Saint George's Day.

Hanoverian Engineers.

These figures have been awaiting painting for weeks and though I'm all fired up to start painting Medieval knights for ' Lion Rampant ' my guilty conscience got the better of me and so I thought I'd get them done first. I've been wanting to do some Engineers for my 40 mm SYW-ish armies for ages and  so I converted these artillery crewmen by adding shovels etc from plastic card and brass wire .

It took me a while to decide on a suitable uniform , but finally settled for the Hanoverian Engineers in their light blue coat and red cuffs - here seen busy plundering an ancient monument for artifacts to sell to antiquarians .  ( click on photos to enlarge )

Quick Lion Rampant Update .

Well I've got all the figures glued up ( lots of spears to manufacture ) , fixed to bases and spray under -coated . All I have to do now is to start painting them !. I've got a couple of outstanding paint jobs to finish ( one being the bathroom - but that's in 1 : 1 scale ) before I start them . A total of 30 mounted figures and 48 foot between both retinues . 

The Attack On Fort Blucher ( Part 1)

Spurred on by my resent re-postings of my O.S. Franco- Prussian War collection I've decided to play a game using them . I'm also trying out an experiment using cards to activate units - more of this as the game progresses . In the centre of the table is a Prussian fort mounting a heavy Krupp's Howitzer which they are using to bombard the French positions , it is guarded by a unit of infantry who's tented camp can be seen by the road . The French task is to launch a surprise attack to knock out the gun and ammunition store.

A contemporary photo of 'Fort Blucher' taken from a French balloon .

An old French lady is found wandering near the fort ans is brusquely ordered away by the guards .

Little do the Prussians know ! - she is a French spy sent by the local  Franc-Tireurs and she reports her findings back to them . A plan is hatched ! and a small French force is sent to aid the Franc-Tireurs in a daring dawn attack.

The French force comprising of Zouaves and Turco's move into position behind a wooded hill .

As dawn breaks they move forward , but are spotted by a Prussian sentry ! ( I diced to see if the French were spotted and the Prussians got VERY lucky !!!!) .

The camp is awakened and they rush from their tents to defend the fort !.

The Prussians form up to defend against the French attacks . On the left the Franc-Tireurs can be seen sneaking up the road by the barn being used as an ammo dump , the other side of the barn the French Chasseur D' Afrique move forward and take a casualty from the Prussians firing line . Too be continued.......

Lion Rampant Update.

Well I've got all the mounted figures cleaned up and glued together and stuck onto their MDF bases , in the early days of wargaming figures were designed to stand up without basing - not nowadays ! . Quite a lot of work here getting the mounted figures to fit the horses , making spears for them (as they don't come with them - another modern trend !) and then I found out I hadn't ordered enough bases for the foot figures so things are on hold till 'Warbases' send me some more. I haven't glued the shields onto the figures to aid painting them. 

Oh No ! Not Another New Project !?

I bought these rules several weeks ago ( at 'A's insistence ! ) and having read through them twice are rather impressed with the system !. Of course I don't need a new project - BUT - when has that ever stopped me ! ( when it comes to wargaming I'm like a 5 year old at Christmas !!) , and I noticed that North Star have some rather attractive deals on linked to these rules so I took the plunge !. 

After a delay ( North Star are not the speediest of mail order ) the parcel containing my two retinues arrive this morning . Each of the forces have a number of units comprising of either 6 mounted or 12 foot figures pointed up to total a 24 point retinue . Now begins the task of cleaning up the castings ,gluing them together and sticking them to bases .

I've got the first two units done , some bowmen and a unit of crossbowmen . Over the next day or two I should get the rest done and spray them with undercoat all at once . I have great hopes for this protect as it is limited in the number of figures needed and thus has an end point . I will report on my progress soon . 

Resurrection .

I'm in the process of 'saving' some of the posts from my now defunct blog - which 'Blogger' manage to kill off . I've managed to save and publish my posts of my SYW-ish project and my Old School Franco-Prussian War collection will be next ( I hope ). One of the main reasons is that I do look at old posts for organisational and painting references - when I can't remember why I did certain things in certain ways. So hopefully I can publish them (fingers crossed).