Blood and Spectacles: Random: Mid-Year Progress Update

Well, look at that calendar. We are half way through the year all ready. Time flies by when you are having fun. Since we are half-way through, it is time for a mid-year goal check. Am I on track, am I off track, have I destroyed the track and are now making a freeway? Let's find out..... together!

Like previous years I plan to create a few goals for the year. These are not binding, but it keeps me from going off the rails and spending like crazy on the new shiny. It also keeps me from jumping from project to project without finishing stuff first. Like I say, to be a Game Designer, you need to have games for people to play!

Like most years, I am breaking this down into the following categories:

Purchases- Things I spend my money on

Painting and Modeling- Things I paint and build to play games with

Playing Games- The name says it all. The games I will play and report on

Rules Writing- New projects and games I am working on

Miscellany- Other things related to Blood and Spectacles but not the other 4 categories.

So, with no further ado, let's look at how we are doing for the year so far.....

Purchases

First off, thanks! None of this would be possible without your generous support. When you purchase a Blood and Spectacles product from Osprey, the Wargame Vault, etc. you are helping to grow the existing projects I am working on. One of the most challenging parts of being a Wargame Designer has nothing to do with writing rules. The challenge is getting together the miniatures, photos, artwork, and other elements needed to create a fully fleshed out product. I can't release a new booklet unless I have the other elements gamers demand such as battle reports, pictures of minis on the table, artwork, charts and graphs, and high production values. Those all take money (and time) and your purchases help make this possible.

Thank you!

This year, I have been putting my "hobby money" into purchasing the building blocks I need to build robust products and build strong support for the games I have created and am creating. So, here is where I am at in Purchases.

Purchased Models:

Victrix Viking Army for my Fury of the Northman rules project
More Victrix Romans for Wars of the Republic from Osprey
Kikko "Not Gundam" Plastic Mecha for Glittering Void rules project

Purchased Rules:

Gangs of Rome PDF - Footsore
Gamma Wolves - Osprey
A Billion Suns - Osprey
Absolute Emperor- Osprey
Stargrave- Osprey

I also purchased a couple RPG books, as I am dabbling with some designs for those and wanted to get a better feel for what was expected from those types of rule books from publishers and players.

Still on the list to purchase is the following:

Tumbling Dice Korean War Aircraft for White Star/Red Star rules project
Oathsworn Burrows and Badgers Bundle A & B

Several of the purchases here are to support the roll-out of future rules projects from Blood and Spectacles games. Others, are to keep me up-to-date and engaged in what is happening in the world of wargames and wargame designs. Once again, thank you for your support in this category by purchasing products from Blood and Spectacles publishing!

Painting and Modelling

This year has been dominated by Victrix Romans. I do not think I have really painted anything else for the year yet. However, I have painted a lot of Romans! I have enough Romans for three different, Wars of the Republic armies. I can field an Early Roman Republican army, a Mid-Republic army, and a Late-Republic army. So far, that means I have painted 150+ Roman models!

160 Romans on a shelf

I have also started some modelling on the Kikko/Amazon Mecha. However, I am not far enough to actually share them yet on the blog. They are for Glittering Void games and testing.

Plus, I painted two British Battleships for Castles in the Sky from Brigade.

Gaming

I have been surprised at the number of games I have gotten to play this year. Again, I have mostly focused on testing and playing my own games for Osprey and Blood and Spectacles publishing. I want them ready for primetime. In this bucket, I have played the following:

Castles in the Sky- Future Osprey release- 4 games
Only the Strong Survive- Blood and Spectacles release- 1 game
Men of Bronze- Osprey Games- 1 game
Glittering Void- Blood and Spectacles WIP- 2 games
White Star/Red Star- Blood and Spectacles WIP- 1 game

From other Publishers, I have played the following:

Blood Bowl- 2 games
Battletech- 2 games
Blucher- 2 games

Wow! 15 games! That is more than I expected all year. It helped that my Skumgrod and I got our vaccines pretty early in the year. We were able to get together and re-unite with our group too. Plus, my family also got vaccinated pretty early too. That gave us space to play more than I expected.

Rules Writing

This front has been a bit quieter than I expected. I have been able to get some rules to draft stages, but I have not been able to get them across the finish line. Or at least that is my impression as I go into this section of the mid-year round-up. Maybe once I look at the goals, I will feel better about this one?

Complete Castles in the Sky for Osprey- Complete
Update The Games: Blood and Spectacles- Not Started
Try to get a new work published- Made a few pitches, but no new progress
Move a WIP Game to the Vault- I did get the supplement to Men of Bronze to the Wargame Vault. It is called Hercules Abroad. Otherwise, not started.
Add WIP games to the Blog- I moved Aquanautica Imperialis: Force of Arms into the WIP section. However, I cheated as I made this last year. Not completed.

Despite what it looks like, I do have a couple projects in the hopper, but I am held back a bit by how fast I can get the components purchased, made, and painted to make ready.

In Strife and Conflict- Assyrian Warfare Rules
Revolt! The Third Servile War- A Wars of the Republic Supplement
White Star/Red Star- Korean Air War Rules
Fury of the Northman- Viking Age Warfare Rules
Barbarians at the Gates- Late Roman Warfare Rules
Under the Martian Yoke- War of the Worlds Survival Horror
Darkest Knight- Modern Horror rules with Co-op/solo play/Vs/Campaign
Flower Wars- Wars of Pre-Colombian South America
Mageloque- Gunpowder Fantasy Game

As you can see, I have a lot of rules on the fly in various stages of development and progress. Some are in a playable state, while others are a bit slower going. In comments or the Message Board, tell me which ones interest you the most, and which ones I should prioritize to get finished first.

Miscellany

These are random goals related to "running the business" that are not very exciting, but are still hobby/business goals to get done.

Get a new Blog post up every two weeks, if not every week- So far, so good.
Update the Painting and Gaming tracker for 2021- Yup, okay so far.
Tie my Social Media, Website, Blog, and Messageboard together for a more unified marketing message- Yup, I am doing okay so far. Still debating if I need to expand my Social Media presence to other platforms and videos. Ugh, sounds like a huge job though.
Try to increase my network with other Game Designers- Ha, ha, ha, NO!
Update my Products on my Website- A new website is in the design phase, we will see if it ever launches.

Final Thoughts

In some areas, I have been pretty successful. In others, it has been a bit of a slog. Normally, I am really productive at Rules Writing, but this year has been a bit of a slog. I can write rules plenty quick but I have not been able to get them to the standards I want to publish and supported in a timely way- outside of my commitments to Osprey that is.

Painting and actual gaming has gone pretty well so far! We will see if that continues. This fall, I will need to ramp up my support and gaming of Wars of the Republic to support the launch from Osprey.

Let's see where this thing goes!