Perry Plastic Zouaves

 Continuing with my ACW frenzy, I  bought a box of Perry plastic Zouaves , I hope to get 2 regiments out of the one box . Annoyingly it comes with 42 figures but only 2 command figures , luckily I  have a few spare plastic Officer figures from the other Perry plastic  ACW to make up the command for the second unit . It took about only 1 hour to clean them and glue them together , I based them on pennies to add weight and to help handling them when painting . I then sprayed them with brown Tamiya paint.  

Got 4 of them painted last night , uniform is of the 5th New York Regiment. They paint up quite quickly as the detail is a lot crisper than the original plastic Perry ACW , the only reserve I have is that the rifle barrels and bayonets are very fine and if your not careful these will break easily I think .

Will keep on painting these up and post photos when I've got the entire regiment done.

ACW figures

As I have been playing the new ACW rules 'Bull Run to Gettysburg'  I have decided to paint up some casualty markers to help the game along , each base marked 1-4 - Perry & Foundry figures.

Each Brigade can have a attached sharpshooter/marksman base so I made these up as well - been a busy week !. Perry figures mounted on 40mm bases from Warbases ( just noticed I  haven't painted the edges of the bases - blast !!!)

Here are a selection of Perry Confederate Generals.

And slightly out of focus some Perry Union Generals.

ACW game (2)

The Confederates deploy their Brigade as the Union Regiment  takes more casualties from artillery shells , no infantry fire as yet as both sides were using maximum movement to gain positions.

Kimball's Brigade sweeps forward over half way to their target .

In the nick of time Confederate reinforcements arrive !.

Burks Brigade deploys to try and flank the Union troops .

In period dice cup - a reproduction tin mug bought in Gettysburg about 17 years ago .

The rules seem to be working OK  movement is 10" in column 8" in line , deductions for terrain vary . Rifle Musket range is 30" maximum , 18"for Smoothbore Muskets . Shooting is per base 1D6 plus or minus dice , then cross reference weapon with target formation ie close line hit on 5&6 at long range , open line 6 at long range. Same process for artillery batteries. Hits remove figures- 4 hits removes a base . Morale is taken by throwing a D6 and +/- points, result = 5+ okay ,43 halt, 21 retire, 0 rout. Will continue game and report back on the rules performance  . Too be continued...

First ACW game using 'Bull Run to Gettysburg'

Well not the first , I set up a small 'tester' game to work through the mechanics of the rules . Don't seem to have any problems - the playsheet is poor with several thing missing but I've printed it off and added notes to the back of it. The game is set in Jackson's " Valley " campaign , the Union have to cross the board and exit with half their forces - the Confederates have to prevent this . I diced for the initial set up points (1-5 = right to left flank 6 = reserve) , the Union have both Brigades on, artillery battery in reserve. The Confederates 1 Brigade and artillery battery on 1 Brigade in reserve.

Reserve units will arrive on a dice throw ( 6 on move 1, 5 6 on move 2 etc)

The Union forces move onto the table

Brig.Gen. Shields confers with Col. Sullivan.

Col. J. Burks orders his Brigade forward .

The Hampden Artillery open fire

 First blood to the Confederacy the 13th Indiana takes casualties and halts .

Burks Brigade moves forward to engage the enemy .

'Stonewall' arrives to take command .

Will have to stop at this point and go and paint up some casualty markers . Too be continued ....

Oh no ! NOT another Rule Book !

Yes I've succumbed to another new rule book ! , again from the presses of the Wargames Foundry . Like a lot of people I bought several boxes of the plastic ACW Perry figures when they came out - I already had 25mm metal Minifigs ACW which had lain unused for years, but with that strange logic that only Wargamers have - these would be different and get used !. Have quite a history of gaming ACW was the first period I did 40+ years ago - using plastic Airfix figures, used many different rules over the years a favorite being 'Johnny Reb' . I moved on to other periods and on occasions returned to the ACW  but found now that the rules were to long winded to play (as I've grown older I  tend to like simpler rules) . Painted my Perry plastics (I love painting ACW) tried them with Black Powder but it did not seem ACW to me - so they languished in their boxes .

It gets sadder - I even bought some new ACW  dice ! . Then Foundry announced they were bringing out a new set of rules for the ACW ! , I read a write up about them on the  Lead Adventure page, so I bought a copy - I LIKE THEM !!  rather old fashioned in some ways (like me) but simple (like me)  enough to use . Have set up a small battle to try them out .

So I will report back as the game goes on - but early indications look positive .

Confederate Brigade advances .

Conquistador and Aztecs

Been fighting a small engagement using TSATF variant - The Sword ,Cross and Gold. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take more photos ( the heat of action etc) so I  have had to make do with some of the participants.

The figures are all Foundry , think I got the flag from Warflag .

Got the shield designs from the Foundry book and a couple of Ospreys.

Aztec Jaguar Knights .

Conquistadors

Been slowly painting up Spanish Conquistador and Aztecs that I  got from Foundry in one of their 20% off deals . Enjoying painting them , but they are slow going - especially the Aztecs ! . But what rules to use ? , think I have decided on a Sword And The Flame variant .

The Perruzza brothers Josef and Pedro and command group.

Aztec General Pic n Mixc

The Conquistadors move down the road looking for gold .

Aztec Eagle Knights await them

The Aztecs prepare to spring an ambush on the invaders.

In the village Aztec merchants prepare to set off on their travels .  I will post more photos as the battle unfolds. The houses are card ones stuck onto MDF  bases and I think look quite good , having had bad experences with card models in the past.

Bavarian Light Infantry

Finally finished off painting my Bavarian Light Infantry , Regiment 'La Roche'-here displayed on more of the superb bases from Warbases .

Each base representing a Company - the Bavarian regiments of 1809 only having 4 companies . Don't think the Light infantry carried standards or at least I  can't find any evidence for it . Hope to get these figures in action next week when a game is planned .

Playmobil Roman Arena

Continuing with my Gladiator theme, I dug out this Playmobil Roman Arena I bought from a Car Boot Sale about 3 years ago . OMG  I had forgotten how BIG  it was, about 70cm across the inner !!! .Truly  a Circus Maximus ! . Think I got it for a few quid and have just checked on EBay and they seem to be priced from the reasonable to the extreme. Very impressed by it , didn't look at it to hard when I first purchased it .

A view through the gates into the Arena

Some of my Gladiators - a mixture of WestWind and Crusader

Have started reading the rules and they seem simple enough - to simple in one to one combat maybe but will work well for bigger battles and using animals and so on . Will have to give them a try before finally deciding .

Oh no ! not another period !

Not really jumping on the bandwagon, been dabbling in Gladiators on and off for years . Tried many sets of rules - some simple , some complecated , so when these came out I  could not resist them .( when I started work many years ago a old man I worked with used to say - so and so 'could never resist a pretty ankle' - with me its pretty rules . Oh and ankles !). Busy reading them and they look promising , photos soon .