Summing Up 2023

As we start a brand new year, it is time once more to reflect upon what was what in the Trebian World of Wargaming in the previous 12 months. 2023 in many ways followed the pattern of 2022. Time seemed to just disappear, partly because of the chance to take more holidays post-Covid, and also the demands of the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society Chairmanship. It is the first year since I started publishing rules that I haven't got my planned set out. It is over 15 months since I last produced anything in print, and I reckon I may well be about six months off finishing the current project. This is despite down-sizing it considerably from generic late 17th /early 18th century to just the Jacobite Risings. By now I was hoping to have had them out, be well into the Ottoman supplement, having found time to produce the next book in the style of "Spartans and Successors". And I haven't even started work on my next military history book. Yeah. It's been a bit of a shambles in many ways.

Looking at actual wargaming, the summary chart of the games played looks like this:

This shows an increase in games played compared to last year, rising from 59 to 68. In practice the position isn't nearly as rosy. A full quarter of the game count is games of DBA. Claiming DBA as a full game is a bit like claiming handing round a packet of wine gums is the same as getting your round in. It's all very well, but not (in my opinion, and this is my blog) like the real thing. It's an utterly disposable game that isn't to be taken too seriously (much as I enjoy it), and it has just been too easy this year to put on or take part in some games of DBA because they require no effort. For comparison in 2022 I played three games of DBA in total. 

I remain my favourite rules author, nonetheless, with 3 or 4 of my sets in the list, depending on how I count the 18th century sets "Pike to Bayonet" and "Tricorn and Bonnet", seeing as the latter emerged from the former. As you can see from the graph the number of periods has stayed the same, but with a decline in different rule sets used. You'll also note a slight uptick in the percentage of games that I ran, coming in at just over 50%. That number is again distorted by the prevalence of DBA in the schedule. If we exclude them, as no one is really umpiring or setting scenarios up, my percentage rises to 69%. This is because the organising of regular games has been split between Chris K & me for most of the year, rather than the three or four of us in 2022. The fall in rules sets reflects much less gaming with Jon F, something we need to rectify.

A major area where things haven't turned out as expected is in respect to new projects, as alluded to above. By now I expected to be nearing the end of painting my Ottoman hordes. The annual totals don't show a happy story in that area:

Well, I'm nowhere completing the forces of the Sublime Porte. I've got a stack of boxes still to paint, and more for their Austrian foes and I still need to buy more. On the other hand I did finish five DBA armies on my return from the Caucasus, but they're really a displacement activity. Looking on the bright side I have beaten last year's total, which was less than 200. 

What does 2024 hold? The Northamptonshire Battlefields Society will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a conference in February (tickets and details here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/northantsbattles), and we should publish a book as well. This one isn't written by me again, and will be about Anglo Saxon women in Northamptonshire. I'm not sure what else is in the offing from that direction, so perhaps more of my time will be my own. "Tricorn and Bonnet" must be a priority, if only to clear the decks. For the moment I have a lecture on Enclosure Riots, Diggers and Levellers to finalise for the conference, and then another on the Anglo Hanseatic War of the 15th century for one of the Society's regular meetings. Once I have that nailed down I may look at revisiting the 1469 - 1470 crisis in more detail. There's a story to be told there which needs to be written without the hindsight knowledge of the Readeption. I think.

Any how, in conclusion I hope you have all had an enjoyable festive season, and wish you all the best for the New Year.