2022 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian

I am pretty happy with my efforts in 2021 and now it is time to lay out my plans for 2022. As always they are crazy megalomaniac plans. 2021 proved that even pumped I can’t achieve all my annual goals. But I’ll try.

I start with a brain dump of my active projects, i.e. those all projects that are more or less “in progress”. The list is split into three parts: likely in 2022, unlikely, and background activity.


Megalomaniac surveying all those unfinished wargaming projects
Megalomaniac surveying all those unfinished wargaming projects


Likely projects in 2022

I bet you can guess. The big themes are Crossfire and Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Probably in that order. But Deep Battle is still in the running.

For Crossfire I’ve got four big aspirations for 2022. The first is to write an official scenario book for Crossfire and perhaps another official freebie. The second is to get my Crossfire forces for the Italian Campaign (1944-45) on table. Third is to both start and complete the Burma Campaign (1943-45) project (oops, nothing happened in 2021). And finally I want to get my Cool Ruins done.

For Tilly’s Very Bad Day I want to continue to explore combat in the east (Cossacks, Tatars). I also want to play a campaign if I can convince the guys (perhaps English Civil War). And lastly I want to adapt the rules to another period (South American Wars of Liberations).

But I know I should also stop sitting on my draft of Deep Battle and get it out there – Operational Warfare on the Eastern Front.

Project Rules Aspiration in 2022
Official Crossfire material
Crossfire Scenario book Crossfire I’ve been talking to Arty about writing a scenario book for Crossfire.
Crossfire freebie booklet Crossfire I’ve got various ideas for another freebie booklet for Crossfire
1943-45 Italian Campaign
Scenarios for the Italian Campaign Crossfire Now that I have all the armies I need to:

1941-45 Burma Campaign
Japanese Crossfire
Japanese tanks and tankettes Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint Japanese tanks and tankettes for service in Burma
Gurkhas, 14th Army Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint a Gurkha battalion that can do duty in 17th Indian Division or as 2nd Battalion, 4th Prince of Wales’s Own Gurkha Rifles
Welsh, 14th Army Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint a Welsh battalion from 14th Army
Scenarios for the Burma Campaign Crossfire
1941-45 Eastern Front
Cool Ruins Crossfire
Deep Battle Deep Battle I disappointed Andrés Ferrari again in 2021. I’ll try for a “Beta” in 2022.

1810-1824 South American Wars of Liberation aka Liberators
Rules for Liberators TBD
Sipe Sipe (1815) TBD
  • Write and fight a scenario for Battle for Viluma / Sipe Sipe (1815) for Bolivar’s Very Bad Day
1618-48 Thirty Years War and 16642-51 English Civil War
Eastern Armies Tilly’s Very Bad Day I want to continue to explore eastern armies in Tilly’s Very Bad Day so I’m going to buy/paint armies for:

  • Zaporozhian Cossacks
  • Crimean Tatars
Populous, Rich, and Rebellious – English Civil War Campaign Tilly’s Very Bad Day This one rolls over from 2021 … Corral Adam, Chris and Jamie to play a four player Tilly’s Very Bad Day campaign set in the English Civil War
Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenarios Tilly’s Very Bad Day Write more Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenarios:

  • More small game scenarios as smaller games are easier for other folk to play
  • More scenarios featuring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Zaporozhian Cossacks, and/or Tatars
  • More scenarios for the big Spanish moments of the Thirty Years War i.e. 1634 Nordlingen, 1642 Honnecourt and 1643 Rocroi

Unlikely projects in 2022

Here are the “active” projects that I don’t think I’ll get to in 2022.

Project Rules Aspiration in 2022
Biblical
Battle of Kadesh Big Base DBA
  • Write a DBA scenario for Battle of Kadesh
  • Get the figures on table and refight the Battle of Kadesh using Big Base DBA
264-27 BC Rise of Rome
Rules for Rise of Rome Dunno
Raise armies for Rise of Rome Big Base DBA and its replacement
  • Rebase on Big Bases. Although I have enough figures to play, I haven’t rebased all of my figures. In particular there are more to do in:
  • Expand my Carthaginian forces to cover the very early wars in Sicily against the Greeks i.e. get some chariots
  • Expand my Celtiberians from being mercenaries for my Ancient Spanish to being a fully fledge army
  • Get the figures on table, in particular my Gallic and Numidian armies that have never seen the light of day
Command Stands for Rise of Rome Big Base DBA and its replacement
  • Get individual command stands for these armies because any rules to replace Big Base DBA are likely to use them
Camps for the Rise of Rome Big Base DBA and its replacement
  • Buy, build, paint camps for the armies without e.g. Gallic, Numidian, Macedonian/Selucid
406-476 Fall of Rome
Fall of Hispania Campaign Any
Reinforcements for the Fall of Rome Big Base DBA and its replacement
  • Rebase on Big Bases. Although I have enough figures to play, I haven’t rebased all of my figures.
Command Stands for Fall of Rome Big Base DBA and its replacement
  • Get individual command stands for these armies because any rules to replace Big Base DBA are likely to use them
476 – 1492 Medieval
100 Years War Big Base DBA
  • Buy, build, paint a 100 Years War English army for duty in Spain and Portugal
  • Expand my Medieval Spanish and Portuguese armies
  • Get the figures on table and refight one of the battles in the Peninsular during the 100 Years War – Aljubarrota or Najera
Catalan Company Big Base DBA
  • Buy, build, paint figures for the Catalan Company
  • Buy, build, paint figures for the opponents of Catalan Company in Greece and Turkey
  • Get the figures on table
Reconquista Big Base DBA
  • Recruit a new Granadine army (buy, paint, base) including those great Muslim Knights
1494-1559 Italian Wars
Rules for Italian Wars Variant on DBA or Tilly’s Very Bad Day
Reinforcements for the Italian Wars Variant on DBA or Tilly’s Very Bad Day
1494-1700 New World
Big Base Conquistadores New World DBA
Big Base Aztecs New World DBA
Big Base Mayan New World DBA
Big Base Sinhalese New World DBA
  • Get a Big Base Sinhalese army to face the Portuguese
Big Base Malay New World DBA
  • Get a Big Base Malay army to face the Portuguese
Big Base Portuguese Explorers New World DBA
Big Base Africans New World DBA
  • Get a Big Base African army to face the Portuguese
1618-48 Thirty Years War
Transylvanian Tilly’s Very Bad Day
1808-1814 Peninsular War
Peninsular Flags Volley & Bayonet
  • Give my infantry standard bearers flags
Albuera (1811) Volley & Bayonet
Albuera (1811) Houses Volley & Bayonet
  • Buy, build, paint some Peninsular War houses, preferably without roofs
1810-1824 South American Wars of Liberation aka Liberators
Liberators skirmishers TBD
  • Recruit skirmishers for all my battalions
Simón Bolívar and the Northern War TBD
  • Buy, build, paint complete armies for the Northern War (Venezuela, Columbia) with Simón Bolívar as my next Liberator
1833-40 First Carlist War
Carlist Wars Whatever I use for Liberators
1845-72 New Zealand Wars
New Zealand Wars TBD
  • Choose a set of rules to use
  • Figure out how to use my existing figures for Big Bases – if at all
  • Buy, build, paint a Maori Pa
  • Get the figures on table
1893-1926 Rif Wars
Riffi Crossfire / Fuego Cruzado and something grand tactical
Middle Eastern Houses Crossfire / Fuego Cruzado and something grand tactical
  • Buy, build, paint some middle eastern houses for use with Crossfire i.e. can take the roofs of
Grand Tactical Rif Wars Something grand tactical
  • Select a grand tactical set of rules for the bigger actions
1936-39 Spanish Civil War
Crossfire for the Spanish Civil War Fuego Cruzado
  • Get the figures on table
  • Finish some of my scenarios e.g. the draft Battle of Madrid scenario that has been lying around for years
Grand Tactical Spanish Civil War Something grand tactical
  • Select a grand tactical set of rules for the bigger actions
1941-45 Eastern Front
Soviet Tank Riders Crossfire
Ponyri Station Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint a Ponyri railway station, preferably with the roof bombed in as it was in reality (for Kursk)
  • Buy, build, paint some features for Russian villages i.e. brick buildings for head mans houses and schools
  • Get the figures on table
3rd Battery of the 1454th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment Crossfire
Operational Artic Fox Megablitz
  • I found a good Megablitz scenario for Operational Arctic Fox. Be good to play it.
Berlin (1945) Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint late war Soviet tanks, e.g. IS-2, SU-100, T34-85, 203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4),
  • Buy, build, paint late war German tanks, e.g. Hetzer
  • Buy, build, paint Spanish SS “Unit Ezquerra” / late war Germans for Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint a distinctive building for Berlin (1945)
  • Get the figures on table
1943-45 Italian Campaign
French Expeditionary Corps (FEC) – French/Moroccan/Spanish Crossfire
1948-now Arab-Israeli Wars
1967 Arab-Israeli War Crossfire
  • Paint my Israeli forces
  • Buy, build, paint some middle eastern houses for use with Crossfire i.e. can take the roofs of
  • Write a Crossfire scenario
1955-75 Vietnam War
ANZACs in Vietnam Crossfire Do the ANZACs in Vietnam – Steven’s Wargaming Project

  • Buy, build, paint an ANZAC battalion for Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint an ANZAC armour (Centurions and M113s) for Crossfire
PAVN Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint an PAVN battalion for Crossfire
PAVN Sappers Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint an PAVN Sapper/Recon battalion for Crossfire
Viet Cong Main Force Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint an Viet Cong Main Force battalion for Crossfire
1963-73 Portuguese Colonial War
African Huts Fogo Cruzado / Crossfire
  • Scratch build and paint some proper African huts
Portuguese Colonial War Scenarios Fogo Cruzado / Crossfire
  • Work on some new scenarios
  • Write a campaign system for a “Tour in Africa”
Portuguese Paratroopers Fogo Cruzado / Crossfire
  • Buy, build, paint Portuguese Paratroopers
Reinforce Portuguese Light Infantry (Caçadores) Fogo Cruzado / Crossfire
Modelling
Storage labels All
  • Get my Dymo LabelManager Wireless PnP working again
  • Put printed labels on all my storage boxes
Rivers All
  • Repaint/texture my 3D rivers compatible (Military Miniatures, Flames of War, for 4″ hexes)
  • Buy, build, paint linking sections because all of these are slightly different widths
  • Get the rivers on table

Background activity

The goal is Wargaming. Any but mostly Crossfire, Tilly’s Very Bad Day, Big Base DBA/HOTT, and Operational.

I have to catch up on my photography. No urgency but I’d like to do some of these this year.

8 thoughts on “2022 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian”

  1. Hi Steven

    It would be good to see something of ‘Deep Battle’. You might find that some feedback helps things forward.

    Happy new year!

    Richard

    Reply
  2. I’d like to make a pitch for photography to support Tilly and 80YW. Trying Tilly and 80YW are in my goals list for 2022.

    Reply
    • Bill, what do you mean by “photography to support … “?

      Nice to meet somebody else interested in 80YW. This is what lead me to the Thirty Years War.

      Reply
      • Just more photos of games and units. And game ideas. There’s just not much in English out there.

        Reply
  3. Happy new year Steven!

    You didn’t disappoint me at all, but I do admit I would really like to see your latest thoughts on Deep Battle, even if it’s at a very early stage.

    If Bolivar’s Very Bad Day comes to fruition on 2022 that would also be nice 🙂

    Cheers!

    Reply
    • Note: I would definitely buy Deep Battle and also your Crossfire scenario book (which knowing your proclivities is sure to have lots of Eastern Front scenarios), don’t think I’m asking for freebies! So keeping my fingers crossed they eventually happen!

      Reply
  4. Really looking forward to play testing some more ‘Bolivar’s Very Bad Day’, this is one to be excited for in my opinion!

    Reply

Leave a Reply