Wednesday 29 August 2012

More Greeks

In a bit of a change from re basing my WSS collection, I did manage to finish another 12 Greek hoplites, bringing the total up to 32. That would give me 2 units of 16 or standard sized units for Hail Caesar. The figures are mainly the original Immortal miniature plastics with some metal 1st corps figures added in to increase the variety.

Greek Hoplites
Greek Hoplites

With the school holidays slowly coming to an end I managed to drag my daughter around Tynemouth Castle and Priory, in the pouring rain. Taking the benefits of Corporate membership so it only cost me 50p for a pencil for her. It all came to a sudden end when her wobbly tooth suddenly came loose and resulted in us seeking out her mother in the nearest coffee shop. Did manage a few photos though.

The road into the castle
The Priory
The Barbican
The Priory as seen from the barbican

Sunday 26 August 2012

Re basing progress II

An update on the re basing of my War of the Spanish Succession armies. Finally got the bases completed on a second batch, a mixture of some Imperialist horse and foot.






Next up I've made quite a start on the Saxons, so much so that I have run out of bases. More money will be on its way to Warbase. For the Saxons I managed to get all 23 battalions transferred to MDF bases, they are in various stages of have sand and static grass added. I have also transferred 24 Squadrons of horse and 7 artillery batteries. There were also the final 7 squadrons of my Imperial horse done as well.

The still to start list is not so intimidating now. For the Imperialists I need bases for 9 battalions, The Saxons it is 12 squadrons of horse and 6 artillery batteries. After that I will need to make a start on the Savoyard's, 12 battalions, 16 squadrons and 3 artillery batteries.

All of this re basing has got me thinking of finishing a small project on the Battle of Friedlingen. I should have enough figures left over to complete the Imperialists. I need to start on the French, about 8 regiments of Horse and Dragoons supported by 14 infantry battalions.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Re basing progress

Just an update on my re basing project. So far I have completed 20 squadrons of horse and very happy I am with them. See the pictures below.


Above are 3 Imperial Curiassier regiments each of 4 squadrons. Front to back are the 2 Swabian regiments, Von Wurtemberg and Stauffenberg followed by the Franconian regiment Brandenburg Bayreuth.


Next up 2 Dragoon regiments each of 4 squadrons. In front are the Franconian regiment Bibra and in the rear the Swabian regiment Hohenzollern.

I've now got an artillery battery in the process of being based along with the brigadiers and Generals. As my bases arrived from Warbase, I also made a start on some more cavalry and the first of the infantry. I've got 13 squadrons and 15 battalions transferred to MDF bases and sand added, They are a mixture of Hessians, Austrians, Swabian and Franconian Circle troops.
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Next up I'll make a start on the Saxon contingent, which will probably use up all of my bases and require another order to Warbase.

Sunday 19 August 2012

The Work bench

Just a quick update on painting progress. On the Greeks, I've completed another 12 hoplites, bringing the total up to 32. I must say on these I prefer the water slide transfer to the LBM, much easier to apply. I'll post pictures of the hoplites once I get the bases finished.

I have also decided upon re basing my entire WSS collection. The original card bases that I had used were fine, but were slightly too large for Mike's rules and Mick's hexes. I've decided to use the MDF bases by Warbase, much more uniform than my card bases. This will be a mammoth task 76 squadrons of horse need to be done, 18 artillery pieces and 56 battalions of infantry as well as accompanying mounted Brigadiers. I've made a start, 22 squadrons currently ripped off the card and put on their nice new MDF bases. I've just got a little static grass to add and they will be done. I'll post pictures of each completed contingent when they are done.

On a gaming front, I went to the club and ran a quick game of Rogue Trader for my nephews and a couple of others who joined on the spur of the moment. The game revolved between 3 forces trying to locate the Cube of Chaos and retrieve it before the others. A fourth force of locals were against everyone. The kids seemed to enjoy it which was the main thing. Must admit I prefer the original Rogue trader, great for small scale games with a bit of a story instead of games where the side with the biggest guns win  (or can spend the most money on the latest must have item). A few pictures of the game for you to enjoy.

Layout of Old New New York
Renegades open fire from the building
Local law enforcement discover the cube
This unfortunate ganger met a grisly end
The cube begins to move as an Inquisitor approaches
More gangers arrive to support their colleagues

Saturday 18 August 2012

20 questions

Following on from the discussions on Ray and Fran's blogs, decided to take the plunge and answer the 20 questions. So here goes.

1.  Favourite Wargaming period and why?
The War of the Spanish Succession, great battles, the Duke of Marlborough and it was the first period I ever got into, still play it now

2.  Next period, money no object?
I would do the Napoleonic, and use the money for someone else to paint the bloody things as the thought of those uniforms make me shudder in dread. Plus the Nappy uniform police.

3.  Favourite 5 films?
Star Wars (any), blew me away as a kid, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Platoon and any thing featuring Adam Sandler.

4.  Favourite 5 TV series?
Band of Brothers, Heroes, Two and a half me, Farscape and Mash

5.  Favourite book and author?
It would be the Warlord series by Bernhard Cornwell

6.  Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
The Duke of Marlborough. The man was a genius leading a poly got force against the mighty French.

7.  Favourite Wargames rules?
Has to be Fire and Fury, keep going back to these after 20 years.

8.  Favourite Sport and team?
It has to be the beautiful game and the once mighty Black and Whites (Come on the Toon) (That is Newcastle United for those from the wrong side of the water)

9.  If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
  The Grassy knoll so I could point out the shooter and end all the conspiracy theories.

10. Last meal on Death Row?
All you can eat Buffet, I'll make the sods wait before they can take me.

11. Fantasy relationship and why?
Megan Fox, enough said.

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?

Not sure on this one, probably a Harrison Ford type, bit of an all rounder.

13. Favourite Comic  Superhero?


Never read many super hero comics so would have to go for Batman

14. Favourite Military quote?
It's already been used, but napoleon's "Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake"

15. Historical destination to visit?
I'd love to see Antioch, bit too far to travel as scared of flying. One day I might make it.

16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
Would have to be selling my 15mm ACW collection only to have to re paint the whole thing again.

17. Favourite Fantasy job?
Being paid to sit at home doing what I want to do.

18. Favourite Song Top 5?


I don't have a particular favourite, but enjoy most things by U2

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
My first Display game at a wargames show, My Viking layout, got a great sense of achievement putting that together.

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you
Z-List celebrities and reality TV shows, whoever thought of that garbage should be shot. Bad manners, people who never thank you for holding a door open, next time I'll let it slam in your face. The Nappy uniform police (you weren't their so how can you be so damn sure). Beardy wargamers who want to win at all costs (it's just a game).


Sunday 12 August 2012

Battle of Paltzig

I had the extreme good fortune on Saturday to be involved in a re fight of the battle of Paltzig, 1758, Prussians against Russians. I knew very little about the battle apart from the Prussians were outnumbered and got beat. The lack of knowledge made the game for me. Give the role of Prussian C-in-C by my erstwhile colleagues Dave and Neal, we thought we had come up with a cunning plan. Concentrating our small force, using the Hussars to screen the advancing infantry, protecting them from the numerous Russian guns, we aimed to smash into the Russian Left wing. Dave with a small force of cavalry and Infantry would use a small ridge to hide his progress to hit the same Russian position in the flank.

Mick, our host had already set the Russians up in their original positions, they looked rather numerous, however what we didn't know was due to the nature of the terrain we could not see what was behind these Russian positions and boy did we get a surprise. Our initial attack was all we could hope for with the added bonus of the Hussars knocking out 3 Russian batteries. Dave's cavalry got to grip with some Russian hussars and cossacks forcing them from the field. Neal's infantry attack got stuck in and after some fierce Russian resistance their line broke. We had captured a ridge and continued the advance. This was when a second Russian line appeared and we slammed straight into it.

So far the Russian left wing had remained stationery, silly I thought, if they turned and marched on our flank it could prove very problematic. It wasn't until game move 14 that they eventually began to move, their duty done. They had screen yet more Russian and Infantry which moved to support their right wing.

As our attack continued the Russian right began to fragment, Neal continued to push on breaking a second and then a third Russian infantry line. Myself with the reserve continued to cover our right flank, the cavalry getting heavily involved with more  Russian Hussars and Cossacks before sending them packing. It was then that what we thought was a decisive moment when the Russian heavy cavalry appeared on their Right and slammed into the attack. Dave first held them before forcing them back and destroying the formation. With most of our units now nearing exhaustion, the whole Russian army was revealed. We hadn't been just outnumbered, it was between 2 and 3 to 1 odds. Russian Infantry, thousands of them counter attacked and after a desperate struggle the Prussian infantry was forced back, committing the last of our cuirassiers to check the Russian assault. Our position on our left was still strong but the centre was fought out, the Russain numbers began to tell and we called it a day. We had failed in our objective of smashing through the Russians and re opening our lines of communication to Berlin.

We did though take a moral victory, we had performed substantially better than the Prussians had on the actual day. We inflicted between 30-40 % casualties on the Russians but to no avail. Great game with great opponents and friends.

A few photos of the game for you.

Starting set up
Russian left wing

Prussian assault on the Russian right wing
The link below shows more photos of the game. Photos

Friday 10 August 2012

All Greek to me

The first update of my latest project, 28mm Greeks. I've had this project on the back burner for a number of years now and was finally inspired to get them started. So far I have completed 1 unit of hoplites (majority of the figures the original Immortal plastics with a few 1st corps thrown in)  and 1 unit of peltasts (all from 1st corps). The 2 ranges are very compatible size wise, thought the 1st corps hoplites are slightly chunkier, but not noticeably so.

I am undecided on whether to use 16 or 20 figure hoplite units for Hail Caesar. the 16 is the minimum but 20 just look better. I also have a box from Victrix which will give me 112 hoplites. I'll need to add some more skirmishers and a small unit of cavalry.


Hoplites
Hoplites
Peltasts
Also as part of my own scenery building I decided to put together some roads. I made them out of 2 inch wide pieces of MDF, taken from the bottom of an old set of drawers. These were then coated in some terracotta paint with some flock mixed in for texture. Once dry I gave them a quick dry brush of cream. Turned out not to bad for about half an hours work.

Base coated terracotta
Finished dirt roads

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Over the Hill

It's been a while, well over a week since I last posted, just didn't have the energy to get anything posted. This is not to say I have done nothing, far from it. I had a second ECW game against my nephews contesting a river, turned into a hard fought draw. The Royalist horse were routed but the infantry stubbornly held onto the brides.

Royalist foot hold the farm
Parliamentarian foot begin their assault
Royalist foot hold of the Scots

Next up I had a game at a guest at the Border Reiver club near Stannington. Dave put on a French Revolutionary game with his lovely figures using General de Brigade rules. Never played these rules before or no much about the period so was perfect to take command of a large force of raw Frenchmen. To say it ended in a shambles is an understatement. My infantry assaults were continually repulsed and the french cavalry was put to flight against their Austrian counterparts. Still an enjoyable game against some friendly chaps.

French infantry storm through the vineyard
Austrian Grenzer hold off repeated attacks
Austrian Hussars on the rampage
 
Not quite wargame related, I have had to spend a considerable amount of energy keeping my daughter entertained. This include a nice trip up to Warkworth and a look around the castle. Warkworth was built around 1380 for the first earl of Northumberland. That is one of the beauties of living up north, we have castles, roman walls, manor houses, Pele towers etc all over the place and usually right on the doorstep.

View from the Gatehouse of the keep and Lions tower to the left.
Gray Mare's Tail Tower and outer wall

And finally I had the celebrations for my 40th birthday (boy do I feel old now). Though on the bright side, I did get a new Blackberry Playbook and some Athenian Hoplites from Victrix. Bit of a clue to my current painting commitments with pictures to follow in the next couple of days.