What's on Tap for 2013

With 2012 slowly slipping through our fingers, I thought I would take a moment to look forward to 2013 and  detail in writing what I hope to accomplish in this exciting hobby during the new year.

1. Continue Building the Carthaginian Army
I have had an absolute blast planning, painting and gaming the Carthaginian army of the Second Punic War during 2012 and this will certainly continue in 2013. This project has some great momentum and I have big plans for the Carthaginians - some of the units I will be trying to paint in the upcoming year for this army includes Spanish infantry, Spanish cavalry, Gallic infantry, Numidian cavalry, Libyan infantry and certainly more elephants!

2. Get Back to the English Civil War Project, Slowly
This is not the most important project on my table currently, but it is one that I enjoy very much. I have a good number of Scottish miniatures waiting to be painted and I need to get a few units completed and then try to find somebody that will game with me in this historical period. For 2013 I will continue to focus on the Highlanders and if I have time I'd like to do some of the Irish units as well. One of my biggest challenges (and learning experiences) for 2012 was the painting of all those tartans. You can also count on me designing and making available several new ECW Scottish Royalist flags during 2013.

3. New Project: Republican Romans
I have decided to begin an army of Republican Romans sometime in 2013 for several reasons. First, I want to game more frequently and if I can provide both sides of the battle then that becomes much easier, allowing me to play at home with my wife, my brother or my son. Second, there are a lot of very sexy looking Roman miniatures out there that I would just love to paint. Third, having been doing so much research, studying and reading for this period of history recently, I think it would be nice to complete the circle and discover the other side of the conflict. Now, a big benefit of doing all of this in combination with my Carthaginian army will be the flexibility that the allied units will provide me - peoples such as the Spanish, the Gauls, and the Numidians can be used as either enemies or allies for both the Carthaginians or the Romans. That is going to get fun.

4. New Project: The Fictional Land of Stalfeney
This is the big one and it is something that I have been contemplating and wanting to do for quite awhile. In 2013 my brother and I will be designing, creating and gaming the fictional Dark Age land of Stalfeney. This will be a very organic process as we develop and create the geography, history, maps, folklore, religions, iconography and conflicts of the people of this land. We will be using the fantastic Dark Age miniatures that are currently available from many companies to represent the peoples of Stalfeney and our current plan is to use the Dux Bellorum rules for the games. After some early and high-level creation of the lore and back-story and the painting of some initial figures, we will begin a long campaign game to play out the world. This is a long-term project that will require a lot of work and creativity, so we are not going to rush it, but you will certainly see updates on this project from time to time here on the blog.

5. New Project: The Livonian War
This is a project I am very keen to get started as I have a very strong background and interest in Russian history. This project will be the lowest priority of those listed above for now, but I will certainly do some planning and research and possibly picking up some suitable miniatures in 2013.

I am looking forward to 2013. New Year everybody!