More Picking Away...

More stuff accomplished this weekend. First, I built a second DBA base, this one for English medievals:

I ordered a handful of Fife and Drum figures. The Spirit of '76 vignette, and five minutemen. My plan is to paint them up for a work display - the theme for the whole year (not just summer) is America's 250th. So another excuse to promote miniatures in the library. I plan to paint two of the minutemen to represent a pair of free black colonists who - completely coincidentally - shared my rare last name. So I hope to do a good job painting them.

What I got was a bunch of figures, free overstock! Thanks! About half minutemen, half Continentals in uniform. That could make up two small regiments or one large one, with mixed appearance like Jim Purky's own 2nd New Hampshire. 

I haven't built or painted metal models in ages, so some filing practice is in order. I'll also have to use a pin drill on the standard bearer. As for basing... probably singly, for skirmish games. I have lots of round Wargames Atlantic bases.

I also bought some Games Workshop 25mm and 25x50mm square bases, for the Pike and Shotte starter set. Here's the first infantry sprue mostly made up:

Needs a few more hats, and there are also a lot of scabbarded swords on the sprue I haven't figured out where they go on the figures yet. I'm glad I just made these chaps to start with, as I found out specific arms go to specific figures. Also, gluing two arms onto a figure at once is a bit messy. A little filing and paint, though, and I'm sure they'll look good enough for the tabletop.

Finally, a painted Skaven done with Speedpaint pens. Fun and not too frustrating. I find it hard to tell the colors apart when they're bunched together, so (for example) some of the leather has a gold tinge...

I'll stop here, as I have two cats on my desk trying to interfere with typing and projects.

For comparison, here's the one I have to coax into letting me touch.
On the right: still unopened boxes of Warlord samurai.

'Til next time.

The Upteenth Battle of Blasthof Bridge

Countless gamers have fought across the fair fields of Blasthof in the last fifty years, and tonight it happened once more. Ron and Mark, two stalwarts of the South Florida Miniatures Gamers, kindly consented to be my guinea pigs for the evening. We met at The War Office (aka a small office suite) for the set-to.

As we were playing with my 18mm Wofuns and centimeters, rather than the classic 30mm Spencer Smiths and inches, the field needn't be large.

Unfortunately, we had neither a river nor a bridge in the club!

Due to the available terrain, Blasthof Farm and the Blasthofberg were relatively larger than the original, while the River Blast was reduced to a desperate trickle. At least the bridge was sturdier than the original paper.

The sides were drawn from, respectively, my WSS French and '45 British collections.

Ron:

• 18 1e Cuirassiers
• 32 1e Guard Francaise
• Anvre Battery (2 guns)

Mark:

• 12 Yorbourne Dragoons
• 40 Royal Kempston
• Halmouth Battery (2 guns)

As usual, I failed to take enough photos, but here's a representative selection.

Mark moves his guns to the hill as his Dragoons cross
the river; Ron moves stolidly towards the "bridge."

Mark spreads out his troops and opens fire (to no effect).
His light horse are already to midtable.

As Ron slowly moves upfield, the range closes and Mark's
guns start to pick off his infantry. Ron's cavalry are
angling towards Mark's dragoons, who are out of view behind
the farmhouse (out of LOS of Ron's guns).

Ron's Guard Francaise are on the bridge,
while his cuirassiers charge Mark's dragoons.
Unfortunately, both French units are under
short-range crossing fire...

The combat went badly for Ron (who spent much of the game
rolling nothing but ones and twos), and his defeated cuirassiers
are rallying in the field. Meanwhile his infantry, trapped on the
bridge, are at least fighting back while they get the crap
shot out of them.

No more game photos, but suffice to say that by turn seven, not only were both of Ron's regiments understrength (requiring them to retreat from the field) but his guns were charged and taken by the dragoons (despite a game blast of canisters that killed four horsemen. His infantry had to rally on the bridge in full view of Mark's infantry and guns and would probably not survive to retreat!

So a solid victory for Mark. Though, to be fair, Ron rolled badly all game, and even his heavier cav (+1 versus lighter cav) didn't help. Both enjoyed the game and seemed to like the rules despite the fiddliness of one-to-one melee alongside multi-bases.

They were also impressed by the look and feel of the Wofun miniatures. Which allows me to segue into the Paperboys I've built this week:

A DBA "camp" base for medieval Scots. As the miniature
soldiers are 3D, I removed the paper figures, but the tent and
shields look pretty good!

Added a light gun to my Continental troops guarding the
America250 book display at work. Unfortunately,
their command base was destroyed in action.

Til next time...

Still Tired

Not much done, except reading. Read the Silmarillion and working slowly on Warlord Games' supplement Wars of the Samurai (quite good for a beginner!). Here's what little hobby I've done this week:

Two twelve-man units of crossbows for Lion Rampant,
with pavises. This may seem like they're on too-large
bases, but the plan is to play on a small scale with cm
instead of inches.

An armoured orc chieftain from 6th-7th edition Warhammer.
I picked up a command group from the FLGS.
Painted with paint markers, with the metals NMM.

I really need to get cracking on building the Pike and Shotte stuff...

Edit: I did.

Five down, seventy-seven to go!

A Week's Worth

Still a bit under the weather, and I will probably have to give up the club's second Binge Weekend. But I did get some minis done this week.

Belatedly for President's Day (but can still find use for it later this bi-and-a-quarter-centennial year), I built a Paperboys George Washington and a regiment for him to review.

The command base isn't quite finished, because I decided to use the extra individual officers on the page for once. The typical "unit" that can be assembled from a single page from any of Peter Dennis' Helion Horse-and-Musket books is of four bases, one of them with one of its two strips replaced by a "colours and drummers" strip, thus 32 men plus one extra on a bit of card out in front of the command base. This leaves over one strip of four musketeers and typically two individuals, like an officer and sergeant. I chose to make five bases, with the "center" being the colours strip behind the two leaders, for a total of 38 men and a more even-looking unit.

I misplaced the command figures, or rather I suspect the cats did. You'd think a messy desk would deter pets from jumping on it, but it actually attracts them...

So I'm working on two more units, and swiping officers from a third. Eh, whatever. Using my new, incredibly sharp Beaditive scissors is surprisingly relaxing after a long day at work.

The second project I did this week was a unit of five "bloodreavers" from the 1st-edition Age of Sigmar beginner box I started years ago. I'd undercoated them already, so they were ready for the paint pens, and only required seven colors: skin, bone, black, grey, red, silver and gold. (No brass color.)

"Blood for the Blood God, or something..."

A bit messy, but tabletop ready once I add a bit of texture paint to the bases. I'm not sure gold really works for the brass, perhaps the sandy-orange "non-metallic" would be better. The large tips also made it hard to avoid coloring the silver, though depending on the texture I could turn the pen sideways and sort of "overbrush" the gold onto it. Gold borders first and silver insides second might also be a better order, and I'll try that when I get to the other three (more heavily armed) Chaos Warriors.

Finally, I received tonight a Warlord Games Pike and Shotte starter box, with 70 infantry and 12 cavalry, enough for small skirmishes, or full forces for Pikemen's Lament. I was prepared for the fact that bases aren't included, though I haven't found 20mm ones yet for them. (Even with its "Old World" Warhammer, GW's smallest rank-n-flank bases are 25mm.) However, I found the Warlord models have small puddle bases which might work for game-experimentation.

Haven't found much on Samurai-period uniform (only two pdf pages on painting the Warlord figures so far) though I am tempted by the comic-style Mifune colors: 

How did I miss these new action figures?!

Miscellanea, and a Treat

Work has been <bleeping> tiring this week. Hopefully that will turn around tomorrow, as we have a couple new staff joining us. In the meantime, I've only got bits and pieces done, but they are usefully inspiring nonetheless:

• Basecoated my Citadel hills in white. Will finish them in speedpaint green, brown and grey.
• Received and read much of Talking Miniatures:

A remarkably good oral history of Games Workshop.

I'm serious. It's worth the money.

• Started on my bit of the Hastings960 project:

Three sheets of Saxon Fyrd (300 figures).

Trimmed.

Frames separated...

... and folded.

Next is gluing them all - then cutting with my new Beaditive and Fiskars scissors.

This is a test strip on 80gsm paper rather than the
requested 120gsm. If you see a green tinge, it's because
I experimented with a speedpaint marker on the edges.

• Tested a speedpaint marker on a couple Reaper Bones orcs (no good pics).
• Finally, a treat - my talented brother has made some progress on the LDV I sent him. Here's the first Scottish militia!
  
  

A how-to, mostly Speedpaints:

Undercoat: Slap-chop
Cap: Caribbean Ocean

Skin: Pallid Bone
and Crusader Skin

Straps: Pallid Bone
Hair: Dark Wood

Uniform: Noble Skin
and Tyrian Navy

Boots: Grim Black

Weapons: Broadsword Silver

Base: AK Muddy Ground

Base highlight: Pro Acryl Pale Yellow

Base detail: Vallejo Scorpy Green

Ready recruits.

My intent was to have only the guys in tam-o-shanters be in Scottish Republican grey, with the other twenty being more generic, but my brief confused my brother who has never painted historicals before. Part of the problem may have been a picture that scanned fuzzy.

He was a bit disappointed, but hey, I'm not going to look a (beautiful) gift horse in the mouth here. I'll take what he gives me and work with it. The guys in caps could be Scottish BUF, or Republican militia who couldn't find tams. VBCW offers plenty of explanations!

All in all, a productive week for him, not so much for me, but still - making progress!

Happy Solstice, Merry Yule, or whatever you celebrate. Life gets brighter from today (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). See you around.

More Reading

Today, I finished one book, and got well into another. I was sitting at a desk all day while Early Voters filed past me; we're not open Sundays so I was just there to open the door for the election staff. Didn't even have to answer the phone.

I also built some Paperboys for display, some for Halloween and some for Veteran's Day (as wargame minis, the latter will double as part of my International Games Month display).

When I got home, my table was in bright natural light and I considered playtesting Quar: Clash of Rhyfles; then I went to sleep instead, because I'd been at work from 6am. This is my real problem; even a quick three-figure-a-side demo just seems like too much work. Tuesday, then. Must hold myself to that. The alternative is playing outside, which I just might be able to get away with as there shouldn't be anyone else in the "common area" on a weekday morning.

I first discovered Philip Bradley through his On Shaggy Ridge, an engaging account of the Australian 7th Division in late 1943 and one of those little-known jungle battles. Several of his books are now on Hoopla. Australian Light Horse is about the WWI Light Horse Brigade in Egypt and Palestine. There are lots of photos and quotes from the soldiers involved. A good introduction to the campaign, and plenty of useful description for colonial wargaming inspiration. There are side jaunts to Lawrence of Arabia and the air war, too.

So I finished that, and got about a third of the way into Fighting Vichy From Horseback before I left for the day. This is a unique story of British horsed Yeomanry from WWII, and so far it's very appealing. That first third is about the enlistment, training and transport of the Yeomanry from May 1939 on, and there are many interesting tidbits of life in a Yeomanry regiment that could inspire "fluff" for VBCW. There remained a class distinction, with gentry providing many of the officers, but also lots of men with experience in hunting and racing. Horses were simply requisitioned at low prices, and relinquished with emotion, to the point that one is said to have had a note attached - "Seven years old, can be led by a child. Take good care of him." Some of the sergeants and sergeants-major had been commissioned during WWI. Little examination was done, and some of the mares were pregnant and foaled during the voyage to Palestine. A Free French unit rode stallions and care had to be taken that the mounts didn't "mix!"

The author's thesis is that, even at the time, horsed cavalry could still be an integral part of a "modern" army. Cavalry wasn't horsed just because it was cheaper than tanks - it was horsed because horses could go places tanks couldn't - like the heavily broken ground of Lebanon. Also, they feed themselves, though the disadvantage is that they're harder to care for than a motor vehicle - and this was a problem for the WWII British cav, who were largely not trained horsemen to begin with.

He points out that the Germans had cavalry, and even crossed swords with the stereotypical Polish lancers who never actually attacked tanks; while the Soviets used all-arms formations, with riders scouting for the armor! All three services also armed their horsemen with the same heavy weapons as the infantry - this comes up in Bradley's book too, where several times cavalry was able to reach an infilading position with machine guns to cut up Turkish attacks and convoys. 

The Yeomanry were reorganized several times before the campaign, some elements being mechanized, then their vehicles taken away and rehorsed. Part of the problem was that the British were badly overstretched in the Med in mid-1941, and in fact the Yeomanry were the only mobile troops available in Palestine because everyone else - including some of their own - had been sent to Greece or the Western Desert. In times of unrest, their mounts made them useful Aid to the Civil Power.

So, quite interesting, and I look forward to finishing it. Others I've picked up include a biography of sniper Billy Sing (mentioned in the Light Horse volume, though by the time of the Middle Eastern campaign he had transferred out), and Henry Hyde's Tabletop Battle Tactics. I enjoy his style of writing, even though I doubt this volume will be much use to me!

See you next time, hopefully with something more meaty.

Hunker Down and Hobby. Plus 200 Posts!

So, Hurricane Milton went through, which means I have a three-day weekend though I only caught the edge and there wasn't even any rain. A couple coworkers north of me lost power. Spent Wednesday keeping an eye on the track, watching Boney episodes and Games Workshop videos, and building Quar and Paperboys:

Crusaders, three fire-teams of three plus a Yawdryl (Sergeant).

Coftyrans, in WWII British squad organization - rifle group
and machine-gun group. Though the Crusaders get the Brit helmets.

Pirate-era Spanish.

Also finished reading Wellington's Redjackets, a history of the 45th (1st Nottinghamshire Regiment) in the Peninsular War. Good, if typical of the other period regimental histories I've read. I did enjoy learning more about the South American expedition of 1807, and the 1814 invasion of France, which I was unfamiliar with.

Last blogpost was my 200th.

Among the first Asimov
nonfiction I read.

• In the course of the last hundred, I discovered Very British Civil War, obtained nearly all the sourcebooks and plenty of useful miniatures for the period, and began to experiment with rules for the "period." I also discovered Quar.
• I also got in several programs of miniature painting at work, as well as Paperboy displays and papercrafting activities. I've moved to a branch where I have more kids to work with, but fewer teens, so some of that has been reduced in complexity. I'm effectively in charge of a Chess club now, so I have opportunities to experiment.
• I read dozens of books.
• I went to two HMGS-South conventions. I ran a game of Charge! at one.
• I organized and named my Wofun regiments so as to play Charge! The game I ran provided much useful feedback, so I should be able to play some more soon.
• I even painted a little on my own account, for the first time in quite a few years, and obtained some terrain to play with. (I have got to get a lot more hills and colored patches for forests.)
• I started working through the Charles Grant Programmed Wargames scenarios - so far three.
• I played five Minceheim games solo.
• I played in 10 games at Das Krieg Haus over roughly two years - not bad actually, given that I can only get there every other Saturday. (Some of the available Saturdays, I chose to attend the Virtual Wargames Club instead.) These were nearly all GMed by Oriskany Jim or Mark Ritchie.

What didn't I do? That would be actually finishing, or even seriously progressing on - any particular project. Except for the Jacobite mostly-solo campaign.

I would like to:

• Prep and run Picacho Pass - I have an increasingly enthusiastic partner for it, so I really need to get on that.
• Play more programmed scenarios, with an eye to working through the entire book.
• Obtain more natural terrain to do it with.
• Paint the Quar and start playing it.
• Start playing VBCW, or even running it for the club. It doesn't help that there are numerous rules that would work; I am actually considering Quar: Clash of Rhyfles for small games.
• Do some more library gaming and -adjacent activities. My supervisor has voluntold me to prepare take-and-make crafts for the foreseeable future, so Paperboys are on the horizon. I also ended up with accidental responsibility for a display case that is ideal for miniature displays...

Not too shabby, really. I still think this blog is pushing me to actually do hobby stuff; it's also opened up a community of fellow bloggers whose encouragement is just as invigorating. Thanks, and I'll see you in the next hundred!

(Not Quite) Finishing the LDV

Well, I didn't get the Resistance figures finished in time for last VWC. Maybe two weeks down the line then. Part of the problem is that I keep finding parts I missed (taking photos is really good for this) and so completion feels like it's slipping further away. But one step at a time...

I did find an interesting Youtube video that made me think about my scattershot way of doing things:

So I tried (and failed) to focus on these guys. Here's where I am at present, with the rifles and SMGs painted with Sir Coates Silver. This is a Duncan Rhodes paint, and I am painting quite a bit to the accompaniment of his painting videos.

Since, I've done spot colors on things like scarves, bottles and blankets. Scarves, bottles and a pair of glasses in green, socks and blanket in red (I intended to try stripes or a plaid pattern on these, but it didn't work).

Last "base colors" are the hair.  Finally, touch-up. Which I simply haven't got to, partly because I find it frustrating. Photography makes it worse, because pictures are really good for picking up mistakes! At this point, I may just base them and have done; a "dirty" look is less obvious from tabletop height anyway.

Have also done a few more Paperboys, this time for work: 

Ran an early version of The Portable Wargame at work.
Some Patriots, faced by 1812 British I already had, and 
guns and dragoons from the '45 set.

Peter Dennis has most recently put out a very nice
set of "tidelines" with driftwood, stones and even a 
sea turtle for decoration. I put a few out in the children's
area for what I think of as a "guerrilla craft."

I'll be working at a local convention this Friday, and have printed off some Fantasy sheets for a bit more crafting. We'll see how it goes.

Finally, again a bit late, here's the conclusion-video to the club Saipan game:

Leuthen Solo

So it took a while, but I finally finished assembling the church and ten paper regiments (thirty stands) of heavy cavalry. The Prussians got cuirassiers and the Austrians what I think are heavy dragoons. The Wofun chaps will count as "regular" cavalry. Infantry are easier to tell apart, since I have plenty of the plastics in grenadier or fur caps.

"the lighter the category of cavalry
the more pronounced the curve in the blade of its sabre."
- Christopher Duffy

Of course, then I procrastinated getting the game going. It's the last day of December, so I think I can still claim this is an anniversary game. I've also been reading a book on AWI naval warfare, and working on the DnD 5th Edition Player's Handbook (not that that will be much use past May when a new edition comes out).

Junior General's Leuthen scenario is even more basic than others in its class on the site; for example, columns aren't a thing, so all units move at the same speed. Although those 24 inches from the enemy may make double moves. Fair enough.

The setup, on a 4x6 table (smaller than the recommended 5x7):

Range is unusually short in this scenario; most have guns with 24" range, but here it's 12" (infantry have 6"). The sides start 18" apart, so movement is in order. Perhaps to make this feel like a larger battle? On the other hand, units can both move and charge.

Turn 1: On the right, the Austrian cavalry start to sweep round the Prussian left flank. On the left near Leuthen, the Prussian cavalry drive the Austrians back into Leuthen and kill their commander, Nadasty.

Turn 2: The Austrian cavalry drives back the Prussian flank guard, wiping out half of it, but on the left the Prussian horse fight their way into Leuthen. The Prussian infantry and artillery haven't even fired a shot yet.

Decimated Prussian horsw sweep through the village.

Turn 3: Prussian cavalry gets around Leuthen as the Austrian infantry reserves reverse ranks to hold them off. The Prussian left is still holding out against the Austrian cavalry, who can't make it over to Leuthen to hold off the looming Prussian infantry. Cavalry fight their way through the Leuthen defenders.

The equivalent of Rot-Wurzburg did not hold this time.

The church is practically surrounded.

Turn 4: While its left flank desperately holds out in Leuthen under heavy fire from the Prussian center-right, the bulk of the Austrian army tries to form a line behind Leuthen to hold off the Prussian horse. The Prussian cavalry has got past Leuthen by now while the infantry is firing into the town and causing casualties. I think this is definitely a Prussian victory, though their cavalry has taken a beating.

While Prussian horse is following up, I think it's clear
that the Austrian infantry could finish forming a line on
this side of town before the Prussian main force arrives.

I find the Junior General rules a little fiddly for a solo player because of the morale mechanism - before melee both sides must remember to check.

1. Attacker checks - if failed, no charge
2. Defender checks - if failed, lose a base and fall back
3. Melee roll-off - loser loses a base and falls back.

Each scenario is slightly different, but all of the "horse and musket" types taken together make for a nice, simple set that, as intended, would work well for kids. It would help if I had an opponent to remind me of the steps, though!

The other issue - and this is my own fault for "mixing" miniatures - is reassembling the units in their correct groupings and boxes. I might have to find a way of notating the regiments, perhaps by sticking tabs under the bases.

It is two hours to midnight here on New Year's Eve, so I at least completed the Leuthen anniversary game in the same month! All the best to you and yours, and here's to more gaming activity in the new year. Thanks for all the commentary and encouragement I've gotten from readers - community is key to gaming, even online. See you next year!