Plans, Plans, Everywhere There's Plans

In 2022, my plan was no plan.  More or less a carryover from what happened in 2021.  And it worked okay, despite some interruptions, except that it almost kept me from gaming.  I got so involved in completing projects for gaming, that I could never afford time to game.  

With all that I had completed in 2021, I couldn't help but believe that 2022 would be a big gaming year.  How could it not, with the Cold War hitting the table, and France 1940 more or less ready to go. Then there is Vietnam, Arab-Isreali, the Soviet Afghan war and my other campaigns already on the table, how could it not be a big gaming year?

Well, it wasn't.  I played 4 times, even with the launch of a WWIII campaign.  In 2022, like 2021 I got a lot of stuff finished, 59 projects off of my to-do list.  That's about two years worth of work, given my productivity over the last twenty or so years.  In 2022 my project or to-do list gained 14 projects, reaching a peak of 255 projects.  With 59 completed, that starts my list at 196 for 2023.  At the start of 2021, that list was 321, so I'm pretty happy with my progress over the last couple of years, but still, only 4 games played in 2022. Sad. 

There were interruptions some interruptions of my hobby.  My WWIII campaign got derailed for awhile by real world events, and then there was the work on my house that  took every available minute for four months, and a lot of time for the two months prior to that.

Outside interruptions impacted figure painting as well, with only 600 miniatures painted this year.  It had been twice that or more for the four years prior.  Most of the painted miniatures were either 15mm infantry or micro-armor, and none of it was painted particularly well, just minimum table ready work.  Purchases and aquisitions (purchased and gifts) came in at 985, fairly consistent with recent years, much of it build-up for the Cold War, 1940 France, and East front WWII camapaigns.

This past September I abandoned the no-plan plan, and posted "Looking to the Future", which outlined an approach to limit my work to ten periods/campaigns at any one time (down from 30 or 40 or whatever, and henceforth known as "The 10 plan").  During the second week of November, I got back to the hobby, instituted "The 10 Plan", and have completed various bits for seven of those 10 since, including all but completing work on both my 6mm and 15mm WWIII 1958 settings.

I recent days, I actually played a game in imagi-Africa, worked out details for the next game, and have painted a bunch of 6mm vehicles for 6mm Barbarossa for later in 2023.  I've got the next two scenarios for WWII:1958 ready to go, and having recently finished the 6mm railroad tracks, can now get those Cod War games on the table.  Opportunity to game on the table is looking decent at the moment, and is my biggest hope for 2023 (where have I heard that before?).

In addition to actully playing games in 2023, I hope to do the following (The 10 Plan):

1/3788 StarTrek/Star Fleet Battles - Paint Federation and Klingon ships, and either jumpstart the old SFB campaign or start a new one, solo if need be.  I'll get to work on Romulan ships after Feds ad Klingons are done. Proabably won't be able to establish the fate of the old SFB campaign until late spring.

6mm 1950s Cold War - I still have some work to do on 6 jets, and over time will probably add more buildings, but the overwhelming majority of the work is done, just need to play games.

6mm WWII east Front Barbarossa - Work has started, mainly painting Soviet vehicles.  An order for additional Soviet infantry will be placed this week; then, it is just a matterr of painting the figs and aircraft.  I may need to re-flock some old terrain, but will cross that road if and when needed.

15mm WWII East Front Barbarossa - For now, this will mostly consist of ordering models, as my Soviet forces in this scale are still a little thin.  As I get closer to getting the 6mm version of this period on the table, I expect to complete 15mm counterparts for games where infantry will play a bigger part.

15mm France 1940 -  I expect to add a few buildings, and paint some unfinished models as needed.  there are a few aircraft that need some touch-up, mostly reparing some decals.  I expect the Germans to invade in the very near future.

15mm Cold War 1958 - The only thing left is to complete a few aircraft (painting a Venom at the moment), and maybe add some buildings.  Oh yeah, and play some games.

15mm 1970s Cold War - This is the most involved of the ten active projects.  I'm still collecting miniatures for this, and have a bunch of American stuff to cast.  Later in the year, I'll pick one of the NATO forces to get table ready, but for the time being, will just work on filling in the gaps in equipment. 

The Soviet-Afghan War - There are three basic steps for this; making some walls/gardens/wells/clutter for villages, adding and detailling some helicopters, and building a modular hill systems more reflective of Afghan terrain.  This last step will be  kind of large in scope, and will wait until later in the year, but the walls and gardens thing will probably happen very soon.

20mm Vietnam - I got another platoon of PAVN troops to paint (Christmas present from wife) and hope to add some buildings through the year.  Otherwise, you know,  get games on the table.

28mm Post Apocalypse - Once I get some games in on other stuff, I need to clear my table and get Mama's Farm done which will facilitate several scenarios that I've had cooking for some time.

So that's the plan for 2023.  We all know that a year from now, it will have happened very differently, but ya' can't say I don't have a plan this year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2023 and stay well out there!