Mrs K comes up trumps again.

 

My dear wife found these at her stint at the charity shop this morning wooden nutcracker toy soldiers only 50p each ! , a bargain!

A lucky find (the wargaming goddess smiles on me)

My wife does a bit of voluntary work for a local charity sorting donations etc and she rang me and said that a (quote) 'toy soldier book' had come in and did I want it !? . She sent me a photo and I immediately replied 'YES' ! . I have the reprint paperbacked copy but have always wanted a original hardbacked edition . I remember borrowing a copy from the library in my early wargaming days but was put off by the large 60+ units and so favoured Featherstone's 20 figure units and rules.

The charity have a chap that evaluates books and other potential valuable items and he looked up current prices which was in the £50-£60 price on eBay , however for cash and seeing she was a volunteer he said £30 !  - a bargain ! - he thought it would be unlikely to sell in their shop (being a bit obscure) . It is a first edition (I don't think there was a second?) and cost 55/- shillings back in 1969 , rather expensive the following year my first take home pay was £5 ! , so I'm rather chuffed at the moment !  

 

Well that didn't go as I expected !?

 

Well I've just been playing the N.W. Frontier game I set up and it didn't quite work out as I thought it might ! . Firstly the Afghan unit which was under fire from the Mountain gun suffered heavy casualties as well of loosing its leader and broke and fled refusing to be rallied !

I had been using a deck of event cards for TSATF and the Afghans drew this card that meant the right hand unit retreated off the table, which rather snookered the Afghan war effort ! 

All that was left to do was the British to order a general advance and with no reinforcement in sight the Afghans called it a day and quit the field ! . A rather odd game but enjoyable none the less and reminds me of the reason I still like these old rules.

A return to an old favorite !

 

I was sorting through my rule sets and came across my copy of 'The Sword and the Flame' and thought - "it's ages since I played a game using these rules !", and it had to be the North West Frontier - classic Colonial gaming !.

General 'Creepy' Crawley oversee the siting of his Mountain Gun himself . His force of the Blackwatch and Indian Colonial troops must push through and across the board as fast as possible 

However the Afghan Chieftain Bungit Din (see Carry on up the Khyber) has other ideas !

He has had his Tribesmen construct Sangers - the terrain piece was constructed many years ago from cat litter and have stood the test of time ! 

To the skirl of the pipes the Blackwatch advances .

Captain Smyth orders the Punjab Infantry into skirmish order and to advance . The piles of pennies are the units ammunition reserves .

The Burpa Tribesmen ( again see the above comedy film) rush to defend their homeland . These figures where painted over 30 years ago and their high gloss finish has protected them from the ravages of time. Hopefully there will be further report .......

.

Franco-Prussian Artillery .

 

Due to the rather wet weather I've got my remaining Artillery painted up , here is the final French gun and crew , again Irregular Miniatures.

There is the Prussian one , I always assumed the Prussians only had cast iron/steel guns but came across pictures of bronze/brass barrels (?) . I have two more French and Prussian infantry units to collect and a unit of Cavalry per side and this will finish off my project . An order has gone of to Irregular for my next painting fix !

French Algerian Tirailleurs ..

 

Been a bit slow on the painting front this last week or so , but I've finally got the Algerian Tirailleurs done.

The figures are of course Irregular 28mm , except the Vivandiere which is an old 'Willie' figure . All my French regiment have one .

A cracking figure - which must be over 50 years old but still available from 'Tradition' who now trade from Sweden and do a surprisingly efficient mail order service.. I have only a couple of guns and crews to paint and so must think of another order to Irregular Miniatures. 

 

Playing the game ( Part 2 )

 

As you remember from my last post Red armies Gatling gun has been captured by those rascals of Blue army , the Naval Brigade charge to recapture it ! Huzza ! 

They take heavy casualties charging in but drive back the enemy and recapture the gun ! Huzza !!

Unfortunately thing deteriorate rapidly, the Blue army Colonial rally and pour a murderous fire into the victorious Sailors who fail their morale test and flee and even the entreatments of the General fails to rally them - Oh dear ! a sad day for old England .

On the right flank things are not going well either, the Red army Colonials (who are counted as 'brittle' ) fail their moral test and flee as well ! . With this is where I decided to draw a veil over the sad proceedings .

Any similarities with Henry Newbolt's "Vitai Lampada" is purely coincidental , here we see Henry feverishly flicking through the rule book to find a way to win the battle . A good game and it was nice to get the 54mm figures back onto the table again .

 

 

Playing the game ( part 1 )

 

The table from the Blue army perspective with their forces converging on the crossroads.

Red army are rather slow to deploy but manage to get a unit onto the wooded hill on their left.

This forces the Blue army to deploy it's Colonial troops to cope with the threat.

The Red army Naval Brigade deploy and bring up their Gatling gun .

At a crucial moment the Gatling gun jams (rolled more 1s than 6s) -

- and is overrun and captured ! , this quite a blow for Red army who had put a lot of faith in this new technology (the Gatling gun being a converted toy pencil sharpener probably helped with the malfunction!?) - too be continued .............

Running repairs and a game set up.

I decided to set a game up using my 54mm figures as they haven't seen action for quite a while. When sorting the figures out for the game I came across this little chap with his head decapitated - I remember thinking "I must repair him" when I last used them - so I got a matchstick and whittled it down and fixed it with a dab of glue - very H.G. Wells like . I have come across several figures I've bought in repaired using this method .

He rejoins the ranks of Army Blue's Colonial contingent. 

Under the steely gaze (well tinny)of their commander General Mouters.

The Army Red force marches past their yet unnamed General - for some reason I've not got around to giving him a name yet ? (suggestions please)

The Field of Battle , Red Army nearest the camera and Army Blue at the far end of the table . Hopefully this game will be played over the coming week.

 

Fruits of the paintbrush .

 

Well after a week of painting I've finally got the Bavarians finished and varnished . The only problem was printing off a flag as my printer didn't want to print , however after fiddling with it (I didn't really know what I was doing) it suddenly started working (I think swearing at it works) .

And here they are in their shinny glory , they are of course 28mm Irregular Miniatures.. Next up for painting are French Turcos - more light blue uniforms. 

Early morning painting.

 

Having gotten out of bed at 6.00 am for work for over 40 years I still have the habit of waking up early . This morning I awoke at a quarter to six and wanted the loo . this woke the cat up who sleeps on the bed who then pestered to be fed , this woke the dog up (who sleeps downstairs) who started whining - so I got up ! Having done the morning crossword and had my breakfast it wasn't even 7 am , so I thought I'll have a look at the next batch of my Irregular FPW . One of the things I find is that playing a game always gets me wanting to paint more of them . These are two units one will be Bavarians and the other either Turcos or Zouaves .

I decided on a Bavarian Infantry unit , I like painting Bavarians ! any army that has sky blue uniforms gets my vote. In reality the uniform was probably a darker blue but seeing I've got a new bottle of sky blue paint I'm using it ! Here are the first figures ready for a coat of varnish which will cover up any mistakes in painting . All done before 8am ! a good start to the day - if only I was as motivated in other aspects of my life . .

 

An interesting fact I didn't know ....

I was reading through 'Toy Soldiers' by Simon Clark and came across an article about Britains figures before 1945 being painted in a mixture of Printers Ink rather than Enamel paint ! . A London company called Kents supplied the Printing Ink and it was mixed with a clear varnish, the mixing was done in batches which varied and was then given to the painters  , unfortunately this had a habit of separating and had to be remixed regularly . This gave rise to some of the colour variants you encounter in old figures, an almost matt finish and an translucent finish  was due to insufficient mixing . The different batches which where supplied to the many 'out workers' who painted the figures at home also accounts for the colour variants .

 

The Battle of the Eglise sur la colline (Part3) , The Debacle .

 

The French Vivandiere manages to patch up a casualty , meanwhile on the left ......

The French Artillery open fire on the Prussian Jaegers .

The Uhlans charge into the flank of the French column ! , who fail their test and -

- are scattered and destroyed - Oh dear !

Things are not going well on the other flank as the French Infantry once again fail to rally .

The game is lost for the French with both flanks gone ! . A victory for the Prussians ! 

Think Emile Zola probably sums it up ! . A great game though, which I enjoyed and has got me wanting to paint up some more figures and let the French seek their revenge .

The Battle of the Eglise sur la colline (Part Two) , in which things do not go well for the French

 

The gallant Prussian Artillery Officer has to man the gun single-hand (the dice tell how long it is going to take him to load it)

The Franc tireurs move up to support the Line Infantry.

The Prussia Uhlans charge the French Hussars !

The Cavalry melee !

-does not go well for the French ! 

The surviving Hussars rout off the tabletop without even pausing to consult the rules .

On the other flank things do not go well either , having taken 5 casualties the French fail their moral check and retire one move (hence the dice) will they rally next move ? . To be continued .......

.