Midwinter is the Dark time of the year. The time when the cold and the snow force humans into shelter, and, in times past, cause them to huddle around a fire - a source of warmth, comfort and indeed, survival.   Let us draw back the crusted curtains of time and see such a gathering, all intently listening to just one amongst them.   A man with no home, who travels from group to group, exchanging food and shelter for entertainment in those long, cold winter nights.  And what entertainment!  Accompanied by the seven stringed lyre, there are tales of warriors and gods, brave deeds and vanquished enemies, monsters and heroes.   Those listening are enthralled and know in their heads that such stories are but stories, fleeting half truths and exaggerations and that such things could never, ever, come to pass, but their Hearts, their Hearts told them that maybe, just maybe they could be true…

…and so, it is for all of you about to read the annual Baccus release schedule for 2023.

But first, let’s see how we scored on the 2022 predictions.    

Working chronologically, I am still confident that the postponed resculpt of some of our older Ancients ranges will go ahead.  

That went well, didn’t it?   The postponed resculpt remained postponed.  Off to a flying start with this one.  Surely it cannot get worse?

There will also be some completely new codes added to the catalogue.  I have had a long-held ambition to expand our late bronze age/early iron age ranges from the existing Egyptian/Hittite codes as there are some colourful and spectacular armies waiting to be made.   Let’s see if we can make 2022 the year of the Chariot.

Well, in fairness to me, I did post a picture of a Chariot.   One chariot, but it was very charioty.   Yes, due to a range of ‘technical issues’, the year of the Chariot never quite got off the ground.  

Let’s move off from the Ancients and move to the seventeenth century.  We’ve got to have had more success there.

The great Great Northern War refurbishment will continue with the completion of the new Russian codes…

Nope, never completed, although we did get a couple of new codes out…

…some new Cossacks…

…well, I did look at some pictures of Cossacks as research…

…and, with a fair wind, a makeover for the Poles…

I don’t know about a fair wind, but we did get some pre-release pictures of the new Poles posted.   Let’s face it, all of this was to a successful outcome what a salmon is to tightrope walking.

Moving on…

There are still a number of Pony Wars releases to come in the next few months.   There are plans to release a full range of the required buildings and a specially designed terrain mat.  

At last, success!   Yes, we completed the initial phase of the Pony Wars releases, meaning that everything that was needed for the basic game was made available, including the rather excellent game mat.

There is an outside chance of the promised railway construction crew and maybe some mean hombre outlaws…. On the rules side of things, the aim is to develop the ponywars.uk site into an online resource with game aids and extra rules and supplements available for free download.

When I wrote, ‘outside chance’, I was giving myself a wonderful escape route.  We managed to do none of the above.

There are more Great War codes in the wings awaiting release.  The aim is to have Highlanders, Stormtroopers and a batch of British tanks made available by the end of the year.

Two out of three aint bad.  We added Highlanders and a load of British tanks to the catalogue.

All of which brings us nicely to the Second World War. 

Our first aim is to add the final few codes to complete the British and German forces for Northwest Europe 1944-45.   This is already well in hand, with all the models completed in master form

Mixed results here.   We have added an awful lot of British and German vehicles and artillery to the range in the last twelve months, which has filled in most, but not all of the gaps. 

Yes, I know that the Tiger hasn’t made it to the battlefield yet, but it really isn’t far away.  Notoriously unreliable, those things.

.    With this behind us, the plan is for the US army to arrive.   Once again, most of the models are made, it being mostly a matter of getting the moulds made and production castings made.

Well…the US army is now very well equipped in terms of artillery of various kinds and half-tracks.   It’s getting there.

Finally, the aim is for the Red Army to make its appearance.   As we have shown with our approach to the current ranges, both the US and Soviet ranges will aim to be comprehensive, covering armour, recce, logistics, artillery, infantry and support weapons.  

The Russians did indeed arrive, in the form of infantry, support weapons and a wicked arsenal of artillery pieces.   The vehicles, sadly, did not accompany them

In my ideal world this will all be completed by the end of 2022 which will then enable us to switch to North Africa and the Middle East which will give us a massive range of new subjects to tackle.

The problem with ‘Ideal Worlds’ is that they don’t always survive contact with Reality.   The direction of travel remains intact, sadly, the timing is a little bit out.

We also aim to release the first of our aircraft models for the period, of which more, later.

We did indeed ‘aim’.  Sadly, we missed.   You did however get a pretty nice preview picture.

We will continue to expand the range of company and support packs for the period for both the existing ranges but also for the US and Russian armies as they come into play.

And in this, we were successful, with our range of larger ‘battalion packs’, expanding steadily and trebling in numbers over the course of 2022.

The aim is to finally get to stage a proper ‘in the flesh’ Joy of Six 2022.    The date pencilled in is Sunday July 3rd.  

And in this, we hit Bullseye!   JOS 2022 was an amazing show, successful by any measure you care to use.   The guys at Little Wars TV and Alex Sotheran at Storm of Steel both produced great videos showcasing the event, and if you haven’t seen them yet, do so!

So, there you have it.  Although we missed an awful lot of targets, we did actually achieve on many fronts, and no-one complained to us about the quality and quantity of what we did put out.   It’s also worth noting that we had some ‘extras’ to the list, in the form of an expanded range of Napoleonic Prussian artillery and a range of WW2 decal sheets. 

The introduction of our ‘Matched Pair’ armies has been hugely successful and very popular indeed.

We also faced the fallout from the Brexit trade arrangements which came into force in January 2022.   By joining the EU’s VAT IOSS scheme we were able to provide a service to our remaining EU customers which handled all of the issues surrounding delays, VAT surcharges and the dreaded ‘Handling fees’.  

Another innovation for 2022 were our ‘Baccus Showcase’ videos which proved to be hugely popular.  

All in all, it wasn’t a bad year, but not necessarily one of our best in terms of hitting our predictions.

But that is all in the past now, time to look ahead.  What is planned for 2023?

As ever, I will try and do this chronologically.

For the ‘Ancients’ period, our existing Successor range will be overhauled, resculpted and brought up to modern standards.   You will get to hear the pitter patter of tiny chariot wheels as I am determined to get some Assyrians added to the catalogue.

Moving ahead a few centuries, the ‘Crusades’ period will be graced by the addition of both pre and post Manzikert armies.

We will aim to complete the work on the Great Northern War ranges, releasing the resculpted Poles, fleshing out the Russians, adding the Cossacks and giving the Turks their own cavalry.

Once the above is completed we shall be finally entering the Italian Wars.  This has been a long-standing ambition of mine, and as a visual spectacle I cannot think of anything that can be better served in 6mm.   Gendarmes, Landsknechts, Swiss, Spanish – lots of big colourful banners and a cast of larger-than-life characters.   One to look out for!

We then leap forward to a far less colourful, but nonetheless important period, as we will continue the steady expansion of the Second World War ranges.    Both British and Germans will find their late war ranges completed.   The US and Soviets will receive a full range of vehicles.     

Our first set of aircraft models will take to the sky, and while I am channelling Nostradamus, I will state that we will be entering the North African theatre of combat.

Away from the models, after a hiatus of a few years, the Polemos rules system will be given some attention, with overhauls of some existing publications and the release of new booklets.

I will finally make available some extra Pony Wars rules and scenarios.

There will be some more videos added to the Baccus You Tube channel, starting with Seven Years War Prussians.

Finally, we will stage the Joy of Six 2023 at Sheffield Hallam University on Sunday July 2nd.  More details to follow.

All of which brings us to that final section where offer ‘Thanks’ all round to lots of people.  To start with those who work for, with and around Baccus, without whom no new releases would see the light of day or little men be made.   Then there all of you who support us by buying what we sell and without whom we could never exist.   I’d like to thanks those who attend the Joy of Six as game hosts, traders and visitors – without your support, there would be no show.    It one of the joys of my job to be associated with each and every one of you.

On behalf of the Team Baccus may I wish you all a wonderful 2023.

Italian wars?? Oh my... one of my favourites! Another pile of lead... into the breach!

So... I understand that no British Guardsmen in Bearskin for the Crimean War... again?... well maybe 2024 (if still alive... LOL)... OMG! It is probably my MYTH!

Ow, quite a lot to look forward too next year! Most excited about the prospect of the Italian Wars. The youtube videos are indeed really nice. Its a shame that 6mm is fastly under represented on there. Good luck on next years targets! 

You guys produced a heck of a lot of stuff this past year!  So what if you came up a little short in some of youre goals, thats life.  Very happy to see you are not resting on youre laurels and are indeed planning an ever expanding list of additions!   

I of course am excited to see the possiblity of a SYW Polemos set of rules coming out.   I am also excited about the italian wars and the expanded WW2.   I hope to be able to start a WW2 project by 2025 so you are right on schedule for me Peter :)

In regards chariots the only fear I have of them is putting them together!   I cant imagine the amount of super glue I would get on my clumsy fingers attempting to put a 6mm chariot together!   Not as much as when I put 28mm chariots together though so yet another benefit of 6mm over its larger and less visually appealing fellow soldiers.

Happy New Year!

Assyrians! Successors! More Pony Wars scenarios! Joy of Six!  And all the other goodies of course. Drooling already. 

Pay day this weekend!

Yes there's a broad spread in the plans, just hoping the Roman western auxiliary archer may sneak in somehow.

Italian Wars is probably my no.2 favourite period after the C19th Wars of German Unification.

@david kay your western auxiliary archer is like my british guards for the Crimea... a dream... (or maybe a MYTH!) ... and all because I do not want to use the French Imperial Guard Grenadiers as proxies (found it obscene even in 6mm)...

@Ironass - yes you may be right , but I can hope. In the meantime I'll carry on with some conversions to see how they work out.