I’m very fortunate to be in the business of wargaming, modelling and painting, in that I get to see many of the products released in the development stage and well before they hit the shelves. Black Seas is a good example of this. I had seen the ‘test shots’ of the models on Gabrio’s desk ( Gabrio, being the author of the game at Warlord) months ago. However, I try not to get too involved in every new product. And, unless it is directly concerned with my hobby, my excitement stays at a business level.
Occasionally though, something comes along that really excites me as a hobbyist. Black Seas is one of those items! I have been eagerly awaiting it’s release and I am very pleased to have obtained a retailers prelaunch pack. So here is a sneak peak at what you can expect from the Rulebook. I must say at this point that I have only played one game at the Warlord open day and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it, I wouldn’t review the game play on the basis of that outing, so the focus of this blog is simply on the actual book. No doubt, I’ll bring you a full battle report in a future blog, once I have put my fleet together!
THE RULE BOOK
The Black Seas rule book is on my desk!
The rule book is to the high standards we have come to expect from Warlord. Black Seas is a very well produced, full colour 96 page soft back book containing the rules to the game, scenario’s, back ground information, modelling and painting guides and more. Here’s a selection of pictures from the book, captured using my iPhone, so the picture quality isn’t studio standard but gives you a idea of the book itself!
Core Rules section – a basic introduction to the game
First impressions are that the rules are clearly explained, with plenty of diagrams to help understand what is going on.
Movement explained
Once you have mastered the core rules, the additional rules broaden the game.
Additional Rules section
As well as the rules to the game there are 13 scenarios to play through to get you familiar with the game mechanics.
The Scenarios section
The advanced rules cover items such as Fire Ships, ‘Fire as she bears’, more realistic wind effects (wind effects are simplified in the basic rules), and other add ins to improve the gaming experience.
Advanced rules – Fire as she bears!
There is a very brief overview of some of the battles of the Carronade era, giving some historical context to the game. This section is illustrated with pictures from Osprey books, so there is plenty of visual reference material to use. This is a good introduction for those not in any way familiar with the naval wars of the period but I suspect that ‘old hands’ will find the section as a useful reminder of stuff they already knew!
Historical backgroud to the game.
Also for all you ‘land lubbers’ out there, there is a very useful basic guide to the anatomy of a fighting ship of the age!
The anatomy of a fighting ship
The rules have some ideas as to how you can link your battles to play a campaign, with a small section opening the possibility of linking your Black Seas games into a Black Powder campaign. This has already got me thinking of my Napoleonic Caribbean project!
Campaign Rules
And finally, advice as to how to go about rigging and painting the superb miniatures that come with the game. The ship models are at 1/700th scale and are lovely models in their own right. I will be reviewing these in a subsequent blog, as I put my sample ships together!
The Ships rigging guide
The painting guide
So, that’s just a quick look at the inside of the rule book. In my next blog, I’ll look at the other contents of the game as well of course as the ships themselves. But if you would like to see the sprues, then head on over to the Arcane Scenery shop – we still have copies of the latest Wargames Illustrated magazine which has a free sprue from Black seas on the front cover as well as an in depth look at the game.
The Frigate sprue.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
If you are as excited as I am about the new Black seas game, you can pre- order it post free from Arcane Scenery here:
Both items will be supplied with the free limited edition figure if you pre – order.
At the time of writing we still have stocks of Wargames Illustrated issue 384 with the free Black seas sprues. You can choose either the frigate sprue:
To give them their full name, the 1st Battalion, 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of foot, or the Black Watch, is the final Highland regiment that I wanted to add to my Napoleonic collection. I am using the 100 days War order of battle as the basis for my Napoleonic Army. The Black Watch is the last Highland regiment that I need to complete and the penultimate battalion required to finish the British contingent of the 5th British Infantry Division at Waterloo. I already have the 1/28th, 1/32nd, 1/95th and 1/79th of Kempts 8th British Brigade as well as 2/44th, 1/92nd of Pack’s 9th British brigade. The two brigades together, along with the 5th Hanoverian Brigade, formed the 5th Division under the command of Sir Thomas Picton.
1/42nd Battalion Centre Companies
As usual, I referred to the superb Mont St John web site for painting details – I’ve put the link below. The challenge in painting Highland regiments is of course the kilts. As yet, paint manufacturers have woefully failed in attempting to produce tartan paint, so you have to do it yourself! ( That was a joke by the way – a very old one, but a joke nonetheless!) As I had already painted two Highland regiments, I was fairly confident that the Black watch would be straight forward as there are just three colours, Blue, Green and Black. My painting skills and patience are not sufficient to make an exact copy of the tartan in 28mm scale – I wanted something that looked about right for the wargames table. As is often the case, I did a ‘test figure’ before committing to batch painting the Battalion.
Black Watch Sergeant next to the Camerons and Gordons.
I was reasonably happy with the result but did try a figure with a slightly different, lighter green on the kilt. It made little difference and if anything, I preferred a darker look to the kilts so adding an extra black line to the design had the desired effect. Just for fun, I produced a very quick step by step guide to how I painted the tartan. It won’t be to everyone’s taste but if you are new to the hobby, it might be helpful as a place to start.
Vallejo Prussian Blue 70965
First I painted the kilts in Prussian Blue Vallejo 70965. You can see this both on the paper above and on the actual models below. For clarity, I’ll show the rest of the process on the paper only.
Kilts in prussian blue
Next paint three stripes in Vallejo reflective green 70890. The trick here is to select the right sized paint brush and to make sure that the paint is flowing easily off of the brush by thinning it to the consistency of milk.
Three stripes of Green – vertically or horizontally – which ever you prefer first!
Now paint another three stripes across the first three. Again, let the brush do the work. The only other point to note is to try to space the stripes evenly at about the same width.
Reflective green 70890 cross hatched.
Now purists could paint the squares where the green lines cross with a slighter lighter shade. I ignore this detail – I am looking for a decent approximation of tartan, not an accurate reproduction.
Cross the lines! Outline the green lines in black.
The next two pictures show that I take a finer brush and again, thinning the paint to ensure that it flows smoothly, outline the green lines in black. You can see that it doesn’t have to be perfect! A steady hand does help but you can always touch up the green lines if the black is too thick.
Outlining complete
The next part is tricky and again, you will need a steady hand and importantly the paint must be thinned so that it flows off of the brush in one stroke. So paint a black line through the blue squares, both vertically and horizontally!
cross hatch through the blue squares!
Repeat the same pattern through the green lines.
Cross hatch through the green.
You can see that I’ve made a few mistakes but I’m not too concerned and the next picture will show why. That said, it would be easy enough to correct with a touch of green paint. It’s worth pointing out again that you are painting a cloth pattern on a small miniature and unless you intend to enter your figures in a competition, perfection is not required.
The finished pattern, cut from the paper.
I did the above step by step in about 10 minutes last night just for the blog. Hence the glossy look on some of the pictures – the paint was still drying! I hope that you agree that the finished result, which I have tidied up by cutting from the paper looks fine for a battalion of wargames figures. Incidentally, I do paint straight onto the figures – this an exercise to show the method.
The nearly completed figures
So this is how my first batch of 12 figures look at the moment. A few points to note. The Black Watch had all red tufts (hackles) on the centre company, red over green for the light company and red over white for the Grenadiers. I need to ‘dot’ in the green squares on the hat band and of course they need to be based properly. All of which I’ll do once the other 12 have been painted. I also need to go back to the test figure ( the sergeant) and add some extra lines to his kilt!
Another view of the first 12 figures
I hope that this has been useful to anyone that is wondering how to go about painting Highlanders. In the links below you can see how I went about completing the Gordons and Camerons. I’m putting these aside for a week or so, whilst I go back to my War of the Roses army – there’s only so much tartan I can paint in one batch!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
You can tell that I have been distracted over the last month, as my blog has been focused as much on Battle reports and shows as it has on painting. Add to this, I have only written two blog posts since the end of July and you would be forgiven for thinking that I have had very little hobby time. My Wife would disagree! To be fair, it’s been a bit of a mixed month, with some nice weather, meaning that gardening and family barbeques have been a major part of my leisure time.
John Rattenbury takes to the seas!
However, I always find time for my hobby and the truth is that I have not been quite as focused as I usually am when it comes to churning out the next unit for one of my armies. Duncan at Trent Miniatures hasn’t helped. He keeps producing some lovely character figures for his range and often pops into the office to show me the latest release. I was very taken with the new figure of John, or Jack Rattenbury, a famous Devonshire smuggler from the turn of the 18th century. I stopped everything to finish him and add him to my collection of maritime subjects!
John Rattenbury, the lastest addition to the crew!
I’ve also been working on my WOTR army, assembling the balance of a box of Perry’s European Mercenary’s. With a bit of ducking and diving, I now have 12 crossbow men assembled and primed, 6 handgunners and 12 Pikemen ready for painting.
The next batch of my WOTR army ready for painting.
With the crossbowmen being the first on the list to complete, I painted the Pavises that go with them and used a set of LBM decals to finish them off. I think that they will need a bit more work before I add them to the figures but I was very pleased with how straight forward the LBM decals were to apply, despite making a few mistakes with positioning.
Pavises with LBM decals applied
When chatting to Duncan about my WOTR project he reminded me that the Newark Character range has a model of Sir John Savage from the Battle of Stokes Field. Well, it would be rude not to include him in my army! Once again, Everything was put aside whilst I finished Sir John!
Sir John Savage joins my retinue!
As if this all wasn’t enough, I am working on the final Highland Battalion for my Napoleonic Army, the Black Watch, or 42nd Highland Battalion. I wanted to do a ‘test shot’ of the tartan pattern that I would use and so finished off a sergeant to see how he looks next to the other battalions.
Black Watch Sergeant next to the Gordons and Camerons.
I think that I’m going to go with the dark pattern, essentially, my usual approach to painting Tartan but with more black lines! He looks a bit better in the next picture, as I have retouched the hat band and covered the grey base.
Another picture of the Sergeant of the Black Watch
As is often the case with my painting, I’ll mull over whether to change things – I’m thinking of a slightly paler green tartan stripe but I better make my mind up as the other 11 on the painting desk are moving towards completion!
42nd Battalion Highlanders!
As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep me busy, there is also the small matter of the forthcoming release of the DeeZee Cavemen. There will be 10 cavemen in three blisters and I had test shots of four of the poses to play with. As a teaser, here is a picture of my first attempt at painting them. All being well, there will be more information and details of how I painted them to follow!
DeeZee Cavemen – sculpted by Matt Sofar of knuckle bones miniatures.
So, August has passed and we are well into September and the weather here already has that Autumnal feel, with the evenings being both cooler and shorter. I doubt that I will find much more time for painting in my busy schedule but perhaps this month, I can be a bit more focused!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Almost all of the paints, miniatures, bases, basing materials and anything that you are likely to need for your hobby are available POST FREE from my shop here:
As good neighbours and friends of Warlord Games, we were very pleased to be invited to their Open Day to put on a Black Powder Napoleonic demo game. It’s no secret that I am a great admirer of the Black Powder Rules system in general and the Napoleonic period specifically. After a conference with my gaming group, the NG13 gamers we decided to re-run a version of an early demo game that we had played, ‘Combat at Foz D’Arouce’, this time using Black Powder as the rules for the game. You can see the battle Report for the ‘original’ Foz D’Arouce at the Bingham Napoleonic Days Event here:
The challenge in using Black Powder was that the table is only 4 foot by 4 foot. However, we have our own version of Black Powder that we use for our club games called ‘Salt Peter’. This stripped back version of Black powder allows us to play a decent club game on a six foot by four foot table in an evening. To be fair, it’s not so much ‘stripped back’ as sparing with the use of any of the additional rules or supplements. All measurement is reduced by two thirds and the units used are generally half the normal size, so a Battalion of troops is represented by 12 figures. Of course, there’s no reason why they should be referred to as a Battalion. They could just as easily be a company, with the ‘Brigadier’ or commanding officer, in charge of a detachment of Company’s. Purists may baulk at such a thought but the aim of our games is to spend a couple of hours in good company, using the figures that we have painted and collected. We try to restrict the ‘serious’ side of the hobby to our research, reading, painting and modelling. Gaming is for fun!
French Hussars – these troops would be late for the battle!
The game would again be using the superb table that Pete Harris had produced and this time, it would be Portuguese versus the French, for no other reason than I had a Portuguese Brigade that needed an outing on the table! Having said that we had stripped back the additional rules in Black Powder, we did have some extra Scenario specific rules that we had agreed on before the Battle. These related to deployment, command structure and limitations imposed by the scenery. These are listed below in the additional PDF.
The Portuguese Army Deploys
And so to the Battle itself. Pete, playing the French, had won the roll to choose the table side for deployment. I won the roll to decide who went first. Apart from a small unit of Skirmishers (Cacadores for me!), both armies were deployed off table and had to be ordered on. In addition, the units would initially be in march column. The commanders might know that the enemy were coming, but our troops didn’t! We had also placed a limitation on the number of orders that could be given – two was the maximum, which not only restricted movement but made fancy formation changes a bit trickier…. My Portuguese Army deployed in full but was somewhat crowded as it attempted to cross the river using the bridge and the ford. The French had no such obstacles to negotiate and the first brigade marched on without hindrance. The second brigade, however, failed it’s order and stayed off the table.
Portuguese delayed by the river crossing
By Turn Two the French advance party of Skirmishers had reached the top of the Village and a Company of troops also marched towards the gates to fortify themselves inside. However, the second French brigade still refused to come onto the table. What should have been a bonus for the French then turned into a slight distraction. We had said that any commander rolling under 4 on an orders roll would receive a ‘bonus’ unit of skirmishers. The French achieved this in turn two and the second unit came on to the table – they also headed for the village.
French Voltiguers secure the village.
The Portuguese had managed to get a squadron of Dragoons across the river to threaten the French advance, as well as deploying their artillery. However, the balance of the force was still either on the wrong side of the river or stuck in it. The Cacadores, who were supposed to be rushing to take the footbridge at the top of the village had decided that a slow walk to admire the view was more appropriate and were making poor progress. The opening shots of the battle started with little effect but it was game on!
French about to march into the Village
With the possibility of getting both units of skirmishers into the village the French commander halted his other battalion and diverted them to the main combat. The second French Brigade still refused to come onto the table! After all, Pete had spent the last few days lovingly painting a unit of French Hussars just for this scenario…why would they want to get into action and spoil their uniforms! If the French were being shy, the Portuguese were still struggling to clear the river. Once across, each unit had to test to see if it was disordered. To pass the test a 4+ was required. 3 out of four of the Portuguese failed! Meanwhile, although now joined by a ‘bonus’ unit of 95th rifles, the Cacadores were still taking their time to move up to the footbridge and now decided that it was time for tea!
The only good news was that the French were slow to take advantage of the Portuguese congestion. Their advance delayed by the move towards the village. The Dragoons had put a French unit into square under the nose of Portuguese artillery, holding their line. This at least kept the French at bay.
Portuguese cross the river but are caught in march column.
By now, Pete had a sudden moment of clarity and realised that with his General off table, he was entitled to a re roll should his missing brigade fail their orders! In addition, instead of trying to move the cavalry first ( Who required an 8 on two D6) he would start with the infantry, who in column, needed a 9+ to get moving! This new strategy worked and the second French brigade moved onto the table. Things were not looking so good for the Portuguese. To add to their woes, one of the Portuguese units attempted to reinforce the first one over the river only to find itself stuck in column with it’s flank facing a French unit… merde!
Portuguese caught in Column!
It was too tempting for the French to ignore, they charged in to attempt to batter the March column and break through. Confident of victory in this part of the Battlefield, Pete directed half of his second brigade up the hill behind the village to head off the threat of the very slowly approaching Cacadores and 95th units. The Portuguese were made of sterner stuff! Despite having to take the attack in the flank, with no reply permitted, they survived the first round of combat passing their morale test and turned to face the French unit, eventually winning the combat and pushing the French back! The Portuguese artillery fire into the unit in square was beginning to tell and casualties were mounting on both sides.
The French attack!
One of the French units broke under fire, running from the battle, forcing the French Commander to march his other brigade back down the hill ( Hmmm that sounds like a British tactic, first perfected by The Duke of York….) to support the forward brigade. Despite this set back, the French inflicted sufficient casualties, using additional fire from the skirmishing units now safely in place in the village, to break the Portuguese brigade, who retreated back across the river. Meanwhile, in all the chaos, the second Portuguese brigade had started to deploy and mauled the lead French brigade, causing it to break. The Cacadores had made it to the bridge….
Portuguese under pressure
Although the Portuguese had taken a beating, with the lead brigade broken, the second brigade had now deployed successfully in strength and started to hammer the French. The French were now in a worse position. The retreating brigade was hampering the movement of the second brigade, blocking line of sight and because of the earlier attempt to flank the village, the brigade was strung out and it’s forward units vulnerable to fire. A successful round of shooting from the Portuguese persuaded the French that the battle was lost and they started their withdrawal from the field. The Cacadores never did cross the bridge!
The Portuguese advance!
Cacadores reach the bridge
A marginal victory for the Portuguese and a most enjoyable game on a most enjoyable day. We played the game at quite a slow rate as we were stopping to chat to visitors to explain how that game was going and answer questions regarding the scenario.
The Warlord open day was a great success and I think the best yet. The main hall was packed full of demonstration games – I was very pleased to be able to try out the forthcoming Black Seas game – it looks great! I’m sure that Warlord will be running the event next year and I would recommend attending. As well as the chance to meet with the Warlord team of sculptors, designers and staff, try out the various Warlord games, there are plenty of other guests there to talk to – Sarissa Precision, Mantic Games and the Terrain tutor to name a few.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
I’ve added the Quick Reference sheet that we used on the day for the shorter ranges etc here:
Arcane Scenery have most of the Warlord range available, as well as some 60 other manufacturers. Even better, we send post free to most world wide locations. You can visit our shop here:
Following on from last weeks blog, here are the final steps in completing my Portuguese Artillery guns and crews. The figures were more or less complete but before I painted them with Army Painter quick shade, I added some detail to the equipment, painting the bucket and ram rod staff with first flat brown and then with a highlight of flat earth. I also gave the soldiers plumes and the ram rod head a coat of black grey as a highlight.
Portuguese Artillery – details added.
The next task was to paint them ( not Dip them) with Army painter dark tone. This will add some definition to the block painting, add some shading and provide a protective coat for the miniatures, reducing the likelihood of damage during gaming.
Portuguese Artillery – quick shade and matt varnished.
The figures are on temporary bases – I toyed with the idea of basing them individually and using a sabot system for the Artillery base but discarded this idea as too complicated. With the figures more or less complete, it was onto the guns!
Guns under way
After priming the guns, I painted the carriages with Vallejo Basalt Grey 70869 and the barrels in brass 70801. I usually use a foundry triad for my artillery but there is a slight blue tinge to their paint so I decided to go for a grey as this is thought to be more accurate.
First dry brush
I then gave the carriages a dry brush in 70870 medium sea grey.
Second dry brush
I followed this with a second dry brush in 70990 Light grey. With hindsight, I think that I could have used a heavier dry brush for both coats as when using the quick shade, the finish is darker than I planned.
Detail picked out in black
I picked the detail out in black – it was at this stage that I realised that I had glued the elevation screw in upside down…I’m not changing it now – just don’t mention it if you see me….I painted this and the wheel tyres and plates in Vallejo steel.
Guns – quick shade on the right hand gun.
I then painted the guns in quick shade Strong tone. I’ve shown one gun done in comparison to the left hand gun that is awaiting a coat. I think that it illustrates how the quickshade brings out the detail, although, as I mentioned before I have finished with a darker look than planned. The guns were then coated with matt varnish, although on this occasion, I have left the gun barrels in a gloss finish – I just liked the look.
Basing in progress
I used 90mm x 60mm bases that are actually made from two 60mm x 45mm bases glued over a piece of 40/000 plasticard cut to the correct size. Why? Because I have these bases spare from other projects and the size is about right for Artillery. I positioned the crew around the gun a lightly glued them in place. I then Covered the base in Vallejo textured dark earth paste and added some gravel (Woodland scenic ballast) and some rocks (from the garden!). The guns are not attached to the base at all – I can limber them up if required.
First coat of Emulsion
The base was then coated in my new emulsion paint – Dehli Bazhar – see my previous blog for details!
Bases Dry brushed
The bases were then dry brushed with successive layers of Delhi Bazhar and Iraqi Sand mix until I got the look that I was happy with. I added some white to the mix to really highlight the rocks. I wasn’t too worried if I caught the boots of the figures with the dry brush and I also lightly dry brushed the guns, particularly the wheels with the base earth colour.
Scatter added to bases
Using watered down PVA white glue, I added some green scatter to the bases. The final touch would be to add some gamers grass tufts. In the back ground you can see my battalion of Gordon Highlanders that I was basing at the same time. I often ‘batch base’ my units as it saves on paint and glue!
Potuguese Artillery ready for action!
I used a mixture of the Gamers grass dry and beige tufts to represent the drier look of the Iberian Peninsular. The guns are ready to take to the battlefield!
Gordon Highlanders completed
I also finished basing my battalion of Gordon Highlanders, so two projects off the desk – back to my War of the Roses Cavalry now!
THE COMMERIAL BIT
Nearly every thing that I use in my modelling projects comes from the Arcane Scenery shop. We supply post free to most worldwide locations!
It might seem that I am jumping around with different projects but there is a method in the madness. I have a Demo game coming up at the Warlord Games Open Day on 20th July here in Nottingham. The NG13 wargamers will be re running a Black powder version of the game ‘Combat at Foz D’Arouce’. We thought that it would be fun to show how Black powder can be adapted to run a Company level game on a small 4′ x 4′ table. Rather than use a British force, I thought that I would get my Portuguese detachment on to the table. Whilst I have plenty of troops, I have no Portuguese Artillery. The Demo game was a good excuse to remedy this.
Warlord Games Portuguese 9 pounder.
As you can see, Warlord make a nice Portuguese Artillery set, available as a 6pdr, 9pdr or Howitzer. I went for the 9pdr version and ordered a couple to compliment my Brigade of Infantry, even though I only needed one for the demo game!
Portuguese Artillery from Pinterest board.
The next issue was to research the colour scheme. I guess I could have taken the easy option and just copied the Warlord photo but I wanted to check to see if there were any alternatives. Unfortunately, that resulted in the usual confusion as different references gave slightly different schemes. The Osprey book that I had gave the colour scheme as ‘Dark blue coat of infantry style with red collar and cuffs…’ However, the Napoleonic source book gives the uniform as ‘Dark Blue infantry style coats with black facings and plumes.’ It also goes on to explain that there were four different regiments but gave no idea if they had different uniforms. As you can see from the picture above, The second Regiment appeared to have yellow piping – nice, but is it accurate?
Another version of the same regiment?
After trawling through the rest of my references and numerous google and pinterest searches I resorted to asking on the TMP forum. As ever, I received some excellent help and information. I was refered to the Osprey books again – this time to volume three of the Portuguese army – I only had two volumes so had missed this! The information was:
If you have Osprey vol 3, turn to page 3, Table C.
It shows the regimental distinctions for the four regiments (1st to 4th). Coat blue, then collar and cuff in a combination of blue or black – blue blue, black black, black blue, blue black in that order.
Turnbacks and piping were red for all regiments. Britches were blue in winter, white in summer. Gaiters black. Buttons yellow.
Stovepipe shako replaced barretino in 1810. Brass plate. Black plume.
Does that help?
Another contributor kindly supplied the above picture. So on balance, I went for the second Regiment but despite my liking for the yellow piping, I have gone with red!
Portuguese Artillery – primed!
So, decision made as regards the colour scheme that I would use, it was on with the painting. As usual, I will batch paint, which will involve a combination of colour blocking, Army Shade and highlighting. First job was to clean the figures, attach them to temporary base and prime in Army Painter grey.
Portuguese Artillery – Flesh
I use Vallejo 70955 flesh for the face and hands.
Portuguese Artillery – black
Vallejo 70950 black for plumes, hat, facings ( collars & Cuffs) boots, cartridge case and sword scarbard.
Portuguese Artillery – hair and accessories.
I used 70822, German Camouflage black brown for the hair (I could have used Black but wanted a slight contrast between the hair and shako) and as a base for the Artillery equipment.
Portuguese Artillery – Uniforms.
The uniforms were painted Dark Prussian Blue, Vallejo 70899.
Portuguese Artillery – white belts
I use Vallejo Off white 70820 for the belts and prefer the softer look to this than the normal Vallejo white.
Portuguese Artillery – Brass
Vallejo 70801 brass for the cap badges, plates buttons and sword hilts & scabbard detail. With hindsight, I have gone out of my usual sequence here. I should have done the red piping next and the brass last. It keeps the brush cleaning water free of metallic specs and the piping will run over the buttons as I was to find out…
Portuguese artillery – Red Piping
The red piping, turnbacks and ribbons on the shako were done with Vallejo 70957 red and the figures are nearly complete. That’s as far as I have got with them but all being well, they will be completed for next week and I will return with pictures of them based and ready for action!
Still to do – I will highlight the Plumes and ram rod heads in black grey, add the blue ribbon and detail to the shako’s, add the detail to the buckets and other equipment and then use quick shade to bring out the detail and seal the figures. A quick coat of matt varnish and re highlight the white belts if necessary.
The beauty of the batch paint method is that there’s no need to do the figures in one sitting. In reality, these figures could be completed to this stage in a few hours. However, my back and eyes wont last more than an hour and it’s rare that I get that much painting time in one session. The batch paint sequence allows me to make progress even in the smallest time gap. So Although I watched the Footie on Tuesday, I used half time to slap some paint on!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
First of all, if you would like to visit my pinterest board to see other pictures of Portuguese Napoleonic Army, click here:
Well, the recent deluge has caught me out and I was unable to continue with my WOTR cavalry as the next six models were yet to be undercoated. Mrs W made it quite clear that spraying indoors was unacceptable, even in the garage, which is accessed through the kitchen door. So I have had to wait for the weather to brighten up before continuing.
The six completed cavalry.
As you can see, I have now completed six of the heavy mounted men at arms, so I have made some progress. I’ve also mounted the riders for the next batch on the temporary holders ready for spraying, so I am good to go once the rain stops.
Let us Spray…knights ready for undercoating.
Despite this hitch, I always have something on the work bench and so I continued with the batch paint of the Highlanders that will make up the balance of the 92nd Gordon’s. The beauty of the batch paint approach is that you can keep a unit progressing and know exactly where you are in the process, even if you have to pause to do something else.
Batch painting highlanders
So a bit more progress in a slightly different direction. The decision I have to make now is whether to crack on and finish the Highlanders or once I can get the Knights undercoated, go back to them. I’m under no real pressure to do either at the moment as I now have sufficient troops to fight club battles in both Napoleonic’s and WOTR. I am favouring the Highlanders though as now that I’ve started them, it would be good to finish them. In reality, I’ll probably do a bit of both, depending on the time I have, after all, nothing like a bit of variety to spice things up! So long as I don’t end up with tartan on my WOTR knights all will be well….
White cross straps and lacing next!
So a short blog for me – besides there’s a break in the rain – I’m off to do some priming!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Just a short reminder that nearly everything that I use for my modelling is available post free from my shop. You can see the huge range of models, paints, glues and accessories here:
Over the last couple of weeks my blog has been focused on the Demo game that I was a part of at the Bingham Napoleonic days. I thought that this week, I would round up this very enjoyable occasion by giving a few details about the event and who else and what else was there. It’s a bit of a ‘bolting the stable door’ blog but if you are interested in Napoleonic history, it’s a nice little event to attend and assuming that it goes ahead next year ( I hope so) – put it into your diary now.
A selection of Peter’s books
The event is organised by local author Peter Youds. Peter has written a number of novels ( 10 so far!), set initially in the Peninsular War, in his series, ‘The Ties of Blood’. He thought that it would be a bit of fun to organise a small event at the end of February/beginning of March to celebrate the Napoleonic period and it’s rich history. He gathered together some of his like minded colleagues and the first event was held three years ago. The East Midlands Napoleonic Days weekend takes place at Long Acre Studios, Bingham, Nottinghamshire. The building is the former drill-hall of the South Notts Hussars and provides a most suitable venue for the event.
A good selection of Helion books available – as were some of the authors!
The event is steadily growing and this year, with the help of Helion Books, there was a full program of guest speakers. Familiar names included Carole Divall and Andrew Bamford along with of course, Peter Youds himself. Other speakers included Mark Thomson, Mick Crumplin, Rod Griffiths, Paul Chamberlain, Michael Kirby and Edward Hammond.
Spot The Author! – Another selection of titles available.
Also attending the event, was the very talented Christa Hook. If you have used Osprey books as a painting reference, particularly if painting British Napoleonics, you may well have used Christa’s paintings as a reference. I certainly have, although the name hadn’t registered until the week before the event. I was painting a Warlord Games 95th rifleman and I realised that the painting that I was using as a reference was by Christa!
My attempt at painting a 95th Rifleman
Christa Hooks Cover art – no doubt who is the more talented painter!
Christa had brought a selection of paintings to display and sell, as well as copies of her book ‘Far in Advance’ a beautifully illustrated book of the Peninsular war.
Just a small selection of Christa Hooks work on display.
So with a full program of speakers in one hall, a selection of literature and art work in the gallery, Café Corsica, a pop up café, selling delicious home made cakes, tea coffee sandwiches and freshly made bacon cobs ( bread rolls, to you Southerners…) what more could you want? Oh yes, in the back room, the NG13 wargamers were putting on a battle based on an engagement from the Peninsular war that occurred at Foz d’ Arouce and described in Peter Youlds book, ‘the Hardest fight’.
The Hardest Fight by Peter Youlds
A full battle report is in last weeks blog but it is worth mentioning again that the board was scratch built by Peter Harris of the NG13 wargamers with assistance from Jaz Storey- Smith.
Jaz busy painting the board under Petes direction!
Having spent all day Saturday playing our Demo game, I returned on Sunday to listen to some of the speakers. I particularly wanted to hear Rob Griffiths talking about the 5/60th rifles. I had treated myself to one of Christa’s paintings of these guys and I wanted to know more about them. Rob’s talk was so enlightening, I purchased a signed copy of his book!
I spent a bit more than I intended to but I am very pleased with my haul!
I should also mention that as well as speaking, Michael Kirby had put on a ‘Hands on History’ demo in the back room that was a superb introduction to the period for both kids and adults. I regret that my roving reporter skills are so poor and that I have no pictures of the display that he had assembled. Another speaker, Edward Hammond was in full Napoleonic French Infantry dress. I had the pleasure to watch Christa Hook sketch him and produce a superb likeness as I stood and watched. Such talent! Again, I was so star struck that I forgot to record the results!
Christa Hooks painting now has pride of place in the lounge!
In conclusion, I spent a very happy weekend at the event and I am very grateful to Peter for organising such a pleasant experience. If you are in the area next year ( The event can coincide with Hammerhead at Newark, just down the road) and you are at all interested in Napoleonic’s, I would urge you to make the effort to attend – it’s free! All you will spend is your time….unless like me you are tempted by the books and paintings available. Oh and the cakes…
The Commercial Bit
As always a link to the Arcane Scenery and Models on line shop. We currently post all orders free to most worldwide locations:
Footnote: In case you haven’t noticed, I am having problems with aligning some of my pictures. It seems that if you view them on a Tablet or phone they are aligned correctly but on a desk top, they are set at 90 degrees. I will be seeking some technical help to resolve this!
I had a most enjoyable weekend at the Bingham Napoleonic Days event, organised by the Author and Bingham resident, Peter Youds. The Saturday was spent playing in a Napoleonic demo game based around the action at Foz d’Arouce in the Peninsular War on a beautiful table, designed and built by Peter Harris. On Sunday, I attended a number of talks on Napoleonic subjects, the highlight for me, being a talk on the ‘personalities’ in the 5/60th rifles given by author Robert Griffith. In this weeks blog, I’ll give you the battle report from the Saturday, whilst it is still fresh in my mind and next week, I’ll cover the event itself.
The Village of Foz d’Arouce – Table built and designed by Pete Harris
Andy Callan had come up with the scenario and the rules that we would use to pay the game. In the attachments below, you can read the actual account of the battle from Oman, the scenario for the game itself and the briefing handout for visitors. It’s worth taking the trouble to have a read – the links are PDF’s which you are free to use should you wish to – they should open in a separate tab on your computer.
I’ll also include a link to the rules at the bottom of the blog. We have been a bit easy going when it came to the actual figures used. You will see that the figures on the table don’t quite match the actual regiments present. I should also say that the battle account is very much from a British perspective (me), so if you ever get to chat to my opponent, Pete, dont be surprised if he has a slightly differing version!
The British Officers are all Characters from ‘The Hardest Fight’ by Peter Youlds.
The British force was led by characters from Peter Youlds novel, ‘The Hardest Fight’, whilst the French Officers were all named after cheeses! The battle started with Captains Jago and Herryck a company of the 95th Rifles already in place in the village, with two companies of British infantry, led by Marlow entering the field of battle at the top of the board.
Marlow leads his troops onto the field of battle
Rifles sneak into the village!
The French encampment – they are defending the wrong road!
Breast or Leg Sir? – Just give me the chicken, I have a battle to fight!
The first turn saw the British suprising the French and opening fire on both the camp and the companies defending the road at entry point b. Captain Rocquefort decided to pull back from the road and defend the camp, with Captain Vachequirit abandoning his lunch to join him on the hill. In the subsequent exchanges of fire, the French were temporarily driven back, one company suffering badly and failing it’s morale. To add to the French discomfort, Lt. Thicknesse had arrived with two more companies of red coats to put more pressure on the French.
British Reinforcements push the French back up the hill
It all seemed that it was going well for the British but in their over exuberance, the commanders had lost touch with some of their units which meant that the British were unable to follow up their early success. To add to their woes, the French had received reinforcements, with Sgt Camembert leading a company of elite Voltigeurs and Lt Brie leading his squadron of Hussars. Lt Brie charged straight into the action.
Lt. Brie withdraws having mauled the British Infantry
Lt Brie caused havoc in the British lines, severely mauling one company and pushing it back off the table, which caused further confusion in the British lines. The French Cavalry were stopped by a furious musket volley and having suffered a number of casualties, Lt Brie retired to the rear. The French had recovered from the initial shock of the British advance and were further able to halt the British advance with some excellent musketry, which left the British in disarray and in need of re organisation.
The British form up again!
For a short period, the French appeared to have the initiative, with Sgt Camembert attempting to sneak around the side of the village whilst taking on the 95th Rifles.
Voltigeurs skirmishing around the rear of the Village whilst more French reinforcements arrive.
Take the Village!
The tide turned again, with more British reinforcements arriving. A battery of Horse artillery had arrived and immediately went into action against the French infantry and Cavalry. A further two companies of infantry had appeared at the top of the village. The British had by now sorted out their command, with Captain Herryck leaving the village to take control of the newly arrived infantry and advance on the French around the other side of the village. Captain Jago had also taken command of an additional light Company and brought them into the village to secure it from the French.
Light Infantry secure the village.
British superiority is re-established!
A desperate attempt by the French Voltigeurs to storm the village was easily repulsed and the British were now able to go onto the offensive again. Just to add the the French Commanders woes, a company of Cacadores appeared on the bluff to his rear and started harassing the now retreating French columns.
Cacadores! Where did they come from!
The French were now facing superior fire power and having been worn down by the British attack, realised that retreat was their only option. With the bridge choked, one retreating unit was forced into the river at the ford and suffered further losses to the treacherous current. Some order was restored on the far bank and the French prepared to blow the bridge.
French in new defensive position
The British hold the field!
The umpire decided that the French would need to roll to see if the explosives had been placed correctly and on which side of the bridge the charge had been set. A 1,2 or 3 would mean that the charge was on the British side; 4,5 or 6 it would be on the French side. Pete, the French commander, managed to roll a 2. The race was now on! Could Capt. Herryck reach the bridge and diffuse the explosives before the bridge was blown?
A solitary French trooper was sent to light the fuse!
The fuse was lit, anything but a 1 on a D6 and the bridge would blow before Herryck could get there. Pete rolled the dice…a 1! The charge had failed to blow, the British were delighted! But wait! The French had a re roll card to play. The umpire obliged and we held our breath as the dice was rolled again…a 1! The British once again celebrated in a most unsportsman like way… Herryck rushed to the bridge to difuse the charge, a 2,3,4,5,6 would make him the hero of the day. A 1 would mean that the charge was booby trapped and the whole thing would blow after all. I rolled a 1! As I looked at the dice in disbelief, willing the spots to change, the French commander was badly concealing his glee. Bloody wargaming!
Oh No! He’s killed Herryck!
I would now have to tell Peter Youds that I had killed off his main character. Oh well, these things happen, time for a pint, I think.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
As I hope that you can see we had great fun with our game. The rules are a mash up of the original Sharp Practice rules and Muskets and Tommahawks with some extra ideas from Andy, hence Sharp Tomahawks. The sub title of ‘Rules for old wargamers with short attention spans’ is a clue as to why we like them. We have used them before and they are available here as a brief PDF. The new Sharpe practice rules would have worked just as well and if you are not familiar with them, I recommend them as one of the best set of skirmish rules around.
We sell many of the figures, scenery, rules and accessories used in the game – if you would like to visit our shop and see the huge range that we have, click the link below. At the time of writing we send orders post free!
This weekend I will be attending the ‘Bingham Napoleonic Days’ event and on the Saturday, participating in a small Wargames demo game set in the Peninsular. The game scenario has been devised by Andy Callan and he has also put the rules together – they are a version of his ‘Rules for Old Wargamers with Short attention spans’. Pete Harris is building the table. The game is a skirmish around a small Spanish hill top village. My contribution is to supply the British contingent, who will be assaulting the village and driving out the French and rescuing the villagers.
Protect the pub! They still have beer!
As the game is a fictional event and is designed as much as an introduction/explanation of wargaming to a generally bemused set of non wargaming visitors, we aren’t too precious about the details of the uniforms and combatants. However, It was an excuse to dig out some of my unpainted Peninsular figures that I had accumulated and create a ‘Forlon Hope’ that would lead the assault on the village.
Another six figures to complete!
Well, I am just about there but as usual, I will still be painting and basing the last few figures on Friday night. They are not critical to the event, so if they are not finished, it wont be a disaster but it will be nice to have them done. I am quite pleased with the ‘command’ base that I have put together using the two limited edition figures that were supplied with the ‘Albion Triumphant’ supplements for Black Powder.
Albion Triumphant!
I’ve used a Sarissa Precision Bolt action gun team base that will allow me to use the figures separately if I choose to do so, or to remove them as casualties. These ‘sabot’ bases are very useful and allow a bit more flexibility than permanently basing figures in a Vignette, so that they can be used for wargaming but look nice in the figure cabinet.
Albion Triumpant rear view
Incidentally, when it comes to basing, I always try to work in three’s or five’s. Hence the little rock formation at the front of the base that’s there to ‘balance ‘ the figures. It’s something that I was taught in my earlier career in retail whilst learning how to put up window displays ( something all shops used to do in the olden days!). The idea was the everything should be grouped in threes or fives as it was more appealing to browsing customers. My wife worked in H Samuel and was taught the same trick, although they also had to set the clocks at ten to two as it gave the impression of a smiley face….I digress somewhat!
The Drummer boy is finished – just some tufts to add to the base.
You can see that I have mixed figures for the unit. There is the Warlord figures, some Foundry figures and some from Casting room miniatures ( although these are an off shoot of Foundry). The height differences are minimal and I have no hesitation in mixing and matching. The figures that are still on the workbench ( casting room miniatures) are a bit slighter than the others but a trick to hide that is to add a bit of plastic card to the base to raise them up. It will only need a millimetre or so but helps to level things up. I don’t really have a problem with the slight height differences in some figures. I know that some of my colleagues can get vexed by this but I like the variety and if anything, it is more realistic to have different sized people!
Another view of Albion Triumphant.
So I better get back to painting these last few figures. If you can get to Bingham on Saturday, you will be able to see them ‘in the flesh’ so to speak! The event is free to attend – just click on the link below for details.
Cheers! Happy Modelling!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
The details of the Bingham Napoleonic Days can be found here:
Although the figures in this weeks blog are not available from Arcane Scenery ( I think some of them may be OOP) all of the finishing and painting products are, even better, we send post free!
My painting this week has been a bit hit and miss. That said, I have still found plenty to do, sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. So I’ve been tidying, dusting, researching and preparing a couple of projects for the future. One of those projects is in support of the Bingham Napoleonic day to be held on 2nd March. I’ll post a link at the end of this blog to the event itself, but it involves a small Napoleonic demo game set in the Peninsular War. This was a good excuse for another dive into the lead pile to see what I had that would be suitable.
Peninsular skirmishers
I found a few Foundry Peninsular Light infantry and the limited Edition Warlord Games Ensign that came with the first Black powder supplement, Albion Triumphant ! I actually had about 20 figures but decided to focus on just eight, leaving the ensign to one side for the time being, as the rest lent themselves to a quick batch paint.
Early stages of the batch paint
I used my tried and trusted approach to painting, working from the inside out, to block paint the various colours. Flesh first for hands & face; Black hats, boots cartridge cases & bayonet scabbards; Iraqi Sand Bread bags; Pastel Blue water bottles; Flat brown for muskets. It was only during preparation that I noticed there were some differences in the figures. Four of them are clearly light infantry ( kneeling and climbing), four are line infantry but in light kit. Also, these final four are clearly very early Peninsular uniforms.
Facings done.
The early Peninsular chaps still had their hair in the ‘queue’, so I followed the colour scheme for the 29th Infantry 1808 ( Worcestershire Regt) from the book ‘Military Dress of the Peninsular War’. The others I painted as 52nd light infantry. As they are intended to be part of a ‘Forlon Hope’ assaulting a village somewhere in Spain, I’m not too worried that they will be from different regiments. In the same casual approach that I have adopted for the new year, I’m not going to get too excited about the differences in uniform. It will make a nice conversation piece at the game, should any one notice!
Figures nearly complete.
The picture above shows the figures nearly completed – at this point, I just needed to paint the lace and cross belts, brass for the buttons and buckles and touch up any obvious mistakes. The final step would be to paint them in Army Painter quick shade, matt varnish them and then re paint and highlight the lighter colours.
Completed figures awaiting basing.
The picture above shows the completed figures. Of course the next step is to base them but I am waiting to see how our demo board looks before proceeding.
Capture the house!
As you can see, the next project is to finish a house for the board. It may be that we don’t actually use the house. It was originally bought for my Caribbean project but the building looks ‘Spanish’ enough for both the Caribbean and the Peninsular, so whether it’s used or not, it will be another useful edition to my collection.
Assault on House 13!
So, I’ll go back and finish that Ensign and following a meeting planned tonight, I may need to paint a few more figures for the game. I also need to do quite a bit of work to finish the house, so the next few weeks look busy!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Although the figures are not available from Arcane Scenery ( I think some of them may be OOP) all of the finishing products are, even better, we send post free!
Well, in the song, Elton sings that ‘I think it’s going to be a long, long time’. As it turns out, I have managed to finish the diorama featuring the Warlord Rocketeer within a couple of weekends. The idea of just getting on with the model rather than spending ages researching has paid dividends. I have cut some corners, made some assumptions and used a bit of artistic licence but I am pleased with the result. Here’s how I went about the final stages of finishing and basing the figures.
Rocket troop basing plan
I replaced the original lances that I made from spears with some thinner 0.8mm brass rod from Albion alloys. I may have cut them a bit too long but went for an unsophisticated approach in keeping with the rest of the model and simply guessed the ‘right length’ based on the reference pictures. The ‘string’ holding the two sticks together is some thin Florists wire wound around the rod and super glued into place. The Pennant on the sticks was simply cut from paper and painted. I used a darker blue than two of the reference pictures show, preferring this over the light blue.
View from the other side.
Once the painting was finished, I positioned the figures on the base that I had chosen. I prefered a smaller MDF Oval base rather than a Rectangular artillery type base. I doubt that the model will get regular use on the wargames table and the oval base looked nicer. I also wanted to keep things close together – I suspect in reality, the horses would have been a bit further away from a rocket that was being launched!
The ‘rocks’ at the front of the base are there to fill a space although they are extremely accurate, having been picked up from a certain area in Belgium!
Basing in Progress
Once I was happy with the layout, I covered the base with Vallejo Dark Earth Texture paste and placed the figures into the paste. There is no need for glue, the paste will hold them securely but in the unlikely event that I decide to re base the figures, it is a simple matter to cut them free. I also sprinkled some coarse grit around the stones and some finer grit at the rear of the base to give some additional texture.
Rocket troop ready!
The next stage was to paint the base. I use a earth coloured emulsion called ‘Delhi Bazaar’ that I picked up from a DIY store as the first coat. I then dry brushed it with the same colour mixed with increasing amounts of Vallejo Iraqi Sand. The rocks and grit were also highlighted with a final coat mixed with white. I then added some scatter (Woodlands Scenics Green Blended Turf) and once this was dry, pressed the rocket launcher tray into place & glued the rocket in. It was then a question of adding some nice tufts and flowers and my Diorama was completed! Incidentally, the officer in the pictures is nothing to do with the Rocketeer. He’s another Warlord figure that I finished basing at the same time.
An Officer observes the launch!
View from the other side.
So another project from the lead pile is complete, Next up some Peninsular War Light infantry for a forth coming Napoleonic day in Bingham – More details to follow!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Nearly all of the materials that I used are from my shop, Arcane Scenery:
Our web store shows live stocks, so if something that you want isn’t there, just email me and I will let you know whether we can get it and how approximately long it will take.
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