2026 - Looking Forwards

Gen. Washington looking from Dorchester Heights, Boston from [click]

This blog is my original blog, but has evolved into a focus on the Horse & Musket era. I'll talk about 2026 plans for more modern gaming at my Up the Blue! blog [HERE] and medieval / fantasy / ancient gaming at my Spear to the Strife blog [HERE]. Below are some exciting Horse & Musket plans for 2026! 

Well, I'm excited about them, anyway... but I'm a gaming geek...

1a) Tricorne Era. Am Rev, FIW [some 7YW] w' classic 30mm Scruby figs [click]. 

I have more than enough extra figs to expand my French into 2+ brigades, plus at least a brigade of French Canadians. I need to get Indians from Historifigs. Rules will be my "Zeal & Bayonets" some "A Gentleman's War" and "The Complete Brigadier".  I also need to do my review of the Am Rev Historifigs [click].  That post should be coming soon. I really need some mounted generals and officers for the period, and have been checking out various 30mm sculpts, like those of Tradition of London [click].

2) Shako Era. Napoleonics & War of 1812.

    - This will be a spin on the above project. I've already acquired a good start to 30mm Scruby Napoleonics [click]. Project will be very focused on the battalion and its leadership. I love the old-school approach that really digs into the Battalion / Regiment's history and gives a strong identity to each unit on the tabletop!  Bases from Atomic Laser Cut Designs of Ohio [click] are on the way to get this project going.  They were a great deal, about half of Litko and others, great service, can't recommend them enough!

    - Looking to still do a bit more progress on my 15mm War of 1812 boutique project [click].  Need to paint up Indians, Militia, and redcoats. Rules as above. Finally, want to rebase them onto 40x20mm [so, DBx bases] from Atomic Laser Cut Designs [click]. I plan to mount them 4 figs per base.  The extra size  helps them stay upright, and looks better on the table. One of those mindless busy tasks that will get done eventually.

    - Finally, I need to organize and mount my N-scale [9mm] Scruby minis [click] and most likely expand the French a bit. Alternatively, could re-paint some of them as French [who can tell what the original was in 9mm??].

Both the 9mm and the 15mm projects fit nicely onto smaller tables and spaces. While I love getting out the 30mm units, they tend to be around 7-12" wide, which tests the limit of table space.  This may improve in 2026 as we are doing some re-arranging of the house, and I may end up with a room I can set up 2 tables of 8'x2.5" or acquire a fold-up ping-pong table.

3) Kepi & Picklehaub Era. Franco-Prussian War.

With 2500 figs painted, I need to polish up and refine my K&P rules, base it all, and start hosting games - obviously, I can host a large game with 120 Battalions, 12 Squadrons and 32 guns!  This is a favorite period of mine, so it is essential that I get the rules and basing worked out.  Having just done some playtesting of that Distinguished Gamer Bruce Weigle's 1871 rules [click] I will consider trying them out as well.  The QRS is quite busy, could be made simpler. I don't like that the game mechanics allow wild swings of fortune, but we'll see...

- 3b) FFL v. Arabs. Same era as above.  Will re-base my 15s to match the FPW figs so I can use the FPW French figs in Algeria.  Need to paint up some more Arabs.  Rules will likely be The Sword & The Flame, The Complete Brigadier.

4) English Civil War, 40mm.  This works nicely on the terrain size as the 30mm above. It would be fun to do some small unit actions with The Pikeman's Lament.

5) Terrain!  I really need large scale 15mm FPW terrain.  I have lovely paper buildings I bought the PDFs for from Paperboys.  I also need to hit the small scale 30mm terrain, mainly in the area of hills and printing out Paperboys terrain for that old-school feel.  I have the wire cutter and lots of insulation foam, and the base coat of paint already.  Mostly just need some mild weather for it.

6) Game Design.

Probably the most interesting concept put forward in my gaming world lately was a lengthy OODA-Loop discussion at TMP [HERE]. I've long been dissatisfied with the time / space / activity relationships in traditional I GO - U GO game design.  I've seen a couple of rule sets that use mechanics to show the reality that all armies, units, and commanders don't make and act on decisions at the same speed, these being A Gentleman's War and CWG's "Rocket's Red Glare / Habitants & Highlanders".  However, once units get into close combat [not necessarily melee] the pace of action definitely increases.  I'd like to get that more clearly into my rules designs.  Requires some thinking and playtesting.

Well, there it is. Hope this list inspires you to consider and plan your 2026 game also!