New Year Plans for 2014

This blog started in December 2012 and on the 5th I outlined my plans for 2013

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/new-year-plans.html

The theme of that plan was to build up my British and French Peninsular War armies to allow me to fight the early battles involving the British in the early stages of that War, namely Rolica, Vimeiro and Corunna.

If you have followed the progress this year you will have seen these plans come together, with new units, terrain and other items added to the collection.

Setting up and staging these games together with getting to understand how Carnage & Glory could compliment this has been the highlights this year, and with the new wargame table that Tom and I put together last Easter we now have a platform to press on with bigger games and new forces in the new year.

The new table, built Easter 2013

So what have I in mind for 2014.

First plans are well under way to stage the Battle of Oporto in the Spring of 2014, possibly late March, April, and I have ideas on creating the terrain necessary for that game. This will see the addition of more Portuguese infantry to my collection.

The sitrep on the figures needed to run Oporto is I need three more British Line battalions, the 1/48th, 66th and 53rd of which the 53rd are half way done now and the others are in the to do box. I need to do four battalions of Portuguese Line infantry, and I got two AB battalions for Christmas, then it's just the KGL Hussars to finish the Allied units, which I also got for Christmas.

For the French, I need eleven battalions of Legere, and I have eight done so will get the other three done early 2014. Then I will add the 1st Hussars which are also in the to do box and it's done.

The town of Oporto will require a dozen or so new buildings plus harbour facilities and a couple more boats with crew and troops.

Well at least the boats are done!

After Oporto it is on to Talavera, for which I have four scenarios in mind covering the first clashes and the battle as a whole. Specifically, The Combat at Casa de Salinas, the Night Attack at Talavera, and, the Battles for the Redoubt and the Medellin, culminating in the full thing as staged by Nigel Marsh and others using Carnage & Glory.

Talavera as staged by Nigel Marsh using C&GII - Very Inspiring

These plans will take more time to stage with large additional numbers of troops, including Spanish elements, and more British cavalry. I think these six battles as a theme for next year will be more than enough to be getting on with, allowing a bit of time to dabble in other things, that I would like to look at such as The War of 1812, I have great hopes of using the "Blue Moon" figures as their range grows. The American War of Independence, of which I have a collection much in need of repainting and re-basing with other figures to add in, and doing some work on friends collections.

So on-wards and upwards as they say and here's looking forward to a great 2014 and wishing everyone the same.