Plans for 2017

I am starting with a breath of fresh air this year, having changed my job to one that will give me more time but less income for wargaming. I've also decided to make 2017 a year in which I will focus on my core interests of air and naval wargaming, rather than get pulled in all sorts of alternative directions. I followed a similar approach a couple of years ago and it definitely paid off, both in terms of projects completed and games actually played. This year, for example, I'm going to focus a lot on air wargaming but not in my usual 1/285th scale.

I've decided to scale down most, if not all of my projects to 1/600th scale using a mix of Tumbling Dice and Oddzial Ozmy aircraft. This will include my on-going Target Locked-On Flashpoint Baltic project and a couple of other earlier Cold War projects using the same rules. I will also be getting to grips with the Wings at War series of games, which I've always wanted to try out and have already got some stuff underway. In particular, the First World War variant, Duel of Aces, has grabbed my renewed attention.

In naval gaming terms, I'm definitely going to get the Broadside and Ram 1/2400th scale 1864 project completed before possibly expanding in a 'what if'? Anglo-French ironclad direction. I'm also planning to continue my coastal warfare pursuits, with an emphasis on actually using the two 1/600th scale flotilla that I've already completed. I really need a coastal merchant convoy for this, so that will be a priority. In smaller scales, I'm hoping to add a second 1/3000th scale fleet as opposition for my WW2 French, which I will probably re-base to match my coastal warfare sea shades.

There are lots of other possibilities in both the air and naval wargaming scheme of things, including ACW naval, Pre-Dreadnoughts, MiG Alley, the winter war for Bag the Hun and so on, but I'm not going to over extend myself just yet. I'll also keep a bit of space on the bottom of the 'To Do' list for the odd 15mm modern or sci-fi skirmish project that might take my fancy. These are relatively simple and require few figures, most of which I already have in the lead pile, so I'm sure I can squeeze one or two in somewhere. I like the idea of post-colonial 15mm skirmish games I particular.

Anyway, the line has been drawn under 28mm for the foreseeable future, which means things like Congo, SAGA and Cross of Iron just won't get the attention that they probably deserve. I have always been kyboshed by 28mm projects and so they are off the menu for 2017. I will, however, aim to play more off the shelf games including Wings of Glory, X Wing and Tank on Tank, all of which have featured this year on my 'other' blog Tea and a Wad Wargaming, where I've shoved anything not miniatures related including print and play, board and digital games.

So..that's the plan!