Border Reiver 2013

Today I attended the Border Reiver show held at the Gateshead International Stadium. It was my first attendance at the new venue and its much more spacious that the Arena, however it did get hot, though thankfully not as bad as it was last year according to others from the club.

The club put on a demonstration game for day 2 of the Battle of Gettysburg. We were using 15mm figures from my own collection as well as those from George and Neal. There was a mix of manufacturers on display from Old Glory, Warrior, Essex, Peter Pig, battle honours and Mini figs. Harry did all of the terrain boards while Neal and myself provided most of the fencing and buildings, We were going to use the Fire and Fury rules, but in the end decided to just move the figures to there position as they did historically to try and demonstrate how the battle unfolded on the day.

I did manage to take a number of photographs of the game. I was rather pleased with how it turned out and we did get quite a bit of passing traffic and people stopping for a chat which is always nice.

Initial set up

Union position on Seminary ridge

Sickles and III Corps

Behind the Union lines

The view from the Round tops

Ward's Brigade

Hood's Division begins their approach

III Corps falls back

Rebel II Corps advance through Gettysburg

II Corps falters under the Rebel assault

V Corps occupy the Round tops

VI Corps finally arrives to bolster the line

VI Corps start to deploy

Rebs assault the Round tops

Johnson's Division crosses Rock Creek

Rebel III Corps finally in to action

With running the game I didn't get much of a chance to visit the other games. I was was impressed with the Falkirk Wargmaes display for  the AWI, sorry forgot the camera here. There were a couple of 40K games on display, full of some excellent figures including Titans. The game that really caugh my breath was Blood Bowl. The Custom built stadium was awesome (sorry guys I forgot which club you were) the chaps were very friendly talking about the game and the dstadium and all the fans. Also liked the custom built Treeman for the Halfling team.

Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl

Lastly I have to mention the Wings of War/Glory participation game that was run by Neal from the club. Seems a lot of fun was had and the table was constantly busy throughout the day. Neal reckoned that thery used 35 different planes on the day. He is already talking of improvements for the next show.

Wings of Glory

Wings of Glory

For purchases I was very restrained this year, keeping to what i had made a list for. I did pick up some figures from Andy, 15mm Austrian napoleonics, some Austrian Landwher from Colonel Bill as well as assorted MDF bases and paints. There was one bargain on the Bring and buy which tempted me. A full brigade of napoleonic French nicely painted for £50.00, when I returned with the money they had already gone.

Was the show worth it, yes definatly and I will try and make it next year.

Crimean War part IV

I've been making some more progress on this project, starting on a second infantry division. First up is the Borodino regiment. This comes in at 12 stands (all four battalions) As usual the figures are all from Pendraken.

Borodino Regiment

As usual I've gone for a slight mix in headgear, just to give the unit a bit of a campaign look which is rather difficult with 10mm figures. The next unit for this division is the only unit of skirmishers available to me. With the 6th Rifle regiment being in skirmish order I dispensed with the greatcoats.

6th Rifle battalion

Lastly I've painted up 3 pieces of artillery, 1 of which is destined for the 13/14th infantry division I've already painted. I was a bit worried painting up artillery in 10mm scale but needn't have been as the proved rather easier than I thought.

Artillery

On the painting table I have 2 further infantry regiments underway which I hope to have completed in the next couple of days. The last unit in this particular division is of some sailors. Now Pendraken do not have any as part of their range and it looks like I am going to have to either use some left over infantry without greatcoats or order from Magister Militum and hope they match in scale wise.

Different period and scale, Napoleonics in 15mm. I've finally succumbed to the bug, but in so much that I am prepared to collect huge armies, just enough for re fighting smaller actions. I've gone for the 1809 Brunswickers which will give me 3 small battalions of infantry and a large regiment of Hussars. I'll support these with a brigade of Austrians, a nice mix of Black and white. To oppose these I am going for 3 to 4 regiments of Westphalians and a couple of regiments of French infantry and cavalry. That will be more than enough troops for fighting games on a 6x4 table. I will be able to theme the games around the 1809 campaign in northern Germany and the Brunswickers march to the coast and into British service. Think I'll need to put together a paint plan to focus my efforts. Wish me luck

Ventosa Part 2

Well this week we got to fight our game to its rather quick conclusion. The French flank drove in hard against my left flank. Despite holding the initial charge, one of my regiments eventually broke under severe pressure from 2 French columns. As confusion began to spread through the British ranks I realised one of my brigades was broken. This was not good.

French columns drive home their advantage

Eventually I was able to bring over the available regiments from my right flank to try and shore up the position. Furious firefights erupted across both fronts and some well aimed British musketry managed to hold off the French columns when at the end of turn 12 Neal called time. A quick count up of victory points saw the game end in a very hard fought draw. It does make you wonder how the French on the actual day performed so poorly as even with some well drilled and veteran troops I was hard pressed to hold the ridge, especially when the flank attack appeared.

British line tries ot reorganise

British form line to give fire

End position

All in all a very enjoyable game. Rules used were Black Powder and Albion Triumphant. Since I've been quite enthused I am looking to put together a small Napoleonic force, discovered that Dave has a large collection of Austrians so don't want to duplicate that. Now I am looking at Westphalians and Brunswickers for the 1809 campaign

Penninsular War

This week I was lucky enough to take part in the Ventosa scenario as part of Neal's Peninsular campaign. I was given control of the British against Dave and the French. Things were going quite well early on as I managed to break the French Brigade attacking to my front, however the arrival of Fresh French troops including cavalry behind my left flank was a bit of a shock and put the game back in the balance. We should get the game finished next week and I'm looking forward to it, even though Napoleonics have never been my thing. It has got me thinking about doing some Austrians in 15mm. Well on with some pictures to whet your appetite.

British await the French assault

French advance

Give them fire!

French line destroyed

French assault against the left of the line

French reinforcements arrive

The British about face to meet the new threat

French assault goes in.

The arrival of the French cavalry is proving a thorn in my side as I have no cavalry of my own with which to counter them. I'll need to neutralise them before too long as they are forcing my lines into squares making them vulnerable to French musketry.

On the painting front I've done some more for the Crimean, another infantry battalion, riflemen and some artillery of which I'll post pictures of shortly.

This heat is killing me

Well in true English fashion I am complaining about the weather. Seems we are never happy, it's either raining, too cold or  too windy, but this heat is draining me. The muggy nights mean very little sleep and after a day at work I cannot be bothered to paint figures or update the blog, it's just too hot.

So the figures below were painted a couple of weeks ago, it's only now that I've got around to posting pictures of them So without further ado here they are. First up is a 15mm Skytrex Sherman tank from my spare box, must of been a left over from the US force I sold last year. The commander figure I believe is from Battlefront.

I'll need to get some decals to finish the model off. I have also discovered a second tank that I will get painted up. A shame they don't fit with my Early war Brits.

Next up is further progress on my Crimean War project. I have finished all the infantry for the 13/14th division. I have also painted up 2 divisional commanders and the command base for Prince Menshikov. The infantry are all from Pendraken and the Officers from Old Glory.

Prince Menshikov and Officers

13/14th Division

13/14th Division

Now I've got 3 more regiments undercoated and ready to paint as well as sufficient figures to complete a second division. However these have been sitting for over a week as I cannot bear the heat in my painting room. Oh for a little rain to cool things off.

Bolt Action game

On Thursday night at the club I put on a small game using the Bolt action rules from Warlord. Seemed only fitting as i had finished painting up the German platoon to face the British. I even copied an idea from Neal and used a gaming cloth to cover the hills to tray and give the layout a more natural look as it was meant to be rolling countryside. The pictures don't give it justice but both the players and myself were impressed with the look of the layout.

The British force consisted of a 2nd Lieutenant, 3 squads of riflemen with a Bren team each. A light mortar team and anti tank rifle team. Their role was to hold a bridge and prevent its capture by the Germans. The Germans had to take the bridge and push through to a farm house. The Germans consisted of a 2nd Lieutenant, 3 squads of 10 infantry, a light mortar team and 2 Machine gun teams.

The game was played more to get an understanding of the rules as both John and Chris had never played them before and I've only had a couple of games with Neal umpiring. I think we got through about 4 moves, slightly slowed as we used normal dice and had to keep checking what each number was for (need to get some Bolt action dice). The game petered out into a bit of a stalemate, both sides got into cover and became reluctant to move from it, very realistic in both my and the players view. It would be at this point that both sides would probably have called in support to shift their opponent.

A view from the German position

Germans go to ground

British infantry in position

All in an enjoyable game and we are sure to give the rules another run out, possibly introduce a couple of armoured vehicles though proxies may be required as I have nothing yet for the Early War period.

Crimean War project part 2

I have manged to get a second infantry regiment done. This time the 9 stands of the Minsk regiment. As usual the figures are all by Pendraken and the bases from Warbase. Sorry the pictures are not the best as I need new batteries for the camera and just used my mobile.

Minsk regiment

Minsk regiment

I've now got the next 2 regiments prepared ans ready for undercoating. These 2 are only 6 stands each so I may paint them simultaneously. As Pendraken do not produce any Generals in their range I have picked up some 10mm Russian Napoleonic generals from Old Glory. These are very nice figures and are compatible with the Pendraken range.

On a gaming front I managed to get in a game of Bloodbowl on Thursday night against my nephew. Now I haven't played these in years but we had fun. To keep things simple we both used the basic human teams, with my Norse used as a proxy. I eventually ran out the winner 2-1, but we both put it down to a training game.

Brionne Cavaliers try to protect the ball carrier

Odins Fury smash their way through

Thrower lines up a pass to the first score

Carnage on the sidelines

Both sides struggled in the first hals to inflict any casualties. That changed in the second half when I managed to remove 4 of the Brionne Cavaliers players from the game.