation post):

German Revolution

First up is another of my forays into the interwar period.  This time it's the German Revolution, the unrest in Germany following the end of the Great War with the conflict between the far right and left leading to and following on from the transformation of the German Empire into the Weimar Republic.

I am planning to use the Freikorps und Spartacist rules by Stephen Danes which, as will be obvious from the title, are specifically for the period.  I have purchased a goodly amount of figures from the TSUBA Miniatures German Revolution range available from Empress to be supplemented by appropriate other armed and unarmed civilians from my existing collection.  The latter are all painted and the former are nearing completion.

Rif War

Next is another interwar project, this time focussed on the Rif War in Morocco against the Spanish and French colonialists. This allows me to utilise figures I already have from my Spanish Civil War collection and supplement them with French colonial troops, Berbers and locals.

I have yet to settle on a specific rule set although a variant of Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames and Beyond the Empire from Partizan Press are both being considered.

The Moroccans and Berbers are from Artizan Designs (from their March or Die and First World War ranges respectively) and the French troops are from the Woodbine Designs WW1 range by Gripping Beast and my existing Spanish are from Empress Miniatures.  The latter are already painted and the former are nearing completion.

Great Syrian Revolt

The next project has the benefit of being able to share some figures with the previous one particularly the Berbers (who will be standing in for the Druze) and the French.  I always like it when you can get figures to cover more than one project!

The choice of rules is likely to be determined similarly to that for Rif War I suspect although I do want to make sure the games are distinct (which may lean in to Beyond the Empire).

Perhaps unsurprisingly progress is in step with the Rif War project.

Operation Sealion (28mm)

I am still beavering away at my Operation Sealion project (a what-if based on the planned  Nazi invasion of the UK).  With most of the pillboxes, obstacles and the like finished; two invasion barges almost complete and various other craft in progress.  I do need to paint up a beaverette and finish off some Home Guard improvised weapons but otherwise nearly there (it has been a long time coming!)

The plan is to run three scenarios: (1) a beach landing on the Kent coast; (2) an assault on a defended bridge over the Royal Military Canal and (3) a Fallschirmjäger assault on an RAF airfield.

Pulp

Having added an embarrassingly large number of Pulp miniatures to my collection (variously from Pulp Figures, Pulp Alley and Crooked Dice) I really need to progress the various sub-projects within the genre.

I have a number of MDF buildings to assemble (and some to paint) along with some figures to paint in order to do the China Station campaign.  I also have plans for a Nazi-Gothic horror campaign as well.

I am also planning to use the Pulp Alley rules for some other genres but I think that's a little bit further into the future!

And now my Stage 2 Projects:

By Fire & Sword

I have picked up a few of the skirmish sets for these rules and am in the process of doing the necessary research in order to get them painted.  I have also picked up a couple of books to help me with creating some historical scenarios rather than just a tournament free for all.

It's a fascinating period with lots of interesting character and colour so I can't wait to get this to the table to see how the rules stand up (especially as they are just in the process of creating the second edition!). 

Hungarian War of Independence 1848/9

I can't recall exactly what piqued my interest in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 but it didn't take long for me decided to make it a future project.

I am currently looking at some sample 15mm figures from Irregular Miniatures to see if this is the scale I will go with.  The Bloody Big Battles! rules have a supplement specifically for the period and, as per usual, I have picked up a few books for background research (and painting guidance!)

This one may well be a little while away before it hits the table.

American Civil War (2mm)

I was discussing doing the American Civil War at a larger scale but using a small scale of figures, probably as a result of having got interested in the Altar of Freedom rules; this led on to the usual "how low can you go?" conversation regarding figure size.  As a result I have got some sample 2mm figure (blocks?) from Irregular Miniatures to experiment with.  I am interested to see how they will turn out given the size and my limited painting abilities.

If this makes it past the experimental stage it will allow me to explore bigger battles than my usual go-to ACW rules Fire & Fury.

WW2 Naval

Finally (unless, of course, I have forgotten something!) comes the new WW2 naval rules from Sam Mustafa, Nimitz.  I like Sam's rules but haven't been much of a naval gamer in the past with Sails of Glory and ACW ironclads being my only forays into the genre.  These look interesting and I have already started a conversation with my 3D printing guru regarding ships!

The Battle of Montebello, 20 May 1859

The club meeting last weekend saw me playing a game put on by someone else for a change.  In this case a 6mm game on the Battle of Montebello in the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 using the Bloody Big Battles rules.

Since the scenario has only a relatively small number of units we managed to get two plays of the scenario in, swapping sides between them.

I began with the Austrians but really struggled to untangle my traffic jam of units arriving over the bridges at the table edge caused by an early French cavalry attack.  I then failed to break through the French unit screening my closest objective all through the game and only managed to secure the objective further up the table. I didn't get anywhere near the other two!  So that game ended in a French victory.

In the second game I took command of the French which was a bit of a change as whilst they have less units they were mostly veterans with skirmishers and command stands (something the Austrians lacked!).  I decided to try the same approach as in the first game and charged my cavalry into the front of the Austrian column.  This proved somewhat less successful for me and entirely failed to slow the Austrians down.

Whilst my Austrian reinforcements entered across the same bridges as the core force, in the second game I was facing reinforcements entering from a completely different edge!  Whilst I managed to hold these off my attempt to secure a third objective and thus secure victory failed. So the game ended in a draw.

Not a great performance from me but lots of fun.