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2023 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian

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So 2022 went okay. And now it is time to lay out my megalomaniac plans for 2023. I will try to tone them back a bit as, despite a lot of activity, I achieved depressingly few of my goals last year.

As usual I present this as a brain dump of my active projects, i.e. those all projects that are more or less “in progress”. The list is then split into three parts: likely in 2023, unlikely, and background activity.


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

Likely projects in 2023

The big themes are Crossfire and Tilly’s Very Bad Day and Deep Battle.

For Crossfire I’ve got four five big aspirations for 2022. The first is to start and complete the Burma Campaign (1943-45) project (2022 proved I can only collect armies for one theatre per year). The second Crossfire aspiration is to get my Cool Ruins done. The third is to publish the second official Crossfire freebie. And finally, the fourth aspiration is to write 10 scenarios (out of 20) for a new scenario book for Crossfire. Related to that I need to work on some Crossfire rule variants to include in the scenario book. Okay, I can’t help it, I’m also going to squeeze in something about the Vietnam War; so the fifth aspiration is I’m going to organise my ANZAC armour.

For Tilly’s Very Bad Day I want to continue to explore combat in the east (e.g. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth versus Cossacks). I also want to start a campaign for the English Civil War. And lastly I want to adapt the rules to another period (South American Wars of Liberations).

Lastly I want to play test Deep Battle, my Operational level rules for the Eastern Front.

Project Rules Aspiration in 2023
1941-45 Burma Campaign ➞
Japanese Crossfire
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
1955-75 Vietnam War ➞
ANZACs in Vietnam Crossfire Do the ANZACs in Vietnam – Steven’s Wargaming Project

  • Buy, build, paint an ANZAC armour (Centurions and M113s) for Crossfire
Deep Battle ➞
Deep Battle Deep Battle Make Andrés Ferrari a happy man and at least progress with this set in some way:

Official Crossfire material ➞
Crossfire freebie booklet Crossfire Publish Crossfire Freebie #2
Crossfire Scenario book Crossfire Write and play test 10 scenarios for a new official scenario book for Crossfire.
Crossfire rule variants Crossfire Write and play test some rules to include in the new official scenario book for Crossfire.
1618-48 Thirty Years War ➞
and 1642-51 English Civil War ➞
and 1600-1679 Northern Wars ➞
Eastern Armies Tilly’s Very Bad Day I want to continue to explore eastern armies in Tilly’s Very Bad Day by pitching Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Zaporozhian Cossacks.
Populous, Rich, and Rebellious – English Civil War Campaign Tilly’s Very Bad Day Adam, Chris and Jamie have agreed to play Year 1642 of the Tilly’s Very Bad Day campaign set in the English Civil War. That means four games – surely we can play four related games in a year.
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

Unlikely projects in 2023

Here are the “active” projects that I don’t think I’ll get to in 2023.

Project Rules Aspiration in 2023
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 ➞
and 1642-51 English Civil War ➞
and 1600-1679 Northern Wars ➞
Tatar Tilly’s Very Bad Day
Transylvanian Tilly’s Very Bad Day
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
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
Deep Battle Deep Battle
  • Write scenarios for interesting campaigns/operations e.g. 2nd Kharkov
1943-45 Italian Campaign ➞
Scenarios for the Italian Campaign Crossfire Now that I have all the armies I need to:
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
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.

15 thoughts on “2023 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian”

    • At work it is all about priorities. Keeping the team focused. And pushing hard.

      At home I acknowledge that wargaming is my hobby so I soften my otherwise fascist bent towards focus. I write these “confessions” posts so I have a rough idea what would be ideal. And sometimes I check back on them to keep myself honest.

      However, being a hobby, “mood” has to triumph. For example last year I had no plan to write a set of Arthurian rules … but none the less Twilight of the Britons appeared. You see, despite my plans, I have an overriding interest in Arthur.

      Reply

  3. Well that’s certainly aspirational! ☺
    Personally, I never bother with anything other than vague aims so as not to be disappointed and discouraged when I fall short……
    Neil

    Reply

    • Many folk have narrow interests and stick to them. I admire these people.

      My problem is I have vague plans to do, well, everything. And that way lies madness. So I try to set boundaries around my interests. That is how I ended up with “Spain and Portugal” as a central theme. It kept me safe for 20 years. Of course I have broken that rule now and I am seeking other ways to narrow my focus. Control my inner megalomaniac.

      Reply

  4. Very exciting times. Looking forward to the crossfire scenarios and Deep Battle especially. I know the focus of these, in terms of doctrine/supply etc will be the Eastern Front, but I still have it in mind (somehow) to do an operational Market Garden game in 20mm, with hexes …maybe not this year though 🙂 …looking forward to being re-inspired though, and granted, I might need to use a reduced scale from your 60km per hex/square.

    Reply

    • Deep Battle will support two game resolutions: Strategic Operations with 40km hexes and Front Operations with 20km hexes. The smaller scale might fit for Market Garden.

      Reply

    • Yeah, well, I’m rewriting it as we chat. I’m trying to cut it back from 46 pages to 16.

      Reply

  6. A really interesting program! I hope to read your works soon! I’m very interested in the deep battle rules and if it’s okay with you I’m available as a beta tester 🙂

    Reply

  8. Very Exciting. I am also working on doing a Crossfire Burma Campaign, let us exchange notes. I am almost done with the terrain, the 6mm infantry minis are waiting, I just need some vehicles and armour. I am also interested in a bigger battles for Kohima, Imphal and etc.

    Reply

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