Happy New Year!

I hope you all had nice and peaceful Christmas holidays and a good start into the New Year. We had some relaxing days with the family, giving me the chance to play a couple of games with my nephew, whom I gave a copy of the boardgame Duel im Felsental as a Christmas present. Of course I couldn’t resist painting the minis!

What will 2015 bring at The Raft? Well, I’ve got a whole load of plans. First of all, I want to continue the medieval Andalusian project and bring it to at least a temporary conclusion as far as painting is concerned. I’ve already got a good-sized force of Almoravids and Christians and want to complement them with enough Taifa units to field them as a separate army. Most importantly, we are going to start gaming with them. Hail Caesar is my first choice and we’ll see if we like them – if not we’ll try something else.

The sci fi project will also continue. Palomar Breach will see a new faction, the Interplanetary Union, a high-tech force with power armoured infantry and a mech. Fortunately, you don’t need many figures for Wandering Star and I’ve already procured most of them, so this won’t be too much work.

I’m also thinking of branching out the sci fi stuff… into spaaaace! Lately, I’ve been pondering the idea of a spaceship combat game that would specifically be designed for cooperative (or solo) play. I’ve scribbled down some basic mechanics and would like to investigate this further, so let’s see if this will lead to something.

However, the most exciting thing will be a new historical project. Or rather it is not so much a project but a topic, which will bring together many of my research as well as wargaming interests. Under the header of Wargaming Warrior Women, I will present research, scenarios and ideas pertaining to female combatants in history. My main interests are medieval and ancient times, but I will also deal with other historical periods. To kick the new topic off with much fanfare, I’ll soon present you some figures I’ve had sculpted of an elite unit of female archers.

Not the only female warrior of medieval times!

If you are more into battle reports don’t despair, they will always form the backbone of The Raft – after all, K. and I enjoy gaming and retelling games too much to forget about that.

Of course, there is also real life and some equally exciting things are going to happen there this year, probably including a change of job and a house move, so all of my carefully laid plans might be upset at any time.

I hope to see you around and wish you all the best for the New Year!