Enough silliness and game playing, back to planning

I have now had a couple of weeks away from the 19thC to mull over questions raised in June and July as well as over all hobby plans. I am somewhat embarrassed to find myself going over old ground and reversing decisions but to not do so would smack of "re-inforcing defeat".  

 Probably the biggest change  from where I was 5 years ago when I last settled on an over all plan is that I am officially dropping the idea that I should have one master period as a major focus for collecting and playing games with just a few minor side shows. Even if I did paint up the 2,000 figures all in one style that my 19thC toy soldier plans had called for,  I  do not see that I will ever have the room to deploy the armies I was envisaging. Its also obvious that such focus is not natural for me. Since, in practice, I have been alternately, and sometimes simultaneously, dabbling fingers in several pies, I am now accepting this practice as the plan.

After farther mulling the question of how many horse & musket rules sets I need to settle on, I have decided that the 2003 answer for horse and musket was right: two sets of my own + Charge!. MacDuff for single figure toy soldier games, Hearts of Tin for battles using elements. There has been much convergence and confusion between the two in my mind and on paper and I am in the process now of separating the essentials and figuring out what can/should be shared and what should be separate. MacDuff will look very much like the last HofT game I played with card activation etc. HofT will look alot like a flushed out version of the 1 page Tiny Hearts rules I threw onto the blog last month. A few years ago I tried to re-write HofT with a basic framework with period supplements, the same approach I had used with some extend in the 1980s and I may try that approach again with SYW, AWI and ACW modules all using the basic framework.   My ancient figures will need to remain flexible, able to handle various commercial sets for away games but I will keep working on the Gathering of Hosts for home play..  

Period	Figures	Rules Basing	Notes
Greco Persian Wars	OS 25mm	GofH 40mm elements	This is staying mostly because it's already here and I suspect that I will inevitably want to stage a game again especially since I can fudge historical battles. I should at least add some Spartans though.
Syr Darya	OS 25mm	GofH 40mm elements	Pseudo-historical fiction campaign set in the chaos between the fall of the Graeco-Bactria Kingdoms and the rise of the Kushan Empire with a dose of the Hyborian Age and maybe even a hint of myth and magic eventually.  Could also use Comitatus despite being early.
Prince Michael	Elastolin 40mm	? Single figures	In the past I have used Medieval Mayhem which was right level and enjoyed Comitatus but now have an urge to come up with something just for this.
Scots wha hae	OS 25mm	? 40mm elements	Meant for Hexed Basic impetus. Really putting together an English force for the sake of my Scots who've been waiting for 35 years. A side show.
Rough Wooing	40mm	RW 60mm elements	Just odds and sodds to add until its time to get stuck into Turks.
NQSYW	40mm Semiflat	Charge! single figures	Rosmark army needs to be expanded and split. After some diverting thoughts about painting new units as 1759 British I am going to stick with the plan of Russo-Saxon ish uniforms to avoid buying more molds.
AWI	40mm Chunky	HofT mixed	A mix of 2" elements and single light troops. Part of group project using same basing. Indians shared with 1812 collection.
1812	40mm mixed	MacDuff Single figures	An historical project. The intent is to design around actions the size of Crysler's Farm but play games from small skirmishes up to Lundy's Lane or the Assault on Fort Erie with the latter being bath-tubbed to some extend and the former being whatever the inverse is.
Atlantica	40mm toy soldier	MacDuff Single figures	I intend to press forward with the current plans, just accepting the practical limits but once the native armies are up to scratch I may eventually repaint the Oberhilse troops to look less Mexican-American War-ish as it confuses me sometimes. Possibly dark blue jackets would be enough or else white pants which would be easier to do. Seems only right to change uniforms 1/2 way through like so many historical armies have done.
ACW	1/72	HofT, 40mm elements	Another historical-ish project. After flirting with the idea of refighting the big battles I have decided I'd rather stay smaller with regiments not brigades as the base unit but I'm thinking several divisions per side..
Nku Khuland	54mm toy soldier	MacDuff Single figures	Since I like my old Britain's, I've decided not to abandon this which was the original behind Atlantica. The plan is to not get too large and to be 1880's rather than 1840's/50's. Could conceivably be transformed into square grid toy soldier game but I doubt it.
RCW	1/72	? 40mm elements	Possibly Portable Wargame or my own rules or a development of HofT, Definite side show as I don't know where I want it to go or what it should feel like.
Modern	1/72	MoMBat 30mm elements	1960's fictional. (That's "modern" to me!) A side show.

fff