After a couple for nice, spring like days we have settled back into a more winter like weather pattern today. With the snow, and dropping temperatures, I decided that this would be a good day to work from home rather than driving into the office. My home office, for today is the game room. From here I have a nice view. While I can’t see than animals (besides they are all hanging out in the barn(s)) I can see the white landscape and falling snow, so overall a nice place to work from.
One of the advantages to working from home is that my time is very flexible. This means I can fit in other small-ish projects during the day. For example, today I started work at about 5:30am and, now a few hours later I’m fitting in some writing time. About lunch-time I’ll need to pop out and run a pass or two down the driveway with plow truck.
Well, now on to something that might be of more interest. Here we are nearly the end of January 2013 and I’ve not given any updates on the happenings here at HistoriFigs HQ. So far this year I’ve been mostly working on wrapping up things for 2012 (end of year paperwork goes on forever, or so it feels). I’ve also taken a wee bit of time to try and map out some re-molds and new releases for the coming year. Not a whole lot of news on the front just yet, but should be soon (well within the next couple of weeks).
I’ve also taken a bit of time to try and clean up the game room. Hard to plan or play games when the game table is covered with, well lots of stuff. I’m making good progress on this project. Which also means that inventory is getting into better shape (even if we are running at lower levels). If I can keep this project rolling, we will schedule a few game days at the shop this spring and summer.
Right now I’m working on three different game projects. First up is my 20mm Fire and Charge game. If I stay on track I should have basic French and British armies ready for battle in late March. Nothing fancy out the gate, just enough figures for a balanced game and a 6 x 4 table. While my table can be configured as a 12 x 6 or even an 18 x 4 table I’ve decided that some smaller games would be fun, so targeting games that will fit on just one section of the table. Anyhow, the basic armies will make for a nice starting point for some Fire and Charge games. The games themselves will help me finish off the last bits of updating for the 50th Anniversary edition of Fire and Charge.
Next on my game list are a pair of Colonial themed games. The first being the Zulu War. May armies will be made up of (primarily) Scruby 30mm figures. I’m building both British and Zulu forces. The rules used will be The Sword and The Flame. However, rather than using the standard 20 figure units we will be using Mark Fastoso’s variant with fewer figures (Infantry with 8 and Cavalry with 6) per unit. The smaller sized units will not only speed up the game, they will help keep the table from being too crowded with figures. I’m still building most of my forces at full TSATF strength so that I can use the same armies when I pop down to play at Randy’s house (he prefers the 20 figure units) or wherever else I might need larger sized units. Right now it is looking like my Zulu War project will be ready for the tabletop in early April. Not going too crazy for the first games. The Zulu are easy, just need lots of them. For the British I’ll have: the obvious Infantry plus some Cavalry (Frontier Light Horse and some Lancers) and some artillery. Adding more variety as my forces grow. Randy has been working on Zulu War too, so I’m sure we will play games her and and at his house (maybe even a host a game at Rock-Con in the fall). My second Colonial themed game is my Italio-Ethiopian War game. This time in 15mm. I started this one as a small game project. I wanted it to fit in a small space. But now that I’m close to being ready for a game, I’m thinking that I need to drop back and go bigger. The original idea was to go with the same TSATF / Fastoso configuration as the Zulu War game, but I think that after a few smaller games I’ll dive back in and got for a game more along the lines of 800 Fighting Englishmen. If I can finish the figures that are on the table now, I should be ready for the first game mid to late February.
There are more game plans in the works, but these are my top priority games for the first half of 2013. There will also be some ACW games (40mm Scruby figures). Some Napoleonic skirmish games (45mm Scruby figures) and maybe even Moro Rebellion in 15mm. I’ve also been toying with the idea of some small games that can be played at conventions in the middle of our table in the dealer area. I’m thinking DBA-ish games. These would be idea, as they require few figures and very little space. More on these projects as they progress. The last game project I have in mind for 2013 is ACW themed. I’m still not sure where I’m going with this one. It could be 54mm or it could be 20mm (new 20mm at that) or anywhere in between. I am kinda hooked on the idea of 10 figure units – well we shall see how things shake out.
There is plenty more to write about, but i figure that I’ve rambled on enough for one post. Besides I need to get back to work 🙂
Check back soon for more.