The Age of Simar – One mans meat…..

There is an awful lot of web space and angst currently being devoted to the latest offering from Games Workshop, the Age of Sigmar. Well, although it’s not really any of my business ( or thank goodness, any part of my business), I thought that I would add my two pennyworth for the entertainment of my two readers….

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I’m not going down the road of the ‘Games Workshop Corp.’ is terrible rant. Nor do I fall into the ‘we owe our hobby to Games workshop’ groove either. That, to my mind, is the nonsensical equivalent of thanking the current management and personnel of EMI for finding the Beatles and inventing popular music.

I do understand the anguish of some gamers though. To use another metaphor, the current situation with Sigmar seems to be the equivalent of a Football club being bought up by a new owner. And the new owner wants to change the club name, or shirt colour or just seems intent on evicting the lifelong supporters that can no longer afford the new season ticket prices ( safe in the knowledge that there are plenty that can…)

The problem for the supporters is that they have invested a lot of time and money in ‘their’ club and even more importantly to them, emotional ownership and support of the ‘brand’. Which of course, is what marketing is all about. What the fans haven’t always grasped, is that their real love is for the game itself and there are plenty of other teams out there that you can enjoy watching. Even better, the smaller the team, the more appreciated your support will be.

And so it goes with gaming. If you are disenchanted with the latest Fantasy offering from GW, don’t waste energy wishing it would change back to the ‘old days’. Find the bit of the hobby that you love and move on. It may surprise some gamers that Games Workshop don’t own the Fantasy World. They were just very good at taking what was already out there and developing it into a game and to be fair, a very good one at that. Times have changed again though and there  are plenty of games systems out there with more being published all of the time. No doubt this is part of the reason that Games Workshop have had to change. But if Games Workshop need to change, then may be it’s ‘Fans’ or ‘Supporters’ should as well.

Space Marine Collection

It’s a process that I have been through myself. I used to be a fanatical supporter of Games Workshop from the launch of the first Space Marines plastic boxed set through to about the Black Reach edition of 40K. In fact it was back in 1982 that I first saw some Citadel miniatures that were painted to a standard that I’d not seem in model soldiers before that brought me back into the hobby. Note that I said, brought ‘me back into the hobby’.

I became disappointed with the constant changes to the rules, codex creep and even worse Games Workshops cavalier attitude to the older gamer and long standing customers. The light bulb moment for me was watching some guys at War Hammer World playing a Napoleonic Game and realising that they were having more fun than me. The rest, as they say, is history and for me that is now my hobby!

Necrons in Stasis

I still have my old GW 40K armies in the cabinet. I enjoy looking at them and I’m pleased with the armies that I created and the fun that I had. Who knows, I may dust them down and get out my old rule books and play again, but I doubt it.  There’s far too much fun to be had with my latest obsession, Napoleonics. No one company ‘owns’ or even pretends to ‘own’ the hobby in the Historical world. Actually, one Company did try ( I wont name them to save their blushes). The response from the hobby was ‘get lost’ or words to that effect and that was the last we heard of that piece of nonsense.

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So if you are not happy with Games Workshop in general and the Age of Sigmar in particular, my advice is don’t even bother to spend energy trying to hold onto something that has gone. Try something new. There’s a couple of new games out there right now that I would recommend. In fantasy, there’s Frostgrave, developed by Osprey publishing and North Star Miniatures. The rule book is just £15 and a box of Figures £20. A character pack is £6. For less than £50 you will have a whole new game to play. If Science Fiction is your thing, then take a look at the new ‘Gates of Antares’ from Warlord Games. If you order the figures, you’ll get a free rule book and can join the game at the start of it’s development.

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Of course, if you would really like to break away, then move on into Historical gaming. You might just find that it’s a lot more fun than you think. There’s certainly plenty of background, a massive choice of periods and rules sets, superb miniatures and resources, a huge choice of manufactures and suppliers and a lot of players that would welcome you into the game.

Well, enough of my rambling, I’ve got figures to paint! To sum up, I think that the most important thing is to remember is that you are a fan of the hobby and a customer of Games Workshop.

Confusing the two will just end in tears.

 

Summer madness….

The weather has somewhat curtailed my painting over the last week. It’s a bit hot to be sat in my garage painting when other activities beckon. You know the sort of thing, burning meat on the barbecue, sampling the odd cold beer and the occasional gardening task which can be put off no longer. I have made some small progress on the Napoleonic field forge. The forge is finished, the crew are at the final stage of highlighting and the two other figures need about an hours work on them. What will really make the difference is the basing, which as you can see is nowhere near finished.

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Just to add to my agonies over my lack of progress on painting, the Perry’s have only gone and released their new British Light Dragoons boxed set! Well, I expect to receive it into the shop tomorrow, so watch facebook for confirmation. I’ve been drooling over these ever since they announced the release at Salute.

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With fourteen figures plus loads of extras, I cant wait to get my hands on a set! Those Hanoverians that are sat on the work bench might just get pushed down the painting line! Of course, my mind then goes into overdrive. If I bought three boxes, I could do the whole 4th British Cavalry Brigade at Waterloo. It comprised of the 11th Light Dragoons (Light Buff plastron & facings); 12th Light Dragoons ( Pale yellow plastron & facings) and the 16th Light Dragoons (Scarlet plastron & Facings). Even better, if I keep to 12 models per regiment, I will have 6 spare, so I could get some of the Perry Metal Dragoons and have an extra regiment, say from the KGL. Of course then there is all of the spare Tarleton heads that I’ll have. Just thinking about the conversion possibilities is giving me a head ache! Tarletons were worn by horse artillery and rocket troops and of course the Out riders on limbers etc, so a quick search in my spares box and I bet I could soon find the bits that I would need to build a few of these…

And there lies the madness! In the time that it takes to sink a cold beer, I have convinced myself that I can have 48 Cavalry figures painted and based in the next couple of weeks and meanwhile the other project of completing the Infantry brigade has been put to one side. Whats the betting that just before I finish the Light Cavalry Brigade another new release will set me off on the next project! I guess it is what makes the hobby interesting and gives us all something to talk about whilst we are gaming!

But I’m still going to get those Dragoons!!!

Prussian Artillery Ready For Battle

The New Prussian Artillery at drill in Little Bingham!

The New Prussian Artillery at drill in Little Bingham!

After all the excitement of the previous weeks Waterloo spectacular, my painting output has  slowed down again. However, I have finished my Prussian Artillery Battery, so I wont be quite so out gunned in the next battle. I’ve changed my basing size for these. I’ve used 60mm by 90mm  for each gun. It allowed me to get the full crew onto the bases and to be fair, it was a way of using up some spare 60mm x 45mm Renedra bases that I had – I just glued two of them together. To strengthen this arrangement, I glued them onto  a piece of 40/000 thou plasticard. It means that the bases are a bit thicker than normal but they now look better along side the troops, who are normally in movement trays.

The other slight innovation for me was to use the Vallejo paste for the ground work. In the past, I have used this but then painted over it and then added sand for texture. With hindsight , this was totally unnecessary! The Vallejo paste has more than enough texture when it has dried, so all that was needed was to paint it – Chocolate Brown, then highlight and dry brush with Earth brown and then Iraqi sand added in to highlight further. It was actually very quick to do and will be my basing method of choice for the future.

Prussian artillery from above showing basing.

Prussian artillery from above showing basing.

To finish off the bases, I added some green scatter and my usual assortment of grass tufts and flowers. The yellow flowers match the bases on the rest of my Prussians and add a bit of color to what is otherwise quite a dark paint scheme. Incidentally, I think that the pictures are a bit on the blue side! In real life, the figures look a bit darker to me. Oh! I haven’t mentioned that they are from the Perry Metal range. One last point about basing. I actually finished painting the figures and then fixed them to the bases. When I painted the ground work on the base, I also carried the colour up onto the guns & the figures to give the impression of mud.

'utching up the guns according to Peter Harris....

‘utching up the guns according to Peter Harris….

So another project is complete, the next is on the work bench! I’ve decided that now there is less pressure on me to turn out battalions, I will alternate between painting units and painting special projects. I already have a painting plan in place but the first project is a little diorama of a field forge. It’s from Perry Miniatures, although the Artillery man & horse are out of my ‘spares’ box. Here is a rough layout of how it will look, I’ve started to paint the forge and the tree is already fixed in place with Vallejo desert sand paste.

Field forge work in progress.

Field forge work in progress.

Whilst I am painting this diorama, work still continues on the troops! My next (and final) battalion of Hanoverians are being prepared. These will be the Osterode Hanoverian Landwehr battalion, with green facings & shoulder tufts. Once these are done, I will have a representation of  the full Hanoverian 4th Brigade which in turn, with the 10th British brigade ( already finished), will complete the 6th British Infantry Division!

Osterode Landwehr Battalion advance to the work bench....

Osterode Landwehr Battalion advance to the work bench….

 

Waterloo June 13th 2015!

British deploy behind La Haye Sainte

British deploy behind La Haye Sainte

The plan for this years ‘homage’ to Waterloo was to re-fight the battle on the biggest table that we could find, with as many troops that we could muster. It really was ‘all the toys on the table’! We were lucky enough to be able to secure the Polly Bowling Club hall as a venue. This is the home of the Mansfield War gaming club, and many thanks to Quinton Dalton for helping us to arrange this.

The view along the ridge to Hougomont

The view along the ridge to Hougomont

As for the players, there were just the four of us; Myself and John Grant playing as the British, Peter Harris and Mick Rood as the French. The latter have massive figure collections and as well as providing the French opposition, they were also able to provide reinforcements for the British and Prussians as well as some Brunswickers! We had thought about bringing more people to the table but the difficulty with this is that you then need a command and control system and getting a big group of war gamers to work in concert can be the equivalent of herding cats….. I think four to six is the optimum number of players, even for a game of this size.

The Fench Troops advance past La Belle Alliance Inn

The Fench Troops advance past La Belle Alliance Inn

As for the tables, we had five 6×4 foot tables side by side to give a playing surface of 20 foot by 6 foot. On one end we had an additional table in an ‘L’ position to represent Plancenoite and as an entry point for the Prussians. As regards scenery, we were very lucky to be able to borrow the painted versions of all the main buildings from Sarissa Precision. So present on the battlefield were Hougomont, La Haye Sainte, Pappelotte farm, La Belle Alliance and for Plancenoite, the church and windmill, as well as a small farm made by Pete Harris. A few hills were used to make the ridge line at Mont St Jean and the Battlefield was ready.

The Prussians Arrive at Plancenoite

The Prussians Arrive at Plancenoite

We then deployed the troops. There were approximately 2000 figures on the table! We deliberately did not count who had what or what the points value of each army was. It was clear that the French outnumbered and out gunned the British but the Brits had the stronger position and the buildings to defend, whilst the French had to go on the attack.

The British Defend the ridge to the left of La Haye Sainte

The British Defend the ridge to the left of La Haye Sainte

Finally, we were using the ‘vanilla’ version of Black powder with very few additions or modifications. Our reasoning being, that in a game of this size, trying to remember which unit has what attribute or special ability just slows things down. Let the dice decide who will be the heroes today!

The view of the battlefield from Hougomont to La Haye Sainte

The view of the battlefield from Hougomont to La Haye Sainte

And so at 11.00 am precisely, the French players proceeded to attack. Pete Harris facing John Grant along the area from La Haye Sainte to Hougomont, I was facing Mick and defending La Haye Sainte to Papelotte. The British side had a brief meeting to decide on tactics. It went like this. John: what are the plans? Me: Hold! On reflection, less like tactics and more like Tic tacs…

The Guards defend Hougomont

The Guards defend Hougomont

TheFrench prepare to Advance!

TheFrench prepare to Advance!

The first moves went largely without incident, the ranges being too far for effective artillery fire. The French were maneuvering to assault La Haye Sainte but it was clear that they intended to ignore Hougomont and focus on the British centre. At Papelotte, the British were attempting to use their cavalry to flank the French & draw them onto the defensive position of the farm.

British Light Cavalry deploy behind Papelotte

British Light Cavalry deploy behind Papelotte

The French comence their advance down the main road to Brussels!

The French commence their advance down the main road to Brussels!

The British rocket batteries were actually very effective at this point, causing casualties in the advancing French Columns and throwing them into disorder, slowing the advance. However, confusion also occurred in the British ranks, as a result of a blunder, the 52nd Light Company defending the ridge towards Hougomont rushed forwards in a charge toward the enemy.

French Columns march against Papelotte.

French Columns march against Papelotte.

The flanking move at Papelotte was under way but largely ineffective. As the morning moved on, the French artillery moved into position and started to take a heavy toll of the British defenders. La Haye Sainte was subjected to a fierce bombardment!

The Light Companies of the KGL and 95th Rifles hold on!

The Light Companies of the KGL and 95th Rifles hold on!

It’s fair to say that at this point, any real communication between the two wings of the British Army began to break down as they fought for survival! A flanking attack by Cavalry around Hougmont had been stopped by the French and the 52nd were now in square after a French cavalry attack. Despite the overwhelming odds, the British right was drawn off the hill in a desperate attempt to rescue the 52nd!

The British attempt to relief the 52nd!

The British attempt to relief the 52nd!

At La Haye Sainte, the French continued to pulverise the defenders, causing them to break. Fortunately, the British were able to move in a fresh unit. But they were being pressed hard by the French Infantry columns!

The French Army assaults La Haye Sainte

The French Army assaults La Haye Sainte

Difficult times at La Haye!

Difficult times at La Haye!

If things were hard pressed at the centre, at Papelotte, the British were not enjoying success either. A determined cavalry attack had been pushed home catching two French columns in the flank but despite this, the French were only forced to retreat, without losing their batalions. The British cavalry faired far worse, losing two regiments, one to artillery fire, the other to combat. As a result, the British cavalry in this sector became ineffective, with a further two regiments of heavy’s refusing to move all battle!

French Pressure begins to tell!

French Pressure begins to tell!

The Defence of La Haye Sainte

The Defence of La Haye Sainte

So where were the Prussians? They arrived on the battlefield at 1.00pm but despite all the encouragement from Blucher, they were tied up in Plancenoite. Although only faced by a smaller French detatchment, they were making slow progress and had yet to join the battle. Even their Cavalry were ineffective. When they finally did charge, they were roundly beaten by the French and fled from the table…

The Prussians had reached Plancenoite but would not move much further than this.

The Prussians had reached Plancenoite but would not move much further than this.

Desperate fighting at La Haye Sainte!

Desperate fighting at La Haye Sainte!

The French assault on La Haye Sainte and the centre of the British line was relentless. There was nothing to divert them and gradually the British were worn down. The 27th and 40th were shaken and as a result began to fall back with the rest of the brigade. At Papelotte, although resisitance was stuborn, a further disaster occurred when a Battalion of Hanoverians, rather than rally, enthusiastically charged the nearest French column only to be routed!

The French tide sweeps around Hougomont!

The French tide sweeps around Hougomont!

La Haye Sainte is by passed as the French advance towards Brussels!

La Haye Sainte is by passed as the French advance towards Brussels!

The battle was lost! With the Prussians bogged down in Plancenoite and unable to reach the British, French numbers were begining to tell. Papelotte was holding on but in the centre, La Haye had now fallen! The road to Brussels was open. Hougomont was still held but all support was being driven back, it would be a matter of time before the Guards would have to retreat.

The French flag flies over La Haye Sainte!

The French flag flies over La Haye Sainte!

And so the battle was lost! The French had a clear strategy of forcing the centre and were not to be diverted from this. On the other hand the British had spread their forces too thinly and engaged in diversionary attacks that just took valuable resources from where they were needed. At around 4.00pm, the British withdrew from the field leaving the French to march on Brussels!

A fantastic game, played in the true spirit of Black Powder! Thank you once again to Quinton for helping with the Hall, Steve at Sarissa for the loan of the fantastic buildings and of course to Pete, Mick and John for being such great gaming companions!

Prussian Artillery 11 June 2015

Prussian Artillery - Work in Progress

Prussian Artillery – Work in Progress

With the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo fast approaching. I’m desperately trying to finish another unit for our ‘Grand Battle’ planned for this Saturday. It’s not going to happen though! I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to do too much and not actually finishing anything that I’ve started.

The ‘Grand Battle’ planned for this Saturday will be our annual tribute to Waterloo. We don’t actually re-fight the battle as such. It’s more a case of that we put as many troops as we can muster on a battlefield that has some similarities to Waterloo. After spending an hour or so admiring the scene and having a chin wag over a cup of tea, we then roll some dice and play a huge game of Black powder. It takes all day, and the result is largely immaterial, but it is great fun and the random results of the dice throwing usually causes some merriment and some good talking points. You can see last years battle report here http://arcanesceneryandmodels.co.uk/battle-report-waterloo-2014/

with the need to field more artillery, I thought that I would crack on with my next Prussian unit, a battery of three guns, 6pdrs to be precise, made by the Perry’s. The first task was to do some research as to what colours to paint the guns and the Uniforms of the crew. My usual quick source, the superb Mont St Jean web site gave me this picture to use.

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I always use this website as a starting point. That and of course, and the Manufactures’ own painted examples. You can be fairly confident that they have done their research when producing the models and the pro painters will be following their own research. I also consult my collection of Osprey books and various other references that I have and then finish off with a trawl through the internet – google images is a good source! By the time I have done all of this, I have a picture in my mind as to how I want the figures to look. The are always discrepancies and contradictions in the material. For example, I have found pictures showing the short sword scabbard in both brown and black. And the blanket covers & straps in both dark grey and leather. At the end of my research, I just make a decision as to what I think will look the best for me, no doubt to the horror of some purists!

So onto painting! The guns were painted in Vallejo Prussian Blue, with the ironwork in black and the gun barrels in brass. The crew in Vallejo Dark Prussian blue jackets, Neutral Grey trousers, Black Grey gaiters, red turn backs & facings, Black collars, cuffs & boots, much as the picture above. The first gun and crew are now almost finished, the the other two not far behind but they are not going to be ready for Saturday!

Prussian Artillery - nearly complete!

Prussian Artillery – nearly complete!

Prussian Artillery Battery - still much to do!

Prussian Artillery Battery – still much to do!

I could possibly rush them, but in reality I know that I have at least three more ‘sessions’ to go before they are ready for the battlefield. Even the first gun will need a final highlight & tidy up, and then there’s the basing. Rather than cut corners, I’ll wait – they will be ready for next year! What really caused the problem was that I was diverted and panicked into trying to finish another project that has been sat around on the bench – Papelotte Farm! Talk about biting off more than you can chew! I started to paint this as well and again, it is nowhere near finished….

Papelotte Farm - Under construction!

Papelotte Farm – Under construction!

It will end up on the table – even in this state it will be OK but it’s not quite what I had in mind. And just to show how I have engineered my own failure, whilst preparing the Prussians I decided that it would be a good idea to get this Field forge ready for painting…

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Never mind, at least the Cavalry are now finished and ready for battle!

Prussian Cavalry ready for battle!

Prussian Cavalry ready for battle!

Black Powder for Club Nights

BLACK-POWDER-rules-for-Wargames-from-WARLORD-games-400569960224Playing Black Powder with Napoleonic figures continues to be my obsession, with no sign of ‘game fatigue’ appearing. I still play at least once a fortnight at the club, only recently having a break every other week to play Muskets and Tomahawks. The other guys at the club are quite amused at our adherence to this rule set and period and we are now known collectively as the ‘Black Powder’ lot! That said, our ‘gang’ is growing and whereas it used to be just two of us slugging it out over a table, there are now at least six ‘hardcore’ members of the sub club, so to speak, with a few more that are happy to join in and even more that come over to check our battle progress during the evening.

So whats the secret that keeps us locked into this rules set. Well, read the opening line of this blog. We are well aware that we are playing a rules set with Napoleonic figures and we are not too hung up on how realistic the rules may or may not be, we just know that we will have a fun game. Of course, there is a nod in the direction of historical realism, but thats all. When ever we play there will always be a talking point about what may or may not be realistic. Our current debate concerns the use of Howitzers and the limitation on the effectiveness of these guns at close range. The rules say that you cannot fire on an enemy that has closed within 6 inches of a Howitzer, which pretty much implies that you have no closing fire option. It also prevents you from firing canister into Squares at close range.

Is this historically accurate? Probably not, but I don’t think it matters too much when playing a table top game. The rules are clear, and you take a howitzer in your ‘army’ knowing those limitations. Of course there are benefits in the game for Howitzers and when you put your army list toALBION-TRIUMPHANT-VOL1-The-Peninsular-Black-Powder-Napoleonic-rule-supplement-181303809372gether, you take the rough with the smooth. That’s not to say we haven’t  modified some of the Black Powder Rules to suit our style of gaming. The two Napoleonic Supplements, Albion Triumphant 1 & 2,  introduced some new rules and ideas, some of which we have adapted, some not. The beauty of Black Powder is that it allows this, provided everyone is clear at the start of the game.

For anyone that is interested, here’s the points system and a few of the rules modifications that we use for our club night. They are designed to allow us to play a reasonable game on a 6 foot by 4 foot table in an evening or a couple of hours.

The 30 Point System

Level 8 Commanders are free. +1 point for each addition level (Max 10)

Regular Line Infantry = 2 points

Regular Light Infantry = 2.5 points

Militia, Conscripts, Reserves = 1.5 points [Cannot be upgraded]

Foot Artillery ( 1 Cannon = Battery) = 1.5 points [No half Batteries]

Horse Artillery ( 1 Cannon = Battery) = 1.5 points [No half Batteries]

Regular Heavy and Lancer Cavalry = 2.5 points 

Regular Light Cavalry = 2 points

Vetran Status = + 0.5 points

Elite Status = + 0.5 points

Rifles = + 0.5 point

Old Guard = + 0.5 points in addition to Veteran and Elite Status cost

Large units = + 0.5 points

Small units = – 0.5 points

Tiny units = – 1 point

Unit Sizes

Standard Infantry = 12 to 16 figures

Small Infantry = 8 figures

Tiny Infantry = 4 figures

Standard Cavalry = 6 figures

Small Cavalry = 4 Figures

Tiny Cavalry = Not Permitted

Unit Restrictions (Maximums)

Rifle Units = 9 points

Old Guard Units = 9 points

Lancer Cavalry = 9 points

Regular Light Infantry = 15 points

Notes:

Small and Tiny units cannot constitute more than 25% of a brigade and do not count towards the Brigade’s morale.

Infantry brigades must have a minimum of three infantry units and Cavalry a minimum of two units in addition to any Artillery.

Mixed Brigades must have a minimum of two Infantry units.

Brigades and Army break on greater than 50% loss

Cavalry may retire in the movement phase when disordered.

Mixed Order Columns do not benefit from a column save bonus if you are shooting at the skirmishers or from artillery fire.

French Columns do not benefit from Pas de Charge – they already have a bonus from being in column.

British first fire only applies if you have not moved more than once during the orders phase.

British troops fight in line and do not form column

Now I guess that there will be a few dissenters out there with regards to these amendments but don’t worry, they are not official and you will only be asked to use them if you join us at the White Hart…. In the meantime, I can only hope that other gamers enjoy Black Powder as much as we do.

Prepare for Battle!

Prepare for Battle!

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry 28th May 2015

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry – Nearly finished!

It’s been a slow week or so for painting but at last, my Prussian Landwehr Cavalry unit is nearly ready to leave the work bench. As you can see, the command group is just about finished, with just the bases to highlight and detail. I’ll finish these off with a quick dry brush with an Iraqi Sand and Chocolate brown mix, and then a final highlight with pure Iraqi Sand. Once that is dry, I’ll add the Static grass ( I prefer the flowered field mix) and then my usual mix of grass tufts & flowers. I find that a bit of colour on the base will tend to lift the figures, particularly when they have a dark uniform. It will also unify the army if the basing is similar.

Prussian Landwehr Command Group

Prussian Landwehr Command Group

I’m quite pleased with the way that the horses have worked out – see my last blog post for details of the paint ‘recipes’ used. I’ll have a last look over the figures as I base them to decide whether to add any further highlights. It’s always difficult to know when a unit is really finished.  There’s always a compromise between producing my best possible finish or moving on to the next unit. Do I spend another session adding a few more highlights to the uniforms and a bit more ink to add shadows to some of the equipment or do I just get them on the table?

Regardless of the above question, the final job will be to add the lances and pennants and the flag for the unit. I have these ready to go, you can just make out the first two Lances added to the figures in the background and it will be another evening session, to finish that job – so these boys are about two evenings away from the war games table…

Close up of the Trumpeter

Close up of the Trumpeter

Actually, there is one other job to do before they are ‘table ready’ and that is to make the movement trays. I could use a ready cut MDF tray but will probably make my own as I have a different style that I prefer to use rather than a normal tray. It’s a straight forward job and I think I’ll show how I do this in another blog post.

So my Prussian brigade now consists of 2 Battalions of Regular Infantry, 2 Battalions of Landwehr Infantry, a Command base and a Regiment of Landwehr Cavalry, all in Silesian colours, making a total of 110 men and 14 horses painted. Next up, some Artillery – now can I get them finished for the 13th June, the date of our next big battle…..

Painting Horses – Prussian Landwehr Cavalry

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry - Work in Progress

Prussian Landwehr Cavalry – Work in Progress

I guess that you can make painting horses as easy or as difficult as you like, from just a brown coat to the more complex spotted greys. I have tried quite a few of the different techniques over the years but I’ve been trying to improve my results to make the horses look a bit more interesting without spending too long on each horse. It’s also been a good way of practicing highlighting and shading, without relying on Quickshade or Inks.

There are two techniques that I’ve been trying with this latest batch of horses. Both are very similar and both are based on using the three colour; shade, main coat , highlight technique that the professionals, such as Kevin Dallimore use to such good effect. Lets be clear, I’m a long way from that standard and I’m still set on producing regiments for wargaming rather than high quality figures for photography. However, practice makes perfect, as they say, and learning a particular style will help me speed up my painting process.

If any one is interested in seeing a master class in how to paint horses using this method, then I recommend this youtube video by Toby of Art Master studios – it’s an hour and a half of watching paint dry but still better than 90% of the stuff on TV these days! There are some great ideas here and I’ll just summarise them, as much for my own reference, although I hope that it will be useful for other wargamers.

First choose your colour pallet for your horse – using three colours will allow you to get variation on horses, even when using the same colours on a batch of horses. Here’s a few of my favourite recipes using Vallejo paints! All of them are used over a black undercoat.

For Browns:  German Cam. Black Brown,70892, Flat Brown,70894, Orange brown 70891 or Mahogany Brown 70846. Be careful with the mahaogany brown, it is quite red and adding white to it will make your horse look pink so if you want to lighten it, use a Light brown, 70929. Another useful combination is Chocolate Brown 70872, Flat Brown,70984, Cork Brown 70843.

For a light brown or cream horse, try Flat earth 70983. Cork Brown 843 and Green Ochre 70914. Or try  gold brown, 70877 as the mid colour.

For black horses, use Black 70950, Black Grey, 70862, and highlight sparingly with light grey,70990.

For Grey horses, Dark grey 70984, Neutral Grey 70992, Light grey 70990.

And for White horses ( still Grey really!) Light Grey 70990, Sliver grey, 70883 and Off White 70820.

So that’s the horses body done. I stress that these are just some of my paint combo’s that I have tried. There are plenty more out there but using three colours in combination will give you plenty of variety. I mentioned that I was trying two techniques when painting. The first one is to carefully paint one colour over the other building up the highlights by picking out the muscles on the horse. This is the most time consuming and if done well gives superb results. The other method is to use a dry brush technique with the the colours. This is much faster and the results are still pretty good but you will need to go back over the harnesses etc as the paint will cover them if this method is used.

Prussian Landwehr Lancer on Brown horse

Prussian Landwehr Lancer on Brown horse

Next up, is the detail on the horses. The obvious ones are the mane & tail. You can either paint these in the same colour as the body of the horse or use black or green ochre to give variation. On the Cream horses, Biege 70917 looks good and on the greys, either a dark grey or white mane & tail looks fine. As these areas tend to have more texture, using an ink and then dry brushing with a light shade or even white will really bring the detail out.

The next area to look at are the legs – painting white or black ‘socks’ on one, two, three or four legs is fine and will  give variation in your regiment. Finish off the legs with the hooves. I paint them either black or a dark brown, it just tidies them up. You can also paint the horse shoes in steel if they are showing but it’s something that I tend to leave as a detail too far – besides , my thought is that they will be covered in mud…..

The last thing that I paint is the head. Again, a bit of variation here can make all the difference. I usually paint a white ‘blaze’ on the horses head. You can leave the muzzle the same colour as the horse or paint it black, dark grey or even a dark flesh colour. The eyes are painted black, although I will sometime use gloss black for this to get a shine.

The final bit is to paint the horse furniture and that is dependant on your Regiment and an article for another time. I have mentioned variation in horse quite a bit. Some of the elite cavalry regiments would of course ensure that the opposite was true. For example, the Household cavalry would be mounted on all black horses but I think that other regiments were less fussy and of course when on campaign or in battle, so long as the horse had four legs, it would do!

Work in progress - light brown horse

Work in progress – light brown horse

The pictures in the article show my latest regiment, Prussian Landwehr Lancers. As you can see they are yet to be finished, with some based with riders & some still not quite painted fully and none of them with their lances yet! I tend to paint horses in batches of three using one colour combo and then finish with the command group. As the trumpeter usually rode a grey and the officer would have had his own ‘posher’ horse, I leave these until last of all. Once they are all painted, I’ll go back over them all adding a few last quick highlights, correcting any obvious paint errors and of course detailing the bases with a few tufts and flowers.

So that’s my take on painting horses – Cheers!

The latest resident in LIttle Bingham - just the basing to finish!

The latest resident in Little Bingham – just the basing to finish!

 

 

Small is beautiful!

The setting for the Show was somewhat rural!

The setting for the Show was somewhat rural!

Having recently attended the largest Wargames show in the UK, Salute at Excel, this Sunday gone, I went to probably the smallest, at Owthorpe village hall, Notts. The show is hosted by Shaun Mclaughlin, who is well known for running the Wargames bunker holiday home. The show was themed as the Last of the Mohicans but it is worth having a quick look at the event page on face book to get an idea as to what was there.

The welcome was warm though!

There were lots of bargains!

The beauty of this event was its size. I have found recently that the larger events are great but it is difficult to settle at a stand or game to have a chat without feeling that I was in the way of somebody else. No such problem here. There was one large Demo game – a last of the Mohicans scenario, beautifully constructed with hundreds of miniatures and a fantastic scenic board as the centre piece.

The British Evacuate the Fort!

The British Evacuate the Fort!

There's more Indians coming!

There’s more Indians coming!

Supporting this were a few other games. A science fiction game with a very nice Thunderbird two at the centre!

Thunderbirds are Go!

Thunderbirds are Go!

The other game to catch my attention was a Dead Mans Hand participation game run by James Woodward from my local club. James had taken the Bushwackers and Jayhawkers scenario from Wargames Illustrated 320. Once again, there was a superb table to play on with all the figures provided so it would have been a shame not to join in! I actually played twice, completing the opening scene and second scene from ‘Ride with the Devil’. The games were played at a leisurely pace, as befitted a relaxed sunday morning, with plenty of banter from the spectators and much amusement at my ‘demise’ in both games. The photo below sums up my performance in the game…

The last man standing was about to meet his maker!

The last man standing was about to meet his maker!

And so on to the trade stands. I won’t list them all but I must mention the ‘Galloping Majors’ stand. This company specialises in the French Indian Wars and AWI periods and has a delightful range to support these periods. The owner, Lance, was happy to spend time explaining the differences between the various Indians tribes involved in the conflicts and was clearly an expert in this area. I came away with my first pack of Indians ( Mohawks) and an enthusiasm for a new period….It looks as though I will be painting an army for the Muskets and Tomahawks rules after all.

The Galloping Majors Indians - coming soon to my work bench!

The Galloping Majors Indians – coming soon to my work bench!

So all in all, a morning well spent! A couple of games of Deadmans Hand (I’ll be painting cowboys for this game as well it just plays too well to not have it as an option!), a few extra figures from the bargains stand for the lead mountain and a lovely pack of Indians that I will be painting sooner rather than later. Of course, the coffee, Kit Kat and conversation were pretty good as well. There’s a lot to be said for the smaller show and I’ll be going again!

 

Scenarios for Black Powder

The Guards line up ready for battle!

The Guards line up ready for battle!

In an ideal world, where we all have plenty of time and unlimited resources for our hobby, we could spend hours re -enacting all the battles of the Napoleonic era, exploring the ‘what if’s’ and ‘if onlys’ of history on accurate terrain boards, with all the right troops in all the right uniforms! It would be the ‘Carlesberg wargaming club’.  However, for me the reality is that I get to the club once a week on a Thursday evening and we fight a battle that lasts for about 2 hours using the troops that I have to hand with a rules system ( Black Powder) that allows an easy flow to the game on a gaming cloth with a few pieces of terrain to make it look pretty. Sure, once in a while we get to play the ‘mega’ battle on a posh table with special scenario rules and the correct force but that this is a rare exception in my gaming calender.

The real problem is that there is a tendency to just line our armies up on the table and try and win the game by breaking more of the enemies units than he breaks of yours. OK, it’s still good fun but it can get a bit repetitive. So we were looking for a quick fix to make our games a little bit different and to start to introduce a bit of narrative into the games –  this is the ‘back of a fag packet’ ( in our case more likely to be the back of a crisp packet….) solution.

The Line Advances!

The Line Advances!

We quickly came up with a list of 6 simple scenarios and before our game we roll a dice to decide which scenario  we will play. The exception being of course, when the same one has come up and every one groans ‘we played that last time’ – just roll again and let the dice decide. Here is the list that we are using at the moment. The intention of course is to add to them, rolling a D10 or D20 would be even more interesting!

Scenario 1 – The River

The battle is fought on a table with a river running across it. We use strips of painted paper to represent the river. It’s not the quality of scenery that you would find in Wargames Illustrated but quite adequate for a club battle. The river sections are about 12 inches long and we place a dice on each section. As a unit attempts to cross the section of river, roll the dice. On a 1 to 3 the unit will become disordered as it crosses. A roll of 4 to 6 means that the unit crosses safely. These are just our basic river rules – we have quite a few variations but these simple rules add another dimension to the game and will give commanders something else to think about when planning their battle.

Scenario 2 – One of your brigades is late!

Just pick a brigade on each side and roll a dice. The dice roll indicates on which turn ( 1 to 6 ) it arrives in your deployment zone. A variation on this scenario is to test each brigade in the army. Roll for each brigade, on a 1 or 2 ( or whatever you deem appropriate) the brigade is late. Then roll to see when the late brigades arrive. Great for players with Prussian armies…..

Scenario 3 –  Flank March

The two opponents roll a dice. The winner will get the flank march option and can choose a brigade that will deploy on one of the side table edges. Roll a dice to decide which on turn ( if it’s turn 6 it can be tricky…) your brigade will arrive. When the turn arrives for deployment, roll a dice. On a 1-3 you can deploy on your left flank, 4 -6 it’s your right flank. We allow deployment anywhere on the side of the table so beware  – you may have an enemy brigade that is  effectively deploying in your rear!

Scenario 4 – Off Table Deployment

Both armies start off the table. Before any orders are given to a unit, roll a dice. In the first turn, on a roll of 5 or 6 you may place the unit in your deployment zone on the table and issue it with an order as usual. On this first move, movement is reduce by one order. In other words the maximum that you can move is two ‘orders worth’ of movement. You can apply the rule to individual units or brigades or a mixture of both. After that, movement is as per normal Black powder rules. On turn two, the dice required to deploy is reduced to 4,5 or 6. Turn three, you need 3 to 6, turn 4 you will need 2 to 6 and this stays in place so if you throw a one in turn 5 your brigade still will not arrive!  It happens and can be quite frustrating. We rename those units as the Grouchy Brigades…

Scenario 5 – Capture the Flag!

A simple objective is placed in each half of the table. The objective is to capture the opponents objective whilst protecting your own.

Senario 6 -Pitched battle

Straight forward enough – back to the usual set up in deployment zones and beat the enemy. You can give this a bit more flavour by altering deployment zones rather than just lining up along the back of the table.

The other interesting variation is how to place the scenery. Rolling a dice for this is a good idea but we just tend to take it in turns to set the table out each week. We have had some interesting results when we have asked a non participant player from the club to set out the scenery though!

Stopped by the Cavalry!

Stopped by the Cavalry!

The scenarios have certainly thrown out some interesting games. The pictures that I have used for this blog article are from our game last week where I had the Flank March. I thought that I would easily pin my opponent and out flank him with an extra brigade of three battalions of Infantry. As it turned out he held those battalions in check with his cavalry and after forcing them into square, proceeded to pound them with his artillery. I was then forced into trying to rescue my flank and more Battalions were drawn out of position and the army was eventually broken as they were pushed into square as well and shaken by artillery fire. It was the most effective use of cavalry in a Black powder game that I have seen and despite the musket fire that the cavalry were facing, by clever use of rotating the cavalry and rallying them it was the infantry that broke first!

The Flank is in Trouble!

The Flank is in Trouble!

Muskets and Machetes!

Chasseurs de IriosI’ve been blathering on about my Carribean force for sometime now but have yet to use it on the field of battle. There have been two problems; one, the lack of a rules set and more importantly, the lack of an opponent! I started to collect and paint the Trent Miniatures Caribbean figures because I thought they were superb models. The sculpting is of high quality with some really characterful models in the range. Add to that, the uniforms look pretty good and there is plenty of scope for all sorts of variety when putting together a force. The theatre of action, the Caribbean islands in the late 18th Century provides plenty of scope for all sorts of battles, from small scale skirmishes to full on battles, naval landings and sieges. And of course the scenery will be interesting – anything from Plantations to Jungles.

The History of the region is also fascinating, if somewhat poorly documented. As well as the fighting between the ‘Super powers’ of Britain, France & Spain,  there were multiple slave uprisings, none more successful than Haiti, the former French Colony of Saint Domingue. Indeed this uprising resulted in the independence of Haiti, which was the first Caribbean nation to gain independence from European powers in 1804.  Under the leadership of Toussaint l’Ouverture ( sometimes referred to as the Black Napoleon), the former slaves defeated the French army (twice), the Spanish army, and the British army, before becoming the world’s first and oldest black republic, and also the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere after the United States. This is additionally notable as being the only successful slave uprising in history.

So, with all this fascinating background, a superb range of figures, never mind the possibility of adding in Voodoo, Zombies and Pirates, it’s a mystery to me as to why there isn’t a rules set for the period!

muskets & tomahawksWell, as usual, the answer was right in front of me. There is a superb rules set by the very talented Alex Buchel of  Studio Tomahawk called ‘Muskets and Tomahawks’ for skirmishes in North America during the 18th Century. I could see immediately that it would be very straight forward to transpose the Caribbean forces over the North American Forces in the rules set and I could use my figures on the wargames table! Luckily there are a few players at my local wargames club that play M & T’s, so I asked one of them, John Grant (or Nice John as he is known locally!) if he would take me through the rules with a practice game. John has a terrific set up with plenty of scenery and AWI figures, so the game was great fun and confirmed my impression that the rules set would transpose to the Caribbean. The next step was to ask if I could use my Caribbean force in a game!

60th Rifles prepare to fire!

60th Rifles prepare to fire!

John was happy to oblige, and so my 60th Rifles became British Light infantry ( actually, not much of a change here! The 60th were after all founded in America…) The Black regiments became Militia and the freed slaves were used as Indians. Although this was our first ‘rough fit’ as we played through the game it became clear that we would perhaps modify some of the rules to reflect conditions in the Caribbean. So for example, the freed slaves or Maroons were given the ‘blood thirsty’ rule in combat and their shooting ability down graded accordingly. There was some debate as to the quality of the Black regiments and whether they should be re classified as normal infantry or have the same stats as ‘ Compagnies de la Marine’ from the French Army.

The Black Chasseurs advance!

The Black Chasseurs advance!

It’s fair to say that it is early days before we get to a rules modification that suits this period but for the time being, it’s a close enough fit and I hope that over the next year or so, I can produce a stat’s board for the Caribbean and the correct cards to match. I see that Wargames Illustrated are giving away a free figure of Toussaint l’Ouverture at Historicon this year so there is obviously interest in the period – who knows, perhaps they can be persuaded to do a supplement…

Pikemen, Prussians and Pterodactyls

It’s been one of those weeks when life has got in the way of my hobby! So I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I would like to have done with my various painting projects. The result is that nothing is actually been finished although things have moved on. One of the benefits of having a dedicated hobby area means that if I have just a spare five minutes, I can do a little bit here and there – add some static grass to a base, undercoat a figure even slap some paint on!

Perry Pikemen

So the six Pike men for my Wars of The Roses army are very close to being finished, just a bit of extra detail needed for the bases – a few tufts & flowers! the plan is to have at least one unit of 12 pike men for my army, probably two, but as the next Lion Rampant Day is not until September there is no rush to complete the unit. I have a box of the plastic Perry Mercenaries and the plan is to make two blocks of Pikes, a small unit of mercenary Crossbow men and the remainder as hand gunners.

I also started on my Prussian Landwehr Cavalry. There will be 12 in the unit and they are all prepared & undercoated and I am painting the horse in batches of threes. Here the first batch nearly complete. The difficulty I have had with this unit has been trying to find details of the uniform. The figures are from foundry and whilst they are very nice, they seem to have different head gear to my Mont St Jean Reference:

CavLandwehrSilesie01

Just to add to my confusion the detail on the sheepskin saddle cloth is showing as a Yellow trim ( makes sense if they are Silesian) but other pictures and references give the colour as Red regardless. In fact the reference material for Landwehr Cavalry is thin and as usual contradictory. I think that I will have to overcome any ‘button counting’ tendencies and go for what I think looks best – in this case yellow trim to match the yellow facings! So here is the progress so far:

2015-04-16 09.34.30

As you can see, still plenty to do!

Pterodactyls

Finally, the Pterodactyls are nearly completed! This is all part of my project to get one of each of the DeeZee codes done. The pterodactyls are certainly straight forward to paint but detailing them is a challenge that is beyond my eyesight & patience these days! I just gave them a spray on top with dark green & a spray underneath with light green. Then a quick couple of dry brushes to try & bring out the detail, followed by a brown wash. They are mounted on a 25mm MDF base using thin wire. The final stage is to detail the bases and I may have a go at painting the eyes……They are only 15mm or so wingspan so no one is ever going to look that closely but as a group of 10 they look quite impressive and will add chacter to a model.

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