2009

Gosh, it's the first post of the New Year and time to set some goals.

My first goal is to stay on task. No new projects, regular blog posts, at least one game to write about per month. That's not always easy, but I'll do my best.

Stick to the projects I am really interested in:

1. Space 1889-in terms of projects supported by a bunch of folk, this is by far my most active project. I also cover this with my other blog, The Shastapsh Chronicles, so I'll try not to belabor that here. I've ordered my last figures for this project, and hope to wrap it up this year.
2. War of 1812-this is a project that I've done with Doug Hamm, but I really only have Americans and a few Brits painted. I have a lot of unpainted figures, including unpainted Brits, I'd I like to have enough painted figures to host my own games when Doug isn't in town or I'm not in Canada.
   
3. Lewis and Clark and a hypothetical war with Spain 1794-1807/Anthony Wayne's Legion. These go together because American regulars wore the same uniform during this period. I have a lot of semi-militia looking figures for this period, I also have lots of woodland Indians painted-surely I can paint what I have, decide on a set of rules and host a game or two. This period has the most potential for figure growth during the year. I'll try to keep it to something that isn't willy-nilly.
   
4. AWI-I still have some unpainted figures and I would very much like to build on the success of Cowpens. There are a couple of brand new books on the war in the South that I'll blather on about in a future blog post that directly relate to this game project and the future of Tarleton's Quarter.
   
5. The Hundred Years War-I've taken a respectful little break from these and I anticipate painting more of the hundreds and hundreds of unpainted knights and etc., toward my Medieval Warfare/FOG and Arrowstorm armies.
   

There-stay on message as the political campaigns say. I've also reset my painting log for the year.

Oh, and one more thing. I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have stopped by to read these posts. I don't think this blog is anything particularly special. It's an opportunity for me to blather on about my little part in this fairly odd and wonderful hobby. But I thank you for taking the time to check in.

Year End and A Look Ahead

Yesterday I went up to Renton to pick up the keelboat from Mark Waddington. It looks just as beautiful as the pictures Mark sent. Now I need to figure out how I'll use it as a gaming piece. We exchanged some scenario ideas over lunch. Now I just need some figures for Lewis and Clark's adversaries.

As promised, I've ordered the Spanish from London War Room. One bag each of the dismounted soldado de cuera. These "leather soldiers" were Spanish Presidial troops, the frontier garrison types who fought the Indians and kept the peace. There is some great information about these troops in California, as well as a description of them at the California State Military Museum and David Rickman's page on the Royal Soldados of Santa Barbara. It is known that mounted cueros intercepted Zebulon Pike's expedition in 1807, so it's not unreasonable to think that such soldiers would have been deployed to catch the Corps of Discovery. The following pictures are from Jose Maria Bueno's book on uniforms and a photo of a re-enactor.

The other bag o' troops are simply your basic Spanish infantry dudes who will be attired in white.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, I've set three priorities. One, is getting the Lewis and Clark figures done so that I can game with them. We're not talking lots of figures here. At least initially I'll be painting them all as dismounted troops. I'll order the eighteen dismounted Comanches from Conquest miniatures when I have a bit more dough. Second, I'm going to paint up more of the troops from the Battles of Bladensburg and North Point from the War of 1812. Those will probably be my big historical projects for Enfilade. My final big project will be wrapping up all my unpainted Space 1889 stuff. I need another two dozen or so RAFM figures to get my militia units up to the right size and that will be that.

I'm really feeling the need to be frugal in the hobby this year. I'm going to keep my figure purchases as low as I possibly can, and only buy what I really need. Right now, I've shared the needs that I really have. If that's it, that's it.