First Game Of The New Year . (Parte One)

This coming year I'm going to try to play more games with the various armies I've got painted/finished in 2017 . The first will be a TYW game using my plastic 1/72nd figures , the rules will be 'Pike & Shotte' . An apology for the poor picture quality , the overhead bulb has packed in and it's replacement is one of these energy saving eco-bulbs and is s***e !  , I've photo shopped the photos to help with the visibility - but with mixed results ! . The scenario is that the Protestant force is to hold the ford to allow it's baggage train to escape , the Imperialist's are coming on the other table edge attacking in two forces divided by the stream and marshy ground .

The newly finished Protestant  'White' Regiment  - so they should fight well in their first battle (sic).

The 'Red Regiment - with a piece of polystyrene in shot - damn ! 

The first Catholic Tercio moves onto the table , in the distance the other force moves down the road to attack the ford from the other flank . 

That route is being held by the Protestant 'Blue' Regiment . So my New Year resolution are - NO new periods - finish off my existing projects and play games with the figures I already have - noble sentiments - I hope I can carry them out ! .

Wargaming Humour No. 23

Been picking up pebbles by the river.

A Merry Christmas To All !

A Merry Christmas to all in 'Blogger' land .

Wargaming Thoughts For 2018

The Author at his gaming table immersing himself in the period . 

It has come to that time of year when I make a fool of myself by predicting what I will accomplish in the coming year and look at what I didn't get done in the last ! . I'm rather pleased with myself as I think I've only started one new project (?) my 'Test Of Honour' Samurai game - which I'm still enjoying as it gives quick exciting games with perhaps more to do with the Japanese cinema than history - but that's what drew me to them in the first place . I've got my TYW armies more or less finished and got more of my plastic 20mm Crimean War done . I hope to get more of these painted next year as well as finishing off my 10mm AWI project and the Austrians for 1860's Italy are almost finished.   I've got quite a lot of metal to melt down so the odd 40mm Prince August homecast  may be on the cards . I plan to play more 'Old School' using the various armies I already have done , also some Colonial gaming using TSATF . It will be interesting to see how much of this comes to pass when I look back in another years time ! .

A Seasonal Find.

I found this whilst looking through my old defunct blog and thought it ideal for the season.

Progress With Test Of Honour.

First an apology for the poor photo , the bulb in my light in the wargaming room has died and the only one on hand is of lesser 'wattage' and a large amount of Photoshop was needed to salvage this photo . I've been busy in the background painting more Samurai figures and terrain for my 'Test Of Honour' project - here we see a game set up ready for playing. 

One of the more fun figures I have been painting is Banzuiin Chobei a sort of 'Robin Hood' character in Japanese history - a hero for the common man . Rumours that I modelled for this figures are wrong ! , but he is quite a chap both in history and on the tabletop ! .

Here is a rather bloody wood print on his death , ambushed in a bath house he slew many of his attackers who had to set fire to the building to finally dispatch him .

Taking To The Air.

Whilst tidying my wargaming room I came across a plastic 1/48th scale(?) aeroplane kit , I think it's a Curtis 'Jenny' biplane , there were no instructions with it !? . I remembered I had got it to go with my 'Back Of Beyond' project and wanted a non descript two-seater that would do for any of the participants - hence no markings on it . In my distant youth I had been a quite a fan of constructing plastic WW1 aircraft kits so I thought I would glue it together . Hmm ! the years have not been kind to my aircraft building skills and it was a bit of a struggle (in fact it nearly ended up in the bin!) but I persevered and even stretched some sprue (over a candle - Ah ! that brings back memories - mainly of burnt finger ends !) to complete the rigging . Here we see the finished product with a couple of 28mm 'Copplestone' pilot figures ready for take off ! 

Wargaming Amnesia Part 2

Continuing with my cleaning up of the wargaming room I have come across the above box of 40mm-ish figures by Peipp Miniatures , they are I think the 'Techn Truppen'  box as they seem to have a Sulteress  (? is that a word ?) , Surgeon etc and I can't remember ordering them - they must have come from EBay or abroad I think and were I assume destined for my 40mm SYW project . They are rather nice figures and I must get them painted up and get them on the table . (click on photo to enlarge for a better look)

1897 Grenadier Guards.

Got some more figures painted for 'A's 1897  project , more units of British and German Infantry and these rather nice Guardsmen , which are to be a company of the Grenadier Guards .  'A' has dropped a further batch of figures off so that will keep me busy for the rest of this year . 

Aar M' Hearties !

In between painting 'A's 1897 figures I have been doing some of the Pirates I found as light relief . Here we see a selection of the scoundrels . The figures are Warrior 25mm figures .

More of the 'baddies L-R ' 'Black Dog' and 'Blind Pew' .

Some of the 'goodies' ,L-R  Squire Trelawney , Doctor Livesey and Captain Smollett .

More heroes , Ben Gunn and Jim Hawkins - "Aar Jim lad !" , worth painting these up for the pirate talk ! . A 'one legged Sea Cook' to follow with more scurvy dogs ! Aar ! .

Lead Mountain Lessened ! .

Been having a clear out under the wargaming table and gathered all the unwanted lead into a box , plus my wargaming colleague 'B' is moving house and is having a clear out so he has brought me a bag of cast off figures as well for melting down for  Home Casting  .  He also has given me a huge pile of old wargaming rules to look through and then get rid of . I'm afraid I don't want them but if anybody wants a copy of these more noted rules -  

'To The Sound Of The Guns' , 'Tercio' , ' Rapid Fire' ,' WRG  Ancients Army Books 1-3' - please contact me on -  mossdocking@hotmail.com and you can have them free .

1897 The Infantry.

Been rattling through the infantry units, got two of the German units done and the General figure varnished .

The German infantry are from their Franco-Prussian War range , simple but nice figures .

The first unit of British infantry , the British Line Infantry Regts. had generic white facings at this time . 

Think they have come out quite well and they are my favourite figures so far . Got some British Guard and artillery to do next.

Wargaming Amnesia ? .

Was having a 'Spring' clean under the wargaming table , getting rid of a load of unwanted rubbish - a lot of sample figures destined for re-casting , damaged home made buildings etc - when I came across this box ! . I have no recollection of buying it (pirates being of no interest to me) ?.

It contains 20 figures , a couple of treasure chests , a small palm tree , a set of simple rules and even a D6 . The bag headings say 'Over The Wire Miniatures' ??? , I did a bit of Googling and found that they are a selection of boxed games produced by 'Warrior Miniatures' , but when and where I came into possession of them is a mystery to me ? . I wonder if a wargaming colleague has passed them down to me ? - a puzzlement ! .

Here is one of the figures - Long John Silver (with separate parrot !) There are the named characters from the novel 'Treasure Island' and a selection of generic pirates . I'm rather impressed with figures , full of character , so I may paint them up as small project and give the enclosed rules a go . 

1897 The First Clash .

The other evening 'A' called round to play a game using his newly painted 1897 figures . I took the Germans and he the British , the scenario was to capture the crossroads - simple - but we wished to try out the 'stats' he has worked out for 'Black Powder' rules. Here we see the German Naval troops advancing quickly towards the crossroads and the Uhlans reach the objective . Sadly the Naval Brigade did very little else in the game to help and the Uhlans got shelled by the R.H.A. and although seeing off the British Cavalry failed a morale test and fled .

The Jeagers march down a country lane , their mounted Commander went into action with an unfinished base and no coat of varnish .

The R.H.A. deployed early in the game and did severe damage to the German cavalry and the Naval Brigade .

The Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry were driven back by the Uhlans but rallied to late to influence the battle .

The main British force move up rather slowly due to poor generalmanship by the High Command .

The Jeager's advance is halted by the British Rifles and the Volunteers move very slowly into position to flank them . The Germans at this point started to loose the battle by failing several important Command rolls and were unable to capitalise on their early successes .

The Jeagers are caught in a deadly cross-fire and fail their morale - at this point I decided to concede the game , a victory for the British ! . A good game and 'A' has taken copious notes to refine a play sheet for this period.

Interesting You Tube Video

Just been watching the above very informative 'You Tube ' video about taking photographs of your models using the camera on your mobile phone - my own modest effort above.

1897 High Command.

'A' is planning an inaugural game with the figures I have painted up so far, so I thought I had better get some more Staff figures finished . Here we see the British High Command base and a mounted Brigadier , again Irregular Figures .

To oppose them I did this German Commander in Chief and Aide . The problem is that Irregular only do one German General - the chap with the impressive beard - so I had to cut the beard off (carefully !) and file the Aide to produce a different looking figure . They will be appearing soon commanding their armies on the tabletop .

Au Naturale .

Some time ago I came across a website that featured photos of figures take in natural surroundings , they looked brilliant and the whole idea was very cleverly done and I was very impressed by them . The trouble is I can't remember what the site was called and I've tried various Google searches without result , very annoying indeed ! . However I thought I should give it a go - here we see Herne the Hunter and companion .

Elven Lord Gildas and his guards (not sure I like the frames I've added ?) . I have learnt a couple of things trying this out - It's a LOT  harder than it looks (getting the lighting right and lots of messing about with various 'photoshop' programs) and DON'T take a dog on the shoots - he kept trying to run off with the figures as soon as I picked up the camera ! . (click on photos to enlarge) 

1897 , The Cavalry .

Been doing some more of 'A's Victorian project and have painted up some British cavalry . They are a local unit, a Squadron of  the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry .

They are of course 28mm Irregular Miniatures from their 'Home Service' range.

To oppose them we have a unit of German Uhlans , the 2nd Pomeranian Regt. No. 9 

Here we see them on manoeuvres with some Jaegers , I  hope to have got enough painted for a small game next week when 'A' calls around .

Nearly Run Out Of Figures ! .

Been sorting out my 'corner of shame' under the wargaming table and came across the remaining Thirty Years War figures - and was somewhat taken aback to find that I had almost used up the figures I had amassed ! . Well there are three boxes left - twelve Dragoons , a Scottish Mercenary Regiment and a box of mortars and a waggon .

Oh ! and a box of bits and pieces on sprue ,mainly another couple of guns and crew  . I'm rather pleased with myself how well this project has gone , I've been on with it for about a year or so and have enjoyed the challenge of only using plastic figures with all the pluses and minuses involved with these figures . They take quite a lot of preparation to get them ready (especially the cavalry) , but they paint up well and look good on the table with a character all of their own .

Think I might tackle this waggon and team next , it get rather a slating on the Plastic Soldier site and it could be a bit of a swine to put together but I need some baggage for my armies so will report back on how it goes .

Close Wars , The Battle .

The British main force moves onto the table .

The Frontiersmen cover the flanks .

The first casualty ! .

The Rangers take cover .

The Light Infantry take the high ground .

The Indians are alerted and move onto the table .

The French Militia hold up the British advance .

The Regulars deploy and fire a devastating volley ! .

The position is overrun and the British push on .

The Indians sneak up on some  of the isolated British .

The French Infantry arrive but it's to late , sad to say at this point as the battle hotted up I got carried away and forgot to take photos . The British caused 50% casualties on the French before the bulk of the reinforcements arrived and so won the game being able to exit the table without any serious interference . A good quick game with just a few figures on a small table .