Real life continues - with some progress.

 

I have been debating what to do with the reclaimed hen run and am leaning towards low maintenance. With this in mind having a lot of old bricks and a lot of stones which you find as soon as you dig into the soil I have decided to brick and cobble the area with spaces for plants - I am going for the 'Rustic' look and rather making it up as I go along . My neighbour, a man who used a laser level to put his fence and patio in wore a frown whilst looking at my handy work , I am employing what my father referred to as the "rack of the eye" !

Of course no DIY project is complete without the odd flesh wound !- not as bad as it looks - my wife enquired why I wasn't wearing gloves ?

Talking of Mrs K she has been busy renovating the garden seat (something I have been meaning to do over the last 15 years) The dog has to supervise by lying in the hottest place in the garden rather than the shade.

Just to reclaim this blog back to Toy Soldiers - here we see a patrol of Nuevo Ricocian Infantry on the look out for smugglers.

The figures are a few extra 28mm Copplestone Miniatures I have painted up for my Nacho Wars project.

 

The Action at Cidade Ferroviaria.

 

I decided to play the game when 'S' came around for our regular Friday gaming session. 'S' took the forces of Nuevo Rico and I the defenders . The Nuevo Riccion forces motored down the road towards the railway .

The Armoured Car was hit by rifle fire and driven off and also the leading truck was damaged forcing the infantry to debus .

On the right the Republican HMG had to redeploy to counter a flanking movement - the token donates that the unit has activated ( a suitable S. American postal stamp)

The Workers are outshot by the Regulars and driven back as the enemy capture the barricades and one end of the village.

At this point as the action grew hot I forgot to take photos ! , the Militia tried to do a flanking attack on the enemy but where driven off by well placed artillery fire and fled back across the Montanha de Ouro - the Llama donates that they are disordered and in flight. .

Another unit of 'La Cigarros' try to recapture the village but again were out gunned by the regulars (Regulars count as being open order but the Workers or the Militia due to there lack of training cannot) , at this point the forces of the Republic decided to retire having suffered heavy casualties . A good game with the adaptions to the rules seemed to work well . What will happen now ?! to be continued ..........

 

  

Nuevo Rico Invades !

 

The scene of the action, the town of Cidade Ferroviaria which sits on the important railway line which runs along the border between Nuevo Rico and the Republic of Cocos . The road runs from Nuevo Rico on the left and the Republic on the right .

The Iron Road stretches into the mountainous distance .

Intelligence has alerted the town that a mechanised force from Nuevo Rico is moving rapidly down the road to capture the village and sever the railway line and the workers have armed themselves ready to repel the invaders.

The workers block the road and fortify the houses .

A flanking force occupies the wood and await in ambush .

The only Republican force is a HMG which has been set up in a commanding position on the Montanha de Ouro to cover the railway junction. The Commander has sent a message to bring the local Militia (La Cigarros) to aid them 

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A return to Nacho Wars .

 

The engagement in the Vale do Tedio (part2)

 

The action was hotting up as the Republican Militia moved to engage the enemy threatening the mine.

The workers beat of all attacks on the Convent and only take a few casualties due to it's stout walls.

Then the game comes to an end - I usually play till 6 jokers have been drawn and the last two appeared in quick succession and night falls !

'and as the suns sinks slowly in the west' - things were looking a bit bleak anyway for the Nuevo Riccan forces, the Police had suffered heavy casualties trying to take the convent and on the last move the Regulars tried to attack the workers in the Mine and failed their moral test and fled ! - so a victory for the Republican Workers ! . The Neuvo Riccan forces had bad luck and never really got going and the game ending rather abruptly was maybe a blessing for them preventing further embarrassment . An interesting game and it was good to get the figures on the tabletop again .

The engagement in the Vale do Tedio (part1)

 

The game started with a bit of luck for the Republic , the reinforcements diced well and sped down the road towards the Convent.

On the other flank a column of Neuvo Riccan Regulars appear, having had to abandon their transport due to the bridge being destroyed by the rebel workers .

The Police force was delayed due to a breakdown in transport (I roll 2 dice before moving them on a double the truck doesn't move) . The first unit debuses and moves towards the enemy.

And shortly afterwards - run away having taken heavy casualties (the postage stamp markes that they have activated and the Llama means they are disordered)

On the other flank the Regulars deploy and bring up their HMG to attack the mine workings . Part 2 to follow soon .......

The Return to 'Nacho Wars' , The Workers are revolting !.

It's been a while since I explored the history and battles in the bitter struggle between Neuvo Rico and the Republic de la Coccos .

A recent find of high grade Gold in the once backwater of Vale do Tedio has sparked sudden interest in both Nations 

The worker of the Mina de Ouro have sided with the Republic and seized control of the mine and the Convent on the main route into the valley.and await reinforcements. 

Help is on the way in the form of the local Militia 'la cigarros' 

However the Government of Neuvo Rico has it's eyes on the prize as well and have dispatched a 'Flying Column' of the Policia do Estado to take control of the mine and deal with the workers ! . More to follow ...........

 

The Workers are revolting.

Got my latest batch of Copplestone figures painted , they are two units of Workers Militia here seen being lead by their Shop Steward.

These figures are generic and can be used by both sides in the conflict . They are seen in my new scenery bases MDF cacti . I must get back into Nacho Wars as it's been a while since I've had a game.

 

Nacho Wars Dramatis Personae .

Although I've been busy painting other peoples figures I've managed to get these figures done for my Nacho Wars , the are Copplestone Miniatures in 28mm .

The Nursing Sister , reroll failed saving throw if she attends the wounded ?

The Spy and the Film Star (mistress/ lady of mystery)

The Pilot - is it Biggles ? , we know W.E. Johns wrote about his exploits in the Nacho Wars in 'Wings over the Andes' . Hopefully they will all be appearing on the tabletop soon.

 

The Republic de los Cocos Militia

One of the forces that make up the Republic's army is the militia, uniformed in cheap brown uniforms they are usually know by the nickname "la cigarros"- because of the tobacco coloured  clothing. They are only lightly armed without any heavy weapons and vary greatly in efficiency on the battlefield. Having got these finished I'm going to get them onto the table to take part in a game.

 

Reinforcements for Nacho Wars

 

Got my latest batch of 'Mark's Little Soldiers' from Copplestone Miniatures. Here we see a patrol of the Policia do Estado looking for chocolate smugglers in one of the narrow passes of the Salsa Mountains.

The Neuvo Rico police are dressed in blue uniforms with black leatherwork belts, they are only lightly armed with rifles and sub-machine guns. I haven't got much done this last week or so as I've been painting figures for other people and various 'real life' issues have got in the way, however I hope to get some more of these done and onto the table soon.

Air warfare over the Salsa Valley.

Nacho Wars goes into the realms of the air!  Here we see the Neuvo Rico air ace Wilheim Von Richthofen (the famous Red Baron's cousin) diving out of the clouds on an unsuspecting Republican plane.

I picked up a couple of diecast planes from Ebay, this Italian Ansaldo now sporting the roundels of the Republic del los Cocos. 

And this German Aviatik now with the Nuevo Rician markings. I scraped off the old stickers and photocopied new markings which were stuck onto the wings, I then cut off the propellers and added clear discs to represent the spinning props. 

I drilled a hole in the underside of the models for the stand, which is a bamboo skewer drilled into three MDF bases glued together suitably painted in a reverse ground perspective. 

The finished product, I wanted diecast planes for the 'toy soldier' look also durability, I don't think plastic kits will survive long in the rough and tumble of Nacho Wars.

Here is the Republican Ansaldo Fighter piloted by a chap called Bigglesworth. I've no rules worked out for air-ground or air-air combat yet, but they must be simple D6 ones. 

 

 

 

Wings over the Andes.

 

For the air war in my games, I resorted to my battered copy of the above book. There is little published on this subject but Johns book is very good. There were many problems with using aircraft in war, the lack of finance which resulted in old out of date planes, a lack of trained pilots and the habit of ground troops opening fire on any aircraft they saw. W.E. Johns comments " as we flew over the battlefield both sides stopped fighting each other and started shooting at us". This habit seemed to almost be encouraged by the Officers who often resorted to firing their pistols at them irreverent of which side the aircraft belonged to or the fact they were completely out of range.

A convoy of Republican troops speed down the Salsa Valley unaware they are being observed from the sky by a Neuvo Rician aircraft.

Having made his observations, the plane returns to the Neuvo Ricaian airfield to report to the awaiting High Command.