Roger asked about this on a different thread, so I thought I'd redirect here.
LAFAYETTE definitely won't get done this year. I wouldn't say it's on a back-burner; but it's not my "current" project. Given the way that games change in playtesting (dramatically!), it's probably way too early to say much about that concept, but here's a sort of general outline of what I'm thinking:
I see the HONOUR series as being ultimately about six or seven books, each one tackling a horse-n-musket period at a particular scale. They'd all share some basic concepts, the same basing system, and of course the same presentation, but each would be a unique thing. And each would have its "gimmick." Lasalle was the first game in the series. Its period is Napoleonic, its scale is petit-tactical, and its gimmick is: the army builder/tournament thingy. It's the first truly pick-up / tournament-friendly / short-play Napoleonic game.
The "gimmick" I envision for Lafayette - at this very early date!! - is a sort of role-playing component. Your "character" would be a young officer in one of six possible positions: Continental, State Militia, British Regulars, Tories, Germans, or French. The game scale would probably be very similar to Lasalle, or perhaps even a bit smaller, so you'd serve with a particular unit, and then if your side did well, you'd get "experience" and promotions, until ultimately you command a little "army" of say, 4000-5000 men. Along the way, if you survive, you'd be building a kind of narrative story around your character, and garnering various benefits, favors from your government, titles, and so on. For the French and British players, I can imagine their missions extending to the Caribbean, perhaps even including Spanish forces. It will be held together by a sort of campaign system - but not the usual God's-Eye-View campaign rules... rather a campaign from the point of view of your character, with events like: needing to buy a new horse, or getting into a duel with a rival, dealing with an Indian ambush, or whatever.
More experienced players can play against newbies... and probably thrash the newbie, but the Newb can then get a lot of experience from surviving that encounter, and can advance more quickly, himself.
As for STONEWALL, this will be a more traditional "Big Battles" grand-tactical game. I'm looking very hard at linking all the "Big Battles" books in the series to a single common campaign system, that I'll probably call... Wait for It... HONOUR CAMPAIGNS. (yawn.) This is the card-based gizmo that I mentioned for Blücher last month. The idea is to create a truly "paperless campaign" that can be saved, or frozen, just by stacking the cards in careful order and putting a rubber band around them. Then you can resume the campaign whenever and wherever you want, just by unpacking the cards again.
One of the things that's really kicking my ass in the design of Blücher is the need to do these two systems simultaneously, so that they're perfectly flush. Because I want to release the book with at least a couple of "Campaign Packs" ready to go, for those who are interested. Then subsequent Campaign Packs will be relatively easy to roll out later.
The other thing that's taking me a long time is my desire to make sure that whatever Big-Battles system I use is going to be compatible with the others. Hence, I've even been looking at the alternative of a non-chronological Big Battles system that would cover the whole 1700-1870 era, and thus roll the ACW and Napoleonics into the same basic structure. The "period flavor" would be brought out in different unit types, rules, and of course different card decks.
So I'm a bit behind schedule on Blücher, but no worries. You guys know that I always get the job done in the end.
best,
Sam