Messing About On The Computer.

The weather has being inclement so I've spent the afternoon messing about on the computer , over the last month or so I've been playing the odd game of 'Songs of Blades and Hero' (SoBaH) fantasy skirmish rules using some Rackham plastic pre-painted figures that I got cheap when the firm went bust . I have also been re-painting some of them as they are nice figures but the paint job doesn't do them justice . I then thought I would make up some unit/figure type cards for them as it looks nicer than scribbling the stats down on a bit of paper. Several attempts later (and much bad language as I managed to delete my efforts at one point !) I came up with these - above my 'baddy' warband  - a Witch and 6 of her creatures .

And the 'goody' warband  a Hero, 5 Men at Arms and 3 Archers . The rules are simple but clever and give a good game in about 30/40 minutes . I've got a 'undead' warband to paint up as well and will post photos of them and a battle report soon. 

Garibaldi - The First Game.

The other afternoon 'S' called round and we played a game using my Garibaldi figures which had not been used yet , we decided to use 'Black Powder' rules and set up a encounter game . Here the Garibaldini forces move onto the table . I'm afraid my photographic coverage of the battle is a bit patchy as I got caught up in the action.

The Neapolitan forces march on . 

The forces deploy.

The Neapolitan forces are a bit more sluggish in moving .

The battle was a close run thing , first a Neapolitan regiment routed soon followed by a Garibaldi Red Shirt unit.

On the other flank the Garibaldini skirmishers held off the enemy cavalry and finally routed them .

Things went wrong rapidly for Garibaldi as his Red Shirts were driven off and a suicidal charge by his cavalry was wiped out . A Neapolitan victory ! . A great little game , Black Powder is flexible enough to adapt to most periods and armies . This will inspire me to paint up the remaining figures for these armies. Oh and by the way 'S' won !. 

Nearly Finished ! .

Well I'm down to my two last units to paint , Prussian Dragoons and French Chasseurs D Africa . When these are painted I will have completed my Old School Franco-Prussian War project - as I originally envisioned it about 18 months ago . Must admit it is not usual for me to plan out a collection as precisely as this - normally my projects are very open ended with no target in sight , so I'm rather pleased with myself that I have been able to keep this one on course . However there are slight feelings of regret that I am coming to the finishing line with these figures and maybe in the future I will be adding the odd unit to them (French Guard in Bearskins ?) , These 2 units are now in the queue for my painting table and I will report my progress - watch this space ....

Next Project .

I've been clearing out boxes from under my wargaming table with a view to selling off a lot of the stuff I will never use and its surprising what you find (I once found a dead blackbird hidden there by one of the cats- uck!) -

Two Peter Pig 15mm Russian Civil War armies , bought several years ago in one of his 'army in a box' deals - I based up and sprayed them ready for painting . I was going to use them with his 'Square Bashing' rules .Above is the White army .

The H.Q. base and Tchanka - how cute are they !.

The Red army box , again based up and sprayed . My first impulse was to put them on the pile of 'For Sale' things - then I started looking through them and thought how easily they would paint up, the RCW is not renowned for its complected uniforms ! . 

Red army Armoured Car , Artillery and M/G bases . With my FPW project nearly finished (only 2 cavalry regiments to paint up)  this would make a fine change and with the added bonus that its all ready for painting . See how I've talked myself into it ! - watch this space !

Nearly Finished !

Well I've just finished painting the last 2 units of Infantry for my Franco-Prussian project.

This is my final Prussian Line Infantry unit , I decided on a marching pose as it will help distinguish it from the others.

I also did another mounted Brigadier for the Prussians , very Teutonic !

I got the French infantry in a marching pose as well .

It's just over a year since I planned and started this project and this finishes off the infantry contingents - 6 units per side plus 2 artillery pieces . 

The French Brigadier , I swapped the right arm about with the Prussian officer to add a bit of variety . I have the final 2 cavalry units on order to finish off these 2 armies . 

A.C.W. Union Regulars.

Rather pleased with myself keeping on track with my painting schedule - I can be such a wargaming butterfly and hop from one subject to another. I am attempting to finish off the ACW  lead mountain and so next up were this unit which I decided would be painted as Union Regulars , there is some evidence to suggest that early in the war the Regulars wore the pre-war dark blue trousers - so to make them stand out I've give them these. The figures are by Crusader Miniatures , who do a limited range of infantry . I wanted figures wearing the 'Hardee' hat and full dress frock coats and there are not many manufacturers out there who do them , they are nice solid figures which match the Perry's size wise.

  

Cavalry For The Garibaldi Campaign.

Neither Garibaldi or his Neapolitan foes had much cavalry at the start of the Sicilian campaign , the only unit the Neapolitans had was the Horse Chasseur Regt. , which is portrayed above . 

Garibaldi had even fewer cavalry , in fact at the start of the campaign the Guides were not even mounted !. I have decided to give them horses - both units will count as 'small' under the 'Black Powder' rules. The figures are of course from Irregular.