Regiment Tattenbach

Flagged up and base completed.

I quite enjoyed painting these. They needed a little more work than metal figs but I'm happy with them. One down and six more to go!




My box arrived from Warlord so I have all the pieces I need for my foot, horse and guns. I may break the monotony by sprinkling in the odd foundry/casting room character figure just to add some variety. We'll see how they match up.

The regiment if based for Beneath The Lily Banners which we play tested a couple of weeks ago. I quite enjoyed it, although I am now really tempted by all the late 17thC figures and have been buying up some book for the period - John Tincey's introductory Osprey on the British Army of 1660-1704 and Stephen Ede-Borrets Army of James II which I saw in Foyles recently and picked up on Amazon. Somewhere I have a few of John Child's books on the period which I have to say is much more visually appealing (and sensible in scale) than Marlborough's campaigns. I used to have a small 15mm army for Donnington Miniatures, inspired by Mark Allen's excellent articles in Wargames Ilustrated years ago, (hi Mark, hope you're fine!). My interest wasn't followed up by anyone else at my local club then so after a couple of DBR Games I stopped collecting them.

The trouble is now I've got no excuse....

The expedition to Virginia in 1677 would make an great what if campaign.....Uhoh !!

Holiday time

Time for a wee break, a deserved one I think! Off to NYC for a few days and back just in time for the festive non denominational solstice period not back to work until 3rd Jan.

Last week I managed to finish the first of my Bavarian units for the Marlburian period and do a couple more swedes....I think I'm gonna need more blue!




The Warlord sprues have been reorganised from the original WF version with lots more formal tricorns. The plastic seems to have changed to a harder version too, things will bend, but you'll get that white stress mark if it does. Other than that they are the same, with the slightly soft detail levels and bulging eyes. With some a few changes to my normal technique however they painted up fine.

Just waiting on some flags and to do the basing. The drummer will take casualty dice frames at the back of his base and sit behind the unit.

Oh and the rest of the figures?..... a delay by Triplehelix resulted in a refund which coincided with a drop in price and a 15% voucher deal with Warlord....result one happy Aberdonian ;-)

By way of an update

So, it’s been very quiet around here recently hasn’t it?

There are a few reasons for that, both personal and work. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing from Edinburgh and Elgin, Dunfermline and Lossiemouth at weekend for my better half and I has made sitting down of an evening to paint or write a bit more difficult. Work has picked up after the downturn in O&G and has been somewhat hectic with a few changes and challenges to deal with. However such is life!

Looking briefly ahead the last weeks of the year are approaching and so is a holiday to New York to celebrate our anniversary. Then there is Christmas itself. But we’ll end the year and see in the new one at Lossie where I have installed a painting lamp!!!

At the local club we have been playing through an AWI campaign based on that of Howe and Washington around New York in 1776 using Jim Purkey of Minden/Fife and Drum Miniatures AWI rules for the tabletop encounters and Worthington Games “New York 1776” for the movement and maps. 

Jim’s rules are excellent. Easy to follow and easy to adopt and adapt. You’ll find a copy on the F&D website. Check them out - linky

Worthington’s boxed game is one of those which uses blocks rather than card counters and has a simple set of mechanisms which work well. Transferring the battles to the table does give a different set of results than the “battleboard” from the box, but we have been able to play the campaign out and it is due to be completed next week with a large battle at Westchester.

Here’s a few pics of one of the earlier battles and if you look closely you’ll see the blocks from the game being used on the tabletop as markers for their “parent” unit. Here the Hessians and a British unit take on some rebels.

We plan on continuing these games using the Trenton game and possibly the Saratoga set from the same company next year. And have purchased a bit some more American looking terrain, rail and log fences. I've got my eye on some O-scale vegetables - pumpkin and corn to make a nice patch for a cabin.

For the Sugar Islands project I have been doing some more research. I had hoped to get this out before xmas, but the last thing I want to do at the moment is spend time at a computer having done so all day. I am trying to reconcile information I have regarding the Swiss unit and its detachments and the late arriving reinforcements which the French received, including Swiss, just after the surrender had been agreed.  Madame D’s troops are slowly being painted, along with herself and a few supporting military men to use as officers. After these I have some landing boats to paint and my notes to type up, so a release early next year is now on the cards.

I have made a start on Swedes for the GNW and now have 1 figure painted! (Told you I’d not done much!!). I plumped for the excellent Ebor range and bought a 24 fig unit for £25 – (eight pike, 16 shot) and a command pack. This gives me the bulk of my infantry for the skirmish sized games planned. Some horse and extra stuff are planned and I have some Pegasus Russian houses for scenery. I have twisted the arm of a friend and club member to join me in this project and he is working on some Danes.

Finally I have been pottering away on some Marlburian Bavarians. A long time ago I had this lovely blue army in 15mm and enjoyed Volley and Bayonet games of increasing size with them and Prussian, Russian and French armies. This time I have gone for the 28mm Wargames Factory plastics, a number of which I fell heir to following the passing of a friend a few years ago. Warlord own them now and appear to have tidied up the sprue a little it appears. The army boxed set is available at a discounted rate of £68 from a reseller, TripleHelix, so I had no excuse to not get them. They are not the easiest of figures to paint and require some detail to be “worked up” with the paint brush, but they’re not horrible and when painted and based up en masse the marching poses look pretty decent. I am doing these as my side of the bargain for my mate getting involved in the GNW stuff. He’s continuing with his Danish theme for his stuff.

More will be revealed in the new year.

Progress?

Rather a lot going on elsewhere at the moment so only time for club games for a few weeks.

However behind the scenes I did managed to get the layout checked for the Sugar Islands campaign book.

I sent off my PDF to Book Printing UK who gave me a decent quote for an A5 paperback with colour glossy page printing, and a decent thickness colour cover. They also review the layout etc of your file to see if there would be any issues before accepting it. So I sent in what is effectively a half finished mock up - titles, pages, pictures etc in place, but some text missing from the areas I have to work on.

The good news as that apart from the margins and lower dpi count for some illustrations everything is fine.

I'm pleased with that, it's like getting your worked checked halfway through and getting the nod to continue. I shouldn't have any issues getting it printed - I just need to finish it!

Work on that starts over the next few weeks as my wife starts her course and I will have quite a few evenings free, so I might as well use them constructively!

So below is a rough mock up of the front cover.....it will change,  let's call it a teaser!😄

I've also been painting up some of Madame Ducharmey's men. This spirited woman defender her plantation from the British by arming her slaves and estate workers and was seen amongst them in the thick of the fight. She was not amongst the captured or casualties when the plantation was finally taken, so must have made good her escape. 

At the moment I plan on using one of the female gunners from Warlord's AWI artillery, I may give her a head swap - that will test my sculpting skills! - as she needs a more genteel straw bonnet rather than a utilitarian linen cap.

It's good to be back in the swing of things!

Happy Birthday Bilbo!

Not quite the usual sort of post from me but this has to be acknowledged.

On the 21st of September 1937 "The Hobbit" was published.

This book is an undying favourite of mine and is probably the most important non fiction book I have ever read. Had I not, I don't think my love of fantasy and history would have combined or developed to what it is now and my wargaming hobby would be considerably poorer for it.

I first stumbled upon a copy in one of the bedrooms of the house of the grandparents of some friends. The house was itself a magical place in its own right - a large Victorian home at the end of our street, stuffed full of books, basement rooms and a garden to roam in. A place which itself have been the setting for all sort of kids fantasy novels by CS Lewis or such like. I asked if I could borrow it and never looked back. I fell in love with it and a few years later The Lord of the Rings and then the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, getting the Silmarillion as a prize when I left primary school.

So thanks to JRRT for such a wonderful book and a whole lot more besides.

Sugar Islands Test Scenario 2 - The Advance on Port Royal

The arrival of my final batches of British for this project have meant that I can crack on and try out my ideas for scenarios. In this one the British have to March from one side of the table to another, representing their march from the beaches to what they hoped would be a position overlooking Port Royal.

I wanted to try a grid type system of the table with it divided up into 12in squares, each of which would contain a random terrain type and a possible event. Obviously an ambush by French forces, militia or slaves but potentially a water halt, damaged axle or similar just imposing a delay. 

Having made up the tables in my draft version of the book I was keen to give them a go and ran a couple of games this week at Oldmeldrum Wargames Group.  In the first game the British managed to sweep across the table with a mild diversion and a halt for water and it wasn't til they got to the last    square that they ran into trouble. A detachment of Swiss from Rgt Hallwyl managed to hold them up for three turns before they were forced aside and the advance continued.

In the second game things went badly wrong. The redcoats were hit early on by French marines and despite trying to drive them off a volley and bayonet charge the advance was compromised and the. British forced to halt and form if not quite a square, then something pretty close.

Matters worsened when the Grenadiers rou....I mean retired back to the ships and the poor 38th got pretty shot up. The French militia and more men from Hallwyl put a stop to any advance and the Brits got completely stuck. Only steady volley fire and a quick charge kept them safe until nightfall and the game ended.

Some Piccies!

The latter game, despite heavier casualties is a decent representation of the trouble Hopson's men faced. He thought casualties had been heavier than they really were and in the face of a water shortage, difficult terrain and a French foe who just wouldn't play ball, decided to call off the attack and march back to the ships and depart.

Overall I'm pleased with the result, the look of the terrain and figures. One more scenario to test and then on to Guadeloupe!!

Sugar Islands Test Scenario - The Plantation

Tonight at Oldmeldrum Wargames Group we gave The Minden AWI rules another bash and tried out a simple scenario based on action from the attacks on Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Three British battalions advanced to take a plantation which had been entrenched and was defended by milita and men from the Compagnie Franches de la Marine, together with a large cannon which had been hauled into place. 

The British Commander decided on the direct approach and swiftly marched the Grenadiers, 63rd and 64th in column up the table to engage the enemy. The French hoped that they could relay on the strength of their position and the damage caused by their gun. 

The heavy piece fired and swept a file of men of the 63rd away, but the columns were not stayed. The redcoats pulled their tricorns down tighter, helmets their muskets and moved on forward. Again the gun blazed as the columns came into canister range, this time the damage was telling and the 63rd were halted, but the Grenadiers and 64th came on.

In range of the militia now their fire began to pick men off, but both units attacked the breastworks around the plantation. The cannon crew swiftly fell to their bayonets and, breaking into the position they split left and right. The Grenadiers on the left taking on the militia whist the 64th set about the French colonial troops. 

The British fought hard and with superior skill drove the French from their positions, they broke and ran and the plantation fell to King George's men. The price had been high however. The 63rd were badly mauled and the Grenadiers lost a quarter of their number. With victories like these would there be enough men to be able to secure the islands?

French Gun crew painted.....and a new building.

Finished the gun crew. I've painted them as some Cannonier-Bombardiers in their red waistcoats and a couple of civilian supports. The Bombardiers were the colonial artillery deployed alongside the Compagnie Franches. On Guadeloupe they were assisted by numbers of Corsairs, so the figure in the baggy breeches could be one of these chaps.




The building is a new purchase from EBay. Perfect for the islands and for the AWI.

The single figure is from the same pack of labourers, but I have armed him with a musket from the WF/Warlord WSS cavalry. He looks quite a young chap, but everyone turned out to see off the enemy,

French Gun Crew and armed farm workers

Some civilians in military service for Martinique and Guadeloupe.

First some gun Crew - these will be mixed in with the actual French crew I will be ordering from Crann Tara later. A French officer lends encouragement.

The cannon is a model boat piece from Billings, a lovely bit of turned brass, bored out too. I shall be having a couple more of these!

Now some farmhands or townsfolk.. Again Crann Tara labourers, this time with the addition of some Wargames factory/Warlord WSS muskets.



I hope to have these ready for my planned game next tues.

Sugar Islands British

Slowly but surely my Sugar Islands campaign moves forward. Here's a pic of the British inf I have had painted up by Stuart Foley alongside the lovely command stand I received as a gift from Jim Purky of Minden & Fife and Drum mini's.

 

Stuart currently has another British line regiment and some British Grenadiers as well as French militia which he is painting up. For the latter I have used Fife and Drum AWI figs, purchased from Crann Tara. I'm away on business at the moment (this post comes to you from the departure lounge of distant Almaty airport!), but I hope to have them when I get back from my trip. I have some time off coming up and will use that to base the units which are complete so far and then try out some scenario ideas.

The unit to the front is the 38th Foot which had been posted to the Windward islands for some time. As such it's uniforms mush have made some concessions to local conditions and supply. Linen or cotton would have replaced wool and straw hats may have been worn by more practical officers rather than a felted tricorn. I have used CT's British Line in Campaign dress for these and have a few more with floppy tricorns to add. I asked Stuart to paint a few in different gaiters to add to the irregular look of this unit. 

And some Spanish

First of a few Spanish units I am painting to add to my Neapolitan army. Rgt Guadalajara, Cran Tara mini's from their WAS range.

I have to admit I struggled a bit to get the definition right with the white coats. The CT figs are very clean castings with quite subtle folds and lines in their uniforms. I used a little grey ink to define the arms and armpits and think this works....I'm sure it will get better as I add more units.

 

Some Newbies....

First up my long over due Russian Grenadiers for Pikemans Lament. These are Foundry - Casting Room Miniatures since Musketeer's figures (which make up the rest of my Russians) are no longer available / not quite ready to become available again!

Nice poses for a "forlorn hope" for Grenadiers - painted as Repnin's battalion.

I had intended to get basing today but other things needed my attention.



Next up is a wonderful vignette I received as a thank you from "Der Alte Fritz" Jim Purkey of Minden / Fife and Drum for services rendered to AMG17. These lot will be making an appearance in my Sugar Islands book I think....but here's a sneak preview !

Pfaffenhofen

Despite being aware at the weekend I was also allowed out to play on Tuesday night!

So I had a look on the excellent Honours of War Forum and came across the Pfaffenhofen scenario. This battle involved the Austrians trying to either capture or drive the Franco-allied army from the field. Not so much a fire fight as a chase!

Being somewhat short of players, unusual for us nowadays, we had a three player game with Club member (and resident Prussian) John taking on the allies (using his Prussians) whilst I controlled the Austrians (with some Russian stand ins) with another club member Robert, (because I have light infantry, much to John's chagrin!).

An interesting fight, with plenty of melee and some good and bad dice throwing on both sides. The Austrians failed to get their Grenadiers to do anything constructive, but the cavalry charges looked great. In the end the French and their friends did manage to get away just, but were badly mauled.

The rolling terrain and lines of figures made for some nice pix.

One more game next week and then I plan to run some test scenarios for the Sugar Islands, probably using Loose Files.

 

 

AMG 17

Well ! What a weekend !!

After a gentle flight down to Birmingham I met Angus Konstam at the airport and we were both collected by Tony Dillon who was also attending and lived locally. We arrived at the Chesford Grange for this years wargaming weekender and soon met up with the other attendees in the bar! 

Friday night was spent catching up with everyone after a year (what a short year!!). It was great catching up with everyone again.

After breakfast on Saturday we quickly got the games underway. Paul Robinson ran an excellent Ramilles battle based on the fight around Franquenee. Colin Ashton, assisted by Robbie Rodiss ran Leuthen complete with baking powder snow. Graham Cummings ran Falkirk 1746 on teddy bear fur with his own and Guy Barlow's Jacobites and Martin Gane rolled out his Sudan game, the hottest terrain in what turned out to be the coolest area of the room.

I have some piccies from the games I took part in but the standards of figures, scenery, terrain and overall effort from  those hosting or helping out were very high, once again it will turn out, I am sure, to be the highlight of my wargaming year.

Steve Pearse and myself faced off against Mark Dudley and Ian Burt at Ramillies and adopting an aggressive approach led the French to victory.

 

 

 

 

That afternoon I took on the mahdists in the Sudan - on my own (which was alas to be my downfall)!

 

 

 

And then on Sunday (after a wonderful evening swapping stories of vinyl, turntables, music and even a little bit of games workshop with Aly Morrison and Steve Metheringham), I faced the highland clans at Falkirk with Chris Gregg as Cope we myself as Hawley. This turned out rather more successfumlly as despite some effective highland charges we were able to hold our nerve and position and with a combination of musketry and cannister send Charlie's men packing.

 

 

 

 

 

At lunch on Sunday we had a small prize giving with Tony taking home a very nice vignette by John Ray for Most Military Gentleman, Robbie taking home Most Unlucky General -  a  shiny sculpt by Aly, and Paul winning the draw (picked by his wife !) for Best Host - a copy of the Perry Twins new Travel Battle game.

I managed to pick up some figures from Graham and as a present a lovely command stand vignette of a mounted officer and highlanders from Jim Purkey who'd travelled over from the States. This latter will be appearing in the Sugar Islands book I'm sure. I also touched base with Chris about adding a couple of illustrations for that too....but no ladies in uniform!

What a wonderful weekend....

.......can't wait til the next one!!!

It's been a wee while...

It's been a wee while since I posted. A few reasons for this, mostly work, a few family things too - but I have not neglected the hobby!

I've -
Had a most excellent weekend with Charles Grant, refighting (and losing!) Torgau.

Thank you Charles, I will try not to lose 6 regiments of Grenadiers next time!


I've painted these chaps from Crann Tara, French Compagnie Frances de la Marine



And these Spanish for my WAS in Italy project...finished now

 

I've received these figures for my Sugar Islands campaign, painted by Stuart Foley. Debrissay's 63rd foot.

 

And these Swiss 

Along with a very nice AWI/ACW courthouse and a Colonial Plantation




Painting some GNW Russians

 

And rebasing some 19th Century Neapolitans.


(Whew!)

Oh yeah....and been organising something called AMG17.....more about that later.....