Thursday 28 June 2018

Deployment Point Markers.



One of the main things about 'Sharp Practise' is the use of Deployment Points from whence your force comes onto the table and if captured by the enemy  prevents further reinforcements and is detrimental to your armies morale . It seems la rigueur to have army / period  markers so I thought I would make some for my Tex-Mex games . I noticed some plastic cacti for cake decorations in a shop that does wedding cakes etc. so I bought their entire stock (much to the amazement of the lady behind the counter - I didn't enlighten her to my true purpose) . I glued these to some round MDF bases and textured then I also added a couple of Mexican peasant figures to them so they are ready for the next game.

Tuesday 26 June 2018

A Bit Of Casting .


Well Britain is baking in an unusual hot spell - to hot for me and to hot for the dog , so I'm getting up at  5am and taking him for a walk before it gets to hot . Having got that out of the way I had a go at casting some more 40 mm Prince August figures for the Prussian battalion I'm forming .


The results - not bad for a start , but was getting quite a few mis-casts especially on the bayonets, halberd and Officers sword . This maybe because of the less than pure metal I'm casting with (mainly old figures) or that I've not been casting for about 6 months and these are new moulds to me .


So I decided to cut a few vents in the moulds to encourage the hot metal to run to the extremities of the figures , here we see Hugo inspecting the doctored moulds . Hope to have another go tomorrow to see if these modifications have improved things.



Sunday 24 June 2018

Sunday Afternoon .


Well it is a beautiful sunny day but I'm bothered by hay fever so I'm inside watching England play in the World Cup and gluing Perry ACW plastic figures together . A lot of people don't like plastic figures because of having to glue the arms , weapons etc together - I find it very therapeutic (I did a lot of plastic kit building in my youth) , I got the boxes off Amazon with some birthday vouchers I was given and they will be used for 'Sharp Practise' . The metal ones are some that have been in storage for a couple of years and are finally seeing the light of day - England have just scored ! . The boxes are very good value having 40+ figures in them each of them and will provide two forces for 'Sharp Practise' - England have just scored again from a penalty ! . I must have painted hundreds of ACW figures over the last 40+ years (and probably sold half of them on) and I never tire of them , looking forward to starting on them and yes I know I should be really painting some of my other projects but what can I say - I'm a wargaming butterfly ! 

Thursday 21 June 2018

Half Way There ! .


Well this morning I passed the 500 miles mark on my walk a 1000 miles in a year project . I've been looking at the wall chart that I record my mileage on and over the last 20 weeks I have only missed 3 days (one of these was when we travelled to Scotland on holiday - the other two I can't remember the reasons for the absence of miles ?) . Here we see my companion for most of these  walks - Charlie - note how attentive he is to his master ! (I've got a treat in my hand to get his attention !) . Well here's to the next 500 ! . 

Sunday 17 June 2018

Prinz Heinrich von Preußen Fusiliers .


I've cracked on and got the first batch of Prussian Fusiliers painted and varnished . They were relatively easy to paint once I got the first two or three done . I spray them black then paint the figure a darker shade of the required colours - ie a mid grey for the white straps , a buff colour for the yellow etc. . Then I overcoat with the correct shade trying to leave the darker colours for shading , I gave the yellow an extra lighter coat as it's so hard to get yellow right I find .


Prince August have a done a good job with these new wave of figures and they still match the older ranges in style and size . I will have to cast more figures up myself to form the next company so hoping to do that next week.


A close up of one of the Fusiliers , the heads are separate 'plug-in' and you can build Fusiliers , Grenadiers or Tricorned Line Infantry from this basic figure. I enjoy painting 40mm figures , probably because my eyes find it easier to see the details and also they look like 'real' toy soldiers .



Sunday 10 June 2018

A Grand Unwrapping .


About a month ago I purchased some 40mm Prince August figures and moulds (http://tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-lucky-find.html ) and with my holidays and other things I have just got around to unpacking and sorting them to see what there is .


They come with separate heads allowing them to be made into Fusiliers , Grenadiers and Line . I made them into Fusiliers and based enough for a company to fit my organisation -  12 Fusiliers , Sergeant , Drummer and Officer. I will need to cast up some more to complete the Regiment , but I have plenty of scrap metal to do it . 


I have had a look at 'Project Seven Years War ' and I like the above Regiment with it's bright yellow facings and hope to start painting it next week .



Monday 4 June 2018

The Battle Of Mission Concepcion.(Part Two).


The second move started very well for the Texians two of their leaders and their four units came onto the table using the secondary deployment point and so were ideally placed to hold up the Mexican advance .


More Mexicans arrive but move somewhat tardily - you dice for movement .


Two units of New Orleans Grey arrive via the primary deployment point accompanied by the Texian General .


At this point I cocked it up for the Mexicans by allowing their cavalry to get shot up by the Texians in the buildings , they have 6 disruption point each - these slow movement and combat effectiveness . It took the rest of the game to get them out of the way and rally both units back to effectiveness .


The Mexican infantry failed to close with the rebel militia and their attack bogged down , if a unit has more disruption points than figures they have to retire which drags the army morale down .


The other column drove the Texians back on the left flank but in doing so suffered high casualties and disruption points and had to withdraw . 


The state of morale towards the end of the game , the Mexicans have got down to 2 points which removes some of their command cards making it harder to control them . Shortly after this they dropped to nil and lost the game . A quick game and a decisive win to the Texians , my handling of the Mexican cavalry was to blame (hangs head in shame) and they never got into action . I think I'm getting the hang of the rules and they play well for solo .