A Portrait of The Author as a Young Man.

 When tidying up my wargaming room (an ongoing and not very successful enterprise) I came across this old photo of a game I took part in about 24 years ago . It was a game our group of wargaming friends put on at - I think- Spring Militaire, of the battle of Philips St Norton during the Monmouth rebellion . The LMMS sign was the now defunct Lakes Military Modelling Society where we all originally met - we were the wargaming arm of the society . The figures were Dixon , the scenery homemade (the cloth a home dyed sheet) (which faded almost at once !) and the rules our own adaption from some AWI  rules called 1776 (?!) . I think we won 2nd prize - there was only 3 games that year , third place went to some teenagers doing a Warhammer Fantasy game , who won I  cannot remember. The players are from left to right - 'R' ,'C' , 'S', and myself - looking VERY dapper in waistcoat and muttonchop whiskers (sadly tinged with grey now - well my beard is ). Its alarming how young we all look , only I have kept my boyish figure ! ........ (sic)

Wargames Long Ago .

Been tidying out a cupboard and came across these old photos of various wargames I have played , the quality is not great but these date back when cameras had rolls of film in them.(click on photos to enlarge them)

An ACW  game using I think Confederate High Command rules (?) , 25mm Minifigs on a rather strangely home dyed bed sheet .

Another shot of the same game , the roads are cut up plastic floor tiles if I remember rightly . The experimentation in dyeing didn't work very well did it ! , in this modern era of purpose made felt cloths we tend to forget how hard it was to get suitably coloured material in the distant wargaming past . This game dates I think from about the mid 1980s.

A slightly later game of ACW  using 'Johnny Reb' rules (think I can make out some of the little green markers that came with the game) . Notice I have a proper felt cloth now - purchased at great expense from Standard Games. The wooden fencing was made by my father in his retirement.

A Romans versus Ancient Britons game , these figures had a renaissance when Warhammer Ancient Battles rules came out - they had languished unused when I got sick of playing WRG 6th edition rules with all their complexities.

Now two golden oldies, in the late 70s (?) I and another chap called Dave Cliff (?) put on a demonstration game at the Victorian Military Societies meeting at the United Services Institute in London of the action at the river Bulganak in the Crimea 1854 - a small skirmish which we turned into a full blown battle , with me loosing the Light Brigade !.

Another view from the Russian side . We used Peter Laing 15mm figures and adapted the WRG Horse and Musket rules , the scenery and cloth were provided by Dave. Much to our great surprise we won best game award ! . Most of the figures I still have but need re basing to modern standards .

Garibaldi Marches On Palermo ( Part1)

Because the weather has been unusually fine ( for a Bank Holiday ) I've not got much done on the wargaming front being otherwise engaged in outdoor activities . However I thought it time to get the next game set up of the series of linked games I'm playing of Garibaldi's invasion of Sicily . 

In the first game an assault on the '1,000 ' as they landed at Marsala by a Neapolitan force was easily driven off - due to the incompetence of their command , so the next game finds Garibaldi's force marching inland on the road to Palermo . They have been joined by numbers of the local population keen to throw off the yoke of Neapolitan despotism .

However the Neapolitan Governor has different ideas and has dispatched a reinforced army to halt the rebels . I will be using the 'Black Powder' set of wargaming rules , the figures are of course 28mm Irregular Miniatures.

I diced to see where the two Neapolitan Brigades came onto the table . One Brigade has been delayed and the other has comes onto the right flank - the least favourable position to block the road - not a good start for them . Too be continued........

First Signs Of Spring.

Whilst out walking the dog in the rain this afternoon , I believe I caught a glimpse of a couple of swallows ( by the time I'd got my binoculars out they'd gone ) . Their arrival is later this year - due probably to the bad weather we've been having - it was the 25th of March I saw them for the first time last year.

Breaking The Mould .

Thought I'd give you a glimpse of my home casting set up . Nothing fancy , a Calor Gas twin ringed camping stove - which as my wife points out ominously "if we go camping again - that's going to take some cleaning up !". I did try an electric portable hob but it didn't seem to have the heat to melt the casting metal .

I usually put the mould ready for casting in an old saucepan half full of sand - so that it captures any spillages - which when cool can be re-added to the melting pot . I find each mould has its own characteristics and some need more tapping as you pour in the metal to get it to circulate than others . Some are a joy to use with perfect castings most of the time and others have you pulling your hair out and using very bad language !.

To my right I have the assembly area were I prepare the moulds and remove the finished castings - yes tidiness is not one of my strong points !. The talcum powder is for the moulds to help in getting the castings free , the boxes of various shapes and sizes hold my moulds .

With the Nürnberger Meisterzinn metal moulds I try to angle them to one side as they usually have several vent holes and this should help to expel the air as you pour the metal in .

And when it works you get this : ) !

And when it doesn't - you get this : ( ! . The German moulds are definitely harder to use, after successfully casting four figures one after the other yesterday - today I struggled to get two figures cast before retiring into the house for tea and a cake . The Goddess of Home -Casting is very capricious !

Blessed by the Goddess of Home-Casting.

Been busy casting again and the Goddess of Home-casting once again smiled on me . ( seeing I'm using a camping gas cooking stove to heat the metal - this could come under the auspices of Vesta ? the Roman Goddess of the Hearth ) 

I even managed to cast from the German Nürnberger Meisterzinn moulds I've had for quite awhile and been singularly unsuccessful in using .I read somewhere that it helps to warm the moulds first to get the metal to circulate around the metal moulds and it seemed to work !. The metal mould give a crisper casting and can be used more often , the Prince August ones need to cool between castings . The finish products - needing quite a bit of cleaning up .

On the Left the Prince August figures, on the Right the new Nürnberger Meisterzinn Infantryman Storming (?)- a bit larger than the Prince August but I don't think it will be noticeable once in their own unit and on the table .Think they will have to be something Germanic .

I also cast up from the Civilian mould I have, which comes with alternative heads and accessories to produce this 18th Century Lady and Gentleman . Having got all these cast it's time to undercoat them and start painting .

'So As A Fool Returneth To His Folly'

The large amount of casting metal I have at the moment ( care of 'B' ) has set me thinking of revamping my 54mm Toy Soldier collection . The above box bought cheaply at a car boot sale set me off on the 'home casting' hobby and I've got about 60 + figures cast up and painted .

The original concept was to play with them outside in the garden - as H.G. Wells did, but the combination of the British weather , a new dog and the fear that the neighbours would think me even weirder than they do at present - the project stalled .

I did try a couple of games indoors on my wargaming table but the lack of suitable scenery was a problem .

The figures themselves are I think some of the older Prince August multi part moulds which are the very devil to cast and fit together - needing large amounts of 'Green Stuff' and super glue to construct them .

Then there was the problem of an enemy . The moulds make up a British soldier with a selection of heads ( peaked cap , bearskin etc. ) , so what to do about an opponent for this vaguely Edwardian army ? . Luckily Irregular Miniatures came to the rescue , as they do various separate heads for their 54mm range of figures , so I purchased some heads with 'Picklehaubes' and started forming a German army .

There still remains the problem of suitable terrain , it occurred to me that seeing I was using 'Toy Soldier' type figures I should use stylised 'Toy Soldier' scenery - with a 'Toy Town' feel about it . So I've started making up some , now I hate making scenery ( only slightly worse than painting limbers and teams ) so this will be a testing time but I hope to be able to show some of the results soon .