Have figures will travel.

 

My old wargaming colleague 'B' has been up visiting his relatives and brought with him his collection of 28mm German East Africa figures for a game set in 1916 (?) , we were joined by 'A' as well for a Sunday morning game .

'B' umpired as he knew the rules and I took the Germans and 'A' the British , the rules use a deck of cards which activate units and unfortunately 'A' had a run of cards which meant he could get his troops up and shooting before I could react !.

Of course par for the course I forgot to take photos as the action grew hot ! , these two units where shot to pieces  shortly after this photo and as 'A' had got his units into position my force was whittled down one unit at a time and so he won the game . Once we had got our heads around the rules the game progressed quite quickly and it was nice to be gaming with these two old friend , sadly a rare occasion nowadays. 

 

Somebody is watching us !?

 

A small combined patrol of Prussians Uhlans and Jaegers move through the countryside searching for signs of the enemy.

Although the find nothing they have the feeling they where being watched !

And they are ! .... the dreaded Franc tireurs !!!!! . Got some more figures painted and will be putting up more photos later in the week .

 

The Reluctant Gardener and a modeling project.

 

My wife was having a clean up of the outhouse and I was hovering around monitoring what she might throw away . She said "what are these bamboo skewers for?" - Oh for a modeling project ! I quickly retorted ! , having saved their life I thought I had better do something with them ! . A series of barricades I thought would do the trick , here we have the tools and the makings deployed in the hade - the dog has chosen the hottest bit of the garden to sit panting in !

The finish barriers , two large two small , of course I didn't use any measurements and with some trepidation I wondered if they would be in scale ! ? ...........

The finished products , the smaller two 

I gave them a wash of PVA glue then a couple of coats of paint and tarted the base up and they seem to match the 28mm Wofun quite well.

Getting a bit more work done on the garden , put a path in to the hen run and got my Victorian cast iron fencing erected which my wife has painted .

My neighbour who is our font of all gardening knowledge gave me a packet of 'Meadow Wildflowers' and suggested I mixed them into some dry sand and brush them into the brickwork - the results have been surprising ! , now to find out which are weeds and which 'Meadow Wildflowers' (there might be a crossover point between the two ?)

My wife wanted another post for a clothes line and so after about 50 years I finally got this cast iron sign post erected and painted in it's authentic colours . My father got it from somewhere (?) and it has had people tripping over it for years , it is very heavy and I needed to help put it up , it was cast in a local foundry which operated in Victorian times , so it must be about 100 years or more old . My other neighbour who has a extremally boring and correct garden I believe is aghast at it ! I think it is an interesting 'talking point' !

 

  

Next up the Artillery !

 

It has been busy few days and I've got the French artillery done , again Irregular Miniatures 28mm .

And the Prussian artillery as well .

I'm not totally sold on the idea of basing the guns , but without it the figures rather tower over them , so we will see how they look during gameplay . I've got the cavalry for both sides to do next which I fear will take a bit longer .....

Read the book - play the game!

 

 

Started reading Goldsworthy's "The Fall of Carthage " and thought I should play through the the battles using C&C Ancients , I have played most of the scenarios before but it will be interesting reading along . The first is The Battle of Akragas - 406 BC between the Carthagians under Himlico and the Syracusians commanded by the Tyrant Daphaeus , historically the Carthagians lost badly. I will be using the clever solo adaptation by "Stuka Jo" .

And we are back up and running !

 

There has been a temporary halt to blogging as I had to move the computer desk and disassemble the computer for repairs and household painting - but normal service has been renewed . I've got the first French infantry unit done and jolly nice they look - you can't beat red trousers !

Another problem was printing off a suitable flag for them - my printer went wonky in only the way printers can when you desperately want something printing , however having spent a couple of hours cursing it - it suddenly decided to print - it was probably my lack of knowledge of printers and not some evil spirit that inhabits them - but ........

I also got their first General done and here we see being served a drink by the regimental Vivandiere - this is a 'Willie' figure from Tradition , each unit will have it's own and will be able to roll a 'save' dice on any casualties suffered 

 

Reinforcements for #TDFTP.

 

Nearing the completion of my first couple of units for this project I sent off another order to Irregular Miniatures.  It arrived swiftly and I've been getting the figures ready for painting, here are a unit of Prussian Uhlans , I've got some French Hussars as well to glue up .

A French Artillery gun and crew , I'm uming and ahing about basing the gun as I find Irregular guns a bit small .

The Prussian artillery, when I get the French infantry varnished I will be cracking on with these .