It's 2026, the United States Semiquincentennial, or 250 years since the birth of the country. The American Revolution is going to be super popular this year in gaming clubs, so you'll definitely see it here with scenarios, uniform guides, and miniature reviews. Beside that, there is always plenty of wargaming and grognardiness to keep us going for another year on campaign. Check out what our writers are looking forward to in this semiquincentennial.
Michael O "mugginns"
2025 was not a standout year for me - I played mostly the same games I've played for a long time, and I've sorta settled into the games I want to play and keep playing. Sharp Practice continues to be my favorite wargame, and the US-Mexican War continues to be my main focus in that. I did have a sort of epiphany or mid-life realization - not just the US-Mexican War, but many of the conflicts that have shaped Mexico are incredibly interesting; they're worth researching and gaming. I'm now into the 2nd French Intervention in Mexico, the Texas Revolution, and the Mexican Revolution!
Mexican Lancer Cavalry. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"
This year is a massive year for anniversaries - the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution; the 180th anniversary of the start of the US-Mexican War; the 150th anniversary of Little Bighorn. I have minis for all of these and intend to paint some for Sharp Practice or other rulesets.
I also have an entire resin platoon of Slovak soldiers to paint; I already have a pewter platoon but really like the look of these new minis so I want to paint them as well. There are a ton of vehicles I haven't had access to before, including the tiny tankettes and trucks. I'd like to work with Ilor to get a Slovak platoon selector made for Chain of Command.
Norse Gael warlord with bannerman. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"
On a weekly basis, I want to play SAGA each week with my kids and/or club, and Silver Bayonet at least once a month. I'm attending AdeptiCon and running Silver Bayonet and Sharp Practice games there, and I plan to attend HistoriCon in the summer. At AdeptiCon my 13yo son and I are playing in the SAGA Doubles event; it should be a ton of fun. I'm bringing Norse-Gaels and he's bringing Vikings.
This year I'd really love to get started on a professional wargaming supplement to publish; I have to figure out how that even works and how to get started on it. I'd also like to get an article published in the yearly TooFatLardies Special, likely related to the US-Mexican War as that's my biggest obsession right now.
Momma Negan
I've a handful of scattered projects that I want to get done, one of which is getting two groups ready for The Silver Bayonet. Others include getting my Italians and Romanians Table Ready and branching out into Ancients. I don't really have any historical events I'd want to attend this year, but seeing as I've got my first tournament in close to 10 years in two weeks, who knows, might spark something in me. As for rulesets I want to explore, there's obviously the above mentioned Silver Bayonet. But I've also some Osprey rulebooks like World Aflame that I want to give a try. Overall, I want to try and play more games next year.
Ilor
For me, 2026 is going to be all about Rome. After avoiding ancients rulesets for as long as I could, I’m finally going to jump in, and in a fairly big way. But like all big projects, it’s good to start small and work in easily digestible stages, so my first step is going to be figures and terrain for Gangs of Rome. This will then expand into Roman forces for SAGA Age of Invasions and eventually Infamy, Infamy. I am planning a few fun side projects along the way.
The Victrix Black Friday sale had me dead in its sights. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten the archers too - it's not like I won't need them eventually. (credit: Ilor)
I also really want to run another Pint-Sized Campaign for Chain of Command 2, with battle report writeups similar to the Totensonntag set we did previously. I have some friends already signed on to play the forces involved, which will let me focus on the photography and writing. But I have a few more minis and some terrain that will need finishing first. Realistically, this will likely start mid-year.
As for events I’d like to attend, my biggest goal for this year is to get to a Lardie Games Day in the UK, preferably one in the Bristol area to coincide with visits to some of my wife’s extended family in that part of the country. Not sure how I’m going to swing this yet, so wish me luck!
Jake
I guess 2026 is the year that historicals finally sink their claws into me. I dove head-first into the Victrix Black Friday sales and now I have, uh, a lot of historical minis to assemble and paint.
This might have been a little insane, but between the sale and how shockingly cheap they are to begin with, it's still less than I would have thought! Bonus shot of a bunch of dice I was given as a present from my lovely wife. Credit: Jake
The primary goal is to get a few forces for SAGA painted up for various ages and dip my toes into that game. Currently, the plan is for Goths (Age of Invasions), Jomsvikings (Age of Vikings), Ordensstaat (Age of Crusades), and either Free Companies, French, or German (Age of Chivalry). I'm also planning to take advantage of the flexibility of Greathelm and use a bunch of these models for that game as well.
There's a semi-local group that meets twice a month for SAGA. I'm going to do my best to attend at least one session each month to get a game in. There's also AdeptiCon coming up in March and this will be my first year attending. I'm primarily going for my main game of Underworlds, but there are also some SAGA events I plan to check out. I've already roped one friend into promising to attend a SAGA demo with me, so that's a great start!
I'd also like to build a few boards for Greathelm -- at 8.5" x 11" that's a very reasonable size to turn into a weekend project. I have a few ideas in mind.
I'm abysmal at actually getting models painted, so we'll see how this pans out over the year. If I can get even one fully painted SAGA warband, I'll consider it a success.
VarianceHammer Eric
New Years resolutions, for me, always hit a degree of overcommitment, and every year I say I’m going to not do that, and then do it anyway. Let’s have another go at it anyway. The “main” project I have, realistically, is a SAGA Irish warband for Age of Vikings, and a planned board for a six-person SAGA mega-game that, when complete, should mean my club never needs another bit of Anglo-Saxon terrain. Ever. It combines a bunch of my interests in terrain building: 3d printing, water effects, the balance between realism and gameplay, and how to build spectacular looking boards in ways that don’t involve me having a 2,000 sq. foot basement to keep them in.
After that? Well, I have a rather large pile of Victrix Persians staring me down, along with a British Airborne army for Chain of Command and/or Bolt Action, and some work in progress stuff that I’d like to push through to be done. How far down that list we get…remains to be seen.
So many Persians...
HardyRoach
Almost all wargaming ended up taking a backseat for most of 2025, and I'd love to change that this year. If I can find any goddamn time, that is, as my other projects get more and more out of control. Alas.
SAGA Irish. Credit: HardyRoach
First step is to do some catching up on existing projects, starting with finishing my Irish Saga band (and hopefully use it at an event!) Next is finishing my Senegalese Tirailleurs for Chain of Command, and then perhaps some Silver Bayonet.
Senegalese Tirailleurs. Credit: HardyRoach
Once I've got a good few projects done, maybe I'll have earned a singular new one. Probably another Saga band, either a classical period band or Age of Chivalry, but a small scale project would be a nice change of pace - and I do have a whole load of 12mm WW2 Americans sitting around.
A load of 12mm Americans for WW2. Credit: HardyRoach
There's a few smaller things that'd be nice to fit in somewhere. Possibly 0200 Hours if I can get a demo game first, and definitely a handful of lads for What A Cowboy…maybe Greathelm too…
Y'know, they really need to stop making cool historical games for just a little bit. We've never been more spoiled!
Acetronomer
2025 was the year I whole-heartedly jumped into historicals, trying out a bunch of new systems and beginning a whole lot of new armies and projects. I don’t think I built, painted, or even bought a non-historicals mini all year. However, while I started a lot of projects, I haven’t finished any of them, and in 2026 I want that to change. Last year, I started a Bolt Action/Chain of Command British force, a Scottish warband themed around Macbeth for SAGA, and two different forces for Konflikt ‘47, not counting all the models I built, kitbashed, and painted without any immediate use in mind. Plus, I still have my Indian National Army project that‘s been in the works for years (with admittedly very little progress).
Konflict 47 light Mech. Credit: Lenoon
This year, I want to have at least two complete historicals armies (likely my Bolt Action British and Konflikt ‘47 United States forces, but I’m not sure yet), and I want to find some events to use them at. I used to attend a lot of narrative events for Horus Heresy, but I slowly stopped attending in 2025, and I haven’t played Heresy at all since the new edition came out. While I’ve lost interest in Heresy as a system, I do miss the opportunity to meet new people with similar interests, so I really want to attend some historical events this year to fill that gap.
If I find the time, I’d also like to try and flex some more of my game design muscles this year and maybe try writing a Pint-sized Campaign for Chain of Command, or even try designing my own historical wargaming ruleset. That might be a bit ambitious given the other stuff I want to do this year (and my own track record when it comes to setting goals), so I think I might save that for 2027.
The Year Ahead
What do you have going on for you in 2026? What events are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments - it may just be something we're going to cover soon!
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