Further to the last post On Military Matters will be also now be carrying "Against Spain"
Dennis still carries "Sugar Islands" too, so now you have three places to by both books.
Direct from here. From Caliver Books. And now from On Military Matters.
Right....now there's no excuses!π
Sales of Against Spain have been picking up a bit recently - possibly as the wargames show circuit gets underway again. I handed over some copies to Dave Ryan at Caliver Books and he will now be stocking them, alongside Wargaming the Sugar Islands Campaign.
I still have copies for sale directly, see the separate tab on the blog. The price and postage from me will be going up slightly at the end of August because I will need to order new stock, so if you want a copy at the current price please get in touch quickly!
The next book progresses well - this won't be an 18thC book but something closer to home. It will probably hit the shelves in January.
After clearing out some books I decided to take a look at some of the armies I have not used for some time.
First of these is my late medieval "Army of the Archbishopric of Hoegaarden" actually a mix of late 100yw figures from Perry and Citadel (ex Bretonnian Halberd and Spear) with few Front Rank figs added. These were professionally painted and the level of detail in them, especially the command figures is quite high. There are 208 pieces (cav and guns as 2pcs).
The second set of armies which I am selling in my ACW collection. I have not used these for a good while. But there are two decent sized forces here -
There are;
168 pc confederate army
124 inf, 12 cav, 2 guns and 4 crew ea, 4 casualties and 2 mtd command
169pc union army
121 inf, 12 cav, 14 dismounted cav, w/8horse and horse holders, 2 guns and 4 crew, 4 casualties, 2mtd commanders
Total of 337pc
Plus Confederate ambulance and union prisoners vignettes 17pcs
Grant total 350pcs @ £2 per pc = £700 inc Uk Postage. More pics available.
ACW STUFF NOW SOLD
Thanks for the kind comments regarding my last post.
I tested positive for covid on Sunday but between sweats, sniffs, coughs and splutters I have managed to do a little bit of painting and basing.
First up were some old glory Sikh's. Not as nice as the Foundry figures, nor the Studio miniatures range, but the same height as the former and so able to fit in and flesh out my my army. I painted these almost exclusively with citadel contrast paints, (trousers and metalwork were normal acrylics). I think they've come out pretty nicely.
I also managed to do some baggage camels. These are Empress Miniatures and very nice indeed. They too were given the contrast paint treatment - aggaros dunes as the base, with iraqi sand from Vallejo to lighten them up. Baggage was a mix of contrasts and acrylics. This give me 8 elements of baggage in total for my NWF/Indian armies. I think I will add a buffalo cart and bheesties which will make it a fair size and appropriate for the location - trains were often as large or larger than the armies they accompanied and in several cases were not large enough even then to provide the food and fodder required. For this reason they are an essential feature of armies in these areas.
Whist raking around for more bits to add, I came across a signed copy of Donald Featherstone's book - The First Sikh War - on evil bay, so that got snapped up. He responsible for me taking up wargaming as his book "Wargames" was in my local library as a kid. I've never looked back. It's nice to have this connection.
I have started to paint some of the Empress/Iron Duke sepoys. This will give me a further unit in shakos and also a unit of deserters....or mutineers. Sepoy uniform didn't change at all from the 30's to the Mutiny and that means I have a ready made army to start cover the first outbreaks and battles around Delhi. For the British units in shell jacket and cap from Sikh war ranges are fine, but even that semi formal uniform quickly gave way to improvised affairs. The Mutiny seems another period crying out to be gamed using TMWWBK - so I will!
An off the cuff colonial game at the Club last night as it was the first for a few weeks due to holidays. This gave me a chance to get my Sikh Wars figures out, although annoyingly I left the Akali at home! I also got to put my rather nice village and hill fort on the table too which blended in very well with the mat and bases.
We doubled up the sides, using two 24pt "brigades" each with their own commander per side. The Sikhs deployed first, occupying the fort and village and stretching across the table following the road. A small number of Sikh regulars and guns were backed by tribal infantry and cavalry. The British were a fairly balanced force of European and Sepoy infantry and cavalry with a couple of guns.
The game was fairly balanced, and at the mid point it could have gone either way, but with the failure of two units on the British right to activate the Sikhs were able to gain the upper hand and despite heavy casualties approaching 50%, were able to get a win. A nice fun game! (Edit - The buildings are by the Colonial Steamboat Company and were an Xmas gift from my wife)
I think TMWWBK is a decent rule set, we missed the blunders and bonuses from Rebels and Patriots so may add them for future games. We also allow pinned units to retire a full move but retaining their pin instead of remaining in place - unless a unit is surrounded it does allow them to pull back this way and stay in the game. Finally we think artillery is just a little bit powerful and next time we'll reduce the dice from 4/8 to 3/6.
