Decision time

One of the key points that always bugs me about any project is the ultimate goal; i.e. what do I see myself doing with these miniatures when the project is mature.  There are two directions that I can foresee (and they are not mutually exclusive).  One would be the grand skirmish - small quantities of troops with a wide variety of troop types collected.  The second would be larger battles, where a player would be pushing around groups of miniatures representing battalions.  Miniatures-wise, there is nothing preventing either course, except maybe the need for specialized individuals like wits or scourges (and of course proper nickers!).  There is another aspect, mostly peculiar to the battalion-sized units, that is necessary, and that is flags (spandarions).  One could get away with few or no flags for skirmishes, but with battalions, part of the spectacle (for me at least) is seeing lines of colorful troops with equally colorful spandarions fluttering away in the distance.  The addition of multiple spandarions changes the shopping list that one needs when looking at miniatures somewhat, and I try to carefully plan my purchases.

So, what is the ultimate goal of this project?  Despite the added time and expense, I am aiming for the battalion route.  However, since I have mounted my miniatures singly - by a combination of choice, luck, and hard experience (my Tékumel miniatures suffer a bit from some poor choices but that experience has paid off here) - I can play skirmishes as I progress towards the battalions goal.

Now that the goal is set, another key decision looms...  What forces are involved?  When I first imagined this project, the vision was about a struggle between some of the Soutlands realms (Brandenbrass, Boschenburg, etc.) and their eastern neighbors (Burgundia, Gott, etc.)  I am not so certain of that now, at least in the large-battle mode, although I can see small skirmishes happening between them.  Another direction would be North, with the Haacobin Empire, with Soutland support, vying off against the Turkemen.  There is some mention of this in Foundling.  The third direction is West, between the Haacobin Empire et al versus the Sedorner Kings, briefly mentioned in Factotum.  Each of these directions has its own merits - miniatures can be proxied for each new realm - and pitfalls - a dearth of hard information on each of the Turkemen and Sedorner Kings.

So, that is where I stand now.  My newest miniatures are mounted and primed, just waiting for me to decide on their colors...