Miniatures gaming projects for 2024

The festive period is behind us, and I've returned from a short trip to Asia, which was both refreshing and informative. I have not been blogging very much in 2023, largely due to being so busy professionally, a state of affairs I do not expect will change much this year. 

But, that said, I'm pondering some ideas for miniatures gaming in the months ahead. Here are some of my ideas, which I've broken down into table top miniatures games projects and campaign design thoughts.

The Battle of Valls - 1809

Miniatures games

I have really enjoyed playing Frostgrave and Stargrave, with the pandemic in 2020 drawing the curtain on the Frostgrave antics, while Stargrave has sputtered along since the pandemic ended. Both are fun games, and I'm keen to see if I can get Stargrave back on the table in 2024. At some stage, I'd like to also examine the co-op possibilities of Joseph McCullough's other designs, especially Rangers of Shadowdeep, which seems to have a devoted following at the moment.

Following on from my successful re-fight of the Battle of Froeschwiller using Bloody Big Battles, I'm planning a second effort in this direction. The likely candidate is Kurekdere, a battle between the Russians and the Ottoman Turks in 1854, the opening chapter in the Crimean War (strangely also called Kurudere, depending on the source). I will again be resorting to my Kriegspiel wooden block system for this game.

I've also written a solo scenario for the Black Powder rules which I may be posting about here, covering the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. I wanted a scenario I could use to learn the rules myself. This is a good solo topic, as the active player is taking the role of the British, and the American rebels are defending a static position on Bunker Hill, overlooking Boston harbour. Victory should be determined by how long it takes the British to overrun the rebel position, and how many soldiers they lose doing it.

Taking the Bunker Hill project as my inspiration, I also wanted to try out Absolute Emperor from Osprey Games, which covers larger scale Napoleonic battles. This time I'm using the Battle of Valls (1809) which sees the French attacking across a river valley to try to drive a Spanish army under Theodor von Reding off some heights between Barcelona and Zaragoza. Again, look to this blog for a report on this battle re-fight.

Going back in time, I'm tinkering with a Marathon scenario, the epic battle between the Persians and the Greeks - the Athenians really as the Spartans chickened out, in 490 BC. I was originally going to use Men of Bronze for this, then Hail Caesar, but am currently reading Lost Battles. More on this when I can actually make my mind up on rules. But suffice to say it will be a two player game. If all goes well, I may well use Men of Bronze for Thermopylae instead, if there is time.

I also enjoyed playing Warmaster in 2023, and will be aiming to progress the Grudge of Drong campaign, while also beginning to paint an army of Dwarves and a Vampire Counts army. I've given Tomb Kings and High Elves a test drive in 2023, winning with the undead but being thumped at Grudge Pass while playing the elves. More on a Warmaster campaign idea I had, below.

Beyond all the above, I'd like to test drive Bolt Action in the course of the year, having considerably augmented my WW2 collection in 2023, and also some Rogue Trader (40K 1.0). I seem to be accumulating Genestealer cultists and some Imperial Guard at a steady rate of knots. The obstacle has been getting a scenario together, but hopefully that can be achieved soon.

Finally, I'm also working on another Lovecraft Country scenario, but this time I won't be using The Hills Rise Wild. More on this when I have it in hand.

The British assault Bunker Hill - 1775

Campaign games

I am toying with ideas for a couple of miniatures campaign games. One is Greyhawk Wars, adapting the old AD&D 2nd ed wargame as an engine to power miniatures games. The idea would be to create scope for Warmaster battles in Greyhawk. Further ruminations on this will be forthcoming as I work my way through this concept. Some of the key issues to be resolved will be:

• Should one unit / counter in Greyhawk Wars equate to a single unit in Warmaster, or should armies simply run on a raw points system, with players determining composition only when they hit the battlefield?
• If battles are too small for Warmaster, should they be played on the tabletop using AD&D Battlesystem, or even Warhammer? Or simply use the existing combat system in Greyhawk Wars, which many have complained about as simplistic and unwieldy?
• How to determine what terrain exists on the battlefield? 

The other campaign project on the drawing board is a Napoleonic one. At the moment, it looks like an adaptation of the 1805 scenario from Avalon Hill's War & Peace, with the Scharnhorst campaign system from Blucher used once the armies are closer together. But this is subject to change. I may test this out as an academic exercise, just to see how it works. But it could simply be too complicated.

I would like to see if a double-blind campaign system would work with multiple players eventually, forcing them to use scouts and intelligence to try to work out where the opposition is, before bringing them to battle. 

I'm considering a third Zulu War or Matabele campaign at some point for my 28mm armies. The first campaign is more of a straightforward invasion scenario, while the latter is an insurrection model, with a rebellion spreading across a region, and one team/player managing the response, while the AI drives the rebel forces. The model is based off one I was toying with for a game called Middle East Peace, which seems more pertinent than ever as we move into 2024...