December 2016 – Steve’s Hobby Blog

Whoops! Santa got it wrong again…

If December is a busy month in the wargames industry, January and February out shines it every year. People are often puzzled by this and would have guessed that December and in particular, the Christmas Shopping rush would be the time of peak trading. There’s a number of good reasons why it is not the case. In a business governed to some extent by the Post office, Christmas provides an artificial barrier to overseas customers who are put off by the Last Day of Posting advice and the chance that their parcel will be delayed in the Christmas peak posting period. The result is that trading is slightly down for our overseas customers. Also, as we go into the Christmas gift buying period, our largely Male dominated customer base, leaving things to the last week or so, realise that they better sort out the Christmas gifts that they need to purchase and so are distracted by other issues. Suddenly, the Marks And Spencers underwear department is no longer off limits or they get trapped in the everlasting queue in the Pandora Bracelet shop. I’m sure that it takes three days to get anything in the Victoria Centre branch – there’s even a queue to get into the flipping shop.

This clip from Father Ted could easily be a group of wargamers rather than priests….

The real issue though, is the lack of present buying by our non wargaming friends, relatives, partners and wives when it comes to our hobby. Now I know that I am in danger of being consigned to the Donald Trump Feminist Appreciation Society with my comments above but there is a certain truth to the following. In the run up to Christmas, it’s not unusual for wargamers to be asked what they would like for Christmas. The reply goes something like this: ‘Well I would like a Panzer III Ausf. J with a long barrelled 75mm gun and if you can get it with side skirts, even better… Or… I could do with a new shirt for work’. My bet is that it’s the work shirt that gets wrapped up nine times out of ten. However, the aforesaid non wargaming present givers usually redeem themselves by tucking a tenner or two in your card ‘ to treat yourself to that tank thingy….’ So a slight famine in December turns into a feast in January as wargamers search out that elusive model that will complete their army.

So if you find yourself with a pile of nice new socks, pants and a new work shirt at Christmas but you do have some Christmas cash to spend, please visit us at Arcane Scenery and Models , we may have just what you are looking for. And to make your cash go a bit further, we offer free postage worldwide on most of our lines. Even better, if you enter blog2016 as you go through checkout, we”ll knock 10% off of the bill. The code is valid until 20th January 2017.

Happy New Year!

A Review of the Year Part 2

To continue with my wargaming year, the latter half of the year was as much about gaming as it was painting. In July, inspired as much by my attendance at the Wargames Illustrated Saga Iron man day as by the fantastic Footsore figures, I decided to paint a new War Band – Dark Age Irish. The Iron Man day at WI HQ was great fun and despite my poor results, I had a great time. If there is anyone out there thinking of attending one of these events, I would thoroughly recommend that you do so. The atmosphere is very relaxed thanks to the hosting skill of Dan Falconbridge, WI head man, and it is an ideal opportunity to try out something new. I think that Congo, Deadmans Hand and Frostgrave are just some of the events set for this coming year.

Irish Slingers ready for action

August continued with the focus on gaming. The club had decided to add ‘Muskets and Tomahawks’ to our gaming repertoire. However, as we had mixed success with this rules set, Andy Callan came up with one of his rules amalgamations, ‘Sharp Tomahawks’ or ‘Rules for old war gamers with short attention Spans’. I’ll repeat the link to the condensed rules here:

Sharp Tomahawks

Please feel free to print them off and use them for your own games.

Skirmishers engage at the woods edge in a game of ‘Sharp Tomahawks’

In September, I made good progress with the Irish Warband as well as fitting in a short break ‘Up North’ to visit Hadrians Wall, Lindisfarne Island and other iconic Castles in the area. Great inspiration for more games of Saga!

Irish warriors ready for battle

By October, I had finished my Irish warband, including making some scenery for my Saga games and had re started work on Napoleonic Portuguese.

Brian Boru surveys the battlefield.

My Irish War band consists of 51 figures, all of the Footsore Irish! I thought that the sculpts were so nice that I might as well paint the lot. Looking forward, I can see the same thing being repeated for either the late Romans ( If we ever do see the new Saga supplement Aetius & Arthur) or AngloSaxons. I really enjoy playing Saga, it’s just a struggle to get my gaming buddies to join in!

The finished dark age house, complete with new owner.

In November, the Portuguese took over the painting desk as I committed to finishing the brigade, some 96 troops in total. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get there but I do have 72 finished now! I did also get to see my article published in WI!

Painting Portuguese article

And so as we come to the end of the year, I am finishing off those last 24 Portuguese as well as a couple of mounted officers. My tally for the year is just shy of 200 painted figures. If you include horses as separate figures, it’s just over that! I’ve played well over 50 games, including Black Powder, Saga, Lion Rampant, Sharp Practice, Muskets and Tomahawks, Sharp Tomahawks, Chain of Command and The Men who Would be Kings, visited at least a dozen museums or historical sites, completed a distance learning course on the Battle of Agincourt and I have not counted the books, magazines and internet articles that I have read.

23rd Ameida Regiment take shape.

All in all, I’m quite happy with the enjoyment that my hobby has given me and I can only hope that the same is true of my customers and friends that are part of this hobby that we call wargaming. So Once again, I would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and of course, a Happy New Year. I mentioned last week that there was a bonus for those who bothered to read the blog. If you do decide to shop at Arcane Scenery and Models over the Festive period, please enter the code blog2016 when you go through checkout. You will get 10% off of your purchase as well as the usual free postage worldwide. There are some exclusions, we can only post aerosols to limited locations in the UK and some of the woodland scenic products are banned for export to Australia, New Zealand and Japan but you still have another 5000 or so lines to choose from! Of course, feel free to pass the code on to your gaming buddies – the code will work until mid January 2017. Once again, Merry Christmas!

I forgot to mention that I painted the goats…Goats in a manger is about as Christmassy as it gets here…

A Review of the Year

Before you are put off by the title, this will be a Brexit, Trump, Sport and Dead Rock Star free zone, which I suspect will make it unique amongst reviews of the year. Mind you, there is a danger that it will read like one of those round robins that you sometimes get in Christmas Cards. I just thought that it would be worth reflecting on what I have achieved this year in my Hobby and perhaps it will help anybody reading this to reflect on their own achievments. I do find that writing a blog helps to keep me on track with my hobby and whenever I am feeling jaded, the thought of writing the blog spurs me on. I must enjoy it – I have written 48 blog entries so far this year, so I should hit 50 by the end of the year.

Napoleon & his Guard

Strangely, for me, I started the year with a French Napoleonic subject, Napoleons Coach. I have no intention of ever painting a Napoleonic French Army, but this model from Warlord Games caught my eye. I think that the figures are beautifully sculpted and the piece makes a nice addition to my display Cabinet! I like making these mini diorama pieces and I hope that in the coming year, I will spend a bit more time on this sort of project. I already have my eye on my next display piece, the new Napoleonic boat from Perry Miniatures:

The latest from Perry Miniatures!

Talking of Perry Miniatures, my next project was the Perry’s British Napoleonic Dragoons boxed set. I completed these as the British 11th Light Dragoons for my Waterloo army.

11th Light Dragoons

Looking to the future, I hope to finish two other regiments to complete the brigade but I suspect they are on the distant horizon..

February saw slow progress as regards painting but our Wargaming group did stage a ‘mega battle’, the Retreat From Bitteburg. These battles are an opportunity to put all of our ‘toys’ on the table and fight for a full day rather than the usual club evening battle that we conduct. The battle ended in a French Victory and inspired me to try and put together a campaign for the club. It didn’t quite work out but I haven’t yet abandoned the idea.

The Scots Greys prepare to charge

In March, I completed yet another British Napoleonic Infantry battalion, the 32nd Foot. The intention is to build the 5th Infantry Division, with the 28th North Gloucester and the 79th Camerons.

First Battalion 32nd Regiment ‘Cornwall’ ready for duty!

I have actually started the 28th but they will feature in a future blog!

And so into April, which despite being a busy month with us attending Salute in London, I put together a small Vignette, my Campaign General, Sir Sydney Ruff- Diamond.

Sir Sydney Ruff- Diamond watches on as Private James Riddles rebukes the French!

As well as Sir Sydney, I also knocked out some Snow bears as a little project for DeeZee;

The finished Snow Bears

May saw a change of direction. Inspired by reading a book about the Napoleonic campaigns in the Caribbean, I painted another batch of troops for this theatre. This time it was a company of 14 Maroons from Trent Miniatures. Who knows, may be this year I will get to play a Caribbean themed game!

Maroon skirmishers

At the start of the Summer, June seemed to be a bit of a flat month in regards to painting but in reality I had several projects on the go. I started my Portuguese Infantry for the Wargames Illustrated article that I was writing, the Dark Age Irish were under way. In reality, it was quite a productive month and I was ready for my weeks holiday in the beautiful island of Skiathos.

11th Penamacor Regiment

So that was the first half of the year over. In the next blog post, I’ll show you what I have been up to in the last part of the year and for those reader(s) that do stay with it, there will be a little bonus at the end…

Merry Christmas!

O.C.D? – No, just organised.

Good grief! What happened to November? I was supposed to have finished my Portuguese brigade by now. As usual, life has got in the way, and as we approach the ‘Season to be Jolly’ there is less opportunity to sneak off to the garage and get some painting done. I guess the clue to my progress has been in my blog – no pictures of Portuguese in the last few posts. Mind you, I have had some good wargames with my friends and as I will show you, I have nearly finished the complete regiment of the 23rd Portuguese line infantry.

In the meantime, chaos theory has proved it’s existence in my games room (garage) and the amount of stuff lying around is preventing me from actually using my gaming table. Quite how it all got there is a mystery. It was time for a tidy up again. I find that too much clutter is just a distraction. The first task was to get rid of all the sprues with spare bits from the Portuguese Infantry that I haven’t used. I just cannot bring myself to throw away anything that might be of use in a future, as yet, unimagined project, so like most modellers I have a fairly comprehensive ‘bits box’ or rather a collection of bits boxes. They actually date back to the start of my hobby in the 70’s. I kid you not! Here is a picture of one box:

My early bits box – spot the Almark Japanese Infantry figure..

The sharp eye’d amongst you will see crew members from the Airfix Dennis Fire Engine, Old Bill bus, the bits from an Airfix Highlander and some racing car crew, some of whom found life as converted snow speeder crew for a star wars diorama that I built. Part of the fun when building from scratch or converting was to rake through the bits box in search of a piece that you knew would be just right if only you could find it. I decided that some sort of organisation was required. So my sophisticated solution was to put all the little bits into a plastic bag…

My first attempt at organisation – seperate out the small bits!

Even now, it’s fun to look through the heap. Oh look! There’s a frozen Han Solo from the Boba Fett ship that I built. Clearly, there must be a better way. As I re started historical war gaming, I needed a new system for spares. So I treated myself to a set of mini drawers – I now had the height of sophistication in bits boxes. A separate drawer for Dark ages, a drawer for Napoleonic Heads, a drawer for right arms – you get the picture.

The New Bits system!

However, there is still a slight problem. Never mind the space that the drawers started to take up, I have to remember what’s in each drawer and finding the right arm (literally!) is still a faff! And so, I now introduce my latest innovation in the world of bits boxes!

Zip lock bags and post it note technology!

Oh yes, zip lock bags and post it notes are some of my favourite stationery essentials, so why not combine the two and use them to catalogue the spare bits as I cut them from the sprue. As you can see, the hand writing is a bit dodgy, as is the spelling – I meant ‘Barretina’ – but once they are placed in a card index box, I will always be able to locate the bit that I want…..

And so back to the Portuguese. The regiment is taking shape and here is just a quick preview:

23rd Ameida Regiment take shape.

As you can see, I have included a couple of British Officers as part of the command, which I think adds a bit of ‘flavour’ to the regiment and is a fair reflection of the composition of the Portuguese Army in the late Peninsular period. Once the basing is complete, I’ll post some better pictures of the whole regiment. In the meantime I’m off to write some Christmas cards. Bah! Humbug!

Are you Napoleon or Wellington?

Before anyone gets too excited, it’s worth pointing out that the question is aimed at Black Powder players and is somewhat rhetorical. The question arose from my last battle at the White Hart with Duncan. A battle that I lost and as is often the case, as I drove home, I reflected on the turning points of the engagement. Of course the dice could have been kinder but that is often the first thought when you lose a battle. You remember all those failed saves, poor rolls to hit, command rolls that failed and of course the dice imposed blunders.

Sir Sydney Ruff- Diamond watches on as Private James Riddles rebukes the French!

However, there was a moment when I recognised that some of my frustration should have been reserved for the way in which I had been managing my army, in particular the use of my Commander, Sir Sydney Ruff-Diamond.

The battle between Duncan and I was a pretty standard club game, although Duncan had chosen to make one of his Brigades reflective of a French Avant Garde brigade. It was composed of four small light battalions, three small light cavalry regiments and two horse artillery guns. A strange mix to be sure and not from the standard Black powder order of battle. To add to the unfamiliar line up, another brigade was composed of ‘large’ units of Polish Battalions, with a further brigade of French Infantry, supported by Heavy cavalry. I was fielding my usual British force of 3 Brigades of infantry in the centre, supported by a brigade of Light Cavalry on the left and a brigade of Heavies on the right.

The battle at first followed my usual plan. Form a decent defensive line, hold the flanks with the cavalry, threatening when there was an opportunity and break the opposition with fire power. There was a problem though. At first the French Avant Garde brigade (or light Brigade), was just a nuisance, picking away at my superior numbers. It was also somewhat cumbersome in that with so many units to move, brigade orders were not suitable and inevitably a failed order resulted in many of the units not moving.

Napoleon takes charge!

That changed when Duncan committed his commander in chief ( Napoleon no less) to the far flank of his army to support the brigadier. With two attempts at command rolls, the brigade stated to function even more effectively. Not only were the units moving as they should but there were two commanders on the spot to rally shaken units and send them back into battle again.

Meanwhile, the British continued with the time honoured method of leaving the army commander some where in the middle of the battlefield just in case he was needed to move a unit. Of course the problem being, the further you are from your units, the more likely you are to suffer a penalty on your command roll and fail. By not committing my Commander he became ineffective, whereas Napoleon was right on the spot, controlling the critical thrust of the French attack.

Polish Artillery supported by infantry

The outcome of the battle was resting on either flank. To my left, I was losing to the French Light Brigade who were gaining territory and gradually shaking more units than was healthy. To my right, I was enjoying a certain amount of success, although in driving back the large units of Polish Infantry I was again taking casualties. Things came to a head when my right flank failed to sort itself out from repelling the Polish and began to fall back. Had Sir Sydney been on hand, he may have been able to rally a unit or order a spare battalion to plug the gap. He was however, sitting serenely in the centre, just in case he was needed…

The balance tilted in favour of the French and it was Napoleon himself who was on hand to observe the final casualties forcing the British from the table!

So in future, I will remember that the Commander figure of my army is not just there as decoration. He needs to be near to the critical action to support the brigadier should things not work out as planned.

As we all know, at Waterloo, it was Wellington who was the ‘hands on’ General, riding up and down the Allied Lines all day, bolstering his troops where necessary. On the other hand, it was Napoleon that was ‘hands off’ delegating control of the Battle to his Marshals. Perhaps in future, Sir Sydney will be more like Wellington!

Monthly Archives: December 2016