I’ve been thinking of future projects lately, which makes perfect sense since the projects I’m currently working on have been put aside lately due to real life time constraints. These are things I’d like to revisit next year if possible, though obviously all of them at once would be impossible.
Some Zouaves for my 10mm ACW Union project
I’m currently almost done with my 10mm ACW project (Union) for Longstreet, my Bluecher 6mm French Napoleonics are also almost complete (just a few more cavalry then doing up the bases), and I started work on my 15mm Sword and Spear Roman Republicans too, though I still have a way to go there. My definite future plans for sort-of existing projects are my 15mm Carthaginians for S&S to match my Romans, and my 15mm Graeco-Bactrians for S&S. I’d also like to shift some more of my unpainted mountain of 15mm HYW for S&S at some point too.
Some out of focus 6mm French for Bluecher
From the last Forged in Battle kickstarter, I have a load more figures soon to be en route, including some 15mm Imperial Romans and Sassanid Persians for Aurelian and S&S, so they’ll need painting up too.
3 units of Velites for my Republican Romans
Despite having quite a few things to deal with then, I’ve also been contemplating other new stuff. At some point I’ll undoubtedly want to buy a load of 6mm WW2 stuff for Rommel. I was originally thinking of some early war stuff (see below on that score), probably desert war, but with the Baccus 6mm WW2 Normandy stuff starting to be released, I may go for that. That’s something I have plenty of time to think about though.
I’ve also been considering another WW2 project, one that I’d again use 6mm for, but at a smaller scale than Rommel, probably with a base being a platoon. I’m not sure what rules I’d use since none of the ones out there I’ve been considering are really doing it for me, so I may do some sort of S&S hack to come up with something for it. The theatre would be a what-if – Operation Sealion. The attempted German invasion of England never took place, and all evidence suggests it would never have reached the shores thanks to the navy and air force, but it’s a fun alternative history scenario, and a linked campaign of games would be ideal. Taking place in 1940, it would involve lots of early war stuff, which I like. It’s going to be a while till Baccus get around to that period by the sounds of it (then again, it’s going to be a while till I get around to doing anything with it too), so I may end up using GHQ or H&R for vehicles (probably the former for tanks, and the latter for trucks etc), possibly with Adler infantry. So that’s Possible Future Project #1.
A second project I should really get on with and that I have a lot of figures for already (unpainted, naturally) is a 6mm ECW large battle scenario. I have most of the Royalist scum and Parliamentarian heroes I need (from Baccus, of course), and with the addition of a few more figures here and there and some doughty Scots Covenanters, I could do a Marston Moor game using my S&S hack found here and the unit stats found here. There’s also the possibility of a small campaign too for several players which I could umpire. So that’s PFP #2.
In the same vein, I have quite a few 15mm figures for By Fire and Sword which I got through their kickstarter a few years ago but never got around to doing anything with. I wouldn’t mind doing something with them (possibly a 30 Years War game), again probably using my ECW hack of S&S as a base with some extra rules thrown in here and there. I like the BF&S historical background – the eastern battles of the 17th Century – but wasn’t as keen on the rules themselves, and wouldn’t mind exploring that a bit more. So that’s PFP #3.
There are a few other projects I’d also like to do. The next one is Colonial, focusing on the Sudan campaign of 1885. I’m torn between three scales for that one – 6mm Baccus, 10mm Pendraken, or 15mm Blue Moon or Peter Pig. For rules, I’ve considered the obligatory S&S hack (Did I mention I really like those rules?), or maybe something similar to Peter Gilder’s old school rules. If I went with S&S, I’d use large bases (and probably use 15mm figures), if I went with a Gilder-inspired rule set, I’d probably have multi-base units and probably use smaller scale figures. That’s PFP #4.
Next up: Italian Wars. A short campaign set in either the Condottieri period of the Later Middle Ages or the early Renaissance period (1494-1510 or so). That one would probably be done using a minor hack of S&S. Figures would again provide a quandary – 6mm Baccus do some nice ones, Pendraken do some great ones, and then there are Mirliton SG and Legio Heroica in 15mm which both look awesome. A further possibility would be a Communal Wars campaign, in which I could use my existing 15mm HYW figures too, which would be a bonus. So, PFP #5.
And the next project: The Spanish Civil War. This would be 15mm, I think, using Peter Pig and (if they’re still a going concern) No Pasaran. There are lots of cool factions to be found here (well, among the heroic anti-fascists anyway) and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Ideally I’d like to have something where there are several factions on each side of the battle (regulares, requetes, falangists vs Republicans, Anarchists and International Brigades, maybe) that don’t always get along. That’s PFP #6.
And finally, something I’ve been working off and on over the last few years, a Very British Civil War campaign. I’ve done some small stuff for this in the past, but I’d like to do something bigger and better. I could use a modern hack of S&S, but I’d prefer a more suited (and slightly humorous) take, using event cards to spice things up a bit. Figures could be 10mm Pendraken and Magister Militum but I’ve also considered doing it in 15mm too using a variety of manufacturers (some SCW figures would be handy, as would ones from WW1 and WW2). That’s PFP #7.
So, in addition to my current projects and ones I already have in the planning stage, that’s 7 possible future projects I’d like to work on. I’d be doing at least two forces for each one (and possibly up to 6 or so forces for some of them), so they’d be fairly big projects, but they all seem like a lot of fun to me. In just about every case I’d be looking at big battles, not skirmishes, so there’d be quite a few figures to paint up. That would limit me to one or at most two of the projects in the next year or so, but there’s enough there to see me to my twilight years I think. I’m sure by the time I get any of these projects off the starting blocks, I’ll have several other possible projects in the air too though…
As to which (if any) I’ll get around to, I have no idea right now. Just doing some background research and basic planning is itself pretty fun. If you have any comments as to which you think might be interesting, let me know.
