2018 Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian

Continuing my Megalomaniac tendencies, this is my reflection on 2018 and how I did against my world conquering goals. Check out my 2018 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian for my overly ambitious aspirations.


Summary of the Year

From my perspective it as another slow year. I took a higher level job. My wife is trying to finish her doctorate. The kids are growing and need help with their homework. All of which conspired to limit my gaming time.

Megalomaniac 2018
Megalomaniac 2018

Of course, my interests bear little relationship to the Top 20 Pages on Balagan.


#1 Crossfire

Crossfire is still number one in terms of my focus and games, although it had some stiff competition in 2018. We’ve now got a crew of four players who like Crossfire: Chris Harrod, Jamie Wish, our latest recruit Adam Landa, and myself. It helps to have others sharing an interest.

Chris and Jamie continued their Krasny Bor Crossfire Campaign with two players. But only got to finish one game: The Embankment – A Crossfire Battle Report. These longer games were hard to fit in and Jamie’s second child came along to complicate things further.

I updated Mac’s Missions to version 3 and had a great Play Test with Chris. Brett Simpson also contributed a Play Test of Mac’s Crossfire Missions in the Pacific.

CFM3-685 Deployment - Soviets have SU-152
CFM3-685 Deployment – Soviets have SU-152

Brett is a regular contributor and also sent through Stoney Creek – A Crossfire Scenario and Battle Report in the Pacific. And first time contributor Chuck Noland sent through some great photos of his Crossfire Table.

CN Coxlombina 1
CN Colombina 1

Not many Crossfire Musings this year but I did suggest Giving FOs and PCs different base sizes in Crossfire. And I did a bit of research on the Rasputitsa – Quagmire on the Eastern Front

I’ve also been collecting and/or painting kit:

I already mentioned Brett Simpson’s contributions for the Pacific War:

Stoney Creek 4 AIF CC looks on at a burned-out Chi-Ha
Stoney Creek 4 AIF CC looks on at a burned-out Chi-Ha

I like Brett’s tables. Inspiring. But it was Adam Landa who got me interested in the Burma Campaign and made collecting Japanese a possibility.

Given my official interests Japanese are hard to justify hence A Case Study in Balagan Thinking – How I justify collecting Japanese.

Finally I managed to photograph some of my Armies:

R-1 Russian - 1st Rifle Company 2
R-1 Russian – 1st Rifle Company 2

#2 Portuguese Colonial War

Fogo Cruzado, Crossfire for the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-73), got a bit of attention this year.

I’ve been mulling over the idea of a campaign set in the Portuguese Colonial War and thought about Using Political Tokens for Military-Political Climate in an Insurgency Campaign.

My African Ambush – A Crossfire and Fogo Cruzado Scenario has evolved enough to get published. And we played a couple of play tests: African Ambush 2; African Ambush 3.

PCWA792 Insurgents try to outflank the Portuguese
PCWA792 Insurgents try to outflank the Portuguese

In a burst of activity I painted some stuff. Quite a lot of stuff really. I don’t know why but I got into vehicles:

Portuguese 719 Fox Recce Troop
Portuguese 719 Fox Recce Troop

#3 Deep Battle and Operational Level Wargames

2018 started with a big burst of energy on Operational Warfare. My post from late 2017, What Wargaming Rules to use for the Operational Level of War?, generated a lot of interest and since I posted it (23 Sep 2017) has received 3,255 hits and the hits are still going up.

Deep Battle: Soviet Doctrine for Operational Level Warfare

Kharkov 1942 Map for Deep Battle with 20km hexes

Kharkov 1942 Map for Deep Battle with 20km Hexes
Kharkov 1942 Map for Deep Battle with 20km Hexes

I did some Deep Battle Design Notes:

P1030783 long range logistics
P1030783 long range logistics

And I experimented with operational terrain:

4Hex821 Hotz Mat with rivers road rail hills wods and towns
4Hex821 Hotz Mat with rivers road rail hills woods and towns

#4 Big Base DBA / HOTT

Big Base DBA and Big Base HOTT are now regular features on my gaming table.

For my Biblical / Sea Peoples Wargaming Project I have take some photos of my Steven’s New Kingdom Egyptian Army for Big Base DBA. And my refight of the Battle of Kadesh took a step closer with The Battle of Kadesh in David Rohl’s New Chronology.

New Kingdom Egyptian 14 Pharaoh General
New Kingdom Egyptian 14 Pharaoh General

Continuing my interest in Arthurian HOTT I posted:

And for the Reconquista:


#5 Minor projects

I’ve been tinkering with a few other projects. Nothing large scale so I’ll lump them all together.

#5.1 Photograph Steven’s Armies

I made some progress on taking photos of my Armies:

Fallschirmjaeger 6338 Battalion Commander
Fallschirmjaeger 6338 Battalion Commander

#5.2 Italian Wars

I predicted that the Italian Wars (1494–1559) would feature in 2018. I did a bit of preparation but nothing major happened. I’m hopeful for 2019.

Italian Wars 46 Existing Figures
Italian Wars 46 Existing Figures

#5.3 New Zealand Wars

I didn’t spend much time on the New Zealand Wars (1845-72) but did take the opportunity to post Darkest Waikato: New Zealand Wars variant for In the Heart of Africa. Unfortunately In the Heart of Africa is no longer available. Oops.

#5.4 Portuguese in Japan

Samurai figures are soooo pretty. So in a moment of madness I went looking for 15mm Wargaming Figures to use for Samurai armies of the Sengoku period 1467-1603. Having scratched that itch I managed to avoid buying any figures. What a relief.

#5.5 Kids Wargaming

Brett Simpson also shared his Didi’s Wargaming Rules or how to get beaten by a 6 year old.

Didi1 - 4 dollar investment - two bags of toy soldiers
Didi1 – 4 dollar investment – two bags of toy soldiers

Neglected projects

Neglected projects with beautifully painted figures in boxes:

And projects that haven’t even got that far:

And I’m still tempted by Berlin featuring the Spanish SS “Unit Ezquerra” (1945).

3 thoughts on “2018 Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian”

  1. Happy Christmas and thanks for these posts during the year. Hope the New Year continues in a similar vein.

    Reply
  2. Dear Steven,
    Merry Christmas and great gaming in 2019. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour.

    Reply
  3. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Steven. You’ve inspired my gaming for ten years, and I hope to keep up-to-date on your megalomania for another decade =]

    Reply

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