Plans for 2022

Terrain projects received high priority these past months, for which both ancient and gunpowder era armies will benefit greatly. Concerning the latter, I brought the gunpowder era collections to a manageable number by selling off armies that had not seen usage for several years. This narrows the period to late 17^th century, Seven Years War and the Peninsular War. The new game mats will see a renewed use of the armies and below is an overview of what is planned for each.

Late 17^th century

This remains a favourite of my gunpowder and principally centred on the armies of France and the Imperial Hapsburg, I would like to expand this to include other conflicts that took place in western Europe at this time. Adding more armies is not in the planning as that would be time consuming, however – there is another solution.  

“Stretching the collection” was a project I did for the late medieval collection. This period saw improvement in armour which dispensed with shields and caparisons also disappeared for battlefield cavalry, leaving flags and banners as sole recognition of friend or foe. To stretch the collection, banners and flags were made interchangeable, thereby doubling the number of possible armies. 

In essence, the same holds true for the late 17^th century, as nations raised standing armies, troops began to take a uniform appearance with red, blue and white or grey being frequently selected. The new flags will be made interchangeable allowing me to organise armies for the smaller German states, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Denmark in addition to France and the Empire.  

Photo archive 

Seven Years War

The Prussian, Austrian, French and Allied armies were collected with two battles in mind, Prague, June 1757 and Hastenbeck July 1757. Every battalion and cavalry regiment are represented for each army, but these two battles were never fought. This may be the year for it to happen. 

The Peninsular War

Readers may recall a number of engagements which followed the French invasion of Northern Portugal ending with the capture of Oporto. The siege and capture of Oporto did not take place as attention was drawn to building the Spanish Army of Del Parque. That has been completed, however, due to a shortage of suitable terrain, neither campaign could move forward. A proper game mat is no longer a problem, next step, new buildings must be added. 

Realm of the Melniboné - Fantasy 

Part of the gunpowder era includes a fantasy side; an 18^th century Melnibonean army. Creating a world, bringing their old nemesis, the Orcs and few others, needed a background story of how this all came about. This may help the reader, but is primarily designed to develop new projects for the fantasy world. Naval contingents are being constructed for which a sea mat has been made and there is more on the drawing board.