Musings and reflections

This is Thanksgiving weekend, and it was a pretty traditional one here. We had the family over to Smythland. Not a big gathering, there were eight of us. However, it seemed like a lot more work. We got things ready from 9:00 until guests arrived at 3:30, really working almost every minute. Then it was cleanup from after dinner until about 9:00, when I threw myself into bed and collapsed. Not quite as much energy as I used to have.

I've noticed some age issues creeping into my gaming too. Well maybe not so much the gaming as in painting. I love to paint. I truly do. I don't know what would happen if I was unable to do it. However, I am having vision issues when I paint. My trip to the ophthalmologist turned up nothing. My doctor assured me my surgically created mono-vision was about 20/25, but not enough to warrant further surgery or regular correction. But, I know what I see. Or, worse still, I know what I don't see very well. Painting small details is getting more difficult. Hell, just seeing the damn details is getting more difficult. As a result I find that machine painting, painting lots of figures as quickly as possible, with some regard for quality is more difficult. I am accepting work that I probably wouldn't have accepted a couple of years ago, let alone about fifteen years ago, which I believe was my best work.

It really leads me to the big question--realistically how long can I be a productive painter on a large scale? There are definitely projects I'd like to complete and they include the following:

The Hundred Years War--I want to fight Poitiers, Agincourt and whatever other battles excite me using the Medieval Warfare rules and Field of Glory. I also want to continue painting singly mounted figures for my own rules. This is a pretty big undertaking that I seem to gather up in spasms. I have many, many painted figures (600ish) and many, many unpainted figures.

The American Revolution-Again I have figures for pretty much two systems, though they can be combined fairly easily. I have many painted figures-probably 5-600, and a fair number of unpainted figures, though nothing like HYW. I'd like to continue to build units for the Southern Campaign, be able to fight any battle I want from Camden to Guilford Court House and beyond to Eutaw Springs. I'd need more Brits.

The War of 1812 is close to my heart, but kind of a black hole in terms of organizing my plans. I'd like to have the figures to do Chippewa, but would really like to focus on building for a campaign around Washington D.C. I'd like the troops to do Bladensburg and North Point specifically. I have Scott's Brigade at Chippewa, but need to finish the other American units. I have a lot of unpainted American militia, which I'm actually working on this minute. I also have a ton of British figures I picked up at the end of my Old Glory Army membership, but not sure I have enough to do the Chesapeake Campaign of 1814. This is complicated by my partnership with Doug Hamm, who is far away in Vancouver, B.C. I wish he lived closer so I could see him and game more frequently with him. He has over 600 figures invested in this project, while I have about half as many.

Wayne' s Legion. I've always been interested in this obscure little conflict. I think the period offers a lot of opportunities that really takes us up to the adoption of a new American uniform in 1809. I'm interested in the Wayne's Fallen Timber campaign as well as the Indian War on the Ohio. I think there is some potential for a Lewis and Clark intervention game. I also think there is the hypothetical possibility of a clash with Spanish troops and Indians. Lots of possibilities. I'd need lots more figures, but it's something I'm passionate about. Not much painting done on this, well lots of Indians, I guess-not so much on the Americans.

Space 1889--Love it. Have tons of Martians painted, and some Europeans and sepoys. We're actually starting our Martian campaign today, which should be a lot of fun. I'd guess I have about 220 painted figures with about 100 left to paint. I'd love to buy another 60 or so figures but they're expensive, which makes me crazy. It's near the top of my list in interest and priority.

15mm projects still looming on the horizon are more DBA armies (though I haven't played much in ages), King's War First Jacobite War. I'd like to play with my Spanish Civil War stuff. Just need to make time. Of course I have my Thunderboats, modern and WWII coastal vessels and ACW ships. I'd never part with those, or for that matter my 1/300 planes.

I'm thinking seriously of parting with the following

1. 25mm Punic Wars Romans
2. 25mm ACW
3. 15mm WWII in the Pacific

That would clear some space for me, and would also unload some dead weight.

The pictures are of a portion of my unpainted lead piles all tidily bagged up. The top pic is many of my American Revolution figures left to paint. The bottom two are of my Hundred Years War minis. I believe the first HYW picture is English and the second is French. Ahh me.