Plans for 2023

In my last post I reviewed 2022, this post will cover my plans and hopes for the year ahead.

This year I’ve created an Ovelist. An Ovelist is a simple collage of images, each one representing a task, job or activity I intend to do. It is named after its creator Andy Ovel from the Hobby Support Group podcast and is an excellent way of tracking progress and focussing activity. It’s a living document and can be added to, removed from or amended throughout the year. It is not intended that it should become a mill stone around your neck. As you progress, ticks can be added to tasks completed and it should help visualise the progress and achievements that can get all to easily lost in the ether.

Battle of Scarif Board

My big build for the year is going to be creating a board to refight the battle of Scarif, the final battle at the end of Rogue One. I’ve been intending to do this for a couple of years but having just watched the outstanding Andor TV series on Disney+ I have an added impetus now.

The board will be 1800mm by 1200mm and will comprise the many islands and atolls that surround Scarif Tower. I will also incorporate the planetary shield into the game. The key terrain challenges are the enormous number of palm trees required and the modelling of the sea bed around the islands. The board needs to be ready for the Joy of Six wargame show on July 2nd in Sheffield.

Scarif Tower

The main focus on the board, and in the battle, is the huge Scarif Tower. I intend to model the entire complex including landing pads, hydro systems, cooling pipes and the tower itself with the huge communication  dish. I’ve never done anything like this before so it’s a big challenge. The tower will be at least 60cm high.

Scarif figures

I have sourced and am in the middle of painting all the various 6mm figures that I need to represent the rebel marauders as well as the Imperial stormtroopers, shoretroopers and deathtroopers I need to refight the ground battle.

Scarif Vehicles

An odd title but this covers the AT-ACTs, the X wings, TIE fighters, the Imperial Star Destroyers and the rebel fleet. I also intend to build a diorama of the Hammerhead driving the Star Destroyers into the planetary gate.

3D printer

I’ve been wanting to get, and learn how to use, a 3D printer for over a year. I have decided now that I have a permanent hobby space I will take the plunge and buy one.

WW1 Figures 

I backed Henry Turners Europe Asunder: The Great War kickstarter last year. I have access to pretty much the entire figure library for the Great War. They really are beautiful figures and I hope my 3D printing skills progress well enough for me to be able to print out lots of the figures and I have enough time to paint them.

WW1 Rules

I hope David and I can continue our excellent progress on testing the rules for All Hell Let Loose: Great War. With luck this year should see the development complete and then it’s just about distilling it into something coherent.

Gloster Event

The final outing of my Imjin River Korea board will hopefully be a 3 day event at the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum. I am intending to refight the three days of the battle in the Museum itself with visitors taking on the roles of the Glosters and the Chinese. The board will then stay at the Museum in the museum’s Korean room.

Modelling Space

I have recently finished refurbishing some roof space for use as a permanent modelling space. This needs developing and customising so that I can build models and wargame in it. I’m making excellent progress and will post on it shortly. This should make a huge difference to my hobbying giving me the space to really expand my output.

Gaming with the kids

I hope that over the year I’ll be able to get my two sons to play some games with me and hopefully they’ll catch the wargaming bug.

Gaming with my mates

Now I have the space I hope to spend much more time gaming with my mates. I’m setting a target of 20 nights/ days of wargaming and 10 of roleplaying during the year at mine and 10 nights/ days at friends.

YouTube 

Hopefully this year I will make more content for YouTube. I’d like to produce some content on modelling techniques and the models I’ve built.

All in all quite a list, but plenty to keep me going.

Charles the Modeller 

2022 Year in Review

The year 2022 is over and so it’s time to take stock and look back at the year. Just like last year it turns out I had a really busy time hobbywise and got a tremendous amount of things done.

Imjin River Korean War board

I finished the build of my Korean War Imjin River board, painted all the troops and designed the scenario for the three days of battle. This was the focus of so much of my activity across the year and resulted in some of my biggest highlights.

• I joined Tom Katzy on Episode 58 of the Hobby Support Group Podcast to talk about building the board and refighting the battle. Tom and Ed were able to play a few turns of the battle at Warfare where Tom’s legendarily poor dice rolling caused the Chinese to fall behind schedule.
• I got to meet quite a few of the guys from Little Wars TV at Joy of Six including Greg, Steve, Tom and Miles.
• I have lost count of the number of people who have told me that fathers, uncles and relatives fought in Korea. Almost all say that the veterans wouldn’t talk about it.
• A significant number of readers of this blog have said hello - thank you for reading and for introducing yourselves it means a great deal to me.
• The guys at Wargames Illustrated were kind enough to publish two articles on the board fulfilling a long term ambition I’ve had for 30 years
• The board won best participation game at Partizan and best in show at Phalanx. The Hobby Support Group podcast awarded it Best terrain project for 2022 and I was voted the favourite guest on the podcast.
• Refighting the battle at Fiasco in Leeds the Glosters were reduced to just 5 stands, from their original 31, at the start of the penultimate turn. Each of those stands were on 4 disorder, where a 5^th destroyed them. The Glosters were literally hanging on by the skin of their teeth, just as their historical counterparts had done.
• The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum have agreed to take the board on long term loan- I will talk more about that in a future blog post.

 

Permanent Hobby Space

I have managed to persuade the wife to let me have a permanent hobby space. I have completely refurbished a largish room to create a space to be able to build more models and wargame in. I will post shortly with more details on this as I am now finalising the organisation of my tool walls.

 

Hobby Highlights 

• I got to game in Dan Hodgson’s war room again! This time David Wasilewski and I got to play test Dan’s Khartoum game on his fabulous 14ft by 7ft table. Over the weekend we played the game twice alternating between controlling Gordon and the defenders or the Mahdist forces. The Mahdists won both times. David defeated my forces 1 day earlier than I was able to defeat his, however I am certain that without my goading he would have waited several more days before attacking. I therefore claim a Moral victory! It was an awesome experience and a brilliant weekend. I believe Dan will be taking this to Hammerhead so make sure you check it out if you are there. A really big thanks to Dan and his wife Julia for their hospitality, and I’m looking forward to welcoming Dan to my wargames room shortly.
• I got to wargame on my Arnhem board, in Arnhem, on the Arnhem anniversary weekend. I caught some of the re-enactments and the parachute drop on Ginkel Heath.
• Whilst I haven’t posted much on the blog I have passed 50000 page views.
• Work on the WW1 version of the rules, All Hell Let Loose Great War, is progressing well with a host of core mechanics created, tested and approved.

 

Passing Regrets

• Neither of my kids are showing any interest in wargaming. I taken my kids with me to a number of shows this year, and whilst generally they both have a good time at shows they have no interest other than that. Both of them are still into Dungeons and Dragons and the eldest has now started painting his D&D minis, so I still have hope, but currently, I consider my job as a Dad only part done.
• I didn’t blog as frequently as I could have done
•  I didn’t produce any YouTube content at all.
• Other than shows and events I didn’t get much wargaming in, but it was still much more than I managed in 2021.

 

All in all I think 2022 was an excellent year. I am really excited about the future but I will cover my plans for the great things I want to do in 2023 in another post shortly.

 

Keep your dice rolling!

Charles the Modeller