AI meets Toy Soldiers

Messing about with AI , I took this photo several years and asked AI to reproduce it as a Victorian postcard .

Interesting how AI can get carried away with itself - by putting the stamp on the wrong side of the cards, probably to enhance the Victorian feel of them. I'm still in two minds on AI !?.......

....... I remember HAL in 2001 A Space Odessey !

 

A bit of varnishing .

 

One of the advantages of this spell of hot weather is that is ideal for varnishing toy soldiers. This is my latest batch - the last of the French Infantry (for now) , the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Legere and a French Cavalry General on a new 'dramatic' horse care of my wargaming collegue 'S' who is the proprietor Hinchliffe models and has kindly provided me with the General Staff . Some better photos to follow once they are dry.

Hand crafted Prussian Artillery .

 

I've had these cast up for a while (before the heat-wave) and as Prince August don't do any Prussin artillery and crews I have decided to convert the French ones. Luckily if you squint there is not much difference between the uniforms (well nothing a coat of paint won't cover up)and the guns are similar. I've added Shako covers to the hats and a greatcoat roll around the bodies to give them that 'Prussian' look. The guns cast up well this time without a lot of failures and cursing and any imperfections repaired using 'green stuff' , they are next on the painting list and I'll update when they are done.

'Kugelhagel' The Battle for the Bridge (Part 2 )

 

The French get lucky ! reinforcements are on the way ! (Hinchliffe General and a Minifigs Artillery Officer)

Tramp , tramp, tramp ! 2 Battalions of the 2nd Legere march to the rescue !

Just in time as the leading French Battalion breakes and flees , however the Prussian elation is short lived !. The victorious Prussian Battalion comes under Artillery fire and breaks as well - and even worse their CinC is killed trying to rally them ! (rolled a double 6 on his wound chart)

The reinforcement move up and engage the enemy - just in time as another French unit breaks under harassing fire from the Prussian Jaegers . The newly arrived French General used his 'Jokers' to move his units up and into position.

The Prussian Landwehr Lancers move around the open flank but the bridge is held by a French Battallion . Time is ticking and we are on move 5 out of 6 .

The Prussians force forward breaking the leading Battalion of the Legere, the other forms square to counter the threat of the enemy Cavalry and the French General plays his 'Joker' cards to evacuate the Artillery towards the bridge .

The ' Emporer's Daughters ' are safe across the bridge as the remaining 2 Battalions come under pressure from the Prussians .

End game ! the rather battered French have held the bridge for 6 moves and so win the scenario. I think the French being agressive early on bought them time and disorganised the Prussians , they were also lucky getting reinforcements so early and the crafty playing of 'Jokers' allowed the French to retire and get the guns away . An exciting game ! which could have gone either way . I think I'm getting my head around the rules, which plays quickly , there are a few quirky bits which had to scratch my head about , but I'm going to play some more games as they are ideal for solo play.

'Kugelhagel' The Battle for the Bridge (Part 1)

 

As this is the first battle using these rules I decided to keep it simple . The Prussians have to push aside the French and capture the bridge within 6 moves . French advance units in the centre , the Prussians coming down the road in the distance . 

The initial French force 3 Battalions of the 45th Ligne and a Battery of Artillery - reinforcement will arrive on a D6 dice roll .

The Prussians march onto the table they hane a Fusilier Batt. (count as Light Infantry) 2 Musketeer Battalions , 2 small units of Jaegers and a unit of Landwehr Lancers - both sides are more or less equal points with a slight advantage to the Prussians .

The French decide to take the battle to the enemy and advance the 1st. Battalion and open fire on the Prussian Fusileers who are disordered by the volleys from the French.

The Prussians draw this card and get to move a unit 3 times .I'm using an old deck of Skat cards - you only use 7,8,9,10 and Aces. 7,8 = 1 move activation - 9 = 2 activations 10, Ace = 3 activations .

Towards the end of the first turn , the white markers show how many times the unit has been activated (can be activated twice per move) . The forwards movement by the French has rather halted the Prussian advance forcing them to deploy early and holding up the arrival of the rest of the column.

The Prussians the Fusileer Battalion has deployed in open order to screen the column but has been disrupted by enemy fire, the Jaegers are deploying to the flanks and the Musketeer Battalions are starting to form assault columns.

The French get lucky and reinforcements will arrive next move , the Brigadier has 2 'Joker' cards which he can use to disrupt the order of play and activate a unit 3 times - very useful ! - Part 2 soon ! 

The way forward - 'Kugelhagel'

 

I've been 'umming and arrhing' which rules to use with my homecast Prince August 25mm Napoleonic collection . I bought this copy of 'Kugelhagel' * , the English translation of a German set of Horse & Muskets era rules - they are sort of  Black Powder with card activation - which I like as it is ideal for solo play ! .. They have taken some getting my head around as although simple D6 based the translation is a bit strange at times. Luckily there is an active Facebook group ((1) Facebook) where my questions have swiftly answered .

Have got a couple of more units done - here the 2nd Legere .

A Prussian Volunteer Jaeger unit - using that strange little figure I find quite cute ! 

The tabletop is set up ready for the game - a report from 'the Tabletop of Mars' coming soon ! 

*'Hail of Bullets' 

Back after a short pause for DIY duties

Back again having tiled the bathroom floor with those self-adhesive tiles - of the 24 tiles I laid only 4 (!) went down uncut, the rest having to be cut/trimmed in various ways !! . Nothing in the bathroom is parallel or square on - it must be about 20 years since it was last done and I'd forgotten the horror of it all ! . However I have been busy casting and painting - and varnishing ! , a Unit of Prussian Hussars - the 1st Regt. Life Hussars - the mould is actually meant to be a British Hussar - but a Hussars is a Hussar so I'm rather pleased with them.

Next a Battalion of Landwehr - these are the standard Prussian mould but I 'green stuffed' to make them into the longer coat worn by the Landwehr . The Prussian General is a rather nice Hinchliffe figure provided by 'S' the proprietor of all things Hinchliffe .

These are rather strange portly chaps from a mould I got off eBay - the are Prussian Jaegers , but Prince August don't do them now so I assume they are an old out of production model - odd chaps but I like them.

To counter these here are some French skirmishing .

French Light Infantry - the 1st Batt. 2nd Legere . Because I'm only using 12 figures per unit I'm cracking on getting them done and a simple 'toy soldier' paint job helps as does a gloss varnish to cover up all the mistakes.

The 2nd Batt. 45th Ligne overseen by another excellant Hinchliffe General, again cast up and provided by 'S' . Prince August don't do General moulds so Hinchliffe are the closest match . Time to set up a game and play with these figures on the 'Tabletop of Mars' .......

Peter Cushing - a Wargamer with Style !

 

Now that's painting figures with style ! - that's whats wrong with the hobby - a lack of dress sense !

Found these on the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook page . A different era sadly lost - but I wouldn't want to wear a tie to game !

Wargaming humour No. 36

Me when I walk into a Games Workshop store for some paint ! 

 

More from the Casting Pot .

 

Had another go at casting today , this time cavalry , a couple of moulds I got from Prince August in their recent sale . I find you get the best results from casting if you use two or three moulds at a time which gives them time to cool , you need them warm to get the best results - but not to hot - a sort of 'Goldilocks' moment .

This mornings sessions results - three Hussars and their mounts . They are described as 'British Hussars' but they are vauge enough to do as French and with a little tweak - Prussians .

One I did earlier - the French gun and crew painted up and newly glossed , working on casting the other gun and crew to make up the Battery - more photos of painted stuff on the way.

What's the plural for a group of moulds ? *

 

Prince August was doing a 3 for 2 sale on their 25mm Napoleonic moulds , so I had to pick up a few more that I needed ! . This afternoon I had a go at casting from the French Artillery moulds . The crew cast well as did the barrel and the carriage - however the wheels were a right pain ! . Casting spoked wheels in homecasting is notoriously difficult and it took me numerous attempts (and much bad language) to get the two I wanted .

The finished gun and crew ready for undercoating . I will be using these figures for the Prussians as well - with suitable conversions .

*sadly there doesn't seem to be one 

The earliest toy soldier !?

 

Found this on the Interweb, it's in the Walters Art Museum and is a bronze model of a knight about 800 years old and is assumed to be a toy - the measurments are 37mm x 43mm x 17mm so would mix with 28mm modern figures .

The lance is a modern extra , I think it is rather cute and reminds me of 15mm Peter Laing figures .

The Author as invisioned by AI

Messing about with AI , and as it sees me !?

 

Toy Soldiers in the sun .

 

One of the bi-products of my cleaning has been the finding of several Prince August 25mm moulds.

Also a prodigious amount of spare tin, either old sample figures, failed projects or figures gifted to me by my wargaming colleagues .

Put the two together and you get (yet) another wargaming project. The problem is you only need the advancing figure in the middle of the mould which has taken a bit of practise to get to work - note the extra vents cut in this mould to get it to cast correctly.

The God*of casting can be fickle, here we have a load of miss-casts which had to be melted down again. .Sometimes you have a good session casting other times not !

The end result , a Battalion of French Napoleonic Infantry .

A better photo. I'm not sure where this project is going but the figures will be from the Prince August moulds , a rather strange range from the Waterloo era but with quite a few missing figures - ie no Prussian Cavalry etc. , so there will have to be some conversions done . I'm looking forward to this project - I have the moulds (just noticed Prince August are doing a 3 for the price of 2 sale at the moment) , I have the tin and I like homecasting ! , so we will see where it goes !

*PS Prometheus maybe ?

It MUST be true - it's the result of an Opinion Poll !

 

I have long suspected this ! - and now it is proven by an Opinion Poll !

PS I have a very poor opinion of opinion polls - nobody I have ever know has taken part in one and a girl I knew in London used to supplement here earnings by going around asking people their opinions for various polling companies, said it was common practise to make things up to make sure you got your quota in .

'The Cleansing'

 

I've been busy tidying up the wargaming room - ("my husband's toy soldier room") as my wife refers to it ! , ' The Mother of all Cleaning' or 'The Cleansing' ! , think I have got rid of 50% of my rules and rules paraphernalia - the hard back stuff has gone to a charity shop the others to recycling - some I have kept for sentimental reasons but I have only kept the rules I regularly play with . My C&C board games are also much more accessible now ,

The far side of the table is now accessible without breaking your neck - more tidying is due on this side as well.

Then I braved 'under the table' !!! the boxes will be restacked and labled so the ones I use regularly can be found easily - again a lot of stuff has been got rid off - mainly damaged scenery items not worth repairing.

Got some new box files to help the storage situation.

And even had time to set up a game ready for 'S' calling round tonight - a battle report will be forthcoming soon.