Sunday 30 December 2012

OS F.P.W. Project -In the Begining.

 
Well the first order for my new project arrive and was put under the Christmas tree , opened on Christmas morning and then  found out I had made two schoolboy errors - NO superglue ! and NO black spray paint ! Grrrr !. The infantry figures come with a separate arm/weapon which needs gluing on - normally don't like having to glue figures but when I got some glue I found these fitted perfectly . With no flash and very little cleaning up I soon got them ready for spraying up. There are two Prussian line battalions and mounted command figure and a French line battalion and a Chasseur battalion plus a mounted officer. I am very impressed with the figures and am looking forward to starting painting them . More photos when I get started.

Wednesday 26 December 2012

In the Nature of an Experiment



Not sure how well this will work - just messing around with photos etc  and added a soundtrack - give it a go !

Thursday 20 December 2012

Christmas Greetings.

 
Seasonal Greetings to all my fellow bloggers , wishing you all the best for Christmas .
 

Wednesday 19 December 2012

The Painting Process - Finished.

 
Behold the finished regiment .
 
 
It's title is the Royal Hungarian Infantry Regiment 'Count Joseph Esterhazy'.
 
 
Glad to have finished it as I wanted to clear my painting table ready for my O.S. FPW project . The first order of which sits beneath the Christmas tree. I got the uniform information for this regiment from the excellent SYW  website
 
 
 
 

Sunday 16 December 2012

The Painting Process (3)

 
Just a quick update on the painting of the Hungarians which has been delayed for the lack of varnish . A new tin being purchased, the Regiment will soon be finished with only 6 more rank and file and the 6 Officers / musician to finish off . I always like varnishing as it seems to bring the figures to life (and hides mistakes somehow) . Will photo the completed unit when it is finished.
 
 

Monday 10 December 2012

The Painting Process (2)

 
The batch of figures I'm going to paint undercoated with black spray paint.
 
 
Hands , face, hair and musket painted dark brown.
 
 
The cuffs ,waistcoat and trousers painted red.
 
 
The knapsack and strap painted brown.
 
 
The cartouche strap is lined in with white.
 
 
The coat , turnbacks and hat lace are painted white leaving a thin line of black to define the straps and turnbacks.
 
 
The musket barrel is painted  and the hands and face are painted in leaving a touch of brown to suggest facial features and moustache.
 
 
The lace work on the waistcoat and trousers is painted in.
 
 
Poly-filla is applied to the base and given time to set .
 
 
When dry they are painted a nice bright green .
 
 
The new recruits march off ready for varnishing . Only another 24 to do !
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday 8 December 2012

The Painting Process (1)

 
A cold and grey day up here in N.W. UK so I thought I'd get some figures ready for painting . This is a order I got from Spencer Smith miniatures several weeks ago and will be a Hungarian regiment of foot for my 30mm SYW collection. First clean the figures and glue to bases .
 
 
The regiment is done and ready for spraying , there is also an extra mounted staff officer to paint - he is mounted on a large mudguard washer . It being cold I had lit the fire which is blazing in the background .
 
 
Ready for spraying . Rather a bit of a mix to spray, some Peter Pig ACW  ships and scenery in the background. My neighbour who brings the wheelie bins in after the refuse waggon has called said "I always know your bins as they always have black paint on the lids (Oops !). Will continue when I start painting the figures next week.
 
 

Sunday 2 December 2012

Wargaming Battles Long Ago.

Been tidying out a cupboard and came across these old photos of various wargames I have played , the quality is not great but these date back when cameras had rolls of film in them.

 
An ACW  game using I think Confederate High Command rules (?) , 25mm Minifigs on a rather strangely home dyed bed sheet .
 
 
Another shot of the same game , the roads are cut up plastic floor tiles if I remember rightly . The experimentation in dyeing didn't work very well did it ! , in this modern era of purpose made felt cloths we tend to forget how hard it was to get suitably coloured material in the distant wargaming past . This game dates I think from about the mid 1980s.
 
 
A slightly later game of ACW  using 'Johnny Reb' rules (think I can make out some of the little green markers that came with the game) . Notice I have a proper felt cloth now - purchased at great expense from Standard Games. The wooden fencing was made by my father in his retirement.
 
 
A Romans versus Ancient Britons game , these figures had a renaissance when Warhammer Ancient Battles rules came out - they had languished unused when I got sick of playing WRG 6th edition rules with all their complexities.
 
 
Now two golden oldies, in the late 70s (?) I and another chap called Dave Cliff (?) put on a demonstration game at the Victorian Military Societies meeting at the United Services Institute in London of the action at the river Bulnak in the Crimea 1854 - a small skirmish which we turned into a full blown battle , with me loosing the Light Brigade !.
 
 
Another view from the Russian side . We used Peter Laing 15mm figures and adapted the WRG Horse and Musket rules , the scenery and cloth were provided by Dave. Much to our great surprise we won best game award ! . Most of the figures I still have but need rebasing to modern standards .
 
 
 
 
 

Monday 26 November 2012

ACW in Old School Style

 
Although I have a ACW army in plastic/metal using Perry Miniatures , I was tempted by a large box of several hundred unpainted Spencer Smith plastic figures on EBay . I had the idea of recreating Featherstones ACW battles . This project has lapsed somewhat ( so much to do and so little time ) , but I got an extra unit of Zouaves in metal and have managed to get them painted .
 
 
Been messing about with various computer programs and came up with this rather pleasing photo effect . Looks very 1960's
 
 
 
 

 

Sunday 25 November 2012

More New Homes.

 
More buildings from http://www.4ground.co.uk/ 
 
 
These are some 15mm European houses that I have been gluing together for 'A' . We saw a lot off them at this years Warfare show on various demonstration games and competitions and were all very impressed with them . They come ready painted and being 15mm scale where easier to put together than the 28mm log cabins I did for myself. (or did I just follow the instructions this time !?)
 
 
These FOW models show the scale better. With prices very similar to cast resin model houses and already painted I think they sound the death knell for resin buildings.
 
 

Wednesday 21 November 2012

New Houses For Settlers.

 
One of the purchases from my weekend visit to the Warfare show at Reading this last weekend where two new laser cut buildings for my French Indian Wars .
 
 
These are to replace my rather old and sad resin log cabins . They are by http://www.4ground.co.uk/ .
 
 
They come ready painted and all you have to do is assemble and glue them together.This takes some doing ! as they only go together in one way and you have to follow the sequence of construction accurately ! - if you don't this leads to mistakes and blaspheming !
 
 
They come with interior details , even a fireplace ! A very Des Res !
 
 
Ready for the next Muskets and Tomahawks game !
 
 
 
 

Thursday 15 November 2012

Franco-Prussian Old School Style (Prussian Army)

To match my potential French army I have decided on a Prussian force of 3 Infantry Brigades
  1. 2 Battalions of Line Infantry each of 20 figures plus a mounted Brigadier.
  2. 1 Battalion of Line Infantry and a Battalion of Jaegers (count as Light Infantry) and Brigadier.
  3. 1 Battalion of Bavarian Infantry and 1 of Wurttemberg Infantry plus a Brigadier
 
 
The Cavalry will have 1 Brigade comprising of Cuirrassiers and Uhlans .
The Artillery 2 guns and crews .
The General and a ADC  for the staff.
 
 
I hope to start collecting after Christmas and will update as thing happen.
 

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Franco-Prussian Old School Style.(French Army)

I have decided that the French Army will comprise of 3 Brigades each of 2 units -
  1. 2  Battalions of line infantry each of 20 figures and a Mounted Brigadier
  2. 1  Battalion of line infantry and 1 of Chasseurs a Pied (count as lights) plus Brigadier.
  3. 1  Battalion of Zouaves and 1 of the Guard (count as Guards) plus Brigadier
 
The cavalry will have 1 Brigade of 2 units -
1 unit of Hussars and 1 unit of Cuirassier each of 15 figures  and a Brigadier.
The artillery will be 2 guns and 10 crew.
The Staff will be a mounted General and a ADC.
 
 
Now to think of the Prussian Army.
 

Sunday 11 November 2012

Next Years Project ?

 
I am not noted for my planning of projects when it comes to wargaming , periods/collections like Topsy 'just grow'. So I alarmed myself by thinking of doing another 'Old School' project and planning the end result ! . I have been looking at the Donald Featherstone Horse & Musket rules which I always tend to think of being ACW  ( The Battle of Plattville Valley) and also looking at the FPW  figures by Spencer Smith and came up with the idea of combining the two .
 
 
The rules would be Featherstone's 'Horse & Musket'.
The figures Spencer Smith , painted in a 'Toy Soldier' manner , single based.
The armies would be copied from the Platville game - 6 units of infantry per side (each of 20 figures), 2 units of cavalry per side (each of 15 figures) and 2 guns and crew per side . this being a 'Old School' project I can ignore history and have French Guard in bearskins and Zouaves together and a Bavarian / Wurttemberg contingent for the Prussian rather than boring line infantry units . This is a total of 120 infantry figures, 30 cavalry and 2 guns and 8 crew per side . Well that's enough planning for today , going to pick which figures for each unit now . To be continued .......
 

Friday 2 November 2012

Old School - 'What Art Thou ?'

A conversation with my wargaming colleague 'A' about my Old School projects set me thinking - 'what is Old School' ? . It is a question that has been asked before and discussed in the wargaming media and numerous blogs, so all I can do is give my ideas what it means to me personally. The first thing is the figures - plainer, older types such as Spencer Smith or maybe Minifigs . Painted in a 'Toy Soldier' way , brightly and given a high gloss varnish . Singularly mounted on non-scenic bases and lots of them ! , units of 24-36 figures for infantry , 12-18 cavalry. The scenery- plain and not elaborate , contoured hills and those cute old fashioned Merit trees and hedges . The rules have to be simple ! , I tend to play OS solo and I want to remember them in my head,  Grant's 'The Wargame' or Young's 'Charge' sum OS  up !.

 
A modern version of OS  is 'Funny Little Wars' a homage to Wells's 'Little Wars' with its matchstick firing cannon . I  am aware that OS  may not be to everyones taste , it may be my 'mid-life' wargaming crisis, but the older I get the more I am drawn to it .
 
 

Thursday 25 October 2012

The Lead Regiment.


 
Not a illustration of the author as a young man ! . Rather dated and a bit twee , but I like a poem that rhymes !.

Friday 19 October 2012

FOW Early Desert Game (Part Two)

 
The Italian tankettes move swiftly to try and flank the British force and end up having a gunfight with the British armoured cars which swung backwards and forwards for the rest of the game.
 
 
The Italian infantry move forward (somewhat slowly) to engage the enemy infantry in the buildings as the tanks start to take causalities from the British guns.
 
 
The casualties were not all one way though- a British gun is knocked out !.
 
 
The tanketes start to take casualties as well.
 
 
The tankettes in the centre charge the guns in a desperate bid to reach the objective and are knocked out and fail a morale test.
 
 
The Italian heavy tanks are blown up one after the other - Hodge the cat looks on in disdain - he is more of a SYW period cat and secretly disapproves of FOW !.
 
 
By move 7 the Italians had no operational units in the British half of the table and so lost the battle !. The British armoured cars where the man of the match gallantly holding off the Italian tankettes , the Italians failed a lot of motivation tests and so were not able to exploit any successes they had and were a bit unlucky with their shooting. A great game I  thought and nice to get my figures on the table once again.