A New Book .

I don't normally do book reviews but I think I must draw attention to this book , there is not much on the Thirty Years War in English , there are a couple of general histories of the war but not much on the details how the battles were fought or how armies operated . So I was overjoyed with this book , it's a period of the war I based my armies on and packed full of information including an orbat of the battle , details of captured flags and how the terrain affected the battle . 10 out of 10 .

The First Game Of The Year (Parte Twoe)

I had a go messing about with 'photo-shop' adding smoke to some of these pictures - with varied success . Here we see the Catholic Tercio advancing on the Protestant 'Red' regt. 

The Catholic Tercio's come under fire , they moved forward quickly but became disrupted by the fire from the enemy .

The Catholic pike block charges the right 'sleeve' of shote and routs it , the red markers are to record casualties .

Having driven off the'White' Regt. they turn their attention on the remaining Protestant unit causing heavy losses on the left 'sleeve' of shote and driving it off - things are not looking good for the Protestant army.

The remaining components of the Protestants flee leaving the route to the ford  open to the Catholic forces . On the other flank very little happened, the Catholic Tercio moving up the road did so very slowly and took ages to deploy , the Protestant 'Blue' Regt. showed no enthusiasm in attacking it and just sat there watching .

The victorious Catholic Commander . A rather quirky game with nothing happening on the Protestant right and although the left wing caused heavy losses on the enemy they were routed by a more aggressive foe.. The rules worked well and the game lasted six moves and was an exiting and interesting experience .

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 ! .

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 .

A Potpourri From The Painting Table.

Here are a selection of models I've painted in the last couple of weeks , a bit of a mixture as I'm trying to clear up some of the things that have been on my 'to do' list . First a selection of markers for  my 'Test of Honour' Samurai skirmish game , they are Perry Miniatures .

The Six Samurai - the other one must be on holiday , again Perry Miniatures for 'Test of Honour' .

Hodge interrupts the photo shoot , trying to ingratiate himself after being cursed for killing and eating a baby bird .

American Civil War early war Militia, Perry Miniatures once again - think I have been  contributing to the Perry retirement fund of late .

Mars plastic TYW light artillery , these have been waiting to get painted for ages . This set of figures got a right slating on the 'Plastic Soldier Review' , but I don't think they have come out to bad , sadly the double barrelled gun may be fictitious but I don't care ! .

Pain Purifies The Wargaming Soul ( The Mug Says It All)

These figures ( Polish Light Cavalry ) have been lurking on my painting table for months , their other six comrades were glued up and painted months ago - but the were total pains to put together. So these have languished unloved as other newer figures and projects pushed in front . It's been really nice weather of late and the patio furniture has appeared to celebrate this sunshine .

So feeling virtuous I thought I would get them done , time had healed the trauma I had suffered getting their compatriots battle ready . I like Mars figures but this set is an absolute swine to get the riders to fit the horses and just to make things worse they were heavily flashed ! . However I have triumphed ! I got the b****y riders to fit  with massive amounts of cutting of the horses flanks and the copious use of 'green stuff' . Quite pleased with myself (even though the muttered language was excessively bad) and having returned to my usual sunny disposition are going to get them painted up. Postscript .........

Well I've got them painted bit like 'turning a sow's ear into a silk purse' , but they haven't turned out to badly with a couple of coats of thick gloss varnish to cover up the flaws .

A Book Of Character and a Unexpected Delivery.

The other week I was in Carlisle and visited the very good second-hand bookshop near the museum . Whilst perusing the military section I came across the above book , 'The Thirty Years War' by C. V. Wedgewood . Now I had tried to read 'Europe's Tragedy' a recent book on the Thirty Years War and it had defeated me - so full of information and a bit long winded , so I wondered if this book would be any better ? .

It was a first edition , published in 1938 and it was priced at £10 - so I bought it . The author Cicely Veronica Wedgewood was quite a character and used her initials when publishing books to disguise the fact she was a woman in a then male dominated field of history,  the book gets good reviews ( I think it's still in print) So I'm going to start reading it whilst on holiday .

This morning the postman dropped off a parcel - which was a surprise as I didn't have anything on order . It turned out to be a box of Mars 1/72nd TYW artillery which I had placed on a back order months ago and they had obviously just become available .

A sight to gladden the heart or furrow the brow - depending upon your opinions of plastic figures . The figures didn't have much flash but the gun wheels were a swine to clean up . The are sold as ' 'Swedish Leather Guns ' but can be made up using either a double barrel light gun or a larger 'Culvern' type barrel .

I decided to make three of the guns as the lighter version and one as the larger and here we see them ready for spraying a black undercoat . Hopefully I will get started painting them next week .

Painted Plastic .

Just realised I hadn't taken any photos of the recent plastic figures I have painted . First up is my new Thirty Years War Catholic Regiment . The flag is an Imperial one for the regiment Manmingen .

I've not been able to find any evidence of the forces which fought at White Mountain 1620 (the era my armies are set in) so my flags are a bit generic as there is very little evidence early on in the war . The figures are 1/72nd scale by Mars .

The next unit to get done is the 2nd Battalion of the Dneiper Regt. They are in the summer uniform as I'm setting my Crimean war in Bulgaria as the Allies try to raise the siege of Silistra  - so I get to paint the Russians in pretty uniforms rather than drab overcoats and avoid the cliches of the Crimean War .

The figures are 1/72nd Strelets, you get 42 figures in 42 different poses in the box which has it's advantages and disadvantages as some of them can be a mite odd . Quite pleased to get these units done as they were two of the tasks I set myself at the beginning of the year to get the projects finished or at least make some progress .

Preparing TYW Light Cavalry.

Spurred on by my successful painting of an infantry regiment for my Thirty Years War project I have turned my attention to the cavalry . I'm lacking any light cavalry and as both sides seem to have used Cossacks/ Hussars I opened a box of Orion Cossacks .

The figures are a very pleasant surprise - NO flash ! and are very nice figures indeed , twelve different poses and four different horses . The cavalry fit the horses well but I pinned them with a dress pins and super glue anyway .

Got them finished this evening and tacked onto their bases temporarily ready for spraying . They are much nicer sculptors than Mars and Stretlets and MUCH easier to put together !

Back To Painting !.

I've got back into the swing of things and have completed another unit for my Thirty Years War project . The figures are by Mars and of course in a softish plastic .

It is the Protestant Bohemian 'White' Regiment , there doesn't seem to have been any real uniforms early in the TYW - only the Swedes seemed to have made an attempt . There is also very little information on standards and none that can be linked to individual units . So this Regiment is VERY conjectural .

The figure are rather crude but have a charm all of their of their own I think . I didn't spend a lot of time painting individual figures only blocking in the colours and then giving them two coats of yacht  varnish - which I think is crucial to protect the paint from peeling off . Having got into the mood I'm going to paint some more TYW cavalry next .

Back To The Plastic .

Have had a touch of 'Man Flu' picked up no doubt from my in-laws at Christmas and have been feeling rough enough not to want to be bothered to paint ! (now I MUST have been feeling rotten ! ) However feeling a bit better today I started to wonder what to paint next , as I had nothing cleaned and undercoated ready I had to sit down with a cup of tea (and biscuits) and have a think . One of my pledges to myself was NOT to start any new projects in 2017 - so I have plenty of unfinished ones to go at !. I finally decided to do another regiment for my TYW 1/72nd plastic armies , so I sorted out a couple of boxes for another unit for my Bohemian Protestant army - the 'White Regiment' I think !. So this evening sees me cutting, trimming and basing plastic figures and I'm quite looking forward to the prospect !.

Thirty Years War Battle.

Sorry for the delay in posting these photos but I've been on a learning curve trying to get used to the new Adobe Photo shop - which in my opinion isn't as good as the old one , however think I've got it finally sorted. Having missed photographing the previous game with 'A' and 'R'  I reset the troops up and played it again .

Here we see the Catholic right flank with their Tercio guarding the bridge which is the objective of the game - the Protestant forces have to capture it in 6 turns.- this photo looks very faded - still need to fiddle with photo shop !.

The freshly painted Bohemian/Protestant 'Red' Regiment . Under 'Pike & Shotte' this counts as a 'Battalia' or Brigade hence the Commander on foot in front of it.

The Catholic League Left flank , the hedge is lined by a unit of 'Commanded' Musketeers.

Another photo of the 'Red' Regt. , the white markers are to show that the 'sleeves' of muskets have not shot yet - these are removed when they 'first fire' .

The battle itself was a disaster for the Protestants - the 'Red' regt. advanced bravely but due to the poor command dice rolled by the rest of their force were not supported and threatened on the flank by enemy Horse had to adopt a 'Hedgehog' formation to protect themselves . They were then truly shot to pieces and routed off the table , with a third of their army gone and once again failing their command rolls the Protestant Command called off the attack .

The Protestant Horse sit there and watch their newly painted comrades get massacred , only finally moving when it was to late ! Grr ! . A good game though even if it turned out a bit odd , with the similarities between the 'Pike & Shotte' rules and 'Black Powder' I didn't have any problems running the game and am looking forward to more games using them . This has of course excited me into painting up some more figures for this project which I will photograph and post soon.

A moody picture of the game using 'Photo Shop' , still need to practise getting it right .

A Good Game .

I had 'A' and 'R' around for a game of Pike and Shotte using my freshly painted Thirty Years War figures , an event that nowadays doesn't happen very often due to the intervention of 'real life' - family , work etc. A good time was had by all and the rules worked well and the game was fought to a conclusion over about 2 hours , it was also good to get to talk wargaming hobby with them . Unfortunately I was unable to capture the battle in photos as I've not yet got my camera sorted out , but I took the about photo of the action with my phone - which does not have a brilliant camera on it . This game has enthused me into painting some more figures up and I've reset the battle and will replay it solo and hopefully get some photos of it to put on this blog. 

Camera Problems and ANOTHER New Project !!!.

I was hoping to illustrate the first battle of my TYW project between myself and 'A'  using 'Pike & Shotte' but for some reason my camera will not download the photos I took to the computer , not sure if it's the camera or the computer at fault (or me !?) . However a good time was had by all , even though I lost ! . The rules worked well and as probably about 75 % of them  are similar to the 'Black Powder' set we didn't have any problems . There are enough differences to make units handle 'in period' and I'm busy painting up more figures . I'm rather impressed with the plastic 1/72nd figures  and have started casting about for another project to do using them . I know - I know ! this was the year of NO MORE NEW PROJECTS ! - BUT as I have the childish enthusiasm of a 6 year old when it comes to toy soldiers and I'm always looking for a challenge I've decided on the Crimean War using Stretlets plastic figures . I've been trawling EBay and have got my first purchase -

This is a box set of several of the Stretlets Crimean range.

It comprises of Turkish Infantry , Russian Hussars , Russian Infantry and British Highlanders - 136 Infantry and 12 Cavalry - all for just under £ 20 !

Here's some of the Turkish sprues . This will be a long term project so I don't expect to be posting photos of finished models anytime soon , well I might paint up the odd figure as a test piece ! ( there goes the 6 year old in me !!!!!) .

PS I've just tried another Sim card from my wife's camera in mine and it seems to work now ! so it must be my Sim - need to get another new one ! .