Back to where it all began

 On Saturday, my wife, son and I went to see the Ray Harryhausen exhibition at the gallery of modern art in Edinburgh. 

Ray's iconic and groundbreaking special effects, in The Valley of the Gwangi, Mysterious Island, the 3 Sinbad movies, Clash of the Titans and, of course, Jason and the Argonauts had me transfixed as a kid and have remained with me ever since. They chimed with a love of dinosaurs, mythical creatures and Greek legends which I had as a kid in the 70's and which led to D&D and fantasy role playing games in the 80's and still resonates with me today. 

In the days before blue screen, green screen and cgi - Ray's monsters ruled...and even today their movements and their basic design informs and influence moviemakers and figure designers. 

The exhibition runs until the 22nd of Feb and I really can't recommend it enough. A few years ago I saw the Kubrick exhibition at the design museum in London and while that impressed me with the exhibits and insight into Kubrick's processes and obsessions it had nothing on this. 

Spread across the rooms of the 2nd campus building the exhibition includes the earliest of Ray's models and his influences in illustration and film. As you move through the rooms you encounter not only the creatures of the movies lovingly preserved by the Ray and Diana Harryhausen foundation, but Ray's wonderful incredibly detailed scene drawing (each a piece of art in itself) and descriptions of how he designed, built, animated, and filmed them. 

All the classics are there.

Unleash the ?....

w/real feathers

Eohippus Sketch

At times, I got down on my hands and knees to look into the cabinets and stare at the detail.....and I was not the only one. Kids of all ages were doing the same as some were introduced to the creatures for the first time and others saw old "friends", like Pegasus, Talos or Son's of the Hydra's Teeth. (The toy versions of which apparently caused problems for parents and the museum gift shop staff as neither knew they glow in the dark leading to scared kids when they awoke up in the night!).

As you can tell I loved this show. If you have the chance - go see it....if not buy the book and watch a movie on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and you'll be smiling from ear to ear....just as I was.

Against Spain - Update

The draft of "Against Spain - Wargaming the Sieges of Havana and Manila" is with the printer for review. 

Contents - 

Foreword.

Background to the campaigns

Leaders and Forces Involved

The Invasion of Cuba

The Invasion of the Philippines

The End of the War with Spain

Wargaming the Invasions

Notes and Bibliography 

75 pages of full colour pictures and periods maps and 6 wargames scenarios for 18thC games - 3 set on Cuba covering the landing, encounter with the Spanish and a Spanish counterattack and 3 in the Philippines covering the defence of the landing beach, the storming of Manila and a battle in the jungle between sepoys, Spanish and Filipino tribesmen. Each scenario has a full colour map and breakdown of troops involved and can be used with any game system. Perfect for Rebels and Patriots, Sharp Practice and Muskets and Tomahawks or your preferred skirmish rules.

Want to know more - drop me a line and ask!

Almost done - Against Spain

 What do you do when you are relaxed and have plenty headspace? 

Catch up on the project you've been working away on for ages and finish it! 

The text is done, the pictures are in place and sources referenced, the scenarios and maps are in place. Lossiemouth has been a place I can relax and unwind since we started coming here when my wife was doing her training in Elgin. So I took my laptop up and finished off the bits I have been meaning to for so so long. 

When I get home I will put in the last reference books and papers I used and get a spell check and then get in touch with the printers. All going well this should be ready very very soon. 

Keep your eyes peeled. 

Some new reading material - The Canadian Rebellions

 I've been reading up on the 1st Afghan War recently and like any other wargamer wondered where else I could use figures in those in those uniforms. I stumbled across the Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada as being suitable for bell shako wearing Brits and decided to find out more. 

Wikipedia has a few articles about the rebellion and the battles which ensured, but working out who, when and where with what wasn't always easy so a little more digging threw these two books up. So I ordered them thinking it would be January before I saw either of them.

But this week the both popped thru the letter box and so I have some 

Rebellion - The  Rising in French Canada by Joseph Schull cover the lower Canada rebellion. It's an older book, written 1971 but it has an easy style to it which is making it a good read. There is plenty background  on the history, politics and personalities and some excellent illustrations and maps. It will probably provide the deeper background and context that I'm looking for and hopefully won't skimp on some military info that isn't in the Wikipedia pages. 

Guns along the River - the Battle of the Windmill 1838 by Donald Graves is a very detailed and very well illustrated book about an attack lunched across the St Lawrence river from the US to Canada by a clandestine militia seeking to establish a republic. The occupied a stone windmill and fortified the position and were attacked by British regulars and Canadian Militia over 5 days. This has just arrive but it is packed with info and maps of what is in effect a mini campaign.

Sooo....what figures and how?

For the British - easy. I have a couple of units of Foundry Afghan war troops in bell shakos. Iron Duke do excellent figures in greatcoats or there is the taller Studio range also in greatcoats. Several actions were fought late in the year in very low temperatures amongst the snow and ice, so greatcoats are important. Perry also have their Carlist War British who may have some useful bits. 

For the Patriot Hunters and other "rebel" groups there are two possibilities. War of 1812 frontier militia seem to be a good match, especially Knuckleduster. Since these skirmishes took place a couple of years before the Alamo, figures for that campaign will be useful too - Old Glory and Artizan spring to mind. Possibly some blanketcoat clad FIW French Coureur de bois might suit for skirmishers too.

Rules? Rebels and Patriots obviously! 

Terrain and scenery? A white cloth and snowy trees seem essential and I have some plundered from Xmas villages which look nice. AWI buildings seem to fit the illustrations I've seen well too and I have a few of those around as well as split rail fences. I also have plenty redoubt sand fieldworks. Might have to think about a large stone windmill though! There are also some boats and paddle steamers featured in the latter book which might give an interesting dimension. I have the rowing boats but a steamer sounds good! 

Flutter fluttter.....uhoh!😂 Let's see where this leads!

Colonial Campaign - simple rules and mods.

Folks, for those interested you can download these simple campaign rules which we used for our colonial campaign at the club. 

They are set in the 1830's and 40's with lists for HEIC, Afghans and Sikhs. But you could use the basic flowchart for later campaigns too. 

Hope you enjoy!