Two Months in: The State of the Plan (Amended)

(Post Amended after further thought)

Two months have passed since I made my hobby budgetary plans In January 2023 (https://newleadheadphd.blogspot.com/2023/01/new-plans-budget.html). Time to take stock and make changes (too make a boring post more fun, I am interjecting pictures from my last Warhammer: Underworld game).

What was done:

1)     - Bought Hobby Tools, an army painter set (37 USD)

2)     - Bought a hard copy of the Altar of Freedom Rules (12 USD)

3)      - Finished assembling and began under-coating the 36 War of the Roses Perry Foot Knights I had. 2/3^rd Done

4)      -Began working on 28mm Sci Fi Terrain for Kill Team. I am building my own terrain from household material

5)      -Bought a box of Citadel Poxwlakers to continue building my Citadel Miniatures Death Guard collection. Goal is to reach 500 points in 40k terms, though I intend to mainly sue the collection in Kill Team and Xenos Rampant (37 USD)

6)      -Covered 6mm-10mm terrain partly from a gift of Ali’s excellent 6mm ancient Greek style buildings from Iliada Games Studios (https://www.iliadagamestudio.com/ancient-six)

Changes:

A)  My initial budget called for two 28mm Forces and two 15mm Forces inspired by Mark Smylie’s Artesia RPG setting. This is madness! Indeed, I am stuck with far more 28mm Perry Foot Knights then I would need for two Saga forces. Creating four collections inspired by the same setting makes little sense to me. And indeed I must confess that I have lost the ardor for this project. If the goal is to entice my local gaming group to semi-historical wargaming, then any force will do, and I already have a 28mm Anglo-Saxon Saga force that I can use for Saga Age of Magic. I should just use the funds to pay my friend who is keeping it, to mail it to me, and use the funds to built a interesting opponent. This saves money, and I can instead move to honoring Mark's work to a future date and use another scale, depending on my fancy. I will built a small vigente of the last moments of King Aramo Aramus of Dain Dania as a gift to Mark, but I think I will sell, exchange the rest of the Perry WoTR foot knights. Better to stop at this point, rather than spend more on this project. 

 

B)      My interest in making two 10mm ACW forces has continued unabated. This is the year of reading ACW material, so I am burned up. I initially planned to use Pendraken (I had built forces for Gaines Mill in the past), but now have decided to switch to Old Glory. The reason is in change C)

 

C)      I have decided to add an Old Glory Army membership. Considering that Old Glory covers three different scales, and two of which cover projects of interest (see points A and B), I will make back the money I spend on the membership and gain the profit of the reduced pricing (This is still worth it, even with my changes in (A)).

D)      Decided to not do both a 15mm Comnean and 15mm Sicilian Norman Army. This force will likely be mainly used once a year for games with my friends in Istanbul (they have 15mm) when I go visit them or remote games using TtS. While I prefer having a matched pair, it is not something that I need to prioritize.

 

E)      Same thing with the Tercios: Liber Militum forces. If I am only going to be using  this force for one game a year with my Istanbul friends, it might not make sense to aim to make this budgetary period two armies. Since my friends all have 28mm forces, I might as well make a small portable force to bring with me when visiting Turkey to play a game, rather than two forces. Once more a project that should not be prioritized.

F)       Despite E) I still want to have a hard copy of the Liber Militum Rules, and I decided I should re-arrange some of the budget to getting rule books I want, even if right now I will not use them.

 

The above also leads to a logical decision to prioritize projects

Priority A: Completing the Death Guard force and sci-fi terrain : I use part of it already for gaming Kill Team, and I can see trying Combat Patrol or Boarding Actions with the local gaming scene which is into GW games. I will also buy Xenos Rampant, in an attempt to provide a non-GW alternative. I am already making Sci-Fi Terrain. All I need is to buy one more set of miniatures, either Citadel or not, and a copy of the Kill Team Rules.

-Projected budget: 60-80 USD. I expect to be done with this sometime this year.

Priority B: Get back my 28mm Anglo-Saxon force. Add some fantasy elements. Built an opposing force (potentially using CMON Song of Ice and Fire Free Folk set as support for local store)

-Projected budget: 150-200 USD. I expect to be dome with this sometime in 2024.

Priority C: 10mm Old Glory ACW forces for both USA and CSA rebel (3 generals per force, 300 infantry per force,12 guns for Union, 8 for Rebels, plus caissons and limbers, plus 30mm bases).

-Projected budget: 180-300 USD . I expect to start this in 2024 and finish it in 2025.

Priority D:  Revamping my Greek and Ottoman forces for 1897 into 30x30mm bases. I will stick to Pendraken for this. I expect to buy a couple of packs of infantry, plus some limbers.

-Projected budget: 30 USD. I expect to finish this at some point between Summer 2024 and Fall 2024.

Priority E: 15mm Komnenean Eastern Roman, or Sicilian Norman army (60mm frontages). Either from Khurashan Miniatures or Blue Moon Miniatures (Old Glory).

-Projected budget: 100-150 USD. Expect to start this in later 2024 pr early 2025 and finish in 2025.

Priority F: 100 USD to be allocated to whatever captures my fancy

Items of Necessity: Table to accommodate 36x36 inch gaming space, paints, terrain for 28mm and 10mm games (Generic Medieval/Fantasy 28mm from Iliada Game Studios, 6mm scale terrain to be used for 10mm games including forests and foliage, earthworks, ACW buildings- I already have buildings for Mediterranean. Courtesy of Ali from Iliada Game Studios https://www.iliadagamestudio.com/. A lot of this I will do on my own but some I will buy), figure cases, bases.

-Projected Budget: 250 USD

Rules Book Purchases: Rule books I would like to own in hard-copy: Kill Team brief edition, To The Strongest, Altar of Freedom Scenarios books (Lulu printed), Bloody Big Battles and Scenario books (the ones I do not already have), Xenos Rampant, Chain of Command, Liber Militum Tercios and Kingdoms book.

-Projected Budget: 200 USD

Amended Total 5 Year Plan Budget: 1100-1200 USD or 250 USD per Year. 

In 2023 I have already spent about 86 USD and thus have 164 USD left for this year.