Lincoln Logge and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show .

 

I've been doing a bit more digging into the career of (Col.) Lincoln Logge and came across the above poster from the collection of the University of Felpersham (Borsetshire). Interestingly Logge is titled as Major Logge !? - evidently Buffalo Bill didn't like the idea of two Colonels in his show ( Although both mens military rank are rather questionable) .

Here we see Logge and Buffalo Bill posing for a premotional photograph ,The photographer is Mathew Brady Junior who did a lot of work for Buffalo Bill Cody - and failed to get paid for a lot of it ! . Logge only did one season with the Wild West Show as he fell out with Cody , Lincoln Logge was a teetotaler and unfortunatly Buffalo Bill like a drink or two (or three-four...) so they parted company somewhat acrimoniously ! 

What's going on ! ?

 

I started these 40mm Prince August French SYW-ish figures about six month ago .: Starting painting my 40mm SYW-ish . (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com) and they got put into a cupboard and somewhat forgotten . Having a clear out looking for something else I came across them and decided I must get them finished . They are the Volonttaires Estranger a unit of French Light Infantry. 

In the same tray I found this 54mm Blacksmith figure and anvil - for the life in me I can't remember where he came from !? - eBay ? , think he might be a hollowcast Britains as the anvil has Britains stamped on it , hmm do I repaint him ? - will have to think about that.

Border Clash , the finale .

 

The Treborians start to counterattack moving their Dragoons up towards the damaged enemy infantry.

Whilst this was happening the other Rochaian infantry where wandering about the hills, I think the plan was a flank attack but a combination of poor movement dice and card draws - it didn't happen !

Finally thet realise they better change the plan and go and help their comrades down the valley.

The Alicia Dragoons charge the remnants of the Rochain infantry .

The combat was very one side and they polished of the enemy in short time !. To make things worse the ajoining Reserve infantry recieved a devistating volley and even though Major Velkro tried to rally them they retreated to the flank of their comrades.

The Treborian artillery changes it's target and opens fire on the enemy on the conical hill. Mark Twain recorded in his memoirs "I was invited by the by the Battery Commander to fire the gun ! - it was very exhilarating and I saw my shot explode into the enemy ranks !"

Then it was time to draw a chance card ! - Mark Twain records "whilst serving with the battery we smelt smoke ! and on looking round we where alarmed to see smoke pouring from the house I had hired !"- in his hurry to see all the excitement he had left his breakfast cooking - which set fire to the kitchen ! - in the insurance claim it was claimed "fire caused by enemy action" 

I then promptly drew ANOTHER chance card due to another Joker being drawn !

This however didn't stop the artillery zeroing in on the wandering Rochain infantry , things were not looking good for the Ferraro Rochain force as casualties mounted.

The game draws to a close , The Soldatii de Futuna continue to fail their morale tests and fall back towards the shelter of the woods , leaving only one unit standing in the way of the Treborian forces. Over on the left flank now the conical hill had been vacated by the enemy the British Legione start to accend it it's slopes again to recapture it.

With over half of their force casualties the Ferraro Rochain General signals a retreat . Another great game - the Ferraro Rochain were a bit unlucky when they couldn't build on their initial success and a series of good card draws gave the Treborians the upper hand and their artillery caused heavy casualties on the enemy infantry . And so we leave the scene of the conflict as the smoke from Mark Twains holiday villa drifts lazily across the stricken field .....

The Treborian British Legione - an aside .

 The origins of the British Legione (Britanska legija) , an aside after their recent tabletop behaviour 

Thursday, 21 April 2011

The British Legione

British Legione inspected by Archduke Albert

The Treborian High Command has decided to raise a Auxiliary force to help fight Ferraro Rocca . They have recruited a Legion of British ex servicemen . Unfortunately the quality of some of the recruits lack some of the more soldiery qualities , the Quartermasters department got a good deal on some ex British uniforms - sadly these are somewhat out of date (about 50 years) (no wonder they were cheap !). It remains to see how these brave chaps will fare against the enemy . The Archduke Albert was overheard to comment 'I hope they frighten the enemy - because they certainly  perturb me !' .

And now back to the battle ...........

Border Clash (part one)

The British Legione struggle uphill to crown the heights , the token denotes they have become disordered .

As the Rocherian infantry advance quickly but come under devistating artillery from the Treborian 'Quick Fire Artillery' , due to some lucky card drawing the Rocherian column suffered three turns of artillery fire and being in a march column didn't save any of the hits , but suprisingly past their morale test.

An overview of the action , the British Legion and the Soldatii de Futuna confront each other on the conical hill on the left and the advanced unit of the Rocharians are under artillery fire in the centre.

The Soldatii de Futuna race up the hill and fire into the British Legione who are catching their breath and deploying into line .

Startled by the fury of the attack the British Legione fail their morale test and fall back - they roll a double 6 and retire 12" !!! - Oh dear ! , a further instalment to come soon ........

 

 

A Border clash between Treboria and Ferraro Rocher.

 

So I've cleaned off the accumulated rubbish which has gathered on the tabletop and thought - "what shall I do next?" - there where many canditates, but I decided on my 40mm Imaginations which have not been on the table for a while .It will be a border clash between the forces of Treboria and Ferraro Rocher .

We are luck to have the first hand witness account from Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) who was spending a quiet holiday in a local cottage . He we see him looking on as the Treborian General Staff survey the battlefield. 

Mark Twain wrote " I was awoken early and looking out of my bedroom window I saw a Artillery piece unlimbering on the road below my cottage" . He wrote a short piece about this incident for 'Harpers Weekly' , but I have not been able to track this down yet.

Some of the Treborian forces patroling the Great Border Road , Reservists being lead by the famous British Legione 

The Ferraro Rocherian forces move forward to capture the important road and cut the lines of  communications for Treboria.. Nearest the camera two units of Regulars , then two units of Reserve Infantry in column .

The Ace up the Rocherian sleeve - a unit of the new ' Soldatii de Furtuna' , who are armed with the experimental 'Grenade ale mortii' , they are lead by the infamous Colonel Velkro ! . A battle report to follow .....

Fighting with an addiction .

 

There has been not much "proper" wargaming over the last couple of weeks as I have been playing a series of games using various C&C boxed board games . Now I'm not by nature a boardgamer - I once lost the entire Army of North Virginia whilst playing a Gettysburg game against my wargaming colleague 'B' , but I am a great fan of the Command & Colours system which uses blocks instead of little card chits (SO less fiddly with my chunky fingers) . The problem (?) is once you have a game set up it is so easy to just set up the next scenario and play it . There is also a very good solo system which helps the games move on quickly .Sadly the games are not very photogenic from a blogging point of view - back to figure gaming in the near future .

Pimping my Artillery .

 

There was a posting on the Wofun Facebook group about adding 3D barrels to the Wofun MDF artillery which are avaiable from www.cornwallmodelboats.co.who do various gun barrels for model ship models . Here we see the original madel and one of the new metal barrels.

I carefully removed the old barrels and glued into place the new ones . 

A comparison shot between the old and the new ones . I think they look much better , I was impressed that the barrels which seem to be made of a brass coloured metal where only about 80p each and may consider replacing more of my artillery barrels with them.

Wargaming on the Silver Screen .

 

I came across this photo on the interweb , it's of Edward Woodward who played the role of Callan in the TV series who seems to be firing a Britains cannon , the figures are 54mm (?) , I've not seen it before but I assume it's from the TV series ?

Work in Progress.

 

Slowly getting back to normal after our holidays , not much gaming going on as the garden has turned into a jungle in our absence and there are other small but annoying tasks about the home to do . Have started on the above wagon for my Lion Rampant WOTR's project. It is from the Perrys , very nice but being metal very fiddly to put together , luckily the canvas canopy is made from resin so it cuts the weight down a bit . I drilled through the MDF base and into the bottom of the wagon and inserted and glued a long pin to help fix it to the base securely (hopefully) . Got the wagon and horses painted but need to finish off the bases and paint the foot figure. It's main role in the games will be as a objective marker for either side to defend / capture, I'm NOT going to do all the complecated traces etc from the wagon to the horses as this will be used in the rough and tumble on the tabletop. I've just noticed I've put the horse bases in the wrong order for the picture the ridden horse goes nearest the wagon . Hopefully I will get this model finished and onto the tabletop for a game this week.

Intermission

Not much done on the wargaming/painting front as we've been away for a weeks holiday to Anglesey .

The weather was cold and blustery - but we didn't get wet ! , a windswept Mr K dressed for the season .

The scenery around the coast is always spectacular .

Mr and Mrs Walker made a breif apperance - the howling wind was whipping up the sand whilst taking this shot , so it was their only photo of the holiday I'm afraid. Normal service will resume soon........

 

Riders of the Purple Sage *

We have been on holiday to Anglesy and whilst visiting Holyhead my wife popped into a Charity shop (I waited outside with a whinning dog - who hates us not being together whilst we are on holiday) , when she came out she said "there are some of your 'little men' in there"(as she persists in calling my miniature figurines - toy soldiers). So handing her the dog lead I went inside and found some 54mm figures of various sorts ! , I chose these three because they are unusual - first up Buffalo Bill ! 

Wild Bill Hickok , perhaps not as good a portrayal as Buffalo Bill maybe.

Bronco Billy Anderson - not heard of him , but he was an early cinema star of  Western films . I've just cleaned them up and glued their arms in place and am looking forward to painting them as they are a very different than the 28mm plastic I have been painting of late. .Finding things in Charity shops is a matter of luck and having a wife that can spot 'little men' ! 

*1912 Western novel by Zane Grey.

 

The final batch - odds and sods.

 

Some of the Perrys Men at Arms with the odd Mercenary body thrown in .

Archers for Richard Duke of York's retinue - sadly this close uop photo rather shows up some of the mold lines I failed to see whilst painting them up .

Richard Duke of York (father of Richard III) , the splendid flag is provided in the Perry box . Time to get these figures onto the tabletop ...........

Toy soldiers in art No.16

 

I found this postcard on the internet, it shows a small French boy dressed as a Turco (?) with a selection of toy soldiers and a cannon , interestingly it also has the reverse side with the message , it was posted on the 6th December 1914 - unfortunately my French is of the 'Del Boy*' variety so I can't translate it .

*Only Fools and Horses - BBC sitcom character.

Personalities for The Cousin's War .

 

Warwick - 'The Kinge Maker' , these are a mixture the Mercenary sprue and the Men at Arms sprue.

John Clifford 9th Lord of Skipton .(Butcher Clifford)

The murder of Rutland by Lord Clifford at Wakefield - think Clifford may have been a victim of Tudor 'Black Propoganda' - it is thought that the Earl Rutland was killed in the battle.

Toy soldiers in art No. 15

 

Found this illustration in a book I'm reading , it's by Gioacchino Toma and portays Piccoli Patrioti (patriotic children) and was painted in1862 . The children are obviously fans of Garibaldi as they are firing on what seems to be a Papal flag and there is a print of Garibaldi on the wall behind them . The kneeing lad seems to be firing a cannon ! - I wonder how many accidents were caused by the use of real gunpowder ? . It's hard to make out what type of toy soldiers are being used.

Another one I found , no toy soldiers but the yoiung patriots are gazing at portraits of Garibaldi and I think Victor Emmanuel II - by the same artist ?